International, Military

BIN LADEN DEAD

Various news organizations are reporting that Osama Bin Laden is dead. President Obama is expected to announce the news. Bin Laden was reportedly killed in Pakistan by an operation involving Navy Seals but the story is still unfolding. YahooReports indicate that he was shot in the head after he and his bodyboards resisted an attack by the elite unit.

The fact that he reportedly went down fighting will likely add to his image as a martyr — though people who follow him need little encouragement or reason.

Bin Laden was a murderous fanatic who used religion to spread hate. His passing from this Earth would be welcomed news and, even for the most agnostic or atheist among us, there is a lingering wish that there is place for the damned to greet men like Bin Laden after the untold harm that he caused not just to his country but to many countries. Hundreds of thousands of dead can be credited to his dark legacy and beliefs.

While liberals and conservatives differed on the means used to fight Bin Laden, there was never any division on the commitment to fight terrorism or the shared loss from his crimes. On September 11th, the plane that hit the Pentagon struck just after I passed the building on my way to work. I made it about a mile away after blowing my tire on the curb and changing the tire as huge columns of smoke filled the air.

In the end, Bin Laden remained the authentic symbol of radical Islam — an extremist filled with hate living with fellow troglodytes in caves and crevices.

Bin Laden’s death will force some accounting of what has been gained and what has been lost since his infamous wave of terror began. Too much of the damage of 9-11 proved to be self-inflicted, including our use of torture and the launching of two wars that have cost thousands of more American lives and hundreds of billions as the nation sinks into debt and economic distress.

There is no indication that our continued loss of money or personnel in Afghanistan will decrease in any way as a result of the news. While the Afghanistan war seemed personality driven with Bin Laden as the face of evil, it has taken on a type perpetual war due to a lack of political courage to end it.

The world is far better without the likes of Osama Bin Laden. However, he left an ample legacy (and legions) to guarantee that religious hate will continue to shape the future of that region and the world at large.

369 thoughts on “BIN LADEN DEAD”

  1. Bin Laden’s body cleansed before sea burial
    U.S. official describes rites; Islamic clerics debate if procedure was proper or humiliating
    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42859914/ns/world_news-death_of_bin_laden/

    Excerpt:
    CAIRO — Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden was buried at sea from the deck of a U.S. aircraft carrier in the north Arabian Sea after being washed according to Islamic custom during a religious funeral, a U.S. defense official said on Monday.

    “Preparations for at-sea burial began at 1:10 a.m. EST and were completed at 2 a.m. EST,” the official said. “Traditional procedures for Islamic burial were followed.

    The official described the procedure to NBC News as follows:
    The deceased’s body was washed and then placed in a white sheet.
    The body was placed in a weighted bag.

    A military officer read prepared religious remarks which were translated into Arabic by a native speaker.

    After the words were complete, the body was placed on a prepared flat board, tipped up, whereupon the deceased’s body eased into the sea from the USS Vinson.

    The rites sparked a debate about Islamic customs, with some Muslim clerics calling the procedure humiliating and others saying it was proper.

    A U.S. official said that the burial decision was made after concluding that it would have been difficult to find a country willing to accept the remains. There also was speculation about worry that a grave site could have become a rallying point for militants.

    President Barack Obama said the remains had been handled in accordance with Islamic custom, which requires speedy burial.

  2. The Obama administration has photographs of Osama bin Laden’s dead body and officials are debating what to do with them and whether they should be released to the public, officials tell ABC News.

    “There’s no doubt it’s him,” says a US official who has seen the pictures and also reminds us that OBL was 6’4”.

    The argument for releasing them: to ensure that the public knows and can appreciate that he’s dead. There is of course skepticism throughout the world that the US government claim that it killed bin Laden is true.

    http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2011/05/white-house-officials-debate-releasing-photographs-of-bin-ladens-corpse-1.html

  5. Evidently, DNA testing is going to be done.

    His administration used DNA testing to help confirm that American forces in Pakistan had in fact killed bin Laden, as U.S. officials sought to erase all doubt about the stunning news.

    http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_bin_laden

  7. Osama’s Legacy: American Drift
    By Peter S. Goodman
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/02/osamas-legacy-american-drift_n_856365.html

    Excerpt:
    NEW YORK — It takes no degree in psychology to understand why Americans flocked to the obvious gathering places — Ground Zero, the White House — celebrating news of Osama’s demise. A decade ago we watched people we knew or might have known hurtle to their deaths from a landmark building. Someone had to pay.

    The trouble is that we ourselves paid as a nation. And we have kept paying even as the price has climbed to impossible heights, via disastrous choices made in anger and vengeance more than reason and enlightened self-interest. We rushed into Afghanistan without the will to remake it. We embarked on an unnecessary war in Iraq, chasing the phantom of our national fears. We squandered our treasure on ill-conceived military misadventures just as we needed it most here at home, to rebuild our schools and invest in productive industries that might put people back to work.

    Last night, on city streets in New York and in Washington, the jubilant crowds chanted and sang as if we had won some sort of sporting event, the championship banner hung in a final statement of achievement. A chorus spoke of closure and justice and healing. But we have won nothing — even as one rightly hopes that Osama’s death will weaken al Qaeda’s capacity to sow terror. We completed no mission of decisive national import. Real victory will continue to elude us until we focus on rebuilding our own country, recovering from the self-inflicted wounds that have resulted from taking Osama’s bait.

    The attack inflicted by bin Laden’s terrorist organization on September 11, 2001 came with its own unique opportunity. Here was an invitation to reckon with the limits of military strength as a vessel of foreign policy. Here was a moment that suddenly made the world sympathetic to the American situation. But the tactical brilliance of the al Qaeda strike went beyond the terrifying images that filled our television screens, provoking that sickening feeling of vulnerability combined with rage over murder: It was as if Osama and his minions placed a bet on our national character, reckoning that such an attack would tap into the hot center of the American mindset, prompting a response that would be damaging to our long-term interests. We would react in anger and fear, and hurt ourselves in the process.

  8. Killing of bin Laden: What are the consequences?
    BY GLENN GREENWALD
    http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/

    Excerpts:
    The killing of Osama bin Laden is one of those events which, especially in the immediate aftermath, is not susceptible to reasoned discussion. It’s already a Litmus Test event: all Decent People — by definition — express unadulterated ecstacy at his death, and all Good Americans chant “USA! USA!” in a celebration of this proof of our national greatness and Goodness (and that of our President). Nothing that deviates from that emotional script will be heard, other than by those on the lookout for heretics to hold up and punish. Prematurely interrupting a national emotional consensus with unwanted rational truths accomplishes nothing but harming the heretic (ask Bill Maher about how that works).

    **********

    But beyond the emotional fulfillment that comes from vengeance and retributive justice, there are two points worth considering. The first is the question of what, if anything, is going to change as a result of the two bullets in Osama bin Laden’s head? Are we going to fight fewer wars or end the ones we’ve started? Are we going to see a restoration of some of the civil liberties which have been eroded at the alter of this scary Villain Mastermind? Is the War on Terror over? Are we Safer now?

    Those are rhetorical questions. None of those things will happen. If anything, I can much more easily envision the reverse. Whenever America uses violence in a way that makes its citizens cheer, beam with nationalistic pride, and rally around their leader, more violence is typically guaranteed. Futile decade-long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan may temporarily dampen the nationalistic enthusiasm for war, but two shots to the head of Osama bin Laden — and the We are Great and Good proclamations it engenders — can easily rejuvenate that war love. One can already detect the stench of that in how Pakistan is being talked about: did they harbor bin Laden as it seems and, if so, what price should they pay? We’re feeling good and strong about ourselves again — and righteous — and that’s often the fertile ground for more, not less, aggression.

    And then there’s the notion that America has once again proved its greatness and preeminence by killing bin Laden. Americans are marching in the street celebrating with a sense of national pride. When is the last time that happened? It seems telling that hunting someone down and killing them is one of the few things that still produce these feelings of nationalistic unity. I got on an airplane last night before the news of bin Laden’s killing was known and had actually intended to make this point with regard to our killing of Gadaffi’s son in Libya — a mere 25 years after President Reagan bombed Libya and killed Gadaffi’s infant daughter. That is something the U.S. has always done well and is one of the few things it still does well.

  9. HenMan
    1, May 2, 2011 at 1:07 pm
    Sorry about the highjacking job- sometimes the radio inside my head comes on at inappropriate times.

    ============================================

    OBL is dead at the hands a few real-life super-heroes … we are simply developing our own and you’re it …

  11. I have it on good authority that HenMan is the real life model upon which the author, Lee Child, built the character, Jack Reacher.

    Hand to heart ….

  13. Sorry about the highjacking job- sometimes the radio inside my head comes on at inappropriate times.
    Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men…The Shadow Knows!

  14. Not every fan of Lamont Cranston is older, Mike. 😉

    I have a six CD box set of some of the old radio shows with Orson Welles as The Shadow as well as other ephemera related to Walter Gibson’s creation.

  16. “The weed of crime bears bitter fruit…The Shadow Knows!”

    Henman,

    I didn’t think you were that old to remember this.

  18. The problem with all conspiracy theories is that they ignore the inability of any organization to act infallibly. This is especially true of “secret” organizations that are by need so insular in their thinking that the ability to develop long reaching and coherent plans is pretty much impossible. Putting it
    plainly “The best laid plans of mice and men aft gae aglee.”

  20. BIL,

    “Let the games to rationalize torture begin . . .”

    I suspect by day’s end they will, no doubt, have the rationalization fully formed and will issue the talking points …

    —————————————————-

    HenMan,

    “The intelligence that finally nailed Osama Bin Laden came from multiple sources, including Bill Ayers, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, secret operatives from ACORN, and information from the three members of the New Black Panther Party who stole the 2008 election.

    And, may I be the first to demand the release of Osama Bin Laden’s Death Certificate. No, not that one! The REAL one!”

    Lmao …

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