You knew this was coming

In Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood is forming a dangerously powerful political party.

Meanwhile, in Syria ...

While we have been watching the death of Usama bin Laden, the civil war in Libya, the royal wedding and the NFL Draft, a significant popular revolt in Syria has flown largely under the radar.

This is unfortunate.  In many respects, Syria is a linchpin of the trouble in the Middle East.  Syria has involved itself in a complicated relationship with Iran that has troubled the US and Israel for decades.  Under Hafez al-Asad, Syria became the major conduit for Iranian support of the Islamist group Hezbo'allah, a policy that has continued under Asad's son and successor Bashar.  Syria has never accepted the French carving out Lebanon, then a Christian enclave, from Sunni Muslim Syria proper, or "Greater Syria," as it is known, which encompasses Lebanon, parts of Israel, Jordan and, not generally publicized, Turkey, including such Turkish cities as Antioch (Antakya in Turkish) and Alexandretta (Iskenderun).
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Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood is "moderate," huh?

They why are they supporting Usama bin Laden?

A worthless jackpot?

Supposedly, when our troops raided Usama bin Laden's compound, we recovered a "trove of computer drives and disks during their weekend raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound, yielding what a U.S. official called 'the mother lode of intelligence.'"  In theory, it should enable us to plan further atacks on the al Qaida network and its allies.  Except ...

As Aaron Worthing asks, "WHY THE HELL ARE YOU TELLING US THIS?! "

Here’s a hint [...], none of that [intelligence] is actionable, now.  Chances are virtually all of that information can go bad -- things like locations of bad guys, assumed names and the like can all be changed if the bad guys know we have that information.  Now if they are smart -- and there is good reason to think they aren’t -- they might have done that automatically as a precaution when bin Laden was killed. But if any of that information didn’t go bad the moment bin Laden reached room temperature, it went bad the moment word got out.

Whither Pakistan

The location of Usama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan -- an affluent suburb of Islamabad, home to many retired Pakistani generals and one army regiment -- has raised additional uncomfortable questions about the nature of Pakistan and its people, its government, its military and its intelligence agency.
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What a gentleman.

Usama bin Laden used his wife as a human shield.

Give Obama credit

As you know, I am no fan of Barack Obama's policies.  On some such as defense, foreign policy, courts and environmental policy, I think just about everything he is doing is flat-out wrong and possibly against US interests.  On others, such as the stimulus, financial regulation and ObamaCare, I am ambivalent, though the way ObamaCare was passed is reprehensible.

That said, it was under Obama's watch and as, at least in part, a result of Obama's executive decisions that a team of US Navy SEALS was able to raid Usama bin Laden's rather obvious compound in the Islamabad suburb of Abbottabad, Pakistan, and come out with his head -- literally.

For that, Obama deserves praise.  Very nicely done.
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