Topic: Osama Bin Laden is dead

[TechPro]

Announced today, Osama Bin Laden has been killed.

There are many who are celebrating this notable event.  There are many who are finally feeling relief and completion with this new, people whose loved ones and family were killed as a result of direction and orders by Osama Bin Laden.  Many feel this is good and wonderful news.

I, personally, have rather mixed feelings about it.  I know and understand the reasons for hunting down and killing Osama Bin Laden and I feel that it was a necessary action that needed to be done, the same as taking out a mass murderer.  However I know that there are also many who are now outraged and their hate and bitterness is inflamed with this news.  Just as much as there will be people celebrating, there will be terrible actions taken in retaliation as well.  It comes down to a difference of opinion, ideology, and goals.

I know that justice needed to be done, but it is regrettable that it had to come to this.  Regrettable that there must be such radically different ways of thinking, opposing ideologies.

I've heard that Osama Bin Laden's body will be buried at sea.  At first I wondered why, then it occured to me that by doing so, there will be no chance of his grave site being a place of pilgrimage for his followers, the site would never be a motivation for martyrs, never a place to be scared and defaced by angry and bitter people.

I'm saddened that the world we live in has to have such events take place.  Why, oh why can't the people of this world manage to put down their swords and try to enjoy life together?

Of course, I know that I will probably always remember hearing the news of Osama Bin Laden's death.  A man held responsible for a lot of death and violence has been killed.

[VANGUARD]

nicely said. I don't know if I have an opinion. I know so many lost their spouse, kids, parents, etc etc in the World Trade Center, and I suppose it feels great to them that Osama is dead. Maybe I'll feel better if let's say, someone kills one of my friends or family members.
Hard reality, if that makes sense with what I am about to say is, what's done is done.
Killing a person won't bring back someone. It won't suddenly make life better. I am by no means saying any criminal shouldn't be caught, or certain people shouldn't be killed.
I believe God will judge all, and they will get exactly what they deserve. There is no hiding. There is no immortality here on earth. One day, they will meet the Maker.

[Kaiaatzl]

There is no immorality here on earth.

I think you mean immortality.  9/11 was pretty immoral.

[VANGUARD]

thanks. I fixed it. It was late,  

edit: wow, i was tired. Fixed another word or two, and then added something at the very end.
Guess it doesn't pay to write too late at night when tired.

[Scyphi]

Usually, it doesn't.

I'm fairly hesitant to celebrate too, because I really don't think it's exactly right for anyone to celebrate someone's death, regardless of who or what he/she was. That, and I highly doubt that just because Bin Laden's dead means things are going to be turned around. Far from it. In fact, part of me is thinking that things just might get worse before they get better.

In short, now is not the time to celebrate. The battle has been won, but the war is still being fought, as they say.

[NUMBERZero]

I have to say....

YES!!!!! FINALLY!!!




I wish that I could have been at some of the gatherings in DC.


Now we will just have to deal with a pissed off Al-Quida.

[D2Disciple]

Killing a man, no matter how justified it is, is certainly no laughing matter. Life is precious, and while Osama certainly received his due, the fact that this religious and political uprising has caused the deaths of thousands of people is certainly a sad thing. While I hope this will soon mark the end of the violence, I can only imagine that this is just one more Al-Queda member eliminated, with many more to go (unfortunately).

[Kaiaatzl]

My thoughts exactly.

[VANGUARD]

I'm having mixed feelings about something.

Telling the world that Osama is dead can be a good thing in one way. It shows we are strong, and we did indeed accomplish something.
it can also start off new wars/riots, etc....

Sometimes I think that if we kept this quiet, it'd be better. But, that's my opinion. Now the world knows, and there will be groups that are not happy about this at all.

[NUMBERZero]

The man (?) was a killer. He killed thousands and if he wasn't killed, he would kill thousands more.

Think about the classic scenario where it's a good guy and he has to be "killed in order to save thousands." But now replace the good guy with a killing machine. The choice cannot possibly to be difficult to make now.

Life is precious, but is the one life that keeps taking life indiscriminantly so precious any more?


And that's true about the other groups, but they have always been there. Osama still being alive today still wouldn't mean that they would just go away.

[PyroJockey]

It's been almost 10 years and people tend forget or were too young to remember the day people fell from the sky like rain. The mainstream media will not show those images to remind us, but I remember. I visited ground zero in November 2001 and it was a life changing experience. Thousands of pictures of lost loved ones lining the fences. The smoldering heap that once were gleaming twin towers. I had been in those towers in 1977. Now grotesquely twisted pieces of steel jutted out from nearby building where they impaled themselves. The gray ashen dust covered everything.

While I have no joy in hearing of Bin Laden's death, I will never shed a tear for him nor feel any remorse for his fate at the hands of Americans. He had brought this wrath upon himself. I find it ironic that he was buried following Islamic tradition. We are too decent a people to give this fiend the funeral he deserved, the same treatment that al qaeda and the Somali populace gave US troops after the battle of Mogadishu in 1993. The mainstream media won't show those pictures either. Bin Laden got off easy.

[D2Disciple]

x2 to PyroJockey's statements.

However, I must say that justice and vengeance are two different things. Our killing Osama was justice. Mutilating his body or unceremoniously disposing of him would have been vengeful. While we could have justifiably done so, the U.S. needs to set an example of delivering swift justice without using unnecessary force to make a statement. This hasn't always been the case (consider the tragic and despicable My Lai incident during the Vietnam war).  I think it was a smart political and tactical move to provide a proper ceremony while burying the body in a location that could not become a martyr's grave - the water.

I certainly do not intend to say that I would second guess the ethics of killing such a cold-blooded and cowardly murderer such as Bin Laden. He's gone, and rightfully so. But the fact that he has killed - and must be killed for that reason - is deeply saddening.

[Matthew]

The only sad part of this is that an innocent woman had to die for it to happen. I hope her family takes comfort in knowing her death was not in entirely vain.

[Scyphi]

I'm not shedding a tear for Osama, and I'm not saying anyone should, but I'm just saying that I'm not really sure it's something that's worth celebrating over like we are, and all it really marks is that one man received justice. Beyond that, I doubt anything has really changed.

And as for making the news of the killing so public, I'd bet you anything it's a political stunt done mostly just to try and cheer up Americans, and distract them from other national issues for a little while, if not more.

[VANGUARD]

i kind of that too, or "president is worth having around another 4 years because of this"