Thursday, May 12, 2011

Who owns Osama bin Laden's lair and how many of 'Demo Dick's' books have you read?

Much has been made over the past 12 days over the killing of Osama bin Laden, and in the wake of this event, more than a few questions have arose about the circumstances of his death.

For those of you who haven’t kept up with the story, a team of 24 U.S. Navy SEALs helicoptered into Pakistan on May 1 and raided a safe house in Bilal Town, Abbottabad. The raid led to the death of bin Laden and at least three others. Some news stories said that he’d been hiding out there for at least five, maybe six years.

My main question is, who now owns the Abbottabad compound and what will happen to it now?

According to news reporters, the three-story compound was owned by Sheikh Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti. Described as bin Laden’s “favorite courier and right-hand man,” the SEALs also blew him away during the May 1 raid.

Later, according to an Associated Press story on May 3, the compound, which had high walls topped with barbed wire, came under the control of the Pakistani army after the U.S. raid. Not long thereafter, the army turned it over to the local police.

I wonder who will eventually gain control of the compound. I don’t foresee the police keeping possession of it indefinitely, and who will get it then? Will it end up in the hands of al-Kuwaiti’s next of kin? What are the chances that they’re tied in with al-Qaeda or some other terrorist organization? How long will it be before the facility will be used to house and hide other wanted terrorists and international criminals?

Maybe the thing to do, after killing Osama, would have been to have the SEALs clear the building of people and raze it to the ground. I have no doubt that our SEALs could have taken care of that project with some well-placed explosives.

Speaking of the SEALs, the already-highly respected elite commando unit, has received a huge amount of publicity and well-deserved public praise after the raid. It’s also sparked a number of news stories about the SEALs and their origins.

In Wednesday of last week’s Mobile Press-Register, Political Editor George Talbot told readers that U.S. Navy SEAL Team Six – the elite special forces, counter-terrorism unit that took down bin Laden – was founded by an Auburn University graduate.

Richard Marcinko, who created the elite unit and served as its commanding officer from 1980 to 1983, has a master’s degree in political science from Auburn, Talbot said.

In addition to his military career, Marcinko, also known as “Demo Dick” and “Shark Man of the Delta,” is also widely known as an accomplished writer. Probably his best-known book is 1992’s “Rogue Warrior,” which I highly recommend to anyone out there with an interest in the SEALs and SEAL Team Six. If half the stuff in this book is true, Marcinko and his SEALs are some bad dudes.

His other non-fiction books include “Leadership Secrets of the Rogue Warrior: A Commando’s Guide to Success” (1997), “The Rogues Warriors Strategy for Success” (1998) and “The Real Team” (1999).

In addition to the books mentioned above, Marcinko has either written or co-written 14 novels.

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