OT- Osama Bin Laden is Dead

Submitted by BiSB on

Apparently something big is happening in the world.  We have NO idea what.  But I suggest you get to a television.

The only thing they have said is that it is "national security related."

EDIT: Twitter is abuzz with a rumor that we got Bin Laden.  Waiting for TomVH to confirm. Also, If this is too political, feel free to delete.  But I thought this might generate some interest.

EDIT II: CNN confirms: the United States has the body of Osama Bin Laden.  War on Terror Muppets.

EDIT III: Thread locked to prevent the inevitable political flame war from escalating. [ZL]

CRex

May 1st, 2011 at 11:03 PM ^

I wonder how long he's been dead for.  The whole no videos thing had me convinced he was killed in a drone attack or something years ago.  I wonder if we actually got him or just found the body in some rubble.  

I love the fact he's dead, but it sucks it took us 10 years to get this job done.

(Also is it wrong to suggest we stuff the body and toss in a trophy case somewhere?)

CRex

May 1st, 2011 at 11:18 PM ^

Really?  Well time to go update my Selective Service card in the event we decide to end Pakistan over this.  As for my feelings on foreign policy at this point:

Dear India,

You know what whole Kashmir thing and those issues you have with Pakistan?  We just want to stress that we are totally looking the otherway.  I mean 100% the otherway.  We got this Libya thing going down and we see nothing.  

Seriousily we mean it, we see nothing.

Love,

America

PS:  Would you like to buy some missiles and drones priced as a very competitive rate?  

CRex

May 1st, 2011 at 11:35 PM ^

The next few days are going to be interesting as to Pakistan's future.  CNN's reporting is making it sound like Pakistan wasn't cooperative whereas other sources make it sound like Pakistani Intel helped us get him.  It's all BS speculation.

Keep in mind troops on the ground might just mean we told Pakistan we were killing OBL and their options were letting Delta Force in or us carpet bombing the city.

I do know when we invaded Afghanistan that Pakistan was not keen to let us fly over their country to do it.  That led to Powell's you can join us in the 21st century or live in the stone age comment (translation:  We will bomb your country to rubble and then merrily fly over it on our way to Afghanistan).  

 

 

 

justingoblue

May 1st, 2011 at 11:38 PM ^

Since I posted that I went from being under the impression that there were regular forces on the ground to being under the impression that it was more likely a platoon level ground intelligence unit. I don't think we would have to have explicit permission for that level of activity, but I do agree that it will be interesting.

Pakistan can't exactly come off as too pissed about that given the geopolitics at play right now, but it's pretty clear that bin Laden had a good amount of support there.

CRex

May 1st, 2011 at 11:47 PM ^

Obama's speech kind of made it sound like we talked to them after the fact about this.  He talked about calling the President of Pakistan after confirming Bin Laden was dead.  Given the fact that the Pakistan government leaks like a sieve it wouldn't surprise me if we never consulted them on this and the CIA just did it.

Man if I was an American citizen in Pakistan right now I'd be heading for our embassy or the airport. 

As my wife commented this suddenly makes that whole "CIA contractor gets attacked by Pakistan thugs" story from a few months back rather interesting.  

justingoblue

May 2nd, 2011 at 12:03 AM ^

It's going to be rough for a while. 

As to notifying Pakistan, it wouldn't surprise me if they had no idea, and it also wouldn't surprise me if there was a high enough ranking official that hates bin Laden and would be willing to sit on our news for a few days. Ultimately, the Pakistani government doesn't seen to be up in arms over this and that would be the only sticking point.

BlueDragon

May 2nd, 2011 at 12:33 AM ^

the U.S. will expand its 'unofficial' footprint in the remote Western mountainous regions of Pakistan now.  This is a huge gain for U.S. prestige and we will have a powerful, if brief, initiative to do whatever we darn well please in a few key spots for a few days at least.  This will in turn strengthen our de facto control of Pakistan and aid our efforts to lend stability to that part of the world.  Boom, realpolitik'd.

justingoblue

May 2nd, 2011 at 12:45 AM ^

Ultimately, this will be very good PR (as you said) but other than that I'm definitely not sold on the actual strategic impact of killing bin Laden. Since 2001 they've become less Sicilian mafia and more Russian mafia. Given how radioactive bin Laden must have been, I wouldn't be surprised if there were many people more dangerous than him at the time of his death.

Not saying this is a bad thing at all, but how much operational control and planning input he had was probably greatly reduced over the past decade.

ken725

May 2nd, 2011 at 6:02 AM ^

I think we had Pakistani permission and that the Pakistani government was trying to contain bin laden, whatever that means.  I heard that Admiral Michael Mullen who is the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was in Pakistan last week coordinating the attack.  

I also heard about the Delta Force being involved so I'm not exactly sure if it was a predator drone.  

hockeyguy9125

May 1st, 2011 at 11:06 PM ^

I hope that son of a bitch is rotting in hell right now...and also I pray for all of our men and women defending us right now...this is an extremely dangerous time for all fo them (more so than before)...I pray for the safety of us all