And then bin Laden was Dead

[Cody]

The news broke not long ago, Osama bin Laden was killed in a small military firefight authorized by President Obama. It was not a joint operation with Pakistan; no Americans were killed in the operation; no civilians were killed.

This has several different implications.

It's clearly a symbolic victory for the United States, having killed the man responsible for thousands of deaths. It has probably secured President Obama a second term, and people are still converging outside the White House and Ground Zero to celebrate.

It might even break the moral of Al Qaeda some.


But then there's the possible retaliation. Al Qaeda could get, well, infuriated, and use this as a rallying point for more attacks. And, there are, of course, the moral implications of celebrating a man's death, and the fact that there was no trial.

Personally, I'm looking at this for a victory for the United States, if nothing more than a symbolic one. It doesn't feel right celebrating a man's death to me, but this is certainly...I honestly don't know how to put this in to words. I'm very curious to see what you guys think about this.

 

[Sem]

These kinds of things aren't my cup of tea but here's my thoughts on it. It's interesting for us because this has been going on for half our lives or more for most of us. The attacks were almost ten years ago, which is crazy to think about. So much time has passed since then.

It's good that he's dead, but I'm not happy about it and I'm not going to celebrate his death. Like with Cody, it also wouldn't sit well with me to celebrate someone's death, regardless of their crimes against humanity. But I am happy that all those who lost family on that day, and because of him in general across the years, did have justice served.

And yeah, there'll be another guy to replace him, and we may have no doubt increased their fervor, but you're kidding yourself if you don't think that this event didn't shake them up. They may retaliate, but so what. They would jump at the idea to attack the US or any country for that matter regardless of whether or not bin Laden was alive. So they'll try to attack us. This isn't a monumental revelation - they've been trying to attack us for decades and succeeded ten years ago, but they've kept on trying to do it again since and will continue to do so until we're all dead, regardless of who is leading them.

I'm not one for politics or this sort of thing at all, so I'm not going to get into that side. I will say again that I'm happy that the families affected by 9/11 have seen justice served. Even though the man responsible for their losses is gone, the loved ones they lost didn't come back, and I seriously doubt the man's death will make them feel any better, so my heart continues to go out to them.

 

[Doctor Oak]

That's the best animated gif in the world.

Anyways, nothing has changed. This is merely a major trophy for Obama at an opportune time to practically give him a second term. If anything, the West is just in more danger now from retaliation against the killing.

I find it hard to rejoice over the idea of someone being murdered, to be honest. Even if they were a pretty fucking awful person themselves, you still have to remember that all this whoopin' and hollerin' is over the death of another human being. It's no better than al-Qaeda celebrating the deaths of those they were responsible for.

 

[Psycho Monkey]

Clearly I'm more heartless than the rest of you because I enjoy the thought that the greatest evil the world has ever known since Hitler has been eliminated and I will continue to celebrate. Granted, his second-in-command and organization still exist but their fate will be the same as Osama bin Laden's. We'll crush them!

I agree that this is a bitter sweet victory though. Vengeance and justice have been served, but the pain of loss will never go away, plus bin Laden's death could be the catalyst for another attack. However al-Qaeda has tried and failed countless times in the past decade to attack us again after 9/11 and have failed every time. I have faith that America and our allies will continue to thwart them until they are no more.

 

[Rayn_Shyu]

And I just put in my Current Event that this is one of the times you could say "I'm happy he died"...
Honestly, what ya'lls already said sums it up. I dunno, it's more of we finally got that thorn out of our paw. Hopefully we didn't get an entire bush in our backsides. Or if we manage that, we'll rip it out faster than ten years... A whole decade for a single man is kind of embarrassing. It's not going to stop much on the al-Qaeda side but could be rallying for the rest of us.

Just glad to know justice is done. That, I hope, is what all the shouting is about.
Obama .gif FTW

 

[Doubled]

So it seems I'm not the only one thinking of retaliation. Nobaody here thinks they're capable without thier leader. Um, hello? Second in command? If not him, there's also his children and possibly grandchildren. Really, it all seems too simple to me. I heard something about witnesses spotting him and following him to his mansion or something like that. First of all, if you're hiding, change your look, shave at least to throw people off. I have other excuses, but my point is that there's obviously something fishy here...

However I will say that I'm glad he's dead, granted that I'm not celebrating it like others. In my opinion, if you kill others out of hate and feel no remorse whatsoever, then you no longer have any right to call yourself a human, so good ridance. Would I have tried something else? Maybe, however I do think this was the best course of action for safety, including the way they "buried" him. If we had imprisoned him, that would give his followers chances to try to rescue him, or something worse. Really, it's just one less problem in this world.

Btw....reguarding the gif....Did he actually do that? XD THat would be hilarious if he did! As for my opinion on this giving him a second term.....no. Did Obama kill him himself? No. Did he join the search for him? Not on the field. And most importantly, did he SHOOT him? No. The fact that he died during his presidency is merely a matter of coincidental placement in time. If he wants to go for a second term, go ahead, I don't care either way because not much will change with the next guy, but if I were him I wouldn't use this as a campaign boost....Is what I would say if people weren't actually as gullible and unsophisticated as the people who realize HE DIDN'T SHOOT HIM! But, that's just my honest opinion.

 

[Brendan Savem]

So another catastrophic event to shake up the Middle East once again, it was bad enough with all these revolutions, now Al Qaeda is going to get pissed off and will want take action, and there are plenty of vacant places for them to set up shop.

I actually know a relative of Bin Laden; one of his great nephews, he's not really too happy about this news, most likely because of one of Bin Laden's sons also being killed in the raid, it could be a relative he was more closer to, sad really.

Plus, we don't really know that Osama felt no remorse. Sure he didn't show it, but he was (most likely) a faithful Muslim who believed it was the will of Allah to prevent the pressure and manipulation that the Americans were applying on them, no matter the cost. Maybe he felt remorse for their deaths, or even his faithful servants that followed him to the end, we actually don't know. What is known is that there are hundreds of people on the streets in the States celebrating the death of the man they hated so much, with no remorse for his eventual fall. Does that make them any more human than him?

And yes, this does happen to be a booster for Obama's presidential campaign, that's what happened with Bush, and America is well known for doing the same things over again. So yeah, black prez in the states for another four years, perhaps we'll him live up to his nobel prize this time round, now that main reason for hanging around in Afghanistan is gone.

Also, let's not forget that Obama did approve of the operation, as quoted, Obama signed an agreement to the operation calling for Osama "to be brought to justice". Whether that means that the operation was meant to capture him alive or kill him on the spot is unclear. Though it is something that most people are missing out in their celebrations; a Democratic Leader giving the all clear to have a man shot in his home and dragged back across the Atlantic. And having failed to bury him by Sundown, the deadline for having a man buried in Muslim Culture, is really going to piss off not just the Taliban, but many other Muslim people. We have some rocky times ahead of us.

As for the possibility of a fake, very unlikely. America wouldn't have said it out loud if they weren't sure, for Osama to pop out again and claim that he doped America once again would send its reputation crashing down. So they took DNA samples from as many of his relatives as possible, including the above mentioned, since they couldn't get his own. They put it all together to get a representation of what Osama's DNA would probably be like, it must have been a very close match for America to make such a bold claim.

So what happens next, Al Qaeda will most likely have a power vacuum, unless Osama's next of kin was already declared, and then they'll try again. The next guy might be more dangerous and cunning, and bring about another terrorist disaster for the States. Or he's too weak and Al Qaeda will eventually deteriorate into nothing.

 

[Doctor Oak]

So another catastrophic event to shake up the Middle East once again, it was bad enough with all these revolutions,

The revolutions in the middle east are nothing but a good thing. People are taking a stand against the despotic, oppressive regimes they've been living under for years. There's a lot of bloodshed going on as a result - but there's no doubt that when the dust finally settles, the entire region will be better for it.

Really, the UN should be doing more about Libya, but that's an entirely different debate.

 

[Secad MS]

I'm really not sure of what to think of these events. I mean, I believe it is anybody's right to celebrate death, but I personally don't like it. I mean, Bin Laden was human, too. Yes, killing him off will certainly end his oppressive deeds, but was that the only way? Of course, then we have to see if this ends with retaliation or moral defeat.

 

[Toastie]

I'm not one to celebrate death, and killing Bin Laden will only make situations worse with Al-Qaeda. It is, however, a moral victory. I don't feel sorry for Bin Laden at all. For example, he used his wife as a human shield when he was about to be killed.

 

[Linkachu]

I'm honestly just amused that the radio kept calling it Bin Laden's "death", when what they really should've been calling it was his murder or assassination.

I'm not going to lie: I'm glad he's dead, but only an idiot would celebrate it in the streets for reasons previously mentioned. Tempting the fates is an ignorant thing to do and will only see more people needlessly hurt.

 

[Yoshimitsu]

I'm honestly just amused that the radio kept calling it Bin Laden's "death", when what they really should've been calling it was his murder or assassination.

I'm not going to lie: I'm glad he's dead, but only an idiot would celebrate it in the streets for reasons previously mentioned. Tempting the fates is an ignorant thing to do and will only see more people needlessly hurt.

^ This.