Thursday

Missed opportunity Mr Bin Laden

The news on the release of Osama Bin Laden's documents from the secret hideout caught my eyes almost three hours after the story was first put out on the BBC website.

Probably an indicator that he no longer evokes such interest as was the case in the not so distant past.

There was a time when videos attributed to Bin Laden used to evince hair-raising experiences in  newsrooms.

The timings of uncovering the videos were well planned, often directed to attract maximum attention from the White House and  the population its resident represented.

Often the videos would be uncovered just before we were to go on air and it would be a challenge to decipher its content in a presentable form for our listeners.

The only common factor was a caveat that the authenticity of the videos couldn't be verified independently.

Not any more.

The  documents posted online by the research wing of the US military academy, West Point, show that Bin Laden was a "frustrated man" in his hideout at Abottabad, struggling to control an unruly al-Qaeda network.

Reading through the story, I was expecting that somewhere down the line Bin Laden would seem a changed man, repenting the inspiration and leadership he provided to al Qaeda in causing mayhem all around the world.

I was expecting to see Bin Laden influenced  by the non-violent principles of Mahatma Gandhi or Martin Luther King or even Nelson Mandela.

It was not unnatural though to have such philosophical thoughts leading to change in mind, given the serenity of Abottabad.

But that was not to be.

Had it been so, Bin Laden would have probably survived the attacks from the US forces and may even have been revered as the present day Ashoka.

It was a missed opportunity Mr Bin Laden.

All comments are personal.
Tirthankar.Bandyopadhyay.Blog@gmail.com

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