Hat’s off to Barack Obama for making the key DECISIVE decision to remove Osama Bin Laden, OBL, from Pakistan and the American psyche for the time being. No PB is not a pessimist but we look beyond the obvious for subtle clues that enlighten some, not all, of the issues to consider behind the posturing. For a number of years most of us have probably considered that with high probability OBL has been hiding in Pakistan, a country many feel with sympathies to the radical Islamic cause.

Pakistan is obviously  located in close proximity to Afghanistan and would provide the easiest location to hide from the world given enough resources, money, friends, and perhaps extended family (which naturally includes local and national Pakistani politicians). Given this knowledge it has long been known with some measure of certainty that OBL ran his organization from this region and it is surprising how long it took to find and deal with OBL. This just proves that the difficulty for the United States to operate in the Middle East.

While we give the highest kudos to Obama on this mission we feel it is necessary to look under the hood to discern the facts surrounding this mission after all it was or has been a “team” effort of many people. Secondly the political ramification of killing OBL has significance to Obama and his bid to seek a second term in the face of many flagging issues facing his administration; OUR nation. Third we fully expect a procession of information to be released that supports and glorifies the Obama administration and its efforts. While we give kudos we would like to see Obama give credit where credit is due as it is beyond the obvious. This is a tall order for Obama who has had trouble finding decisive focus on America’s internal struggles in his first two years of leadership.

The timing of the operation to remove Osama Bin Laden from Pakistan is carefully orchestrated to coincide with the launch of Obama’s re-election campaign. In the end this is about Politics and timing, an unfortunate by-product of the political process. Again I suggest we re-visit and review some of the recent major wars America has fought and the true results: “War on Terrorism”, “War in Iraq”, “War in Afghanistan”, “War on Drugs”, and “War on Poverty” to name a few that come to mind. In each of these “wars” we lack a clear vision of what we wan to accomplish and often demonstrate poor results over the long run.

Perspective

1. America and it’s leaders need to use more focus in solving national problems as Obama demonstrated on Sunday; especially if we are going to dilute the meaning of war by combining it with social issues.
2. America’s military power has been developed over it’s existence and is the result of many resulting improvements and investments.
3. America’s military should be used sparingly and judiciously with financial transparency.
4. America is a polarized country where all must find common and middle ground to find focus and solve problems.
5. All leaders must be forthright in admitting and learning from failure. It’s a cultural thing.
6. War must be fought or executed to reasonable conclusion not in the lingering bankrupting fashion we currently execute the process.
7. If we call it a WAR we should have a decisive policy to achieve the results of the investment we apply.

With a steep bow and hat’s off we ask our leaders to find a way to incorporate this level of decisiveness observed on Sunday in all aspects of American politics. Think – Plan – Do!