This blog has not rushed to comment on either the death of Osama Bin Laden, or the conspiracy theories that rapidly emerged after Barack Obama's announcement on Monday.
If there were to be a World Cup for conspiracy theorists, the two nations vying for top seeding would be the United States and Pakistan. The UK, despite the best efforts of some, would probably have the type of seeding England's footballers have after four years of Fabio Capello's best efforts. Perhaps the beauty of Bin Laden's death (there you go, I have given away my position as a believer in anything the US President says!) is that it brings together, in one incident, both these conspiracy minded nations. Let battle commence!
Politically, the Navy Seals operation must have terrified the Pakistani establishment, by raising their worst possible fear. That is a world where the US - and for that matter the west more broadly - may not particularly need them. The possibility for Pakistani's feudal class, for its military and its intelligence service, of having to work for a living and pay taxes, rather than simply soak up billions in aid from the West, must be a truly terrifying thought.
Such elements certainly have a motive for denying Bin Laden's death, and indeed for denying his long term presence in a house so close to a Pakistani military academy. They will be delighted to both read, and fuel, further conspiracy theories in the weeks and months to come, providing they absolve the Pakistani establishment of any responsibility for the actions of Al Qaeda.
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