Osama bin Laden: Rest in Hell
May 1st, 2011 - 9:05 pm
So Osama is dead? Good.
But as I’ve argued for years, bin Laden is a symptom and not the disease. Had he died on one of the doomed 9/11 flights into the WTC, nothing would have changed. Our enemy is not a man, not a network, but an ideology.
Still though — I’m glad he’s dead. It couldn’t have happened to a nicer murderous brute.
UPDATE: Is it true he was done in by a sniper and not an airstrike? If so, that’s a shooter who will never, ever have to buy his own beer again.
Yeah, it may not matter much from a practical standpoint, but it’s still nice to get him. I’m surprised, though. I really thought he’d been dead for years.
It won’t be long before the right wing conspiracy nuts claim OBL’s body has been on ice for X number of months or years, and that it was trotted out tonight to distract from the baby killings in Libya.
Yeah, and the left wing nut jobs…
You are a complete tool.
I agree, it doesn’t mean much. al Qaida leadership is so decentralized now that UBL’s death is more of a footnote than a major victory.
This will matter to those people who have political agendas. I imagine the new dialog about our current operations in Afghanistan will be something to the effect of, “Ongoing operations in Afghanistan and Iraq will focus on making the people there safe from tyranny of terrorist organizations who would try to find safe haven in those societies.”
Things are about to get ugly as politicians begin to revisit the premise of why we sent Americans into Afghanistan in the first place. Future Afghanistan battles are going to be fought on the floors of the House and Senate as we reexamine why we continue to spend money on a war that was fought for the purpose of removing al Qaida from Afghanistan, not establishing an alternative to a Taliban regime most Americans didn’t really care existed in the first place.
James, you don’t pay attention, do you? The Taliban was only recognized by two states, one of them North Korea. It acted as a state sponsor for terrorism, and was one of (if the the sole) enabler of Al Qaeda’s attack on 9/11.
Mind you, I would have been content with Jerry Pournelle’s idea, which was shoot the buggers in power, hand off the reins to the next bunch, and warn them not to make us come back. That, or settle for a “national” government which could keep the Taliban under control to where they couldn’t return to power, instead of nation-building.
Either way, removing the Taliban was necessary.
Casey,
Do you honestly think it matters to average Joe American which governments formally recognized the Taliban regime? Does the fact that the US did not recognize the Taliban in any way change the reality that, when 9/11 happened, the Taliban was running Afghanistan? No? Then WTF are you babbling about?!
I’ll bet you could ask 100 people off the street why we went to war in Afghanistan and the overwhelming majority will say it was to get Osama Bin Laden. I’d also be willing to bet it would be a bipartisan group that says so. Most Americans aren’t considering the geopolitical ramifications of the Taliban remaining in power because, it didn’t really matter to them (us) before 9/11. Most people had never even heard of the Taliban! Do you think we would have invaded Afghanistan if the Taliban had caved in the W’s requests to hand over Bin Laden? Of course not, because, if so, why demand that Bin Laden be turned over in the first place!
Do I think the Taliban is bad? Yeah. And I bet I have a hell of a lot more insight into them than most considering I’m in downtown Kandahar right now! Do I think the world is a better place without the Taliban? Absolutely! But I also think Americans in general are perfectly content to let some countries go to hell in a hand-basket as long as it doesn’t interfere with our national interests. I can think of a lot worse places where we could go pee in someones pool just because I think the government there “has to go.”
The Taliban was not the problem. Pashtunwali was the problem. It’s a big part of why the Pashtun dominated Taliban would not turn over to a foreign nation a fellow Muslim viewed as a fellow mujahadin and “guest”. Pashtunwali…honor…did not permit them to hand Bin Laden over to us. So we went in to take him and now we’ve got 2 situations to deal with. First being the Pashtuns who were honor bound to fight and protect the guy we were after. Second, we were dealing with all the propaganda and problems that comes with being a foreign occupier in their land. Here’s a pretty good read on the subject: http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2010-03-02/news/bal-op.pashtun02mar02_1_pashtuns-taliban-afghanistan-jihad
I don’t know, maybe the PSYOPS guys here have it all wrong. It’s not as if they don’t live among them and speak the language and try to help win support for GIRoA. Here’s my question for you: Do you really believe that when America pulls out that this “warlord culture” that I see every day is just gonna vanish because we’ve built a few ballot boxes and called it democracy? I’ve got an idea, read this story in Harpers:
http://www.harpers.org/archive/2009/12/0082754
Now, just imagine, Colonel Abdul Razik in the story (he’s a general now in the Border police)…He’s what we call an ally in Afghanistan.
But you say the Taliban had to go! Whoa! That’s deep. You have no idea what you’re talking about aside from regurgitating the popular talking points. I’m at the broken end of the bottle here…and you say I’m not paying attention! That’s funny!
Here you go Casey. This is the National Journal on May 3. It’s what I was talking about on May 1.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42880439/ns/world_news-death_of_bin_laden/
Great and unexpected news on a Sunday night!
Am I the only one converned that this may put a sleeper cell into action?
The death of one man in a battle against an ideology is insignificant, but the symbolism of severing the ideological head (however toothless is may have been) of the serpent is extraordinary. And, for that, celebration is in order.
Indeed. I did not mean to imply we shouldn’t hoist one to the recently and gleefully dead!
Something to talk about other than the EPA.
Robert Heinlein used to say “Time wounds all heels”. Looks like time – with the help of some American (and Pakistani?) firepower – finally wounded the heel known as Osama bin Laden….
True our enemy is not one man, but damn it feels so good that he is dead.
When I was a little tad, my Mom told me that whenever someone died, I should always think of something good to say about them. So, for Osama, I will say:
“He’s dead. Good.”
Wow. BO somehow managed to sound like a douche. That should take effort.
you had the chance to comment on the killing of the man responsible for killing thousands of U.S. citizens and you chose to use that opportunity to criticize Obama, you really are not a patriot.
President Obama had the chance to comment on the death of Osama bin Laden and he chose to say it is was the most significant achievement against al Qaeda yet.
Last night Obama did not have the humility and somberness the situation demands. I did catch President Obama speaking this afternoon (did not catch the venue), his tone was much more appropriate. That is a president I can be proud of. Last night, not so much.
There’s opportunity enough to criticize Obama that we can safely give credit where credit is due.
For instance, I like that he approved killing pirates who kidnapped Americans, I like that he didn’t make a big deal of it, I like that he sends drones into Pakistan to kill terrorists, I like that he keeps Guantanamo open, I like that he is keeping up the wider war against terrorism and I like that he finally got bin Laden.
Ok..
Congratulations Obama, something finally happened that you probably won’t blame on Bush! Good job on not making your withdrawal deadline a little earlier!
Agreed, Tim. I expect this was a “only Nixon can go do China” moment for the Democrats. At least the usual suspects aren’t complaining.
A sniper? Will there be video?
B.H.Obama: ,,I , I did it, I- it was me, I, m” and 100x more.
Horrible speech!
But I hope Osama bin Laden is in hell right now, burning up in flames 1000x more than his victims did on 9/11. He was a son of the hell.
I really thought bin laden died years ago is some afghan cave. But with this confermation i just want to say GOOD RIDDENCE TO THAT NO GOOD, POT LICKEN, SPAWN OF SATAN.
We’ll never know who the sniper was, and for his own sake and the sake of his family, that is a good thing.
I keep hearing fire fight rather then “sniper” with any luck OBL was hit many times before the kill shot put him down. 2997 wounds would be nice.
Naw, not a sniper. Hopefully he met his end at the end of a bayonet.
I hope the sniper was a one legged, Jewish, lesbian woman, who was on her period and eating a bacon sandwich with an ice cold beer.
And I hope we make a mug out of the bastards head and set it right on the Presidents desk, but thats because Im the romantic sentimental type.
Better to make his skull into a chamber pot, and present it to Rudy Giuliani as a birthday present. Another son of Satan dispatched to his father by American armed forces. God’s blessing on the hand(s) that struck Osama down.
his will lead to more. They must have got his laptops and any papers he had laying around. T
you are allowing him to call obama a douche but i can’t comment on what he said being that it is irrelevant to the fact that bin laden is dead?????????????
I wonder what he was doing when the knock came on the door. I wonder if the Gitmo detainees’ hearts sank a little at the news. So many fun things to think about.
that’s a shooter who will never, ever have to buy his own beer again.
That was my first thought. As per #12, to protect him his identity will never be made public, but people in the know will make sure he’s looked after.
1:54 AM on the East Coast and the FBI still has him listed on the Ten Most Wanted list. Please remove Bin Laden and upgrade Ayman al-Zawahri ASAP.
UPDATE: Is it true he was done in by a sniper and not an airstrike? If so, that’s a shooter who will never, ever have to buy his own beer again.
You are wishing that were you, now aren’t you, Mr. Green (with envy)? Free drinks for life? Woot! ;D
More of a propaganda victory than an actual victory. Still, in war, propaganda victories are important too. The Doolittle raid was more of a propaganda victory than anything else, yet it was important. You can hit our naval base closest to your country and destroy antiquated battleships? Well we can bomb your capital.
Yes, this one was worthy of a Sam Adams (Boston Lager) or two. No, this won’t end the war on terrorism, but it does take some wind out of the sails of the bad guys. Osama, the international man of mystery, was an unbeatable folk hero and legend. Osama, the guy sleeping with the fish, is just the tag line of a Tobie Keith song.
No partisanship here — it’s a victory for civilization, not any single man or political party. Also a victory for SEAL Team Six, but I think they’re used to winning.
Watt’s Up With That has the actual compound location on google earth. The Atlantic location was wrong.
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2011/05/01/justice-has-been-done-obl-compound/#more-39139
What impresses me about all this is that the right have been 93% noble during this, spending more time praising O and condemning bin Laden. Some didn’t like the burial at sea, but only b/c they wanted something more heinous.
You know who are the most angry and conspiratorial? Hillary Dems. Check out No Quarter. Holy shrimp, they sound like one would expect conservatives after such a feat done by Obama.
I would love to praise O for his decision, but he’s gotten on my nerves with his arrogance (“I won”, “don’t like the price of gas, buy a hybrid” — Mary Antoinette couldn’t have done worse) that I rely on cureently saner voices for the praise. That plus fellow libs’ gloating (while still trashing people like Sarah Palin) has me reaching for the Maalox
ps I know that it was Marie Therese (wife of Louis 14) rather than Marie Antoinette, that said the cake statement
http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2011/05/afterbirthers_a.php
“”So Osama is dead? Good,” said Vodkapundit Stephen Green. “But as I’ve argued for years, bin Laden is a symptom and not the disease. Had he died on one of the doomed 9/11 flights into the WTC, nothing would have changed.” (In 2004 Green compared Bin Laden to Attila the Hun; in 2010, Green said of him, “The Next Word He Should Hear: ‘Incoming!’”)”
http://pajamasmedia.com/vodkapundit/2004/02/24/attilaosama/
http://pajamasmedia.com/vodkapundit/2009/02/18/the-next-word-he-should-hear-incoming/
Okay, just a teensy bit of partisanship: Keep it up, Obamarrhoids. The more you use this to try to score empty political points against your opponents, the sooner this accomplishment will turn to ash in your mouths.
Where will your triumphalism be after the next round of bad economic figures sweeps bin Laden right off the front page?
You really shouldn’t go there, proglodytes.