The Myth of Osama Bin Laden's Lavish Lifestyle

Team Six of the US Navy SEALS successfully assaulted and were finally able to bring an end to the OBL and his terrestrial existence on planet Earth. I believe this is a fact we should rejoice on and congratulate the administration and the brave men and women of this country who risked their lives to make this happen!

I am saddened that even the American media forgets to mention that he, i.e. OBL was one of the major brains behind the 9/11 WTC carnage that took 3,000 lives on American soil and countless many overseas! Let's not forget those whose lives were lost and the sacrifices their family members have to still endure! As well as the permanent changes that have happened in the daily lives of billions of people worldwide since that fateful morning of 9/11/2001.

However, I am more dismayed at the general media who has tried to milk this event by trying to portray a larger than life image of OBL after his death! Let's get one thing straight and clear everyone OBL was a COWARD! And NO he was NOT charismatic or a leader! He preyed on the weak, poor, socially, economically, and mostly uneducated youth like his partner Al-Zawahiri to entice young Muslims to fight for their (OBL+Zawahiri) personal ideology. Yes, there were a few educated folks who supported the same agenda, but they were and are still the minority contrary to what the media wants us to believe. This is no different from how gangs find recruits from modern urban inner cities or militias recruit new converts for their cause in the American Suburbia.

This weasel or rat whatever you want to call him was hiding in a small town being protected by elements of the Pakistani intelligence and military. For days I have been reading about reports of the multi-million dollar compound where the brave and outstanding members of Team Six finally put an end to him. If you have seen pictures of the building where OBL finally breathed his last he wasn't living like a shadow of what moderately well-off Pakistani's live like. The place while big clearly looked in a state of disrepair. It was more like a dilapidated safe-house.

I can bet for a fact that his Pakistani or other handlers lived ten times more lavishly than what he was found living like in his last days. Okay so the compound was large, but big F#$%*&^ deal! OBL was a global multi-millionaire, the media doesn't get tired of telling us this every single moment! If you look at the compound around this large building it didn't even have a garden or a lawn that was properly manicured or well kept, just a dirt field. Small time local-millionaires in the region live in better comfort and style than what OBL lived before he died.

Even the furniture, which you see from the pictures and video released by the US, in the so called mansion looked like it was from the middle ages. OBL was living like a rat in a sewer, not like the Sheikh he was supposed to be. This is no different than when Saddam was found hiding in an underground hole by the US forces years ago! For all the palaces that Saddam had he was literally found trying to survive and stay alive in a rat hole!

What people in the west don't realize is that in most other countries having high walls and gated courtyards is the norm for anyone who is even slightly middle class or above. For Americans who have traveled to places in Mexico, Puerto-rico, DR, or Asia, etc. they will know this is a fact. Again unlike the US or Europe very, very few houses are wired for internet in these countries. With the proliferation of mobiles (cells phones for Americans) most people don't even have landlines for telephones.

Secondly, I can bet most average folks would probably have more than a couple of hundred bucks on them plus at-least couple of credit cards most of the time. All OBL had was 500 Euros (they say he hated the US & everything American so probably no dollars ;-). OBL was a legitimate Sheikh a multi-millionaire who was hiding in a country where credit card acceptance and usage is very low compared to US, he had to have cash on him to survive if ever even in a minor pickle. 500 Euros is not a lot of money, even an economy airfare out of Pakistan costs twice as much. The cost of a weekend stay in a decent hotel in a Pakistani metro would have cost him more than 500 Euros!

In all reality the poor bugger was running scared, hiding in Pakistan where power outages and brownouts are the norm. Life was not even normal forget about being lavish for him at all, he was pretty much stay'in alive by the skin of his teeth! Maybe the CIA guys paid (or were charged) a million bucks for the house next door to watch him from. Which is why they think his house was also worth the same. Just like the US Govt. pays $500 bucks for an ordinary hammer, that sells for $10 at Home Depot!

So read between the hype and garbage the traditional media reports.