Bin Laden down

[while1]

This is the kind of the thing where if Republicans do it, people are ECSTATIC.  (e.g. Saddam Hussein).  If Obama does it, people go... hmm, whatever, lets find a way to criticize him for telling us this, because we don't like Obama. It's because the  "we want revenge" people are mostly Republicans (or against Obama anyway), and they will not like Obama no matter what he does.  They can take a piece of news that would normally make them really happy, and find a way to criticise it terribly if Obama's name is attached to it.  There's also the fact that Republicans are brilliant at PR and Democrats are not.  I am just speculating though, it will be interesting to see the general reaction.

Having said that, my opinion is that this is objectively meaningless.  Osama was just like 'Goldstein' in 1984.  Despite what I've written above, I think this will help Obama's popularity, and it will help diffuse some of the stupid shit Republicans were flinging at him (though, as above, I don't think anyone who was previously convinced that Obama was a Muslim terrorist will be voting for him now that he has removed Osama, and a lot of people who would normally love this kind of thing will hypocritically not be impressed or even go out of their way to find fault with it).

You're wrong about the general reaction, the general reaction was apparent since this morning- it's bipartisan celebration.  This isn't a Democrat or Republican issue- it's American.

When you have Cheney, normally a vocal opponent of Obama's foreign policy decisions, giving Obama and his administration mad props... people dancing in the streets, West Point cadets celebrating into the night (remember our military institutes tend to be composed of quite a bit of Republicans and critical of Obama- ask Towelie, he goes to one of said institutions)... it shows that this goes deeper than partisan politics.

[Sidoh]

If they did a DNA test against his sister, wouldn't his brother also match? I'm no biologist but it can only check that the two specimens have the same parents, right?

Mitochondrial DNA should match.

In any case, there exists a test that would confirm his identity given we trust the identity of his sister.

I just don't care though.  I don't see why anyone cares.  It sickens me that there are people celebrating any sort of death.  I see little difference in celebrating bin Laden's death and Taliban troops celebrating the death of an American soldier.  Both are disgusting.  Death is nothing to be happy about.

I think someone else in this thread said this, and I completely agree with it.  There's no objective benefit to bin Laden being dead (other than political popularity, maybe).  If anything, there are objective disadvantages.

[Sidoh]

‎"I will mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. [...] Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." - MLK

[while1]

Pffft, Sidoh is a carebear.

[Sidoh]

Coming from the guy with operationsmile.org in his signature, I'll take that as a complement.

[CrAz3D]

‎"I will mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. [...] Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." - MLK

I agree with this. That said, I still grinned when I heard he died. My instinctual self reacted, then my thoughtful self followed. I bet that is how it has gone for most people/will go.

[Sidoh]

‎"I will mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. [...] Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." - MLK

I agree with this. That said, I still grinned when I heard he died. My instinctual self reacted, then my thoughtful self followed. I bet that is how it has gone for most people/will go.

That's probably true.  I guess I was "interested" by the news, but at no point was I happy about it.

Apparently, the quote was falsely attributed to MLK.  Someone made it up and attributed it to him.  People have been blindly posting the copypasta (myself included) without checking that he actually said it.  Not that I care -- the words perfectly express my thoughts on the matter.

Someone unfriended me for posting that.  Pathetic.  People are barbaric idiots.

[Blaze]

Here is a supposed picture of Osama after the fight; warning: totally bloody and NSFW: http://img811.imageshack.us/img811/8576/1304416878397.png

[CrAz3D]

People ARE "barbaric" (or human...). I cant be upset that some people are happy he died. I think his death is a good thing, but I'm just not that psyched.

[iago]

So what's the alternative?

1. That he's alive, and is going to say "nuh uh!"

2. That he's captured and being detained

3. That he was dead a long time ago

I'd say that 2. is most likely, but with wikileaks and everything I'm not sure they would take that kind of chance..

I really don't know. If we were to assume the claims were untrue, any of these 3 alternatives could be possible. Though with his supposed health problems, (3) might be more likely.

I have some hope that the Pentagon will at least release pictures at some point.

I just have trouble believing that we would quickly discard the body of one of the most notorious terrorist leaders because of his religious beliefs. This gesture is too good to be true! But it is entirely possible that criticism has galvanized the military to be more respectful of terrorists, even of Osama bin Laden! I would have thought the military would bring his body back for third parties to verify. Then they could bury him at sea. That's the responsible and scientific way to deal with someone so infamous.

If it's hoax, discarding the alleged evidence is a good way to prevent anyone from finding out.

Option 4: he was tortured/fucked up somehow (for who knows how long)

[iago]

For example:

[CrAz3D]

nice. haha.

[Joe]

Here is a supposed picture of Osama after the fight; warning: totally bloody and NSFW: http://img811.imageshack.us/img811/8576/1304416878397.png

Looks dead to me.

[nslay]

So what's the alternative?

1. That he's alive, and is going to say "nuh uh!"

2. That he's captured and being detained

3. That he was dead a long time ago

I'd say that 2. is most likely, but with wikileaks and everything I'm not sure they would take that kind of chance..

I really don't know. If we were to assume the claims were untrue, any of these 3 alternatives could be possible. Though with his supposed health problems, (3) might be more likely.

I have some hope that the Pentagon will at least release pictures at some point.

I just have trouble believing that we would quickly discard the body of one of the most notorious terrorist leaders because of his religious beliefs. This gesture is too good to be true! But it is entirely possible that criticism has galvanized the military to be more respectful of terrorists, even of Osama bin Laden! I would have thought the military would bring his body back for third parties to verify. Then they could bury him at sea. That's the responsible and scientific way to deal with someone so infamous.

If it's hoax, discarding the alleged evidence is a good way to prevent anyone from finding out.

Option 4: he was tortured/fucked up somehow (for who knows how long)

We'll just have to wait and see. I'm sure they'll release something eventually.

The White House just changed the story a bit which does not reflect well on the currently empty claim.

Another oddity is that Saddam and his sons were embalmed and held for 11 days, granted they were not practicing Muslims. Osama was buried within 24 hours in accordance with his religious beliefs. But again, this gesture just seems too good to be true.

[iago]

Another oddity is that Saddam and his sons were embalmed and held for 11 days, granted they were not practicing Muslims. Osama was buried within 24 hours in accordance with his religious beliefs. But again, this gesture just seems too good to be true.

So they followed religious beliefs for somebody who was religious, but didn't even do it for somebody who wasn't? That's awfully suspicious...