Written by Richard Kane   

Traditional hawks are cooling down, and will do so until another terror attack. Maybe Mother Nature will shock us out of an ever rising defense budget with a disaster. Conceivably something less than a Japanese style earthquake making the US forget about war. Peace efforts, even if Obama started any during his first days in office could have fallen though if even one al Qaeda member suicide-bombed the starting to withdraw US troops except for the next maybe only weeks when it when US efforts to withdraw could not be interpreted as weakness by those undecided about bin Laden being the only road to self-respect.

The US is derelict if some Taliban officials are not quickly taken off the terror list from the information gathered from bin Laden’s hideout computer tapes. If the tapes show a target is not an enemy but delay in red tape or not wanting to reveal what the tapes said, thus still targeting an innocent person, would be most people’s definition of murder. A unilateral drone cease-fire and stay-on-base-orders for US troops would be a perfect peace gesture and allow those hurt by al Qaeda, but too afraid of al Qaeda to complain about al Qaeda, to risk carefully joining the celebration including bin Laden’s death by calling it the war if over celebration, in Pakistan, Afghanistan and even al Qaeda victims in the Middle East.

Al Qaeda liked to create what I call a worldwide barroom brawl. Even helping spread tensions between Hindus and Muslims. European touchiness over Muslims has something to do with the Madrid train and British subway attacks. I was furious at Israel for what I thought was their killing of an Italian peace activist, until I discovered al Qaeda did it. Israel and Palestine won’t let al Qaeda make things worse.

Something awkward in now getting in the way of a united peace effort. The new, “We won enough, it’s time to end this costly war”, and the traditional peace movement of US guilt over Imperialism aren’t bonding. What’s preventing the traditional, and the it’s suddenly time for peace, movements from getting together is different views of the cheering in the streets.

It’s incredibly good news that both bin Laden can't hurt us any more and that the US got a wealth of intelligence information, good news that his wife and daughter weren't incinerated with a drone attack. Some claim it would have been picture-perfect had bin Laden been sent to the Hague for a trial, very similar to the World War II trials of Nazi war criminals.

To me, it would be picture-perfect (if of course the helicopter didn’t crash) if he and his two couriers were captured while sleeping, then put in a coma, then carefully implanted with microscopic tracking and listening chips buried beneath their skin, then returned to bin Laden’s house with his wife, servant and kids waiting, without even realizing microscopic listening devices had been implanted. Things neat and tidy, (and of course) filled with microscopic listening devices. If his family and staff tried to explain to anyone else what had happened, the responses to this unlikely story would let the US trace al Qaeda’s trail as the US quietly unraveled al Qaeda’s network. Including the conversations when going to the hospital, when they understood, to try to get x-rays to help find the listening devices and pull them out.

However instead of saying that the ending wasn’t ideal, some claim a vicious revenge attack occurred; like the Mafia or vigilantes would do. In Spain when the police moved in to capture the al Qaeda group responsible for the Madrid commuter-train backpack bombing with percussion bombs, the terrorists blew themselves up killing a police officer in the process. Bin Laden (in 20/20 hindsight), wasn’t wearing a suicide belt like the terrorist who had captured a Christian Science reporter, who wore a suicide belt to bed and to the reporter’s dread was scrambling eggs on a too hot stove. Bin Laden unexpectedly didn’t have constantly armed guards,or booby traps, or even a poisoned needle to stab himself or one of his attackers with, only money and phone numbers sown into his pajamas.

Had the US decided in a joint action with three carefully picked Afghan police officers to randomly search all the big mansions in Pakistan without phone or Internet service, they would have to have chosen between at least several dozen, and note that the two males that came and went from the house seemed to have limited income. Though several mansions could have had owners with very limited recent cash. Noting that they never recently used anyone else’s phone would mean many weeks of patience before knocking on the first mansion’s door to demand a search. They would have found a tall old man in a bathtub screaming for his wife or male attendants to help him out of the tub, because he was too weak to get out. If asked through the door why no phone he might answer he was stopping his x-wife from harassing him with phone calls. Finding no tunnels or boogie traps they might leave to investigate the next house. Catching this sicko genius is something worth celebrating, far more so than if bound up bin Laden managed to kick, and squirm out of a helicopter in flight maneuverings tangling the rope to try to take one of the Navy Seals out of the helicopter with him, even an unconscious heavy lump while trying not to be shot down, would be asking a lot of extra risk from the heroic Navy Seals.

No armed guards or murder suicide devices meant he could likely avoid being discovered in random searches of mansions, not that he was safe from committing a last moment attempt at jihad. This isn’t a jury announcing death in an air-conditioned courthouse, or a computer programmer doing the same with a joy stick and a drone plane.

The drunken celebration at the end of the World Wars was so wild that some mothers pulled their little children off the street so they wouldn’t watch the decadent celebration My father told me of breaking up a fight between two drunken sailors by standing between them and quietly listening to the accusations against the other sailor until the aggressive one cooled down. Today’s far less brutal celebration is also based on, to a great extent, relief. Accusing celebrants of blood lust (If the celebrants begin to believe it) can only get in the way of them demanding getting out of the Afghan Quagmire right now! During Vietnam wild cheering was expressed when former hawks like Daniel Ellsberg suddenly spoke out for peace. Today if Colin Powell or even former President Bush says its time for substantial concessions and a temporary drone cease-fire to start peace negotiations rolling to get out of Afghanistan, would Dennis Kucinich and Cindy Sheehan yawn or cheer?

Al Qaeda executes gruesome attacks in Pakistan, such as otherwise good Muslims daring to cheer a real-time soccer game on a huge TV screen after visiting soccer teams were suicide-bombed, preventing anymore international games locally, and Sufi shrines blown up while Sufis were at prayer. since bin Laden believed that the Sufis thinking that Allah as something to do with love, turns Muslims into softies,
http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2011/04/10_killed_in_bombing.php

With the US, Bin Laden carefully avoided anything that might resurrect the draft, a far cheaper way to fight. If the US doesn’t get out of Afghanistan right now, no mater how defeated al Qaeda might get even one member left could conduct a gruesome stabbing on a soft target, caring less and less about hitting only targets that will help bankrupt America.

Several times Afghan President Karzai begged various leaders to mediate a peace conference between the Afghan government and the al Qaeda. As he begged Ahmadinejad, he got grief for it in the US papers. Saudi Arabia said it wouldn’t mediate unless the Taliban first renounced bin Laden. Perhaps at this point, in order to get the Saudi’s to mediate, would be for the Taliban to denounce the Al Qaeda video where bin Laden had a rock wall background that looked like it might be at the entrance to a cave, to lead the US in the wrong direction. Bin Laden’s youngest wife said they lived in and around Abbotabad since 2003, Even if she isn’t being honest and he made a couple quick trips to have videos elsewhere, it would help the Taliban to be mad at al Qaeda, for constantly making it look like bin Laden was in the Tribal Area of Pakistan.

But it looks like Saudi Arabia has been distracted by events in Bahrain. Now for a more encompassing peace suggestion, when it comes to Iraq and Bahrain. Maybe the Sunni-Shiite divide can come together with joint minority religious courts. If a Sunni is found guilty in Iran, he or she might appeal to a Sunni court and after a few weeks in jail be retried and let go or even have the punishment increased according to the Sunni judge. In Bahrain and Iraq a Shiite judge would in a few weeks review the sentencing if a Shiites defendant so asked. The CIA, with it’s mass blogging machines pretending to be 50 bloggers at once, if it toys inadvertently with the Shite-Sunni divide could be helping spread a disaster rather than an Arab spring. US Internet papers and cafes need to be alert to mass bloggers as well.

Again if a very unwieldy coalition of those proud of what the US accomplished but tired of the costs and those guilty about US transgressions could unite, the war in Afghanistan would be over.

If John Lennon was still alive the Afghan War would now be over. Perhaps if we started playing Lennon’s song, Imagine, following the Star Spangled Banner, John Lennon’s song would start approaching reality.

Whether or not I hit the right button there is a lot of new energy out there to end the war and there is a way to tap it. Try to put your mind back to right after 9/1l. Imagining taking a generation to capture the villain, killing many with fleeting involvement and many with no connection at all, finally getting the villain and his computer files to boot. Then continue to fight with those not implemented on his computer tapes.

If I haven't found the key to turn off the ignition someone else please find it. That key does exist for someone to find if I happen to have a slightly different key.


Also note,
http://www.readersupportednews.org/pm-section/21-21/5825-the-afghan-war-is-almost-over-it-we-would-again-join-john-lennon-in-imagining-peace

http://www.delawareliberal.net/2011/05/05/will-bin-ladens-death-end-the-afghanistan-war/#comment-234635

By Richard Kane in Philly PA