So I just found out this morning. Good news? Bad news? Voice your opinion.

What, again?

It was my understanding that he was dead years ago...

Good news for all those who lost their loved ones in 9/11 and other attacks planned by Bin Laden, bad news for al-Quaida who lost their charismatic leader. Good news for al-Quaida who gained an even more charismatic martyr, bad news for all the people who will die in retaliatory attacks. Good news for Obama, especially as he showed really good sense in how he chose to present the event; bad news for Pakistani government, sitting on an ever bigger powder keg. And so on.

One thing is certain, though: the war on terror is far from over. Whether it will be longer or shorter only the future will show.

I think this is just going to piss off al-quaida and then they're gonna bomb the shit out of the world.

Good news - he is dead. Bad news - someone else will just take his place.

Go USA.

But why they did that fake photo of him that he supposed to be dead?

I thought it was a little bizarre to see people cheering about his death. I think a feeling of relief might have been appropriate, but, even though he was an evil man, it's still strange to cheer for someone's death. In any case, I'd love to be optimistic and say that this will contribute to the end of the terrorist attacks and the end of the war, but I doubt it.

Tell that to the thousands of people in the Middle East who cheared for the American deaths on 9/11. In this case, I'd say the sauce for the goose is good for the gander.

I can't see how this differs to their usual modus operandi

I wish that America would stop navel-gazing and being so self-centred.

"This is a great day for America."

*coughs*

Um, how about THE WORLD? I flipped from CNN to my local 24/7 news coverage and they actually talked about other countries' involvement. Just goes to show how much America pays attention to everyone else who helped them mark this occasion.

Osama bin Laden was more than just a leader for a group of terrorists, he was an icon for the failure of the USA to bring him to justice. Years after he successfully pulled off a devastating attack on US soil he was still out there, serving as a representation of the full extent, or lack thereof, of American power. This quite literally puts a bullet in that and puts the US into the category of unrelenting. It may take a very long time, but eventually we'll find you and kill you if you choose to wage war upon us. That's a good thing, not just us but also for Western civilization really. While philosophical reactionaries like bin Laden will always exist, they exist inside the US and even inside its government, there's a line between dialog and violence that simply must be punished when it's overstepped. Why? Because civilization is all about having conversations with people you have disagreements with instead of killing them.

Now honestly that's a little bit why it gives me pause when we go out of our way to kill someone like this, but on the other hand I think given his history bin Laden pretty much said everything he wanted to say in the way of murdering innocent people to the point where "If we missed something by putting a bullet in his head, I'm fine with that."

I don't think bin Laden is as easily replaced as some of you do. As a symbol he was a poster for recruiting and the chinks in US invulnerability. As the man himself he was the architect, along with a few other guys that are also dead or imprisoned already, for multiple attacks on the West. There will be others, but despite what employees often like to think, good management is really, really hard to find. Things won't stop, there's too many people invested in this now, but I think they'll find it even harder to coordinate between themselves than before and they'll have to deal with the ongoing affliction on their brain-trust... I don't know how many terrorists are out there that are going to get the experience from failure any longer that bin Laden got, because quite simply failure means death or imprisonment now.

Because Bin Laden's biggest attack was against the US? Because US troops are the ones who killed him? (no other country had any part in killing the man, I've heard rumors that Pakistan knew but I'm not sure.....) Because Americans are the ones who started the war? Yes it's a great day for the world but it's also a great day for each individual country and there's nothing wrong to say so. I love how quick you're able to generalize an entire country of over 300 million people by one persons words (with no source might I add).....

I am glad that they finally killed him, but it's sad that this did not happen sooner, but better late than never i suppose. Let's hope that things get better from here on out...

Really now? Because I remember when 9/11 happened, no-one in the Middle East 'cheared' for American deaths. Maybe a few did, but thousands? Highly unlikely. Believe it or not, we're not all supportive of anti-American suicide bombers and terrorists.

I never said all, nor implied it. There are 19 countries considered to be "the Middle East"; if you only had 15 people in each of the top 10 population centers of each of those countries chearing, you get thousands. Considering that international TV (not just US) showed groups larger than 15 in multiple cities, and multiple countries chearing at that time, unfortunately for you it isn't "highly unlikely" there were thousands chearing.

Yes, really.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vOJCQr1Now

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WptpG_yVUI

http://www.snopes.com/rumors/cnn.asp

And you obviously weren't in the whole of the Middle East, being just one person, especially since those celebrations happened.

In any case, it's one thing to celebrate the unprovoked murder of thousands and another to celebrate the death of the person responsible for those murders. Muslims should be happy about bin Laden's death too, because the man's twisted version of Islam was all about killing Muslims as much as Americans and anyone else who disagreed with his narrow version of the religion. His version of Islam was marked by violent outbursts of Muslim on Muslim violence even more than it was in the destruction of the World Trade Center buildings. His ideology was the antithesis of the recent popular movements erupting in the Middle East - everyday Muslims were as much his enemy as anyone in Washington DC.

I understand that the progressive elements of Western culture are not always comfortable in parts of the Middle East, and I understand there are reprehensible religious elements in the West that truly do seek to make these clashes of culture into a religious conflict as much as religious fundamentalists in Islam seek to frame the disagreement as such to solidify their support among their faithful. This should not be one of those issues. Who stands with Osama bin Laden, murderer of Muslims and Westerners alike? Standing aside on the issue of whether or not it is ever truly justified taking a human life, how can anyone champion such a man for whom human life meant so little?

Of course the Middle East is not some monolithic entity. Islam is not monolithic and without its differences. Christianity is not. Atheists such as myself are not. It's one thing to rightly point this out, and it's another to try to state a falsehood in pursuit of proving such a point. There are Islamic assholes and there are American assholes and there are probably all sorts of assholes out there with other defining characteristics. That's ok. The point is to not let the assholes win, and to keep them from controlling the dialog between differences in opinion. Let the grownups have a conversation for once, and that won't mean we'll all ever hash out our differences, but maybe we can keep folks like bin Laden from dominating the conversation.

Hopefully this isn't another one of his "doubles"..

I am no fan of Bin Laden, but the US's entitlement to pursue terrorits is unbelievable. They practically had a military intervention in Pakistan, complete with grenades and guns, without Pakistani government knowledge nor consent, and killed pakistani citizens and residents. Had they done this to Russia or China it would have been considered an act of war, but as it is, they even have the audacity to imply the Pakistani government had knowledge of bin Laden's whereabouts, when in fact the nearby military academy was caught by a surprise attack of the US troops in their neighbourhood. Oh, and burrying him at sea within 24 hours of killing him is very convenient. You'd think that after they attacked a country and put forth such strong accusations they would have kept the incriminating evidence for a bit longer to prove their case.

“This is a great day for America: Justice has been done,” said Republican U.S. Rep. Ander Crenshaw. “Osama bin Laden’s death is a major blow to al-Qaida and terrorist networks around the globe and a comfort to the loved ones of those who perished on Sept. 11, 2001.

http://www.sunshinestatenews.com/st...osama-bin-laden

I also remember Obama and CNN repeating these words.

What happened to bringing someone to justice, trying them in a court of law, etc.?



Yeah, what was that about? Definitely something shady going on.

They're American politicians, of course they would say this is a great day for America, cause it is. I don't see how that implies that we don't think it's great for other places on the planet. You're still completely stereotyping!!!!! Al-Qaida's attacks were very focused on America, and we had the most deaths by their attacks by far. Sorry but we have more reason to be happy than Australia or Denmark or Norway, etc. etc. etc. which were never attacked or much affected by his madness.

"Bin Laden was buried at sea from the deck of a U.S. aircraft carrier in the north Arabian Sea after being washed according to Islamic custom during a religious funeral, a U.S. defense official said Monday." "A U.S. official said that the burial decision was made after concluding that it would have been difficult to find a country willing to accept the remains. There also was speculation about worry that a grave site could have become a rallying point for militants." "President Barack Obama said the remains had been handled in accordance with Islamic custom, which requires speedy burial."



DNA tests confirmed that it was bin Laden himself, and not a double.