Obama Hunting Osama: A Story of Terrorists
Erasmo Calzadilla
HAVANA TIMES — Thanks to movie pirating, the mockumentary Seal Team Six: The Raid on Osama Bin Laden, which premiered at the end of 2012, has already hit the streets of Havana. “What a great movie,” the buddy who lent it to me said. “They’ll never be able to show it in theaters or the TV here.”
In the film, a team of experienced Navy Seals is put together to carry out a secret, top-priority mission and submitted to rigorous training. We are introduced to each of the individual members of the force tasked with capturing the world’s most notorious terrorist.
We’re talking about tough, hardened, fearsome dudes who are trained to kill, but who are also likeable, friendly, faithful family people who fight for freedom, justice and the highest human values.
The marines have a face, a family, a private life, personal conflicts and stories that make it easy for the spectator to identify with them. The “bad guys”, on the other hand, remain anonymous beings.
Thanks to a Guantanamo Base prisoner who spills the beans, U.S. intelligence services determine the whereabouts of Osama Bin Laden.
The detainee discloses this information not because he is tortured. Some clever psychological manipulation and the fear of being transferred to a Saudi prison (compared to which Guantanamo is a 5-star resort), suffice to break his obstinate silence.
One cannot help but feel that the film is posing a sinister question with this scene: why would we want to shut down this prison and do away with interrogation procedures that have helped capture the devil himself?
The Plot
As it happens, the world’s most horrific terrorist didn’t have bodyguards, and no one was guarding him the night the Navy Seals burst into the fortified mansion where he had allegedly been hiding. This didn’t stop the artists of the Weinstein Company from putting together a spectacular combat scene, turning what was in fact a cakewalk (three armed guards, at the most, against twenty-five Seals) into a thrilling shootout.
Few people actually know what happened in Osama Bin Laden’s alleged hideout in the early morning of May 2, 2011, because the U.S. government never produced his body or published any photos of it. To top things off, the soldiers who were part of the “heroic” team have been prone to dying in mysterious accidents. Anyone with two working neurons knows that this story is a fake.
What’s more, the U.S. government acted unilaterally, as the master of the world it pretends to be, and like the terrorist it is in fact. The U.N. has repeatedly asked for the facts surrounding Bin Laden’s capture to be clarified, and, in reply, has obtained only silence.
In connection with the murder of the Saudi terrorist, Barack Obama – Nobel Peace Prize laureate, charismatic, social, intelligent, Democrat Obama – the man who stood for change, has, however, said simply: “Justice has been done”, and “whoever questions that Bin Laden got what he deserved needs to have his head examined.”
Ultimately, however, it’s not a question of what Obama thinks but what the Empire does. It’s a question of the sinister actions it has undertaken at the beginning of this 21st century, of the generalized human stupidity encouraged by the media, of the society of the spectacle and alienation, of the end of Western civilization as the champion of enlightened and noble human values. It’s a question of you, me and the dark night ahead.
Sorry, that’s another blog for another day.
In actual fact they were not even trying to make Bush look goofy.
These two Palestinians politicians were actually praising him for his leaning towards a 2 state solution. In the course of this praise they said that Bush told them he asked God for guidance prior to making decisions. Including the decision to invade Iraq.
I take it that as well as being pro USA’s absurd policies towards Cuba you are now also combining this with implying that Palestinians have no right to defend their lands in the face of Israeli lebensraum.
Did not see the made for TV movie so can’t comment on its contents. Have seen the Zero Dark Thirty movie on the raid. Thought the movie was well done. But important to remember it’s a fictionalized account of an actual historical event.
No reason to fall prey for conspiracy theories (e.g. that the raid was fake). There is no body because bin Laden was buried at sea shortly thereafter. Even Al Qaeda has acknowledged the death of bin Laden in the raid. Photos of the body were taken and have been shown to members of Congress, among others. There is no justification or necessity to release the photos publicly. Doing so would rightly result in accusations that Obama was exploiting bin Laden’s death for political gain.
You state that Bush didn’t say what he is reported to have said.
Therefore you are implying that the two Palestinian politicians who said that he did say this are liars.
So why do you presume that these two gents are lying and that GWB was telling the truth ?
On what do you base this presumption ??
Of course Bush is going to deny it.
His denials obviously convince many.
They don’t convince me.
But hey ho. I’m not about to lose sleep over it.
The GWB regime is history (albeit a very black page in history).
re Iraq figures: there are widely varying figures to be had.
I wouldn’t want to state which are the nearest to the reality.
re: ‘fanatical anti Americans’
I can assure you that I am not a fanatic, nor am I anti USA.
A Senior Palestinian politician? You’re kidding right? Making Bush look even goofier than he already did would certainly help their anti-Israel cause, dontcha’ think? The election of George Bush & Co. (twice) still does not serve to indict democracy in America. No more than slavery, the Civil War, Japanese internment nor a score of other blemishes in our history. Rather, these flaws prove the whole “in order to form a more perfect union” part of the Declaration of Independence. But yes, even on the worst day with Bush/Cheney, it was a better day than with the Castros. You want to know why? Because with Bush/Cheney, the most we had to suffer was 8 years. Cubans have been suffering for 54 years. Thanks to Father Time, the end is near.
You seem afflicted with the simplistic moral confusion common to fanatical anti-Americans, in which all bad things are the work of America and no other people have any agency other than sinister American influences. I did not defend George Bush, I merely clarified your misunderstanding on a rather silly talking point that seems to have caught on among certain members of the public, that Bush allegedly said God told him to invade Iraq. That lie has been thoroughly debunked.
In the real world, each person, and by extension, nation, is responsible for the violence and deaths they cause. The facts are that Saddam had already been killing hundreds of thousands of Iraqis long before the US invaded. From the US invasion in 2003 to 2008, the total number of Iraqi civilians killed was about 92 thousand. (http://www.iraqbodycount.org/) Of those, the US military caused 12% of the deaths, the army of Saddam cause 11% of the civilian deaths, and the various sectarian militias and terrorist groups caused some 74% of all civilian deaths.
http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.1000415
Even to this day, long after US troops have withdrawn from Iraq, Sunni & Shia militias have continued to murder Iraqis. Their victims are by intention, almost always civilians. These terrorists continue to receive guidance and weapons from Iran.
Today in Syria, the dictator Bashir al-Assad has lead the country into a bloody civil war which has already killed over 70,000 Syrians. For comparison sake: that’s more people than have been killed during the whole Arab-Israeli conflict since 1948. Assad receives military support from Iran and Hezbollah.
For some reason the Cuban government continues to provide public diplomatic support for Bashir al-Assad, welcoming a special envoy from the dictator to Havana just last month.
The widespread belief that GW Bush said God gave him the go ahead to invade Iraq is described here as an ‘urban myth’ and a ‘myth based on a lie’.
Two senior Palestinian politicians testified that Bush did, in fact, say such a thing to them.
Perhaps Griffin and Moses have reasons why they assume that these two gentlemen were lying.
Now lets see if we can guess what those reasons might be….
hmmmm….
Now Moses, while we’re at it lets see if you can describe to us exactly why you think the twisted and bloodthirsty Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld fiasco which came to power in an entirely fraudulent fashion was, in any way ‘head and shoulders above what Cubans have with the Castros’, as you put it ??
My reference to “suitcases and dirty bombs” was metaphorically-speaking. The current norm appears to be ‘pressure cookers’. It is an urban myth that Bush said God told him to invade Iraq. Democracy in the US is far from perfect and heavily influenced by corporate money, but remains head and shoulders above what Cubans have with the Castros. My comments reflect the majority opinion of most Americans. I believe Cuban should have free and open multiparty elections, an independent press, and the basic human rights to assemble, redress grievances and access to private property. These are hardly “oddball and reactionary” if you understand what these terms mean in a political sense.
Griffin,
To try and defend GW Bush whilst describing Syria and Iran as murderous regimes smacks somewhat of hypocrisy.
The carnage in Iraq was brought on by the USA and the British. No doubt about that.
The Cuban Government has always had something of a ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend’ policy.
Perhaps one could indeed make the case that this policy has led it to have some odd ‘bed-fellows’ over the years. More than those you mention.
As a counterbalance, if one were to start listing the murderous regimes that the USA has been in bed with over the last century or so then this post would go on and on and on and on…….
First if all, Bush never said that God TD him to invade Iraq. That’s a myth built on a lie. Second of all, the baste majority of deaths and destruction in Iraq were the work of the terrorists of the Sunni & Shia militias, the very people the US was fighting against.
So lets return to the subject of Cuba, the focus of this blog. The Cuban regime was a good friend and long time ally of Moammar Gadaffi, and currently maintains close relations and diplomatic support for the murderous regimes of Iran and Syria.
It is sad to read that Erasmo laments the death of Osama bin Laden, while falling sucker to the cheapest conspiracy theories.
Re the oddball reactionary comment from Moses,
So you state that those going round with suitcases full of dirty bombs wanna hook up with their 44 virgins.
Do you remember GW Bush saying it was ok to invade Iraq and bring down untold slaughter of biblical proportions upon that land was fine because God said it was fine?
And you actually think that the USA is governed by the power of democracy just because you get to trot off down to yer local ballot box twice per decade??
Surely you need to realise that the USA is ruled by corporate interests.
I think you have been victimised by the propaganda in the right-wing owned media.
C’mon Moses..
Wise up a little…
Erasmo, it is easy to read your contempt for President Obama and for the truly brave fighting men charged with carrying out his orders. As an American, I am accustomed to this type of public disagreement. This is part of what makes the US a democracy. What is always evident in the criticisms Cubans love to hurl at Obama is your lightly-veiled disagreement with Obama being given a Nobel Peace Prize. First of all, he did not ask for this honor. Second, don’t confuse ‘working for peace’ with being ‘peaceful’. Obama wants peace. Most Americans want peace. Sometimes, the only way to maintain the peace is through violence. (Read WWII) It is our American young people who must risk their lives in fighting these wars. We want peace more than most. It is easy to write the occasional “reflexion” decrying the use of nuclear weapons, spouting off about nuclear winters or the benefits of yoga, but it is another task altogether to stand guard against those who would carry suitcase-size dirty bombs into public spaces and kill hundreds of thousands of innocent people simply to spend eternity with 44 virgins. These are real threats that Obama must face daily. If it offends your sensibilities that someone must ‘police’ the world, what is your alternative? If not the US, then who will do the job? I wish I did not have to have my tax dollars wasted on military operations that keep the lunatic dictator in North Korea in check. But my reality, like all Americans, is that there are crazy people in the world. Someone has to keep us safe from them.