Monday, May 2, 2011

Hey, Abbottabad!

Were you, like me, intrigued to learn that Osama had been living in a Pakistan town called "Abbottabad"? "Who the heck is Abbott," I asked myself, when I saw the name, "and why is there is a place in Pakistan named after someone with that infidel-sounding name?" Here's the scoop from Wiki:
The town of Abbottabad in British India was the headquarters of the then Hazara district, and was named after Major James Abbott who founded the town and district in January 1853 after the annexation of the Punjab. He remained the first Deputy Commissioner of the Hazara district between 1849 until April 1853. Major Abbott is noted for having written a poem titled "Abbottabad", before he went back to Britain, in which he wrote of his fondness for the town and his sadness at having to leave it. Abbottabad became and is still an important military cantonment and sanatorium, being the headquarters of a brigade in the Second Division of the Northern Army Corps.[3] The garrison consisted of four battalions of native infantry (Gurkhas and Frontier Force) and four native mountain batteries.[4] 
All in all a most appropriate location for Osama to meet his demise, wouldn't you say?

Update: He may have been a terrific military commander, but Abbott wasn't much of a poet. In his poem "Abbottabad" (linked above) he rhymes "heart" with "thwart". Yuck.

2 comments:

Al the Fish said...

FYI if you check the google location given as Obama's mansion, it is next door to St. Peter's church! I kid you not! (A synagogue in the neighbor hood would have been too much to ask for when he went house hunting I guess.) Karma's a bitch!

scaramouche said...

Bet he factored that into his evil calculations--"they'll never expect be to be hiding out beside a church."