Osama bin Laden is DEAD

[classicman]

The head of the CIA admitted yesterday that there was no live video footage of the raid on Osama bin Laden's compound as further doubts emerged about the US version of events.

A photograph released by the White House appeared to show President Barack Obama and his aides in the situation room watching the action as it unfolded. In fact they had little knowledge of what was happening in the compound.

"We had some observation of the approach there, but we did not have direct flow of information as to the actual conduct of the operation itself as they were going through the compound."

[infinite monkey]

Quote of whom?

[classicman]

Link

[infinite monkey]

It has been duly researched and noted that the conspiracy theory perpetuated by the aforementioned Rag and Muffin Party has been thought to be believed to be an actual absturbation of the affective diagnosis of the hammerstein. Furthermore, no one in attendance actually saw the perp, though all were present and legally sighted. Therefore it is only presumptuous and appropriate to assume that all misgivings given to the Thanksgiving day of the second eve of the twelfth were unfortunately purposely apprehended for the fate of the final sixteen who were to have plundered forward in their assignation.

[classicman]

The U.N.'s independent investigator on extrajudicial killings has called on the United States to reveal more details of the raid on Osama bin Laden's Pakistan hideaway to allow experts to assess the legality of his killing.

South African law professor Christof Heyns said in a statement Friday that Washington "should disclose the supporting facts to allow an assessment in terms of international human rights law standards."

Heyns says "it will be particularly important to know if the planning of the mission allowed an effort to capture Bin Laden."

His statement echoed similar appeals from other U.N. officials, human rights groups and the International Committee of the Red Cross.

U.S. officials say the raid is legal under U.S. and international law.

Link

[DanaC]

I thought one of the reasons they went for this kind of assault, rather than a missile strike was because it gave the possibility of taking him prisoner?

[classicman]

My issue with this now is that the story continues to evolve. From what was initially reported, what is being told now is very different.
Griff said it best here

As we get more information, the bin Laden deal looks like an execution not a fire-fight...

[DanaC]

It is certainly starting to look that way.

Not that I'd shed a tear for the bastard, however he went, but killing an unarmed man, like killing a prisoner in your power, is not good karma.



[eta] on the subject of whether or not to show the pics, I heard an interesting analysis of that the other night. Personally, I don;t feel that we need to see it, but the analyst made a really good point that the whole mystique Bin Laden built around himself relied on his ability to fade in and out of the background at will. The disppearing man. He had control over his image at all times. Maybe an image of him defeated wuold serve to replace that image. As it is we are left with the mystique as an abiding feature.

[glatt]

The White House isn't handling this story well.

[DanaC]

Well, that at least seems consistent across administrations :p

[Spexxvet]

Originally Posted by DanaC

I thought one of the reasons they went for this kind of assault, rather than a missile strike was because it gave the possibility of taking him prisoner?

I heard it was to minimize civilian death/injury.

[Griff]

There is no chance they wanted him alive unless it was absolutely secret, so they could squeeze all the intell out of him. Obama got good advice on this. Shut him up completely with the brain buster and dump him at sea so the crazies can't make another "Holy Site".

[Undertoad]

What you need to know, in bold!

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/06/wo...er=rss&emc=rss

The C.I.A. had Bin Laden’s compound under surveillance for months before American commandos killed him in an assault on Monday, watching and photographing residents and visitors from a rented house nearby, according to several officials briefed on the operation.

The good guys watched him for months! They recorded everybody who came and went!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/...31F_story.html

The on-the-ground surveillance work was part of an intelligence-gathering push mobilized after the discovery of the suspicious complex in August that involved virtually every category of collection in the U.S. arsenal, ranging from satellite imagery to eavesdropping efforts aimed at recording voices inside the compound.

Not only that, but they recorded his conversations with these people!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/...L2F_story.html

Documents seized in the raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound have yielded a bonanza of new intelligence, from names and locations of terrorist suspects to chilling details of al-Qaeda plots to attack targets in the United States and beyond, U.S. officials said Thursday.

Not only that, but from all the documents and laptops and stuff...

Among the files recovered from captured computers and flash drives were documents detailing a previously unknown plan to attack the U.S. commuter rail network, intelligence officials confirmed. The plan, which described a sabotage attack to occur on this year’s 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, was being actively considered as recently as February 2010, Obama administration officials said.

...US Intel knows more than bin Laden could ever even remember to tell us!

And part of what it knows is that he was still fully operational, still in charge, and still planning attacks!

[Griff]

Hats off to US intelligence!

[lookout123]

The WH is bungling the PR side of this. This could and should have been a resounding positive. Unfortunately they are letting the story evolve. They should have known what their story was going to be and rehearsed it and then not deviated from it. Opening the door to questions of how it was done, how it could have been done differently, and should it have happened at all is just ridiculous. I'd have more respect for them if they handled like they had some spine.

Reporter: There are reports OBL was unarmed...
WH: Fuck you, he was an enemy, now he's dead.

Reporter: There are reports he could have been captured...
WH: Fuck you, we didn't need him alive.

Reporter: The international community has concerns...
WH: Fuck the international community, this was a matter of US concern.

Instead we have waffling about the facts which appears to be weakness of conviction. BHO could take some serious lessons from Bill Clinton. That man could take something that he and everyone knew to be false and actually convince you that he really did believe it.