Bin Laden is dead - and the U.S. has the body

[Snowhog]

Finally. It would have been more satisfactory if he could have been captured alive, but regardless, this is good news for the United States. President Obama addressing the Nation momentarily.

[woodsmoke]

Re: Bin Laden is dead - and the U.S. has the body

good speech by Pres. Obama.

woodsmoke

[Snowhog]

Re: Bin Laden is dead - and the U.S. has the body

What's yet to be seen however, is will his death be the 'storms ending' or the calm of the 'eye of a hurricane'?

[thelonegunmen]

Re: Bin Laden is dead - and the U.S. has the body

I thought he died back in 2002 because of liver failure. After all, that's what president Bhutto said shortly before she got assassinated. This all seems a little too convenient to me, seeing how elections are coming up pretty soon, notice how he took the credit?

[Telengard]

Re: Bin Laden is dead - and the U.S. has the body

http://youtu.be/ZNYmK19-d0U

This all seems a little too convenient to me, seeing how elections are coming up pretty soon, notice how he took the credit?

I thought almost the same thing. To be fair though, President Obama seems to have gotten this job done whereas former President Bush did not.

I'm of the opinion that bin Laden had help from very powerful people in staying alive as long as he did. Just considering that supposedly the United States' military, and the entire worlds' police and spy agencies have been relentlessly hunting him for ten years.

I wonder whether our troops will be called home soon. My guess is probably not.

[MoonRise]

Re: Bin Laden is dead - and the U.S. has the body



That's all that can be said.

[Detonate]

Re: Bin Laden is dead - and the U.S. has the body

Finally. It would have been more satisfactory if he could have been captured alive,

No it is much better that he is dead. Can you imagine the turmoil surrounding a trial?

[wizard10000]

Re: Bin Laden is dead - and the U.S. has the body

Even on my own forum mine's been the unpopular opinion.

Although I'm glad Bin Laden has been neutralized I think we may have just martyred him - as Al Queda operations have been decentralized for years and I'm reasonably certain they have contingency plans for this event.

I am however a little appalled at my fellow citizens celebrating the death of another human being. I'm not trying to spark debate here, but I should have expected as much from a country where about half the population thinks it's acceptable for a government to execute its citizens.

The war on terror has been good for the government - and I've wondered for years how difficult it can be to find a 6'5" Arab who requires dialysis in a part of the world where electricity and medical supplies can be pretty hard to come by. I shared this quote earlier today - I found it interesting:

Naturally the common people don't want war; neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in America, nor in Germany. That is understood. But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for a lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.

-- Hermann Goering

So - I'm looking at the whole thing with a slightly jaundiced eye. And again, I'm not trying to spark a debate, just expressing an opinion.

[MoonRise]

Re: Bin Laden is dead - and the U.S. has the body

Finally. It would have been more satisfactory if he could have been captured alive,

No it is much better that he is dead. Can you imagine the turmoil surrounding a trial?

Agreed.

[thelonegunmen]

Re: Bin Laden is dead - and the U.S. has the body

So um, he's dead right?

In this pic on the left is Osama from maybe 1998, in the middle is the "now dead" Osama the has been released to the media, on the right is a composite of the two.

[img width=400 height=178]http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/782/020511top.jpg[/img]

Just more terrible Photoshopping brought to you by the U.S. government.

[Telengard]

Re: Bin Laden is dead - and the U.S. has the body

Although I'm glad Bin Laden has been neutralized I think we may have just martyred him

Is that really worse than having him alive and whereabouts unknown? Don't you think that people who call him martyr now would follow him anyway?

I am however a little appalled at my fellow citizens celebrating the death of another human being.

I feel something similar. In 2001 there was video on YouTube of people in some places cheering, chanting, and waving signs and banners. It was a nauseating sight then too. It would be nice to think that my countrymen are made of better stuff than that.

OTOH I also know that some people really do need to celebrate this moment. They've been gritting their teeth and waiting for ten years. The release of pressure must have been tremendous for them.

[woodsmoke]

Re: Bin Laden is dead - and the U.S. has the body

Obama "got the job done" because Bush began it.

Obama has been having the devil to pay with his base because he not only "kept" the warrantless wiretaps, he increased them, he not only kept the predator drone strikes he increased them, he not only kept "black ops" he increased them.

They both should get credit as should Clinton for at least taking a half hearted swipe at the guy during his presidency.

APPARENTLY...according to the news he was "buried at sea" which is curious in and of itself. Will the people on the ship, or helicopter where they unceremoneously dumped the body be sworn to secrecy?

And also a rather curious comment was made by one of the blathering heads last night to the effect of:

They "had DNA" to "verify" or something. The sentence structure was that they had DNA "before" they went in after him. Of course it could have been a mistake of "I gotta look like I have something important to say in front of the camera"...but if they actually got DNA "ahead" of time that would really be a very interesting story about how it was done!

And of course one of the "media" I won't say which one, for fear of offending people, immediately had to get on about how this will help Obama in the re-election attempt, and I abhor that the person couldn't just think of the people who died in 9-11 and every place else, but, yes... Obama SHOULD "get credit", not ALL the credit he should get credit for this.

And....I'll bet that Speilberg was on the phone first thing this morning, him and Obama are best buds, about getting the skinny so he can make the FIRST movie!

But, again, I thought Obama gave a very good speech.

woodsmoke

[Snowhog]

Re: Bin Laden is dead - and the U.S. has the body

The problem with the pictures that thelonegunmen posted is that they are in fact fake. Lot's on the Internet concerning those photos. The President has not yet decided to release the official photo(s) taken at the scene of the battle that resulted in Bin Laden's death. That in itself is troubling.

I also heard that his body was buried at sea. Not a smart move on the part of our Government, and as conspiracists will assuredly say, "Why!? Why did you have to dispose of 'the body' so quickly?"

Hmm.

[GreyGeek]

Re: Bin Laden is dead - and the U.S. has the body

The problem with the pictures that thelonegunmen posted is that they are in fact fake. Lot's on the Internet concerning those photos. The President has not yet decided to release the official photo(s) taken at the scene of the battle that resulted in Bin Laden's death. That in itself is troubling.

I also heard that his body was buried at sea. Not a smart move on the part of our Government, and as conspiracists will assuredly say, "Why!? Why did you have to dispose of 'the body' so quickly?"

Hmm.

Those photos appear to be fake to me. Bin Laden was reported as dead in 2001:
http://whatreallyhappened.com/WRHART...osama_dead.php
and in the article a series of photos is shown, one taken in 1998, one presented as the current "hit" photo showing the bullet hole over his left eye and him with a short beard, and a photo with the beard lifted from the 1998 photo and pasted on the hit photo. Doesn't look convincing. The hit photo shows a man with lips and teeth that do not match the 1998 photo. The nasal flares and grove are not prominent in the hit photo, and those features would take plastic surgery to remove. As of 5/2/11 1:08PM CST the Whitehouse is still deciding whether or not to release the real photos. The photos on the website above are fake.

The article does repeat news stories from around 2000-2001 in which various leaders claim that Bin Laden was dead, none of which were ever verified.

I have found no reason to doubt Pres. Obama's announcement, and it is too far from Nov 4, 2012 to be a campaign stunt. Pres. Obama is not stupid, nor is he a coward. He knows that by making that public announcement and taking full credit for killing Bin Laden he will become the target of lethal fatwas against him and all of his family for the rest of his life.

[woodsmoke]

Re: Bin Laden is dead - and the U.S. has the body

There is a slide series and a video from ABC wherewith people can see the inside of the house.

Two things struck me about the place. We haven't seen "the rest of the house" but the room looked rather....well the best way to put it is..tawdry.

Now, given, the man was supposedly an ascetic so he would not want much but a bottle of vasaline, what looked like either a small vacuum cleaner or a sixties model hair dryer.. on the floor was an electronic balance which if he had medication problems would be logical...

But, I have actually known a couple of "ascetics" who were REAL ascetics and they would not have lived in such a.... welll it is hard to describe.

True... the firefight caused the bloodstains, you name it the torn apart look but that wouldn't explain the .... general appearance.

In an other article there was a rather strang line about how they got the information, and I DO NOT WANT to get into a discussion of waterboarding etc. but here is the sentence:

“In July 2003, detainee [al-Libi] received a letter from UBL’s designated courier, Maulawi Abd al-Khaliq Jan, requesting detainee take on the responsibility of collecting donations, organizing travel, and distributing funds to families in Pakistan.

Now, supposedly UBL was quite wealthy, but there was speculation about how may have blown the money on terror missions, but it is strange that even in 2003 he was looking for donations instead of giving out a few dollars in an area where a few dollars is a very big deal..

Here are the two linkys, the first shows BLOOD so if one is queasy about that then stay away but it does show the general tone of the abode.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/...-zone-13508190

Here is the article on the interrogation information:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...uantanamo.html