OSAMA BIN LADEN: Serving the Empire

We were told that the nation of all nations had powers beyond the reckoning of human comprehension. We were told that America had eyes in the sky that could bear down on a rat scurrying across a dusty road on the other side of a small planet. We were told that America had arms and hands that could reach into the most desolate cave or the most hidden corners of metropolis. We were told that America was an unstoppable force that could rip the heart out of the strongest adversary and withstand any test of fate or opposition.

Then came September 11, 2001 and the image of an impenetrable fortress shattered. Then came Afghanistan and four years later the outcome remains in doubt. Then came Iraq and the constant bloodletting, the grinding sacrifice in lives and treasure, and the revelation that America’s motives were dark and deceptive. Then came Katrina and the ultimate nightmare: We can no longer take care of our own.

In some factions of the Islamic world, there is a belief that America has not captured or killed Osama bin Laden because our leaders lack the will. If Osama is captured or killed, the root cause of our crusade would no longer exist and our thirst for righteous vengeance would slowly abate.

While I do not subscribe to this theory, it is virtually impossible not to observe that Osama bin Laden has served the purpose and function of the American empire ever since he first appeared in the world spotlight.

It cannot escape the analysis of any objective observer that bin Laden was a well-connected man. His role in Afghanistan as a freedom fighter against the Soviet invasion, sponsored by the Central Intelligence Agency, gave him access and lasting ties to the most influential covert force in the region: Pakistani intelligence. He gave up a life of comfort and unimaginable wealth, a wealth with connections to the most powerful economic forces on the planet, to fight side by side with common Afghani warriors against the awesome force of the Soviet army. The younger Osama is not forgotten in the hearts and minds of the Afghan people.

In the year 2000, when the Supreme Court decided the American presidency, few outside a tight circle of neoconservative ideologues surrounding the president, could have envisioned an America engaged in global war.

It was Osama bin Laden who provided the impetus for the polar shift in world affairs which enabled that global war.

When support for the war began to erode, threatening the president’s second term, it was Osama bin Laden who came to the rescue in the final hours before the 2004 election.

We cannot imagine what bin Laden intended but his election eve address to the American people was made to order for a beleaguered Texas tough guy incumbent commander-in-chief. In what was once again one of the closest elections in history, it is not unreasonable to conclude that Osama was a deciding factor.

Now, after a prolonged silence, with scandal after scandal besieging the White House and his party, with accusations of corruption and abuse of power emerging from both sides of the political divide, with the cry of impeachment breaking through the wall of mainstream media consciousness, Osama bin Laden issues a statement that can only buttress the president’s line of defense.

I am not the typical conspiracy theorist but if I were, I would wonder if Karl Rove was pulling bin Laden’s strings.

It is time we stopped allowing our enemy to shape the future of our nation and the destiny of our world. It is time we stopped a war that was ill conceived, deceptively engaged, and immorally prosecuted.

It is time we recognized that we are a nation governed by law, guided by reason, and that we answer to a voice far greater than Osama bin Laden or George W. Bush. It is the voice of our collective conscience.

Jazz.

JACK RANDOM IS THE AUTHOR OF THE JAZZMAN CHRONICLES (CROW DOG PRESS) AND GHOST DANCE INSURRECTION (DRY BONES PRESS). THE CHRONICLES HAVE APPEARED ON DISSIDENT VOICE, THE ALBION MONITOR, BUZZLE, COUNTERPUNCH AND PEACE-EARTH-JUSTICE.

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