Arab Spring = C.I.A. Construct?

In January 2011, suddenly, Tunisia was in upheaval. Thousands of Tourists, having booked into the hotels, paid for tours, were caught in the unexpected insanity.

There was no reason for Tunisia to have any kind of unrest at this moment in time. There had been no incident, whether murder, new law, election, to provoke the population. Simply put, yesterday it was quiet, today everyone is marching in the streets.

Before the world could investigate why Tunisia was experiencing 'revolution', Egypt became the new focus.

Again, tourists who had no inkling that anything would happen, governments who had made their plans based on a set of circumstances were taken by surprise.

There was Morocco, Algeria, Syria, Yemen, even Saudi Arabia and Iran had some dissent. As if a some tsunami had arrived, almost all Arab nations in North Africa and the Middle East were having protests, and governments were toppling or fighting for survival.

It is assumed that the rapid formation of demonstrations was due to the Internet; whether via tweets, webpages, or cell phone texting.

The official media of the North Africa/Arab nations is controlled. Any information disseminated would be off the official grid. How this network was put together so that within hours an empty street teemed with protesters, or that a march was devised, placards in hand in a blink of an eye because Said texted Abdul and Abdul, having absolutely nothing at all to do texted his ten friends and they all raced into the street, seems, on reflection, rather amazing.

Unlike the 60s where protests against the Viet Nam war were organised over months, so people could prepare, the protests of the Arab Spring were put together in minutes.

The kind of intra-net that would be necessary for this kind of dissemination of information usually takes months to perfect. Yet, within veritable minutes, nations went from peaceful to riotous.

The government of Tunisia was toppled. The government of Egypt was toppled. Algeria changed a few laws. Libya is now in the grips of a civil war. Syria seems destined for Civil War. There are questions about the government in Iran, though things seem quiet.

There was no 'government in waiting' in Tunisia or Egypt. There was no 'way forward'. In the various North African nations it seemed protest to protest.

Libya was a miscalculation, for although Gaddafi might not be popular in the West he is supported by his people. The unrest in Libya needs foreign intervention, overt foreign intervention to survive.

With bombs falling on Tripoli, and members of Gaddafi's family killed everyone was looking at North Africa.

To the East, Hamas and Fattah had made peace, Egypt acting as the broker. The headlines were of unrest in Syria.

Then the rumours started. Sunday evening, May 1, President Barack Obama of the United States announced that Osama Bin Laden had been killed in a mansion in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

Out of a clear blue sky, there came the 'Arab Spring', where nation after nation under went abrupt changes of government. But nothing happened in Pakistan.

In Yemen, Bahrain, places people rarely think of, civil unrest, In repressive Saudi Arabia, a brief protest met by largess.

But nothing in Pakistan.

The names Mubarck and Gaddafi were on everyone's lips. No one mentioned Osama Bin Laden. For weeks no one seemed to remember he existed.

On May 1st, (Eastern Standard Time) a clandestine force of Americans arrived by helicopter in Abbottabad.

Members of DEVGRU, who answer only to the President of the United States, took out Osama Bin Laden, loaded his body on a one of their helicopters and were gone.

It took about forty minutes from start to finish.

For approximately seven years, Osama Bin Laden resided in the quiet upscale community of Abbottabad. It was a town created by an Englishman, laid out attractively.

The residents were retired military people of the higher classes. Nearby was a military academy.

There is no way not to infer that those who lived in Abbottabad did not know who resided in that house. No way not to assume that the choice of neighbourhood, the choice of neighbours was deliberate.

This was not Saddam Hussein hiding in a remote section, creeping underground at the hint of danger. This was a man living in luxury surrounded by neighbours who would die to protect him.

The fact that DEVGRU operated behind the backs of the Pakistani authorities; doing their training in Afghanistan, proved the point many had made; Pakistan was pro-Osama and had always been.

When Magicians perform a 'trick' they divert your attention. You look where they indicate while their other hand does something else.

Considering the Arab Spring came out of nowhere, that there were no governments in waiting, no policies or agendas being demanded; it appeared, even to a jaundiced eye, that those in North Africa were protesting to protest.

The eyes of the world were focused on North Africa, then shifted to England for the Royal Wedding, then back to Libya at the attack on Tripoli.

No one had their eyes on Pakistan.

No one knew the plan was afoot, except President Obama and those involved.

If the attempt had been made in December 2010, the usual jihadists would go apeshit.
But the usual jihadists were busy.

They were busy in Egypt, busy in Syria, busy in Libya, even the Palestinians were busy.

Those who supported Osama because they hate the U.S. were celebrating their victories in Tunisia, in Egypt, busy fighting in Libya, defending or attacking in Syria. They were too caught up in their own protests to respond to the death of Bin Laden.

Which seems a little too pat to be happenstance.