Killing Bin Laden: lies, fabrications, and conspiracy theories

Let me first address the various conspiracy theories about his death that are being circulated in the Arab world.  I feel that I maybe the only one (naively in their eyes) who buys the general story that US forces killed Bin Laden.  All the smart Arabs I know don't believe anything about the American story.  I realized that the US is so hated and that its arrogance and self-righteousness are so jarring to Arab ears, that they feel it is their duty to disbelieve anything coming out of the American government.  There is so much skepticism: many believe that Bin Laden had long been dead or that he was in the US custody, or that he had been working for the US all along.  Sep. 11 is now more unbelievable than ever among Arabs and Muslims: I may seem naive in shooting down all Sep. 11 conspiracy theories.  Damn: Bin Laden and Al-Qa`idah have claimed responsibility and bragged about Sep. 11.  We have eyewitness and so on.  That trash "documentary", Loose Change, has been successfully shot down by a special on Discovery Channel (or was it the History Channel?).   The point is, I am protective of conspiracy theories and defend conspiracy-theory based analysis but leftists have avoid the well-deserved reputation for belief in unfounded conspiracy theories.  Enough of them.  The hoax about Bin Laden's picture (which circulated on Twitter and FB and Arab internet sites like wild fires) is the work of a lazy and incompetent intelligence agency, or a bored blogger.  Now, turning to the US, I also believe that in the wake of any US military operation, we are fed a large amount of lies, fabrication, sc fi scenarios, and exaggerations.  I mean, other than Bin Laden has been killed by US troops, I am skeptical of the rest.  Let us begin with the one about that Bin Laden received a "Muslim burial at sea."  I mean, do they think that Arabs/Muslims are idiots?  Burial at sea? Is that a new military term for tossing his body from the air?  Burial at sea? Who are you kidding? Just say what happened: most likely, soldiers scrawled slogans on his body, and then yelled: Allahu Akbar, you motherfucker, and then tossed his body in the water.  Then the story that I instantly wrote about yesterday: the notion that the find was the product of painstaking hard work and research by US intelligence agents. I remember that we were told how US intelligence agents in Iraq did a family tree and complicated charts of the relatives and bodyguards of Saddam to locate him.  Later we learned that: a bodyguard of Saddam turned himself in to US troops and asked for the bounty.  There is now a beginning of insinuations US troops found him due to a tip.  Here is the beginning of the story in the US press.  First we were told that a courier was spotted by US agents.  Now we are told that Pakistani agents were the first to spot him.  We were first told that a man in the compound took a woman as a human shield and that she was killed.  When I now hear a "human shield" story, I know that I am about to be lied to by Israeli or US military to justify yet another killing of civilians.  Later we were told that Bin Laden was the one who took a woman as a human shield.  I am sure that the human shield story will disappear later. Just remember the original early story of Pat Tillman: I mean some in the US military are experienced in movie scripts.  To their credit, Politico has noticed the various inconsistencies and lies and the changes in the early accounts.   And `Abdul-Bari `Atwan of Al-Quds Al-`Arabi, who knew Bin Laden and liked him says in his editorial today that an aide to Bin Laden said that he requested that his bodyguards shoot him if he ever faced killing by enemies.  `Atwan leans to that theory for his killing: that his own bodyguard shot him.  I think this is very likely and may emerge later.  Is that why the body was thrown in the sea? Because Americans want to believe that an American bullet killed him?  Does this matter? Well, yes.  The US has lied so much that it is understandable that it is not believed by Muslims especially that Arabs/Muslims can't celebrate the American celebrations of their killings, even if the person killed is Bin Laden: who may not be loved by Arabs and Muslims (and who clearly failed to win support among the masses) but any US president is hated more than Bin Laden. That is the key element to help you understand the complicated Arab/Muslim attitudes to Bin Laden and his death.  This explains the stupid foolish statement by Isma`il Haniyyah who called Bin Laden "mujahid" (holy struggler).  Oh, and now Fox News is giving credit where it is due: it crediting torture for locating Bin Laden.  And the stupidity can be seen in Arab media too: New TV who I generally like, yesterday aired a report on the possible successors to Bin Laden.  It said that Abu Zubayda is the most likely to emerge as the key commander of Al-Qa`idah. Can some one tell New TV that Abu Zubyayda won't be able to assume his duties because he is sitting in Guantanamo?