Should Bin Laden have been taken alive?

[Spicoli]

I just cant believe Amir Khans relatives were working with Bin Laden on that compound...it just mind bottling.

Amir Khan? It would have to be him and his relatives wouldn't it? I am really not impressed.

Totally agreed! There were huge gaps in that compounds defense also...



hey I had too

[Gandalf]

A more detailed summary...

Pentagon backtracks on claims that Bin Laden put up a fight - Americas, World - The Independent

There appears to have been no good reason why he could not have been taken alive. I am really quite dismayed that our sense of justice has come to this. We first of all lie about our account to make it seem more heroic, but it is just fabrication. And then what really happens appears to have been a cat topying with a mouse. We really had to put a bullet in the brain of the mouse? This could have been brilliant, a real chance to put a criminal in the dock, to have all the charges laid out, but instead we resorded to crude murder....much like the terrorists we so malign. The elite have so much contempt for rules and order and it really calls into question their integrity. What could have been something significant has simply perpetuated an already empty and pointless 'war on terror'. Terror is such an empty word, it is like 1984. We must have perpetual war with an invisible enemy and every now and then we will get these stories to suggest that we are winning, but it really never ends. Winston Smith appears to be stuck in stasis, it's groundhog day everyday.

[Gandalf]

Johan Hari is fast becoming my favourite journalist. A very good article indeed.

Johann Hari: The real meaning of Bin Laden's death - Johann Hari, Commentators - The Independent

[No Contest]

Osama bin Laden dead: the mysterious Khan family who were 'good neighbours' - Telegraph

[No Contest]

They really ought to strip him of his belts for this.....I cant believe all you brits were actually funneling money to Al Qaeda everytime you bought one of his PPV's.....

[OumaFan]

Johan Hari is fast becoming my favourite journalist. A very good article indeed.

Johann Hari: The real meaning of Bin Laden's death - Johann Hari, Commentators - The Independent

Good article. The use of the quotes at the end is a bit questionable but whatever.

Too bad he was one of those on the left who supported the war in Iraq but I guess no one's perfect.

[Gandalf]

Oh and by the way they were unarmed... The American government made a mistake when they said they had a gun fight

You raise some good points in this thread.

I find it deplorable how quickly people can say 'he was a waste of breath, a bullet was the kindest thing to do etc'. If he was such a criminal then a court of law should have been used and the world could have seen the evidence, but this was seemingly never going to be an option. A quick bullet to the brain ended the need for such trivialities. Bin Laden needed a bullet to the brain and yet there are a million people less people around the world because of this war on terror. Bush and Blair are just as, if not more, responsible for the loss of inncent lives. But lest we forget, we don't try former leaders of nations with a population exceeding 500,000. It is perfectly okay to assasinate people? The thought that this is somehow justified astounds me and further adds to my contempt of ordinary people.

It is terribly uncivilised and to me makes us no better than the terrorists we are chasing. But we have shown that time and time again what with torture, wanton murder, illegal invasion etc. Osama Bin Laden even in death has made a mockery of our societies and our pretences at being somehow morally advanced or in the right.

[VictorCharlie]

Miles,

You have infinetly higher expectations of human beings than I do. Lower the bar a little and you won't be so let down or surprised all the time.

[Gandalf]

Johan Hari is fast becoming my favourite journalist. A very good article indeed.

Johann Hari: The real meaning of Bin Laden's death - Johann Hari, Commentators - The Independent

Good article. The use of the quotes at the end is a bit questionable but whatever.

Too bad he was one of those on the left who supported the war in Iraq but I guess no one's perfect.

True, he seems to have learnt from that. I don't always agree with his views, but on the whole he produces some very interesting material.

[OumaFan]

The only other part about that article that I have some issue with is the part about the Pakistanis shielding him because of what we did. He's speaking in the sense of how Pakistani people would look at us, not their government. And I have no issues with how Pakistani people might think of us. But their have been questions about the Pakistani government (especially their intelligence network) and their connections with Al-Qaeda long before anything we did to them. Basically it seems that they like our aid money but not much else.

[OumaFan]

Osama bin Laden dead: the mysterious Khan family who were 'good neighbours' - Telegraph

another interesting article. I think one of the most interesting parts of this whole thing is what Pakistan knew and what they didn't know.

It can go from one spectrum to the other. Did they know he was there and were they complicit in that? I think they did know he was there. Did they know he was there but go along with the raid? Did they know he was there and not know about the raid? All interesting stuff.

[No Contest]

TBH I've heard alot of people dont like Pakistani's for some reason. Used to have an teammate on the volleyball team who was Afghani, and really hated Pakistanis. I know India hates them. Anyone care to enlighten me on this or is it just India and my friend from high school?

[VictorCharlie]

"Afghans" is a very general and nebulous term but generally speaking they don't like Pakistan b/c they believe much of the issues in their country are exacerbated by Pakistani meddling. Of course the Pashtuns largely disregard the Durand line as a whole. India hates them over the disputed Kashmir region.

[OumaFan]

I read somewhere that some problems were caused when there were a load of Afghanis flooding into Pakistan when they were fighting the Soviets. Don't know for sure though. And yeah obviously Pakistan and India hate each other.

Edit: Van's explanation sounds better than mine.

[No Contest]

"Afghans" is a very general and nebulous term but generally speaking they don't like Pakistan b/c they believe much of the issues in their country are exacerbated by Pakistani meddling. Of course the Pashtuns largely disregard the Durand line as a whole. India hates them over the disputed Kashmir region.

This must be a highly profitable corridor? Kashmir region, is that undeveloped or who has developed the region? You have Pakistan India and China all wanting to claim the region. What is the major economic factor of this area...I hope its not heroin/drugs.