[GatorPentax]

The gift that keeps on giving, the Republicans are dead meat in 2012.


May 1st 2011:

I doubt it. The way our economy is heading and the gas prices being what they are, it seems like the democrats are f-ed. If not, at least it'll be a very close race.

[GatorPentax]

I can't believe all you people. A man is dead. A man who had a family that loved and cared for him. He was shot dead by a bunch of cold blooded murderers. Where is your liberal humanity? He should have at the very least been brought to NYC to stand trial. He could have been rehabilitated and been a very useful member of society again.

And on a truthful note: Congratulations President Obama. Job well done.

I'm confused, are you being sarcastic? I'll give Obama the credit for sticking it out until we got him but I wouldnt give him credit for the death of OBL. If it were up to him and the uber-libs, all middle-east operations wouldve have ended a few years ago, and thus unlikely we'd ever kill OBL

[Parallax]

I don't know whether it it will have any affect on terrorist organizations directly or not, but considering where he was living it pretty well removes any doubt as to who's side Pakistan is on.

[GatorPentax]

I don't know whether it it will have any affect on terrorist organizations directly or not, but considering where he was living it pretty well removes any doubt as to who's side Pakistan is on.

Yeah that was a big slap in the face.

[shiner]

Although I am not an Obama fan for a multitude of reasons, I give the president props for giving approval for this operation in a timely fashion- a critical decision, to be sure. The kill operation was entirely proper, and was executed nearly to perfection from all public information so far. Obama apparently did not micro-manage this one (like Carter, for instance): GOOD. Kill was the only way to go- no stupid "trial" to stir up endless problems.
Leon Panetta's statement.
The burial at sea, while great fodder for theorists, is also a good move by US forces and the CIA IMO, denying a shrine (grave) or rallying point for Al-Qaeda thugs.

[cardinal43]

Yeah that was a big slap in the face.

I don't know whether it it will have any affect on terrorist organizations directly or not, but considering where he was living it pretty well removes any doubt as to who's side Pakistan is on.

You play with fire, you get your butt burned. He was supposedly living close to the Pakistan training academy, and they "didn't know" he was there? Right.

[GeneV]

I don't know whether it it will have any affect on terrorist organizations directly or not, but considering where he was living it pretty well removes any doubt as to who's side Pakistan is on.

Obama didn't make the same mistake as Clinton in telling the Pakistanis before mounting an operation in their country. There may be some repercussions.

[Pentaxor]

Jon I was struck by the exact same thought (although I don't remember similar footage of Muslims celebrating 911 at the time - I do remember the candle lit vigils in Tehran, however...)

But there is something similar about the way people in Muslim lands celebrate victory or demonstrate their anger, and the way those crowds in Washington were whooping it up.

I think there's commonality between the way Muslim and Western anger has been directed toward 'scapegoat figures'.... this is why these mass outpourings of flag-waving passion seem strangely similar.

I remembered seeing a video footage where Muslims were celebrating on the streets during 9/11. there were even people giving away sweets, flowers and stuff.

I do somehow agree about the commonality, however the similarity ends when people celebrate the death of innocent civilians who are working on a symbolic figurine (WTC) . I personally, I wouldn't mind the WTC being destroyed, but I won't be glad seeing thousands of people be part of the collateral damage. thus, it is not worth celebrating. personally, the death of those people just became a sparkplug and cause for the Americans to go into war. they became martyrs. those people didn't deserve to die so it would be disturbing a majority of Muslims celebrating rather than mourning or shamed by what happened.

[stevewig]

I'm confused, are you being sarcastic? I'll give Obama the credit for sticking it out until we got him but I wouldnt give him credit for the death of OBL. If it were up to him and the uber-libs, all middle-east operations wouldve have ended a few years ago, and thus unlikely we'd ever kill OBL

This was just another example of John's negativity and right wing cynicism.

He considerably redeemed himself in my eyes with his final sentence - maybe he's a better person than he makes himself appear to be?

[Pentaxor]

I can't believe all you people. A man is dead. A man who had a family that loved and cared for him. He was shot dead by a bunch of cold blooded murderers. Where is your liberal humanity? He should have at the very least been brought to NYC to stand trial. He could have been rehabilitated and been a very useful member of society again.

are you serious?

[Pentaxor]

I don't know whether it it will have any affect on terrorist organizations directly or not, but considering where he was living it pretty well removes any doubt as to who's side Pakistan is on.

I think it's time for the U.S. to pull-out it's financial support to Pakistan. if Pakistan makes a mistake of continuously promoting terrorism and anti-West sentiment, I wouldn't mind dropping an Atomic bomb on this country and be done with it once and for all, although that maybe too harsh. maybe the U.S. just shift it's support to India which is a longtime rival of Pakistan. besides, Buddhism is more about peace and enlightenment rather than radicalism. you can't go wrong on them.

[ihasa]

I remembered seeing a video footage where Muslims were celebrating on the streets during 9/11. there were even people giving away sweets, flowers and stuff.

Yes, giving out flowers and sweets, ie encouraging people to celebrate. Of course there's a difference between celebrating at the death of someone like Bin Laden and at the deaths of thousands of innocent people. But those Palestinians seen celebrating in that clip are reacting to a strike on America as the master of their oppression, rather than the deaths of innocent people- including muslims. And they shouldn't be seen as representing all muslims - Iran is a muslim country with little love for the US but roundly condemned the attacks. The difference is Iran is not under occupation by a US-backed force.

While on the subject of demonising the enemy and wanting to cause the deaths of thousands of innocent people, see the above post!

[Ratmagiclady]

Well done to the US forces for finally getting this guy. I don´t care who replaces him, he should be killed too.

What seems particularly fitting, are the scenes of jubilation in the streets outside the whitehouse, reminiscent in style but not morality, of the abhorrent partying in the streets that happened in the middle east, afghanistan & pakistan when the planes struck in 2001.

I'd say there's a big difference between celebrating victory in battle against the guy who claimed responsibility for it, and celebrating the murder of thousands.

That guy still being out there thumbing his nose and threatening people (And being a bogeyman for the hawks to use to scare people, of course,) was certainly one of those ongoing little aches to the national honor and sense of justice.

Frankly, I think half the reason for the celebration is the lack of ambiguity. (even if some conspiracy theorists are reaching for some, cause they just hate the President, ) Death in battle's better than he deserved, but probably in the long run, the best thing, going forward: people over there inclined to sympathize with him who identify as warriors can accept what's about as close to a 'fair fight' as one could expect these days, a lot easier than it being another murder to avenge.

(Not that Navy SEALs are in the business of fair fights, they're in the business of it not being a fair fight if you're against Navy SEALs.)

Worked out well enough: kudos to those SEALs and intelligence community for pulling this off with dispatch.

Which I think is the appropriate watchword for dealing out this kind of justice, really.

I think it behooves us to be as gracious in victory as possible, in the interests of grounding out what people terrorize to do in the first place, but that man certainly had a few rounds of 'Hey, Goodbye' coming, if anyone does.

As for his organization, this isn't a small thing: cell structures are one thing, but as a symbol, a sense of a 'leader' counts for a lot.

In terms of getting our troops home, we needed a 'win.' I think there's still a couple members of walking casus belli walking around out there, but this much is finally.. Done.

[Ratmagiclady]

You play with fire, you get your butt burned. He was supposedly living close to the Pakistan training academy, and they "didn't know" he was there? Right.

I've learned to never underestimate the power of human obliviousness, but that does *cost.*

[JohnInIndy]

I'm confused, are you being sarcastic? I'll give Obama the credit for sticking it out until we got him but I wouldnt give him credit for the death of OBL. If it were up to him and the uber-libs, all middle-east operations wouldve have ended a few years ago, and thus unlikely we'd ever kill OBL

I really thought this part would have given it away:

And on a truthful note: Congratulations President Obama. Job well done.

He's the man in charge at the present time. He gets the credit. The rest of your post really doesn't matter in this case. (OK that doesn't read exactly the way I mean it) He DID stick to it and OBL is dead. I may not like most of what President Obama does but in this case he deserves the respect.