: Quietly, US Military Meets Bin Laden’s Main Demand

It’s hard to believe there was once a time when 100% of the US military’s attention was focused on finding Osama bin Laden, the architect of the 9/11 attacks. Since those early days, when this endeavor had nearly universal support around the world, bin Laden has slipped to the back pages of the newspapers, and then finally out of the spotlight altogether. Every now and then, you might hear a peep from somewhere – Pakistani officials claiming that bin Laden is still wandering the border mountains, or an audio tape of dubious authenticity surfaces. But for the most part, bin Laden is yesterday’s news. However, while the trail of bin Laden grew colder, the heat on Iraq got hotter, and as the world’s attention is focused on the soap opera of Iraqi reconstruction, the US military has quietly resolved bin Laden’s main grievance against America by withdrawing all forces from Saudi Arabia. The move is sure to ease tensions between the Saudis and the US, as the US military presence (along with the war) was profoundly unpopular with Saudi locals. Of course, military officials claim that there are perfectly good reasons for this – the Iraqi threat is gone, the Gulf states are better equipped, troop reductions are necessary. But when put into the context of the overall US effort to secure justice against Al-Qaida for 9/11, the message is one of impotence, frustration, and capitulation. And don’t expect a renewed effort to find bin Laden anytime soon, since it’s unlikely to produce glorious photo-ops (and re-election commercials) like toppling statues and “Top Gun” flight deck antics can.

Shahed Amanullah is editor-in-chief of altmuslim.com.