Even now, more than a week later, the story is still so surreal. For many, it is literally unbelievable.
The world's most notorious fugitive was not being harbored in the wilds of Waziristan. He was living in a lovely home in one of Pakistan's most secure cities -- and under the nose of the country's ultimate protector.
U.S. forces helicoptered to his hideout, killed him, whisked the corpse away, prepared it for burial, and lowered it into the sea.
Many have clamored for the U.S. government to publish photographs of Osama bin Laden's dead body to prove that the whole affair is true. Washington, citing fears of incitement, has refused. At any rate, in this era of Photoshop, any image can be doctored or concocted and would not necessarily ease suspicions. Neither will al-Qaeda's confirmation of its leader's death (issued via the Internet), given the impossibility of proving its authenticity.
In fact, short of draining the North Arabian Sea and exhuming the terrorist's remains, there is little America can do to disabuse the conspiracy theorists of their delusion that it was all one big lie. This is significant in Pakistan, where the doubters are an emboldened lot with recent history on their side.
The fact that the country's prime purveyors of conspiracy theories are not social outliers, but rather the mainstream broadcast media, is well known. Less often acknowledged, however, is that much of what they have spouted in recent years has been proven true. U.S. military forces operating inside Pakistan? Check. Blackwater lurking within the country? Check. CIA personnel running amok? Check. Nothing gives conspiratorial talk more credibility than the truth.
The U.S. government, after revising the facts about Operation Geronimo, announced it would reveal no new details. This information vacuum provided the greenest of lights for the conspiracy mill to grind into action: Whatever happened in Abbottabad surely had nothing to do with bin Laden, it buzzed excitedly, because he actually died from kidney failure years ago (according to, among others, scholar David Ray Griffin in his 2009 book, Osama bin Laden: Dead or Alive?). Or because he was killed by the militant Omar Sheikh, as Benazir Bhutto commented in a 2007 Al Jazeera English interview that has now been dismissed as a slip of the tongue. Or because he actually fled deeper into Afghanistan following the Tora Bora battle, and not into Pakistan as commonly assumed, which documents released by WikiLeaks revealed the week before bin Laden's demise.
In reality, bin Laden's presence in Abbottabad is perfectly believable -- and quite ingenious. In all likelihood, he made his way into the tribal areas at some point after 2001 (according to the WikiLeaks sources released at the end of last month, Ayman al-Zawahiri, Bin Laden's deputy, surfaced in South Waziristan in 2003). Thereafter, with Pakistani firepower and American drones raining down, bin Laden's handlers probably concluded it was time to move. They decided to relocate him to the most unsuspecting location -- not to Mullah Omar's base in Quetta, or to the popular terrorist haven of Karachi, but rather to the nearby picturesque garrison town of Abbottabad. Where, perhaps, a few friendly enablers from the security services were on hand to assist.
For sure, many Pakistanis accept that bin Laden was killed. Quite a few have mourned his passing -- including the crowds of lawyers who have gathered to commemorate their "hero," and the legions of Islamists who have assembled to pray for him. This is a country, after all, that as recently as 2007 gave bin Laden approval ratings of nearly 50 percent.
Yet then there are the likes of Mohammad Khan, identified in press reports as a government employee. "I think Osama did not die," he told the Associated Press after al Qaeda had confirmed his death. "I don't believe even 1 percent that he was martyred in Abbottabad."
In some ways, the angry acceptors of bin Laden's recent death are less worrisome than the defiant doubters. Consider the calls coming from Washington: The Pakistani military should be investigated, the government should reveal how much it knew, and the state should commit to a new foreign policy paradigm.
Given all those in Pakistan who cannot accept the fact that bin Laden was killed on May 2 (in a poll of urban, educated Pakistanis conducted several days after the raid on his compound, 66 percent said he was not), it is folly to assume that Islamabad will hurriedly acquiesce to these American demands. The doubters, after all, reflect the pervasive mistrust of Washington that makes up the Pakistani zeitgeist. Pushback and resistance are likely, and one shudders at the implications.
Conspiracy theories, as the joke goes, constitute Pakistan's only growth industry. Yet they could also help sever the single thread by which the U.S.-Pakistan relationship now hangs.
Wajid Ali Syed: U.S. - Pakistan Relations: Charlie Brown, Lucy and the Football
Wajid Ali Syed: Pakistan's Faustian Parliament
the author of this article should probably do some research instead of pandering to group think. all this article demonstrates is the inability of Americans to think for themselves. something like "oh, everyone else believes it so it must be true". sure ignorant thinking will only result in unreliable information and the degradation of our personal sovereignty.
you want to talk conspiracy theories? last month the FBI released several official documents proving that not only do ET's exist, but our government has had contact with them. the UK national archives did the same in march. http://vault.fbi.gov/UFO and UK archives http://ufos.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ .
see for yourself.
hows that for conspiracy theories? 100% authenticated information straight from the USA and UK governments proving the existence of advanced ET intelligence.
the mainstream media is nothing but an outrageous lie designed to keep people living in a false world of fear, and to exploit the weakness of humanity.
if you want to talk about conspiracy theories look at the facts and think for yourself.
I've been watching the whole UFO phenomenon since the 50s, and the stories and explanations get more elaborate over time and distance from any supposed event. It's kind of like the way that $cientologists have elaborated on the life of L. Ron Hubbard over time.
Another example I'll use is how people have elaborated on what goes on in the afterlife over time. A big contributor was Dante's account, which many people take as gospel.
When a little green man taps me on the shoulder and proves he really is an extraterrestrial, I'll believe. Until then, they may exist, but I doubt it.
You're a true believer. Nothing's going to change your mind. I'm waiting for concrete proof.
It's admirable to ask questions. It's not admirable to assume there is deceit before weighing the facts.
Change "Pakistani" to "US" and I would agree.
But, maybe it never even happened. We will never know for sure, because Obama had the body, if there was one, dumped at sea. Who ever heard of such a thing? There is no possibility of the people of the US, or even Congress, independently verifying or evaluating our government's actions.
And they act in our name.
Conspiracy theorists right here in the US are alive and well ... they do not believe he is dead because they do not believe anything the government says.
A certain amount of skepticism is healthy, but total disbelief, based on theories of bloggers is ridiculous, IMHO. My favorite saying about items like this is, "Time will tell."
The demand for instant news ends up with a lot of mistakes made. When they are corrected, people sniff and say, "Conspiracy." On the other hand, if news is delayed, the mantra is, "Cover up."
birthers who remain after the disclosure of the long form birth certificate are "Afterbirthers."
Will we ever get enough thinker/knower/learners?
Sarcasm
They resent questions that threaten their version of events so they use the term conpiracy theorist in an attempt to marginalize people that recognize and question inconsistencies and to change the subject.
It's hardly worth the energy to try to open a mind that is shut down.
Christiane Amanpour reported that UBL was living in a villa next to a large ISI military base in 2008.
The ISI has been an arm of the CIA and it's funding since the early 1980's.
The ISI armed and regularly meet with Bin Laden during those years while the CIA micro managed Afghanistans opium production.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=7713
There's no conspiracy,UBL was always a CIA asset.
He was terminally ill with renal failure and most recently a stroke Dr. Sanjay Gupta even reported it on CNN.
Not being able to live thru a trial and not wanting him to die an unrecognized natural death we decided to harvest him for political propaganda.
Never waste a good crisis or a political propaganda event.
Or better yet Millions of Americans have this unshakable belief that their is this invisible all powerful imaginery friend with no body that watches over them and dabbles in changing the outcome of super bowls.
These things alwasy boil down to the human desire to be in on a secret and to feel important.
I sometimes think the main thing that separates humans from other animals is that we get bored so easily that we start making up stuff to think about. Try hanging out with your cat all day.
BINGO!
The theorist in my life all have a common trait. They like to act as if I'm not smart enough to realise the govt is fooling me. They however are all too clever for it to work on them. Conversations allways end up with the entire world being in on the conspiracy. And you cannot point out to them that if the entire world is in on it, then it is most definately NOT a conspiracy.