Osama's death: Good timing, co-incidence or conspiracy?

Pak Army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani was mighty upset with that allegations. Earlier also, the ISI chief had spoken his mind to US authorities.

There was also growing disenchantment in Pakistan on the growing drone attacks that killed civilians. Demonstrations were also held to that effect.

Then on April 23, a foreign newspaper broke the story of the Indian government holding secret talks with the Pak army, further embarrassing General Kayani.

April 25 turned to be a very happening day. A senior Al-Qaeda commander grandly declared that a nuclear hell storm would be released if Osama was caught. Claims were made that a secret nuclear weapon had been hidden away somewhere in Europe. Why all this alarmist talk now? Did the terrorist organization have an inkling that their leader would be caught in short time?

News also came out of a fantastic Taliban-led jailbreak in southern Afghanistan. As many as 500 prisoners escaped when a tunnel stretching hundreds of metres was dug under the prison and right under the nose of authorities.

General David Petraeus has been heading the Afghanistan operations for almost three years now. Before the capture of Osama, a lot of fingers were pointed at Obama's failure in the Afghanistan region. But Petraeus has been rewarded by being made the CIA chief. It is interesting to note that the reward came a good week before Osama's capture!

Around the same time, WikiLeaks cables that appeared in the press said that the US already saw the ISI as a terrorist outfit, further damaging US-Pak ties. Pakistan was pretty desperate at this stage and would have been hoping to pull something out of the bag to redeem itself.

The action continued through April 26 when US prosecutors indicted four Pakistanis, one of them being linked with the ISI, in the 26/11 case. While this would have been music to India's ears, it came quite late in the day. India had been saying this all the time.

In Afghanistan, forces proudly announced that Al-Qaeda No. 2 in the country Abu Afs had been captured.

Then the very next day, out of the blue, Obama produced his birth certificate to the world. Why the sudden move? People had been asking for it for years and the next presidential elections are some time away? Why this sudden burst of confidence? It couldn't have been just to placate billionaire Donald Trump, who had been attacking him off late.

An official has declared that Obama had actually given the order to kill Osama on April 29. It is a wonder that there was no leak and Osama did not get a tip-off and time to flee.

More Questions than Answers

Why was there so much activity 10-15 days before the Osama capture, something that has been decades in the making?

Also, the capture itself has thrown more questions. What was Osama doing living comfortably right next to a Pakistan military academy?

How long had he been living in Pakistan? When Afghanistan harboured Osama, it was bombed to smithereens. When strong suspicions were there of Pakistan doing the same, there were generous offers of aid and arms.

If Pakistan can comfortably house Osama, then how many other terrorists does it harbour?

And a troubling thought. What if Pakistan knew of Osama all along and this was nothing but a "peace offering" to kick-start US-Pak ties to a totally new level? These will remain mere speculations.

And even before the world could take in the news, we have been informed that after DNA testing, Osama's body has already been buried at sea. The US spinmasters have given convincing excuses, but it is still curious.

The tragedy of 9/11 defined George W Bush and got him re-elected.

The capture and killing of Osama now defines Obama and he may as well get re-elected in the next elections.





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The author is a Bangalore-based journalist and blogger. He blogs at http://sunilrajguru.com/