One year after the death of Osama Bin Laden, alarming letters that the terrorist wrote have been translated and released. These letters outline Bin Laden's intended goal in his plight of terror against the United States of America.
Specifically, Bin Laden had aspirations of killing the president, Barack Obama, and General David Petraeus. He had ordered for his followers to "prepare two groups--one in Pakistan and the other in the Bagram area of Afghanistan--with the mission of anticipating and spotting the visits of Obama or Petraeus to Afghanistan or Pakistan to target the aircraft of either one of them."
This sentiment is especially alarming, as President Obama made a surprise visit to Afghanistan this week to talk about foreign policy, coincidentally (or not) on the first anniversary of the Bin Laden's death. Thankfully, these assassinations plans that Bin Laden had crafted have been scrapped or were unable to be put into practice.
There could be several reasons why this plan was not fulfilled. It could be that due to Bin Laden's death, al-Qaida are not able to be as organized or powerful. Without their effective leader, getting these accomplished may be a harder task, as seemingly no one has risen to take his place as leader of the terrorist group. This could mean the group is getting weaker, which would be a good sign for the future.
However, the fact that an assassination attempt was not made could be for other reasons. It could simply be because these letters are now in the possession of the United States, al-Qaida expected that these plans would be anticipated and protected against, making it more difficult to carry out the plans. The element of surprise would have been lost, making it unwise to try an attack. Another explanation could simply be that these plans were never received by the proper people, as the United States now has these letters. If they were never sent, these plans may never had an opportunity to be put into effect.
The optimist in me, however, would like to hope that maybe al-Qaida are becoming more disorganized, which would make it easier to try to quell their terrorist tendencies. Regardless of the reasoning behind it, all Americans, whether for or against him, should be thankful and pleased that Bin Laden's plans have been thwarted and Obama has had a safe trip overseas. I know I am.
As if the letters weren't alarming enough by outlining the intention to murder two important American political and military figures, Bin Laden did not stop with this order. The letters further instruct that Joe Biden was to be spared and an attempt should not be made on his life.
While one would think this would be a little comforting or at least not as alarming as the rest of his letter, it is the reasoning behind sparing Biden that is most bothersome.
The letters asserted that "the reason for concentrating on them is that Obama is the head of infidelity and killing him automatically will make Biden take over the presidency for the remainder of the term, as it is the norm over there. Biden is totally unprepared for that post, which will lead the US into a crisis."
This sentiment is alarming because of the potential truth in this statement. Would Biden be able to effectively take over the nation if he ever, Heaven forbid, needed to? Would Americans be able to put their trust in him to protect America? Would other nations be able to trust America with him at the helm? Would Biden help or hurt America economically, domestically, and overseas?
I don't have any of these answers, and I'm not sure that anyone does. Love him or hate him, people trust and respect Obama and the job that he has done in Washington. Would Biden be able to do better, or would he cause the nation to suffer even more than it already has? One thing is certain, Joe Biden is certainly no Barack Obama.
Hopefully, we will never have to know what kind of president Biden would be. Playing the "what-if" game can be tiresome, as in the end one doesn't get anywhere. Only time can tell us the answers we are looking for, and the rest is just "what-if", nothing more.
However, these letters certainly bring up important questions that America should be asking herself. With election season upon us, and the 2012 presidential election just a few months away, this is definitely food for thought.
For more information on Bin Laden's letters, click here: Bin Laden Letters
