Bin Laden is dead

[Sneakers]

We killed a washed up old terrorist who hasn't done squat in ten years. Frankly I'm more enthused about the royal wedding.

Boy do you sound out-of-touch

 

[Revolution 9]

So now that Bin Laden is dead can I bring shampoo on an airplane now?

Yes, and I can finally wear my turban.

 

[PearlWatson]

That is a story specifically denied by Rumsfeld

If you believe that then you would have to believe Rumsfeld's entire statement that the Bush Admin critics have been lying about waterboarding @ Gitmo the entire time:

Asked if harsh interrogation techniques at Guantanamo Bay played a role in obtaining intelligence on bin Laden’s whereabouts, Rumsfeld declares: “First of all, no one was waterboarded at Guantanamo Bay. That’s a myth that’s been perpetrated around the country by critics.

“The United States Department of Defense did not do waterboarding for interrogation purposes to anyone. It is true that some information that came from normal interrogation approaches at Guantanamo did lead to information that was beneficial in this instance. But it was not harsh treatment and it was not waterboarding.”

this is exactly the wrong thing to defend when we're trying to keep a moral high ground.

It is a vindication of CIA interrogators, who have been slandered by morally bankrupt liberals, and it shows the value of Gitmo and other such prisons:

Rumsfeld reiterated that the killing of bin Laden exonerates the Bush administration’s response to 9/11.

“It certainly points up the fact that the structures that President Bush put into place — military commissions, Guantanamo Bay, the Patriot Act, indefinite detention, and humane treatment, but intensive interrogation to be sure — all contributed to the success we’ve had in the global war on terror.

Source

 

[One Brow]

It is a vindication of CIA interrogators, who have been slandered by morally bankrupt liberals, and it shows the value of Gitmo and other such prisons:

It's a vindication if 1) the ends justifies the means, and 2) there were no better means available. Otherwise, even if it is true, it does nothing to change the brutality, immorality, and lack of necessity for torture. I reject 1) morally, and 2) is false based on the experience of decades of interrogaters. Any discussion of whether this or that bit of relevant information came from torture is a sideshow, and not relevant to the issues that torture demans the people who use it and is not more effective than legal interrogation techniques.

 

[Scat]

Breaking news... the WH has decided to release a photo of OBL showing he's dead. Should be one of the most, if not THE most, downloaded pic in history.

 

[moevillini]

good background story here from the NY Times

https://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/03/world/asia/03intel.html

The raid was the culmination of years of painstaking intelligence work, including the interrogation of C.I.A. detainees in secret prisons in Eastern Europe, where sometimes what was not said was as useful as what was. Intelligence agencies eavesdropped on telephone calls and e-mails of the courier’s Arab family in a Persian Gulf state and pored over satellite images of the compound in Abbottabad to determine a “pattern of life” that might decide whether the operation would be worth the risk.

As more than a dozen White House, intelligence and Pentagon officials described the operation on Monday, the past few weeks were a nerve-racking amalgamation of what-ifs and negative scenarios. “There wasn’t a meeting when someone didn’t mention ‘Black Hawk Down,’ ” a senior administration official said, referring to the disastrous 1993 battle in Somalia in which two American helicopters were shot down and some of their crew killed in action. The failed mission to rescue hostages in Iran in 1980 also loomed large.

Administration officials split over whether to launch the operation, whether to wait and continue monitoring until they were more sure that Bin Laden was really there, or whether to go for a less risky bombing assault. In the end, President Obama opted against a bombing that could do so much damage it might be uncertain whether Bin Laden was really hit and chose to send in commandos. A “fight your way out” option was built into the plan, with two helicopters following the two main assault copters as backup in case of trouble...

...It wasn’t until after 2002, when the agency began rounding up Qaeda operatives — and subjecting them to hours of brutal interrogation sessions in secret overseas prisons — that they finally began filling in the gaps about the foot soldiers, couriers and money men Bin Laden relied on.

Prisoners in American custody told stories of a trusted courier. When the Americans ran the man’s pseudonym past two top-level detainees — the chief planner of the Sept. 11 attacks, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed; and Al Qaeda’s operational chief, Abu Faraj al-Libi — the men claimed never to have heard his name. That raised suspicions among interrogators that the two detainees were lying and that the courier probably was an important figure....

though I'm not pretending that this will settle the debate on what harsh techniques may (or may not) have been used, and if so, whether or not they were justified...

 

[Duck Rodgers]

Here is the new Bin Laden photo that is floating out now:

 

[Scat]

Here is the new Bin Laden photo that is floating out now:

If that's real it is inversed. The bullet wound is reportedly over his left eye.

 

[BENTLEY]

Fox news totally broke this story way before Obama

www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,41576,00.html

FOXNEWS.COM HOME > WORLD > NATIONAL
Report: Bin Laden Already Dead

Wednesday, December 26, 2001


Usama bin Laden has died a peaceful death due to an untreated lung complication, the Pakistan Observer reported, citing a Taliban leader who allegedly attended the funeral of the Al Qaeda leader.

"The Coalition troops are engaged in a mad search operation but they would never be able to fulfill their cherished goal of getting Usama alive or dead," the source said.

Bin Laden, according to the source, was suffering from a serious lung complication and succumbed to the disease in mid-December, in the vicinity of the Tora Bora mountains. The source claimed that bin Laden was laid to rest honorably in his last abode and his grave was made as per his Wahabi belief.

About 30 close associates of bin Laden in Al Qaeda, including his most trusted and personal bodyguards, his family members and some "Taliban friends," attended the funeral rites. A volley of bullets was also fired to pay final tribute to the "great leader."

The Taliban source who claims to have seen bin Laden's face before burial said "he looked pale ... but calm, relaxed and confident."

Asked whether bin Laden had any feelings of remorse before death, the source vehemently said "no." Instead, he said, bin Laden was proud that he succeeded in his mission of igniting awareness amongst Muslims about hegemonistic designs and conspiracies of "pagans" against Islam. Bin Laden, he said, held the view that the sacrifice of a few hundred people in Afghanistan was nothing, as those who laid their lives in creating an atmosphere of resistance will be adequately rewarded by Almighty Allah.

When asked where bin Laden was buried, the source said, "I am sure that like other places in Tora Bora, that particular place too must have vanished."

 

[YB85]

Why do Fox and Drudge spell his name "Usama" or abbreviate it as "UBL" when almost every other person/news source on the planet calls him "Osama"?

 

[Duck Rodgers]

Why do Fox and Drudge spell his name "Usama" or abbreviate it as "UBL" when almost every other person/news source on the planet calls him "Osama"?

from wikidikipedia:

There is no universally accepted standard for transliterating Arabic words and Arabic names into English; bin Laden's name was most frequently rendered "Osama bin Laden." The FBI and CIA, as well as other US Governmental agencies, have used either "Usama bin Laden" or "Usama bin Ladin", both of which may be abbreviated as "UBL". Less common renderings include "Ussamah Bin Ladin" and "Oussama Ben Laden" in the French-language media. Other spellings include "Binladen" or, as used by his family in the West, "Binladin". The spellings with "o" and "e" come from a Persian-influenced pronunciation also used in Afghanistan, where bin Laden spent many years.

The Arabic linguistic convention would be to refer to him as "Osama" or "Osama bin Laden", not "bin Laden" alone, as "bin Laden" is a patronymic, not a surname in the Western manner. In its expanded form, it means "Osama, son of Mohammed, son of 'Awad, son of Laden".

Osama bin Laden's admirers have referred to him by several aliases and nicknames, including the Prince/Al-Amir, the Sheikh, Abu Abdallah, Sheikh Al-Mujahid, the Lion Sheik, the Director.

 

[Duck Rodgers]

If that's real it is inversed. The bullet wound is reportedly over his left eye.

Wouldn't that suck if it was real and it was the only picture they bothered releasing? They might as well release a screen shot from a Call of Duty game. Should be interesting to see the official White House release.

 

[BENTLEY]

Wouldn't that suck if it was real and it was the only picture they bothered releasing? They might as well release a screen shot from a Call of Duty game. Should be interesting to see the official White House release.

 

[kwb]

Speaking of Call of Duty, I'll be happy when I can reinact this on my PS3 next year. I won't be online though. Thanks Sony.

 

[Chad Feldheimer]

(AP) White House: bin Laden was not armed during US raid on Pakistani compound.


How much does this matter?

 

[kwb]

I thought he was armed with a female. ; )

 

[kwb]

Everytime I read this thread title I get Chris Farley's voice in my head at 2:05. hahaha!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNBIyGxV7Ek

 

[Scat]

Here is the new Bin Laden photo that is floating out now:

It's a crap photo. Here's what they are saying about the actual photos...

https://whitehouse.blogs.cnn.com/2011/05/03/even-more-on-the-photos/?hpt=T1

The senior us official also says the White House received 3 sets of photos yesterday. The photos included:

1. Photos of OBLs body at a hangar after he was brought back to Afghanistan. This is the most recognizable with a clear picture of his face. The picture is gruesome because he has a massive open head wound across both eyes. It’s very bloody and gory.

2. Photos from the burial at sea on the USS Carl Vinson. Photos of OBL before the shroud was put on and then wrapped in the shroud.

3. There are photos of the raid itself that include photos of the two dead brothers, one of OBLs dead son (adult adolescent, maybe approx 18 yrs old) and some of the inside scene of the compound.

The official says the challenge is that the picture that includes the most recognizable image of OBLs face – from the hangar in Afghanistan – is so gruesome and mangled its not appropriate for say the front page of the newspaper. On the other hand, this is the one that is most identifiable as him.

The photo you linked to (which is now a broken link) is pretty tame based on the description above.

 

[YB85]

I wonder if the picture of OBL is as gruesome as some of the photos that were taken of the bodies of the people who leaped from towers. You know, the innocent people who made the mistake of going to work that morning.

 

[Duck Rodgers]

Another fake. I call it the Bin laden cookie: