Bin-Laden as the Purloined Letter

In his story "The Purloined Letter," Edgar Allan Poe writes about a man who hides a letter he doesn’t want found in plain sight, amongst the other letters and bills on his desk. Whenever I’ve wanted to hide something, I’ve remembered that story. Apparently, Osama bin-Laden read it too, since he was killed while hiding in plain sight.

David Ray Griffin once said in a Dreamland interview that bin-Laden was a creation of the CIA. It’s true he was handy for the Bush-Cheney administrations, since he gave them "permission" to spy on citizens, call anyone who dissented from their plans unpatriotic, and–most of all–invade Iraq (where Cheney’s business interests made big bucks), despite the fact that Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with the 911 attacks. Actually, George W. Bush and Osama bin-Laden, despite being sworn enemies, were actually a lot alike. Both, in their own ways, were the black sheep of their families (the binLadens, wealthy and successful builders in the Middle East, were reportedly very embarrassed by Osama). Bush was a heavy drinker who used religion to reform. Osama used religion to define himself, to separate himself from his family. Both felt totally justified in attacking anyone who didn’t totally agree with their religious beliefs.

They were also both creations of religious fundamentalism. This is obvious when it comes to bin-Laden, but it greatly influenced Bush’s administration as well. During his terms as president, stem cell research was blocked (and is now sailing ahead in Europe and in "third world" countries like India). Since this is the greatest medical breakthrough since vaccines and antibiotics, the US should be at the forefront of this research, but instead we are trailing far behind, despite having learned that stem cells can be created from a patient’s own cells, thus embryos are no longer needed). NASA was also instructed not to mention climate change (Bush and Cheney saw it as a threat to big business). Surely God wouldn’t destroy the Earth with floods caused by rising sea levels due to melting glaciers after he promised Noah never to send a great flood again, but instead to send "the fire next time." Many prominent NASA scientists disagreed with this dictate, but they had to follow their employer’s dictates. Even small corners of science were dissuaded from continuing, including research into the causes of homosexuality (since Leviticus says it’s a sin to lie with another man).

There are rumors swirling around the internet that the killing of bin-Laden was a hoax. I can see why Obama would want to end all the intrigue by "destroying" the totem that was bin-Laden, but don’t think that’s the case here. I’ve learned something about lying, from listening to so many stories from "experiencers." In fact, there is someone we see several times a year whose contactee story is completely made up. I’ve never called him on it, but I AM curious about his motivations. It could simply be that he’s a person who has a little gold (a few, vaguely remembered experiences) that he has "embroidered" into an elaborate tale in order to justify his memories, but I’m worried that his motivations may be darker than that.

Given what I know about lies, here’s why I think that bin-Laden’s killing really happened: If it was a hoax, we would have been told that it had occurred in a dark cave along the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, where we were always told that bin-Laden was hiding out. We never would have been told that he was taken out in a mansion that was custom-built for him, less than a mile from the Pakistani version of West Point or Sandhurst. This revelation doesn’t look good for our ally, Pakistan–it makes it look like they were in collusion with al-Qaeda in hiding him. As long as we are pouring aid money into that country, we don’t want our Congress to get the idea into their heads that maybe they aren’t always on our side.

Today we drove past a progressive high school with a sign outside that said, "Don’t celebrate killing–End all wars." I assume they were referring to the jubilation in front of the White House (and in other places) that followed the announcement of bin-Laden’s death. This sounds like something from the "peace and love" 60s–an idea that 911 made us all outgrow. Love is fine if it causes you to receive love–or at least tolerance–in return, but that doesn’t work for bullies and terrorists who are bent on your destruction. I’m glad we had military men with the courage and training that enabled them to go in there and take Osama out. They did the whole world a favor.