Bin Ladens Compound
Living in a mansion, hiding in suburbia, this is where Osama Bin Laden was found. Not surviving in the mountains, not living the hard life of a rebel leader, but rather living a life of leisure. Semi-retired, financially secure, a vast estate, comfortable and protected.
Bin Laden lived in the suburbs of a university town surrounded by numerous schools, colleges, universities, and anchored by the Pakistan’s premier military academy. Suburbia is the perfect hiding spot. Homes are not so close that they force neighbors into interaction, and not so isolated that you stand out like a sore thumb.
Hiding in suburbia would make sense in some neighborhoods. It’s conceivable to hide locally. Oakland has homes hidden in the Ramapo Hills, Franklin Lakes has vast estates, and even Wyckoff offers a level of anonymity that could last for a few years. But six years is a long time to go unnoticed, six years without becoming the subject of whispers or gossip, six years without anyone asking questions.
It is interesting that Bin Laden lived and died in a city so devoted to education it is known as The City of Schools. Many of these colleges and universities are dedicated to female students, which would not be allowed under the Taliban; on the wall of his estate was painted an advertisement for a girls’ college.
There is an overwhelming consensus that Bid Laden was being protected by people living in Abbottabad, The City of Schools. It is home not only to the military academy, but to many retired military officials. It is less certain how many of his neighbors may have been aware, and it seems now that most were not.
One hopes that his protectors could only offer him physical security, and that the sounds of suburban life drifted over the walls of his estate. The sounds of children playing or the sounds of music passing by from a car. Scenes of female students walking along the road, or perhaps the flicker of television sets in distant homes.
These things simple acts would torment him. The Taliban, Bin Laden’s original protectors, forbid music. Even recently, Taliban enforcers continue to attack music stores in Afghanistan as they seek to re-institute their prohibition on music. During the years of Bin Laden’s residence in Afghanistan, prior to 9/11, music shops were destroyed, artists driven underground, and anyone found with a music cassette was severely beaten.
The announcement of Bin Laden being shot in the head brought great joy to many in America. It’s a rare occasion, even with the death of the most repugnant criminals, that their death should evoke feelings of joy. The killing of Bin Laden brought about a feeling that is normally anathema to our nature.
But it is not an unnatural feeling, because with Bin Laden’s death came not only justice, but an element of redemption. While thousands of victims lost their lives because of Bin Laden, as a people we felt less the victim, and America redeemed in a small way what was stolen that bright September morning.
The Journal offers this musical tribute to all the free people of the world. To the citizens of numerous Middle Eastern countries fighting for their civil rights, to the American forces that persevered to capture Bin Laden, to those who have lent their voice to the cry for freedom, and to those who have sacrificed their lives in the pursuit of freedom, and to all who sing a song of freedom.
Turn up the volume, so it can heard in both heaven and hell….