Breaking News: Osama Bin Laden Is Dead! - Part 4

[Marx]

UM, as far as the poll, I don't see it as an assasination, so I can't really vote.....

What word choice would you like me to use? Killing?

 

[Kelly]

Now, I thought we were getting along well. Why the slam?

I'm progressive in terms of social issues. I'm pragmatic in the sense I'm a realist in foreign policy matters and realize we have to get our hands dirty once in a while. I'm no Michael Moore (and despise the man) if that's what you're thinking.

Oh wait....I didn't mean that as a slam.....lol

I think many see progressives as ....bleeding hearts....therefore the pragmatic part looked funny...that's all.

 

[Paradoxium]

Would you really expect Al-Qaeda to say anything different!?

"We never liked that infidel anyways. That infidel always cheated in poker."

 

[Kelly]

What word choice would you like me to use? Killing?

Yes, and then I can vote.....

 

[Marx]

Yes, and then I can vote.....

Done.

 

[Paroxysm]

Would you really expect Al-Qaeda to say anything different!?

Never take these guys for granted. Just because OBL is dead doesn't mean that we're in the clear. I think his death will cause more problems than if he was alive. Someone will take his place and we'll be back to square one.

 

[Paradoxium]

Progressive realist? hahaha I never thought I'd hear those two words. It just sounds wrong. Social liberal sounds more apt.

 

[JJJ's Ulcer]

Oh wait....I didn't mean that as a slam.....lol

I think many see progressives as ....bleeding hearts....therefore the pragmatic part looked funny...that's all.

No harm done.

 

[Marx]

Never take these guys for granted. Just because OBL is dead doesn't mean that we're in the clear. I think his death will cause more problems than if he was alive. Someone will take his place and we'll be back to square one.

I don't think anyone believes we're in the clear because Bin Laden is dead. For me, I have a very hard time seeing anyone being able to replace him. I think his death will fracture Al-Qaeda. They've lost their main fundraiser and uniter. If anything, Bin Laden's death will probably create a power vacuum.

 

[Paradoxium]

Even Al Qa'eda cannot defy basic laws of economics. Now if only they can get intel to hammer their Hawala networks.

 

[Paroxysm]

I don't think anyone believes we're in the clear because Bin Laden is dead. For me, I have a very hard time seeing anyone being able to replace him. I think his death will fracture Al-Qaeda.

I doubt it but okay.

 

[Paradoxium]

Ayman Al-Zawahiri is still knocking about and he is the actual strategist. He is arguably more dangerous for this alone.

 

[JJJ's Ulcer]

Al-Zawahiri has zero charisma. He can have all the brains in the world, but just like here, people won't follow a leader who doesn't inspire.

The biggest current threat is the Yemen Al Qaeda leader that they just missed killing in a drone attack.

 

[Paradoxium]

Something of note, according to wikileaks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed did say if Bin Laden was ever captured there would be a nuclear retaliation.

 

[Marx]

Well technically, Bin Laden was never captured.

 

[JJJ's Ulcer]

KSM was talking out of his ass. He was captured in 2003... eight years ago! If Al Qaeda had the means to conduct a nuclear strike on us, they wouldn't have waited all this time just because Osama was still alive.

 

[Paradoxium]

That's what I was thinking, but that wikileak was pretty recent.

 

[Paradoxium]

Despite Al-Zawahiri having no charisma, he still gets the cogs moving and has been doing more heavy lifting in recent (if rumors are to be believed). He is far more indispensable in this sense. Find someone to be his PR puppet and he can still continue to operate.

 

[redfirebird2008]

Despite Al-Zawahiri having no charisma, he still gets the cogs moving and has been doing more heavy lifting in recent (if rumors are to be believed). He is far more indispensable in this sense. Find someone to be his PR puppet and he can still continue to operate.

His problem is that he's Egyptian. Apparently the heart of Al Qaeda is in the Arabian Peninsula and those folks have a huge problem with Egyptians.

 

[DACrowe]

Yes killing OBL, isn't going to anger them at all into furious rage. Giving him an Islamic burial is a wimpy move.

If you want to talk about protecting American lives, you go the opposite end. Bury him in a pile of pig corpses. Now that is a real deterrent. Every single terrorist that even tries will know there will be prospects of a pig burial; they don't get to go to paradise. And this has been done before in history and has work. Hell the Russians have done it.

Mmhm. You want to turn this into a religious war where we insult 1/6 of the world's religion. After all that is how America has always fought its wars.

What we did was get rid of the body and avoiding a chance of turning his grave into a shrine while demonstrating we are not at war with Islam, just extremist nutjobs. Will that convince other nutjobs to stop? Of course not. But does it give them an excuse to recruit more people? Not as much as publicly insulting the religion would do. We wiped bin Laden out and minimized the opportunity of turning bin Laden into a fallen hero or vilifying the US to a disgruntled populace on the verge of revolution. I think the funeral bit is actually a really smart move, in my opinion.

 

[DACrowe]

We had a larger coalition in Iraq than we did Libya, but yes - not getting involved with either is the proper move. After all, one ally we have in Libya we didn't have in Iraq? Al Qaeda.

On paper we may have had a larger "coalition," but it sure is nice that more French and British planes are flying over Libya than American ones and it is NATO's headache and not just the US's. Iraq was a coalition in name only as the American military has been left holding almost the entire bag, along with the scorn and criticism of the rest of the world. Libya actually has the West's support and the East's toleration. Even the Arab states for the most part accept the measure and have turned on Gadhafi which makes it incredibly different geopolitically from Iraq.

Saddam killed more civilians than Kadaffi.

Many years prior to the 2003 invasion. Earlier this year we were on the eve of mass murder in Libya that could be prevented....not invading a stable nation supposedly based on crimes we ignored years ago. Though WMD was the real reason and....well that's another story, I suppose.

 

[Hound55]

Never take these guys for granted. Just because OBL is dead doesn't mean that we're in the clear. I think his death will cause more problems than if he was alive. Someone will take his place and we'll be back to square one.

Dead; he is a martyr, yes, but those potential terrorists who are sympathetic to their cause don't have a major recruiter to refine those resources and motivate them into action.

It's funny, people either oversell his activity and believe he was directly involved with 9/11 as opposed to indirectly involved via training and recruiting people to his cause... or they undersell his activity and choose to ignore the data which has been confiscated through the operation.

 

[LOBO3315a]

Would you really expect Al-Qaeda to say anything different!?

They sure as heck aren't going to admit they are on the ropes.

 

[JJJ's Ulcer]

It would be so great if Al Qaeda came out with a declaration of surrender. "Okay, you guys won. No more terrorism." Finally, I could take my beverage on the plane.

 

[Christopher Nolan]

i find it funny that according some to reports osama stated in his will that he doesnt want any of his children to join al qaeda...hehe