Granting Osama's Last Wish

Osama Bin Laden’s son, Omar, purportedly released a statement denouncing his father’s killing as -"criminal" and said his burial at sea had humiliated the family, an online monitoring service said.

The statement said the al Qaeda chief's children reserved the right to take legal action in the United States and internationally to "determine the true fate of our vanished father," the SITE Intelligence Group said.  There was no independent confirmation of the authenticity of the letter, published on the website of Islamist ideologue Abu Walid al-Masri, although several specialists on militant propaganda said the text appeared genuine.

Omar bin Laden did not immediately respond to emailed and telephoned requests for comment.

The letter said, in part: "We hold the American President (Barack) Obama legally responsible to clarify the fate of our father, Osama bin Laden, for it is unacceptable, humanely and religiously, to dispose of a person with such importance and status among his people, by throwing his body into the sea in that way, which demeans and humiliates his family and his supporters and which challenges religious provisions and feelings of hundreds of millions of Muslims."

The letter also accused the U.S. administration of failing to offer proof to back up its account of the mission. It alleged the goal of raid had been to kill and not arrest, adding that afterwards the American commandos had “rushed to dispose of the body.”  Some Muslims have misgivings about how U.S. forces killed bin Laden in a raid in Pakistan on May 2 and disposed of his body in the ocean.

Questions have multiplied since the White House said the al Qaeda leader was unarmed when U.S. helicopter-borne commandos raided the villa where he was hiding in the city of Abbottabad.

Bin Laden's swift burial at sea, in what many Muslims say was a violation of Islamic custom, has also stirred anger.

Detainees at Gitmo allege that Bin Laden was the mastermind of the attacks, and gave their own where-were-you-on-9/11 account of Bin Laden’s reaction to the attacks, as he sat by a short-wave radio waiting for the news.  They said he prayed and wept and each time one of the planes accomplished its “mission” and would hold up an additional fingering, indicating there was yet another attack on the way.  Then he shouted “Allah Akbar!”

"They were overjoyed when the first plane hit the building so I said to them: 'Be patient,’” the terrorist was quoted as saying.  He then moved to an adjacent room with a satellite TV and they began to record coverage of the events.

Yet in 2002, in an interview with the Daily Ummat of Karachi, which was published on the website Just Reason, Bin Laden disavowed any connection with 9/11:

Daily Ummat: You have been accused of involvement in the attacks on New York and Washington. What do you want to say about this?

Bin Laden  I am thankful to Ummat Publications for giving me the opportunity to convey my viewpoint to the people, particularly the valiant and Momin [true Muslim] people of Pakistan who refused to believe the lies of the demon [Pakistani military dictator General Pervez Musharraf].

I have already said that I am not involved in the September 11 attacks in the United States. As a Muslim, I try my best to avoid telling a lie. I had no knowledge of these attacks, nor do I consider the killing of innocent women, children and other human beings as an appreciable act. Islam strictly forbids causing harm to innocent women, children and other people. Such a practice is forbidden even in the course of battle. It is the United States which is perpetrating every sort of maltreatment on women, children and common people of other faiths, particularly the followers of Islam. All that has been going on in Palestine for the last 11 months is sufficient to invoke the wrath of God upon the United States and Israel. There is also a warning for those Muslim countries that witnessed all of this as silent spectators. What had earlier been done to the innocent people of Iraq, Chechnya and Bosnia? Only one conclusion could be derived from the indifference of the United States and the West to these acts of terror and the patronage of the tyrants by these powers, namely that America is an anti-Islamic power and is patronising anti-Islamic forces. Its friendship with the Muslim countries is just show, or rather deceit. By enticing or intimidating these countries, the United States is forcing them to play a role of its choice. Cast a glance around and you will see that the slaves of the United States are either rulers or enemies of Muslims.

Daily Ummat: The losses caused in the attacks in New York and Washington have proved that giving an economic blow to the US is not too difficult. US experts admit that a few more such attacks could bring down the American economy. Why is Al-Qaeda not targeting their economic pillars?

Bin Laden: I have already said that we are not hostile to the United States. We are against the [US Government] system, which makes other nations slaves of the United States, or forces them to mortgage their political and economic freedom. This system is totally under the control of American-Jews, whose first priority is Israel, not the United States. It is clear that the American people are themselves the slaves of the Jews and are forced to live according to the principles and laws laid down by them. So, the punishment should reach Israel. In fact, it is Israel, which is giving a blood bath to innocent Muslims and the US is not uttering a single word.

Daily Ummat: Are there any safe areas other than Afghanistan, where you can continue jihad?

Bin Laden: There are areas in all parts of the world where strong jihadi forces are present, from Indonesia to Algeria, from Kabul to Chechnya, from Bosnia to Sudan, and from Burma to Kashmir. Then it is not the problem of my person. I am a helpless fellowman of God, constantly in the fear of my accountability before God.  It is not the question of Osama but of Islam and, in Islam too, of jihad. Thanks to God, those waging a jihad can walk today with their heads raised.  Jihad existed when there was no Osama and it will continue to exist even when Osama is no longer here.  Allah opens up ways and creates love in the hearts of people for those who walk on the path of Allah with their lives, property and children.  Believe it, through jihad, a man gets everything he desires. And the biggest desire of a Muslim is the life after death. Martyrdom is the shortest way of attaining an eternal life.

What a liar he was.  This is what his family and followers base his alleged innocence on - that the U.S. can’t prove he was involved in 9/11.  Yet by the account of his own followers, he knew exactly what was going to happen that day.  They would tie America’s Constitution around her neck and hang her with it.  There’s supposedly a whole paper trail on his guilt, not to mention the “college library” of information from his last abode that the CIA is even now culling.

It’s too bad there are such blabbermouths in the White House, giving conflicting reports of the raid at Abottobad.  The White House should have produced the photos and kept quiet on the details of his killing.  Not that the majority of Americans care about that.  They’ve taken a grim satisfaction in knowing that Osama was shown as much mercy as his victims in the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, and the planes, much better than if he’d been dragged back to America to stand trial, with the possibility of walking or receiving less than he deserved on account of some arcane technicality.

Rest assured, America, OBL got just what he deserved.  He wanted to play the jihadist warrior and leader.  He was the one who famously declared war on America and he met his fate as any other enemy leader would, such as Yamamoto.

He always said he wanted to die a martyr’s death, that he didn’t want to be taken alive.  SEAL Team Six merely granted Osama Bin Laden his final wish.