Obama administration kills Bin Laden!

[Bill V]

Frank's way off when he claims that this was solely the doing of the Obama administration, not the Bush administration. Bush and his team deserve a lot of the credit.



But similarly, others here are way off when they claim that this was solely the doing of the Bush administration, not the Obama administration. Obama and his team deserve a lot of credit too.



For people on both sides of the spectrum--the only thing more idiotic than claiming that your side deserves all of the credit, is to claim that the other side deserves none of the credit.



Well done, both administrations.



Well done, Navy Seals.



Well done, America.

 

[ed ritti]

i heard they're saving the video of his burial to premiere on sharkweek

 

[Thomas Rogers]

Great vid from the Daily Show

 

[Johnny O]

Muslims are supposed to be buried facing Mecca. Osama will be facing Mecca...sometimes...and sometimes not. :grin:



9/11 is also my birthday and he and his ilk have kinda ruined the party for the rest of my life, so this news brings me joy.



I dropped off the front pages of both of yesterday's local papers at a shop to be framed.

 

[Richard L]

TJR.

Great article, and even a bit tongue and check humor.



Limbaugh actuall praised Obama?? I think there was a bit a sarcasim in there somewhere...:grin: As I heard, the military wanted to just bomb the complex, however that would have destroyed everything, and they would never be sure they got bin Laden. While I'm sure the use of the SEAL Team 6 was an alternative, I'm sure Obama did not design the operation, it was just an alternative plan that he prefered...I personally think it was the right decision even though it risked American lives. Even though it put some of out top military commandos in harms way...none were killed or even injured and that is a credit to their training, and a well thought out plan. Even the unforeseen malfunction of one of the helicopters was taken into account and the operation still went off without a hitch.



I think that shows tremendous courage and forethought to insure the mission was successful, and I give Obama the credit for stepping up and giving the OK on a well planned operation (and I am not a big fan of Obama). I can almost guarantee that if we had informed Pakistan of our intent, things would have turned out differently, and bin Laden would have escaped again.



...Rich

 

[Kevin Lang]

I give Obama the credit for stepping up and giving the OK on a well planned operation

He approved a plan, a plan that he delayed. How is that laudable? There wasn't much risk for him; if the venture had failed, he could have easily swept it under the rug. (Who knew about it before it happened? Not the American public)



Huge potential for reward, little risk. "Investing" in that is common sense, was mandatory, and Obama dragged his heels on it. We are praising Obama for ponderously doing what he is supposed to do as the POTUS? :yawn:



Moving on, what happens now?

 

[Bill V]

KL, you think that a plan which gets approved, with no one else knowing about it, is easily swept under the rug if it goes bad? And that there is somehow little risk as a result?



Have you ever heard of the Bay of Pigs?



Like I said previously, Frank and others are laughable for trying to give all the credit to Obama and his administration. But it's just as ridiculous for you and others to say that he deserves no credit at all. There's more than enough slaps on the back to go around to everyone involved (present and past) on this one.

 

[Rick Kent]

Like I said previously, Frank and others are laughable for trying to give all the credit to Obama and his administration. But it's just as ridiculous for you and others to say that he deserves no credit at all. There's more than enough slaps on the back to go around to everyone involved (present and past) on this one

Over the last 10 years there were countless missions following up on leads as to his whereabouts. Had this failed the CIA would have been blamed for poor intelligence and everyone would have nodded their heads and moved on.



Bay of Pigs was vastly larger in scale and in another league entirely and hardly the same as a spec ops mission.



A better analogy to Bay of Pigs would be bailing out of Iraq prematurely during Gulf I leaving the rebels high and dry and getting massacred by Saddam.

 

[Richard L]

KL,

The plan did not fail...and that is the big difference !! Yes, you can "What if, and Shoulda, Coulda," for ever. Bombing the compound or Sending in commandos??? Either plan may have worked, but I think choosing the commando raid was the right choice. It insures that we got bin Laden, and we now are in posession of his computer files and documentation, with hopefully will lead to taking down other Al Quida leaders, as well as more information about how they operate.



If this operation had failed, he would have been riddiculed much like Jimmy Carter was riddiculed on the Iranian Hostage rescue attempt farce.



I don't see where he dragged his heals...He got bin Laden when he was in the compound, with a minimal security force, got his computer files, no Americans were even scratched. That in my mind is a well executed plan with perfect timing. As I previous stated, I am no fan of Obama, but he did what he pulled the trigger at the right time and he hit a bullseye.



In all decision like this, there is a chance that the intelligence may be wrong, or that something unforeseen may occurr to make the mission fail. They attacked at the right time (darkness with night vision goggles), when bin Laden was in residence with minimal security forces to protect him. The were in and out in 40 minutes with out any American casualties, with a wealth of intelligence data. What more do you want???



As for what happens now? Nobody knows for sure. We all know that Al Qaida is not destroyed, and they will continue to attempt more attacks on the USA and our allies. But I think the intelligence data may prove to be far more valuable to crushing Al Quida than simply killing bin Laden. I suspect that there are a lot of Al Qaida leadership moving their current locations...hopefully that even exposes them to more attacks from our Navy SEALS or Preditor aircraft. I am sure we have our satellites focused on many of the key areas where we suspect the Al Qaida leadership is hiding.



Think that the pressure the US and other allied nations have put on Al Qaida is why they have not been able to repeat any successful attacks even close to 9/11 in scope and planning. I'm sure it will take them some time to recover, although we are on alert for other Al Qaida sympathizers who my try other random acts of violence.



I believe we are starting to understand more of how Al Qaida operates and have our eyes on many potential plots...The intelligence data we got from bin Laden's can only enhanse our mission to defeat Al Quida.



...Rich

 

[Kevin Lang]

I don't see where he dragged his heals

Did you listen to his whole speech? He was informed of Osama's location months ago, but he said that it took those months to "run the thread to ground" and that Obama had to be sure of success before he'd even contemplate the action.

If this operation had failed, he would have been riddiculed much like Jimmy Carter was riddiculed on the Iranian Hostage rescue attempt farce.

Why? It would have just been a military operation that no one knew about. Maybe in 20-50 years the American public would have been told about it, sooner if another disgruntled & perfidious soldier were to give WikiLeaks info on it. As you yourself said, if Pakistan had [openly] known about the op, it would have been compromised. If the American public had known about the op, Pakistan would have known about the op. As it stood, no one knew about the op until after it was a success...if it hadn't been a success, still no one would know about the op.

The intelligence data we got from bin Laden's can only enhanse our mission to defeat Al Quida.

With Bin Laden gone, Obama has a great opportunity to pull out the troops from the Middle East. It's like the reverse of the 9/11 incident--fanatical patriotism could be used to almost unanimously end a war right now. I'm curious if the opportunity will be taken, and if it is, I fear we'll be worse for it.

 

[Don Pertz]

Quote:



He was washed, wrapped in a white sheet, placed on a "prepared flat board" and "eased into the sea" within 24 hours of his death, in accordance with Islamic tradition. He was buried in the North Arabian Sea





Anyone think this is how it happened?


Mike Rowe was called in to wash the body, it was a dirty job:grin:.[Broken External Image]:

 

[Richard L]

KL,

He was informed of Osama's location months ago, but he said that it took those months to "run the thread to ground" and that Obama had to be sure of success before he'd even contemplate the action.

They never knew for sure that bin Laden was at that compound...even at the time of the actual raid, then did not have any concrete evidence that bin Laden was there! The was obviously justifiable reasons that eventually convinced them that bin Laden was there. That part of the reason why they wanted to send in commando rather than just bomb the compound and destroy all the evidence and never know for sure if bin Laden was there.

Why? It would have just been a military operation that no one knew about.

Perhaps, but then again, there probably would have been a loss of some lives, and the Pakistani's would have found evidence of the failed mission and started crying foul. The Pakistani's are already complaining about this incursion into their country, even though we got bin Laden. I don't think it could have be covered up had it failed...but that would depend upon the magnitude of the failed mission.

With Bin Laden gone, Obama has a great opportunity to pull out the troops from the Middle East. It's like the reverse of the 9/11 incident--fanatical patriotism could be used to almost unanimously end a war right now. I'm curious if the opportunity will be taken, and if it is, I fear we'll be worse for it.

Of course, that is his perrogative as President, but I think this wave of patriotism would be better served in using the data from bin Laden's hideout and deal some crushing blows to Al Qaida and decapitate their leadership at every level we can find them. That will require time for Al Qaida to reorganize and that may allow time for the US to withdraw from Iraq and Afghanistan and still monitor how Al Quida responds.



Remember that during his campaign, Obama was going to close Gitmo, and withdraw from Iraq. That has not happened because like most candidates who win the election, he is now more educated in the realities of the situation and that he are not the ulitmate power in this world. Of couse he will never admit that things are different, but I think his delay in pulling troops out of Iraq would indicate that his assesment of the situation changed from when he was a Candidate, and when he became President.



Even President George W. Bush said there was a lot of things that would be going on in secret and it would appear that nothing was happening, but things just could not be published. Obama pledged to have an open, transparent administration, but we know that has not happened, and reality dictates that we cannot always operate that way.



...Rich