Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has been killed and the US has his body - US media reports - President Obama to speak shortly


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/

HOLY CRAP! I'll diffidently will be watching the news to see if this is real or a publicity stunt. If it's true. Then our family over there should be coming home soon. I'm crossing my fingers on this one guys because I hope its true.

Waiting to hear the President speak, but this is good. Only took a decade.

Natas : I hope for your sake and the other soldiers fighting out there that it's confirmed soon to be him. this could well be the beginning of the end for Al Qaeda

Call me a skeptic, but I'm not really excited about this for a few reasons. My main reason being there is a chance they are mistaken, or covering it up. For all we know, they decided to doctor reports, and doctor a dead body. I have no proof it is Osama. I'm a see it to believe it guy.

Sorry, I don't buy it yet. Call me in a month or so when more information is available

Oh yes. I'm going to pray for everybody family to come home safe and sound. This is great news if its true. Lets hope its not fake, because there will be tons of angry family members out there.

legacyme3 : Your not just a bit exited that their is a very good chance he is dead? it's early days but the signs are looking good.

People outside the whitehouse now chanting USA USA USA. Brilliant.

This is quite interesting news, it is good to see that if this is true we will have seen justice done. but to be honest its really disgusting to see how many people are actually celebrating his death like its something to party over, we did take another persons life its not something to be celebrated, this should be a time for mourning in the face of people that have died because of him and a time of reflection on the lesson we should have learned.

Considering how meh I felt about the War Against Terrorism.... Not that excited. No. I thought when he "died" (as I'm supposed to believe), I would be happy that the war was nearing a relative end.

It just feels like things got more complicated to me. I don't feel any different than before.

legacyme3 : They have the body and DNA evidence that it is the body. What more proof do you need...a month without a new video?

Also...New breaking news...he was killed in PAKISTAN in a MANSION...not even in the mountains, but a Mansion...

Margoth : This is the man who ordered the death of 1000's of people without any mercy what's so ever.. it's only a good thing that he is now dead people like him don't have any place in this world nor do they deserve a place.. and i don't class him as a " Person " It's the best kind of justice for the people who died because of his actions

How revolting it is that people can celebrate the death of a man that was trained and armed by the US to fight in the manner he did. What ever happened after that was on the hands of his trainers. I don't agree with the evidence supporting the blame on him for 9/11 being that only a poor quality video with an odd looking man claiming to be Bin Laden and claiming responsibility. Now if this is true that he, and not a family member or something, was killed; we will never know his true involvement. This is no victory for the US as the armed forces are still creating future militants in the wars over seas and support of dictatorial regimes. This should be a lesson to those who seek to play politics with the lives and lands of other people.

AndyGer : And im not disputing that if you read my post... You may not consider him a person but whether YOU do or not he IS, and i find disgusting and an insult to the people that died because of him to celebrate his death so, it is revolting to listen to the people that profess to be against such hate and then at the same time do such hateful things, how are we any better than him? celebrating our power to take life? isn't that what he used to do to us?

trouble982 :

Bodies and test results can be doctored. Not too hard to cover something up.

I'm not gonna believe this until I know more.

Belegerbs : One would hope that after this, the Taliban, Hussein, and every other screwed up leader we have either put in power or supported that they finally learn to stop messing around with people. Unlikely, but who knows.

But yeah... honestly the war is not over yet. The Taliban did not fight for Bin Laden, so we still have to take care of that lest we make the same mistake that turned Bin Laden against us in the first place (here is the weapons and basic training, have fun fighting a superior force, bye!).

legacyme3 : if that is what you believe then it sounds like you can't trust or believe in ANYTHING.

WEll, if its true, then making Osama jokes will be a little less satisfying to me.

But all in all, it's a good thing.

Belegerbs : I totally agree, how are we to know? the source of that knowledge is now lost to us. We've seen in the past where not only machinery has been faulty and made mistakes, but also our own news organizations with holding the correct information to cover things up. How are we to know?

legacyme3 : You know more now, official statement is out.
geeogree : I can't figure him out...oh well.

geeogree :

Well as someone who really needs irrefutable proof I have severe trust issues and I don't have any ties to any beliefs.

I am an atheist because I don't have proof God exists.
I am skeptical of this because I can't know for sure it is him.

It's a similar vibe to me, about as meh worthy as this whole story.

I don't see it as a negative trait. It's had it's uses. I've never been blindsided by friends for back stabbing or been hurt learning about the non existence of things. (off topic I know, but bear with me.)

To me, this whole event is exactly like religion. I can't believe what I myself do not see. Any written text can be mistranslated or falsified.

legacyme3 : Well Al Qaeda could lie too. I mean, they could say he was dead just to make everyone think it. So that can't be a reliable source either.

geeogree : i Would'nt say he doesn't believe or trust in anything... i think it takes more Concrete evidence to convince him so.

I will be checking reputable news sources online in the coming days to follow up on this. Its breaking news over here. It is all very .. commotion causing...

the US claims to have his body.... I expect in the next few days pictures will come out. If seeing a picture of his body isn't evidence enough for people then I don't think anything will be good enough.

Now that Osama is dead, I can now sell

...

OSAMA BIN LADEN MERCHANDISE!!! OSAMA NAPKINS, BLANKETS, PILLOW PETS, ENERGY DRINKS, FISH TANKS, OSAMA TYLENOL, OSAMA TVS, NINTENDO DSOSAMA, SODA, AND MORE!

SunflowerGaming : Good point. Now that I think about it. If they lie. It could throw our troops in confusion leaving us vulnerable and if that happens. That could spell trouble for the troops and in ways I agree with Legacyme3. I have to see it to believe it. I never did like watching whats going on over there so I have little knowledge of whats going on over there. Its news like this that can throw people into chaos if this was a mere stunt to get people to believe he's really dead. I would have to see proof of his death and I highly doubt that the government will show us anytime soon.

Natas : Oh yeah of course, you can't believe everything that is told on the news, all I am saying is Al Qaeda could lie too. So what makes them the concrete evidence?

geeogree :

At this point, I want pictures. That would at least be enough to keep me somewhat convinced. pictures can be doctored, but if it's out there, then I'd have no choice but to accept a "truth" and live with my own thoughts.

Right now I may seem crazy or paranoid, but if pictures came out, that would ease it a little. Not completely, but a little.

Margoth : Margoth : Can you actually blame anyone for celebrating his death though, what about the family and the friends of the people who were murdered on 9/11? and celebrating the death of someone like him isn't hateful at all IMO it's more to do with the fact that justice has been served and the overwelming Joy, The man was pure evil and i won't deny it i was happy when i heard he was dead the world is better of without him and certainly won't miss him.

And the difference between your comparison is that he celebrated taking the life's of innocent people, the American people are celebrating the death of someone who was far from innocent and clearly deserved what he got.

legacyme3 : of course pictures can be doctored.... anything COULD be changed or lied about, but to live in perpetual skepticism must be tiring.

geeogree :

To be honest, yes it does. I don't like that I'm skeptical of everything.

It's just who I am.

I WANT to believe in God, but I can't do that, and for the same reasons, as much as I want to believe this, I can't.

I hate being skeptical (people think I'm insane), but it's not easy changing your life and or mental outlook.

AndyGer : Yes i can, i dont believe Osama had anything to do with 9/11, and hey thats your opinion, he may have been pure evil, but i think the ending of his life was justice enough, im just saying that people like you that get a happy feeling over death, disgusts me, no matter who it is or what has been done. That difference may be so, but the celebration of death is exactly that, no matter how much the details change.

AndyGer : do you think the men that trained him in military operations and coordination, the US military, should be held responsible for doing so? Do you have factual proof of Bin Laden's involvement in 9/11? Do you think the loss of human life is really something to cheer for any reason? Do you believe in karma? If being evil deserves death does Bush deserve death? Rush Limbaugh, Terry Jones, the Phelps family, Wall-Street investors, and who is to judge who lives and who dies?

Margoth : I agree with AndyGer we dont judge a book by its cover but you can judge someone for their actions and Osama was pure evil. Also, if you are killing the leader at a war then of course you are going to celebrate.

JUNGLExMAN : can you explain the war he was a leader of? If you are referring to the "war on terror" are you saying that war is over and had only one clear enemy? As the cold war was a war without a real enemy, but a war against a belief(communism), the war on terror isn't a war on a clear enemy, but a war on a collective of radicals with no clear objectives or cause. He therefore could not be a leader of a group that doesn't have a central core since there is no world-wide terror network. James Bond took those out in the 60s and 70s, the only ones that existed, the movie kind.

JUNGLExMAN : I said i agreed that he was pure evil.... and yes we did kill their leader, but I thought we celebrated our victory in the war meaning that the war was over, i dont believe we have a reason to celebrate yet, the war is not over, our soldiers are not back yet, they are still in a danger zone. and still It's my opinion on how i am disgusted by the celebrating of an evil act.

Belegerbs : Does a war really have to have a title? If two or more countries are killing each other then its a war. And im not saying the war is over this is just a big turning point in the war.

Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has been killed

At least 10 years, tens of thousands of innocent lives, hundreds of billions of dollars and who knows how many civil liberties and rights violations later...

JUNGLExMAN : but what war are you talking about? Where is this "war" taking place? The war in Afghanistan is against the Taliban, the people that allowed terror groups to train and take refuge in the country. Iraq was about WMD, then ousting Saddam, then about Democracy. Where is this war on terror being fought and who is this clearly defined enemy that he was the "leader" of? Wars are defined events, history tells us that, conflicts and skirmishes have clear actors and participants. Only since the Cold War has it been acceptable for a free society to fight a series of secret conflicts to enact political change.

I was pretty surprised when I heard my brother quieting us to see what was on the abc news and found that it was the death of Bin Laden. I haven't been keeping up with it, but it seemed like he just sort of disappeared from our attention for a while. Good to hear they finally found who they were looking for. There's just something that puzzles me: Anyone know how they had Osama's DNA to match with the body? Like I said, haven't looked much into it, but that struck me as odd. Where did we get a database for comparing his DNA? Or however they identified him.

danielbelitch : Unless they have his exact DNA they would have to compare the DNA from the remains to his closest relative's DNA. That would only prove relation and not that it was actually him though. It's his family and his followers that would need the convincing though since none of us are after him or should have a real reason to care, as like you said, for 10 years he faded from the news and never was a priority for the US military to start.

trouble982 : That picture is awesome. I have been seeing it going around Facebook, and I laughed so hard when I saw it the first time.

legacyme3 : I've been following your comments. It's unlucky that you are so skeptical about things. Just about any kind of evidence can be faked. I'm terrible on the computer but my friend can photoshop himself into the fall of the Berlin Wall, the invasion of Normandy, and any other picture. They can create fake documents, fake movies, fake everything to show us a dead bin Laden. To listen to you, I would think pictures would be the last thing you would trust.

But, whatever you find comforting and trusting, good on you.

Secondly, the God thing.... We have a whole group of posts dedicated to religion. Religion is faith, which is believing in something with the absense of proof for or against. You can't prove God and you can't disprove God. You have faith that there is something greater, unless you're some kind of Buddhist or Shintoist or some other religion without a central diety.

Trust, believe, proof, faith... they're all intertwined. I'm comfortable believing bin Laden is dead. I don't think it changes much for the three wars being fought and I don't think he played a major role in administration or logistics of Al Queda. I have a lot of friends overseas in the military and I don't think they'll be coming now because of this news.

It gives closure for those who suffered on Sept 11th. It gives us a "We can prevail" sense of success and motivates people to hopefully come together over party lines and be united again.

Does it end the war? No. It's like the Star Wars thing. The Emperor died but there were all these troops, ships, and entire worlds in a power vacuum. Things don't just end when you get the leader. There are ten guys in line waiting to take over and run the show.

I hope I'm wrong.

Amen!! Its about time that Osama died remember 9/11

Is no one else slightly worried for America?
Considering in Pakistan and Egypt, they have just killed 2 people who are admired by the most dangerous people in the world.
I think revenge will come.
Oh and it's also interesting when the news says "He has been hiding in his mansion".
I don't know about you guys, but I wouldn't call that hiding...

legacyme3 : im with you there,i need proof first.while they could doctor the images that would be pointless.osama would realease another video and the usa would lose credibility.his secret accounts will probably be seized by his members so if hes dead,i doubt its the end.

yeah i just saw it on the news but i was told that osama was a myth how would they know osama existed?

A travel advisory has been issued for all Americans currently abroad or about to go abroad as a result of Bin Laden's death. You might have cut off one of the larger heads on the hydra, but there are still others... now we wait and see if they turn on each other to try and become the new top bad guy or not. Be safe people.

So, an interesting historical coincidence: May 1st was also the day that they announced Hitler's death.

Tactically speaking, killing Osama really doesn't mean a whole lot. Considering how old he was by the time we got around to killing him, I'm positive that he's had someone trained to fill his shoes. Even if he didn't, some other higher up in Al Qaeda would have stepped up anyway. Either way, this doesn't mean that Al Qaeda is finished and we should still be prepared for the worst.

Still though, I'm glad he got taken out. The man was a lunatic, was responsible for the death of thousands, and was proof of how dangerous religious fanaticism can be. If he died of natural causes I think that it would have driven us crazier than we already are.

As for skepticism that this is just a lie by the government, I sincerely doubt this is the case. Though I can understand where it's coming from, I got enough trust in the federal government that this isn't just some work. If it is, I'm sure Bin Laden will have a new video out on the web soon to show he isn't dead along with a few new threats. Just wait a week or two and I'm sure there will be confirmation from either party, either from pictures of Bin Laden's corpse or the previously mentioned video.