# Bin Laden alive? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 9, 2012, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bin-laden-alive/621417 "2012-05-09T19:59:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SanDiegoTim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85e7bf/32.png) [@SanDiegoTim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanDiegoTim)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2012, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bin-laden-alive/621417/1 "2012-05-09T19:59:01Z")
Has it crossed anyone’s mind that bin Laden wasn’t really killed, but that he’s secretly being held for intelligence value? With the exception that too many people would have to have been in on it, or witnessed such a ruse, I don’t think it’s out of the realm of possibility. Gotta go now. There’s a black Huey circling my house. ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2012, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bin-laden-alive/621417/2 "2012-05-09T20:00:41Z")
Is there a question here? Do I believe that OBL is still alive? No. If he was we would have made a pretty big deal out of catching him and putting him on trial… ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2012, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bin-laden-alive/621417/3 "2012-05-09T20:05:17Z")
He’s dead, Jim. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2012, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bin-laden-alive/621417/4 "2012-05-09T20:05:21Z")
Since I don’t see a factual question here, let’s move this over to IMHO. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2012, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bin-laden-alive/621417/5 "2012-05-09T20:17:19Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > He’s dead, Jim. You mean, “He’s dead, Tim.” 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Esox\_Lucius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/848f3c/32.png) [@Esox\_Lucius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esox_Lucius)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2012, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bin-laden-alive/621417/6 "2012-05-09T20:19:52Z")
For Obama to invest so much in his killing with the possibility of him popping up later to his utter embarrassment is not the mark of one of the smarter people around. ---
**Author:** ![heathen\_earthling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/13edae/32.png) [@heathen\_earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heathen_earthling)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2012, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bin-laden-alive/621417/7 "2012-05-09T20:36:45Z")
> [@Esox\_Lucius](#): > > For Obama to invest so much in his killing with the possibility of him popping up later to his utter embarrassment is not the mark of one of the smarter people around. Unless Obama and bin Laden were actually the same person all along! (I just discovered that some people actually believe this, and make Youtube videos about it.) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2012, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bin-laden-alive/621417/8 "2012-05-09T21:05:46Z")
I expect that the SEAL team was probably told that it’d be preferable to take him alive, but that they shouldn’t jeopardize the mission over it. And I’m sure that the threshold for what constituted “jeopardizing the mission” was very low. If they had managed to take him alive, I can’t see any reason to hide that fact. I mean, it’s not like there’s any doubt about what the outcome of the trial would have been. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2012, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bin-laden-alive/621417/9 "2012-05-09T21:08:02Z")
> [@heathen\_earthling](#): > > Unless Obama and bin Laden were actually the same person all along! (I just discovered that some people actually believe this, and make Youtube videos about it.) Please tell me you are joking. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2012, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bin-laden-alive/621417/10 "2012-05-09T21:14:26Z")
It’s out of the realm of possibility for exactly the reasons you gave. They shot him, and the little evidence we have indicates that shooting him was considered preferable to capturing him because of the craziness that would have been involved in holding him. Why would they hold him forever in secret anyway? Any information he had would have been out of date soon enough. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Man\_With\_The\_Golden\_Gun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@The\_Man\_With\_The\_Golden\_Gun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Man_With_The_Golden_Gun)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2012, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bin-laden-alive/621417/11 "2012-05-09T21:16:03Z")
I think this site reveals the truth: [http://www.isosamadead.com/](http://www.isosamadead.com/) ---
**Author:** ![heathen\_earthling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/13edae/32.png) [@heathen\_earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heathen_earthling)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2012, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bin-laden-alive/621417/12 "2012-05-09T21:27:19Z")
> [@spooje](#): > > Please tell me you are joking. Well, the conspiracy videos do exist: [http://youtu.be/ia0Tob-oJ28](http://youtu.be/ia0Tob-oJ28) ---
**Author:** ![SanDiegoTim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85e7bf/32.png) [@SanDiegoTim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanDiegoTim)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2012, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bin-laden-alive/621417/13 "2012-05-09T21:45:21Z")
This thought popped into my mind when, a couple of weeks ago, one of these under-sea treasure hunters expressed confidence that he knew where the body was dumped and he was looking for funding to recover it. Setting aside that this strikes me as pretty iffy, I indulged in the thought of a body other than UBL’s being brought to the surface thereby causing a scandel of sorts. Of course, the CIA probably wouldn’t allow this to happen. Uhoh, there’s six guys with M4’s exiting that helicopter. I better get lost…and quick. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2012, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bin-laden-alive/621417/14 "2012-05-09T21:45:58Z")
Consider that both the U.S. and Al-Qaeda have both said bin Laden is dead. What is the benefit to both sides lying about his death? Before you answer, consider that the U.S. did NOT kill Saddam Hussein upon capturing him, preferring, instead, to subject him to a very public trial, followed by execution. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2012, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bin-laden-alive/621417/15 "2012-05-09T21:49:31Z")
> [@SanDiegoTim](#): > > . . . one of these under-sea treasure hunters expressed confidence that he knew where the body was dumped and he was looking for funding to recover it. . . . After a year in the sea, would anything be left worth recovering? Would enough of the skull or the teeth still exist to make identification possible? Enough tissue to conduct a DNA identification? And…does the U.S. military (or the CIA, NSA, or MIB) still use Hueys? ---
**Author:** ![SanDiegoTim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85e7bf/32.png) [@SanDiegoTim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanDiegoTim)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2012, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bin-laden-alive/621417/16 "2012-05-09T22:03:45Z")
“And…does the U.S. military (or the CIA, NSA, or MIB) still use Hueys?” There’s nothing like the classic thwap of a 2-rotor Huey to instill fear in those who would dare to question the establishment. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2012, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bin-laden-alive/621417/17 "2012-05-09T23:37:59Z")
Dead. E.O.S. ---
**Author:** ![Francis\_Vaughan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/francis_vaughan/32/3093_2.png) [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bin-laden-alive/621417/18 "2012-05-10T01:14:04Z")
I suspect that most people have briefly thought about this - I know I did a while ago and figured that it was a perfect opening for yet another conspiracy cult. In the world of counter intelligence stranger things have happened, but the risk reward trade-off would suggest that it would be a bad idea. Keeping him alive in a secret location would be little more than a ticking bomb of its own. Something to be wished upon Obama’s successors, of either political colour. Indeed the simple conspiracy is more likely that the cover story about going in to take him alive was a sham, and that the intent was always to kill him. The manner in which he essentially vanished from the face of the earth makes for a very satisfactory lack of loose ends. The idea that he is being help in some remote place would make for a really good premise for a political or intelligence/spy thriller. The way such a thing would unravel would make for a series of books bringing down presidents and small countries. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bin-laden-alive/621417/19 "2012-05-10T01:19:08Z")
> [@Francis\_Vaughan](#): > > Indeed the simple conspiracy is more likely that the cover story about going in to take him alive was a sham, and that the intent was always to kill him. They never said they were going to take him alive. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bin-laden-alive/621417/20 "2012-05-10T01:27:43Z")
> [@SanDiegoTim](#): > > This thought popped into my mind when, a couple of weeks ago, one of these under-sea treasure hunters expressed confidence that he knew where the body was dumped and he was looking for funding to recover it. … It took more than 70 years to find the Titanic! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bin-laden-alive/621417.md?page=2)