Osama Bin Laden is Dead

[Aethaeryn]

Osama Bin Laden is dead and the US has his body. President Obama just gave a speech about it. Apparently bin Laden's body was captured in Pakistan after he died in a firefight with US soldiers. All the news sites are breaking it. I put together some links on the news items as they broke around the Internet:

Wikipedia (full article)
Twitter trending
Reddit
New York Times
Fox News
CNN (full article)
MSNBC
Huffington Post
BBC News
ABC News
Techcrunch
Wall Street Journal
UPI
Washington Post
Slate
White House
Google News

[Pentarctagon]

yeah, i heard. it will be interesting to see what the fallout/reaction to this is.

[woodmouse]

I'm pretty sure he isn't actually dead... how many times have they said he would be, but there's never any proof? Now it's just a different president saying it.

[Iris]

23:54:27 <shadowmaster> PEOPLE
23:54:45 <shadowmaster> OSAMA BIN LADEN #04 IS DEAD
23:55:00 <shadowmaster> WE'VE GOT ONLY THREE MORE CLONES TO KILL BEFORE THE ORIGINAL FACES US IN A GREAT CLIMATIC BOSS BATTLE
23:55:02 <shadowmaster> YAY

[Moribund]

world hide and seek champion finally lost

[zookeeper]

Late Sunday night, as the president was speaking, cheering crowds gathered outside the gates of the White House as word of Bin Laden’s death began trickling out, waving American flags, shouting in happiness and chanting “U.S.A.! U.S.A.!” In New York City, crowds sang "The Star-Spangled Banner."

What the heck is wrong with these people? That's sick and morbid no matter who it is who was killed.

[Aethaeryn]

world hide and seek champion finally lost

It's because he used his real name and address for his PSN account.

The timing is too suspicious.

What the heck is wrong with these people? That's sick and morbid no matter who it is who was killed.

Retributivism is a very common philosophy of justice in parts of the United States. I think that their attitude would be that Osama bin Laden finally "got what he deserved" and that the United States finally got revenge for 9/11. Actually, I don't think many people here in the US wanted Osama bin Laden to live. If we had captured him, we would almost certainly have executed him eventually since we still have the death penalty.

[Sapient]

I rejoice that justice prevails and I rejoice that Osama bin Laden won't be able to hurt any more people. I also regret that he died before ever turning from his wickedness. Those two sentiments are not a contradiction. However people are not emphasizing the latter sentiment because it would seem to make light of the suffering of those who, arguably, are far more deserving of our sympathies -- e.g., his victims. Makes sense to me.

On the other hand I'm sure there are plenty of people here who just wanted binLaden dead, who viewed him as inhuman and beyond redemption, unworthy of any love or sympathy. However, just because someone rejoiced at the news doesn't mean you can lump them into that category.

[Frogger5]

My opinion:
Its terrible that people have been celebrating someones death, terrorist or not. That guy had a family and a life. Two wrongs don't make a right, you get taught that in primary school, and its completely true. Revenge is not justice no matter what the person being avenged against has done, and whoever killed him, is a murderer just like any other thug. Relishing in someones death is disgusting and wrong, no matter how many people are doing it.

That being said, it is good more people wont have to die for that cause. And I have nothing against anyone who is celebrating (it sounds like I'm contradicting myself, but people are human.)

I say this fully aware of the deeds that Bin Laden has done in his life, and i realise that some people are celebrating for the right reasons.

[Gambit]

I'm upset that we're still dedicating resources to stuff like this. We'd taken out almost all of the organization's leadership except him. He couldn't really do much anymore IIUC. We needed to just let it go, and bring our people home years ago.

But yeah, apparently we like revenge. (What happened to trials and justice there by the way?)

[Dunno]

(in a southern accent) Screw them trials! USA! USA! USA!

[Velensk]

It seems to me that it is partially pointless to celebrate someone's death as the principle participant shouldn't be around anymore to appreciate it (or loathe it if he's inclined to feel bitter) but not overly sad that people will do so. If he was right about his beliefs then he's got no real cause to complain and if not, then at the very least we can let him slip into history.

Human justice will always be imperfect to some extent not to mention pretentious. This way is just as practical. It's not like we'd stave off retaliative blood feud (or approximate cultural equivalent) by giving him a trial before killing him.

[Gambit]

Also I note at one time during the president's speech he said similar to:

"No Americans were harmed, and we took care to avoid civilian casualties."

Why can't he also say that no civilians were harmed? Does that mean some were harmed and we'll hear about it years from now through Wikileaks? Also are there times when the United States military is not taking care to avoid civilian casualties?

I'm probably reading too much into it, but that's kind of disgusting to me. Every innocent person we wound over there is potentially a terrorist tomorrow. Every innocent person we kill: all their family is potential terrorists.

I find it very hard to celebrate this meaningless (and ultimately wrong if you truly believe in American ideals) gesture.

[Velensk]

If you forbid civilian casualties altogether, it makes it very easy for your enemy to put themselves in a position where you cannot attack them at all.

[doofus-01]

Late Sunday night, as the president was speaking, cheering crowds gathered outside the gates of the White House as word of Bin Laden’s death began trickling out, waving American flags, shouting in happiness and chanting “U.S.A.! U.S.A.!” In New York City, crowds sang "The Star-Spangled Banner."

What the heck is wrong with these people? :augh: That's sick and morbid no matter who it is who was killed.

If this were 2002, I'd disagree with you, but it does come across as pretty sick now. We've had time to cool off, and I doubt all those people lost someone in 2001.

(What happened to trials and justice there by the way?)

Of all the injustices done in the "War on Terror", OBL not getting a trial doesn't seem like the worst.

Good riddance, and I am relieved to hear that it was not a drone that got him.