Bin Laden is dead.

Jim Garten wrote: but one of which showed a huddled old man they claimed was OBL watching videos of himself on a portable TV set - from the angle this was shot from, it could have been anyone & the sole purpose of this appears to be to portray OBL as a pathetic old man reliving former "glories". If it wasn't him, it's just fodder for the conspiracy theorists, if it was him, congratulations, you shot an unarmed pathetic old man who could easily have been taken into custody & tried in a court of law.

Uhm, actually:

Jim Garten wrote: Equality 7-2521 wrote: Jim Garten wrote: There is a big difference between justice under the law & revenge; however, Vibe does make an interesting point here: I think it was justified. Bin Laden was a commander in the field in a war No he wasn't. There's no war declared. He was in a country in which we were not conducting military operations besides on the border. Good counterpoint ; I guess it depends on the definition of The West's "War On Terror" as opposed to one man's terrorist being another man's freedom fighter. It could be seen as a grey area, but I do come back to my original thought that I'd have preferred OBL to have been brought to trial in a court of law... ...then again, you'd have had the whole legal process of "I don't recognise this court", "my client was not extradited legally, he was taken by military action"... My head hurts.

Sounds like good tv to me.

Equality 7-2521 wrote: Jim Garten wrote: There is a big difference between justice under the law & revenge; however, Vibe does make an interesting point here: I think it was justified. Bin Laden was a commander in the field in a war No he wasn't. There's no war declared. He was in a country in which we were not conducting military operations besides on the border.

Good counterpoint ; I guess it depends on the definition of The West's "War On Terror" as opposed to one man's terrorist being another man's freedom fighter. It could be seen as a grey area, but I do come back to my original thought that I'd have preferred OBL to have been brought to trial in a court of law...

...then again, you'd have had the whole legal process of "I don't recognise this court", "my client was not extradited legally, he was taken by military action"...



My head hurts.

Jim Garten wrote: There is a big difference between justice under the law & revenge; however, Vibe does make an interesting point here: I think it was justified. Bin Laden was a commander in the field in a war

No he wasn't. There's no war declared. He was in a country in which we were not conducting military operations besides on the border.

There is a big difference between justice under the law & revenge; however, Vibe does make an interesting point here:

I think it was justified. Bin Laden was a commander in the field in a war

"so what if they broke the law"

Oh my.

Jim Garten wrote: The media also released various 'home videos' yesterday, most of which are effectively 'outtakes' from OBL broadcasts (bloopers, if you like ), but one of which showed a huddled old man they claimed was OBL watching videos of himself on a portable TV set - from the angle this was shot from, it could have been anyone & the sole purpose of this appears to be to portray OBL as a pathetic old man reliving former "glories". If it wasn't him, it's just fodder for the conspiracy theorists, if it was him, congratulations, you shot an unarmed pathetic old man who could easily have been taken into custody & tried in a court of law.

Obama should be doing all he can to throw water on the conspircacy theorists. Instead, it's as if he chooses to bait them; as if he's just poking fun at the whole alternative news media phenomenon. They capture the worlds most wanted terrorist mastermind, after a decade of searching, and instead of capturing him and interogating him, they throw him in the sea a few hours after blowing his brains out, while presenting only minimal evidience that any of this happened at all.

The world better make the most of all this jubilation and 'ding dong the witch is dead' nonsense. I suspect there will be a signifcant wake up call within the next 18 months, as AQ tries to assert itself after OBL's alleged death. Pakistan will be on high alert for the forseeable future, and I expect there will be terror attacks in the near future, in the west, which will be blamed on Pakistan.

npjnpj wrote: I don't believe he's dead at all. A switch, and the real OBL is in custody being milked for all information waterboardong can buy. After that he'll be quietly dispatched with extreme prejudice. No other choice, after all the public can't be allowed to learn what he might disclose about the background to 9/11.

Some believe he died through ill health back in 2002. Whatever..

The fact is, we will never know the absolute truth. I struggle generally to believe the word of people who I know build careers through lying and slippery information management.

The BBC documentary program Panorama covered the OBL assassination last night.

The aim of the program appeared to be to demonise Pakistan, and their ISI as much as possible, for either being incompetent, or for being complicit in hiding OBL. A number of US intelligence 'experts' were wheeled out to make the case. The US has held a presence in Pakistan for some years now; killing militants and several hundred civilians with predator drones. Pakistan is expecting some backlash from the killing of OBL.

People forget that despite Pakistan being an 'ally ' in the "war on Terror" it is also a country divided, and many people are not on the same page as the US and the UK. Many support Al Queada in principle, and regard the US as an occupying force in their country. There are those within the ISI and the Pakistani government, who are intent on bringing the administration down. Pakistan is a dangerously unstable, nuclear armed nation, and the US is - by and large - not welcome there.

This is a curiously expedient time, politcally, for the Obama admininstration to score this bullseye. With low approval ratings, a failing economy, rising unemployment, food and fuel prices and another war front opened up in Libya, Obama needed this victory. Whether or not the feel good factor can be sustained until he runs for his second term remains to be seen. Has he played the OBL card too soon? Of course we all obediently assume that the story happened as we have been told. To consider any other possibility is both unpatriotic and and profoundly paranoid.

Edited by Blacksword - May 10 2011 at 05:15

I love how the media's just milking this motherf**ker. Yes, distract away you tools

Bread and circuses, man.