Victory on the war of Terror?

Marhaba.

I woke up yesterday morning to the news that the worlds most wanted man, Osama Bin Laden, was killed by the Americans in a gun battle in Pakistan on Sunday night.

This after ten years of hunting the man down. Apart from the fact that he caused the death of millions with the 9/11 attacks, he became the second person after the Archduke of Ferdinand to single handedly cause a war.

However, there are some doubts as to whether Bin Laden is actually dead, and when the facts are presented before me, I to have my doubts.

Firstly, the US Government is refusing to release pictures of a dead Bin Laden unless they are COMPELLED to do so. This is a bit dodgy because when I think back to when the Americans executed Saddam Hussein in 2006, they were quick to release pictures of a dead Hussein hanging by the noose from which he was executed. At the time Hussein was only America's fourth most wanted man, so now if the US were only to happy to release pictures of the execution of the nations fourth most wanted man why not release pictures of the nations most wanted man?

Secondly, burial at sea. I mean why? The Americans say it is because they did not have the time to bury the man according to Muslim tradition between the 24 hour period after his actual death and they did not want to bury him on land where the Muslim world will make a shrine at his site and make Bin Laden to be a martyr. But the thing about burying a person at sea is that there are so few witnesses that people will naturally have the doubts which I am presenting above.

What the death of Bin Laden does show is that America has scant regard or respect for the Muslim religion.

The US found Hussein holding out in a bunker near his home town of Tikrit in 2003. He was captured and sent to the US where he stood trial for terrorism against the US. He was found guilty not long after his trial began and all went quiet for three years, until on the morning of Eid al-Adha which is supposed to be a day of celebration for Muslims around the world where they are are supposed to show acts of humanity and goodwill. Why the Americans chose to execute Hussein of the feast of Eid al-Adha when they could have executed him on any other day, no one knows.

The intended message that this was supposed to send to send a message to the Arab world that the US deals harshly with terrorists, but the real message that it sent was the US saying F##K YOU we have no respect for you or your customs.

It would be safe to assume that every decent human being has the right to a proper respectful burial in the country of their birth. Be it through burial in the ground or cremation (depending on your religious beliefs). According to Muslim law, the body of a person who has died must be buried within 24 hours of its death, this burial must be in the ground because the Muslims follow the same law as the Catholics: Remember man you have come from DUST and onto DUST you shall return.

Again the fact that the Americans dumped Bin Laden's body at sea once again screams of the fact that the US have no respect whatsoever for Muslim culture or tradition.

And then the US wants to know why most of the known world dislikes them! Especially the Arabs. Again, on the weekend a NATO air strike targeted a compound where it was believed Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi would be hiding. Gaddafi was not there but in the strike one of Gaddafi's sons and three of his grandchildren where killed.

The son that died in the air strike was did not follow the family tradition of going into politics and had no bearing on the political landscape in Libya, so why target him? Also, why kill the grandchildren?

Again, this shows lack of respect from the part of NATO which has a SIGNIFICANT American influence. In this day and age, you cant just go after a persons family if you cant get the person itself. Is that in itself not terrorism?

Finally! The Lion has come back to life!

Disclaimer: Under the Electoral Act, defacing election posters is a criminal offense and considered malicious damage to property. The manipulated images in this piece are fictitious and by no means represent the views or intentions of the parties involved. The following article is intended as nothing more than political satire.
After an hiatus of nearly two years! Finally...The Lion has come back to life.

And what better stage to make his comeback then on the greatest stage of them all! The Arab world hitting a self destruct button and imploding in on itself!

A few months ago we saw a few mad Egyptians engaging in running battles with the Askria because they thought that a certain Mr Hosni Mubarak outstayed his welcome at the helm of the North African giant.

And rightly so, Mubarak has been in power ever since the assassination of Anwar El Sadat in 1975, making him one of the longest serving heads of state in history after Muammar Gaddafi and Omar Bongo.

So the people of Egypt rallied together, gathered in Tahrir Square a couple of times, sang striking renditions of : "hell no we wont go!" and threw stones at the cops.

Mubarak eventually said that he would step down, as long as no body busts a cap in his ass as he walks in the streets...there was no guarantee of this, and he already said that he would step down, so he went into political exile in an unnamed country.

Incidentally the last African dictator to die in exile was Big DADA (real name: Idi Amin Dada).

We digress. After Egypt it was, and still is Libya.

Officially, the reason for the unrest in Libya is that the public is tired of Gaddafi's almost 40 rule of the country where the rich get richer and the poor starve to death with no jobs. Unofficially, according to Gaddafi, he is the victim of a evil plot by Nestle.

Gaddafi said that the trouble in Libya started because Nestle was adding LSD and hallucinogenics as an incrediant in chocolates destined for Libya, and only for Libya, the youth of the country ate these chocolates and whent mad, and then stirred up trouble!

YES BOY! WE BELIEVE YOU! NICE MUAMMAR! NICE!

After Libya it was Yemen, Bahrain, and now Syria!

Talking to a work college he mentioned that perhaps its unrest like this that will put the country on the right track...agreed...but the sad thing is, like my ancestral homeland Lebanon, the country will be reduced to ruins before achieving this.

What does all of this have to do with SA, well, we had our own problems in the past and it now election time which means that there will be at least one service delivery protest a week leading up to May 18. Should violence spark up, lets just hope Zumatello does not let this country go the same way that Egypt and Libya has gone.