Osama Bin Laden killed by US in Pakistan

[Dale]

I agree; burial at sea is a good option. But I would think that they would want to wait to do that after some 3rd-party confirmation of identity.

 

[MartinJH]

And now, no more wedding talk! DOUBLE WOOT!

Haha thought I was the only one getting ticked off with this wedding.

 

[Lacy33]

Lacy, you crack me up!

Meh, he doesn't need any more virgins...didn't he already have like 12 wives?

You are Right! Wonder he didn't do himself in...

 

[WhoWee]

Al Jazeera reported he was in a Mansion outside Islamabad

Pakistan needs to expalin how this was possible - IMO.

 

[Lacy33]

No, but the Muslim world will. They will want to see the body; hole in head included.

He had a hole in his head BEFORE he was shot.

 

[cobalt124]

Pakistan needs to expalin how this was possible - IMO.

From what I'm reading on the BBC website, there are are three Pakistani military bases in the area and (or including, can't remember) the top Military School, "the equivalent of West Point, or Sandhurst" (paraphrasing there).

 

[alt]

The photo definitely looks fake - they even admit this on the web site. I don't think anyone in authority claimed it's real though, did they ?

A couple of oddities though;

- He was killed a day or two ago according to news and posts here ? DNA tests take several days at least though, don't they ?

- The crowd outside the White House .. scaling trees and waving flags .. at 1.30 AM Monday morning ? And all quite young, student types .. odd - like a kind of rent-a-crowd ..

Good that the SOB is dead though (even if they had to thaw the body out).

 

[Borg]

The house is up for sale already.

Located in cozy, quiet neighborhood. Interrupted only occasionally by machine gun fire. Lacking in ameneties, but an up and coming area. Handyman special. One satellite phone available with smoking bullet hole for comms back home. CIA helicoptors offering complimentary air lift service for corpses. Great property to get away from it all. Must See!

 

[WhoWee]

I called a friend (a local fireman) that drove to NY after the 911 attacks to assist with search and rescue. His wife said he's helping in Alabama right now, but called her and was glad to hear the news. Btw - he also helped in the Gulf after Katrina.

I also received email celebrations from a retired Navy SEAL and a friend involved with drone operations - both are very proud of the outcome.

 

[Ryumast3r]

So apparently they buried his body already, and at sea.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/2011/05/osama-bin-laden-body-headed-for-burial-at-sea-officials-say.html

This is odd...

Major response to this to come at the bottom.

Apparently officials are saying it's a fake and msnbc is saying it doesn't look right either.

http://photoblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/05/02/6568249-we-think-that-bin-laden-death-photo-is-a-fake

Gawd I hope I don't wake up tomorrow to a bunch of conspiracy theories.

That picture is a fake. U.S. officials aren't going to start circulating his pictures for fear of looking like they're parading around a dead body, because doing THAT will certainly make Osama Bin Laden a martyr, and that is something we want to avoid... at least... as much as we can.

yes. it doesn't seem well-thought out.

Ok, now the burial thing: I'm sure it was, and I agree with the decision. You don't want to parade a body around, like I said above, because that will certainly make a martyr out of him and make us seem like terrible people. We want to bury him as fast as we can (mind you it could take a couple days at sea for the body to be finally laid to rest... the ocean is a large place), and in a place where his body cannot become a shrine. This means somewhere in a large ocean like the atlantic where his body couldn't be found by some poor fisherman off the coast of some African nation.

 

[lisab]

I read http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42853221/ns/world_news-death_of_bin_laden/" that the order to go in and get OBL was given on Friday by President Obama.

Now think about what he was doing Saturday night - the correspondent's dinner! I thought there was a very nice glow about him that evening ! I'm sure he was being briefed the whole time, it must have been a fantastic evening...that makes me happy for him.

 

[Lacy33]

I read http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42853221/ns/world_news-death_of_bin_laden/" that the order to go in and get OBL was given on Friday by President Obama.

Now think about what he was doing Saturday night - the correspondent's dinner! I thought there was a very nice glow about him that evening ! I'm sure he was being briefed the whole time, it must have been a fantastic evening...that makes me happy for him.

No kidding Lisab. He was taking out two wacko's that night. Though one is still alive.
I would watch my back if I were Obama. The one still alive is even more dangerous. And he is werry mad at Obama.

 

[DaveC426913]

ZI wanted to friend him. He must be feeling pretty bad right now knowing he will not get any wergins.

Oh yeah. And what were you going to do to help him with that?

 

[Borg]

No kidding Lisab. He was taking out two wacko's that night. Though one is still alive.
I would watch my back if I were Obama. The one still alive is even more dangerous. And he is werry mad at Obama.

Given his track record recently, I wouldn't want to be the focus of Obama's attention.

Ok, now the burial thing: I'm sure it was, and I agree with the decision. You don't want to parade a body around, like I said above, because that will certainly make a martyr out of him and make us seem like terrible people. We want to bury him as fast as we can (mind you it could take a couple days at sea for the body to be finally laid to rest... the ocean is a large place), and in a place where his body cannot become a shrine. This means somewhere in a large ocean like the atlantic where his body couldn't be found by some poor fisherman off the coast of some African nation.

They just need to weigh the body down properly. A depth charge would do nicely.

 

[WhoWee]

They just need to weigh the body down properly. A depth charge would do nicely.

I was thinking sharks.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

I think it's a wise decision. No body to recover for a shrine or massive public funeral, and assuming it was done properly, no way for somebody to desecrate the body or otherwise provide any propaganda value. Everything done quick, above-board, and with no fuss.

I agree that burial at sea was above-board.

 

[CAC1001]

Cue the conspiracy theories if the body is never seen.

 

[lisab]

Just heard an interesting story on NPR. Apparently, for years OBL has avoided all electronics - no phone, no internet. Nothing that could be bugged or tracked.

But that's what made this compound so interesting to intelligence personnel - no phone and no internet, in a neighborhood where all the other houses had them!

Damned if he did, damned if he didn't. Guess he should have stayed in his cave.

 

[DaveC426913]

I agree that burial at sea was above-board.

*rimshot*

 

[pergradus]

Pakistan needs to expalin how this was possible - IMO.

I'm pretty sure the CIA has known that the ISI was protecting Bin Laden for years, and are probably responsible for him escaping Afghanistan in the first place.

 

[JesseC]

How are the US military going to justify invading any more middle eastern countries now? :O

 

[Lacy33]

Oh yeah. And what were you going to do to help him with that?

Oh you can be so twisted dear friend.
Were you thinking I would offer my uish daughter? Of course not.
Sometimes all you can do is just be there for someone.
I use to do that a lot in the community from where I came.
Sit with the dead that is.
It was considered a great kindness... from the outside that is.
Sitting closed in a room alone for a whole night and or day with many times someone you knew can get a little jumpy.

 

[rhody]

They just need to weigh the body down properly. A depth charge would do nicely.

Why waste a perfectly good depth charge on him. A side note: this is one of the few threads I have read and contributed to lately where the number of posts almost equals the number of views, that is telling, the reaction to the news of his killing is strong.

Rhody...

 

[WhoWee]

How are the US military going to justify invading any more middle eastern countries now? :O

Please, does the US military decide which countries to invade - or does President Obama?

 

[Lacy33]

I agree that burial at sea was above-board.

Yo! Are one sharp dude.

 

[Proton Soup]

Ok, now the burial thing: I'm sure it was, and I agree with the decision. You don't want to parade a body around, like I said above, because that will certainly make a martyr out of him and make us seem like terrible people. We want to bury him as fast as we can (mind you it could take a couple days at sea for the body to be finally laid to rest... the ocean is a large place), and in a place where his body cannot become a shrine. This means somewhere in a large ocean like the atlantic where his body couldn't be found by some poor fisherman off the coast of some African nation.

at the very least, they need to get a few dozen press in there to inspect the body before they toss it overboard. and I'm not photographs should be out of the question. there are certainly photos of saddam floating around. if not, the controversy will never end, especially domestically.

anyhoo, can we bring the troops home now? probably not.

 

[Mech_Engineer]

Honestly what's more important- the fact that OBL is dead, or trying to convince the world that he is? In my opinion, as long as he's dead it doesn't matter what everyone else thinks...

 

[WhoWee]

anyhoo, can we bring the troops home now? probably not.

Probably not - I wonder if the Pakistani leaders know who is living next door to their nuclear weapons bases? Given the information released in the past 24 hours (most wanted man on the planet living under their noses) it seems anything is possible?

 

[Char. Limit]

I didn't bother to read the thread, because I wanted to offer a sentiment that's only semi-relevant. I don't care if you're Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative, libertarian or totalitarian. One thing that I think we can agree on: Osama bin Laden's death is an overall beneficial event.

And once it's May 3rd, I'll start worrying about retaliation. Not before.

 

[bobze]

The photo definitely looks fake - they even admit this on the web site. I don't think anyone in authority claimed it's real though, did they ?

A couple of oddities though;

- He was killed a day or two ago according to news and posts here ? DNA tests take several days at least though, don't they ?

- The crowd outside the White House .. scaling trees and waving flags .. at 1.30 AM Monday morning ? And all quite young, student types .. odd - like a kind of rent-a-crowd ..

Good that the SOB is dead though (even if they had to thaw the body out).

They already had "benchmark" DNA (that of his relatives, see http://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=80108&page=1") . Considering he is one of 50 some children and most are not Islamic extremists, I doubt that many would have been unwilling to give up the DNA to be seen as distancing themselves from him and his activities/ideologies. Also considering that many of them still live in Saudi, they may have not had a choice of giving up the DNA. The Saudi's aren't particularly fans of their former citizen.

Outside of that, doing genetic fingerprinting takes only a matter of hours, and that is coming from a large private medical lab. I'd imagine, since this had been in the planning stage for a while, they had the base they flew out of Afghanistan equipped to do it for a while.

Nevertheless, that isn't going to stop the conspiracy theorists from theorizing.

 

[jostpuur]

This celebration of revenge looks sick.

Considering that this "revenge" was "a revenge to a revenge", and so on.

 

[WhoWee]

He's dead - "courtesy of the red, white and blue" - enjoy it.

 

[DaveC426913]

This is not really a murky issue; it's pretty black and white.

This celebration of revenge looks sick.

It is not revenge. Revenge is for those who do not have the authority of law to enact punishment. He murdered 3000 US citizens. He was pursued and caught by the US government (and, well, frankly, resisted arrest).

The bereaved are celebrating the catching of the killer of their loved ones, and the closure on their loss. All bereaved people get to do that.

Considering that this "revenge" was "a revenge to a revenge", and so on.

No, it is not any kind of vicious cycle of revenge like you seem to be suggesting. The civilians in the WTC were not the people who commited crimes against him, so he had no legal right to pursue and punish them for crimes. He targeted innocent people; that's what defines it as terrorism.

 

[cobalt124]

This celebration of revenge looks sick.

Its far closer to justice than revenge. And to an extent, a deterrent. I can understand how feelings are in the U.S., but struggle with some of the "celebration" response. There were many celebrations of 9/11 in the Middle East. We should be better than that, and on the whole, we are.

 

[WhoWee]

This celebration of revenge looks sick.

Considering that this "revenge" was "a revenge to a revenge", and so on.

Actually, I think we should bomb the "mansion/compound" he was living in back into sand - just saying.