Reaction to Bin Laden's Death

Former Reason.tv staffer Dan Hayes and Freethink Media put together the piece above, shot live during a spontaneous demonstration outside the White House last night.

The Los Angeles Times details the raid that killed Bin Laden.

The Washington Post says that Al Qaeda threat is "more diffuse but persistent."

Members of Congress react to Bin Laden's death.

Foreign governments and Islamist activists react, including a spokesman for Al Qaeda in Yemen who was quoted by AFP:

"This news has been a catastrophe for us. At first we did not believe it, but we got in touch with our brothers in Pakistan who have confirmed it."

Obligatory story about how the killing of Bin Laden strengthens President Obama's position in dealing with deficit negotiations.

Reason's Bin Laden archive.

Comments

[Bingo]

So we won, right? Troops are coming home, TSA being phased out, etc?

[terrorist]

OK, we quit

[Rhet Orical]

PMS, Bingo?

[Janet Napolitano]

LOL

[Toly]

Yeah, can we go back to not being our own worse enemy now?

If we can end the year dancing on the graves of Bin Laden AND the TSA - sheeeeeeeit, that's more patriotic than a bald eagle sitting on a soldier holding a flag with a single tear running down his cheek.

[sausage]

I'm your wurst enemy.

[Obama]

My reelection is assured, thanks to the Republicans who made Osama equivalent to Hitler.

[guy in the back row]

Hmmm, Gulf War 1?

from the LA Time story:

The brothers had "no explainable source of wealth," yet the property was valued at $1 million

So this was really the result of Obama trying to tax more rich people and accidentally finding bin Laden in the process

[?]

Yes. Yes it was.

[rather]

"no explainable source of wealth" explains most of the wealthy in the Third World

[WTF]

All this celebration is fucking disturbing.

[cyto]

agreed. It has the weakness of ohio state tearing down the goalposts after coming from behind to beat Bowling Green and the macabre aspect of celebrating at a funeral. Really quite pathetic.

[Citizen Nothing]

NCAA now reports that Jim Tressel learned Bin Laudin's whereabouts in March 2010.

[OhioOrrin]

tear down the goalposts? maybe after beating oregon in the rose bowl & arkansas in the suger bowl.

[KWebb]

Beating Arkansas in the post season is nothing to be proud of.
Unless Arkansas is playing Podunk State Community College in the Toilet Bowl, they always manage to blow it.

[jungus]

I hope Westboro "visit's" Osama's funeral. I'll pay for the trip over but they'll have to swim back.

[WTF]

Dude, get your own handle

[Zeb]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought that when I heard cheering crowds in NY on the radio. Good thing he is dead, but decent people should not cheer anyone's death.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Oh, bullshit.

[Zeb]

Bullshit what? That I am glad?

Sorry, decent people don't gleefully celebrate anyone's death. Perhaps a bit of self examination is in order.

[Last Refuge]

USA! USA! USA!

[DB]

Yes, but this was not just anyone's death. It was Osama Fucking bin Laden. OK?

[sean]

Pussy.

[Confederal_Republic]

Osama's an empty symbol. In a month, some other asswipe is going to take over the leadership. Whoop-tee-fucking-doo.

[USA! USA! USA!]

Dude, you're harshing my buzz.

[Confederal_Republic]

I'm a rabid patriot. I spent an hour screaming in joy after I read the news. And then reality had to come and fuck everything up.

Al-Qaeda will be back in full swing within weeks, if not less. War on Terror ain't none goin' nowhere, brother.

[Realist]

And neither will Obama....he will be President foe life. And you have the Republicans to thank for that!

[Sean W. Malone]

Not only will somebody else take bin Ladin's place, the guy who does has an even more powerful rallying cry than before... Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

[Restoras]

Good riddance.

[Scott]

It's kind of crazy, reading the blogs which take such length to describe what a monster bin Laden is. Kind of shows the lengths you have to go to justify the type of celebration we are seeing. I, honestly, would like to see the reactions of those who were in the towers and survived or lost loved ones in the attacks.

[FOX News]

You rang?

[Realist]

Are you kidding Fox News will play up this shit until Obama's reelection.

[FOX News]

Coming up next: A white girl, a puppy, and the 9/11 Responder? who changed their lives. Forever.

[Scott]

Heh, didn't think of that. It's just that I believe the reactions won't be dancing in the streets.
Another thing I'm curious about... This may have been proven wrong already, but some reports said that we told the Pakistanis about this after doing it. Wtf...

[John]

ah fuck that camel raping bastard. I am happy to see America dance on his grave. Better that than some thumb sucking "why do they hate us" bullshit.

[Jordan Elliot]

Absolutely. I hope he suffered as much as possible before he died. The thought of this, makes me very happy.

[Realist]

"Better that than some thumb sucking "why do they hate us" bullshit." You mean like Bush did???

[micsolana]

I waited a long time for this. I was fifteen when the image of people jumping from flaming buildings was permanently burned into my brain. Ten years.

But now, on reflecting back, I don't feel relieved. I just feel kind of sad for everything that's happened.

[Dave T.]

This is the correct reaction. It's hard to take much joy in the (hundreds of?) thousands of deaths we've caused in the pursuit of bringing this one man to justice.

[Realist]

Oh yeah. The United States killed thousands of it's own and tens of thousands of innocent people and spent tens of billions of dollars to avenge the original killing of less than 3000 people. We lost the war in Iraq, which had nothing to do with 9/11. We lost the war in Afghanistan all because Bush couldn't find a goat fucker on stilts.

[John]

Last I look Saddam was at the end of a rope and Iraq had an elected government. If that is losing, I am not sure I want to win. And the same goes with Afghanistan. Maybe I missed the 1975 Saigon scene in Kabul you and your ilk were so fervently hoping for.

[Realist]

You are so fucking stupid it is hard to fathom.

[5500 dead soldiers]

It wasn't worth it. Seriously.

[Normandy]

Oh really?

[Almanian]

Hmm - I didn't realize "Bush" was looking for any goatfuckers.

But of course, the collective failures of the military and "intelligence" [sic] community lead directly to Bush the Lesser's doorstep...and just as clearly "getting" OBL is somehow due to Obama being the annointed one now.

Dumbass...

PS Usual libertarian disclaimers apply, etc. etc. etc.

[Realist]

"Hmm - I didn't realize "Bush" was looking for any goatfuckers." It's evident he wasn't!

[hazeeran]

That was basically my reaction. I don't condemn the people who were cheering his death, but I wasn't super-joyed myself.

[Bill O'Reilly]

Osama bin Laden: Pinhead or Patriot?

[andieiam]

Hasty burial at sea? Hmm.

[John]

Obama should have drug his body behind a chariot around the capitol mall. It would have been epic. If everyone is going to call us an empire anyway, God damn it lets start acting like one.

[Corporate Drone]

His body should have been buried in the middle of a Pennsylvania hog farm.

[John]

After it was drug around the mall

[Realist]

You really are a stupid fuck....so simple minded!

[John]

You really are a humorless fuck liberal aren't you?

[Realist]

You mean your stupidity is supposed to be humorous??? I am not a liberal but most important I am not a dumb fuck bible thumping warmonger like you!

[Row]

Cat fight!

[Jeffersonian]

Why bury it? The little piggies would have been happy to devour his corpse.

[bench warmer]

Yea, where's Wu's pigs.

[FlyoverCountry]

Cocksuchah!

[Apogee]

Swearengen...Wu!

[Sudden]

Do you know what nemesis means?

[CaptainSmartass]

Should've mounted his head on a spike in front of the White House.

[DB]

That would be pike. Mounted his head on a pike, not a spike. Got it?

[Quick & Dirty]

Gotta be respecting Islam.

[JR]

Yes - they are very good about respecting the religious traditions of others and deserve to be extended the same courtesy. Feeding him to pigs would be nice but I can see why it can't happen.

[Thom]

There's no way he was buried at sea - although it was a good story. I'm sure his body will spend the indefinite future in some deeply secret government storage facility. I'm ok with that.

[Top Men]

We poured his ashes into the Ark of the Covenant. Hehe.

[Fatty Bolger]

The reason they gave for this is crap. Plenty of countries would have allowed him to be buried. We just didn't want his grave to become some kind of shrine to Islamic terrorism. At the same time, every day he wasn't buried would create more problems with Muslims around the world. Burial at sea solves both problems.

[NotSure]

I see the more right wing than Genghis Khan brigade is out in full force here.

[STEVE SMITH]

Genghis Khan supported free trade, globalization, and unfettered immigration.

Clearly, he was a European liberal.

[Au H20]

And that is why you never have your name remember as Steve Smith.

I'm going to get raped, aren't I?

[GENGHIS KHAN]

GHENGIS KHAN SUPPORT RAPE! RAPE RAPE RAPE! ARROOOO!!!!

[Montani Semper Liberi]

So how far up al Qaeda's ass is Pakistan's military. You can't tell me that they didn't know what was going on in that compound only a few hundred yards away.

[John]

NO shit. I made the point on the the other thread, what do you do if you are Pakistan and Bin Ladin falls in your lap? If you turn him over to the Americans half your military and intelligence apparatus revolt. If you keep him, you run the risk of war with the entire world. Maybe you put him in a compound somewhere where he can't escape and where there is plausible deniability that you knew he was there. And then you just wait for the Americans to "find him" and solve your problem for you.

[Realist]

I say we attack Pakistan!!!

[pancakes]

uh, send in the drones? Already doing it? Well, keep it up! Good times?

I'm awfully confused between America FUCK YEAH and mild apprehension. Not so black and white to make a call.

[Pakastani General]

Well, he WAS wearing that fake wig. We didn't know it was him.

[BB]

I'm no conspiracy theorist, but I do find it a tad hard to swallow that the same people who implemented the PATRIOT act onto it's own citizens, who abused and tortured inmates at Abu Ghraib & Guantanamo Bay and enlisted state-financed soldiers who murdered and photographed Afghani civilians for "sport" had the cultural sensitivity to lay the bullet-riddled corpse of their most reviled enemy in respectful accordance to Islamic practice.

[John]

You clearly don't know anything about bureaucracy.

[BB]

Obviously you are taking the piss, right?
Need you only look at the 'capture' photos of Saddam to see the true nature of US forces who paraded him more like a dog than a man.

Fair enough one not wanting to treat him like a human being, but the temerity of the US to even suggest otherwise is pathetically transparent.

[John]

Saddam gassed thousands of people and fed children into wood chippers. To call him a dog is an insult to dogs. He got treated a hell of a lot better than his victims. What the fuck were they supposed to do when they captured him? Give a cup of tea and a ride home?

And yeah when you have your followers fly planes into buildings, one of these days some nasty people are going to appear out of the night and blow your brains out. Sorry but that just how we roll. If you don't like it, tough shit. Maybe the next guy will think twice about doing such shit.

[BB]

I've made no disagreement over the treatment - in fact suggested the opposite. No need to get stroppy.

I merely feel the US claim to have treated the body of Bin Laden with respect to be a limp-wristed weaselling out of responsibility for the inevitable retaliatory attacks.
The US isn't stupid enough to beleive it has any humanistic credibility left in regards to warfare, so why not take it like the man it's claiming to be.

[John]

"The US isn't stupid enough to beleive it has any humanistic credibility left in regards to warfare, so why not take it like the man it's claiming to be."

That is just not true. We fight incredibly humane wars. Much more humane than we or anyone else has ever fought them. The examples you give are only known and remarkable because they are so out of character for how we normally conduct warfare. In any other war I can think of in history, the actions you list would have been common if not accepted rather than the outrages they are considered today.

[strat]

I largely agree John, but there's still work to do with the landmine and cluster bomb technology before we're really where we should be.

[Arcaster]

In comparision to others, you might be right, but I can't see war ever being humane.

[Zeb]

Well, I think that anything that can be done to keep people in Pakistan from freaking out as much as possible is a good idea.
I don't know much about military culture, but the navy did this operation, not army and marines that had been on the ground for a long time already. That, and the fact that the people involved had not been on the ground in a war zone for months already could account for some of the difference in treatment.

[Tim]

+1

[Tim]

+1 to JOHN that is.

[Realist]

Nobody is as smart as you are....that's why they named toilets after you.

[The Gobbler]

Sir Thomas Crapper says you are wrong.

[Fatty Bolger]

See my comment above. They had very good reasons for doing it this way.

[Thom]

Agreed. It seems like a story that they cooked up just so they don't have to turn their trophy over to some other country.

[dbcooper]

Anthony Jeselnik has been on the ball with his twitter one liners.

[P Brooks]

I don't feel relieved. I just feel kind of sad for everything that's happened.

Agreed.

And nothing will ever unwind the War on Scary Monsters Hiding in the Closet. I expect to see Janet Napolitano and John Pistole engage in a teevee blitzkrieg explaining how their budgets should be doubled.

[Tim]

This is, or should be a great cue for Obama to announce that we've done what we said we would do and bring the troops home. He'll never have a better opportunity.

[Rich]

He'll never have a better opportunity.

Based on the BC business, he'll wait two years.

[Tim]

Tis now the very witching time of night,
When churchyards yawn and hell itself breathes out
Contagion to this world: now could I drink hot blood,
And do such bitter business, as the day
Would quake to look on.

Hamlet

[o_o]

Any word on who the gunned-down woman was?

[Jay Leno]

Janeane Garofalo.

Hay-ooooo!

[Hopeless Romantic]

His youngest wife, apparently.

[Kreel Sarloo]

"His youngest wife, apparently."

I guess it was right there in her wedding vows:

"I promise to love, honor and be a human shield when the SEAL team raids the compound."

I really do hate to draw judgmental stereotypes, but, my God, Arab men do tend to be despicable beasts.

[a arib]

"Arab men do tend to be despicable beasts."
Nothing is said of the armed men who shot her to death - even if we beleive she was being used as a shield.

[John]

They should have just given him a hug. And of course, his using her as a shield in a fire fight bears no responsibility for her death. All evil is the American's fault.

[The TSA]

We didn't let her keep her own weapon when we found it by touching her vajay-jay.

[JR]

Apparently the older wives were not handy at the moment.

[Tim]

Osama's "no fat chicks" policy was, in retrospect, a mistake.

[Fatty Bolger]

I can see that as a Far Side cartoon.

[H man]

lol

[warlord]

Show us the body!

[Confederal_Republic]

Osama's corpse should have been wrapped in freshly cut pig skin, tied to the back of a HUMVEE, and dragged from the Capitol Building to Independence Hall and back.

After that, his body should have been placed a few feet above a fire, roasted, and then, for good measure, placed below the next-to-launch space vehicle somewhere in the United States, just to make sure his unholy molecules collapse completely.

It would also have been a great opportunity for some companies to manufacture Osama-shaped/painted shooting targets - imagine the sales on that thing.

[FOX News]

Yahooo! Libertarians make us look sane!

[00]

wow. just wow. didn't take you long.
trade the words "bush" for "obama" in that little tirade and try to imagine just who, on the other side of the coin, might make such a statement.

[00]

obviously I meant: "bush" for osama" in the above 🙂

[Confederal_Republic]

Only you could take anything of that sort seriously. So I'll decode it for you. It's a joke.

Osama's dead, end of story - no posthumous torture necessary.

[00]

i must have my cranky pants on today. seen too many comments like the above made not in jest the past short while

[the real OO]

get ur own screen name asswipe

[?]

There are no rules in anarchy.

[The Gobbler]

Did you, know that based on math, the probability of the next breath you take containing one molecule of Osama's last breath is 100%?

True Story.

[Realist]

What is it you gobble?

[The Gobbler]

Resources.

[James41]

At last a vicious terrosist who killed so many innocent people has been brought down.

It's a victory for justice and humanity today. Great work by Barrack Obama and his intelligence forces for defeating this monster.

[Realist]

Yes, long live the King Obama! The Republicans will rue the day they made Osama the Devil incarnate for Obama is now the King!

[Gibby]

Who the fuck still says "rue the day"???

[H man]

Sean Connery

[Apogee]

You'll burn in hell for what you've done here!

[Able Baker]

I guess if your view is that Obama needed a win, and you see the world in terms Bush echoed (You're either with us, or against us), then you'd go celebrate in a mob of elation.

But really. This is killing a general in a firefight in a battle in a world war. Al Quaeda is a multi-headed beast growing from the body of the despicable theocracy of Islam.

There may be a week or two of dispirit amongst our sworn enemies before they rally again crying "Remember bin Ladin!" Just as we cried "Remember Pearl Harbor!"

[Patriotic American Mobs]

Dude, you're harshing our buzz.

[ChicagoSucks]

Don't forget the Alamo!

[Mexico]

Wasn't that the place where ungrateful immigrants who refused to learn the language, adapt the host country's culture, pay their taxes, and free their slaves were gloriously defeated by the rightful authorities?

[P Brooks]

Revenge porn fetishists fetishize.

fap fap fap

[John]

Yeah and whinny ass whine to. What the fuck is your alternative Brooks? Do you think we should have just let Bin Ladin live in peace? If not, then what is wrong with being happy he is dead? Yeah, I would like revenge for the murder of three thousand Americans. If you can't understand that you are either a hell of a lot more holy and forgiving than you pretend or you are just being a whinny pain in the ass who would bitch and have sour grapes no matter what happened.

[NotSure]

There is an alternative, stop trying to run a world empire and then you will not create enemies from every corner of the planet. The damage that America has done in the middle east has been burnt in the national psyche, this is no different when the Persians burnt Athens, 200 years later their own capitals were on fire. You can continue on this pointless cycle of violence, but the future American generations should not act surprised when greater and greater atrocities are committed upon America.

This is not FreeRepublic, you moron, but at least you prove my point that I detest right winger and left wingers in equal measure.

[John]

Yeah. It is all our fault. Bin Ladin would have been a wonderful happy building and Atta an engineer if not for the evil America and of course the Joos. Don't forget the Joos.

Go to fucking hell you leftist troll. If you think that killing the person responsible for the deaths of 3000 innocent Americans is just "continuing the cycle of violence" and should not have been done, you are a self loathing moron. This is not free republic. But it is not Kos either. And stop concern trolling and pretending you are anything but a leftist on here to whine and cause trouble. Be gone troll.

[NotSure]

Leftist troll ?, first time I have been called that, right wing is what most people normally would be screaming. As I said already, figuring out which is more stupid a raging right winger or a raging left winger gets harder and harder.

[John]

Concern troll is concerned.

[NotSure]

Caveman is cavemanning.

[JR]

You are a douchebag and a troll. Left wing, right wing, makes no difference. Douchy troll spreading his nuance like a farmer spreads manure.

[NotSure]

Troll because I state that America creates its enemies, as opposed to the fact that the enemies spontaneously emerge for no known reason ? Check your history you troll, how many decades of US involvement has there been in the middle east ? No how many decades has the middle east involved itself with America proper ?

[Bali Night Club]

Did I create my own enemies too?

[NotSure]

Bali bombings had nothing to do with Osama, just like Iraq had nothing to do with Osama. The Bali bombings were not targeted against America. The bombings an attempt to gain support in Indonesia by targeting mostly Australian tourists. Unless you think that American foreign relations are like a Batman comic, the fact that asking why America has so many enemies gets the anger and screaming response shows how stupid you are.

[The Joos]

We really needed to ask ourselves what we did to cause the Nazis to hate us so much.

[pancakes]

corrupt money lending practices aka "usury". Next question?

[NotSure]

A nice Godwin there. Other than the fact that the Jews in Germany did not have the biggest army in the world, and the fact that the Jews in Germany did not actually partake in wars all over the world, an excellent comparison

Comparing the Americans today as victims like the Jews in Germany is actually sick.

[Japs and Krauts]

You do realize that all of that firebombing and nuking just created more of us as terrorists motivated to kill Americans, right?

[NotSure]

So because they did not turn out as terrorists, carry on firebombing and nuking away, no danger in that.

[Mongo]

I know, man -- Jewish chicks are hawt.

[Asshole]

Jewish chicks are hawt

Especially when they're fresh from the OVENS! Mmmmm!!!

What? Too soon?

[John]

And allowing someone to commit mass murder and live in peace afterwards will make the world so much safer.

[Realist]

Well Crapper Boy, I guess you will be voting for your new hero....Obama???

[Lord Googoo]

"Revenge porn fetishists fetishize.

fap fap fap"

Project much?

[Lord Googoo]

Bitch owes me money. Now I'm not gettin' paid.

[Martin]

No religion should order to kill in the name of God as the Islamic Jihad concept does.

It's a great victory for humanity that a demonic man like Bin Laden has been brought down.

[Zeb]

"No religion should order to kill in the name of God"

Tell that to the people who start religions.

[Islam]

But we're the religion of peace

[Christianity]

But we're the religion of peace

[Shintoism]

But we're the religion of peace

[Hinduism]

But we're the religion of peace

[Jainism]

But we actually ARE the religion of peace! No, really!!

[Quakers]

Checkmate.

[FlyoverCountry]

Thats a nice beard you have there, John Brown...

[Isaac Bartram]

"Thats a nice beard you have there, John Brown..."

I'm not sure if it's what you're saying, but John Brown was not a Quaker.

Richard Nixon is the rare example of a non-pacifist Quaker.

Of course, this may just all be due to screwed up threaded comments. Maybe you were replying to a completely different comment.

[Church of Latter Day Saints]

But we're the religion of gettin' a piece.

[R C Dean]

I'm interested in your ideas, and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

[Realist]

The Martin has spoken!!!!

[Able Baker]

Plus, I don't see how Obama gets credit for this. He is an ignoramus about things military. He does what his advisors suggest. It's not like he was at the sharp end of the stick, flying the Apache, rappelling in from 50 feet, guns blazing, or staring at OBL who is shooting back. Hell, he didn't even *do* any of the intel.
He just made the obvious "right decision (for once), and signed a piece of paper. "At my orders..." puh-leeze. Any doofus would have made this decision.

[Your Teacher]

I'll explain it to you. When you're the president, you get the credit when good things happen and the blame when bad things happen. Hope this helps!

[Able Baker]

Yeah, I know, I'm familiar with the axiom.

Just reinforces the view of how simple-minded people are. The world is awful. Look! Hope & Change! Hooray!

[Truth]

Except for when you blame Bush for your own economic failures.

[Corporate Drone]

Compare his decisive input on Osama with his decisive input on, say, Libya. I wonder how long he pondered about giving the green-light to the SEALs in Abbottabad before the assault. Hours? Days?

[The Gobbler]

Months:

REPORT: Obama Canceled March Compound Bombing, Wanted Proof of Death.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/polit.....cance.html

[Corporate Drone]

I rest my case. He's lucky Osama was there at all.

[blubi]

"Sources tell ABC News that in March President Obama authorized the development of a plan for the U.S. to bomb Osama bin Laden's Abbottabad compound with two B2 stealth bombers dropping a few dozen 2,000-pound JDAMs (Joint Direct Attack Munitions) on the compound.

But when the president heard the compound would be reduced to rubble he chose not to pursue that option"

"Oh, about that plan I authorized earlier. I forgot one thing. Make sure you recover the body."
Chief of Staff, rolling his eyes: "Sorry sir, but even if there were something left of him, we would have to sift through tons of rubble to do that."
"Tons of rubble? Why wasn?t I briefed on that?"
Spends the next few days preparing some powerpoint slides to explain, as simply as possible, the effects of tons of explosive.

[Chinny Chin Chin]

I don't see how Obama gets credit for this.

You have very little imagination. Check out Salon. The subheading of their lead story: "President Obama vanquished the terrorist who murdered innocent Americans in 2001"

[Ice Nine]

As we watched Obama walk down that hall to give his announcement I said to Ma,
"There is going to be a huge 'I' ratio in this speech." There was, of course.

[Realist]

"Plus, I don't see how Obama gets credit for this." You will dickhead. He did in 2 years what the that great military leader, George Bush, couldn't do in 8!
"Any doofus would have made this decision." Which means Bush is less than a doofus....with this I agree!

[Able Baker]

I understand how the Big ZerO *takes* credit for killing OBL, and that his slobbering sycophants *give* him credit.

But did he *earn* credit? Hell no!

I think the only thing you are a realist about is the fact that I am a dickhead!

[WTF]

He did in 2 years what the that great military leader, George Bush, couldn't do in 8!

Obama did it? Obama got the intelligence on UBL's courier's code name 4 years ago from GITMO detainees and then followed up on it to eventually find UBL? Oh, that's right, Obama actually OPPOSED the interrogation methods that resulted in that intelligence. All Obama did was have the sense to actually approve the order to whack UBL after the work to find him was already done, for which he gets some credit, but seriously, how could he not do it?

[Almanian]

DAMN you and your quick mind and numble fingers!!! I give myself points for brevity...

*shakes fist*

[Almanian]

Also, "numble" fingers are like "nimble" fingers only FASTER!

Curse my lack of typing skills...

[Almanian]

Yeah - "he" did it.

As AB noted upthread:

"Just reinforces the view of how simple-minded people are. The world is awful. Look! Hope & Change! Hooray!"

Welcome to the crowd, Lemming Girl

[John]

IF we had been smart we would have denied him an Islamic burial on the grounds that he was a heretic who didn't deserve one. I am sure we could have gotten an Imam somewhere to agree to that.

[Arib]

since when do "we" decide who is and isn't applicable for islamic burial?

[Ice Nine]

When we own the scummy body, for starters.

[Tim]

Nobody wanted that corpse, not the Saudis, not the Pakis and not Hamid FFucking Karzai.
Obama sleeps with the fishes.

[Realist]

Wow you are soooo knowledgeable!!!!

[P Brooks]

We fight incredibly humane wars.

ERROR

ERROR

ANALYZE

ANALYYYYYYYYYYYYYZE

BZZZT PFFFFT

*technicolor explosion in slomo*

[John]

I don't write the history books Brooks. I just read them. Do you know anything about how wars have actually been fought throughout history? You might want to educate yourself a bit. If you did, you would understand what a walk in the park, fought with one hand tied behind our back wars the last two have been.

Seriously, did you take a stupid pill this morning? You are really on a roll of stupid. IS Bin Ladin getting his that upsetting?

[Bingo]

John, my personal worry is that our actions over the last 10 years will give rise to more fanatics like OBL and generate more people sympathetic to their message. It's good justice was served to OBL, but the costs of our methods, both domestically and abroad, worry me greatly.

[Arcaster]

John, war is hell. There is nothing humane about spilling someone's guts. That being said, I'm glad justice was done, but let's not pretend that war is all rainbows and glitter. People die violent and painful deaths. There is nothing humane about that.

[John]

Strategically this doesn't change much. But I am still happy he is dead.

[Zeb]

I agree that our recent wars have been, when compared to the history of warfare, quite humane. That still doesn't mean than war can ever be humane in an absolute sense. War (like government in general, in my opinion) is at best a necessary evil.

[Realist]

Oooohhh yeah bombing people from 30,000 feet is humane.

[zoltan]

Predator drones: making war even more like video games!

[Zeb]

War sucks and is not humane. But on the spectrum of humanity, it could be a lot worse.

[Realist]

Hey genius it's bin Laden!

[Almanian]

Hey, genius! First sign of a loser commenter is going after spelling errors as opposed to arguments! You win AGAIN!

Dumbass

[Realist]

His commentary is fucking stupid too!

[00]

incredibly humane wars.
Where does napalm, agent orange and waterboarding fit into this?

[John]

Somewhere above the tactics used in every other war ever fought.

[steve]

Well above starvation, pulling finger nails and decapitation.
We (folks in the mil) wouldn't have a prisoner code of conduct to memorize if it weren't for the fact that the other guys the last few decades or so have been much more inhumane than we have. Trotting out a few exceptions doesn't change that.

[Jerryskids]

Well above impalement, crucifixion, having your children sold into slavery, etc. too, I would imagine. The history of horrific practices in warfare goes back a little further than Vietnam or WWII or even the American Civil War. And I am not sure you can call it "inhumane" when it is, unfortunately, how human beings behave.

[the real OO]

get ur own screen name asswipe

[Bender Bending Rodriguez]

In unrelated news, Chuck Norris just returned from an uneventful weekend holiday in Islamabad.

[Jerry]

Great, now we'll have Mike Huckabee taking full credit for the OBL liquidation.

[Middle Age Crazy]

Hey, has anyone seen Charlie Sheen lately?

[LP]

Congratulations to Barack Obama and his intelligence forces for bringing this horrid man's terror reign to an end.

God is great, this is a marvellous victory for justice and common human decency.

Plenty people around the world will feel much safer now that this terrorist has been finished off.

[Corporate Drone]

HIS intelligence forces? HIS?

[Ice Nine]

That was obviously a spoof joke...wasn't it?

[NotSure]

perfectwomanbreastcream.org ???

[Mike M.]

I find it pretty remarkable just how quickly they disposed of his body. Have they released any photographs of his corpse to the public yet?

[BB]

CIA just released this capture-kill shot; http://img813.imageshack.us/im.....ctoryk.jpg

[Bingo]

Hahaha

[Oliver Stone]

No!

[steve]

How'd you like to be the guy who shot him? Talk about an interesting thought experiment...

[Ice Nine]

What's not to like? If you're a SpecOps guy, what's not to love? The finest set of orders to come down the pike in decades.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Why do you find it remarkable?

[Mike M.]

What's the big rush to get rid of the body so darn fast? It doesn't make any sense.

And when Saddam Hussein was pulled out of the spider hole, we got pictures out the wazoo of that event. This is even bigger than captuing Saddam; I'd really like to see some photographs.

[BraveScot]

The world will be much safer now that this mad man has been defeated.

There can be no place in society for brutal terrorists like Bin Laden who kill innocent people in the name of the Islamic religion. God has ensured this evil man has been removed forever.

[BB]

Gee, enough with the Islamic stuff. The guy was a turd whose desires utilized his religion to further it. Islam has as much to do with this as blond hair does to genocidal concentration camps.

[Able Baker]

Willful denial, or simply ignorance. Either way, many believe that Islam remains what it always has been: a regressive, fundamentalist totalitarianism.

That there are a small percentage of American or European Muslims who are semi-reformed doesn't mean that the theocracy as a whole still cast a dark shadow on the advance of civilization.

[Hairy Pooter]

Isn't that why we buried him so fast? Because we know that there is a significant number of people in the Muslim world that respect him. Of course, it has nothing to do with their islamic value system... that's just a coincidence.

[Able Baker]

Agreed that there's no place in society for this evil man, and I am glad he is gone.

Doubt the world will be any safer upon his demise, though I am still glad for it.

[BB]

"God has ensured this evil man has been removed forever."
Must say I take offence to God being synonymous with hired assassins.

[blogimi Dei]

yeah the 'hired' part is fucked...

[Bender Bending Rodriguez]

"'Vengeance is mine', saith the Lord".

But sometimes He subcontracts.

[Arcaster]

Yeah, if god is really omnipotent and omniscient and had anything to do with this, why didn't he kill him off 11 years ago?

[Dept. of Homeland Security]

"The world will be much safer now that this mad man has been defeated."

Pay no attention, people! If anything, we'll have to take even more of your rights away now.

[Able Baker]

Quickly is relative. Islam calls for burial within 24 hours. The raid took place in the early morning hours in Pakistan, which was in the middle of the night here. Many hours had passed by the time we heard the news he was dead.

[steve]

Doubt it. Stateside bases raised their security level around mid-day yesterday suggesting the raid occurred earlier

[dbcooper]

"McCanns mark Madeleine anniversary"

They're probably pretty pumped now that she has a good chance to beat Bin Laden's record.

[BB]

pfft. Maddy is a chump. Champs like Etan Patz, Johnny Gosch & Keith Bennett are going the gold.

[dbcooper]

Yeah, some would say that she'll never beat Lord Lucan for the British hide and go-seek record.

[ktc2]

He should have been fed to pigs on worldwide streaming webcam . . .

Then shipped back in burlap sacks as the the hog shit he was in life anyway.

[Troy]

THISSSSS

[P Brooks]

Drone strikes on wedding parties and similar family gatherings do not fall into my definition of "humane" John. And don't bother to throw off a lot of smoke and sparks about "undefined battlefields".

Here's a thought problem for all you people who want to "personalize" this shit:

"What happens when some part-time cab driver (see what I did there?) comes up to Peter King, or Lindsey Graham, and stabs him in the neck and puts the pictures on facebook? What will the "nits grow up to be lice" school of military theorists say if something happens to one of Obama's kids?

Just remember, Peter King isn't just afraid of al Quaeda Brand Terrorists; he's afraid of you.

[John]

As opposed to how we used to fight wars. Clearly, the things you mention are much worse than, I don't know, fire bombing Tokyo. Wars suck and they always involve people dying. If you think anything that has happened in the last 10 years in anyway compares to the ferocity and inhumanity of previous wars, US or otherwise, you are just an idiot who either doesn't know or refuses to learn anything about how actual wars have been fought.

[a arib]

assuming the government has been open and honest with its miltary practices the past 10 years...
What has been acknowledged so far doesn't give much weight to your belief

[John]

"What has been acknowledged so far doesn't give much weight to your belief"

Wow, the peaceniks are bringing the stupid today. Short of giving you a history of warfare, which is a bit difficult on an internet thread, there is really no way to respond to that. Jesus Christ you fucking retard, we nuked Japan, twice, and that after fire bombing the entire country and leveling every city of any size in Germany. And oh we never took any prisoners in the war with Japan. You think that was because the Japanese were such fanatics? No it is because we shot them all because we hated them worse than we hated the Germans. And read up on the Korean war sometime and the area bombing tactics used in it. And you might want to read about how the Vietnam war was fought and specifically the SOG groups. I mean, my God, are you really that misinformed?

[a arib]

Anyone else thinking "John" (if that is his real name) is the latest work from Ntrepid?
- - - - - - - -
Revealed: US spy operation that manipulates social media
The US military is developing software that will let it secretly manipulate social media sites by using fake online personas to influence internet conversations and spread pro-American propaganda.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/tech.....l-networks

[Almanian]

No. He's Suki - duh!

[pancakes]

No, he's every bit as real as you and me. Not that it's saying a lot, but four+ years of consistent rhetoric and spelling mistakes makes me unquestioningly certain of John's vercacity as an internet entity that believes the words he types.

[NotSure]

No, the guy is a standard nationalist, "my country right or wrong", sums up his mindset.

[John]

And you are a standard historic illiterate leftist troll. I think Kos makes you clowns in a factory somewhere.

[NotSure]

Like a said for every Kos idiot there is an equivalent FreeRepublic one. I raised the question, you cannot answer it, America has been in the middle east for decades not the other way around. Your defense of American involvement is as valid as the British empire used to justify why the hell it was involving itself everywhere.

[John]

Saying that the US is not to blame for Bin Ladin is different than saying that the US should be involved in the middle east. They are two different things.

[Suki]

"And you are a standard historic illiterate leftist troll. I think Kos makes you clowns in a factory somewhere."
+10

[The Gobbler]

I have known John for years. You are mistaken.

[Zeb]

John's alright. It's pretty boring if you agree with everyone on everything.

[Ice Nine]

Jon is simply familiar with the history of warfare. The others are as well, I suspect, but merely pretending that they aren't so they can depict and castigate his factual statements on the subject as the ravings of a right-wing warmonger or some shit.

[zoltan]

Saying actions used to be less humane does not excuse the current inhumane ones.

[Ice Nine]

War is an inhumane activity. Unless you're trying to convey some ignorable "can't we all just get along?" platitude, you should attempt to get real.

[Almanian]

Yeah, the last 10 years of M-16's and daisycutters are so much worse than .50 cal balls to the limbs at Chickamauga, mustard gas in WWII, and firestorms sufficating civilians in Dresden as the whole city burns to the ground...

MUCH worse than any of that.

[Almanian]

One too many "I" after WW....damn my aging, decrepit typing lack-of-skills...

[Mongo]

Actually, the Poles used mustard gas mines in Jaslo against the Nazis after the Germans mistakenly (this has been confirmed as a mistake) dropped sulfur mustard bombs on Warsaw.

[Almanian]

Well, then, it's OK - got it!

[P Brooks]

ps- I would be perfectly happy if "wars" were conducted solely by targeted assassination of political leaders, with the general population strictly out-of-bounds.

[John]

I would be perfectly happy if a unicorn flew out of my ass. But that is not happening. And that is not how the world works. And you can't win wars by killing politicians. You win wars by taking ground, killing people and breaking the other society's will to fight. If political assassinations won wars, Iraq would have been over the day we captured Saddam. Didn't work out that way did it? Here is a clue for you Brooks. The enemy gets a vote for when the war ends. It doesn't end until he says it does.

[a arib]

"You win wars by taking ground, killing people and breaking the other society's will to fight"
You think by any chance that may have been an intent of ol' bin laden's?

[John]

He figured if he killed enough Americans we would quit and go home. He bet on the US being full of people like you. Fortunately he was wrong.

[Bingo]

His goal was to bankrupt America.

[Fatty Bolger]

Well, that was dumb. We were doing a perfectly good job of that without any help.

[Bingo]

Never know, it could be the trillion straw that breaks the camel's... err eagle's back.

[John]

You mean he is the guy behind medicare and social security?

[Almanian]

Way to crush P's dreams, John! Geez...

[Unicorn]

really?

[NotSure]

Unsurprisingly the act of assassination of world leaders is a great taboo amongst world leaders. Unless they can make the other guy out to be the devil incarnate, they will not want to endorse a policy that can quickly be applied to them as well.

[Anonymous Coward]

Sanctity of royal blood and all that...

[JR]

What else would make you perfectly happy, sweetie?

[Zeb]

I doubt that could end all wars, but I have often thought about that too and I think that it could be a useful tool. It probably would have done more in Libya than all of the bombing has done.

[Glow]

I hear they are using his intestines for pork sausage casings, which will be smoked over pecan wood and then fed to the dogs.

[Lord Humungus]

the old, more gun-ho me would be all happy n' shit.

the older, more Libertarian me goes meh. This won't change a thing 'cept piss off some more Islamists. OBL is a martyr now - it would have been better if he had faded away since fighting terrorists isn't like a game of Stratego where taking out the general ends the game.

[Almanian]

You know who else is dead....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nvpRkn_R5g

[Almanian]

Also, as I noted elsewhere, I could give a shit OBL's dead, cause I was never scared of him in the first place, and he was a diversion from the real movers and shakers in the world who warranted "our" (US gov) attention.

Now, off to take care of some actual, SERIOUS bidness - finding the REAL killers with OJ and Charlie. As they say in Brasil, tchau tchau...

[Able Baker]

With OBL out of the way, we can bring our troops home.

We decimated the Taliban, destroyed AQ's base of operations in Afghanistan, and wreaked a little havoc in their hidey-holes in Pakistan.

No need to prop up a corrupt regime anymore. No need to prolong centuries of skirmishes and battles in the dust and dirt.

Bring our troops home as victors, now.

[Pro Libertate]

I have mixed feelings about all of this. I'm certainly relieved that the guy isn't still running around and hope that this is a serious blow to al Qaeda's operations, but I also suspect that he was no longer an active head of operations. Pretty hard to do with the whole world looking for you.

Also, while I think there's not much wrong with killing a present threat who has murdered so many people, I'm not comfortable with the celebrations that involve chants of "USA!" and so on. It's not a game, and we didn't win. At best, it's delayed justice. I'm also prepared to be disgusted by the administration trying to ride this wave. Yuck.

[John]

I am a little more hard nosed than that. I agree that in the big picture this doesn't change much. But, the bastard killed 3000 Americans and created one of the most tramatic days in American history. It was only ten years ago. People still remember watching people jump off the top of the towers. I don't blame Americans for being happy and celebrating this bastard is dead. I would worry if they were not happy.

And sure the administration is going to try to capitalize on it. That is what politicians do. But I refuse to let partisanship get in the way of the happiness of seeing that bastard dead. If this had happened under Bush, I would have not liked the sour grapes "Bush is benefiting from this this sucks" mentality of the left. So, I refuse to engage in that now that it happened under Obama. And he won't get much long term mileage out of it anyway.

[Pro Libertate]

I'm glad we got him. I'm just not going to start singing about it.

I agree that it doesn't matter who was president, as I'm sure the operation would've happened regardless of who was in the White House, but I don't like the idea of something like this getting too politicized. It's symbolic and there's justice done, but that's it.

On the plus side, our willingness to spend ten years hunting this guy down should impress those still in the terrorism business. We're not generally known for our long-term focus or tenacity in foreign affairs.

[John]

In some ways getting him ten years afterwards makes more of an impression. If you do something like that, we will never stop hunting you no matter what. Also, if we had gotten him at Tora Bora he might have been more of a martyr than a has been that he was.

I still would rather have gotten him in 2001. But getting him now isn't all bad.

[Pro Libertate]

We should've told the world that a walking drone took him out. And when I say walking, I mean that we sent the drone from a factory in the Midwest, and it walked all the way to Pakistan. That's why it took so long.

[steve]

The surfing the politicians will do will probably pale in comparison to the surfing that the bureaucrats, ie DHS will do. Raised alert levels, travel warnings, etc, etc... Terror networks fractured... cells decentralized... need..more...budget!!!

[Pro Libertate]

Especially given the many stories about how al Qaeda is going to launch a major attack as a result.

[John]

Sadly nothing will end that madness.

[Fatty Bolger]

PL, your two comments perfectly sum up how I feel about the whole thing. Guess you saved me the effort of having to write my own. 🙂

[Pro Libertate]

That's me--Every Other Man.

[The Gobbler]

I am still mad about that sailor kissing that girl in New York when WWII ended. The nerve!

http://www.todaysseniorsnetwork.com/times square kiss end of wwII.jpg

[The Gobbler]

Damn Squirrels.

[Zeb]

If the killing of Osama meant that the war is over and all the troops are coming home, the celebration would be a lot more warranted.
Being happy that this happened is good. Going out in the streets, cheering and chanting, is weird and indecent. Especially when it isn't really likely to change much.

[Arcaster]

I'm glad justice has been done and the murderer of thousands has met his end, but let's look at the scoreboard. Patriot Act, TSA, billions of $ spent on wars/counterterrorism/etc vs. one dead old dude. He permanently changed our way of life. We lose.

[steve]

"vs. one dead old dude" who is now a martyr
If we haven't lost, we're certainly going into overtime. I'd say sudden death, but that would be overdoing it..

[Pro Libertate]

It's interesting that media people keep confusing Osama and Obama. I've heard it happen twice already, and I'm just now catching up on the news after a vacation.

[BB]

http://img717.imageshack.us/img717/6475/deadm.jpg

[Jerryskids]

That screencap came from FOX. It wasn't an accident.

[Pro Libertate]

It's happening in multiple media outlets. Sunday + similarity in names + "instant" reporting = error.

[Bingo]

Yeah I've been typing "OBL" for Osama because Obama has been in the news so much more these last few years it's easy to type his name by mistake 😛

[P Brooks]

Dow is up 33 points.

CNBC is carrying Hillary's victory dance solemn pronouncement.

[P Brooks]

the bastard killed 3000 Americans

They're making more of them every day.

[Pro Libertate]

More bastards or more Americans?

[The Gobbler]

Both

[Sal Paradise]

Do we have a pool on how soon the revenge suicide bombings start?

[P Brooks]

More bastards or more Americans?

These are not discrete populations.

[Pro Libertate]

More American bastards or more bastard Americans?

[P Brooks]

Speaking of bankrupting America, I reckon this great victory will conveniently put to rest any doubt as to whether we need to raise the debt ceiling.

[Max]

It bothers me that money taken from us in the form of taxation paid for this operation. We should be engaging the minds the Osama Bin Ladens of the world, not intervening in their boddies with bullets and shrapnel. Instead of shooting Osama, we might have engaged him. He probably needed a good pair of shoes for the Pakistani terrain, and American entrepreneurial genius could have supplied them. The flowing robes he wore might have become a fashion trend. Was anybody from the over-regulated American fashion industry in touch with him? NO! There was a market solution, but that never occurred to the statists who dominates the state. The free exchange of goods and ideas catches more flies than sticky statist fly paper stuck to the barrel of a state-supplied gun in the hands of a state-paid special agent.

[The Gobbler]

The real max has a much crisper writing style.

D-

[Almanian]

What Gobbler said

[Vaccine]

Bravo! Excellent reflection of the strawman in your mind that you are always refuting on this board.

[CE]

Okay, the body is a DNA match. But when did we get his DNA to compare to? Back when he was working for us?

[Zeb]

I would imagine it is probably DNA from a close family member that they had for comparison.

[blogimi Dei]

I read somewhere that WE have OBL sister's freaking BRAIN somewhere in a freezer, and WE (U.S.A.) kept this grey matter for the sole purpose of DNA analysis.

[Cabeza de Vaca]

Osama has a estranged son who lives in America. They might have been able to get DNA from him.

[CE]

Oh that's right -- Bush flew the bin Ladens out of the US right after 9/11, if I recall from the Michael Moore movie....

[Jerryskids]

According to the news, the DNA sample was taken from his sister. Which means we know that whoever was killed was a member of OBLs family, not necessarily OBL himself.

I have heard that OBL had his uncle Omar Saddah Khaliffa (nearly his own age and physical appearance) frequently act as a decoy OBL double and that this may have been who was actually killed. Couple that with the fact that OBL's "body" was disposed of remarkably quickly and you have grounds for suspicion that some funny business may be going on.

According to a Delhi television report, a Chandigarh newspaper reporter was detained at that city's airport when he started asking questions about an American military operation going on several hours after the OBL "killing". According to the reporter, the runway was cordoned off, a heavily guarded military helicopter landed and a hooded, manacled figure was carried off of the helicopter and placed aboard a waiting C-51 which immediately took off in a southerly direction.

Actually, I just made all of that up, but if we can Google enough references to "Omar Saddah Khaliffa" and "Chandigarh newspaper reporter" and "Osama bin Laden not really dead" we can gin up a brand-new conspiracy theory right here and now!

[Cabeza de Vaca]

LOL

[Esteban]

OBL never worked for us. When will this myth die?

[Zenmaster the Sailor]

In other news, Navy beats Army again!

[the real OO]

army special ops choppers & crews

[John Thacker]

So according to the New York Times, information from interrogations of detainees at Guant?namo Bay was crucial in finding the compound. The detainees gave Bin Laden's most trusted courier's codename well over four years ago. It took some time to link that with other intelligence to find his real name (that was four years ago), then more work to identify where he was. Then they determined that the compound must house Osama himself.

[H man]

My quick thoughts.
Good for President Obama and the U.S. military.

This will not change anything of substance as OBL was not in operational control of much of anything anymore.

We shouldn't be concerned with proper Islamic burials. We should have displayed the body for a week and then buried him at sea with a hamhock. If you declare a war against the U.S. you don't get to have the funeral of your choosing.

Can we stop with the retaliation attack talk? That assumes that Al Queda was not planning anything and now that OBL is dead they are. This is not true.

[John]

I don't get the retaliation talk either. "Oh no they are plotting to kill us". Isn't that what they do for a living?

[Zeb]

"We shouldn't be concerned with proper Islamic burials."

Why not? The way I see it, it is better to avoid stirring up trouble if possible. If there are a few people in Pakistan who would have been pushed over the edge to extremism had he not been properly burred, then it was worth the effort. It has nothing to do with Bin Laden himself or what he would have wanted. He's dead.

[H man]

I see it as using the beliefs of the enemy against them. If your enemy feels the need to have a proper burial to fulfill their spiritual obligations then you'll make them think twice about attacking you if they know those burial obligations will not be met. I think the downside is minimal as I don't think the people who hate us will hate us more and I don't think this will create more terrorists.

[Tim]

The report is that he took two shots in the head. Wonder if it was a 45?

[Cabeza de Vaca]

The old double tap.

[Ice Nine]

Doubt it. M4A1 probably. Picture those house-clearing drills you see on Military Channel or whatever. Go into a dark room, instantly separate the good guy cutouts from the bad guy cutouts, and its one or two quick shots to the head or vital triangle. I'm betting that you didn't get near this mission if you hadn't repeatedly scored 100s on those babies.

[Willys]

Uhhhh, something's not right here. A sad thing because I want to believe it, but I don't.

Either ObL's been dead a while and this is a call to end the charade or nobody knows and it's just a call to end the charade.

I'm glad to end the charade but American's will always gravitate to the truth, end any charade.

The celebration in the video is staged, just like the cheesy greek columns of Denver.

[Max]

Willys is a plant to make the truth looking like the ravings of a lunatic. Or maybe I am a plant to make you think Willys is a plant, Maybe this whole blog was created to discredit plants. Oh, it's all so clear to make it seems obscure, but it really isn't.

[Bingo]

Too many good looking girls to be a true random sample. Unless DC politicians have upgraded their taste in interns in the last decade.

[Monty]

With cheerleader skills as bonus of random sample.

[CE]

Just a story ginned up to distract away from killing Qaddaffi's son and young grandchildren, in violation of international and US law.

[P Brooks]

More American bastards or more bastard Americans?

More bastardization of the American Dream, that much is certain.

FREEDOM IS SLAVERY

[Dusy Jones]

lol, I still cant believe Obama ordered the death of his muslim cousin Osama like that lol

http://www.real-privacy.eu.tc

[Bingo]

Hahaha, someone must have upgraded anonbot's humor subroutine.

[Tim]

Your automated racism offends us.

[Bingo]

The most obnoxious part of this is how the Obamabots have renewed fire in their hearts. Ughhh...

[John]

It won't last. As I said above, I refuse to be a partisan wet blanket about this. I don't care if Obama was President when it happened.

[Pro Libertate]

How frustrating this must be for antiwar advocates. The GOP loves war. The Democrats love war. The public, at large, loves war. War, war, war.

Granted there's significant overlap between them and the libertarian population, but at least lip service is paid on occasion to limited government, decreased spending, and civil liberties. Not blowing shit up, not so much.

[John]

Men, this stuff that some sources sling around about America wanting out of this war, not wanting to fight, is a crock of bullshit. Americans love to fight, traditionally. All real Americans love the sting and clash of battle. You are here today for three reasons. First, because you are here to defend your homes and your loved ones. Second, you are here for your own self respect, because you would not want to be anywhere else. Third, you are here because you are real men and all real men like to fight. When you, here, everyone of you, were kids, you all admired the champion marble player, the fastest runner, the toughest boxer, the big league ball players, and the All-American football players. Americans love a winner. Americans will not tolerate a loser. Americans despise cowards. Americans play to win all of the time. I wouldn't give a hoot in hell for a man who lost and laughed. That's why Americans have never lost nor will ever lose a war; for the very idea of losing is hateful to an American."

That is not actually true. But it is kind of true and quoting it makes liberals wet their pants. So it is always fun to quote.

[the real OO]

well im a vet & a progressive & i didnt wet my pants. get over urself already

[Max]

Does anybody wonder how long it took the CIA to unfreeze his body?

[Monty]

+1 Max

[Enjoy Every Sandwich]

Rest easy, statists. I'm sure the next Emmanuel Goldstein has already been chosen.

I've noticed that the Faux News crew is peddling the meme that "see, this proves that torture works".

[Max]

But torture does work. You should get a job and work too.

[xenia onatopp]

Put me in the disturbed-by-all-the-celebration column. Deliberately killing another human being may sometimes be necessary, but should never be treated like winning a fucking NBA championship. Yeah, it's probably for the best, but sinking 10+ years and hundreds of billions of dollars into finding and executing one person? Makes it kinda hard to admit that the importance of his death is about 99% symbolic, doesn't it?

Meanwhile, the Taliban's spring offensive has begun, and I'd imagine this could ratchet it up a notch, and my 22 year old son, the Marine, is back in Afghanistan, Helmand province again, this time as a squad leader at FOB Delhi, and I'll like it better if things don't get too intense anytime soon. Yeah, probably I'm a selfish, self-centered cunt, but how things play out in my life and the lives of my kids trumps foreign policy or WOT considerations most days, which means I'm also hoping that the fucktards who are acting like the Lakers just won Game 7 don't follow the next part of that particular script too closely. You know, the part where they swarm the streets, tip over cars, light them on fire, then hunt down any nearby Celtics' fans and jack them up? Because if the guys with the American flag stickers on every window of every vehicle they own decide that it's open season on Pakistanis, then my older daughter's Pakistani boyfriend is going to have to be all paranoid walking on the streets of Chicago, and my daughter, away at school in VT, is going to freak and start frantically texting me day and night, and since he is the perfect boyfriend-- smart, funny, respectful, hard-working, ambitious, good taste in both punk and gangsta rap-- I'd have to waste a lot of energy hating on the uberpatriots even harder than usual.

My point, I hear someone asking? None really, just that it's not all sunshine and lollipops, not for everyone; there might conceivably be just a tiny hint of a downside, and maybe I'm better off staying home all day today, because trust me, if I forget myself at the supermarket and carelessly express my less-than-wholehearted enthusiasm over this miraculous victory, it's going to be a good few weeks of cashiers carding me for every pack of cigarettes, bagging my groceries all funky, and putting up the "closed" sign when I approach their line, because they'd realize that I'm un-American, and not just regular, garden variety un-American, like someone who doesn't put out flags in their yard on the 4th of July, but the special kind of un-American that makes the baby Jesus cry, because otherwise how could I be so disrespectful to my own son? There's some equation everyone except me seems to have learned that goes like this: [proud mother of a Marine] = [cheerleader for military adventurism] + [free speech is all well and good, but we're at war and it's not the right time to ask too many questions], and another one that says [deviation from the norm] = [wrongheaded and dangerous]. It's small town life at it's best, and it's making my brain hurt.

[Max]

Have you ever considered going into a convent?

[Bingo]

Wow, look at Max smooth-talking the ladies. What a charmer!

[John]

Wow. for once Max says something good.

+100 and

+100000 grading on the curve considering the source.

[Confederal_Republic]

Yeah, except for the fact that none of this applies to Osama and his coreligionists, or their jihad. Their actions are the direct consequence of their beliefs, Islam. Fact. Tough shit, it ain't politically correct to state, but it's the truth. We didn't create these assholes, or their radicalism. In fact, they aren't extreme in any real sense at all - they're good Muslims, and that's pretty much the end of it. When the fuck will you quasi-anarchists get this through your skulls?

No fucking shit, America's foreign policy/interventionism/adventurism is bad, bad, bad, but we didn't create these enemies.

[Zeb]

Extreme is defined based on what other adherents of the religion do. The terrorists are extremists.

I think Islam just needs another 500 or 600 years to grow up. Look at the state Christendom was in when it was the same age as Islam is now. Not pretty. Lots of killing people because they had the wrong beliefs.

[j martin]

UBL's death got me thinking.
http://www.jenniepmartin.com/2.....rnity.html

[KM8392]

I've seen a lot of articles in other countries who were appalled by the rally. What do others think of it?

http://www.intellectualtakeout.....-terrorism
http://sunshinereview.org/core.....-bin-laden