Still Not Dancing

I'm still not dancing in the streets and it's not because I have a mangled toe. I'm just not feeling it. I just have too many questions about the assassination of Osama bin Laden. I also don't feel right celebrating the murder of another person. Yes, bin Laden was a very evil man. He had no respect for human life. But does that permit me to have no respect for human life also? I don't want to be like him so I choose not to rejoice over his death.

In between household chores today I took a few breaks to research different views on last night's event in Pakistan. As the day went on I noticed more and more reports of people asking questions. Oh, what a relief that was. I'm glad to see there are a few people who don't operate on blind faith alone and actually have critical thinking skills. 

Out of all the stories and reports I read I found this one to be interesting enough to share. Did Osama Really Die On Monday In Abbottabad?  by: Akhtar Jamal - Pakistan Observer. In this article, the writer ends with a time-line of death claims on Osama since 2002. When I read this it just made me question things more. I can't help it...blind faith just ain't my thing.

July, 2002 FBI counter-terrorism chief Dale Watson tells a law enforcement conference: “I personally think bin Laden is probably not with us anymore, but I have no evidence to support that.”

August 2002, an American radio host Alex Jones announces, citing high-level Bush administration sources, “that bin Laden died of natural causes and that his family has given the body to the CIA.” Jones added, “they’re gonna roll him out right before the election, he’s on ice right now.”

May, 2003 French military analyst announces that bin Laden was killed in an American air raid in Tora Bora shortly after the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.

February, 2004 Iranian Radio reports that bin Laden was captured in the Afghan-Pakistan border area “a long time ago”—but the official announcement was delayed because “Bush is intending to use it for propaganda maneuvering in the presidential election.”

April, 2005 The Israeli press picks up an account from a radical Muslim London newspaper: “We now report that the al-Qaeda organization has announced the death of Osama Bin Laden.”

September 2006 French intelligence document says that Saudis believe bin Laden had died of typhoid in Pakistan.

June 2008: Citing two unnamed officials, Time magazine reports that a recent CIA study has concluded bin Laden has long-term kidney disease and “may only have months to live.”

April, 2009 President Asif Ali Zardari tells the media that his country’s intelligence services “obviously feel that (bin Laden) does not exist anymore”.

Finally on May 2, 2011 American President Barak Obama announces that the U.S. killed bin Laden in Pakistan.