Osama Bin Laden dead

[stoker]

What fantastic news al-Qaeda's Islamic fundamentalist pin-up boy Osama bin Laden is dead, its a shame it has taken so long to put his body on a slab in a morgue.

What a fantastic result by the U.S. special forces:fly, i hope they all got back safely.

Unfortunately Osama will be replaced with some other fundamentalist nutter with out to much problem.

The arsehole we want is Abu Musab al-Zarqari he is the brains behind al-Qaeda's terrorist network, he must know he is now No 1 on the 'decapitation list'.

Lets hope he doesn't last there for to long.

Al-Qaeda has lost many irreplaceable top men over the last few years, if we can take out al-Zarqari they may well disingrate internally and vanish up there own rectum..:laugh

 

[ruutik]

I don't know why it was needed initiate a "firefight" by intelligent agents if above bin Laden in the sky wheeled two "Raptor" drones?
P.S.: Congratulations Yankees! Good ops!

 

[T.C.P]

BIN Laden is DEAD! OW YEAH!!!!!!!

Free internet beer on me!

Any who, I can't wait to here Zardari's explanation on this.

 

[Seraph]

Apparently, ObL's body has already been disposed of - a burial at sea, in accordance with Muslim traditions.

Source: CBS News website (sry, no link).

 

[StevoJH]

Apparently, ObL's body has already been disposed of - a burial at sea, in accordance with Muslim traditions.

Source: CBS News website (sry, no link).

I guess we'll have to wait and see if they release video.

 

[My2Cents]

Given that the assault was carried out by US forces inside Pakistan there has got to be some kind of quid-pro-quo involved Pakistani government and the ISI in particular. Probably either a promise of no residual US forces in Afghanistan after the withdrawal or a veto right for Pakistan on any peace treaty in Afghanistan.

 

[StevoJH]

Given that the assault was carried out by US forces inside Pakistan there has got to be some kind of quid-pro-quo involved Pakistani government and the ISI in particular. Probably either a promise of no residual US forces in Afghanistan after the withdrawal or a veto right for Pakistan on any peace treaty in Afghanistan.

Or a phone call to the President of Pakistan by a guy called Obama about 5 minutes after the helicopters were due to arrive. This conversation would go somewhere along the lines of: We have found Bin Ladin, we are taking him out, he is at this address. Keep your troops out of the way and we will say you cooperated on the operation and were involved, otherwise we will make it clear that........

Carrot and stick, and pakistan would have everything to lose if they chose the stick.

 

[Sampanviking]

As Geopolitical Pantomimes go, this one was always one of the most unconvincing.

Bin Laden always was a CIA backed Asset and I have no doubt that this is what he always was and indeed remains.

I doubt very much he is dead, but at least now hje can hang up his boots and enjoy a quiet retirement in a quite corner of Riyadh or some such.

Never forget that his original mission against the Soviets was as much a part of the Saudi Strategy to encircle Iran with militant Wahhabism as anything else.

Now the great game enters a new phase and with Bin Laden officially dead the pantomime of appearing to withdraw (drawdown) can proceed in tandem with pressuring Karzai to sign the Status of Forces Agreement , which permit the US to maintain a permanent presence in Afghanistan.

Plenty of "Behind You"'s and "Oh no he didnt"s still left in this show!

 

[STURM]

Bin Laden always was a CIA backed Asset and I have no doubt that this is what he always was and indeed remains.

Certain ressistance groups during the Afghan war received CIA help, as well as aid from the British and French intelligence services. And most of the aid provided by the Americans and Saudi was channeled via the Pakistanis to groups the ISI approved of, not based on their fighting abilities but their political ties to the ISI. The Arab volunteers under OBL received aid that was provided by charities and rich individuals in Saudi. To say OBL was a CIA asset is simply false...

I doubt very much he is dead, but at least now hje can hang up his boots and enjoy a quiet retirement in a quite corner of Riyadh or some such.

And what are you going to claim next - that JFK, Elvis and Michael Jackson are still alive somewhere and that their deaths were staged by the CIA as part of some devious plot?

Never forget that his original mission against the Soviets was as much a part of the Saudi Strategy to encircle Iran with militant Wahhabism as anything else.

Not true at all. The countries that aided the Afghans did so for a number of reasons and it have very little or almost nothing at all to do with Iran. The Saudis did have a policy of making sure their homegrown ''troublemakers'' did so abroad and not on Saudi soil but their involvement in aiding the Afghans and matching American aid, dollar for dollar was not to ''encircle'' Iran.

 

[Aussie Digger]

As Geopolitical Pantomimes go, this one was always one of the most unconvincing.

Bin Laden always was a CIA backed Asset and I have no doubt that this is what he always was and indeed remains.

I doubt very much he is dead, but at least now hje can hang up his boots and enjoy a quiet retirement in a quite corner of Riyadh or some such.

Never forget that his original mission against the Soviets was as much a part of the Saudi Strategy to encircle Iran with militant Wahhabism as anything else

Now the great game enters a new phase and with Bin Laden officially dead the pantomime of appearing to withdraw (drawdown) can proceed in tandem with pressuring Karzai to sign the Status of Forces Agreement , which permit the US to maintain a permanent presence in Afghanistan.

Plenty of "Behind You"'s and "Oh no he didnt"s still left in this show!

And here we go with the crazies...

Do not disrail this thread with rubbish conspiracy theories.

First and only warning.

 

[MrConservative]

Wonderful news about OBL's well deserved demise. Well done all those professionals at the sharp end of US INT & SF. They have just made the world a better place.

Have knocked the top off a bottle of Nautilus Pinot Gris to salute all the unknown guys and gals who have made this possible.

 

[Seraph]

a Reuters article (sry, no link because of post limit) states:

(Reuters) - The U.S. special forces team that hunted down Osama bin Laden was under orders to kill the al Qaeda mastermind, not capture him, a U.S. national security official told Reuters.

"This was a kill operation," the official said, making clear there was no desire to try to capture bin Laden alive in Pakistan.

(Reporting by Mark Hosenball, writing by Matt Spetalnick)

 

[Sampanviking]

And here we go with the crazies...

Do not disrail this thread with rubbish conspiracy theories.

First and only warning.

Feel free to believe in Blofelt if you want. I however can only note that the only effect of Al-Quidae's activities have been to advance US Geopolitical ambitions in the region in ways that would otherwise be impossible.

I also note that their has been a massive confluence of interests with Saudi ambitions as well, in the Shia/Sunni competition that has erupted since the Iranian revolution of 79. The Saudi pumping of so much money into Pakistan in the funding of the Wahhabi Religious schools that produced the Taliban and the presence of so many Saudi's in Afghanistan can hardly be a coincidence.

Bin Laden is now officially dead. So where does his death now take US policy?
Is this the conveniently timely Green Light for the promised drawdown of military personnel? and if so what the implications of the SFA being either signed or refused by the Karzai?

 

[StevoJH]

The death of Bin Ladin is just one victory in a long war. Anyone who thinks different must be stupid.

Just because he's dead doesnt mean all the militants in Afghanistan (most of whom probably have nothing to do with AQ) will just bury their Rifles in the ground and go back home to their families.

 

[Aussie Digger]

Feel free to believe in Blofelt if you want. I however can only note that the only effect of Al-Quidae's activities have been to advance US Geopolitical ambitions in the region in ways that would otherwise be impossible.

I also note that their has been a massive confluence of interests with Saudi ambitions as well, in the Shia/Sunni competition that has erupted since the Iranian revolution of 79. The Saudi pumping of so much money into Pakistan in the funding of the Wahhabi Religious schools that produced the Taliban and the presence of so many Saudi's in Afghanistan can hardly be a coincidence.

Bin Laden is now officially dead. So where does his death now take US policy?
Is this the conveniently timely Green Light for the promised drawdown of military personnel? and if so what the implications of the SFA being either signed or refused by the Karzai?

This is Defencetalk. If you wish to discus geopolitical matters, other forums are available. This thread is purely about the military strike against Bin Laden.

Don't push this any further.

 

[Twinblade]

OBL living in a mansion 700 m from Pakistan's military academy and pretty close to their military hospital. Weren't there reports that OBL has kidney disorders and frequently needs dialysis ?

 

[Chino]

If Steve Jobs never came back to Apple, they might never have conquered the phone market.

So striking at terrorist leadership are indeed useful.

Because just like any business or industry, great and visionary leaders are hard to come by.

Apparently they gave him burial at sea (i.e. dumped him into the ocean)?

Lets keep things civil.

 

[Twinblade]

If Steve Jobs never came back to Apple, they might never have conquered the phone market.

So striking at terrorist leadership are indeed useful.

Because just like any business or industry, great and visionary leaders are hard to come by.

If Al-Qaeda was a company, Not only was OBL the CEO, but also the brand ambassador and the top selling product. If i were an investor in Al-Qaeda, i would be wary of making any further investments till they can replace the CEO with someone who has a lot of experience and vision going for him. Now that the CEO is down, lets keep looking for the VP, the CFO and the board of directors :daz

 

[Jhom]

Apparently they gave him burial at sea (i.e. dumped him into the ocean)?

Thus preventing the creation of a peregrination site to fundamentalist islamics, and something about that any country has accepted to take the body, remember that he was under statelessness...

Dumping his body into the ocean is contrary to islamic religion, so that was the last kick in his fanatic ass, no proper burial just dispossed off like waste.

 

[My2Cents]

Or a phone call to the President of Pakistan by a guy called Obama about 5 minutes after the helicopters were due to arrive. This conversation would go somewhere along the lines of: We have found Bin Ladin, we are taking him out, he is at this address. Keep your troops out of the way and we will say you cooperated on the operation and were involved, otherwise we will make it clear that........

Carrot and stick, and pakistan would have everything to lose if they chose the stick.

Could be. The report is that the US troops lost a helicopter in the operation. We would not be able to complain, it is Pakistan’s sovereign right to defend the countries airspace and they could plead that the US did not get permission in advance to alert their air force that the flights were OK. Then maybe Pakistani troops had to give some of our troops a ‘lift home’ while their government talked with an idiot in the Whitehouse.

It is possible, but highly unlikely, because neither Hillary nor Panetta are that stupid. And if we had given Pakistan ‘reasonable notice’ then the OBL would have probably been gone when we got there. So it is far more likely to be a case of OBL being sold to the US by Pakistan as part of a political bargain. :coffee

But that is not the way things went down. It took 9 months to set up and Pakistan was in at the kill.
-- U.S. Forces Kill Osama Bin Laden - WSJ.com

And even if they were not, the Taliban would never believe it. -- Pakistani Taliban threaten Pakistani state after Osama bin Laden's death - Threat Matrix
:daz