No More Osama

Now that the world’s most wanted man (according to the FBI/CIA/MI6) is dead, the US Armed Forces, CIA and probably the US foreign service will from now on have very little to do. I foresee a lot US armed forces personnel losing their jobs unless they find another bogey man to keep them occupied and employed for the next 10 years. We might also have some unemployed journalists as I’m sure Reuters, AFP etc had teams dedicated to reporting anything Osama related. The death of Osama actually causes unemployment to rise! Economics professors take note!

But seriously, I’m guessing, a lot of effort was put into the pursuit of Osama. The multiplier effect must have contributed quite a bit to the US economy. The White House cannot afford to lose that x% factor in the economic growth so they need a new target, a new public enemy. Ladbrokes and William Hill might not be taking any bets yet but odds on to succeed Osama as the most hunted and wanted would probably be Ayman Zawahri, Al Qaeda’s until recently second in command. Gaddafi probably has an outside chance, so does any Iranian leader. Unfortunately Kim Jong il has no chance of getting the kind of attention Osama got; North Korea ain't got no oil dude. Oil is apparently the magnet that attracts US warplanes and warships, which explains the lack of Western military intervention in oil-less, despotic dictator-ruled countries.

Osama is one smooth operator. No one really knows where his HQ is but from where ever he’s based, he can attack locations anywhere in the world! The latest I heard, his main means of communication is via human couriers. Yes, just like back in the good ol’ dark ages! Yet, this man Osama is able to evade the technologically superior Americans and at the same time launch periodic, deadly attacks all over the world.

No, seriously seriously, if Osama contributed to or ordered most of the terrorist attacks during the last 10-15 years, wouldn’t the world be a safer place now that he’s gone? Wouldn’t that be a good enough reason for the foreign forces (read, US) to leave Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Goaheadgostan? The targets for the suicide bombers were mostly places which are either foreigner-related (e.g. embassies) or foreigner-assisted (e.g. army/police camps). Maybe, just maybe, no foreigners will result in no (at least much less) bombings?