Osama Bin Laden Speaks

It takes Osama Bin Laden to remind us how badly George W. Bush has failed in the mission that was supposed to define his presidency - The War on Terror. While on Capitol Hill the debate rages on about how, when and if our troops should be withdrawn from Iraq, Bin Laden presents not one but two video tapes for our viewing pleasure. It is as if Bin Laden came over to the President and delivered two open-handed (aka "bitch") slaps, one for each cheek, in an attempt to re-focus him on the real terrorist - Osama Bin Laden himself.

It has been six years since the worst terrorist attack on America soil and the perpetrator is still sending us anniversary reminders of how utterly futile the attempts to capture or kill him have been. I am sure this message has not been lost on the rest of the world. Instead of worrying about saving face in Iraq, Bush should be more concerned about the power Bin Laden has to make America look stupid and powerless to stop the one person who is responsible for taking us down this road of fighting terrorism around the world. Remember what our President said on 9/13/01, two days after the Twin Towers were reduced to rubble:

"The most important thing is for us to find Osama bin Laden. It is our number one priority and we will not rest until we find him."
- G.W. Bush, 9/13/01

It is obvious that Bin Laden is not our number one priority. The war in Iraq has long overshadowed him. We have lost thousands of our military personnel to either death or serious permanent injury in a war that initially had nothing to do with terrorism. In fact we did Bin Laden a favor by invading Iraq and giving his Al Qaeda organization another battleground on which to prove themselves.

From all reports Bin Laden is hiding somewhere in "no man's land" between the Pakistan and Afghanistan borders. If we were serious we would let Pakistan know, in no uncertain terms, that Osama Bin Laden is America's number one priority and we will leave no stone unturned until he is either captured or killed. It is amazing how we can invade and occupy the entire country of Iraq, suffer thousands of casualties, threaten Iran and Syria and alienate ourselves from the rest of the world but we can't convince our staunchest ally to help us hunt down one man who is hiding in some tiny corner of their country.

Let's hope that the two bitch slaps that were delivered on the sixth anniversary will serve as a wake up call and remind all of us that we will never be safe until we complete our nation's number one priority.......Get Osama Bin Laden!!

Bob Woolmer was Drugged

A post mortem performed on Bob Woolmer, the Pakistani cricket coach who was murdered in Jamaica on March 18th, revealed that he was drugged before being strangled. A toxicology report identified a drug in his system that was meant to incapacitate him.

"Those tests will show there was a drug in his system that would have incapacitated Mr Woolmer," Panorama's Adam Parsons says.

"It now seems certain that as he was being strangled, he'd already been rendered helpless - leaving him unable to fight back.

"The specific details of that poison are now very likely to offer a significant lead to finding his murderer."

The specific drug was not identified pending a complete report to be released by the Jamaican authorities. In the meantime his body has been released and was flown to South Africa where he resided with his wife, Gill and his two children Russell and Dale. Mark Shields, the Deputy Police Commissioner in Jamaica plans to fly to South Africa to update the family on the investigation. The funeral will be a private family ceremony.

Bob Woolmer Update

Was Bob Woolmer killed because he knew too much about corruption in cricket? That is the question on the minds of investigators, cricket officials and the public in general. There is much speculation that he was about to expose the darker side of the game where players have been known to accept money to throw games. There have been well documented cases in the past in which guilty players have been banned, either permanently or for an extended period of time, for engaging in "match-fixing". The following clips examine some of these issues.
[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=4dQ3lWJIbNg]
[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=QByEd91MOAU]
Whatever the reason for Bob Woolmer's murder, he was a man who loved the game of cricket and lived his life with integrity. His untimely demise is a blight on the sport and hopefully the perpetrators of this despicable act will be brought to justice in a timely manner. Below is a tribute to the life of Bob Woolmer - May 14th 1948 to Marh 18th 2007.
[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=QWhca-GDbUE]

Murder in Jamaica

Bob Woolmer, coach of the Pakistan Cricket team, was found murdered in his hotel room in Kingston, Jamaica. The Jamaican police said the cause of death was: "Due to asphyxia as a result of manual strangulation" In these circumstances, the matter of Mr Robert Woolmer’s death is now being treated by Jamaica police as a case of murder.

Mr Woolmer was found “lifeless” by a maid in the bathroom of his room at the Pegasus Kingston hotel. The former England all-rounder, a diabetic, was surrounded by blood, vomit and diarrhoea. Much of the vomit was sprayed high on the walls, suggesting a violent struggle.

Mark Shields, the Deputy Police Commissioner in Kingston and a former Scotland Yard detective, said there was no sign of forced entry into Mr Woolmer’s hotel bedroom, nor had his possessions been disturbed, increasing speculation that he was killed by people he knew. It was likely more than one killer was involved in the “particularly horrific” murder. “It would take some force because Bob was a large man and, therefore, it would have taken some significant force to subdue him.” He added: “We do not know how many people there were in the room.”

All the guests at the hotel were interviewed by the police, including the entire Pakistani Cricket team. The team was allowed to leave Jamaica the next day after leaving DNA samples and fingerprints with the authorities. The police however have no witnesses nor suspects at this stage of the investigation.

There are suspicions that Mr. Woolmer may have been murdered to prevent him from exposing illegal activities in the cricket world involving corruption and match-fixing.

Malcolm Speed, chief executive of the International Cricket Council (ICC), would not rule out corruption as a motive. “We don’t know whether this is corruption-related at this stage,” he said. “We believe that in the past few years we have been able to keep corruption under control.”

Mr Speed said that Lord Condon the former Metropolitan Police Commissioner Paul Condon, was standing by and willing to assist with the inquiry. He has been involved with helping the ICC to fight corruption within the sport.

Mr. Bob Woolmer leaves behind a wife and two children. His body will remain in Jamaica until an inquest is held. For more on Bob Woolmer's life and career check out his official website here