Did Obama Order the Murder Of OBL?

[Danno 1,228]

Nope, they should have taken him alive if they could...though I don't know how he resisted.

I think your principles are a bit too high for warfare.

Osama alive would have risked untold retaliations ... including hostage taking, more suicide bombing and perhaps even more recruiting.

Killing and dUmping him the the sea was brilliant.

This is the first impressive thing Obama has done since getting a puppy.

Edited May 4, 2011 by Danno

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

I think your principles are a bit too high for warfare.

OOOOOOOH! we are at war! someone tell congress so they can declare it?!

I think your principles are a bit too high for warfare.

Wait in warfare you can shoot people unarmed?

[Peikko 1,575]

Just seems odd so many on the Left were against waterboarding those three top-level guys.... to find Osama due it being contrary to "who we are" ...

yet killing an unarmed person is fine.

I know you don't have sympathy for terrorists, thats not the point, the point.

Your double standard is.

I applauded Obama, he has come a long way from the polly anna rhetoric of the campaign trail.

No, it's not odd at all Danno. First of all, water boarding has not proven to be a reliable source of information, it's very, very unlikely to be so, for all sorts of very well researched and understood reasons, particularly if the person being water boarded is driven by belief, (no, not necessarily religious - and I don't think that's what really drives them either - I think it's much more basic desire to control their own destiny )no intention of getting into how loony their particular version of reality is). Even were it to be effective, 'enhanced interrogation' of prisoners is a far cry from combat conditions, these are completely and utterly DIFFERENT situations.

Further more, we know for sure that Bin Laden was not alone and he didn't try to surrender but rather behaved in a somewhat threatening manner or so we are led to believe (and I don't question this version of events very much for the reasons I have already iterated) He was in fact in the middle of a heavily armed compound, there was a lot of confusion, he didn't surrender and the Seals could not have known if he was armed or not (quel suprirse!) I don't have any double standards, but your desire to create them is, well laughable.

I don't think Obama is a big hero, he just did what needed to be done and deserves credit for the decision to get this done but that's it.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Nope, they should have taken him alive if they could...though I don't know how he resisted.

If you make threatening moves at enemy soldiers, you are likely to be shot. If you do so while having the reputation as the most dangerous man alive, i doubt anyone will take any chances with you.

At the end of the day, speculation is all there is.

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

I think your principles are a bit too high for warfare.

Yeah! killing unarmed people Yeah!

[Danno 1,228]

OOOOOOOH! we are at war! someone tell congress so they can declare it?!

Wait in warfare you can shoot people unarmed?

You are in fantasy land if you think shooting unarmed combatants is not a real part of every war.

[Peikko 1,575]

If you make threatening moves at enemy soldiers, you are likely to be shot. If you do so while having the reputation as the most dangerous man alive, i doubt anyone will take any chances with you.

At the end of the day, speculation is all there is.

Speculation within boundaries though. These were crack troops and I am not quite sure how they were supposed to know the guy was unarmed, sure he wasn't pointing a gun at them but that's not exactly the same as being unarmed and we are told he didn't make any surrender moves - I tend to believe it; he may well have acted as many cornered people do who don't like the idea of what their fate might be and opted for suicide by solder.

[Danno 1,228]

Yeah! killing unarmed people Yeah!

He is a captive, not a combatant.

[Peikko 1,575]

You are in fantasy land if you think shooting unarmed combatants is not a real part of every war.

You live in fantasy land if you believe the US soldiers go in for that kind of thing deliberately or could do so with impunity.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Just seems odd so many on the Left were against waterboarding those three top-level guys.... to find Osama due it being contrary to "who we are" ...

yet killing an unarmed person is fine.

I know you don't have sympathy for terrorists, thats not the point, the point.

Your double standard is.

I applauded Obama, he has come a long way from the polly anna rhetoric of the campaign trail.

Has anyone explicitly said executing unarmed prisoners is "fine", besides you?

It's as if you have some completely mythologised version of the events in your head. Amazing, since you were not in the room when the guy was killed. It's barely three days from the event and already you're manufacturing stories about partisan loyalties.

Only in America could this happen

[Danno 1,228]

Speculation within boundaries though. These were crack troops and I am not quite sure how they were supposed to know the guy was unarmed, sure he wasn't pointing a gun at them but that's not exactly the same as being unarmed and we are told he didn't make any surrender moves - I tend to believe it; he may well have acted as many cornered people do who don't like the idea of what their fate might be and opted for suicide by solder.

All that mental back-n-forth is really unnecessary.

It was a "KILL" mission.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Speculation within boundaries though. These were crack troops and I am not quite sure how they were supposed to know the guy was unarmed, sure he wasn't pointing a gun at them but that's not exactly the same as being unarmed and we are told he didn't make any surrender moves - I tend to believe it; he may well have acted as many cornered people do who don't like the idea of what their fate might be and opted for suicide by solder.

Of course. I think some folks here think that these events play out like some video game, where you can reload the game if you discover the guy wasn't armed.

[Peikko 1,575]

All that mental back-n-forth is really unnecessary.

It was a "KILL" mission.

Have at it Danno, just believe your own narrow version of events. You will any way, and play partisan bullshit games in doing so. Good luck to you with that.

[Usui Takumi 1,562]

You are in fantasy land if you think shooting unarmed combatants is not a real part of every war.

[Danno 1,228]

Has anyone explicitly said executing unarmed prisoners is "fine", besides you?

It's as if you have some completely mythologised version of the events in your head. Amazing, since you were not in the room when the guy was killed. It's barely three days from the event and already you're manufacturing stories about partisan loyalties.

Only in America could this happen

Your terms are all mixed up.

I never said anything about "prisoners" being killed.