Top 10 ways Osama Bin Laden could have been found and killed

With all this talk about Osama Bin Laden's death and demise, I was thinking about how he died, or how he could have died. I wondered what my top ten desired ways would have been that would make me happy.

First, let me mention this Bin Laden related FBI cyber warning. Don't be so curious about his death, it may cause you computer grief.

Now, where was I? Oh yes, I realized that the best way to get rid of him, was to simply have him, Disappeared. Or perhaps, found in a compromising position, something to discredit him, to turn his followers away from him in disgust. A lady on talk radio this week said she thought he should have been buried with a pig. People are getting out their frustration, anger and sorrow out, all in different ways.

Here's my top ten:

10. Melted, in perhaps, aqua regia, used sometimes to dissolve gold

9. Incinerated

8. Flown to Antarctica and dropped alive, in a remote crevasse; I'd give him many ten minutes to freeze?

7. Died in a gas leak at home

6. An "Accidental" car accident

5. Hantavirus infection from mouse droppings in his house

4. A wood chipper "accident"

3. Killed in a tall building by way of an aircraft crashing into it

2. Blown up by a suicide bomber (push the definition, make him the suicide)

1. Found at home, in bed, with young male prostitutes, death by heroin overdose with plenty of unacceptable porno laying around and a syphilis infection.

But then again....

 Lawrence Wright

I was listening today to NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross where she interviewed Lawrence Wright (May 2, 2011). New Yorker staff writer Wright has spent the past 15 years of his career thinking about al-Qaida. Wright assesses what bin Laden's death means for the future of al-Qaida and the United States' relationship with Pakistan.

 Listen to the Fresh Air interview here: Lawrence Wright: Bin Laden's Death 'Long In Coming'

Part of what he said is below, and I think it was incredibly acute and poignant. When you have a character like this, you need to get the most out of his death. You need to manipulate and advocate. But you need to be open, honest, and heartfelt. Three of my favorite things to do when I have a tough choice, or deal with a harsh situation.

He said he would like to have heard Bin Laden were caught and taken to deal with who he is:

"You have to deal with his legacy, and not make him a martyr. Take him to Kenya, where in August 6th 1998 where he set off a bomb at the American Embassay killing 229 people and wounding and blinding 150 Africans. So let him sit in a courtroom in Nairobi and explain to all these blind Africans that he was just striking at a symbol of American power. That's just getting started.

"Then take him to Tanzania where on the same day he set off another bomb killing eleven people there, all of them, Muslims. Bin Laden excused that because it was Friday and all Good Muslims should be at Mosque.

"That would be a wonderful venue to talk about what a good Muslim actually is.

"And then, you could bring him to America where he could answer for the death of the seventeen Sailors on the USS Cole in October 2000 and the 3,000 Americans who died  on 9/11. But you don't have to stop there, you could take him so many places. Casablanca, Madrid, London, Bali.

"Then take him one last place, take him home [Saudi Arabia], and have him tried under Sharia law. Which is the only law which he and his followers would respect. And if he's convicted, he would be taken to a square in downtown Ryad. And the executioner is a big man with a long sword. It's Saudi custom for the executioner to go out to the crowd is composed of the victims of the condemned man and ask if he is forgiven and if they couldn't do that then the executioner would do his job and bin laden would be taken and buried in an unmarked wahabi graveyard.

"And I thought in that manner you could begin to roll back his awful legacy."

Actually, all kidding aside, Lawrence was thinking along the lines that I was on Monday and he gave his view of how he would like to have seen Osama handled when captured. I was concerned myself that making him a Martyr was a bad idea. Disappearing him, is only second to that. But the best way to to discredit someone using their own philosophy or laws against them.

He also said he thinks that plans that were in the making will now be rushed to completion and carried out, either by his own group, or one of their affiliates.

Al-Aqsa Mosque imam vows to avenge killing of Osama bin Laden in Youtube video. 'Dogs should not rejoice too much for killing lions'.

Omar, not Osama's replacement?

Osama bin Laden's son Omar bin Laden warned ABC News in an exclusive interview last year that if the U.S. succeeded in killing his father the al Qaeda leadership that would follow would be "much, much worse."

Omar bin Laden turned his back on his father's philosophy, a remarkable step for a man in an Arab culture where it is a sin to disobey his father and taboo to openly criticize him. It was doubly significant for Omar bin Laden because his father had picked him to succeed him as the leader of jihad.

Omar bin Laden spoke out shortly after hearing his father in an audio tape praise the attempt by the so-called "underwear bomber" to blow up a jetliner over Detroit on Christmas Day 2009:
"Attacking peaceful people is not being fair, it is unacceptable. If you have a problem with armies or governments you should fight those people. This is what I find unacceptable in my father's way," Omar told ABC News.

Omar had a chilling warning for those who were hunting his father with drones, secret agents and missile strikes. From Omar bin Laden's up-close look at the next generation of mujahideen and al Qaeda training camps he says the worst may lie ahead, that if his father is killed America may face a broader and more violent enemy, with nothing to keep them in check.

"From what I knew of my father and the people around him I believe he is the most kind among them, because some are much, much worse," Omar bin Laden, who was raised in the midst of his father's fighters, told ABC News in an exclusive interview in February 2010. "Their mentality wants to make more violence, to create more problems."

These are still not unsimilar to street gangs and punks be punks, whether they try to kill people or not, whether they have more room to move around in or more sophisticated weaponry, or not. They are criminals and the more countries realize that, the faster everyone will become safe from their childish wanking ways.

Even Osama's family thought he was a chump. Really, they need to get a life. But the gist of the trade wind is, trouble is on the horizon for killing the guy. Lawrence was most likely, right. Then again, sometimes, you can't catch a cockroach and once you get the chance, you simply need to squish it, hit it with a rolled up bamboo mat (did that in Hawaii one time); kill it any chance you get and when it took you ten years to finally get a crack at it, maybe the only way to do it was to shoot first and not ask questions later.

But if they are going to return fire from the Osama camp, I would only ask that if they are going to try killing people, they pick on someone face to face and be a man about it, face them down and give them a chance like we gave Osama, and not;blow up women and children and old men with a hidden bombs like cowards; be it planted or suicide, because suicide bombing is cowardly. You want to be brave? Stick around and deal with changing the world, think, struggle, work hard, speak for change; now that, is hard work. Blowing yourself up is the easy way out.

On the other hand, it may indeed lead to the end of al-Qaida sooner than later, however, probably not without the lives of more innocents. When they hide, as they have been, they are hard to find, as in the cockroach metaphor, but when they strike, it's far easier to pull out a can of "Raid" and melt them down into the dirt. If they want to attack innocent civilians, there is little we can do until the crime is committed. At this point, it feels more like an FBI operation than a CIA one. They need to stop being killed and start being put in jail for crimes against Humanity and like Lawrence said, humiliated by their own kind as even by their own religion and laws, they have broken the rules.

And that is indeed, what makes them criminal.

America as Perceived from Abroad

Leon Penetta and David Patraes are taking over new jobs, running the Pentagon and the CIA, respectively.

That is fine. However, I agree with Fareed Zakaria that this is a prime opportunity for those newly in charge of these agencies to rethink, to redevelop the way we think and respond to International Crisis. We should be considering how the world percieves us. Not how they have perceived us for decades, not how we want to be thought of, but how we are currently being thought of and by the people of the world, not just those rich and powerful individuals and governments.

Our National Security Bureaucracy is immense and it dictates far too much of how the majority of Americans perceive themselves and our the world perceives the US, there is too large of a discrepancy between those two ideals.

We throw immense amount of money at National Security and it's workhorses and we have been left with a peculiar, to say the least, dynamic of nearly automated response and daily repetition of reactions. It is not a system that is self corrected, nor is it tested by outside (that is to say, inside to the American Government but outside) of its own apparent self appointed and self created Universe.

We spend about $80 Billion on intelligence every year, more than the rest of the world put together. Yet, how prepared do you really think we have been for major international events? The CIA did not imagine the fall of the Soviet Union. Nor did they see the revolutions of Eastern Europe. The breakup of Yugoslavia. September 11th. Saddam Hussein's non existent arsenal of weapons of mass destruction. The Global financial crisis. And recently, did we see the Arab uprising coming across the Middle East recently? No.

These were things not foreseen by most agencies around the world. But that is not the point. It is obvious we are not seeing the money we put in to these agencies of ours, distributed in the right places. We have consistently used SigInt (Signals Intelligence such as "spy satellites") rather than HumInt (Human Intelligence, having agents on the ground actually seeing and hearing what is going on). To be sure, we pulled our intelligence from Iraq for years because, Saddam was our "friend" in the Middle East and we had no need for expensive HumInt, besides, we had the "Eyes in the Sky". Have we yet learned anything by those things?

I am not expecting miracles from our hard working agencies. But, shouldn't they at least be preparing our levels of government who are responsible for protecting our physical and economic well being, for sharp changes in the world dynamics at the international, regional and national patterns? At least for the more general situational changes that could be intelligently anticipated, or even expected?

They should be preparing our policymakers for the possibilities of sudden shifts in new circumstances and they should be the ones who are preparing us for expecting the unexpected. We need to know the possibilities ahead of time, to consider the scenarios (which is what the CIA is chartered after all, to do) that are possible and seek solutions ahead of time. Yes, that is time consuming, but what are we paying them for, if not to do these things?

These are the things that distinguish the private sector firms in managing crisis. Isn't that the least we should expect from our Intelligence Community? The running of a government, or a business for that matter, is a condition of "risk management". Management and consideration, scenario analysis, projection and responses.

This has been boiled down decades ago to a Game. Using gaming dynamics, the Intelligence community has been able to plan ahead. But that seems to have died out of late, either due to relying on hard intelligence without proper analysis, or leaning to the sway of saying what is expected. This has been shown to be part of the problem recently in books by those who were at the center of recent crisis management. Check out this photo analysis page for kids at the CIA. It will give you an idea of what it is like to assign appropriate intel to remote intelligence and analysis, as opposed to having feet on the ground kind of intelligence. And this is child level analysis. You may not find it that hard to do, but consider this is the lowest level of this type of intelligence.

We need to be prepared this time, for what will happen in Saudi Arabia. Is someone looking at this? Serious protests in that country, will spike oil and gas prices across the world. They may be our "friend" but they may also need to react to an unseen force, that is falling down across their necks at any moment. I get the feel, they are leading with a similar buy perhaps harsher dynamic than the US has used, and from what we have been seeing, this is reacting like hitting a tree with a stick; the impact can come back upon you and lay you out.

As Fareed asked today, how would you respond to oil at $200 a barrel?

Considering this scenario, why do we not yet have alternative energy? We started upon this road back in the early 70s, and we still do not have this situation under control. I think about people like Pres. Reagan, entering the White House and removing the solar cells from the roof of the White House. Why, when he should have been pushing for more of that, further research, more options of alternative energy than fossil fuels.

We have been living for far too long on the top ends of our credit cards. We are overextended. We need buffers for these times, fuel reserves, other forms of fuel, energy that leaves us not with a bad taste in our mouth, but with a more full pocketbook and not at the will and destiny of other countries who have strangled our wallets for long enough.

We need to get this under control, to stop struggling with debt, stop multiple military actions around the world (and Libya was a good start). We have a demographic and economic time bomb about to blow up in our faces. Are we prepared for that, yet?

One more unforeseen crisis like this, and we may fall flat on our collective faces, unable to get up. Many of us cheered at the fall of the Soviet Union. But how much laughter will ensue from us, if it is the US who falls and cannot get back up to take our seat at the head of the table? China is fast approaching on our tail coats, are we going to simply give them a ride there?

Let's get our act together. Start foreseeing these crisis, or the possible outcomes of our current and ensuing situations. Start getting some buffers set up to protect us when the unexpected happens.

We can make it through this. These are just tough times, not impossible. But sitting with our heads in the sand, isn't going to do anyone in the world, any good.

Osama Bin Laden be gone

Well, the President of the United States said on TV tonight that Osama Bin Laden is dead, by his order, through the efforts of US Military troops and they reclaimed his body after a firefight and no US citizens have died. All the photos of Bin Laden I'm seeing on TV are nice shots of him looking like a normal person of his type, but I want to remember him for what he stood for. Violence.

First of all, my heartfelt and sincere condolances to the Bin Laden family. Because they didn't believe in what Osama was doing either and were mortified by it along with those who had known him and saw the self serving ministrations that Osama perpetrated upon US citizens, Muslims, his own people, and many around the world. I think, the world is a better place now without him, or his type. But then, I'm Buddhist in my thoughts and getting your way by killing, to me, is just wrong.

The Murderer, more like the mobster behind those who were murderers, because I question if he ever killed anyone personally, are still out there, although we have gotten some of them over the past years.

Al Queda has lost its leader, and its main bank, or at least its original bank and gained a martyr. I wasn't sure if it would have been better to capture him and lock him up and away for ever, but sometimes, you simply need to end it. When you are responsible for that many deaths, truly, only ending it is the best policy and locking him up would have only been problematic.

The man that spawned the destruction of New York's Twin Towers, and many many people on that day, the first attack on US Soil of this type and magnitude.

So, it's over for Osama. Osama be gone. Good riddance.

Pres. Bush didn't get it done, I might add. Pres. Obama did. The Republicans would mention it were it reversed, so someone should say it. And no, I'm not a Democrat. I just get sick of Republicans pointing the fingers and for their part, the Democrats always running from a fight.

Now we have the hard part. You know, it's interesting because I bumped a blog article for this one due to the sudden nature of Osama's death. It is titled, "America as Perceived from Abroad". The bumped article will be up for tomorrow morning, I only delayed it one day. But the topic of that article is about changing our attitude and now, I'm writing this....

Osama be dead, now we have to change our attitudes, alter the world, make life better for everyone so people stop having the feelings that Osama was able to work into a frenzy of death and destrution. Because they were there and available for some slimeball like Osama to manipulate, because if these people loved America, this couldn't have happened. Think about it.

So I say, from here forward, onward and upward. For everyone.

And now, let's pay attention to what is really important: Carl Safina: The oil spill's unseen culprits, victims; what happens when you put the murderer in charge of the crime scene (BP), from July 2010.

Weekend Wise Words

Be smart. Be brilliant.

Carl Ransom Rogers (January 8, 1902 – February 4, 1987) was an influential American psychologist and among the founders of the humanistic approach to psychology. Rogers is widely considered to be one of the founding fathers of psychotherapy research and was honored for his pioneering research with the Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions by the American Psychological Association in 1956.

Among the things Carl Rogers has said, are:

In a person who is open to experience each stimulus is freely relayed through the nervous system, without being distorted by any process of defensiveness.

In my early professionals years I was asking the question: How can I treat, or cure, or change this person? Now I would phrase the question in this way: How can I provide a relationship which this person may use for his own personal growth?

When I look at the world I'm pessimistic, but when I look at people I am optimistic.

The good life is a process, not a state of being. It is a direction not a destination.

The ve1ry essence of the creative is its novelty, and hence we have no standard by which to judge it.

- Carl Rogers

Oh what miserable, useless, ignorant bastards Muslim Terrorists are

hJournalist and "accidental theologist" Lesley Hazleton is the author of "After the Prophet: The Epic Story of the Shia-Sunni Split."

Lesley Hazelton in giving a TED lecture in 2010 had much to say on the Koran (or Qua'ran). If you find this interesting, or if you hate what she says as quoted below, go watch the video, as I'm sure you will be either more intrigued, or less spiteful toward her, depending upon your orientation.

A psychologist by training and Middle East reporter by experience, British-born Lesley Hazleton has spent the last ten years exploring the vast and often terrifying arena in which politics and religion, past and present, intersect. Her most recent book, After the Prophet: The Epic Story of the Shia-Sunni Split, was a finalist for the 2010 PEN-USA nonfiction award.

She lived and worked in Jerusalem for thirteen years -- a city where politics and religion are at their most incendiary -- then moved to New York. She came to Seattle to get her pilot's license in 1992, saw the perfect houseboat, and stayed. By 1994, she'd flown away all of her savings, and has never regretted a single cent of it. Now her raft rides low in the water under the weight of research as she works on her next book, The First Muslim, a new look at the life of Muhammad.

"Very interesting perspective. Her talk has motivated me to read and learn more about the Koran and make up my own mind rather than get second hand information filled with hate."

Alan Klein, commenting at Informed Comment, juancole.com

Here is part of what she had to say at TED:

"Or take the infamous verse about killing the unbelievers. Yes, it does say that, but in a very specific context: the anticipated conquest of the sanctuary city of Mecca where fighting was usually forbidden. And the permission comes hedged about with qualifiers. Not, you must kill unbelievers in Mecca, but you can, you are allowed to, but only after a grace period is over and only if there's no other pact in place and only if they try to stop you getting to the Kaaba, and only if they attack you first. And even then -- God is merciful, forgiveness is supreme -- and so, essentially, better if you don't. (Laughter) This was perhaps the biggest surprise -- how flexible the Koran is, at least in minds that are not fundamentally inflexible.

"Some of these verses are definite in meaning," it says, "and others are ambiguous. The perverse at heart will seek out the ambiguities trying to create discord by pinning down meanings of their own. Only God knows the true meaning." The phrase "God is subtle" appears again and again. And indeed, the whole of the Koran is far more subtle than most of us have been led to believe. As in, for instance, that little matter of virgins and paradise. Old-fashioned orientalism comes into play here. The word used four times is Houris, rendered as dark-eyed maidens with swelling breasts, or as fair, high-bosomed virgins. Yet all there is in the original Arabic is that one word: Houris. Not a swelling breast nor a high bosom in sight. (Laughter) Now this may be a way of saying pure beings -- like in angels -- or it may be like the Greek Kouros or Kórē, an eternal youth.

"But the truth is nobody really knows, and that's the point. Because the Koran is quite clear when it says that you'll be "a new creation in paradise" and that you will be "recreated in a form unknown to you," which seems to me a far more appealing prospect than a virgin. (Laughter) And that number 72 never appears. There are no 72 virgins in the Koran. That idea only came into being 300 years later, and most Islamic scholars see it as the equivalent of people with wings sitting on clouds and strumming harps. Paradise is quite the opposite. It's not virginity, it's fecundity, it's plenty, it's gardens watered by running streams."

Bobby Flay - No, I'm not a fan

Do we stand on our cutting boards?

Flay on cutting board on Iron Chef (Japan)

Uh, no! We do NOT stand on our cutting boards. Especially, if we are a professional Chef, especially, if we are in another country, and ESPECIALLY, if we are on Iron Chef and very especially, if we win.

Talk about an ugly American in a foreign country. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you, Bobby Flay. I have not liked the man since.

I was just watching America's Next Great Restaurant and eating lunch. Adorable Stephenie's ‘Harvest Sol’ concept has gone the way of many other losers on the show.

Stephanie Park

Too bad, she had a good idea, she just didn't prepare. One should be reading constantly when a contestant on a show like that, learning as each day presents new opportunities. Her thinking that lamb are raised like veal, was a huge mistake. There is meaning well and then there is just ignorant. Anyway....

Askmen.com put it this way:

"But perhaps Bobby Flay's most famous role is that of Iron Chef on the wildly popular series Iron Chef America. When the original Iron Chef came to visit the United States for a special in 1997, Bobby Flay challenged legendary Japanese chef Masaharu Morimoto to battle rock crab. After the hour-long battle, Flay climbed on the counter and onto his cutting board to declare victory, perhaps forgetting that in Japanese culture cutting boards and knives are sacred. A deeply offended Morimoto criticized Flay, who eventually went on to lose the battle. Flay eventually won a rematch and the two chefs are now friends."

And that, is why I can't stand the man. I was a big fan of Iron Chef. Not the ridiculous Americanization of the original Japanese show, but, well, the original Japanese show.

Another sad American, Japanese show knock off

The article quoted above says, "...perhaps forgetting that in Japanese culture cutting boards and knives are sacred." Really? You have to be told by ANYone that you don't stand on a cutting board? You don't already know that this is offensive to a Chef, a professional? Isn't it a bit like hammering on nails with an expensive, Chef's knife? Not just disrespectful but offensive and well, dumb.


From that day on, I realized something about the man's personality. That he was coarse, ignorant, with little class and hardly any understanding of another culture other than his own; an obviously ethnocentric New York type. And I mean that in the most offensive of ways. I love New York and actually feel offended to have to link the two but, well, there it is. I love all the good things about New York and to me, he is a conglomeration of mostly those bad elements, stereotypes and well, let's just say he's from over the river in Jersey City.


Okay, okay, I love Jersey too. Actually I was always standing up for Jersey (mostly Cape May and the countryside areas but Wildwood used to be nice too. Atlantic City isn't bad, for short periods of time and it did a lot of good for mobsters over the decades.

Ells, Flay, Garcia, Stone

Anyway, I tried watching "America's Next Great Restaurant" series. I'm going back to "Celebrity Apprentice". after all, Trump could be our next President (hey, it's possible). How many chances do you get to watch a president of the United States be a TV star before the election?

Chef Curtis Stone

As for ANGR (hmmm, angEr(?) I wonder if anyone noticed that when they made the show?), the other judges are fellow Chef Curtis Stone, some woman from Florida Lorena Garcia (or Cuba), and Steve Ells, founder of Chipotle. I've always liked Curtis, but Lorena and Steve? Seriously? These are your judges? You choose other judges according to the flavor of the show and the head judge. I guess they did well because I think Flay, Lorena and Steve-0 belong together on a show. I just think it's sad for Curtis. Then, I've heard a few stories about him too that make me wonder.

I'm always fair, even when I don't want to be, so that leads us to this quote here from iFood:

"Uh oh.  Yes indeed, I started with Food TV’s current #1 star.  And YES, Bobby Flay is an awesome chef.  I’ve had the pleasure of eating at a few of his restaurants, and I can say the food was worth every penny.  His rise to the top of the Food Network was no accident.  He worked hard, looked good, and brought a level of testosterone to the FN that even Rachael Ray couldn’t bring (zing!).  But have you seen this awful show?"

Whatever. Essentially, I have no desire to watch or have anything to do with anything Flay invests his time in. Unless it's fighting in the Congo bringing a knife to a gun fight, or donating a liver. Then, I might be all for him.

Zilyon Publishing - you've entered Zombie Land

I love small press.

Big publishers are great, but if you've every tried to publish a book, good luck.With small press, you may not get the clout behind a large conglomerate publisher, but you certainly feel like you are a part of something and not just another number on another page somewhere. Remember small record companies? Some of them turned out some new artists who went on to be big time. Small press is a lot like that.

George Romero with Cal Miller in ZomBcon Seattle 2010

Cal Miller of Zilyon Publishing, has gotten their new web site up for the company. The following is the lead on his page when you go to it. It's flashy and fun horror filled. Zombies, monsters, you name it are available in the books on their site. You may remember that I'm in two of their books, "Rhonny Reaper's Creature Features Horror Anthology" as well as their "Undead Nation Anthology", both of which donate a part of the proceeds to noble causes; Diabetes and Cancer research programs.

The Very Latest Literary Offering From Zilyon Publishing!!! Rhonny Reaper’s Creature Features Horror Anthology!!! - By cal_in_space | Published April 25, 2011

"Welcome, boils and ghouls, to the first edition of Rhonny Reaper’s Creature Features! The stories within are unique and horrifying, with something sure to satisfy your taste for terror. Whether you like psychological thrillers, tales of revenge and justice, or just a good ole fashion zombie tale, this book is sure to have something for every horror fan to enjoy."

Cal is a big, happy guy who you would either want to have a micro brew with (do NOT tell him I said that), or should he ever appear in a zombie incarnation, you'd want to run like Hell from (THAT you can tell him I said). Cal has written among other books, the "Het Madden, A Zombie Perspective: Book One: WRATH 2012" book. This book is a lot of fun, a Horror Zombie story from the Zombie's perspective.

Even Zombie types like Het Madden

Here is Cal's own brief biography from the site:

Calvin A. L. Miller II Biography

I am a lifelong Horror/Zombie/SciFi nut who decided one day it was time to write a book even though I am much more a movie watcher than a book reader. I had no real plan, but I knew I didn’t want to simply write a different take on something that had been done a lot already. I also felt that a story from the zombie’s point of view needed to be told. I now love to write and I also have a web comic at www.TedDead.com to keep me busy.
-Giddyup,
     Cal

So, you can get a feel for the guy from that. I stand by my contention that, he's definitely a guy you can hang with and have a few laughs. My kind of guy.

Well, I've mentioned just a few of their books. Check them out. Buy a book or two, you can't go wrong. The Anthologies help out some sick people who really need the help and you'll be a part of something very cool.

This is not a feeling you will get when you buy a book from one of the major Publishers.