We’ve had that discussion here in the past . I think they might be able to do this if they were desperate (and trying to ransom bin Laden could quality), but the problem is that they just don’t have that many people, so going after softer, less spectacular targets is a bad use of their resources. People have attacked schools and malls before, and nobody is too afraid to go to school or the mall on account of terrorism.
Subways probably shouldn’t be on the list, though - that’s a major target, at least in New York City, and they’ve tried it or considered it. And major league sporting events aren’t that soft a target either.
The other problem with this idea is that Al Qaeda sucks. At terrorism, I mean, and at least in the U.S. Most of their best people are dead or out of action or on the run, so the organization is mostly down to an idea. The guys who have tried to attack the U.S. in recent years have been benchwarmers. I mean, compare the underwear bomber to Mohammed Atta.
There were some reports elsewhere that CIA Director Panetta watched in real time from Langley and gave the White House (presumably verbal) updates. Maybe that photo shows them during that process.
Yeah, it’s something of a stretch, but the question for this purpose is whether or not he is competent to stand trial now, not whether he was competent when the videos were allegedly made, or when other criminal acts allegedly occurred. I suspect the answer is probably yes, he is now and always has been competent, he’s just evil incarnate. But if I’m trying the case, you know I’ll be filing the motion for a psych eval along with everything else. See what the report shows, go from there.
Might be worth pointing out that ‘unarmed’ in this situation might be pretty hard to be sure about. The possibility of some ability to let off explosives to destroy the compound would normally be James Bond material but was something you’d have to consider in a situation like that.
Ten years ago, right after 9/11, I posted here that Bin Ladin would never be captured alive. Even if he pulled a Sadam and surrendered I would bet my life that the SEALs had off-the-record orders that he be killed no matter what.
Think about it. The USA has absolutely nothing what-so-ever to gain and a million possible things to lose if he were taken alive and put on trial. And the more time that went by the more certain it was that he’d be executed. After almost a decade no one wanted to make the events of 9/11 fresh again.
I hope it happened like in the South Park episode (again almost ten years ago!) After Cartman finishes the Bugs Bunny routine a soldier just walks up behind Bin Ladin and caps him in the head. I think Stone & Parker were actually saying they hope this happens too!
On *The New York Times *website, the headline is: Bin Laden Was Unarmed But ‘Resisted’
Last Update: 8:51 PM ET.
We’ll see tomorrow if this developing Times article goes through the editorial process and is in print, is in the final edition - May 4, 2011. Apparently the WH Press Corps got more information about what happened at the WH press conference today. (To think that a few days ago they were at the HWCA dinner.) A couple of preliminary questions: What is the editorial decision behind putting the word resisted in quotes? Why isn’t unarmed in quotes?
I can picture Armed And Resisted
Unarmed But ‘Resisted’ :dubious:
If you speak Czech, that scene is even more powerful:
“The two “German” soldiers who are shot trying to surrender were speaking Czech. They were saying, “Please don’t shoot me, I am not German, I am Czech, I didn’t kill anyone, I am Czech!” They were members of what the Germans called Ost East Battalions, men - mostly Czech and Polish - taken prisoner in eastern European countries invaded by Germany and forced into the German army.” IMDB
In this case, I do. It reinforces the impression that we are hunting down Islamists like beasts, and that we have scapegoated Binladin too much to handle the truth.
It does nothing of the sort (unless you’ve already decided to believe that sort of nonsense). There is, of course, a difference between Islamists and jihadists, and nobody paying attention really believes that we’re hunting down Islamists at all, let alone “like beasts”. And of course the whole “you can’t handle the truth!” nonsense has no bearing on the matter. Not wanting to give Bin Laden a platform and a media circus, and/or not wanting to pay the cost of a fantastically expensive and drawn out trial has nothing to do with scapegoating anybody or not being able to handle some sort of truth.
You can spin any fact into some sort of conspiracy theory, but that doesn’t make it a very good idea to do so.
Not Islamists…terrorists who happened to be Islamists. Terrorists ARE beasts, regardless of motivation.
Bin Laden alive and in US custody would have been a ridiculous circus. It would have dragged on for months or years.
Over the last 48 hrs I’ve been considering what we know about this mission, and trying to think if anything should have been done differently. So far I haven’t come up with a single thing. Militarily and politically, everything was done perfectly.
This reminds me of the time, years ago, when a guy drove up to the Washington Monument in a van that he claimed was filled with explosives. Later, he tried to drive away and was killed.
The police claimed they were not specifically trying to kill him, yet he was shot 5 times in the head. I guess they thought it would take 6 or 7 to be fatal.
Dalton Fury (pen name), the ex Delta Force commander whose accounting “Kill Bin Laden” accounts the attempt to kill him at Tora Bora. It was very clear regarding their orders.
He was to be shot in the head and killed and evidence or his body retrieved. As with the recent action that accomplished this, great risk was taken then to get Special Ops guys in a position to accomplish this. I can’t characterize it anywhere near as well as the book but Bin Laden was not going to be kept alive because of the circus and issues that would result. He might have walked out naked with a pot full of daisies, some cupcakes and a great smile for all we know but he was going to die regardless. The team that pulled this off had a large level of control over the outcome.
I understand the OP is curious about the possibilities of him being captured alive, but I wanted to share this.
