Tenth anniversary of US Navy Seal's Operation Neptune's Spear

May 2 is the 10th anniversary of the death of Osama bin Laden at the hands of Seal Team Six. May 2 2011 was when the US finally got revenge for the 9/111 terrorist attack which killed nearly 3,000 people. I was in Washington as The Times Pentagon Correspondent when the news first broke that the daring raid on bin Laden's secret, high-walled compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan had succeeded in identifying the leader of al-Qaeda as he emerged from his first floor bedroom and shooting him dead. It was one of the most extraordinary raids ever carried out by US special operations forces and gave Barack Obama the most dramatic moment in his presidency when he addressed the nation from the White House. Obama had been given several options when he was told that there was a reasonably high chance that Bin Laden was the 6ft 3ins man seen walking around the Abbottabad compound and deliberately not looking up to be caught by a passing surveillance satellite. First was the Big Bash option: hit the compound with a precision-guided bomb dropped by a B-2 stealth bomber. The problem with that option, easy as it sounded, was that the bomb would destroy the compound and leave no proof that Bin Laden was the man who had been walking around and was dead. There was also a risk that there would be collateral damage. In other words there were other village compounds not far away and there could be civilian deaths. So that was ruled out. Then there was the arned drone option but there were the same reservations. Where would be the proof to present to the world that Bin Laden had been killed? The third option given to Obama was the special operations raid but carried out with the Pakistanis to avoid having to do it without telling Pakistan what was about to happen. That was ruled out by Obama for very good reason. The Pakistani intelligence service which must have know Bin Laden was in Abbottabad, could not be trusted not to tip off the al-Qaeda founder and leader. So the fourth option became the only option, apart from doing nothing or waiting for further intelligence on identifying the Abbottabad compound resident. The fourth option was the covert Seal Team Six plan, to helicopter in 20 or so commandos to attack the compound, find Bin Laden and either capture him or kill him if he showed resistance. Theoretically they could have seized him but as soon as he emerged from a room where an AK47 Kalashnikov was sitting next to the bed, the double-tap shooting option was always going to be the most likely. Obama had his finest moment. Operation Neptune's Spear was the codename for the secret mission and Geronimo was the code sent from the Seals to the White House basement situation room where Obama and his national security team were sitting waiting to confirm that Bin Laden was dead.

The downfall of Rudy Giuliani

Rudy Giuliani has gone through several transmogrifications. He has just reached his lowest point but more of that later. For most of the world he burst onto the scene on and after 9/11 as the in-the-news-every-day mayor of New York City. He became one of the best known names. He was everywhere, representing one of the planet's greatest cities on the day of the most shocking terrorist attack in America's history. He spread confidence and reassurance and leadership and said what had to be said when it had to be said. He became worldwide famous. His next transmogrification (it's so much more solid a word than simply change) came when he became Donald Trump's go-to personal lawyer. The other side of this man began to emerge. Loyal to the point of embarrassment he reconstructed Trump's statements and sayings and rhetoric to mean something else, often with such twisted epxlanations it was laughable. The stardust accumulated during his brief time as mayor of New York during the worst of times began to blow away pretty rapidly. He became a laughing stock. As allegations against Trump piled up he played the role of outraged lawyer. I suspect people stopped believing anything he said. Now comes transmogrification number three. He gets a 6am bash-on-the-door visit from federal agents - it could have been Beijing or Pyongyang - and everything that's private, electronic or dodgy-looking is lifted from his apartment in Upper East Side, New York, and taken away by agents wearing gloves. The feds were looking for anything that might point fingers at Giuliani's goings-on in or re Ukraine and that fuss over whether Trump and co were involved in dirty tricks to smear Joe Biden when he was standing for the presidency. What a come down for the former hero mayor of New York. I can just see him answering the door in his silk dressing gown and looking flabbergasted at the pile-up of FBI agents standing at his door. "But do'nt you know who I am?" he might have said. The feds don't care who the hell you are or who you think you are. "Stand aside Mr Giuliani," they probably said. If there was any stardust left on his shoulders it has now all gone, just dust on the floor to be swept up along with everything else in his flat.

Biden's Afghan envoy sounds optimistic!

It is difficult to feel even remotely optimistic about Afghanistan's prospects for peace and happiness for all after the US and coalition forces have left later this year. But one voice has sounded a little tiny bit of hope. Zalmay Khalilzad, special envoy for Afghanistan appointed by Trump and staying on under Biden, has told Congress he doesn't think Kabul will fall to the Taliban as a consequence of the withdrawal. Well he actually said he didn't think the Afghan government would "imminently collapse" after September 11. I assume by that he means the Kabul government won't immediately fall after that date. He believes that the Afghan security forces will be able to hold back the Taliban if they launch an attack on the capital. Khalilzad is an Afghan-born American with huge experience of the trials and tribulations of his country of birth but I fear his optimism is on shakey ground. The Taliban are so cock-a-hoop about Biden's decision to withdraw unconditionally all troops by September 11 that they will feel this is a gift for them to exploit as soon as the last soldier has flown out. The over-the-horizon force the US is hoping to establish will be for counter-terrorism operations, not for stopping the Taliban taking control of Kabul. The Taliban knows this and may feel sufficiently confident to have a go at taking Kabul. But one thing that makes me wonder whether Khalilzad could be right is that the Taliban are still basically a foot-soldier force. They have a few American Humvee armoured vehicles which they captured, but generally they fight with guns, rocket-propelled grenades, improvised explosive devices and suicide bombers, wearing turbans and flip-flops. The Afghan government forces have armoured vehicles, artillery and combat-capable aircraft. So they should be able to withstand a Taliban attack provided they stand by their posts and keep fighting. If the US military are right, they won't last long without Anerican help. If Khalilzad is right, they will hold Kabul and keep the Taliban at bay. Let's hope the veteran Khalilzad's optimism is better founded than we fear.

Will America be great again under Biden?

America First and America will be Great Again are the catchphrases for ever linked to Donald Trump. Even now whenever he or one of his chosen politicians make speeches they unfailingly refer to their promise to "make America Great Again". But the chances are that if Joe Biden's luck continues the way it has gone so far, he could well be able to look back on his "first" four years in office and claim that under his administration the economy has boomed, jobs have rocketed and the pandemic has been finally defeated. All the signs are that unless something goes seriously wrong, the United States is on its way back to unrivalled prominence and Biden himself is shaping up to be a president on a rollercoaster. If he makes Amrica Great Again what will happen to Trump and his future political ambitions? Biden doesn't go around shouting like he did that he was returning the nation to Greatness but in his own quiet and persistent way he is making a damned good fist of it, as we say in Britain. With more than 51 per cent of the targeted population now vaccinated at least once, Biden can feel confident that by the late summer the whole country should be jabbed with one or other of the vaccines, and the more jabs there are the more the economy will open up. By 2024 if Trump does decide to stand again for the presidency, he will not have anything like the political momentum that drove him to the White House in 2016. Biden will be able to turn to him and say: "Donald, America IS great again, just look at the economy. The country no longer needs or wants you." Trump will have to start thinking of a new catchphrase to give himself a chance in 2024. Perhaps, "I can make America even greater".

So, Keir Starmer, will you keep Boris's refurbishments if you ever take over Downing St?

I am already sick of all the hypocritical whingeing going on about whether Boris Johnson spent too much on refurbishing the flat above Number 11 Downing Street and whether he arranged for a loan from a Tory donor to help pay for it. Let's get a few things straight first. This is the official London residence of the prime minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. It's not Boris's personal apartment which he can sell at some huge profit after he has stopped being prime minister. It's the flat over the shop and surely, if the prime minister of the day hates the furniture and decorations etc of the residence left by his or her predecessor, shouldn't it be ok for the new leader to choose different curtains and sofas and a fancy kitchen and perhaps a better TV set, or whatever? If ever Keir Starmer becomes prime minister, won't he want to chuck out everything Boris and Carrie have done and do his own makeover? When a new president takes over in the White House there's always a big makeover. John Kennedy and his elegant wife Jacqueline spent a bunch of dollars to turn the White House into a Camelot-style residence, Bill and Hillary Clinton changed a lot, even George W Bush changed the curtains if I remember rightly. But of course with Boris it's all about the money spent. Under the rules governing British prime ministers and the Downing Street residence, they are allowed to use a grant of £30,000 to make alterations, put new carpets down etc. But Boris and his longstanding fiancee Carrie had bigger and better ideas and wanted a total makeover to make sure they had a decent home for themselves and their young son Wilfred. It looks like a Tory donor offered to make up the difference between £30,000 and whatever it was going to cost. Some reports say the final estimate was £60,000, others suggest £200,000. This should have been declared in an open and fully transparent way but it seems it wasn't. Well not straightaway. Now Boris is saying he paid or would pay the difference himself. But thanks to devilish leaking by his old friend Dominic Cummings it has now turned into a massive political scandal and Labour's leader Keir Starmer is having a field day bashing Boris whenever he opens his mouth. My only thought is this: why on earth would Boris contemplate spending so much money on a flat he is never going to own? He knew the cost would come out at some point because you can't keep something like this secret. It's all so ridiculous and it's taking up crucial political time when the whole government and opposition should be focusing on the pandemic and getting this country back to normal. It's what we Brits call a storm in a teacup.

India in desperate need of international help

India is setting global records every day for the number of Covid-19 infections. The statistics are truly shocking and the country with its population of neary 1.4 billion people is running out of oxygen supplies to save lives. People are dying by the thousand because they literally have no oxygen in their lungs to breathe. Both the US and Britain have offered assistance with equipment and personnel but India has made no call for international help. They are benefiting from the so-called Covax global vaccines fund. But clearly it's not enough to save India from further catastrophe. If there had been a massive earthquake killing tens of thousands and destroying vast numbers of buildings would not the world be rushing to help? It's difficult to see why the Indian government has not put out a global appeal for help. Except that it takes political courage and leadership to admit total failure and admit to other nations that it needs to be rescued. The Indian government made poor decisions over lockdown and failed to enforce proper social distancing rules. Many images from India over recent weeks have shown huge gatherings of people. Politics needs to be put to one side and the world should pour in help. Oxygen supplies being the key thing required and more vaccines. Both the US and Britain have large vaccine stocks, more than they need because of astute early ordering. But this is a pandemic and it's in everyone's interests for every country to be helped to eradicate this terrible disease. India must now be a priority for all of us. The daily reports from New Delhi are heartrending, and we know little of what is going on in other parts of this desperate country. As we here in the UK and also in the US are beginning to return to a sort of normality one can only feel guilt that in another part of the world - one with such close ties to this country - people are dying for lack of help, lack of oxygen and lack of vaccines.

Is Boris in big trouble?

The bitter row building up between Boris Johnson and his erstwhile chief adviser Dominic Cummings is not for the fainthearted. It's schadenfreude at its worst. Cummings was effectively booted out from his job at Number 10 Downing Street because his Machiavellian way of doing business was scaring the hell out of everyone, includng Boris, and he had to go before everyone had a nervous breadown. But Boris realised Cummings knew where all the bodies were buried. So it was a calculated risk. Then the story broke on the BBC about Boris promising Sir James Dyson, inventor of the baglass vacuum cleaner and a myriad other high-tech stuff, to make sure his company, headquartered in Singapore, didn't have to pay extra tax if he returned to the UK to build oxygen ventilator equipment for the Covid crisis. It made headlines because the way it was reported made it look very dodgy: Dyson ringing and emailing Boris personally to get him to sort out his tax problem with the Treasury rather than go through the proper channels. Dyson is a massive British success story and it's hardly surprising he knows Boris's phone number and chose to ask the prime minister for help rather than write a long letter to the Treasury civil service which would probably not have been answered for weeks. I really don't think it's a big deal. But the story is all about alleged Conservative sleaze and Boris's personal integrity or lack of it. Then came the bombshell. Boris asked for a leak inquiry into who leaked his emails to and from Dyson to the BBC but instead of waiting for the result he seemingly authorised one of his press flunkies to brief the newspapers that Cummings was the leaker. Bang! Out came Cummings and published a massive blog denying he was the leaker but was the holder of a pile of scandals which he was ready to spill out to destroy his former boss, including some dodgy dealing about funding the £60,000 makeover at the prime minister's flat in Downing Street. More ammunition for the Labour leader Keir Starmer to bash Boris and call for all kinds of public inquiries. The only sleaze as far as I can see is the dreadful revenge allegations emerging from Cummings who, it has to be said, is not the most popular man in Britain following his alleged breach of the first Covid lockdown when he drove all the way up north to visit his parents and then took a trip to some castle tourist spot, allegedly to check his eyes to make sure it was safe for him to drive back to London. Yeah, right. Anyway Cummings is now raging with revenge and God knows what else he has up his sleeve. All very unpleasant and undignified. Boris must feel he has opened up a can of very long, slimey worms.