ITV’s The Hunt for Bin Laden reviewed – an enlightening programme but less than interesting experts!
A year ago today the terrorist Osama Bin Laden was finally killed by US forces, so to mark the occasion ITV1 has produced the documentary The Hunt for Bin Laden, in which the extent of America’s efforts to track him down are finally revealed.
Most of us first heard the name Osama Bin Laden after the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Centre however this documentary told us that the US had been after him long before that. The son of an Arabian businessman, Bin Laden was able to ingratiate himself with the Islamic guerrillas thanks to his ability to bank-roll their efforts and soon set up his own terrorist cell in Al Qaeda. In addition he used his charisma to forge an alliance with the leaders of the Taliban.
One of the plus points of this documentary for me was in detailing Bin Laden’s involvement in attacks that happened when I was still too young to be aware of them, such as the Black Hawk Down strike of 1991 and the first attack on the World Trade Centre in 1993 – an incident that I wasn’t aware of but which tragically killed six people. The documentary then switches to Bill Clinton’s attempts to track Bin Laden, especially after 1996 when he issues his first fatwa against America and a centre is set up purely to deal with finding the leader, so he can finally be brought to justice. The running theme throughout the documentary though is the question, should Bin Laden can be treated as a criminal to be arrested and brought in to serve a life sentence, or simply treated as public enemy number one to be assassinated as soon as he is found?
