Was Osama Bin Laden my neighbour?
Dawud Wharnsby, Canadian born singer songwriter, moved to Abbottabad in Pakistan to be close to his wife’s grandparents. On Monday May 2, 2011 he found that this quiet town was suddenly the centre of an international incident. Osama Bin Laden had apparently been living there until US forces stormed his compound and shot him dead. Dawud reflects on local reaction amidst the poverty that he witnesses all around him. Gosh, I thought that Chai seller looked familiar! Tisk tisk tisk... friends:
as Benjamin Franklin is reported to have said,
"Believe none of what you read and half of what you see."*****
Around 1:00 am, while my family and I were sleeping, I awoke to the sound of a helicopter, gun-fire and then an explosion which shook the house. We live near a military academy where we always hear gun-fire, helicopters and explosions - so I didn't think much of all the noise other than, "Gosh, does that academy have to conduct their training manoeuvres at such crazy hours!" (I am against guns and modern warfare and living next to a military academy is the only thing about this otherwise quiet town of Abbottabad that I dislike, but we wish to stay near to my wife's grandparents who have lived here most of their lives.)
The next morning, we received a call from my in-laws in America who had been watching Geo News the night before and heard about a helicopter crash in a residential district of Abbottabad. They wondered if we were alright or had been awakened by any noise. They expressed concern that the news story seemed “odd” and my wife and I agreed. Normally the local Pakistani Military Academy (PMA) would not use helicopters in our mountainous region for “test” manoeuvres, but rather, only for flying in/out military officials or perhaps for occasional air surveillance during academy events - and rarely at night. Thus, we were all somewhat confused.
A few minutes later we received a nervous call from another American friend living in Pakistan who was concerned for our security and urged us to “keep a low profile” - not because of an accidental helicopter crash in our neighbourhood, but because President Obama had just announced that Osama Bin Laden had been captured and killed near Abbottabad.
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MORE:
http://www.emel.com/article?id=85&a_id=2375