Law triumphs over Terror
Osama bin Laden, the face of global terrorism and architect of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, was killed in a firefight with elite American forces
``Justice has been done,'' US President Barack Obama said in a dramatic announcement at the White House while a crowd cheered outside and hundreds more gathered at ground zero in Manhattan to celebrate the news.
The military operation took mere minutes. US helicopters ferrying elite counter-terrorism troops into the compound identified by the CIA as bin Laden's hideout _ and back out again in less than 40 minutes. Bin Laden was shot in the head after he and his bodyguards resisted the assault.
The 54-year-old bin Laden's death marks a psychological triumph in a long struggle that began with the Sept. 11 attacks, and seems certain to give Obama a political lift. But its ultimate impact on al-Qaida is less clear.
The greatest terrorist threat to the U.S. is now considered to be the al-Qaida franchise in Yemen, far from al-Qaida's core in Pakistan. The Yemen branch almost took down a US-bound airliner on Christmas 2009 and nearly detonated explosives aboard two U.S. cargo planes last fall.
Four years ago, the United States learned the man's identity, which officials did not disclose, and then about two years later, they identified areas of Pakistan where he operated. Last August, the man's residence was found, officials said.
This compound was custom built in 2005 to hide someone of significance, with walls as high as 18 feet (5 1/2 meters) and topped by barbed wire. Despite the compound's estimated $1 million cost and two security gates, it had no phone or Internet running into the house.
By mid-February, intelligence from multiple sources was clear enough that Obama wanted to pursue an aggressive course of action. Over the next two and a half months, Obama led five meetings of the National Security Council focused solely on whether bin Laden was in that compound and, if so, how to get him.
Two hours later, Obama was told that bin Laden had been tentatively identified. CIA director Leon Panetta was directly in charge of the military team during the operation, according to one official, and when he and his aides received word at agency headquarters that bin Laden had been killed, cheers broke out around the conference room table.
Thus World Law has triumphed over World Terror. This is the beginning of victory for International Law against the World Terrorists.
India should learn from Obama
In the wake of the dramatic US operation at Abbottabad, which ended in Osama bin Laden's death, one wonders whether India has the 'capabilities' to carry out such strikes.
Given the experience of 26/11 in Mumbai and the quality of responses witnessed there, as well as in a host of earlier operations, and knowledge of 'capacity building' thereafter, it should be abundantly clear that India does not have the necessary capabilities to carry out such operations even on its own soil, leave alone deep inside hostile territory.
This is as a result of a systematic neglect and weakening of India's security apparatus, and the dismantling of covert capabilities by successive administrations over decades. Such capabilities can be restored. It requires a measure of strategic acuity, resilience and determination on the part of our political leaders, which at present they give no evidence of possessing.
Our leaders should learn a thing or two from President Barack Obama. Obama sat with national security advisers to evaluate intelligence and then signed, on record, an executive order authorizing an operation to execute a terrorist leader on foreign soil. This is called genuine leadership.
Billions of dollars, tremendous diplomatic arm-twisting, and a relentless commitment to their policy goals have enabled the Americans to secure this limited victory, even as Obama concedes, "His death does not mark the end of our effort."
There is, however, a residual and great danger. Osama's death creates an imminent threat worldwide and certainly in India as well. Tremendous vigilance will be needed from overstretched intelligence and security forces in the coming weeks and months to ensure that such risks are not realised.
More significantly, however, it is a long-term imperative for democracies to develop systems and capacities to protect themselves against ruthless enemies who recognize no limits to their violence and to contest the ideologies of hate that are, today, vigorously propagated even within liberal cultures.
Only America can solve Indo-Pak problem
The American Sea-Air-Land (SEAL) forces rubbed out Osama bin Laden. If only India could send its commandos to do a sequel to the Osama episode, that would be one blockbuster.
India knows the locations of Dawood and Hafiz Saeed. So why can't India finish them the way Obama ended Osama?
The Kashmir problem will not be resolved by capturing or killing some unbelievably evil people in Pakistan. Terrorists have a way of breeding rapidly if they receive political patronage. To resolve Kashmir, or terrorism in the subcontinent, there is no alternative but a state-to-state dialogue.
For years the British did to Irish Republicans what some want us to do to Pakistani jihadists. They killed, captured and maimed hundreds, but that did not bring them closer to peace. Eventually it was the resolve of the governments of Ireland and Britain that did the trick.
Even if India can pull off a forced entry into Lahore, Karachi, or wherever, this will not keep the jihadis from breeding. Terrorists will spawn like worms. Ireland teaches us that peace happens only when governments want peace.
In India we run a risk. Whenever Pakistan postures aggressively, we have to reciprocate. Where is the alternative? This has had disastrous consequences for Indo-Pak relations and there is really no end in sight. For some time, there is a deceptive peace in the Valley and then suddenly a single stone starts an avalanche. Such incidents bring out the worst in both Pakistan and India. Religious bigots, whether Hindu or Muslim, are able to raise the ante and scare the rest from calling their bluff. It is this that keeps miracles from happening.
India and Pakistan need to do something that is grand and magnanimous. For example, when a car bomb killed a rookie Catholic policeman in Northern Ireland, activists from both sides condemned the attack. Catholics and Protestants went in large numbers to the funeral. This proves that for peace to happen both sides should want peace.
The Abbottabad incident shows that Pakistan is unwavering in its support to jihadis. Now that it has been shamed in the open, Pakistan must quickly make up its mind: will it hit back or think about peace?
As far as Indo-Pak problem is concerned, perhaps a push from big brother might help. If Bill Clinton could do it for Ireland, President Obama should do it for us. Only then will the war on terror, in Kashmir and elsewhere, end.
