Should Bin Laden have been taken alive?

[AdamGB]

Honestly? I hope he didn't go out shooting... becuase the cunt does not deserve an ounce of valour.

[Gandalf]

When anyone starts to say he was unarmed and it was wrong I think about the innocents in the Twin Towers and on the tubes/bus in London - they were unarmed too.

You go around blowing people up then don't expect when justice comes calling that it's coming with a cup of tea and a blanket. If there was intel to be gained then yes he should have been taken alive if not then to me a double tap to the head was quicker and more humane than he deserved - period.

Those were terrible events for sure, but we should have taken him in and laid the evidence out for all to see. We have never really put together the direct links saying that he caused 9-11 for instance. We are just led to believe that this was the case. He was a terrible piece of work, but two wrongs don't make a right. As I say, if we needed to execute him them it should have been done after he had been proven guilty.

[OumaFan]

I'm leaning in favor of taking him alive, but I understand why they didn't.

Miles: "The reaction to Wikileaks, the treatment of Bradley Manning and now this, suggest a moral decay and these are just issues from the past year or so"

LOL.

[Mattyhitman]

When anyone starts to say he was unarmed and it was wrong I think about the innocents in the Twin Towers and on the tubes/bus in London - they were unarmed too.

You go around blowing people up then don't expect when justice comes calling that it's coming with a cup of tea and a blanket. If there was intel to be gained then yes he should have been taken alive if not then to me a double tap to the head was quicker and more humane than he deserved - period.

Those were terrible events for sure, but we should have taken him in and laid the evidence out for all to see. We have never really put together the direct links saying that he caused 9-11 for instance. We are just led to believe that this was the case. He was a terrible piece of work, but two wrongs don't make a right. As I say, if we needed to execute him them it should have been done after he had been proven guilty.

Exactly, arrest him, take him to the Hague, and try him for crimes against humanity, if found guilty, then as they done to Saddam, hang him, or gas him in full public view, hell it would probably do more figures than Mayweather v Ortiz.

[El Kabong]

When shit goes down in the world its the US that has to step up and make things right because apparently nobody else has the cojones.

Osama at the Hague? Yeah that would have gone over well....he'd sit back and spout his hate and invite attacks on the courtroom.

Also one doesn't need a gun to be considered "armed"....I mean these guys are known for blowing themselves up so the shoot first ask questions later tactic is perfectly fine by me.

Miles, you are such a fucking pansy when it comes to this kind of thing....its people like you that get dodge ball banned in school....God almighty you are a wuss.

I'm just stoked that #1 Obama had the guts to call for this (if botched that would have been extremely bad, like the U2 spy plane shot down over the USSR bad) and #2 hearing about all the super cool spy shit we have! Obama and his cabinet watched the raid in Washington just like the movie 'Patriot Games' when they raid the IRA compound! And the Stealth helicopter is pretty fucking awesome too.

We got in and out like a bunch of roided up ninjas! They never fucking knew what hit them.....BOOYA son!

[VictorCharlie]

This thread is what I imagine an Oliver Stone brain storming session is like. Seriously some of yall need to go into script writing b/c the international intrigue and mystery is scintillating.

[Gandalf]

I think in the morden world the law does not always seem to equel justice.

Bin Laden deserved to die in a horrible way and thats what he got IMO.It was justice

Also what benifit would it serve to keep him alive.All it would do is fan more extreamists when he would spout his hatred at his trail.

The SEAL team were give the nod and wink the same way the British SAS were when dealing with the IRA.Bring him in dead.

Job well done!

Miles has a point though about Assange. Had the US dropped a killing squad into the mansion he was staying in and slaughtered a bunch of people there would have been an outcry.

Had the Pakistani's launched an attack on some enemy of their state on American soil they would now be facing two weeks of carpet bombing.

Also it makes the British look stupid. America send in their navy seals and kick ass, we sent our SAS into LIbya to help the rebels and they captured us and sent us packing tail between legs.

It's a very important point really.

It seems to me that the fact that the US went to a sovereign nation without them knowing and murdered people seems to be getting lost amongst all the euphoria and chants of "USA, USA". It seems to me that America has no respect for international law and also had no desire to bring a man to justice. Shooting an unarmed man in the head just isn't justice. It is barbaric and shows America to be no better than Bin Laden and his so called terrorists, but I guess we knew that all along. It is hardly a new topic for me.

I also call into question the humanity of people who say that it was better off this way. So we should basically start murdering people without trial and we are comfortable with this? I certainly am not. I find the idea that this should be acceptable quite repugnant. Evidence should be laid out and a case made. I am opposed to the death penalty, but if there is enough evidence then the death can come at that juncture.

I view this as yet another sorry episode in America's recent political/military history. A shame really because it should have been something that showed them as something much better.