SpawnPoint - Where Game Begins

I have very mixed feelings on the whole operation, mostly on how Obama handled it though. I for one would not have had Bin Laden killed, and considering every story is announcing he was shot in the head, I doubt it was hardly accidental. His name and legacy now go down in radical Islamic history as a martyr that died for Allah, and al-Qaeda will simply turn it into propaganda and brainwashing manipulation for future "freedom fighters".

While I absolutely support it in the sense that it is closure for many 9/11 victims, I would have rather he been tried and executed at my tax dollar expense. Just my opinion, I'm sure some will object.

The whole way his death was handled raises concern as well, he was removed and "buried at sea" before the U.S. citizen even knew he had been killed. I don't like the sound of that one bit, let alone that there haven't been any official photo's or video released documenting any of this at all.Not to mention his death/martyrdom comes at a time when the spring offensive kicks off in Afghanistan, and it will more than likely only escalate the fighting and attacks on coalition forces.

I also was unhappy with president Obama's speech last night, he seemed to overwhelmingly take credit for the entire operation, and I got the sense he was using it for 2012 political gain. I'm sure the controversy "insertfoullanguagehere" will have loads of fun with this, and to them they can go take a hike. While I may have my doubts as to about how the whole thing was handled, I certaintly praise the efforts of those involved, and all in all its a good day to be a free person.

Thanks for posting Phil, at first I felt overwhelmed by the whole thing, including the foolish American celebrations by people who hardly know a damn thing as to what their president really does. His presidency and re-election bid should not benefit from this event. But knowing the astounding ignorance of the public here, it will. After reading the global opinions though, a bit of perspective has been gained.

Regards.

You're probably right in the short term at least. It doesn't sound like Bin Laden has been actively involved in the operational side of things for a while now and Al-Qaeda will most likely try to show that this hasn't effected them.

It is a blow to Al-Qaeda though. Even if he wasn't actively involved in their operations he was the figure head for terrorism, a great recruiting advert and perhaps most importantly he showed that you could attack the US and the West and get away with it. I'm sure he'll be considered a martyr or hero by those that support his cause, but he was much more valuable to Al-Qaeda alive.

I'm not suggesting that this is an end to this kind of terrorism, just that it's a blow to Al-Qaeda which hopefully will reduce their overall ablity to murder innocent civilians and long term ability to recruit new members to their cause.

It was really different to watch people, on national TV, celebrate the death of someone. I mean, sure, it was the death of a figure that caused the suffering of millions of people, but, really, in the end, we're still celebrating a death.

But, I might add, it was inspiring to see people come out into the streets to celebrate something as a nation.

CP, you're right, it certainly will be interesting to see what direction Al Qaeda takes after this. This could be a trigger for a massive retaliation, or it could send them running for the hills.

Now i dont have much to say on this myself, like tullsy, i am not the most politically minded so i avoid posting in this section mostly. But apparently according to what i read they shot him once in the left eye and then shot him again in the chest as what is known in the miltaryas a double tap to make sure he is dead. Also he apparently took his wife (i think it was) as a human shield and was shooting with an AK. The team killed the wife and some others. While the president and security team watched via headcam on one of the SEAL team. Apparently seconds felt like days due to the anxiety.

There is a part of me that thinks was he real or was he just a big thing set up by the state. A bit of a conspiracy side of me. The public got no real closure, we can't say for sure it happened. And there are pictures of him on the internet, but they don't see real, they have a blurring between beard and eyes that makes it seemed photoshoped like they took his old beard and some poor dead fellow and fitted them. Also burying him at sea before we see him properly seems suspicious. To put an end to this concept of an evil man as the cause of terrorist attacks. Don't judge me for these thoughts just something that crosses my mind when i thought about it.

As for less terrorist attacks i dont see it, They are going to be wanting payback for killing their leader. A martyr in their eyes dying for their cause. Time for payback. In the long run yes it is better short turn it could be bad. They once did threaten that if we killed him they would let off a nuke in america. It is good that he is gone but we will have to be more vigilant in the upcoming weeks i think.

I was a little underwhelmed by the whole thing. They caught him after a decade.....alright....*sarcasm*. Obama's poll numbers jumped by 5 in my state overnight. There is another unplanned shocker....*more sarcasm* I am with Tullsy on this.....something stinks about the whole way this went down and how he was "buried" at sea. I do disagree with taking him into custody and putting him on trial. I think it was better that they did their proverbial "double tap" in the head like usual and don't parade him all over the news for what would probably be years before he is sentenced all the time keeping him in the news and inspiring future terrorists all around the world....better the way they did it IMO. (not the "burial", but the raid) If I was Pakistan....I would be calling the OJ Simpson lawyers at this point to get out of that political fiasco.....

If you think the government wouldn't fake something like that, you are deceiving yourself. They fake stuff all the time. Sometimes to protect us, sometimes to protect themselves. I don't believe anything the government says anymore because they have lied and deceived us too many times in the past.


....BTW....I am SURE that is what was going through their mind at sea...."Let's respect Muslim traditions on burial"....yea, I bet that was exactly what they were thinking....that they wanted to respect Osama's Muslim beliefs.*sarcasm* If that were true, you know darn good and well that they would have had the biggest photo opp of that ever. The fact that they didn't have a photo opp at all is what makes me suspicious. The government at that level never does anything without trying to spin it for poll points or political gain. Doing it "behind the scenes" like that for such a high profile character is WILDLY out of character for the US government.....unless they are embarrassed by it or hiding something.

I don't really see how the operation itself, the disposal of the body or providing proof could have pleased everyone.

You know where he is and you basically have two choices, missile strike or sending troops into a friendly country without their permission. You go for a missile strike and there would have been more deaths, including children, and there would be even more uncertainty over whether he was dead. You send in troops and if you get it wrong you lose troops with little chance of rescue and that is a big risk as it would be massively unpopular. What you do get by sending troops in is a lower chance of uneccesary casualties and a higher degree of certainty that you got the target. Both options will piss off the country you send them into (imagine if British troops were assassinating IRA members on US soil), but at least if you get the guy you can say it was right.

To me the decision to stick to Islamic tradition in burying the body within 24 hours was a totally practical decision that had nothing to do with respecting Bin Laden or Islam. If you dispose of the body of a muslim in the correct manner then you deny the radicals an excuse to paint you as evil, anti muslim etc. That's just a sensible decision to avoid more people joining terrorist groups like Al-Qaeda. They could have had him stuffed and replace Achmed the Terrorist, but more innocent people would have died as a result.

Release pictures and some conspiracy theorists will go away, the rest will just claim it was photoshopped anyway. You don't gain much and maybe risk making people angry. If Osama is still alive then all he needs do is appear with todays paper or if Osama was already dead then all someone needs do is produce his body for DNA tests to prove the US is lying. If the US had already killed him then it had to be during Obama's presidency as I can't imagine the Republicans leaving him such a big present and from the looks of it there was a lot of DNA left all over that compound for the Pakistani's to test.

other than the taking a decade part, that is what I would like to see from now on....surgical strikes at the heart of terrorism, not full country invasions.

I will always be suspicious of government because it is made up of people and the only ones that have the drive to make it to the federal politician level seem to be corrupt in one way or another....or having their strings pulled by someone that is corrupt....whether they know it or not. I trust people on a person by person basis. I will never trust government because it is "people". for some reason, when you take trustworthy "persons" and they become "people", they are no longer trustworthy. Too many of our politicians do what THEY want, what their big campaign contributors want or pay them to do, what their party line is, not what the people want. I LOVE to see when a politician bucks the system by voting against their own views because their constituents want that. Sadly that doesn't happen very often because they must think the general public is too stupid to know what is good for them.

I will always question government. I thought that was one of the cores of liberal thinking......or is it only that way when the conservatives are in power?