He was directly responsible for the murder of thousands of people. Why the fuck does anyone have any sympathy for him? Tell the families that suffered loses that his death shouldn't be celebrated. Seriously, if you can't see the side of patriotism (his group was at WAR with the US, it wasn't that he was a civilian criminal. He was an enemy general.) at least see the side of humanity.

He wasn't solely responsible for it. There's still thousands of terrorists out there. Maybe celebrate when all the terrorists are gone from the world? I'm not saying I'm going to miss the guy, but the idea of celebrating someone's death is really stupid.

Quote from DevliN

I've read a few different articles talking about how guns were being fired from the compound at the helicopters and Navy SEALS, so first off I'll assume that he either was armed or surrounded by people who were. That said, I didn't mean to make it seem like I agree with the idea of him being killed and not tried, I was just saying that this has been a decade-long headhunt. I was under the impression all this time that the point was to find and kill him for good ol' American vengeance rather than send him to prison and give him a lethal injection.

Yeah, it's not entirely clear what defense, if any, there was. I have heard that the helicopter "broke down" from mechanical difficulties, and they destroyed it on the way out prevent enemies from getting their hands on US technology etc.

The whole raid took place at 1am, and Osama was said to have been surrounded in his bedroom. He used a woman (not his wife) as a body shield, and they were both killed. It is highly likely that there were others in the compound that had guns, but given the fact that no American's were injured, and I believe the total deaths is under 10, something like 4-5, it seems that the place was mostly empty. Seems to me like there wouldn't have been much risk in at least attempting to extract him from the compound.

Quote from BiOAtK

He was directly responsible for the murder of thousands of people. Why the fuck does anyone have any sympathy for him? Tell the families that suffered loses that his death shouldn't be celebrated. Seriously, if you can't see the side of patriotism (his group was at WAR with the US, it wasn't that he was a civilian criminal. He was an enemy general.) at least see the side of humanity.

Using that logic, wouldn't it have been proper to celebrate after the terrorists crashed into the WTC? I mean, they died, right?

Yeah and try telling Quebecers like me to enjoy speaking english and befirend everyone from Canada and the USA after what they did to the French colonists.

Seriously, no matter what he did, cheering purely because someone died is dumb and just shows that human nature is as terrible as it can get. I do think that the soldiers and their family should cheer, becuase they should logically come back to the country...

Fisty - This was death of only terrorists. Completely different. This was bringing justice.

Dem0n - Just like hitler wasn't soley responsible for 12 million dead. He still deserved death.

Quote from Dungeon-Master

I find it funny how every single american is cheering and dancing becuse Bin Laden was killed.

I mean, yeah, he commanded the destruction of the twin towers, it's horrible, but... He's dead, just get to something else, no need to create a new national holiday for that... it'd kinda lame to be as happy as that to see someone die.

Quote from Dungeon-Master

Quote from Fire_Kame

Given the responses I've seen here, not all Americans are cheering.

Okay, I meant a huge portion of americans then. But the reactions we saw in the news were rather widespread, everyone cheering and fist pumping...

You vastly overestimate the America's reaction to his death. Despite what the media you watch would have you believe, I don't know anyone who celebrated his death and the majority of people simply felt a small bit of justice and that was it.

Quote from Dem0nS1ayer

Yeah, Americans are pretty fucking obnoxious. I've really lost faith in my country after reading all those "YEAH, JAPAN, THAT'S PAYBACK FOR PEARL HARBOR" comments after the earthquake/tsunami.

Your sweeping generalizations are ridiculous. You can't judge 300 million people off the actions of very few without a serious mishap in logic. The irony here is that your prejudice says more about you than what the people who posted "YEAH, JAPAN, THAT'S PAYBACK FOR PEARL HARBOR" says about anyone else (nothing).

Quote from Dem0nS1ayer

He wasn't solely responsible for it. There's still thousands of terrorists out there. Maybe celebrate when all the terrorists are gone from the world?

You can't celebrate any victories until total victory? Eliminating all terrorists from the world is impossible.

Quote from Dungeon-Master

Yeah and try telling Quebecers like me to enjoy speaking english and befirend everyone from Canada and the USA after what they did to the French colonists.

Are you kidding me?

Quote from Dungeon-Master

Seriously, no matter what he did, cheering purely because someone died is dumb and just shows that human nature is as terrible as it can get. I do think that the soldiers and their family should cheer, becuase they should logically come back to the country...

Quote from Dem0nS1ayer

I'm not saying I'm going to miss the guy, but the idea of celebrating someone's death is really stupid.

I find your moral decry against the people who feel relief that the man who orchestrated the deaths of their family and/or friends more morally deprave than the actions of the people you judge.

Quote from Dungeon-Master

Yeah and try telling Quebecers like me to enjoy speaking english and befirend everyone from Canada and the USA after what they did to the French colonists.

Seriously, no matter what he did, cheering purely because someone died is dumb and just shows that human nature is as terrible as it can get. I do think that the soldiers and their family should cheer, becuase they should logically come back to the country...

Ah yes, I remember now. You're the Quebec nationalist.

Quote from CaptainWill

Quote from Dungeon-Master

Yeah and try telling Quebecers like me to enjoy speaking english and befirend everyone from Canada and the USA after what they did to the French colonists.

Seriously, no matter what he did, cheering purely because someone died is dumb and just shows that human nature is as terrible as it can get. I do think that the soldiers and their family should cheer, becuase they should logically come back to the country...

Ah yes, I remember now. You're the Quebec nationalist.

Ah man Quebecs got the bomb

Unfortunately this is all a big misunderstanding. It is in fact President Obama who is dead.

Fully agreed with Kaias.

You guys didn't get my sarcarm, I obviously don't mind speaking English.

Kaias, I don't say that feeling better since he died is bad, or unjustified, and yeah I'd be surprised if everyone in america was jumping all around when they got the news, but you can't say that those that cheered and jumped around are having a healthy reaction.

Quote from Dungeon-Master

You guys didn't get my sarcarm, I obviously don't mind speaking English.

Kaias, I don't say that feeling better since he died is bad, or unjustified, and yeah I'd be surprised if everyone in america was jumping all around when they got the news, but you can't say that those that cheered and jumped around are having a healthy reaction.

You're right, you only said that it was "dumb and just shows that human nature is as terrible as it can get".

I feel the entire situation was handled perfectly. No Americans were killed in the operation; they went in and assaulted the compound instead of bombing it, allowing for a clean confirmed kill as well as preserving the wealth of data at the scene (which is more valuable than killing Osama, in my opinion). No innocents were killed collaterally either

Obama revealed the information a week after the operation went through, allowing time for DNA testing, and then the body was promptly dropped in the sea. You could fault the US for killing Osama instead of giving him a fair trial, but it would've been a mock trial anyway, as no jury would not convict him. You would then have a lot of unhealthy capital punishment drama, he would still be seen as a martyr and Al Qaeda would only react by harming innocent people to force the US to release Bin Laden. It was also crucial that the body was dealt with immediately, as no one had a chance to demand it. Because he was dumped in the sea there is no body or grave site for his followers to make sacred or symbolize his martyrdom. It's rare to see this level of competency; this is the second time Obama has made all the right calls in a tricky situation such as this (the first being how he handled the pirate-hostage situation).

Someone brought up that Osama was unarmed: I don't know (or care, honestly) if the orders were to kill on site; I would guess they were to kill or capture and the decision left up to the Seals who were operating/interpreting the situation. I will say that against an organization infamous for suicide bombing it is impossible to know if the person is truly unarmed. Considering all the information Bin Laden had there, the place being rigged for detonation was always a possibility.

It's also speculated that some of the documents released by Wikileaks concerning Guantanamo Bay may have forced the US to act immediately. Apparently they could have tipped off Osama that the US had been tracking some of his couriers, which was how they pin pointed Bin Laden's location. Source.

Edit: Couple more details: One of his wives charged them- they shot her in the leg. She wasn't used as a meat shield and didn't die, contrary to Lanthanide's post. They were also apparently on capture or kill orders. Source
Edit 2: I misread about the week latency time, that was how long ago the mission was approved, not operated. My point remains unchanged.

I would +1 if I could. Good read, and some of that is news to me. Thanks for sharing.

That's interesting. But I wonder if the details will change again?

Quote from Kaias

Edit: Couple more details: One of his wives charged them- they shot her in the leg. She wasn't used as a meat shield and didn't die, contrary to Lanthanide's post. They were also apparently on capture or kill orders. Source

Actually I said a woman, not his wife, was used as a shield and killed. And I have since heard a different version of the story myself, where the woman used as a shield was in front of another male, and not Osama himself.
Here's a thread with the reports listed: http://helzhalfacre.yuku.com/topic/35436/Osama-died-hiding-behind-a-woman

And yes, in this particular case I don't think that arresting and charging Osama would have necessarily been the correct course of action, for the reasons you list, I just wanted to highlight this as an issue that was worth discussing. Certainly the fact that the orders were "capture or kill" I think is sufficient, although I have also heard reports that when Osama refused to go willingly, they simply killed him.

Also the operation didn't go 100% smoothly. The helicopters flew in very very low to the ground, using a path that took advantage of known radar gaps. When they got to the compound, the air was hotter than expected and one of the helicopters was too heavy to stay aloft, and crashed. Seems like they were cutting it very very fine if an air temperature difference could down a helicopter like that.

Reading this thread makes me glad my topic was moved to serious discussion. It's incredible how silly some intelligent people can be.

http://news.theage.com.au/breaking-news-world/osama-unarmed-when-shot-dead-us-admits-20110504-1e71d.html
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/05/04/6583764-cia-denies-bin-laden-was-captured-before-his-killing?ocid=twitter

Quote from FaZ-

Reading this thread makes me glad my topic was moved to serious discussion. It's incredible how silly some intelligent people can be.

...what? What does this have to do with anything?

EDIT:
Also just read this on Slate. Interesting way of looking at the conflict of whether or not Osama was armed, and whether he was supposed to be killed or captured:

Quote from http://www.slate.com/id/2293046/

Reports have conflicted on whether the intent was to kill or capture Bin Laden. The White House says capture. Others say kill. The rules of engagement for ground troops say that if someone is trying to kill you, it's OK to kill them. If it's less clear-cut—say, someone suspicious is walking toward you—the short-hand rule for escalation of force is "Shout, Shove, Show (display your weapon), Shoot (to disable), Shoot (to kill)." Rules of engagement for special operations differ from mission to mission, and the rules for Operation Neptune's Spear are classified, says Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. James Gregory: "If we put that out there, it gives our adversaries an opportunity to alter the ways they interact with us, or come after us." But, he added, "the inherent right to self-defense is always a portion of that."

It's not hard to imagine, though, that the SEALs were given broad license to use force. The uncertainty of the mission left no room for error. "It was a nighttime mission, you don't know what lighting conditions would be, you don't know what you could see in his hands, you don't know how he might have been dressed, you don't know if he was set up to push a button and blow himself up, or whoever else was in the room," says Greg Meyer, a retired LAPD police tactics expert and Army veteran. "You get into all these potential variables and you don't take a chance." At that point, anything short of Osama standing still in his underwear with his hands up could qualify as "resistance."

They did the same thing with Hitlers bunker to prevent some sort of Neo Nazism, but i did some research. I found the latest videos that Osama was in he had a stroke (his voice is very weak and 1 of his arms isn't moving) and this means he had a stroke. Meaning he could of died years ago, furthermore his death could of easily been faked since it was never exhumed and was supposedly "buried at sea".

Edit : why is this in ld?