The Death of Osama Bin Laden: Almost a decade too late?

Entry Excerpt:

The Death of Osama Bin Laden: Almost a decade too late?
by Matthew Ince

On Monday 2 May 2011 US President Obama announced the death of Osama Bin Laden following the success of a US operation conducted by an elite group of US Navy Seals in Abbottabad, Pakistan, where the Al-Qa’ida figurehead had been taking refuge. Despite the common belief that key members of Al-Qa’ida’s central leadership had been in hiding within the federally administered tribal areas of Pakistan, the suburban compound where Bin Laden was discovered was in fact just 1 km away from Pakistan’s Military Academy, close to the country’s capital Islamabad. While this raises many questions about US trust for the intelligence arm of Pakistan’s military, Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari was however quick to point out Pakistan’s early assistance in identifying the Al-Qa’ida courier that had ultimately led to up to the elimination of Bin Laden. Irrespectively, Bin Laden’s death has come as good news for many, particularly in the US, where countless groups of individuals will no doubt believe that justice has finally been served for the attacks of 9/11. It also comes against the backdrop of wider transition within the Middle East and a movement towards greater freedom and democracy; a process that has already begun to render Al-Qa’ida’s rhetoric and doctrine increasingly irrelevant within many parts of the Muslim world.

Matthew Ince currently works as a Project Manager at the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies. He has an MA in Geopolitics and Grand Strategy and a BA (Hons) in International Relations from the University of Sussex.



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