Here come the idiots with their conspiracy theories about bin Laden

Already, what should be a nationwide celebration of the demise of Osama bin Laden has become fodder for the conspiracy theory machines. The carnival barkers on the right just can’t seem to bring themselves to praise the mission ordered by the president for more than a few minutes, while some left-wingers see these developments as a reason to question why the Afghanistan war was fought at all.

Talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh opened his show today with praise for the outcome but then, in attempt to “pump up” his conservative, anti-Obama audience, he degenerated into snarky remarks: perhaps Obama delayed his speech last night to pre-empt the last half hour of Donald Trump’s reality TV show; Obama can no longer hope that he will land a 2012 campaign endorsement from Osama; there’s no truth to the rumor that Osama’s body will lie in-state at the Obama campaign re-election headquarters; terrorism will continue, regardless of Sunday’s military accomplishments; and the economy will dominate the ’12 election and hopefully Americans will quickly forget about the termination of Osama.

What a patriot.

There are numerous examples out there just like this. One is the blog posted by Paul Craig Roberts, who somehow is a former assistant treasury secretary for the U.S. and a former editor at the Wall Street Journal. He leaves wide open the possibility that the entire military mission was faked by our Navy Seals and special forces and intelligence community to boost Obama’s re-election chances. In addition, Roberts suddenly claims that Osama was a feeble, pathetic character who’s influence on the world’s hot spots was highly overrated.

Here is his despicable diatribe:

“If today were April 1 and not May 2, we could dismiss as an April fool’s joke (for) this morning’s headline that Osama bin Laden was killed in a firefight in Pakistan and quickly buried at sea. As it is, we must take it as more evidence that the U.S government has unlimited belief in the gullibility of Americans.

“Think about it. What are the chances that a person allegedly suffering from kidney disease and requiring dialysis and, in addition, afflicted with diabetes and low blood pressure, survived in mountain hideaways for a decade? If bin Laden was able to acquire dialysis equipment and medical care that his condition required, would not the shipment of dialysis equipment point to his location? Why did it take 10 years to find him? 

“Consider also the claims, repeated by a triumphalist U.S. media celebrating bin Laden’s death, that ‘bin Laden used his millions to bankroll terrorist training camps in Sudan, the Philippines, and Afghanistan, sending ‘holy warriors’ to foment revolution and fight with fundamentalist Muslim forces across North Africa, in Chechnya, Tajikistan and Bosnia’

“That’s a lot of activity for mere millions to bankroll (perhaps the U.S. should have put him in charge of the Pentagon), but the main question is: how was bin Laden able to move his money about? What banking system was helping him? The U.S. government succeeds in seizing the assets of people and of entire countries, Libya being the most recent. Why not bin Laden’s? Was he carrying around with him $100 million dollars in gold coins and sending emissaries to distribute payments to his far-flung operations?

“This morning’s headline has the odor of a staged event. The smell reeks from the triumphalist news reports loaded with exaggerations, from celebrants waving flags and chanting “USA USA.” Could something else be going on?

“No doubt President Obama is in desperate need of a victory. He committed the fool’s error of restarting the war in Afghanistan, and now after a decade of fighting the U.S. faces stalemate, if not defeat. The wars of the Bush/Obama regimes have bankrupted the U.S., leaving huge deficits and a declining dollar in their wake. And re-election time is approaching.

“The various lies and deceptions, such as ‘weapons of mass destruction,’ of the last several administrations had terrible consequences for the US and the world. But not all deceptions are the same. Remember, the entire reason for invading Afghanistan in the first place was to get bin Laden. Now that President Obama has declared bin Laden to have been shot in the head by U.S. special forces operating in an independent country and buried at sea, there is no reason for continuing the war.

“Perhaps the precipitous decline in the U.S. dollar in foreign exchange markets has forced some real budget reductions, which can only come from stopping the open-ended wars. Until the decline of the dollar reached the breaking point, Osama bin Laden, who many experts believe to have been dead for years, was a useful bogeyman to use to feed the profits of the U.S. military/security complex.”