So, this Bin Laden Character...

[Jack Johns]

So i dont know if anyone heard, but Osama Bin Laden was killed by US Special Forces this weekend. Anyone else hear about this? Of course i joke.

So what does everyone think? Should he off been arrested and spent 10 years in a trial on death row? Should he have been carted off to guantanimo bay to recieve a bit of the 'special treatment' terrorists there are getting? Should the US government not of told anyone, to avoid any retaliations? Or was a bullet in the eye and concrete coffin the best solution?

Is he really dead?

[PuNk! ™]

There's a ton of different versions in regards to how Osama Bin Laden was killed and what exactly happened, slowly but surely leaking out. I think the tabloids and press (as always) will always make up their own version of accounts on the story unfolding and it doesn't help that top officials who are linked to this operation, keep changing their story also.

One moment Bin Laden was to have thrown his youngest wife in front of himself as a human-shield and the next it's alleged that she threw herself in front of him. Bin Laden was also meant to have fired an AK47 at the (unnamed elite unit) Navy Seals during a 40min firefight; now however, Bin Laden never fought back and was unarmed? As released by US Gov' officials.

Also, Obama and his "cronies" watching the live feed of the team entering the compound, were supposed to have watched everything unfold in real-time. Now, US Gov' officials are saying they only saw the footage up until they entered the compound, not the firefight or Bin Laden being shot dead.

The story is forever changing and I'm not sure anyone can make their mind up on what the final version of events should actually be. From everything I've heard, I believe that the US Gov' knew Bin Laden was within the compound in Pakistan for an entire year (which a source indicated that they investigated the compound a year ago) and Obama alongside his fellow officials, were bottled out on sending a team in to recover Bin Laden for numerous reasons. I also believe they didn't act instantly on getting Osama, because the elections are coming up for Obama pretty soon and to deliver the head of Osama Bin Laden pretty close to the re-elections is more worthwhile than doing it a year-prior.

So I feel this whole Osama vendetta has been a smart ploy of propaganda to keep in office and I also believe there was a sense of doubt on taking the responsibility of entering and killing Osama as soon as they knew, but rather sit on the ace up their sleeve to deliver when it's really needed - like now.

I also believe the president and his cronies did watch the entire siege on real-time feed and they did witness the death of Osama Bin Laden. There's no way about it. Obama took a huge gamble to authorise the mission and a lot rested on his decision in doing so; his going to want to see what happened, the entire way through. If this mission had gone horribly wrong, then Obama would have had to have taken full responsibility for the consequences to follow.

I don't think the average public will ever know the full story or the real meaning behind this whole Afghanistan and Iraq war. Whether it's fuel, justice or an alternative to shake up the middle-east, who knows. We'll never know.
~Danny

[Stephen Colly]

I believe he's dead. Well done America and Obama - he'll be remembered for that. Trouble is though, will we all be in danger of even more terriost plots?

-Kitty

[Charles Norris]

Going by the title of this thread, I assumed someone had made a Bin Laden character for IO.

But on the actual topic, I'd say that giving him a burial at sea was probably not the best idea, and will only fuel the crazies.

[Heiko Alkema]

Sorry, I have to address some of the conspiracy strings Punk brought up.

Also, Obama and his "cronies" watching the live feed of the team entering the compound, were supposed to have watched everything unfold in real-time. Now, US Gov' officials are saying they only saw the footage up until they entered the compound, not the firefight or Bin Laden being shot dead.

The President and staff were probably watching video from a nearby drone or other some such aerial vantage point. That's why they were able to see the operation without actually seeing the firefight inside.

The story is forever changing and I'm not sure anyone can make their mind up on what the final version of events should actually be.

The "forever changing story" is just the usual unclear story becoming more clear as the details filter in. This always happens when the media begins reporting stories when all the fact haven't come in yet. Same thing happened with the Japanese earthquake and ensuing disasters; Same thing happened the military intervention in Libya; Same thing happened with all the revolutions and protests all over the Middle-East.

From everything I've heard, I believe that the US Gov' knew Bin Laden was within the compound in Pakistan for an entire year (which a source indicated that they investigated the compound a year ago) and Obama alongside his fellow officials, were bottled out on sending a team in to recover Bin Laden for numerous reasons. I also believe they didn't act instantly on getting Osama, because the elections are coming up for Obama pretty soon and to deliver the head of Osama Bin Laden pretty close to the re-elections is more worthwhile than doing it a year-prior.

We've been chasing our own tails for ten years trying to find this man. God forbid we take a little bit of time to make sure a lead actually went somewhere for once.

So I feel this whole Osama vendetta has been a smart ploy of propaganda to keep in office and I also believe there was a sense of doubt on taking the responsibility of entering and killing Osama as soon as they knew, but rather sit on the ace up their sleeve to deliver when it's really needed - like now.

I'm not sure how well American politics are covered in Britain but I can tell you this from the American perspective: It was fucking awful timing if this were planned to happen for political benefit. The elections are still a year and half away and the high he's getting for this will have long gone by the time we go to vote. Also, he just scored a rather big victory with the release of his birth certificate finally shutting up all but the most rabid conspiracy theorists. So why waste this "ace" now rather than space it out for maximum effect, or better yet simply have saved it for much closer the to election?

While I do believe that the body may not have been disposed of, the statement to the contrary is rather easily explained by the want to minimize the cultural backlash from the Muslim world as much as possible.

And the diplomatic implosion between the US and Pakistan also looks consistent with doing this being done without an ulterior political motive as a small public opinion bump is not worth destroying an important diplomatic relationship with another nation over.

[Jack Johns]

A theory I had hard was that he wasn’t killed in the raid. He tapes have become less frequent and comment less on current events which had fuelled rumours he had died naturally for years now. The theory goes that America found his body, or a flimsy willed Taliban decided to take his body to the Americans and collect a lovely £23,000,000 Christmas bonus, and for extra kudos America claimed they killed him in this raid; so they could claim the whole 'we defeated terrorism.'

People will claim that America wouldn’t destroy relations with Pakistan but who’s to say America don’t want this? I mean I’m not saying I believe this but America is going to need something to do now they 'liberated Iraq.' But it could be a possibility, I mean America have kicked off in a completely out of proportionate way, making a mountain out of a mole hill. I mean, correct me if I’m wrong, but technically speaking the Pakistanis were in the right, America did illegally invade their airspace. (I understand fully why they did this though; I don’t need to be told.) So America, in my opinion seems to be trying to destroy relations with Pakistan, or at least making them worse claiming they were harbouring Osama and that there not committed to fighting terror.

HOWEVER, what I REALLY don’t get about this whole situation is why people are claiming this about Pakistan. Yes Osama was in Pakistan (which has thousands of miles of easily crossed borders with Afghan) and yes he was in a house less than a mile from a Pakistani Military Academy but that doesn’t mean they were hiding him there or knew about it. If Osama was in a house across the road from Sandhurst or West Point, it doesn’t mean people would know, because he never left the house. So it would just be another house? I mean it’s not like he walked past the Pakistani academy everyday to get a newspaper?!?

*breaths*

But despite my rant, I do believe he is dead and that the whole thing was legit. He is defiantly dead because otherwise he would already have released a tape saying he wasn’t, and I do think that America buried his body at sea, mainly because they would have nothing to gain from keeping the body.


Also Mac your comment made me laugh.

[Edward"Butcher"McMillan]

Is he dead, yeah. Has he been dead, possily. But the devil you know is better than the devil you don't know. Personally I saw Bin Laden as the Allies saw Hitler in WW2, he was more valuable to them alive than dead. Now many governments around the world will have no face to explain their outrageous budgets. And as I mentioned to Heiko the other day in the C-Box, you can't kill an idea (terrorism) so now they can fully say "The big bully killed our leader, won't you help us?" So terrorism will rise and militaries across the world will deminish. The mass public will see this as the end of all this crap and lose what little support it had left in it. Things will be all nice and dandy for a bit, but soon enough, maybe even as early as the anniversary of his death, some sh*t is gonna blow sky high and we'll be right back to where we are now. They hit us, we wanted revenge, we got it by hitting them...you think they are gonna sit back and say "Good move."?

-JT

[Christopher J. D'Dario]

Personally, I can only see things getting worse from here. Someone is bound to step up and take his place and he'll probably be worse then Osama. Even if someone doesn't step up, there's still hundreds or thousands of his men out there who are probably willing to do things on their own. Me Thinks the retaliation from this is going to be bigger then anything Osama could have done.

-=[SeeJay]=-