 |
| Coughs and sneezes spread deception |
This morning, in my hazy groping for tea, cereals and other things for breakfast, my eight year old daughter quizzed me on Bin Laden's whereabouts. She'd been listening to BRMB, our local commercial radion station, and they had put on some joke about doorstepping somebody and confusing him with Bin Laden. Or at least that was the impression I got. My daughter went on about it and then ended up with asking if Bin Laden had been in Solihull. Now there's a thought! The very idea of him camped out in some Victorian villa caught my imagination. Would anyone have shopped him if they had spotted him? "You know something? You're the spitting image of that Osama Bin Laden, you are!" Might he have lived a reclusive life nearby? I have to say I might not have realised it even if I had met him. And telling the local police of such a find if I ever realised the truth would be some feat of persuasion. "No, honestly, he's in the house next to the...."
Reporters are now swarming all over Pakistan asking all sorts of questions. Many local people think he's still alive. In Pakistan. Outside Pakistan. It was not bin Laden but an old friend of the family. The Americans made a terrible mistake and so it goes on. In many ways Bin Laden's bearded face is an iconic image of a bogeyman terrorist. But if it is 20 years old what of the person that got shot? He appears to have been a prematurely aged greying loner when confronted by pepped up navy seals. Ideal for doppelgangers and professional doubles to take advantage.
So is the picture really Osama Bin Laden? The camera never lies is another saying. But apparently it is not good and relaying the truthful picture. Hillary Clinton was seen by the world looking as though she was horrified beyond measure by witnessing the killing of Bin Laden. Now we are told she was only stifling a sneeze. Or was it a cough? Or maybe a convulsion? Whatever the bodily shaking that she suffered it is not quite the same as being thought to see slaughter via video link.
The US government will not find the killing of Osama Bin Laden helpful. It may have given the average American a rush of "closure" adrenalin but this is a hopeless political gambit. Bin Laden will be like the baddy in a pantomime. "Where's Osama?" "He's behind you!" they'll all scream. No, President Obama is far better off encouraging the leprechauns of Ireland to promote his Irish ancestry. That's the brilliant thing about a mixed race president. Quite a few nationalities can get in out the act. If I were in his shoes, I could only offer watered down Spanish and Danish. Not quite the same thing as linking yourself to the Emerald Isle.
US President Barack Obama will address 5,000 people outside the schoolhouse where his ancestors were educated. Offaly County Council is finalising plans for his visit to his ancestral village of Moneygall on Monday, May 23. Yesterday, the council, which is organising the Moneygall leg of the visit, moved to reassure villagers the occasion will not be hijacked by politicians or dignitaries. Moneygall residents will be allocated 1,000 tickets for Mr Obama's visit -- another 500 invites will be issued by both Offaly and North Tipperary county councils.
So Barack Obama is Irish after all! Now that takes some beating by Donald Trump. Obama trumps Trump! Apparently Moneygall, in Gaelic Muine Gall, means "foreigners' thicket". I do hope Osama Bin Laden won't spoil the celebrations!
.jpg)
0 comments:
Post a Comment