Okay, so Bin Laden is 'officially' dead and buried at sea. They say they have taken pictures and DNA evidence from the body they dumped and, at this point, I am willing to believe that he is actually dead and gone. Unfortunately, I don't believe that this means terrorism will end and that we'll see any large-scale reduction of troops in Pakistan and Afghanistan anytime soon, withdrawal timeline or not. If this is what thousands of American soldiers have died to achieve, was it really worth that price? It is the closing of a chapter, for certain; however, it brings back no loved ones or the return of billions (trillions?) of dollars spent in the effort to capture Bin Laden and quell terrorist activity. Aside from other atrocities going on elsewhere in the world, we have natural disasters killing people across the globe, food and gas prices skyrocketing, and a general air of pervasive stupidity prevalent here in the US, which makes wrapping oneself up in a flag (exemplifying piss-poor flag etiquette, btw) and cheering about the death of one man, notorious though that man may have been, seem really, really ridiculous. I'll admit that I suffer from a 'we're all fucked' attitude, but there has got to be something better to get excited about than the death of a person, no matter how shitty that person may have been.
Could not have said it better myself scottygee. Update; Ok, so now they are saying they never planned on capturing him... Operation with intention to kill..
Yes to all of this. You definitely said it better than I did. I'm glad he's dead though, that's true. The damage he's done to the Muslim and Arab world alone is far more than enough to justify his death. I just find chants of "USA, USA!" and flag waving to be as distasteful a way to react to this news as say... chanting "Allahu Ackbar!" and firing a Kalashnikov into the air.
Still not really sure how I feel about the reaction in some parts of the country, but I think we can all agree this is awesome:
I'm glad he's dead, if he wasn't already dead. I didn't notice any parties in the streets of NYC this morning. I'm glad DC is living it up though. Personally, I don't feel like celebrating. Throughout the past decade, I've just felt deceived and kept in the dark. All I can do is wonder if this was contrived and for what purpose.
^^^ Per gallon gas price in 1999 was avg $1.64. Pretty obvious what the purpose was. Money money money. Oh, and a near double military budget...welfare for jocks.
This is very true. I wish Al Zawahiri took one in the eye last night also. I won't be waving flags in the street or singing "We are the Champions". It won't change the world or stop extremism. It won't bring back any of the victims and it won't heal their families. It won't stop the conspiracy theories. But, I'm glad he's dead. I only regret that I don't believe in a Hell for him to burn in.
I can't really put my thoughts into words. But it's pretty similar to what a lot of you have expressed - certainly not joyous, a bit of trepidation, a bit of cynicism, a bit of indifference, quite a bit of disgust over the flag-wavers celebrating in the streets. This was a major goal of the US government for the past decade and now that it's been achieved how does it change anything? This is just like the War On Drugs - spending billions/trillions of dollars, destroying lives/families, and not even coming close to addressing the problem. And the War of Terrorism is having an even larger effect on concentrating wealth at the top and destroying the middle class. Also, the conspiracy theorist in me is worried that this is a hoax perpetrated by Cheney to make Obama look the fool when Osama comes out with a new recording in the next few weeks. Hopefully this isn't Obama's "Mission Accomplished" moment...
the white house party made me sick really. im not too sure this is all for real either. what i am sure about is if it is, like you guys said, it really doesnt change much. but whatr ya gonna do. oh an even if another video comes out who can say its real?
I'm having serious mixed feelings on believing he is dead and how this went down. Seems all to simple. I also highly doubt that if he is dead that body was dumped at sea. If the govenment has that body it definitely made it back. I feel bad that all this killing has to be. Killing for killing is like fucking for virginity....
What else could they do with the corpse? Have it buried in the Middle East somewhere? Magnet to galvanize supporters to who consider him a martyr. Bring it back to the US? Create major chaos and possibly a magnet for extremists...
Just saying, I find it hard to believe after 10 years of searching, they found killed and got rid of the body in 24 hours. You really think they discarded the body instead of saying they did and bringing it back in secrecy ?
I heard Jesse Ventura plans on wrestling the corpse in a surprise main event at next years Wrestlemania.
And which country would accept the body for burial? Where is Hitler buried? It's no accident that nobody knows. The rest of the Nazis that were executed were cremated and their ashes scattered. Denying his followers a physical burial site is a common sense tactical decision. Rest assured DNA samples, perhaps even his entire head, were retained as well as a ton of photographic and video evidence. People who are prone to conspiratorial thinking will not accept any evidence, even if the body were put on public display. bin Laden was mostly a figure head and an ideological leader. But his power as a symbol to his followers can't be overstated. So, an unmarked watery grave is a good way to take some of the power of that symbol away.
Spot on, Alex. If there's any inaccuracy, I'd say it was the time and day it happened. I'm almost certain it was a day or two? earlier. I was picking my wife up in the evening the day before the news broke and I saw a bunch of tactical police combing the area, semi-auto in hand, finger on the trigger around the building. I was going, what the heck, is this necessary for the upcoming elections? Next they the news broke.
Too funny. And to quote Mr. King Jr: "I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that"
i don't understand why people are questioning the shoot to kill plan... I believe this was by far the polite thing to do to such a symbolic figure.
It definitely will be impossible to prove now if he's really dead, unless he's still alive... And yes, many of you already said it, I don't think it'll change anything. Except for the stock markets going up and the dollar growing stronger. I really hope it's not just a political hoax... Anyways, Osama is no Hitler, by far.
One thing will change is his money and connections supporting al-Qaeda. This is a nice place to start in my opinion!
