Osama bin Laden is dead
2 May 2011
A US special forces operation has killed Osama bin Laden in an expensive re-inforced house in Abbottabad, not far from Pakistan’s foremost military training institute.
The 30-40 strong team from the elite Navy Seal Team Six flew from Afghanistan in two helicopters, low level under Pakistani radar, and landed forces on the roof of Osama bin-liner’s compound. It was reported to be a kill operation, and when he refused to surrender he was shot twice in the head.
His Abbottabad residence was just a few hundred metres from the Pakistan Military Academy, 100km (62 miles) north-east of Islamabad. The size and complexity of the structure has astonished US officials. It had 4m-6m (12ft-18ft) walls, it was eight times larger than other homes in the area and it was valued at “a million dollars”, although it had no telephone or internet connection. This throws into question the commitment of the Pakistani administration to the war against terror, when bin Laden was found not only in Pakistan but also on the doorstep of its military academy in such an obvious reinforced compound.
The raid was completed in about 40 minutes, with the helicopters reported to be under intense fire from the ground. The team destroyed one helicopter because of “technical failure” and escaped in the other one. For efficiency and execution, this operation compares symbolically with the 1976 Entebbe Raid and the London Iranian Embassy Siege rescue of 1980.
US media reports said that bin Laden’s body was buried at sea to conform with Islamic practice of burial within 24 hours, and to prevent his grave becoming a rallying point as a shrine. For once, the aftermath was thought through. The world is divided - some rejoicing, some lamenting, and some vowing vengeance. This is a solemn reminder of the judgment of God and the different human responses to it. The Scripture is clear that “whosoever hates his brother is a murderer: and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him” 1John 3:15. Scripture teaches that “hell from beneath is moved to meet the wicked at their arrival” Isaiah 14:9. It teaches also that the immeasurable value of the human being while on Earth Matthew 16:26 is suddenly re-valued at death. At death, divine judgment devalues the wicked to worthless refuse Psalm 119:119 so that Osama bin Laden is now worth no more than a bin-liner. The Lord Jesus Christ explains the irreligious zeal of blood-thirsty religious terrorists: “the time will come that whoever kills you will think that he is serving God” John 16:2. False religion is causing such havoc on earth that its persecuting spirit needs to be exposed as devilish.
