Something troubled me about Barak Obama’s comments about Osama bin Laden in his recent 60 Minutes interview with Steve Kroft. When asked “Where does capturing or killing Osama bin Laden fall?”, Obama replied:
I think it is a top priority for us to
stamp out al Qaeda once and for all. And I think capturing or killing
bin Laden is a critical aspect of stamping out al Qaeda. He is not just
a symbol, he’s also the operational leader of an organization that is
planning attacks against US targets. [Source: Clips and Comments]
That is the first time I personally have heard something from Obama that I completely disagree with.
I think Osama bin Laden is either dead or at least completely ineffective as operational leader of “Al Qaeda”.
Additionally I am not signed up at all to the idea of Al Qaeda as a cohesive organisation (i.e. with a formal command structure). It is a convenient myth for politicians and media to group together an ideologically bound set of independent operators.
It tells me that even though Obama is hellbent on “change”, he is still required to repeat the old party platitudes about Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda.
