Officials in the Obama Administration are leaking all kinds of details from the “treasure trove” of secret information U.S. Special Forces seized from bin Laden’s compound.
They are reportedly doing so to demystify the dead al-Qaeda leader. But, with the release of tidbits about his use of hair dyes and natural Viagra (not to mention his secret stash of porno tapes), they seem more interested in humiliating him.
At any rate, what is truly noteworthy about the releases thus far is the picture they’re painting of a man who, far from being just a marginalized icon (as President Obama always maintained), retained command and control over his global terror network. Specifically, his emails, DVDs, personal diary, and other documents all indicate that bin Laden spent much of his days not just concocting all kinds of schemes to emulate the attacks of 9/11, but even deciding which of his lieutenants would be most suitable to execute each one.
But it’s instructive that, despite his determined intent, bin Laden never came even close to pulling off another “spectacular attack”. Which means that his terror network ended up being just a diabolical obsession, or that he simply could not marshal the resources to carry out his intent.
More to the point, though, Obama would be hard-pressed to explain why releasing pictures of the dead bin Laden would be classless and incendiary, but releasing embarrassing details about his private life would not….
Meantime, while he’s now busy feeding the gullible press all kinds of innocuous tidbits about bin Laden, I hope Obama has already ordered Special Forces and FBI agents to “apprehend” anyone whose name appears in any document that was seized.
And I assure you that, despite reports about them withholding critical information they scavenged after the raid by Navy Seals, the Pakistanis are cooperating in every way the Americans want them to. Like I said in my original commentary, much of the public posturing by Pakistani officials in this respect is for local consumption i.e., to save face.
NOTE: I feel constrained to reiterate my consternation over the releasing of so many details (complete with animated reenactments) about how the Navy Seals assaulted and exploited bin Laden’s compound. After all, not only is this tipping off other terrorists (thereby compromising future raids), it is catering to a naïve and self-defeating expectation about the public’s right to know all details about covert military action—almost in real time….
Related commentaries:
Photos of dead Bin Laden…