Osama Bin Laden is dead.

[Pearl]

Despite all the relief that OBL is no longer on earth, Al-Qaeda still is. Just because the ringleader is dead doesn't mean the movement is. Al-Qaeda could easily find a new leader (one of OBL's sons or al-Zawahiri) or will splinter into other, just as dangerous groups. So, I can't get too excited about Osama's death. There's still a lot of work to do.

 

[vaz02]

Despite all the relief that OBL is no longer on earth, Al-Qaeda still is. Just because the ringleader is dead doesn't mean the movement is. Al-Qaeda could easily find a new leader (one of OBL's sons or al-Zawahiri) or will splinter into other, just as dangerous groups. So, I can't get too excited about Osama's death. There's still a lot of work to do.

OBL was nothing more than a poster boy for the war on terror. He's had no real control of the ' group ' for many a year.

 

[U2DMfan]

Bin Laden was more myth than man anyhow. And that IS the point.

When you shoot that myth in pieces for all the world to see, it's doesn't grow in stature. It does the opposite. It makes little difference how much operational control he actually had. We're trying to defeat an ideology more than anything. Part of that is destroying the myth of Bin Laden as the thorn in Great Satan's side (I know that's an Iranian phrase, but it's a cool phrase to type).

 

[Irvine511]

Yeah we got Osama USA USA USA !!!


You want proof ? Thats unamerican. You must be a commie.......


Just a few of the things I've heard today from Americans at work.

poor thing.

 

[Pearl]

We're trying to defeat an ideology more than anything.

Exactly. Doing so won't work by killing, but through dialogue and campaigns to brainwash radicals.

 

[ryancoke71]

MLK, Mark Twain quotes go viral -- and are wrong - CNN.com

 

[MBS]

It would be a lie if I said I wasn't glad he's gone. But, I'm certainly not celebrating. After all, as many of you have said...a threat still exists. There is still a fear of retaliation, the bad guys aren't gone. And as one news station was saying today, if they scatter and become even more decentralized than they already are, they may be even more dangerous (and difficult to track).

However, I also sort of think of OBL as the gingerbread man. Albeit an evil, dastardly, mass murdering one.....he was the man that couldn't be caught. That myth and storyline can give a lot of hope, as it were, to a movement. Hope isn't quite the right word, but I hope it conveys the idea. Anyway, catching him deflates the whole thing. Will the followers all suddenly go: "oh noes! They caught him, I guess that's the end of that then. I no longer hate the West or believe these ideologies anymore. I shall now pursue my dreams of being the best damn baker around!" ...I doubt it. But there is something to be said for taking out the poster boy.

 

[MBS]

Exactly. Doing so won't work by killing, but through dialogue and campaigns to brainwash radicals.

We're going to brainwash their brainwashing?
They're going to have the cleanest brains in town.

 

[Jive Turkey]

I also sort of think of OBL as the gingerbread man. Albeit an evil, dastardly, mass murdering one

 

[MBS]

My apologies if the analogy seems to trivialize the things he and his followers have done. That was not my intention. It was simply the myth of the un-catchable that I was trying to relate to. And I have to think the fact that the Great and Mighty West was unable to catch him was a source of some inspiration.

 

[deep]

anyone that is still hanging on to the belief that this is a scam

that OBL was not killed in the compound, will have to tell this woman that she imagined the whole thing and got a mystery gunshot wound to facilitate the hoax.


Osama Bin Laden's Wife Wounded During Raid - ABC News

 

[Jive Turkey]

My apologies if the analogy seems to trivialize the things he and his followers have done. That was not my intention. It was simply the myth of the un-catchable that I was trying to relate to. And I have to think the fact that the Great and Mighty West was unable to catch him was a source of some inspiration.

oh, no. Believe me, I enjoyed the analogy a great deal

 

[Irvine511]

that OBL was not killed in the compound, will have to tell this woman that she imagined the whole thing and got a mystery gunshot wound to facilitate the hoax.

it's amazing the lengths the Americans will go to in order to justify their attacks on peace and justice. they can do anything, even as they do everything wrong.

 

[deep]

I don't know if this has been posted yet
but, there is a lot of bad information


That OBL used a woman as a shield and he died in a firefight.

Osama bin Laden was unarmed when killed, White House says
By Michael A. Memoli, Washington Bureau

11:47 AM PDT, May 3, 2011


Osama bin Laden was not armed when U.S. forces shot and killed him, the White House announced Tuesday.

Press Secretary Jay Carney delivered a fuller public readout of the 40-minute raid on the Al Qaeda leader’s compound, during which he also clarified that Bin Laden’s wife was shot, but not killed, as was stated Monday.

"There was concern that Bin Laden would oppose the capture operation and indeed he did resist," Carney, reading from notes, said. "In the room with Bin Laden, a woman, Bin Laden's wife, rushed the U.S. assaulter and was shot in the leg, but not killed."

He later said that "resistance" does not "require a firearm."

The "narrative," as Carney described it, was provided by the Pentagon, he said.

He hid behind no woman.

and theer was no firefight, he was unarmed.

 

[deep]

Now they say the dead Osama picture will be released.

 

[canedge]

it's doesn't grow in stature. It does the opposite

excellent point.

 

[Jive Turkey]

Dude, what do you have against the quote button? That's super annoying

 

[BoMac]

^I said the same thing a few pages back.

 

[canedge]

my mistake.

 

[MBS]

Now they say the dead Osama picture will be released.

I wish they wouldn't. I have no desire to see that.

 

[Jive Turkey]

my mistake

It's ok

But for real, more than just you and who you respond to are trying to follow the discussions. If you quote them properly, everyone knows who you're talking to and what the context is. Just keeps things a little more organized

 

[canedge]

my mistake

It's ok

first quote

 

[BoMac]

 

[Jive Turkey]

first quote

thanks, bud

 

[cobl04]

haha nice.

 

[yolland]

and theer was no firefight, he was unarmed.

One detail I was wondering about was whether the SEALs knew he was unarmed at the moment they shot him.

fwiw, I personally was quite surprised that someone with that many mortal enemies would ever allow himself to be without a deadly weapon close at hand.

 

[yolland]

CNN

Materials taken from the compound included 10 hard drives, five computers and more than 100 storage devices, such as disks, DVDs and thumb drives, a senior U.S. official told CNN Tuesday.

Well, that together with the number of people scattered throughout the compound (about two dozen) explains why it took 40 minutes.

 

[PhilsFan]

It sounds like there was a firefight, and that Osama wasn't a part of it. He was apparently the last person in the compound that the Americans saw. He supposedly made a move interpreted as reaching for a weapon, and they fired at him.

 

[MBS]

One detail I was wondering about was whether the SEALs knew he was unarmed at the moment they shot him.

I wondered about that as well, and figured probably not. To me, the most likely scenario was one of "better safe than sorry"...if he made any move like he may have a weapon, or towards a weapon, while he may technically be unarmed, they had just reason to shoot to protect themselves.

....[sic]... He supposedly made a move interpreted as reaching for a weapon, and they fired at him.

Ooo! My hypothetical scenario is supported by the feds. Woot!

 

[U2girl]

Interesting gaurdian article

What if Bin Laden had stood trial? | Robert Lambert | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

Well written.