# Osama bin Laden is Dead **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 2, 2011, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/osama-bin-laden-is-dead/580437 "2011-05-02T02:46:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 15
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/osama-bin-laden-is-dead/580437/281 "2011-05-04T17:43:47Z")
Obama says he’s not going to release any photos of bin Laden’s body. I’m curious about them but I don’t have a strong opinion on the right way to handle this- the descriptions indicate the photos are very graphic, and you don’t want to stir up extra resentment. I still would not be surprised if the photos leaked out at some point. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/osama-bin-laden-is-dead/580437/282 "2011-05-04T17:49:14Z")
After some near-flawless execution on this job, the White House is sure blowing it on the communication. First ObL was armed… then he wasn’t. First we would have captured him if we could… now it was a “kill mission”. First we were going to release some photos… now we aren’t. Jees guys, get the story straight. ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/osama-bin-laden-is-dead/580437/283 "2011-05-04T17:59:33Z")
If I was Obama, I think some heads would be rolling over these mis-communications. It’s making him look bad…which is a shame, considering the amount of balls it took for him to make the call and for our guys to pull this off so flawlessly. ☹ -XT ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/osama-bin-laden-is-dead/580437/284 "2011-05-04T17:59:54Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > After some near-flawless execution on this job, the White House is sure blowing it on the communication. Not all of this information is coming from the White House, and I suspect that’s part of the problem. I’d like to know the correct details but it also occurs to me that if this were a different administration, none of this would have been corrected at all. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/osama-bin-laden-is-dead/580437/285 "2011-05-04T18:39:45Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Not all of this information is coming from the White House, and I suspect that’s part of the problem. I’d like to know the correct details but it also occurs to me that if this were a different administration, none of this would have been corrected at all. By White House, I meant the administration. Mainly WH officials and Leon Panneta. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2011, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/osama-bin-laden-is-dead/580437/286 "2011-05-04T18:46:21Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > By White House, I meant the administration. Mainly WH officials and Leon Panneta. OK. Still, I do think that’s been an issue here: different people have said different things or interpreted the same situation differently. It’s confusing, but I’d rather have the errors corrected. By the same token we may hear some interesting things from bin Laden’s wife and daughter, who are apparently in Pakistani custody. ---
**Author:** ![Naxos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/50afbb/32.png) [@Naxos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Naxos)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2011, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/osama-bin-laden-is-dead/580437/287 "2011-05-06T01:45:54Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > yeah, about that. He was responsible for driving 4 wide body aircraft full of people into buildings full of people. They were people of every race and religion. Why would you make a statement like this? I would have no problem ripping him apart and throwing that trash to the jackals in an Arizona desert. The blatant hypocrisy of the religionists is beyond description though. They pretend they adhere to an ethical code that forbids murder, and now they’re all publicly celebrating their “sins”. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2011, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/osama-bin-laden-is-dead/580437/288 "2011-05-06T03:39:12Z")
> [@Naxos](#): > > I would have no problem ripping him apart and throwing that trash to the jackals in an Arizona desert. > > The blatant hypocrisy of the religionists is beyond description though. They pretend they adhere to an ethical code that forbids murder, and now they’re all publicly celebrating their “sins”. It is not murder. It is justice for murder. ---
**Author:** ![quedefuk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/48db29/32.png) [@quedefuk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quedefuk)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2011, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/osama-bin-laden-is-dead/580437/289 "2011-05-06T04:21:20Z")
It seems that we are already reaping more benefits. I would love to know what information we picked up during that raid. > **[Saudi Police Say A Senior Al Qaeda Member Has Turned Himself In](https://www.businessinsider.com/saudi-arabia-says-senior-al-qaeda-member-turned-himself-in-2011-5)** ---
**Author:** ![Commissar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c68b51/32.png) [@Commissar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Commissar)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2011, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/osama-bin-laden-is-dead/580437/290 "2011-05-06T05:19:05Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > It is not murder. It is justice for murder. Oh, I see. An unarmed elderly man, being given no chance to protest his innocence in a court of law, is gunned down in cold blood in his own home. By that logic, we should just abolish the criminal justice system, close down the courts, and hand over the streets to military hit squads, which can then proceed to indiscriminately slaughter suspected criminals while screaming, “I am the law!!!” “Justice,” indeed. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2011, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/osama-bin-laden-is-dead/580437/291 "2011-05-06T05:49:21Z")
> [@Commissar](#): > > Oh, I see. An unarmed elderly man, being given no chance to protest his innocence in a court of law, is gunned down in cold blood in his own home. By that logic, we should just abolish the criminal justice system, close down the courts, and hand over the streets to military hit squads, which can then proceed to indiscriminately slaughter suspected criminals while screaming, “I am the law!!!” “Justice,” indeed. > > :rolleyes: Yah, we should have just arrested Hitler. That would have worked. And he’s not nearly as old as your meme’s are. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2011, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/osama-bin-laden-is-dead/580437/292 "2011-05-06T06:06:22Z")
> [@Commissar](#): > > By that logic, we should just abolish the criminal justice system, close down the courts, and hand over the streets to military hit squads, which can then proceed to indiscriminately slaughter suspected criminals while screaming, “I am the law!!!” “Justice,” indeed. > > :rolleyes: ISTR that being pretty much the way the “courts” worked in the USSR and still do in the PRC. ---
**Author:** ![Commissar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c68b51/32.png) [@Commissar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Commissar)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2011, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/osama-bin-laden-is-dead/580437/293 "2011-05-06T06:56:29Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > Yah, we should have just arrested Hitler. That would have worked. And he’s not nearly as old as your meme’s are. Bulletproof analogy there. A cold-blooded murder is like a suicide because… Actually, I’m not sure I see the connection. Had Hitler not checked out on his own volition, I assume that he would not have been shot on the spot. Rather, he would have been given the same trial as the rest of his Reich henchmen. Not a completely fair trial, to be sure, but a trial nonetheless. Anything is better than this barbarity. > [@Monty](#): > > ISTR that being pretty much the way the “courts” worked in the USSR and still do in the PRC. I cannot definitively speak for the PRC model (neither can you, of course, but that never stops you). I can, however, speak for the USSR model, and I can assure you that, by and large, non-political criminal trials were as fair as you were likely to get anywhere else. But there is no need for you to believe that, since all of this is beside the point. Even a kangaroo trial is better than the butchery of a non-threatening human being in cold blood. It doesn’t matter if the verdict is a foregone conclusion; what matters is that you at least pretend to treat humans with human dignity, rather than as lambs for the slaughter. I must say, the Empire has really revealed its depravity in this scenario… EDIT: Of course, I do not support kangaroo courts. I prefer to see truly fair and unbiased trials. Justice is, however, a sliding scale, and extra-judicial murder is very much at the bottom of that scale. Anything else is a better alternative. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2011, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/osama-bin-laden-is-dead/580437/294 "2011-05-06T07:23:13Z")
> [@Commissar](#): > > neither can you, of course, but that never stops you What are you talking about here? Or is this just a lame personal attack on your part? ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2011, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/osama-bin-laden-is-dead/580437/295 "2011-05-06T16:11:57Z")
It was an assassination. They did not want a trial. He might have rallied his followers like Manson did. He might have said things we did not want the public to hear, such as he was not involved in 911. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2011, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/osama-bin-laden-is-dead/580437/296 "2011-05-06T16:17:34Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > It was an assassination. They did not want a trial. The nice thing about the confusing circumstances around his death is that anybody can say anything about it. :rolleyes: > [@](#): > > He might have said things we did not want the public to hear, such as he was not involved in 911. Like I said in another thread, that would have been _great_. He admitted more than once to being involved in the attacks, so if he denied it while on trial, it would have destroyed his street cred with the other terrorists. Then he could have died or been imprisoned as a disgrace _and_ looked like a coward. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2011, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/osama-bin-laden-is-dead/580437/297 "2011-05-06T17:19:45Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > The nice thing about the confusing circumstances around his death is that anybody can say anything about it. :rolleyes: > Like I said in another thread, that would have been _great_. He admitted more than once to being involved in the attacks, so if he denied it while on trial, it would have destroyed his street cred with the other terrorists. Then he could have died or been imprisoned as a disgrace _and_ looked like a coward. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnrSmhokGyU](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnrSmhokGyU) Listen to Cheney on the 911 connection. 2006 by the way ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2011, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/osama-bin-laden-is-dead/580437/298 "2011-05-06T17:27:12Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > Listen to Cheney on the 911 connection. You can’t possibly be serious. In response to a question about Saddam, Cheney said bin Laden’s name when he meant Saddam’s, and he corrected himself a minute later. And based on that, you think I’m supposed to disregard bin Laden’s own admissions of his involvement with the attacks? What kind of sense does that make? ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2011, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/osama-bin-laden-is-dead/580437/299 "2011-05-07T00:07:24Z")
Here’s an interesting link to what I guess is actually a blog about the “Secret Team” of JSOC forces that took Osama down. Kinda reads a little like a Clancy novel. [http://www.nationaljournal.com/whitehouse/the-secret-team-that-killed-bin-laden-20110502?page=1](http://www.nationaljournal.com/whitehouse/the-secret-team-that-killed-bin-laden-20110502?page=1) ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2011, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/osama-bin-laden-is-dead/580437/300 "2011-05-07T01:46:19Z")
> [@Commissar](#): > > I must say, the Empire has really revealed its depravity in this scenario… Huzzah for the Empire! Can’t wait till we build the Death Star! _Plays Imperial March_ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/osama-bin-laden-is-dead/580437.md?page=14) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/osama-bin-laden-is-dead/580437.md?page=16)