I sort of think I knew Bob Ellis when I was at uni in Australia, a hundred years ago. Well maybe not. But I know his name. He's an aussie journo and this week he commented on the killing of Osama Bin Laden.
He wrote for The Australian Broadcasting Commission - the 'ABC' - "How secretive and shabby the Americans are".
Ellis wrote, "There was a magical-realist quality to Osama Bin Laden. He looked like the risen Christ, and was often thought dead and came always back to life. His broadcasts needed always to be authenticated because the CIA wanted him dead. He’d humiliated them so enormously they kept saying he was dead. He was 'on dialysis', they asserted, wrongly; he had to be dead by now. 9/11 was so clever. He had to be dead.
And once again they are covering up, and in denial." - Bob Ellis 2011.
Well I dunno Bob. I haven't exactly followed your career. But I certainly don't remember hearing your outcry against the killings in Somalia or Darfur.
I read a bit of what you had to say about the Americans going after Bin Laden, Bob. But not all. I just couldn't hack the misinformation.You spoke of Osama's "widow". I wondered why you used the singular.
Yes I agree, in a perfect world, Bin Laden should have appeared in a world court to be tried as a killer. But the world isn't perfect. So let us weigh up the odds.
Do you prefer to lump the president of America, Barack Obama, with the likes of George W and even worse, Palin and Trump? Believe me, he is not of the same ilk.
Along with other Australians, I was here in New York when the Twin Towers went down on Bin Laden's orders, murdering nearly 3,000 of my fellow New Yorkers.
If I am going to be outraged at the killing of the guy who ordered this, at the guy who did not believe women should be educated and who thought gays are evil, then I am a fool.
The fact remains. Bin Laden wasn't a nice person and it is not a perfect world. If we want to be outraged there are plenty of people to outrage against. And Barack Obama isn't one of them.
He has my vote. And I am proud to say it.
3 comments:
Well Said !!!!
Worth reading
http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/1662544.html
"Osama bin Laden raped our souls"
this journo is a nutter! The fact of the matter is Bin laden was too dangerous to live. He was responsible for making the world a harsher, scarier place. If they had captured him alive his zealot followers would have threatened more attacks (and followed through) demanding his release. I'm not American, I am Australian like you but I live in Oz, but I believe (or hope) that Obama is a noble man with strong values and I don't think his actions were out of order- he did what needed to be done however I do like to believe that his orders were to bring him in alive if possible. And if the US government is indeed covering stuff up (not just related to bin laden but JFK etc) the journo should remember that the US isn't the only government to do so
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