OSAMA BIN LADEN DEAD

[NecronLord]

There are a few Dutch people who've tried to report Osama Bin Laden's killing to the police as a murder. They're considering approaching the ICC.

Have you got an english language source for that? I don't doubt but I am curious!

[Crossroads Inc.]

Is anyone else annoyed about the right Crowing that this is a "Justification" for water boarding people, or that Bin Laden was only captured because of information gained under water boarding in the Bush Era? Considering the information that outted Bin Laden was just put together within the last few months, wouldn't it be evidence for the exact opposed? That seven years of "enhanced interrogation" yielded nothing but bogus information by people wanting to stop being tortured?

I mean, look at one of MANY stories regarding the topic HERE

Osama bin Laden was a) killed by a unit overseen by what New Yorker reporter Seymour Hersh denounced as Vice President Dick Cheney's "executive assassination ring," which was b) sent into action based on intel derived from the now-outlawed "enhanced interrogation techniques," which were c) used on detainees captured during the George W. Bush administration, who were d) being held in now-outlawed "secret prisons" or in the intended-to-be-closed Gitmo.
President Obama's deputy national security advisor, John Brennan, confirmed that the death of bin Laden resulted from "a mosaic (of intelligence) appearing over time and by ... people who have been following bin Laden for many, many years." This explains why 81 percent of Republicans give former President George W. Bush "at least some of the credit" for bin Laden's death. U.S. security forces tracked and were able to kill bin Laden through the use of the discredited, maligned, and -- in some cases -- the discontinued terror-fighting policies and practices of Bush.

So how much credit do Democrats give Bush?

Not much. Only 35 percent of Democrats, according to The Washington Post, believe that Bush deserves "at least some of the credit." Yet Obama took advantage of policies the left attacked -- at least under Bush -- as wrong, illegal and immoral.

"Enhanced interrogation techniques" -- The Washington Post's associate editor and foreign affairs columnist, David Ignatius, writes, "Some of the detainees (who gave information that led to bin Laden's location) were subjected to 'enhanced interrogation techniques,' the CIA's formal name for what is now widely viewed as torture."

Gitmo and secret prisons, aka "black sites" (now closed by Obama) -- "The revelation," writes The Associated Press, "that intelligence gleaned from the CIA's so-called black sites helped kill bin Laden was seen as vindication for many intelligence officials who have been repeatedly investigated and criticized for their involvement in a program that involved the harshest interrogation methods in U.S. history."

Rendition, the practice of moving a detainee to a country with more severe interrogation policies -- "Current and former U.S. officials," according to The Associated Press, "say that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, provided the nom de guerre of one of bin Laden's most trusted aides. The CIA got similar information from Mohammed's successor, Abu Faraj al-Libi. Both were subjected to harsh interrogation tactics inside CIA prisons in Poland and Romania."

Bush-Cheney "executive assassination ring" -- Navy SEAL Team Six is part of the Joint Special Operations Command. Two years ago, The New Yorker's Pulitzer prize-winning Hersh denounced the JSOC by calling it Bush-Cheney's "executive assassination ring": "It is a special wing of our special operations community that is set up independently. They do not report to anybody, except in the Bush-Cheney days ... they reported directly to the Cheney office. ... Congress has no oversight of it. It's an executive assassination ring, essentially. ... That's been going on, in the name of all of us."

Intel from Bush detainees -- "Shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks," writes the AP, "detainees in the CIA's secret prison network told interrogators about an important courier ... who was close to bin Laden. ... Then in 2004, top al-Qaida operative Hassan Ghul was captured in Iraq. ... It was a key break in the hunt for bin Laden's personal courier. 'Hassan Ghul was the linchpin,' a U.S. official said."

For purposes of consistency, even if it's insincere, the all-praise-to-Obama crowd should couch their euphoria: "Yes, we celebrate the death of a villain. But his death in no way validates the use of methods and practices that violate human rights and send the wrong message about our principles and values as a people. The ends do not justify the means."

But, no. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., a leading waterboarding-is-torture and Bush-is-evil-and-incompetent critic, raised no reservations and was oblivious to the contradiction: "The death of Osama bin Laden marks the most significant development in our fight against al-Qaida. I salute President Obama, his national security team, Director Panetta, our men and women in the intelligence community and military, and other nations who supported this effort for their leadership in achieving this major accomplishment. ... (T)he death of Osama bin Laden is historic." Impressive.

Finally, Bush-haters deny him credit with the "Bush took his eye off the ball" assertion. After all, Bush did say, "I am truly not that concerned about (bin Laden)." President Obama, however, said much the same thing, assuming -- it turns out incorrectly -- that bin Laden "was in a cave somewhere." To the Bush-haters, "not that concerned" translates, of course, into not giving a rip about bin Laden and abandoning the hunt.

But Bush never quit. He was briefed on bin Laden at least once a week. Two weeks before he left office, Bush confidently predicted that bin Laden would "of course, absolutely" be found by a future president. "We have a lot of people looking for him, a lot of assets out there. He can't run forever."

And on May 1, 2011, Osama bin Laden stopped running. Forever.

[PeZook]

Is anyone else annoyed about the right Crowing that this is a "Justification" for water boarding people, or that Bin Laden was only captured because of information gained under water boarding in the Bush Era? Considering the information that outted Bin Laden was just put together within the last few months, wouldn't it be evidence for the exact opposed? That seven years of "enhanced interrogation" yielded nothing but bogus information by people wanting to stop being tortured?

I am annoyed, but not surprised. If the only thing waterboarding did was make someone say Bin Laden was hiding "Somewhere in Asia", they would've attributed his death to waterboarding, too, because that vindicates their preconceptions.

[Zed]

There are a few Dutch people who've tried to report Osama Bin Laden's killing to the police as a murder. They're considering approaching the ICC.

Have you got an english language source for that? I don't doubt but I am curious!

http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2 ... aden_m.php is the first I found.

[Broomstick]

Is anyone else annoyed about the right Crowing that this is a "Justification" for water boarding people, or that Bin Laden was only captured because of information gained under water boarding in the Bush Era?

Yes. I wish to vomit upon them and stick them with a fork in delicate parts of their anatomy. Even my Obama-hating right-wing work buddy concedes this one goes to Obama, but then, that guy is mostly rational and capable of logical thinking.

[Thanas]

Topic now unlocked and the idiocy of Hammer excised to a more fitting place.

[Patrick Degan]

Is anyone else annoyed about the right Crowing that this is a "Justification" for water boarding people, or that Bin Laden was only captured because of information gained under water boarding in the Bush Era? Considering the information that outted Bin Laden was just put together within the last few months, wouldn't it be evidence for the exact opposed? That seven years of "enhanced interrogation" yielded nothing but bogus information by people wanting to stop being tortured?

I mean, look at one of MANY stories regarding the topic HERE

<snipping the aforementioned apologist bullshit>

I have not celebrated BinLaden's death. But I have been endlessly entertained by the right's desperate attempts to either denigrate Obama for knocking off BinLaden or to aggrandise the credit for the job to their beloved Decider, who gave up on it because it distracted him from his Holy Crusade™ in Iraq.

But Bush never quit. He was briefed on bin Laden at least once a week. Two weeks before he left office, Bush confidently predicted that bin Laden would "of course, absolutely" be found by a future president. "We have a lot of people looking for him, a lot of assets out there. He can't run forever."

Almost like having Comical Axi back for a brief visit, isn't it? Larry Elder and the rest of the clown squad can try to spin the facts all they like, but the reality remains that Chimpus Caesar gave up on any real effort to track BinLaden, much less actually attempt to capture or kill the man, in the ramp up to his preferred war in Iraq. People who fell down on the job, in fact never even took it seriously in the first place, don't get credit for it now.

[General Mung Beans]

There are a few Dutch people who've tried to report Osama Bin Laden's killing to the police as a murder. They're considering approaching the ICC.

Hopefully afterwards they will check themselves in for psychological evaluation at a mental hospital.

[Broomstick]

They aren't crazy, really.

Two key points:
Unlike Al Qaeda, we allow people to have differences of opinion without threatening or killing them.

I welcome people questioning this action, because there are legitimate questions about its legality, and even if the US has the ability to do this, such actions should never be done lightly, or often.

[Akhlut]

Al Qaida releases a statement on its forums confirming the death of bin Laden. I think that pretty much cinches it for all but the loony brigade, then, as al Qaida has every reason to gloat that bin Laden is alive if he were, while very few reasons to say he's dead if he were still alive.

CNN

(CNN) -- Al Qaeda released a statement on jihadist forums Friday confirming the death of its leader, Osama bin Laden, according to SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors Islamist websites.

The development comes days after U.S. troops killed bin Laden in a raid on a compound in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad.

The statement, translated by SITE, lauded the late militant, threatened to take action against the United States, and urged Pakistanis to "rise up and revolt."

Bin Laden's death will serve as a "curse that chases the Americans and their agents, and goes after them inside and outside their countries," the message said.

"Soon -- with help from Allah -- their happiness will turn into sorrow, and their blood will be mixed with their tears," it said.

The statement said al Qaeda will "continue on the path of jihad, the path walked upon by our leaders, and on top of them" bin Laden "without hesitation or reluctance.

"We will not deviate from that or change until Allah judges between us and between our enemy with truth. Indeed, He is the best of all judges. Nothing will harm us after that, until we see either victory and success and conquest and empowerment, or we die trying."

It said that Americans "will never enjoy security until our people in Palestine enjoy it."

"The soldiers of Islam, groups and individuals, will continue planning without tiredness or boredom, and without despair or surrender, and without weakness or stagnancy, until they cause the disaster that makes children look like the elderly!"

It urged Pakistanis "to cleanse this shame that has been attached to them by a clique of traitors and thieves" and "from the filth of the Americans who spread corruption in it."

Bin Laden and other militants used the Internet to post messages to their followers before and after al Qaeda's September, 11, 2001 attack on the United States.

MSNBC

CAIRO — Al-Qaida on Friday confirmed the killing of Osama bin Laden and warned of retaliation, saying America's "happiness will turn to sadness."

The confirmation came in an Internet statement posted on militant websites, signed by "the general leadership" of al-Qaida.

The announcement opens the way for the group to name a successor to bin Laden. His deputy Ayman al-Zawahri is now the most prominent figure in the group and is a very likely contender to take his place.

The statement, dated May 3, was the first by the terror network since bin Laden was killed Monday by U.S. commandos in a raid on his hideout in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

The statement's authenticity could not be independently confirmed, but it was posted on websites where the group traditionally puts out its messages.

The statement vowed that al-Qaida would not deviate from the path of armed struggle and said bin Laden's blood "is more precious to us and to every Muslim than to be wasted in vain."

"It (bin Laden's blood) will remain, with permission from Allah the Almighty, a curse that chases the Americans and their agents, and goes after them inside and outside their countries," the militant network said in a statement released on Islamist Internet forums and translated by the SITE monitoring service.

"Soon, God willing, their happiness will turn to sadness," it said, "their blood will be mingled with their tears."

In the statement, al-Qaida also called on the people of Pakistan — "on whose land Sheikh Osama was killed" — to rise up in revolt against its leaders "to cleanse this shame that has been attached to them by a clique of traitors and thieves ... and in general to cleanse their country from the filth of the Americans who spread corruption in it."

It also said that an audio message bin Laden recorded a week before his death would be issued soon.

"Before the sheikh passed from this world and before he could share with the Islamic nation in its joys over its revolutions in the face of the oppressors, he recorded a voice recording of congratulations and advice which we will publish soon, God willing," the militant group said.

[PeZook]

You know, these terrorists sure know how write their threatening press releases in a poetic way.

[Broomstick]

Sorry, since I don't have a picture of bin Laden to throw darts at (or shoot with my crossbow) I'll settle for the following:

Bin Laden's death will serve as a "curse that chases the Americans and their agents, and goes after them inside and outside their countries," the message said.

And this is different that what you were doing before... how?

"Soon -- with help from Allah -- their happiness will turn into sorrow, and their blood will be mixed with their tears," it said.

I do not believe in your particular Magical Sky Pixie (MSP), and if I did, I wonder if it would be as happy with your actions as you think

"We will not deviate from that or change until Allah judges between us and between our enemy with truth. Indeed, He is the best of all judges. Nothing will harm us after that, until we see either victory and success and conquest and empowerment, or we die trying."

What if your MSP judges against you, hmmm? I mean, he's been doing a bang-up job making sure nothing harms you so far... oh, wait. He hasn't. I mean, if your MSP exists and is so powerful and so approving of what you do why did he let a bunch of SEALs charge in and kill your leader, huh?

As for the “die trying”.... there are people willing to help you with that part.

It said that Americans "will never enjoy security until our people in Palestine enjoy it."

I rather doubt any of you assholes are really doing this for the poor downtrodden Palestinians – what have they gained by your actions, anyhow?

"The soldiers of Islam, groups and individuals, will continue planning without tiredness or boredom, and without despair or surrender, and without weakness or stagnancy, until they cause the disaster that makes children look like the elderly!"

What...? I'm not sure that makes sense.

It urged Pakistanis "to cleanse this shame that has been attached to them by a clique of traitors and thieves" and "from the filth of the Americans who spread corruption in it."

Translation: rise up and be cannon fodder take revenge for us while we hide, hoping the US military doesn't raid our asses. After all, if the Pakistanis couldn't keep bin Laden safe they deserve to be thrown under the bus, right?

[GrandMasterTerwynn]

There are a few Dutch people who've tried to report Osama Bin Laden's killing to the police as a murder. They're considering approaching the ICC.

Hopefully afterwards they will check themselves in for psychological evaluation at a mental hospital.

Well . . . it is. The United States sent in an a team of assassins whose primary mission was to carry out a sentence of execution that was passed down by what amounts to a secret tribunal. Failing that, he was tried in absentia in the Court of Public Opinion (which, the last time I checked, isn't a real court of law.) If you believe that every human being (no matter the magnitude of their crimes) has a right to a fair trial in a court of law and you are vehemently opposed to invading other peoples' countries for the express purpose of having people summarily executed, then approaching the ICC is a perfectly rational thing to do.

And there are perfectly legitimate reasons to question the legality of Bin Laden's execution. For example, did the information leading to his hideout come from people who were arbitrarily imprisoned and subjected to torture? And what court of law was he tried in? What judge and jury convicted him and handed down the death penalty? Did he have an opportunity to answer the charges against him? Navy SEALs are some badass motherfuckers. Especially those from the fabled SEAL Team Six who were responsible for bagging him. If they could schlep his bullet-riddled deadweight corpse, could they have not schlepped his drugged-up deadweight, but still-alive body?

Yes, Bin Laden had authority over, or indirect responsibility for the deaths of several thousand Americans, hundreds of other Westerners, and many tens of thousands of Iraqis and Afghans. Certainly, there probably exists enough evidence against him, that isn't tainted by illegal detention and torture, (and the SEALs bagged his computers and data storage media too) that he could only expect the death penalty, or to spend the rest of his life inside a little concrete box, if he were brought to trial in a court of law.

tl;dr - Being tagged, bagged, and dumped off the side of an aircraft carrier really couldn't have happened to a nicer guy, but seriously, think before you start accusing people who'd disagree of insanity.

[Akhlut]

Alyeska, I don't think he really could have been drugged up quickly enough to capture him effectively. For one, he apparently had a bad kidney disorder, making drugging him a potential death sentence anyway when it's not under medical supervision in a calm environment. Secondly, the difference between "unconscious" and "dead" is a very fine one indeed without having someone's weight and medical history in front of you, especially if you want them unconscious within a minute or less.

Frankly, I don't think there was any way he was going to be captured alive, given that he was probably always armed or close enough to a gun to be problematic to someone trying to capture him.

[General Mung Beans]

There are a few Dutch people who've tried to report Osama Bin Laden's killing to the police as a murder. They're considering approaching the ICC.

Hopefully afterwards they will check themselves in for psychological evaluation at a mental hospital.

Well . . . it is. The United States sent in an a team of assassins whose primary mission was to carry out a sentence of execution that was passed down by what amounts to a secret tribunal. Failing that, he was tried in absentia in the Court of Public Opinion (which, the last time I checked, isn't a real court of law.) If you believe that every human being (no matter the magnitude of their crimes) has a right to a fair trial in a court of law and you are vehemently opposed to invading other peoples' countries for the express purpose of having people summarily executed, then approaching the ICC is a perfectly rational thing to do.

And there are perfectly legitimate reasons to question the legality of Bin Laden's execution. For example, did the information leading to his hideout come from people who were arbitrarily imprisoned and subjected to torture? And what court of law was he tried in? What judge and jury convicted him and handed down the death penalty? Did he have an opportunity to answer the charges against him? Navy SEALs are some badass motherfuckers. Especially those from the fabled SEAL Team Six who were responsible for bagging him. If they could schlep his bullet-riddled deadweight corpse, could they have not schlepped his drugged-up deadweight, but still-alive body?

Yes, Bin Laden had authority over, or indirect responsibility for the deaths of several thousand Americans, hundreds of other Westerners, and many tens of thousands of Iraqis and Afghans. Certainly, there probably exists enough evidence against him, that isn't tainted by illegal detention and torture, (and the SEALs bagged his computers and data storage media too) that he could only expect the death penalty, or to spend the rest of his life inside a little concrete box, if he were brought to trial in a court of law.

tl;dr - Being tagged, bagged, and dumped off the side of an aircraft carrier really couldn't have happened to a nicer guy, but seriously, think before you start accusing people who'd disagree of insanity.

I was being hyperbolic. And I don't deny there are legitimate reasons for debate on this, but reporting Bin Laden's death as murder to the Dutch Police is little more than real-life trolling/flaming.

[Samuel]

Especially since the Dutch police don't have jurisdiction over Pakistan or the United States. They should have complained to Interpol.

[FSTargetDrone]

You know, these terrorists sure know how write their threatening press releases in a poetic way.

Sounds more cartoonish than anything.

Anyway:

Death of Osama bin Laden: Phone call pointed U.S. to compound — and to ‘the pacer’

By Bob Woodward

It seemed an innocuous, catch-up phone call. Last year Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti, the pseudonym for a Pakistani known to U.S. intelligence as the main courier for Osama bin Laden, took a call from an old friend.

Where have you been? inquired the friend. We’ve missed you. What’s going on in your life? And what are you doing now?

Kuwaiti’s response was vague but heavy with portent: “I’m back with the people I was with before.”

There was a pause, as if the friend knew that Kuwaiti’s words meant he had returned to bin Laden’s inner circle, and was perhaps at the side of the al-Qaeda leader himself.

The friend replied, “May God facilitate.”

When U.S. intelligence officials learned of this exchange, they knew they had reached a key moment in their decade-long search for al-Qaeda’s founder. The call led them to the unusual, high-walled compound in Abbottabad, a city 35 miles north of Pakistan’s capital.

“This is where you start the movie about the hunt for bin Laden,” said one U.S. official briefed on the intelligence-gathering leading up to the raid on the compound early Monday.

The exchange and several other pieces of information, other officials said, gave President Obama the confidence to launch a politically risky mission to capture or kill bin Laden, a decision he took despite dissension among his key national security advisers and varying estimates of the likelihood that bin Laden was in the compound. The officials would speak about the collection of intelligence and White House decision making only on the condition that they not be named.

U.S. intelligence agencies had been searching for Kuwaiti for at least four years; the call with the friend gave them the number of the courier’s cellphone. Using a vast number of human and technical sources, they tracked Kuwaiti to the compound.

The main three-story building, which had no telephone lines or Internet service, was impenetrable to eavesdropping technology deployed by the National Security Agency.

U.S. officials were stunned to realize that whenever Kuwaiti or others left the compound to make a call, they drove some 90 minutes away before even placing a battery in a cellphone. Turning on the phone made it susceptible to the kind of electronic surveillance that the residents of the compound clearly wished to avoid.

As intelligence officials scrutinized images of the compound, they saw that a man emerged most days to stroll the grounds of the courtyard for an hour or two. The man walked back and forth, day after day, and soon analysts began calling him “the pacer.” The imagery never provided a clear view of his face.

Intelligence officials were reluctant to bring in other means of technical or human surveillance that might offer a positive identification but would risk detection by those in the compound. The pacer never left the compound. His routine suggested he was not just a shut-in but almost a prisoner.

Was the pacer bin Laden? A decoy? A hoax? A setup?

Bin Laden was at least 6-foot-4, and the pacer seemed to have the gait of a tall man. The White House asked the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, which provides and analyzes satellite imagery, to determine the pacer’s height. The agency said the man’s height was somewhere between 5-foot-8 and 6-foot-8, according to one official.

Another official said the agency provided a narrower range for the pacer’s height, but the estimate was still of limited reliability because of the lack of information about the size of the building’s windows or the thickness of the compound’s walls, which would have served as reference points.

In one White House meeting, CIA Director Leon E. Panetta told Obama and other top national security officials that the general rule in gathering intelligence was to keep going until a target such as the Abbottabad compound ran dry.

Panetta said that point had been reached, arguing that those tracking the compound were seeing the pacer nearly every day but could not conclude with certainty that it was bin Laden, officials said. Panetta noted that there was no signals intelligence available and contended that it was too risky to send in a human spy or move any closer with electronic devices.

The Washington Post reported Friday that the agency established a safe house in Abbottabad for a small team that monitored the compound in the months leading up to the raid.

The decision

Obama and his advisers debated the options, officials said. One option was to fire a missile from a Predator or Reaper aerial drone. Such a strike would be low-risk, but if the result was a direct hit, the pacer might be vaporized and officials would never be certain they had killed bin Laden. If the drone attack missed, as had happened in attacks on high-value targets, bin Laden or whoever was living in the compound would flee and the United States would have to start the hunt from scratch.

Panetta designated Navy Vice Adm. William H. McRaven, who had headed the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) for nearly three years, to devise a boots-on-the ground plan for the special forces that became known as “the McRaven option.”

McRaven had increased the intensity of Special Operations raids, especially in Afghanistan. During his first two years as head of JSOC, the “jackpot rate” — when the strikes got their intended target — jumped from 35 percent to more than 80 percent.

His decision to assign the operation to the Navy SEALs, a Special Operations unit with extensive experience in raids on high-value targets, was critical. SEALs have a tradition of moving in and out fast, often killing everyone they encounter at a target site. Most members of the SEAL team in the bin Laden raid had been deployed to war zones a dozen or more times.

A “pattern of life” study of the compound by intelligence agencies showed that about a dozen women and children periodically frequented it.

Specific orders were issued to the SEALs not to shoot the women or children unless they were clearly threatening or had weapons. (During the mission, one woman was killed and a wife of bin Laden was shot in the leg.) Bin Laden was to be captured, one official said, if he “conspicuously surrendered.”

The longer such raids take, the greater the risk to the SEALs. One senior official said the general philosophy of the SEALs is: “If you see it, shoot it. It is a house full of bad guys.”

Several assessments concluded there was a 60 to 80 percent chance that bin Laden was in the compound. Michael Leiter, the head of the National Counterterrorism Center, was much more conservative. During one White House meeting, he put the probability at about 40 percent.

When a participant suggested that was a low chance of success, Leiter said, “Yes, but what we’ve got is 38 percent better than we have ever had before.”

The assault

Officials said Obama’s national security advisers were not unanimous in recommending he go ahead with the McRaven option. The president approved the raid at 8:20 a.m. Friday.

During the assault, one of the Black Hawk helicopters stalled, but the pilot was able to land safely. The hard landing, which disabled the helicopter, forced the SEALs to abandon a plan to have one team rope down from a Blackhawk and come into the main building from the roof. Instead, both teams assaulted the compound from the ground.

The White House initially said bin Laden was shot and killed because he was engaged in a firefight and resisted. Later, White House press secretary Jay Carney said bin Laden was not armed, but Carney insisted he resisted in some form. He and others have declined to specify the exact nature of his alleged resistance, though there reportedly were weapons in the room where bin Laden was killed.

A senior Special Operations official said that SEALs would avoid providing more details about the raid, to prevent the disclosure of methods central to their success. The individuals who took part in the raid, the official said, would not grant interviews and had signed nondisclosure agreements about their classified work.

“They are interested in closing ranks and getting on with business,” he said.

SEALs scooped up dozens of thumb drives and several computer hard drives that are now being scrutinized for information about al-Qaeda, especially an address, location or cellphone number for Ayman al-Zawahiri, bin Laden’s second in command.

But officials said the delicate process of sifting this intelligence bonanza is made more challenging because of worries that using the wrong passwords could trigger a pre-planned erasure of digital information.

In the White House Situation Room on Sunday night, the president and his national security team watched a soundless video feed of the raid.

When bin Laden’s corpse was laid out, one of the Navy SEALs was asked to stretch out next to it to compare heights. The SEAL was 6 feet tall. The body was several inches taller.

After the information was relayed to Obama, he turned to his advisers and said: “We donated a $60 million helicopter to this operation. Could we not afford to buy a tape measure?”

Evelyn M. Duffy contributed to this report.

[Alyeska]

Alyeska, I don't think he really could have been drugged up quickly enough to capture him effectively. For one, he apparently had a bad kidney disorder, making drugging him a potential death sentence anyway when it's not under medical supervision in a calm environment. Secondly, the difference between "unconscious" and "dead" is a very fine one indeed without having someone's weight and medical history in front of you, especially if you want them unconscious within a minute or less.

Frankly, I don't think there was any way he was going to be captured alive, given that he was probably always armed or close enough to a gun to be problematic to someone trying to capture him.

Eh? Why did you mention me in that?

[Simon_Jester]

I think he mistook Terwynn for you.

[DudeGuyMan]

Europe should pretty much just print up some "We're ever so offended that nobody cares about our self-proclaimed position as arbiters of international law!" form letters. As far as I'm concerned everyone in the Netherlands can go have a fucking seat because none of this concerns them.

[Metahive]

People have the damn right to be concerned about this. No matter the result this was an extra-judicial killing and Obama has claimed for himself the right to do that to anyone he considers undesirable. What if the next target on the list is someone like Julian Assange? US politicians were already loudly crying for his head, remember?

[Hawkwings]

OBL and Assange are hardly similar cases. It's not a black and white "we like him/we don't like him" switch.

[Metahive]

The Anwar al-Awlaki case shows that mere anonymous intelligence reports are enough to earn a friggin' US citizen a presidentially approved, extrajudicial death sentence and as the Bin Laden case shows, territorial borders are of no concern for the US. Those two combined show that other nations have due justification to be concerned about potential US incursions.

[K. A. Pital]

I think Bin Laden's assassination did not provide a basis for any greater fear than there already was. After all, America has assassinated or attempted to assassinate people before. The drone killings in Pakistan are a rather recent example. Bin Laden's assassination adds nothing of substance. Everyone already had plenty of reasons to fear America.

[Metahive]

All the more reason to think that it is indeed of international concern and should definitely be questioned within a court of law.