Yeah, but, dude - it’s been* 5 years!*
It’s not like we’ve shown ourselves to be swift and mighty here. At this point, even if we did find him and string him up in front of the White House this afternoon, it’d look an awful lot like lucky happenstance. What’s so superior about stumbling across a sick old man 5 years after his coups de grâce?
At this point, his eluding capture is an embarrassment.
They ain’t going to buy that. They believe themselves to be right just as we do.
My vote: rumor with it’s idle tongue, not true.
Menocchio, that’s a great post. Only trouble I see with it is that bin Laden’s conscience–to use the term incredibly loosely–doesn’t work the way civilized people’s does. He’d never learn or give up his idea that each and every horrible, unspeakable act he and his henchmen have done is sanctioned by God and justified. I mean, we’ve seen and been nauseated by how Saddam smirks and postures even as weeping Kurdish women describe his troops killing their children. Osama would be the same, only worse.
This NY Times columnist had a great idea for trying Osama, BTW: instead of hauling him to a World Court or a US one, haul him around to each country he znd his did atrocities in–Kenya, Tanzania, Turkey, Jordan, Spain, Madrid, and yes, us, but ending up in Saudi Arabia, with a beheading before the only court he’ll recognize, a full Sharia one. Lawrence Wright here.
Yeah, of course it would bug me that a few wayward bacteria did what the mightiest army in the world could not. Hell yeah.
The first in a series of HILARIOUS spins if this turns out to be true.
Ya know how Oktoberfest isn’t always in October?
Yeah, it’s kinda like that.
CNN:
What’ve we learned from every bad horror/action movie? If we haven’t seen a body, he’s not dead.
Yep. It’ll be elusive as Hitler’s corpse and spawn just as many conspiracy theories for the next thirty years. I want proof. As least, unlike Hitler, they can’t burn his body if they’re devout–and, disgusting prevaricators they are, they probably won’t dare blow that.
Yeah, but hasn’t he had kidney problems for years, even before 9/11?
If it’s true, that’s wonderful (yes, I’d have also preferred trials). Until we see some real proof, though, I’m assuming the body is buried with al-Zarqawi’s prosthetic leg.
Hehehehehe 
Goat, jjimm, goat.
***I *** am rabid and frothing? Golly.
Well, at least I have a pair of dancing shoes, instead of an American ex-wife and a son who doesn’t want to be with me.
And I am able to count up to twenty without taking off said dancing shoes.
*[not anti-Moslim. Merely anti-Islam]
BBC says nothing confirmed yet.
And says that typhoid leads to a partial paralysis of his internal organs.
So he had no use for a goat, either… 
Well, by Rune’s logic, since Lay’s heart attack was doubtless at least partly caused by the stress of his trial and conviction, he was actually executed by our criminal justice system (“if in a circumspect indirect way”). Or maybe he was murdered by the mass media, or by the execrations of a contemptuous public, or all of the above, depending on which of those factors caused him the most physical stress. Anyway, I guess that’ll teach him, huh?
Of course, by that same logic, if Osama died of typhoid due to lack of medical care in a remote location, he was killed not by the US alone, but by the combined efforts of all the troops and others who were forcing him to stay in hiding. And of course, they have to share the responsibility/credit for that with all the citizens who supported and paid for their efforts… Good lord, I just realized that by this logic, I killed Osama! (Assuming that he’s actually dead, that is.)
Hahahahahahahaha 
That was what I had in mind too until this past week with the “compromise” that the White House and Senate leaders have worked out for Guantanamo detainees. They will have military trials, not “open” trials. According to one George Washington University law professor, the Geneva Conventions cannot even be referenced during their trials. Information that was gained through torture can be used against those charged. And, of course, the same techniques that have been being used can continue as long as they don’t cause permanent damage to the organs or death. So much for justice and equity under the law.
Of the approximately 450 human beings held in Guantanamo, only about ten have been charged with a crime.
Are we still a civilized people? What is it we have left to demonstrate to the rest of the world about law and justice?
I have no doubt about bin Laden’s guilt and I hope he gets everything he deserves. I wish the same for anyone who denies others basic human rights.
Yep.
And some little mountain goats for all, too.
[Or am I being too generous?]
Yep. And mean to goats. :mad:
You are right.
I am sorry.
hangs head in shame and starts collecting old tin cans for the goats in the zoo
Maybe I’m missing something, but if bin Laden really did die of typhoid, it might be better than if he’d been caught and executed, or even just hit by a stray bullet. He might not reach quite the same level of martyrdom this way. Granted some people will see him as a martyr no matter what, this way it’ll be harder for AQ or other groups to blame the U.S. for this. If it’s true, it might not be a bad thing.
It does make a pretty bad statement about our armed forces, though, if it was typhoid that got him in the end.
I think you’re missing three things, at least: what he did while he was alive (because that would be the basis for his legend, not the manner of his death), his escape from justice, and the fact that people will spin whatever happens to him.
Al Qaeda wouldn’t need to blame the US for his death, since Bush would willingly take credit for it. Bin Laden a martyr no matter what because people would feel that he gave his life for his cause. If he dies uncaptured, he becomes sort of a Pancho Villa/Robin Hood figure (although he’s probably reached that status already).
So who’s going to be the first Republican talkshow pundit to claim that it was actually a germ warfare program of the US"s that got Osama?