Osama Dead

[ross matt]

Good riddance to a mass murderer of innocents who helped turn the world upside down a decade ago. Great coup for Obama. Bush must be seething back in his ranch.

2 bullets to the head. An execution I suspect. Capture and subsequent trial would have been a nightmare circus. Dumping the body in the sea (after ticking all the respectful muslim boxes) seems convenient also in that it avoids a grave turning in to a shrine.

I can understand the american public's joy at this news. However the "USA USA" chanting in Time Square does seem a little crass and provocative. Hopefully it may hasten the end of the war but it certainly wont end it anytime soon I fear.

[Blowitupref]

So what where they really watching?

[ziggysego]

Dublin beating Kilkenny?

[stew]

This is brilliant news, the scum that was bin laden is fcuked overboard and buried in a manner that is an insult in his so called faith, the man was faithful only to himself and I couldnt be happier.

I take a different stance on most on this, I think it sets his organization back years but I also think they will have new leaders emerge but the fact is they made hay on the fact that they said the yanks would never get him and they did.

Americans, well the vast majority of them believe that the job is not done, they are fearful of another attack and know that somewhere somebody is going to get killed at the hands of these evil bastards because America got to bin dying.

Well done Barak, you played a blinder son.

[seafoid]

• The White House continues to hold back publication of the video of bin Laden's burial at sea, and of photographs and other evidence of his body

Does anyone else think it must have been like this when Pontius Pilate got Jesus ? They had a threat to their power, they had to kill him and they had to get rid of the body in a hurry. And then the body wasn't where they said it was....
Maybe Osama is the Messiah. 

[Minder]

If they produced a video of his burial and photographs of his body immediately yesterday some still wouldn't believe it.

[gallsman]

This is brilliant news, the scum that was bin laden is fcuked overboard and buried in a manner that is an insult in his so called faith, the man was faithful only to himself and I couldnt be happier.

I take a different stance on most on this, I think it sets his organization back years but I also think they will have new leaders emerge but the fact is they made hay on the fact that they said the yanks would never get him and they did.

Americans, well the vast majority of them believe that the job is not done, they are fearful of another attack and know that somewhere somebody is going to get killed at the hands of these evil b**tards because America got to bin dying.

Well done Barak, you played a blinder son.

And to think Obama was at pains to stress that the US isn't at war with Islam.

Pathetic.

[thebigfella]

So what where they really watching?

2 girls 1 cup.

[EC Unique]

First time I can think of that a bin has been taken out on a bank holiday!

[DuffleKing]

What's the actual evidence that there's any truth in this?

[under the bar]

Personally I don't give two hoots about bin laden but you'd expect the US would have  thought out their press release a little better.  The 2 shots to the head story does not tally with the firefight one but more with an execution where he was either captured beforehand or shot while he slept.

[AZOffaly]

Is that the actor from '3rd Rock from the Sun' in the pale blue shirt at the back? Hillary looks like she's going to vomit, but I'd say that photo was well staged. 'OK everyone, look concerned, determined and serious'.

John Lithgow is his name

[LeoMc]

This is brilliant news, the scum that was bin laden is fcuked overboard and buried in a manner that is an insult in his so called faith, the man was faithful only to himself and I couldnt be happier.

I take a different stance on most on this, I think it sets his organization back years but I also think they will have new leaders emerge but the fact is they made hay on the fact that they said the yanks would never get him and they did.

Americans, well the vast majority of them believe that the job is not done, they are fearful of another attack and know that somewhere somebody is going to get killed at the hands of these evil b**tards because America got to bin dying.

Well done Barak, you played a blinder son.

And to think Obama was at pains to stress that the US isn't at war with Islam.

Pathetic.

The highlighted bit was Stews words and sentiments not those of Barak.

"Traditional procedures for Islamic burial were followed. Religious rites were carried out on the deck of a US aircraft carrier, the USS Carl Vinson. The body, shrouded in a white sheet and placed in a weighted bag, was then positioned on a flat board, tipped up, and eased into the Arabian Sea."

[Groucho]

For the Muslim world, Osama Bin Laden's death is like the lifting of a curse

Ever since 9/11, his name was synonymous with terrorism. But just how important Osama Bin Laden has actually been in recent years is highly debatable. He put out the occasional propaganda video but he no longer organized terror attacks on Westerners, on Arab governments or anyone who did not sympathize with his warped cause. Partly that was because he was on the run but also because Al-Qaeda was never a centralized, structured organization. It was, and is, more a state of mind, a loose association of fellow devotees. There are fellow Al-Qaedas all over the world — in Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, in Jordan, in North Africa, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Indonesia, in Russia. There are reportedly cells in the UK, in Germany and Spain, even in the US. We have seen the work of one of them just last week in Morocco. Nonetheless, for all of them, Bin Laden was a symbol, a personification of their hates, their alienation and their perverted dreams. In the same way too, he was a symbol to all those who because of 9/11 had every reason to hate and fear Al-Qaeda. He inspired admiration; he inspired loathing.

For that reason, Bin Laden's death is of immense significance. A powerful symbol has been destroyed. It has taken a long time, but it is an important victory for justice. A mass murderer whose victims included so many innocents has come to his just deserts.

For the Muslim world, it is like a lifting of a curse. We complain, with very good reason, at the spreading tide of international Islamophobia but he was the cause of so much of it. He, more than anyone else in human history, with his twisted version of Islam, made it feared and despised among millions upon millions of people who had never known about it before. He perverted its image and made them come to think of it as a religion of death and hatred.

No civilized person can ever take pleasure at the death of another, but in this case the hope must be that this death will draw line under 9/11 and all the dysfunctional relationships and mistrust it has brought to the world. Not that anyone will be so naïve as to believe it. The American media and unscrupulous politicians there and elsewhere will continue to see Al-Qaeda threats at every turn, as they have in the Arab uprisings. The US military presence in Iraq will not end nor NATO's in Afghanistan. The hunt will now be on for Ayman Zuwahiri, Al-Qaeda's evil genius.

Bin Laden's death will undoubtedly demoralize his misguided admirers. Invariably, the demoralized try to rally their spirits by denying the cause of their demoralization. That is happening already. There are voices saying that Bin Laden either died long ago or that he is still alive, certainly not killed by the Americans. The disheartened need to deceive themselves. So, while claiming the Americans are lying about Bin Laden's death, those followers will want revenge. Because there are so many Al-Qaeda offshoots, so many Bin Laden wannabees, his death will not end the dangers of terrorism. Greater vigilance will be needed more than ever before —  around the world — perhaps most of all in the US where Al-Qaeda-inspired militants will plot and plan.

[maddog]

The hair is too black.

He acquired quite a few grey hairs in the past 10 years or so.

I suppose they have Grecian 2000 over there as well.

maybe he is from loughglinn