Why has the almost-forgotten Osama Bin Laden, the main reason the US has been campaigning in Iraq and Afghanistan for the past 10 years, been killed rather than seized?
Why has this news, with all its vicious detail, overshadowed the reports about daily bombings in Libya and Gaza? What opportunities does the elimination of Bin Laden open up to the US? Political expert, publicist and Russian Civic Chamber member Maksim Shevchenko discusses these questions with RT.RT: As the US and US-based media has reported, Osama Bin Laden was killed at point-blank range, then buried at sea. Does this seem strange to you, and how would you explain it? Maksim Shevchenko: The US ruling elite and society is in a craze over religion and mysticism. Even if Americans deny that, claiming that their state is secular, the semantics of having the man labeled “the world’s most wanted terrorist” buried at sea tell us that vulgar, fundamentally protestant mysticism still dominates the US psyche. All kinds of American priests and preachers, especially those in the dispensationalist branch, have compared Osama to a beast, emerging from the sea and called Islam the religion of the antichrist. The ritualistic meaning of burying Osama at sea – if it was in fact Osama and not just another poor nameless soul murdered by the Americans – is therefore interpreted in that line of thinking as the beast’s return to the sea. The US is fundamentalist to a degree when this kind of vulgar mysticism defines on the subconscious level where the US military machine will go. It is a country full of Freemason lodges, spiritualist communities and protestant churches. That is why this nation’s actions, sentences and executions are packaged to have a mystical flavor.RT: Young people are celebrating Osama’s death outside the White House and all across the US. Why are they celebrating?MS: What do we care about US youngsters? They celebrate when their favorite baseball team wins. They celebrate the royal wedding in Britain. They cheer when they see the American flag. They weep when a pop star of a TV anchor dies. The joy and tears of these young people are deeply manipulated. The US society is controlled by the media. It is a deeply totalitarian society.What’s funny is that they don’t understand that Bin Laden was just a figurehead. A myth made up by Republican fundamentalists to justify their goal of taking over the world. Obama destroyed this myth today in order to reverse the American scenarios – to bring troops out of Afghanistan.With Osama dead, the US doesn’t need a war in Afghanistan. I’m sure the Republican lobbyists will now make up another Al Qaeda leader who would be hiding in Toro Bora, or perhaps even Libya or Sudan, so that they can continue their endless imperialistic campaign. This is the fundamental truth: Rome needed wars. Peace would lead to insolvable internal conflicts between elites and between social groups. The Roman Empire existed in agony, on the borderline between war and peace. The US is the Roman Empire of today. RT: Of what significance was Bin Laden’s death?MS: Set against the background of the disturbances in the Arab world, the irreconcilable differences between the Muslim Brotherhood and the wahhabis, the escalation of tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran, the cooperation of Hamas and Fatah in Palestine, the threat of the Camp David agreement being severed, Israel’s terrorist abductions and murders of Palestinian activists on the territory of sovereign states, the assassination attempt against Muammar Gaddafi, the murder of his son and grandchildren and the injury of his wife – set against the background of all that, the news of Osama Bin Laden’s death looks especially interesting. It might be an attempt to distract the public’s attention from the vile crime that is the bombing Gaddafi’s palace and the murder of his family. We are dealing with bold PR technology aimed at replacing an actual, real assassination attempt against Muammar Gaddafi and his family by the mythological elimination of the mythological Osama Bin Laden with his wife and children, who are also a part of the myth, in the public consciousness. I would classify this as a war crime that lies within the jurisdiction of the International Tribunal. RT: Is Osama Bin Laden perceived as a real man in the Islamic world?MS: He is quite real. The Muslim world knows a lot about the various stages of his life. A worldly playboy who spent his young years in 1970s London, surrounded by top models. Born into privilege, he went to Afghanistan in 1979, driven by his own concept of justice. He adopted quite a radical version of jihad in political Islam. People of that sort are quite numerous.This is not about Osama himself. It’s about the mythological and propagandistic glitz that surrounded him. We will have to see what conclusions are made after his death.Obama might use Osama’s death to put pressure on Israel in order to make it recognize a Hamas-led Palestinian state. Bin Laden is dead, the terrorist threat is no more and that means the time has come to recognize Palestine. This is especially true since Osama – the real Osama, not the Hollywood puppet sold by America for over 10 years – was an enemy of Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood.RT: According to official reports, Osama was shot at point blank range. Many people are wondering why he was not captured and brought to court.MS: It is a reasonable question. If he was shot at point blank range, could it have been done to prevent him from telling the world about the reality that he has played such a significant role in? We will never know now who was actually behind the 9/11 attack. Hypothetically speaking, Bin Laden’s elimination gives Obama an opportunity to come to an agreement with Iran since Bin Laden was also Iran’s enemy. What is important is that Obama proceeded to destroy the feeding trough that had fed the US elite so well for so many years. They fed on oil, gas and war. They fed on the myth of Osama Bin Laden.
Nadezhda Kevorkova, RT