Osama Bin Laden killed by US in Pakistan

[WhoWee]

BTW, folks, al-Qaida has confirmed bin Laden's death. I think we can put an end to speculation that he is being detained and questioned.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/06/osama-bin-laden-dead-al-qaeda_n_858440.html

His wife was an eyewitness to his death - there never was a legitimate doubt.

 

[Evo]

Wow. They must be so well trained, they look so trusting.

SEAL dogs.

 

[rhody]

SEAL dogs.

Amen...

Rhody...

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

All I have to say to these pictures is... Wow... see attachments and this http://www.theatlantic.com/technolo...tary-dog-jumping-out-of-a-helicopter/238431/". I don't get choked up easily, however, this did it for me...

Rhody...

coolest dogs EVER!

 

[rhody]

On top of that, the first picture, the SEAL is wearing oxygen, so that was a High Altitude, Low Opening Jump (HALO), and you can't see in the picture but I am almost sure the dog has a special oxygen mask on too, that is amazing.

Rhody...

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

On top of that, the first picture, the SEAL is wearing oxygen, so that was a High Altitude, Low Opening Jump (HALO), and you can't see in the picture but I am almost sure the dog has a special oxygen mask on too, that is amazing.

Rhody...

I read an article that said that jump was at 30,000ft!

 

[rootX]

His wife was an eyewitness to his death - there never was a legitimate doubt.

While such details don't matter any more but his wife was unconscious so it was his daughter.


My favorite dog picture!
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2011/05/04/war_dog?page=0,9
:!)

 

[Lacy33]

All I have to say to these pictures is... Wow... see attachments and this http://www.theatlantic.com/technolo...tary-dog-jumping-out-of-a-helicopter/238431/". I don't get choked up easily, however, this did it for me...

Rhody...

Do NOT try this with cats!

 

[1MileCrash]

Anyone else just not care?

 

[rootX]

Anyone else just not care?

My friend observed that people have never been so fascinated by someone's death since the Harry Potter antagonist death .

 

[rhody]

Do NOT try this with cats!

Lacy,

If the HALO SEAL had managed to stow a cat where the dog was, he would need his bullet proof vest to keep his chest from being torn to shreds !

Rhody...

 

[Evo]

Navy SEAL dog.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Navy SEAL dog.

What do you call SEALs decorated with colored lights? Christmas SEALS.

 

[rhody]

What do you call SEALs decorated with colored lights? Christmas SEALS.

Great, going from being choked up to laughter, quite a range of emotions, and... this could only happen here on PF with this crowd.

Rhody...

 

[camp3r101]

My friend observed that people have never been so fascinated by someone's death since the Harry Potter antagonist death .

It's not that people are fascinated with his demise...it's that people are glad that this man who insighted tyranny through terror is finally gone from this world. After all the atrocities he committed his right to life was void.
He got what was coming to him.

 

[OmCheeto]

Argh! Someone tattled...

Mr Panetta also told the network that the US Navy Seals made the final decision to kill bin Laden rather than the president.

Mr Panetta also told the network that the US Navy Seals, rather than Mr Obama, made the final decision to kill bin Laden.

I was really worried when the president went to visit the Seals today, after reading yesterdays version.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/al-qaeda/8493391/Osama-bin-Laden-dead-Blackout-during-raid-on-bin-Laden-compound.html"

 

[russ_watters]

Apparently he was still very much in charge: http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2011-05-06-bin-laden-al-qaeda_n.htm

 

[Lacy33]

Lacy,

If the HALO SEAL had managed to stow a cat where the dog was, he would need his bullet proof vest to keep his chest from being torn to shreds !

Rhody...

After adopting a huge rescue cat with major issues this last week. And having to dress my wounds after feeding and brushing this darling of a kitty, I would say just lower this particular cat into the compound and call it a done deal.
He came to us with the name Cookie. He is being renamed SWAT.

 

[Lacy33]

Apparently he was still very much in charge: http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2011-05-06-bin-laden-al-qaeda_n.htm

That is sickening isn't it. I like to talk a big talk but really can't hit anyone even in my dreams I can't mannage to make contact.
But I think it is time to take them all out if possible. I'm tired of the threats and the bully's.
We CAN get along. It IS possible.

 

[rootX]

Apparently he was still very much in charge: http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2011-05-06-bin-laden-al-qaeda_n.htm

It's bit vague. He was still very much in charge of "what groups"? How many groups are there and how many affiliate and work under the direction of Al Qaeda? How many work independently and how many have some kind of central authority? What kind of directions Osama was providing to them?

In addition, why "the officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive material."?

Earlier, I have been reading that Al Qaeda does not depend on centralized model under one leader.

 

[rootX]

Interesting article:

And they ask how could the death of Bin Laden, the man who inspired so many suicide attacks with such dreadful results in Pakistan, provoke not celebrations - but angry, anti-American protests in Karachi.

Since 9/11 the US has provided Pakistan - or more accurately the Pakistani military - with more than $20bn (£12bn) in aid. It's a huge sum which some believe has prevented the country from slipping into bankruptcy.

...

The US offered billions of dollars worth of debt relief in return for Pakistani restraint.

But Islamabad went ahead anyway and matched India's tests.

A few days after the Pakistani tests a government minister explained one of the reasons that decision was taken.

"We are a now nuclear state," he said. "So no-one can let us go bust. We may have turned down billions of dollars. But many more billions will follow."

How right he was.

The problem is that Pakistan is preparing for American defeat in Afghanistan. In fact, it has been doing so for nearly a decade. Within weeks of America's 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, Pakistan concluded the Americans could not win there.

With the US now preparing to pull out, leaving behind a strong Taliban movement, Pakistan's generals feel their assessment has been fully vindicated.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-13318673

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Interesting article:

We invaded their country. Of course they're ticked. But I thought this part was more interesting.

...while some people may have gone onto the streets to protest against the American action, very few voiced sympathy for Bin Laden.

And, as ever, the vast majority of Pakistanis were not protesting at all but were at home trying to cope with challenges faced by poor people everywhere: feeding their children and hopefully educating them, too.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Earlier, I have been reading that Al Qaeda does not depend on centralized model under one leader.

That's pretty vague. Who do you mean when you say "Al Qaeda"; anyone who says they are Al Qaeda? Does this include each and every anti-American nut sitting in his garage? If they are not acting under a central authority then they are not one organization, rather disparate groups of people who pose far less of a threat than a well-financed, well-coordinated group acting under a central command.

 

[fuzzyfelt]

Navy SEAL dog.

While such details don't matter any more but his wife was unconscious so it was his daughter.

Couldn't there be more than one wife?

 

[OmCheeto]

I remarked a while back on facebook that maybe bin Laden's strategy was a mistake, as a lone person was responsible for more change in 3 months than he had been responsible for in over a decade.

A couple of days ago, I decided that bin Laden may have recognized this himself, and told his followers to divulge his whereabouts. Or perhaps someone else had the same revelation, and decided that "his was not the path".

​

Someone posted on Al Jazeera something along a similar line of thought:

http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/05/20115272712668919.html"

Indeed, what must have been most crushing for bin Laden was the rise of the so-called Arab Spring. The very people in the Arab world whose concerns bin Laden claimed most importantly to represent have revealed the utter fallacy at the heart of Sheikh Osama's message.

The al-Qaeda leader had long professed that the only means of liberation for the Muslims was to strike at the Western powers who propped up their repressive leaders, and thereby to undo the vast US-led conspiracy to subjugate them. What the Arab youth have shown is that the means of their liberation is in their own hands, and has always been. Indeed, they have shown that in the face of their moral example, the Western world, more often than not, will be forced to support them.

Robert Grenier, retired CIA.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

A couple of days ago, I decided that bin Laden may have recognized this himself, and told his followers to divulge his whereabouts. Or perhaps someone else had the same revelation, and decided that "his was not the path".

Someone posted on Al Jazeera something along a similar line of thought:

He doesn't suggest that Bin Laden or anyone near him purposely gave up his whereabouts.

But it is true in any event that with the Arab awakening and the death of the charasmatic leader who saw himself as indispensable, Al Qaeda is but a shadow of its former self - soon to be tossed into the trash bin of history as nothing but a bad memory.

Between his speech and Cairo, which is credited with helping along the Arab awakening, and now getting Bin Laden, Obama will likely be credited as the President who defeated terrorism - along with a street vendor in Tunisia, and a lot of brave protesters in Tunisia and Egypt.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Remember that Nobel Prize that he "didn't deserve"? I suspect it will be seen as proper in retrospect.

 

[Newai]

Remember that Nobel Prize that he "didn't deserve"? I suspect it will be seen as proper in retrospect.

You mean to say that the committee will then be recognized for anticipating Obama's claimed success for obl's demise?

 

[OmCheeto]

Remember that Nobel Prize that he "didn't deserve"? I suspect it will be seen as proper in retrospect.

He was definitely the right person at the right time.

But back to that dead dude:

http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/05/20115783235763346.html"

Though al-Qaeda will be temporarily re-energised by the killing of bin Laden, it will not be enough to build up the sort of momentum and broad-based sympathy that they enjoyed at the height of the US-led occupation of Iraq. ...

Most of the victims of al-Qaeda related violence since 9/11 have been the Muslims of bin Laden's cherished umma. ...

It is unlikely that the re-imagining of bin Laden in the wake of his death can re-invent al-Qaeda's track record of shameful and ultimately pointless bloodshed.

Dr Alia Brahimi, Research Fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Frankly, I don't know how anyone could have been a follower of bin Laden, except in a weird, "Go Yankee's", kind of baseball way.

disclaimer: I am not a follower of baseball, so my use of "Yankee's" should be used only in the loosest "Go Cub's", kind of sense.

 

[rootX]

That's pretty vague. Who do you mean when you say "Al Qaeda"; anyone who says they are Al Qaeda? Does this include each and every anti-American nut sitting in his garage? If they are not acting under a central authority then they are not one organization, rather disparate groups of people who pose far less of a threat than a well-financed, well-coordinated group acting under a central command.

I cannot find the link I posted near the beginning talking about how leadership was passed down to lower levels (but that article did not provide any evidence). In addition, it also talked about how Al Qeada lost support all over the Middle East. Currently, I think Al Qeada is most popular among unemployed/illiterate youths or teenagers so making it just "a desperate group of like minded people".

BBC vs CNN views on what Al Qaeda is:

Al Qaeda is not an organization that commands massive resources. It doesn’t have a big army. It doesn’t have vast reservoirs of funds that it can direct easily across the world.

Al Qaeda was an idea and an ideology, symbolized by an extremely charismatic figure in Osama bin Laden. Bin Laden was this Saudi prince-like figure who had gone into the mountains of Afghanistan forsaking the riches of a multibillion-dollar fortune, fought against the Soviets, demonstrated personal bravery and then crafted a seductive message about Islam and Islamic extremism as a path to destroy the corrupt regimes of the Middle East.

History teaches us that the loss of the charismatic leader - of the symbol - is extraordinarily damaging for the organization. It is very difficult to keep such an organization together, particularly in the absence of great power backers.

In the case of al Qaeda, this is a virtual organization held together by its message and the inspiration it provided. A large part of that inspiration was bin Laden. Ayman Zawahiri may have been the brains behind the outfit, but he did not excite people. When people volunteered for jihad, they were volunteering to be bin Laden’s foot soldiers, not Ayman Zawahiri’s or Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s. The loss of bin Laden’s personality is hugely important because it was so much part of al Qaeda’s appeal.

http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2011/05/02/al-qaeda-is-dead/

People have been arguing for years that the Base (what Al Qaeda means) was a database, a network, way of putting like-minded people in touch with each other, rather than an army...
I suspect Jihadism, the reaction against the West's dominance, a most postmodern revulsion at modernism, will not go away. It may fade for a while and resurface in another guise, with another name, or under new leaders under a old banner.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-13314747

OmCheeto link above me also indicates decentralized Al Qeada.