OT: Bin Laden is DEAD

**Tspot-D-Ravenator** · 05-01-2011, 10:24 PM

Just confirmed on Fox News and CNN...

**ravenjoe** · 05-01-2011, 10:37 PM

Great day for the Free World!

**camdenyard** · 05-01-2011, 11:00 PM

Awesome. Add a few shovelfuls of coal to the fires of hell!

**ed from Bel Air** · 05-01-2011, 11:37 PM

Remembering those who we lost on 9/11, as well as our service members who gave their lives in service to our country since then. Thank you to our military for obtaining justice for those who died.

**Brtnder81** · 05-02-2011, 12:05 AM

very proud to be an American right now. I hope this helps bring our country together

**akashicrecorder** · 05-02-2011, 12:38 AM

Was coming out of the movies when some passersby shouted this to all of us patrons as we exited. No one believed them and everyone crowded around this TV set in a storefront like it was the 1950s. Then ventured to the White House and said the national anthem and pledge of allegiance a few times as people climbed poles and trees to pin up flags... That was a great freaking feeling.

(On a lesser note, was 5 feet away from Geraldo Rivera and jumped in front of some newscameras.)

**darb72** · 05-02-2011, 12:50 AM

I was working on some finals and signed on for a break. This is really good news and hopefully a sign the war will soon be over.

**TLaMana** · 05-02-2011, 01:24 AM

I'm not so impressed. OBL should have been dead years ago. He was a paper version of his former self in the eyes of the world and a non-threat. I find the timing of the announcement to be "interesting". Especially since it apparently happened last week. I understand making sure with DNA testing but that wouldn't take more then a day.

It's like he wanted the bonus points for OBL dying on his watch but didn't want to piss off the Muslim world.

**Brtnder81** · 05-02-2011, 01:34 AM

do u have a link where it says it happen last week? everything I have seen says it happened Sunday morning

**Irish Raven** · 05-02-2011, 06:13 AM

Just from the other side of the pond, the British gave £650 million (approx $1.1 billion) to Pakistan last month.
And then we find Bin Laden was in Pakistan all along?

£650 million is a lot of money and a lot of questions are going to be asked. Maybe a few politicians will resign, we'll see.

**TL24x7** · 05-02-2011, 07:01 AM

Does the burial at sea leave anyone besides me suspicious?

**festivus** · 05-02-2011, 07:04 AM

Originally Posted by TLaMana

OBL

Really? "OBL"? Must everything have a minimizing nickname, making it look like something so simple you don't need to be bothered to use its name?

Osama Bin Laden has been the symbol, the *only* symbol, of Al Qaeda since even before 9/11. And we've been targeting him, and we've killed him, just as Al Qaeda struck down some of our symbols. It's an important moment.

Sure, you can say he's a paper version of himself, you can say he hasn't really been running Al Qaeda, and you can say he was actually an alien with painted on skin, but that's BS you're making up for your own reason, because you don't know.

**HoustonRaven** · 05-02-2011, 07:37 AM

Odd that the SEALS were so far inland. I wonder if the news got the branch of special forces wrong.

This has Delta or Marine Recon written all over it. Not that it makes that much of a difference.

And it does concern me that the body is gone already. I hope there were a ton of photos and video taken. Hate for this to become a Martyr situation.

**UKRaven** · 05-02-2011, 07:49 AM

Originally Posted by HoustonRaven

Odd that the SEALS were so far inland. I wonder if the news got the branch of special forces wrong.

This has Delta or Marine Recon written all over it. Not that it makes that much of a difference.

And it does concern me that the body is gone already. I hope there were a ton of photos and video taken. Hate for this to become a Martyr situation.

The SEALS were on loan to the CIA, who are the only US agency allowed to operate with Pakistan.

**festivus** · 05-02-2011, 08:26 AM

Concerning the burial at sea: It's an interesting choice and was probably very shrewd.

What are the alternatives? Burying him or storing him somewhere? Then you have the problem of (a) identifying the place and (b) deciding whether make the location public, both of which have their own significant practical problems. Assuming you've made the location public, you have to deal with security, because bad things could happen there, and assuming you've made the location secret, you still have to deal with security, because bad things could happen there.

Cremation presents its own host of problems.

I think burial at sea was a clever solution to a thorny problem provided, as Houston rightly suggests, they did their homework and due diligence.

**RavenScallywag** · 05-02-2011, 08:39 AM

The burial at sea...I don't think I question it as being a "fabricated story", I more question the motivation. Govt is saying "Well no one would want to accept the remains of a known terrorist". That's BS. There are countries that hate the US that'd probably take him in a heartbeat.

The burial at sea makes it so no one can make his tomb a monument. Terrorists can't make a pilgrimage to his burial site. He's just dumped somewhere in the ocean. It also helps us look better, because we still observed Muslim traditions when getting rid of his body.

As for the celebrations. I don't get the dancing in the street and all. I think the best way to celebrate is to honor and remember the victims of all his terror attacks. USS Cole, the embassy bombings, BOTH attacks on WTC, the Pentagon, Shanksville, PA, etc. Killing him won't bring back the dead, and it certainly isn't the end of terrorism, or even al-Qaeda. Our hunt for him had reduced his impact anyway, he was more a figurehead by this point anyway. I just saw the news he had been killed, gave a little prayer to those he had killed, and moved on with my business.

**festivus** · 05-02-2011, 08:46 AM

Originally Posted by RavenScallywag

The burial at sea...I don't think I question it as being a "fabricated story", I more question the motivation. Govt is saying "Well no one would want to accept the remains of a known terrorist". That's BS. There are countries that hate the US that'd probably take him in a heartbeat.

The burial at sea makes it so no one can make his tomb a monument.

Or a target. Exactly right.

**B-more Ravor** · 05-02-2011, 08:57 AM

Originally Posted by RavenScallywag

The burial at sea makes it so no one can make his tomb a monument. Terrorists can't make a pilgrimage to his burial site. He's just dumped somewhere in the ocean. It also helps us look better, because we still observed Muslim traditions when getting rid of his body.

Exactly - very much lessens the martyrdom/pilgrimmage effect.

No easy solution available, but this approach makes sense to me.

**HoustonRaven** · 05-02-2011, 09:22 AM

Tweet of the day thus far, IMO ....

"I am not believing UBL is dead until I see the long-form death certificate"

**RavenScallywag** · 05-02-2011, 09:51 AM

CNN has a video from the White House correspondent's dinner where Seth Myers makes a joke that Osama Bin Laden actually has a daily show on CSPAN from 4-5. It cuts to Obama who breaks a big toothy laugh.

I just bet in his head he's going..."Not for long...."