BREAKING: OSAMA BIN LADIN STILL DEAD.

[MKSheppard]

It was one year ago tonight that we got the famous moment, and the famous thread: http://bbs.stardestroyer.net/viewtopic. ... 7&t=148991.

Additionally, yesterday the new One World Trade Center became the tallest building in NYC, beating the Empire State Building.

Hmm yes, an appropriate rejoinder for this glourious anniversary.

[VF5SS]

The blood of one man can never bring back the lives of countless others.

That is unless you attempt some weird alchemy voodoo crap.

[Aaron MkII]

Woopy, an ineffectual old man is dead, the ideology that fostered the attacks still exists, Afghanistan and Iraq are still hellholes, with no end in sight for the former, countless people are dead and your nation continues to crack down on dissent.

Congratulations on your petty revenge.

[Mr Bean]

Congratulations on your petty revenge.

Thank you

May 1st 2011, the day we last had any excuse to have physical troops in Afghanistan.

[Aaron MkII]

Congratulations on your petty revenge.

Thank you

May 1st 2011, the day we last had any excuse to have physical troops in Afghanistan.

Fucking A

[Bakustra]

It's always depressing to see people pin greater, societal ills on individuals. It prevents thinking clearly about problems and solving them, making it a self-defeating and in this case masturbatory enterprise.

[Aaron MkII]

You sig has never been more appropriate Adam. We've destroyed the lives of hundreds of thousands of our young people, and those abroad, for what?

[Guardsman Bass]

Congratulations on your petty revenge.

Thank you

May 1st 2011, the day we last had any excuse to have physical troops in Afghanistan.

It's a pity we didn't kill him at Tora Bora in 2001. There might have been no Afghanistan occupation, and a much more difficult road for the Bush Administration to sell people on invading Iraq.

[mr friendly guy]

It was good riddance to bad rubbish when he was killed. However I don't see the need for me personally, and for most people who aren't really victims of his crimes to commemorate the anniversary of his death. The wanker is dead. You guys got him. Time to move onto other pressing problems, which other people have already mentioned earlier.

[Simon_Jester]

You sig has never been more appropriate Adam. We've destroyed the lives of hundreds of thousands of our young people, and those abroad, for what?

Ideally, it would have been to establish the principle that bloody-minded little tyrants and would-be tyrants can't parade around the world killing swathes of innocent people without retaliation.

This would probably have required a bit more luck and a much more competent, honorable, and generally decent leadership than the US has enjoyed for a long time. Instead, we wound up proving that a flashy enough terrorist can get a lot of his own people killed by tricking the bull into charging the red flag, and that America likes playing the bull.

[Rahvin]

I'm really, really not a fan of celebrating any death. Commemorating the anniversary of a murder/execution/assassination/whatever just strikes me as petty, vindictive, and devaluing of human life.

What bin Laden helped organize was inhuman and reprehensible. It very well may be that killing him was the least-bad of the available options for saving more lives. That in no way means that it is a good thing that a man had to die.

[Mr. Coffee]

Is it wrong that I keep getting Don McLean's American Pie stuck in my head as "Bye bye to that Osama guy..."? I really gotta get my internal audio system checked.

[Flagg]

I'm really, really not a fan of celebrating any death. Commemorating the anniversary of a murder/execution/assassination/whatever just strikes me as petty, vindictive, and devaluing of human life.

What bin Laden helped organize was inhuman and reprehensible. It very well may be that killing him was the least-bad of the available options for saving more lives. That in no way means that it is a good thing that a man had to die.

I don't see a problem with being glad certain people die. Or viewing it as a good thing. Hitler dying was a good thing. Bin Laden dying was a good thing. Pol Pot dying was a good thing.

[Simon_Jester]

Ideally, it would have been to establish the principle that bloody-minded little tyrants and would-be tyrants can't parade around the world killing swathes of innocent people without retaliation.

The problem with retaliation is it goes both ways.

This would probably have required a bit more luck and a much more competent, honorable, and generally decent leadership than the US has enjoyed for a long time. Instead, we wound up proving that a flashy enough terrorist can get a lot of his own people killed by tricking the bull into charging the red flag, and that America likes playing the bull.

There are times, and places, when fighting a war to stop someone from doing something horrid all over again next week works. It is much harder to do this than it is to just fight the war and make a horrible bloody mess of things.

[Slacker]

Just getting a bit off the grimdark already infesting this thread for just a second, the new towers are now extremely obvious in the skyline from various vantage points-I take the Verrazano Bridge on a regular basis to visit the in-laws, and you can see the towers off to the right when driving over to Staten Island, especially at night when they've got the lights on. As a New Yorker, it's good to see that space filled again in a way I don't think someone who isn't from around here can really understand.

[CaptHawkeye]

I don't see a problem with being glad certain people die. Or viewing it as a good thing. Hitler dying was a good thing. Bin Laden dying was a good thing. Pol Pot dying was a good thing.

I've never had any qualm with killing Bin Laden. He was heartless monster leading a dangerous cult and had many countless crimes to answer for. Because he was at the center of a militant organization taking him alive was really just impractical.

On the other hand, the reaction people had to his death was nothing short of disturbing to me. People were out on the street waving flags around and celebrating like it was V-J Day again. Why celebrate what was basically just a vengeance killing? It was nothing to be proud of, just a necessary evil.

[Aaron MkII]

Exactly, I shed no tears for him, he was a disgusting human being. But watching America afterwards was just bizarre.

[Skywalker_T-65]

I live in America and it was weird. I mean, I'm not going to say I wasn't happy we finally got Bin Laden, but I didn't go climbing a street lamp and waving a flag (which incidentally one of the teachers at my high school did do). It was WEIRD just how much like VJ day it was...

[Flagg]

I did a fist pump and said "FINALLY!" but that was about it aside from being a bit giddy.

[Mr. Coffee]

All really thought when it happened was "about goddamn time, can we stop wasting lives and money over this shit now?" My neighbors down the street actually had a bunch of their family over and held a BBQ... Fuckin' hicks.

[fordlltwm]

I was doing a overnight shift at a HAM radio event when OSB died, and we could hear the aussie's talking about it before we'd got anything over here.

[Ultonius]

With Hitler and Bin Laden, I think it would have been better if they had been captured alive, given fair trials for war crimes and/or crimes against humanity, with the full scope of those crimes on show for the world to see, and then either executed or put in prison for life. As it stands, both can be said to have escaped justice, and are seen as martyrs by fanatical admirers, while rumours that their deaths were faked will probably never completely go away.

[Irbis]

Ideally, it would have been to establish the principle that bloody-minded little tyrants and would-be tyrants can't parade around the world killing swathes of innocent people without retaliation.

Oh really?

You know, how Kaddafi was treated might have established that. If Afghanistan operation looked like it, it might have done that. Instead, both it and Iraq were one colossal, fucked up clusterfuck that fed Mil-Ind complex and literally burned away humongous pile of money that might have made a world much better, safer place

[Thanas]

Exactly, I shed no tears for him, he was a disgusting human being. But watching America afterwards was just bizarre.

Kinda reminded me of this.

[Flagg]

The guy was dead anyway. It was going to be a bullet or a needle.