An Evil Monster Could Live on My Street How Would I Know

In recent days the news has been filled with jubilant reports of the death of Osama Bin Laden, following a covert operation by American forces inside Pakistan.

Following the initial announcements of the death of this evil man, questions have been focused on the Pakistani government, and whether officials knew that Osama Bin Laden was living in a middle class neighborhood, only a short distance from a military academy, and not far from the capital Islamabad either.

While it is possible that someone in the Pakistani government or intelligence services did know of his whereabouts, interviews with local people indicate that they had no idea at all who was living there.

Pakistan is a strange country, well at least compared to the USA or most western countries. The Islamic religion is very prominent there, and it's not that unusual for people to build themselves a place where they can escape from the world and live in seclusion.

This is the type of place that Osama Bin Laden was living in, a quiet place in a small town, with a strong military presence, low crime rate, and 18 feet high walls surrounding him so that nobody could see inside.

In fact there was nothing to give away that he was there, save a continued monitoring by the USA of several known couriers, who again were only located following interrogations of other terrorists held captive over the last four years.

With hindsight, it might have been possible to locate him sooner, but then without any reason to go knocking on his door, how would you know? The military can't go making door to door searches in every town or village in Pakistan and Afghanistan can they?

Which leads (finally) to the subject of this article, An Evil Monster Could Live On My Street How Would I Know.

There are many criminals who have managed to escape the clutches of the law. Some have escaped from prison, some have remained with their identities completely unknown, and can therefore walk unnoticed amongst us.

For those whose faces are known to the police and security forces, provided they do not step outside into the open, who is to know where they are, unless someone or something gives them away. By remaining in a secluded location, someone who is on the run can stay undetected indefinitely, unless someone or something gives their location away.

Just a few houses away from where you live could be a mass murderer, a terrorist, child molester, but how would you know?

The truth is that there is really no way of knowing, and just because you rarely see anyone entering or leaving a property doesn't mean that it belongs to a criminal or not.

If you look at the location in which Osama Bin Laden was hiding in this light, he very cleverly made it appear that nothing unusual was happening there. Even the garbage was burned, in case any documents or anything else might have led to the location coming under closer scrutiny. There was nothing to indicate that the most wanted man in the world was tucked away in there.

Just exactly how the US forces knew that he was there has not yet been revealed, but it's quite possible that the raid was a gamble, knowing that the couriers went there, and that the compound was almost too quiet.

No I do not think that the Pakistani government can be held accountable for not discovering where Osama Bin Laden was hiding, unless of course some evidence to the contrary does come to light.