1. Osama Bin Laden Hiding in Plain Sight Cite
The recent death of Osama Bin Laden (Geronimo ekia) in a million dollar home
near Abbottabad has media tongues wagging. Why? The town is located in the
outskirts of Islamabad the capital of Pakistan.
What we are really seeing as we watch the news is the clash between the subtle
nuances of multinational Diplomatic Relations, and a simplistic view of the world.
Part of this arises from our exposure to Middle Eastern culture having been
limited to the movies, Casablanca and Algiers. I will focus on the latter.
In Algiers (the capital of Algeria, a country in northern Africa), a French jewel thief
(played by Charles Boyer) is hiding out in the “old quarter” in a place known to
the world as The Casbah. However, the only thing we truly know about the
Casbah, aside from it’s being a labyrinthine piece of ancient architecture, is what
we learned watching cartoons as children.
In the Warner Brothers cartoon, a character (an amorous skunk) known as Pepe
le Pew, would hotly pursue a black cat (who having ended up with a stripe of
white paint down her back took on a skunk-like appearance). As he would
embrace the feline of his affections, he would utter such romantic nothings as,
“Come wiz me to zee Casbah”.
Back to Algiers.
In Algiers, in The Casbah, Pepe le Moko is visited each day by an Algerian
Police Detective—Inspector Slimane. The good inspector knows, however, that
it is impossible to arrest Pepe in The Casbah. This is the reason he is allowed to
“find” him. In addition, he knows that if he arrests Pepe, he will not be able to
bring him out of The Casbah. This, he has difficulty explaining to the visiting
French Prefect. (Now, you may call me a flawed human being, but I liked the
inspector in the fez. My apologies to Turkey and to the Turkish people who’ve
outlawed the wearing of the fez.)
Inspector Slimane’s admonition: “When one can’t use guns, one must work with
brains.”
Now that we have a background in our limited understanding of the Middle East
(Which we’ve learned from a movie set in North Africa) we shall move on to
Pakistan.
Pakistan is an ally whose President is in an untenable position.
Pakistan and India enjoy a misalliance. India is Hindu, Pakistan is Muslim. Each
enjoys a diplomatic affiliation with China. India is an ally and trading partner of

2. the United States. Pakistan is caught between having diplomatic and military ties
to the United States and the West on the one hand and a people ardently
opposed to the United States in particular and the West in general on the other.
The President of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari, has to maintain a level of stability with
a political acumen that goes beyond anything we can imagine. The most difficult
domestic problems we deal with in the political arena are the carping of those in
the opposing party or an embarrassment cause by an extreme faction
demonstrating for or against a position on an issue.
Some of the comments arising from the death of Osama Bin Laden and made by
experts in global diplomatic and military affairs are:
Osama Bin Laden was in a gilded cage. He couldn’t leave his compound.
(Remember Pepe le Moko.) He was actually a prisoner of Pakistan.
The Pakistani government had to have known that Osama Bin Laden was there
and gave him safe shelter.
Well, if we were watching the compound for eight months, the Pakistani
government also had to have known we were there.
With the operations we were engaged in (the bombing of terrorist encampments),
could the Pakistani government really believe Bin Laden would be safe if they
harboured him in the Mansion on the Hill?
President Asif Ali Zardari’s remarks were for the benefit of the Pakistani people.
President Asif Ali Zardari is charged with the responsibility of representing the
interests of the people of Pakistan. And so on.
There may be an element of truth to some or all of the above. This does not
deny the Media the First Amendment right to express opinions; or to insinuate
opinions by asking questions with an urgent tone and a forward leaning posture
intended to suggest gravitas.
Diplomacy. In the refined and cultured and nuanced world of diplomacy, what is
important is quite often what is unsaid, but understood.
As my Aunt Jean once said of men’s jewellery, “I believe a man’s jewellery
should be looked for but never seen.”
In Diplomatic discussions, what we mean should be understood, not said.
We should understand that President Asif Ali Zardari has a job to do on behalf of
the People of Pakistan. We should understand that we have also have a job to

3. do. The Media has a job to do. However, most important, we should understand
that in the area of International Relations, we should not use our playbook alone
when we have people on our team from different countries.
This is why I posted the monograph, “The Impending Failure of Western
Diplomacy in the Middle East.” The Link:
http://www.slideshare.net/slimfairview/the-impending-failure-of-western-
diplomacy-in-the-middle-east
It is also the reason I posted the monograph, “What do we want? When do we
want it? How do we get it? The Link:
http://www.slideshare.net/slimfairview/what-do-we-want-how-do-we-get-it
When I was a youngster sitting in school, grammar school, we were taught,
“We may not agree with what they have to say, but they have the right to say it.”
Now, we are taught,
“They may not agree with what we have to say, but we have the right to say it.”
We have abandoned our pursuit of fulfilling our responsibilities in favour of
pursuing our rights.
Defending our rights is a good thing.
Defending our rights is slightly different from pursuing them.
Now, we see Pakistan and President Asif Ali Zardari being vilified about the
location of Osama Bin Laden’s “Casbah”.
The assailing of Pakistan and President Asif Ali Zardari is neither fair, nor
accurate, nor productive. It arises from our need to eschew the news in favour of
entertainment. Too many people, today, choose a lust for symbolic gestures
over substantive gains.
Regards,
Slim
Mail: Slimfairview@yahoo.com
Copyright © 2011 Slim Fairview