Osama bin Laden Buried at Sea: A Conspiracy?

It didn’t take long for the griping to start and the conspiracy theorist to come out of the woodwork regarding the death of Osama bin Laden. Shortly after bin Laden was killed, his body was transported to a ship waiting in the Indian Ocean. Shorty after arrival and DNA evidence was gather and confirmed, American forces buried his body at sea, carefully following Islamic protocol. Glenn Beck has his own thoughts about the burial at sea

Glenn Beck criticized the US government for showing too much respect to the mass murderer.  “My position with this is that we gave this guy a dignified burial at sea,” Beck said on his radio show. “I really would have put this guy in a meat grinder with pig, sorry. Oh, you’re not going to get your 72 virgins? Sorry about that, sucks to be you.” (Source: The Daily Beast)

Glenn, I love you man, but this is even over the top for you and you are smarter than this. You should have known this was not done for bin Laden; it was done for Muslims worldwide and to avoid giving the jihadists a shrine.

Speaking of Muslims, even some of them are not happy (no surprise there). They are accusing the Americans of not following Muslim protocol and are insulting Muslims by burying bin Laden at sea. This was done to avoid giving Muslims a rallying point and was attempting to follow proper procedures.

But even this assertion has come under fire by radical Muslim clerics, who say the sea burial is actually an insulting break from Islamic protocols. Traditionally, deceased Muslims are paced in a grave with their heads facing Mecca, while sea burials are supposed to be reserved for the rare occasions when a Muslim dies abroad a boat, or when there is no one to claim the corpse.

“Americans want to humiliate Muslims through the burial, and I don’t think this is in the interest of the US administration,” Omar Bakri Mohammed, a radical cleric in Lebanon, told the Associated Press. (Source: Arab News)

This is case that no matter how we handled this there was no way we could win. Turn the body over to someone and his burial place becomes a draw to every jihadist living in caves. I think this was handled in the best way possible. It was done in accordance to Islamic rules, although stretched a bit, and we haven’t given the terrorist a rallying point.

There are some folks out there who think the sea burial was done to cover up that the Americans didn’t actually kill bin Laden or that he has been dead for while.  As most of you know, I am not a fan of conspiracy theories, but it is possible this one could gather some momentum. His burial at sea is the primary motivation behind the conspiracy thinking. The body is gone and unless there is some sort of tracking attached to it, there is no way to recover it. And as most of us already know, images can be manipulated to show whatever the person wants. Already, a fake image has been circulating the Internet. So, there is a foundation on which the conspiracy theorist can build upon. Time will tell. If bin Laden isn’t dead, he’ll surface. If bin Laden has been dead for a few years, reports will appear (which will have to be confirmed of course). I certainly wish George Bush had been the Commander in Chief when bin Laden had been killed since the 9-11 attacks occurred on his watch. Obama will get the credit, which when you boil it all down is OK I guess, because bin Laden is finally dead.