samba with obamba: the useless, the worthless and the pure shit...

one of osama's three wives, wounded in the storming of bin laden's lair, tells her interrogators in the wacky pakistani intelligence service that they lived in their luxurious abode for six years before the fatal onslaught of US storm troopers.

six years, during which the world's most-wanted man stayed ensconced within the walls of his compound, which was nestled in the heart of the pakistani defense establishment.

can this honestly be called a hideout, or was it something quite different?

the pakistanis are quite upset with the blatant disregard of sovereignty that the daring american raid displayed, threatening to no longer play along with washington if it ever happens again! that is said with the utmost seriousness, of course, but is laughable on its face. the ISI may work at cross-purposes with the CIA on occasion, but their relationship is nevertheless a special one -- as can only exist between nuclear-armed nations.

whatever the real deal is here, be assured that first, we don't know jack shit about what the real deal is, and second, that there is some synergy between the interests of the two nations -- on which they'll continue to cooperate.

it's a bit of a mystery, as one looks at news photos of the luxury accommodations of the al Qaeda chief, to square the description of the million-dollar palace with the actual images of a plain, boxy building with exposed plumbing and buckling plaster. the place looks like a dump, frankly.

bin laden's hideout, with passerby

we are also informed by the SITE terrorist monitoring service that al qaeda has acknowledged the loss of its leader, and is promising to avenge his death at the hands of "a clique of traitors and thieves," and "cleanse [pakistan] from the filth of the Americans who spread corruption in it."

BFD, as we're so fond of saying. with the terrible rep of this worldwide terror syndicate, they have very little to show for the rhetoric and the quaking fear they inspire in the west.

expect the sum total of zero as the consequence of the demise of the bearded one. there may be riots in a handful of cities over there -- we'd be as hard pressed to find them on a map as the taliban would be, if someone asked them to find NYC.

for all its fearsome reputation, and all the rip-roaring balderdash spewing from the official channels of the worldwide corporate oligarchy, there is no there there when we're regaled with tales of terror, inc.

in the days after 9-11, the typical response of a US male was summed up by a co-worker: "i've got to stay home and load my guns... i have to protect my family." nothing at all was spared in order to ratchet up the level of fear and apprehension at this all-powerful, all-pervasive menace -- a terrorist under every bed!

and it degenerated into a series of show trials of innocent dupes, tricked by FBI informants into swearing allegiance to al qaeda and agreeing in principal to doing some nefarious deed -- even if it was only to please the government's informant. all of this bullshit, cases so flimsy as to beggar belief, yet run as a scam against an ignorant and compliant population as a regime of authoritarianism was being established.

these threats of retaliation are more of the same, as the criminal syndicate that runs the show, murder, inc., moves to leverage its latest climactic turn in the great good-vs-evil melodrama being broadcast to subservient sheep across this great, bewildered nation.

bye-bye, bin laden, and thanks for the memories. you were a useful tool, and you were rewarded as befits one who played the part so well. we'll remember you when the next great menace to our way of life arises, as we refer to him as "worse than bin laden" -- the highest praise one can earn in the constellation of useful idiots.