Osama Bin Laden turned out in the end to be the Islamic perversion of the
Wizard of Oz – a pathetic old man hiding behind a 'curtain' of deception – although the evil he perpetrated was no fantasy. Bin Laden was a larger than life hero to
Islamists, whom he led and inspired with messages of hate against the infidel West to carry out the 9/11 attacks on the United States and countless other mass-casualty attacks killing innocent men, women and children in the name of Allah.
However, Bin Laden's self-created image of invincibility, courage and self-sacrifice were all lies. He had various aliases, including "Lion Sheik." But, at the end of the day, the "Cowardly Lion" character in the
Wizard of Oz had far more courage.
Osama Bin Laden was a charlatan. He did not live the spartan life of danger in a mountainous cave that his videos and handlers had suggested. He lived a life of relative luxury in a highly secured $1 million mansion located in an affluent Pakistan town two hours outside the Pakistan capital of Islamabad, most likely under Pakistani military or intelligence protection. After the curtain was pulled back on Bin Laden's hideout and his protectors scurried to defend him and themselves (with conflicting reports as to whether a woman was used at some point as a human shield), our Navy Seals sent the "Emir/Director" (Bin Laden's other flattering nicknames) to the section of Hell reserved just for him. If 72 virgins are awaiting him, it will be a fitting punishment if they all turn out to be clones of Medusa, the terrifying female creature of Greek mythology, or perhaps clones of Oz's Wicked Witch of the West.
It took years of patient intelligence-gathering and the incredible courage of our special forces to finally enter the lair of the "Lion Sheik" and bring him to justice. Some of that intelligence gathering reportedly included the harsh interrogation techniques used by CIA interrogators in secret overseas prisons authorized by President George W. Bush, which candidate Obama and the Left had so vehemently criticized. While President Obama certainly deserves credit for deciding on the risky Navy Seal operation that finished Bin Laden off and seeing it through, he has Bush to thank for setting the intelligence wheels in motion, irrespective of the anti-Bush lies the editors of the
New York Times and Democratic Party partisans continue to dispense.
The full story leading to the tracking and demise of Osama Bin Laden will come out in due time. But for now, all Americans of whatever political persuasion should celebrate this victory, while recognizing that much more work to defeat global Islamist jihad remains to be done.
