The Gates of Hell

Author says: what if President John McCain kept his campaign pledge to capture Osama Bin Laden? Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s).

January 29: on this day in 2010 senior executives of iRobot, Inc. joined US President John S. McCain on the White House Lawn to showcase the latest PackBot model which had finally brought Osama Bin Laden to justice. Having exhausted the supply of friendly Af-Pak allies on the border zone, it was both expedient and also fitting that American technological prowess had finally located the robe-wearing, cave-dwelling head of al-qaeda.

In fact unmanned vehicles had located Bin Laden on numerous occasions in 2000-2001 as he shuttled between training camps in Afghanistan. Trouble was, that the predator drones were at that time unarmed and therefore the US military was unable to seize the opportunity to strike. Shortly after he fled to Bora-Bora, Afghan allies were used to scout down caves. And when America ran out of willing scouts, robotic technology took their place.

"I will look you in the eye and promise you that I will get Osama bin Laden and bring him to justice" ~ McCain

Bin Laden now faced an extended period of captivity in enemy hands. Which ironically was a fate that had befallen McCain himself when his A-4E Skyhawk was shot down by a missile over Hanoi on October 26th 1967.

The very few peace doves in the administration would now argue that it was time to close the book on Afghanistan, by offering the Taliban a power-share in government subject only to a moratorium on ground operations.

Imagine what would be, if history had occurred a bit differently. Who says it didn't, somewhere? These fictional news items explore that possibility. Possibilities such as America becoming a Marxist superpower, aliens influencing human history in the 18th century and Teddy Roosevelt winning his 3rd term as president abound in this interesting fictional blog.