I'll be right up front with you. I honestly do not know, and neither do you.
I have read a number of the news releases over the past two days, and quite frankly, I am simply not convinced. Just because the news media says that it
is so, does not mean that it is really so. In fact, even though President
Obama himself officially announced the death of Osama bin Laden, I still
remain unconvinced.

While I can understand the nod to Muslim sensitivities -- according to
Muslim tradition, the deceased must be buried within twenty-four hours --
when I first read that Osama bin Laden had been shot in the head in an
immense compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, and that his body had then been disposed of in the North Arabian Sea, my jaw just about dropped to the
floor.

What? No evidence for the world to see? Truly odd! The needle on my
conspiracy theory meter jumped all the way to the far right into the red
zone!

Considering everything that Osama bin Laden allegedly planned, did, or
inspired others to do in the way of extreme violence, one would think that
the world would demand clear, physical, unquestionable evidence of his
demise. Certainly the US Government realizes this; yet there will be no evidence, other than the US Government's claims, and the claims of the mass media.

Call me crazy, or just an extreme skeptic, but it seems to me that if there
was any chance of capturing Osama bin Laden alive, the American Navy Seals
and the CIA operatives who were commissioned to do the job would have
certainly found a way to achieve this objective, in order to bring Osama bin Laden to justice in the United States. Taking this action would certainly
give a lot more people some degree of closure, I would think. It would have allowed a lot of people to finally let go of their hostility, and the bitterness which has poisoned their lives.

In short, it is very hard for me to believe that the CIA and the Navy Seals would just kill Osama bin Laden in his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, and then dump his body into the Arabian Sea. Furthermore, as I noted earlier,
the Muslims have very specific burial rites, and I don't think that it
includes dumping a body into the sea. Regardless of what some of them think
of Osama bin Laden, as Muslims, I still think that they would find this
action offensive and very disrespectful.

Let's be honest here. If Osama bin Laden was killed, whether his body was dumped into the Arabian Sea, or brought back to the United States as proof
of "mission accomplished", either way, it is still going to result in some
kind of retaliatory actions being taken by al-Qaeda and their operatives
sooner or later. It may take days, weeks, months or years, but it is bound
to happen. In other words, I honestly do not believe that being sensitive to Muslim burial rites would make any difference. Just the fact that Osama bin Laden has allegedly been killed will be sufficient motivation to inspire revenge attacks by Muslim extremists, in my view. A disregard for Muslim
burial rites may possibly contribute to that, but by how much?

So, being the conspiracy theorist that I tend to be at times, I have entertained a few possibilities at this time. First, assuming that it is
true that Osama bin Laden was cornered in his compound at Abbottabad,
Pakistan, is it possible that they so mutilated his body -- due to weapons fire, or worse -- that they had no choice but to quickly dispose of it,
instead of taking it back to the United States?

And here is the really big one . . .

Anyone who understands these things will realize that Osama bin Laden could
be a much more valuable intelligence asset alive, rather than dead. Just
think of what the United States Government could learn about al-Qaeda -- and similar Muslim extremist organizations -- by interrogating Osama bin Laden.
In fact, he could lead them to other al-Qaeda leaders and operatives, such
as al-Qaeda's second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahiri. In light of this fact, killing bin Laden would seem like a very major blunder, in my opinion. That
is why I personally believe that the American Navy Seals and the CIA would
take every precaution to try to capture Osama bin Laden alive.

So -- yes, it is time to theorize now; I don't want to disappoint you -- is
it possible that Osama bin Laden has actually been captured alive, and that
he has been secreted away to some remote location where he will be tortured
and interrogated, beyond the eyes of the world and the American public?

It certainly doesn't seem so far-fetched to me in light of George W. Bush's fondness for so-called extraordinary rendition and foreign torture labs
where American laws have no legal reach.

Another question: Why now?

I can think of two reasons. First, President Obama wants to scale back operations in Afghanistan, just as he has been doing in Iraq; although to be honest, I believe that a large degree of deception has been used against the American public. In other words, I sense that if we clear away all of the
smoke and mirrors, as well as the political and military jargon, we will realize that a lot more military personnel will be remaining in both Iraq
and Afghanistan, than we have been led to believe. At any rate, with the announcement of Osama bin Laden's alleged death, the United States
Government can now convince the American public that there is even more of a reason to pull out of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

And then there is the upcoming presidential election. Don't think for a
minute that President Obama hasn't considered this factor. The man is no
doubt walking around with the symbolic feather in his cap, to the fury of George W. Bush and the Republicans who were never able to get Osama bin
Laden "dead or alive". The Republicans may be congratulating Obama publicly,
as is demanded by political correctness, but underneath, who knows what the real sentiments may be, being as he achieved, where they failed for so many years.

There is a final point that I would like to mention which further explains
why I am so incredulous regarding the announcement of the death of Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Not only did my jaw drop when I read that American operatives allegedly disposed of his body in the Arabian Sea, but
when I learned that this compound -- which clearly stood out from other buildings in the area due to its huge size and extensive layout which was specifically designed for personal security -- was located only a third of a mile from a Pakistani military installation, I couldn't believe what I was reading. According to news reports, Abbottabad is a wealthy hamlet that is located only thirty five miles from the Pakistani capital of Islamabad.

What? Osama bin Laden was right under their noses all this time, and they didn't even know it? Give me a break! I think that there is a lot of intentional deception going around right now. I suspect that either the Pakistani government, the Pakistani military, or the Pakistani intelligence service -- the Inter-Services Intelligence -- has been protecting Osama bin Laden this entire time, and I know that I am not alone in this assessment.

So is Osama bin Laden really dead? I don't know. Maybe he is, and maybe he isn't. Was Osama bin Laden really buried at sea? Again, maybe he was, and
maybe he wasn't. Who knows? I don't, and neither do you; unless you believe everything that the mass media tells you, and what your government tells
you. I don't. For all we know, this announcement by the United States Government could be a farce on a grand scale. On the other hand, maybe it isn't. We will never be told the full truth.

That is the way of governments of the world. We -- the common citizens --
are treated on a need-to-know basis, and there are a lot of things that
secular governments believe that their people simply do not need to know,
and should not find out. Thank God that we Christians have a Government in Heaven which operates according to more righteous principles.


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