[QUOTE=John Mace]
Yes. I was pretty close to feeling disgusted when I saw video on the news and pictures in the paper of Americans chanting and celebrating. ObL deserved to be brought to justice, and I don’t have a problem with us taking him out, but it’s still a solemn occasion and should be treated as such.
[/QUOTE]
You’ve said this in a number of threads, but it puzzles me. Why does ObL ‘deserve’ to be brought to justice? Why should it be a solemn occasion? No American’s or other members of the team sent to take him out were killed, afaik…that would be the only reason I can see for the occasion to be solemn.
ObL was responsible for the deaths of thousands of Americans in a direct attack on the US. He cost the country billions, if not trillions in direct or indirect costs. He’s been attack us and taunting us since before 9/11 and until someone finally managed to put a couple of bullets into his head, in at least symbolic ways if not directly.
The War on Terror™ will never be over…there won’t ever be some sort of surrender ceremony, no disarmament, nothing like that. THIS was a great symbolic victory for the US, however, and a victory for the Obama administration…and it’s very unsurprising that people want to celebrate a bit over this. I’d say that after 10 years (more, really if you count the stuff AQ did at the behest of ObL before 9/11) we are entitled to a bit of celebrating over this.
As for ObL…he deserves exactly what he got, and I hope the fish are enjoying the meal. It’s too bad there isn’t a God, because that would mean he’s REALLY be getting what he deserved. It would be priceless to see the look on his face if there was a God…
[QUOTE=Kinthalis]
What terrorist activities was he masterminding? Care to elaborate?
[/QUOTE]
Probably none, though it’s hard to say how much influence he really had with the various terror groups out there. He acted as a powerful symbol to them, however…a symbol that gave the various groups some sort of quasi-unified front, and made the various members think they were part of a greater whole than their own little two bit terror group.
Did you know that people actually were able to do stuff BEFORE there was an internet and before cellphones or even land line telephones were invented?? :eek: Seriously…I doubt ObL even knew how to USE a web browser or surf the internet (all that porn would probably have horrified him…or he’d have been so focused on it he wouldn’t have been able to concentrate on anything else. Religious types can be pretty strange). He had flunkies to do that sort of stuff. And by the same token, he had flunkies who could have taken a car or a horse or even shanks mare to some place that DID have a telephone or internet connect to give any instructions ObL might have wanted to give. I’m sure he wasn’t some sort of puppetmaster or spider controlling every move of ever terrorist group calling itself AQ-something, but I’m also sure that he was able to keep in touch and to give his opinions and directions when needed.
Theres nothing wrong with the revelry, killing that son of a bitch was a high priority objective for a decade, it cost many lives to achieve, we did it.
Next we’ll hear about how those people in pictures celebrating VJ day were dancing on the grave of nuked civilians. :rolleyes:
Nothing wrong with celebrating VJ day, that’s celebrating a nation’s surrender and the fact that they won’t be using their military to hurt people anymore. If, however, they were dancing and happy saying “I’m so happy those damn Japs in Hiroshima got irradiated” then that’s out of line. Celebrating Osama’s death is closer to the latter than the former. It’s not the occasion, it’s the rhetoric that bothers me. We could celebrate some more abstract victory that we’ve dealt a great blow to their supply chain/morale/whatever, but explicitly acting all “ding dong the witch is dead” just seems abhorrant.
In this day and age, I don’t buy that he was that isolated. West bubble fuck? It was 100km from Islamabad, not the tribal region, fyi. According to Google map, Abbottābad has an airport and a frigging golf course.The CNN article I was reading seems to give conflicted points in consecutive paragraphs:
You’re fucking kidding me, right? You are both stupid and uneducated. First of all, Abbotabad is not “west bubble fuck”. It’s an affluent suburb of Islamabad. Second, the POTUS doesn’t use email or cell phones either, and yet, you don’t accuse him of being unable to direct operations and formulate policies.
Seriously, are you just joking or are you actually the dumbest motherfucker on the face of the Earth?
I think it’s unrealistc to expect that news of bin Laden’s death should be men with solemnity and people simply going about their business. Finding and capturing or killing him as been a goal of the U.S. for a decade, and his death brings a significant degree of closure both to the families and loved ones of the people who died on 9/11 and to the rest of us. I imagine their are people in other countries around the world celebrating as well because some of their citizens have been killed in al Qaeda attacks too.
Besides, imagine how the military who worked so hard and so long to find him and the SEALS who pulled off the attack (and hell, the military in general, which is engaged in protecting us all) would feel if the news of bin Laden’s death were received by a ho-hum populace.
Other than your own minor quibble with “bringing him to justice” I completely agree with the sentiments expressed in your post. The ghoulish victory celebrations and the nationalistic anthem-playing flag-waving kitsch would likely shame a banana republic dictator.
I completely agree.
He was evil. He was responsible directly and indirectly in who KNOWS how many deaths, both as a leader and financer of a global terror organization. I am GLAD he is dead, I hope it hurt like a mother f^cker, and I hope he roasts in hell for all eternity. Celebrate his death? hell YEAH!
But the rhetoric doesn’t have to be “I’m so glad we killed that bastard!” “It’s great we put a bullet in that fucker’s head!” “Ding dong the witch is dead!” It’s directly celebrating a human being’s death, without any thought in many cases than some notion of “revenge” or “closure.” Saying “Hooray! Al Qaeda’s funding has been disrupted.” Or “Al Qaeda no longer has a powerful symbol!” or “I’m glad the organizational structure of Al Qaeda has been disrupted!” Is fine, and I support celebrating it. Celebrating someone’s death instead of the positive consequences of that event just seems inhuman, or perhaps more unnervingly, too human.
