Posted on 05/03/2011 5:18:12 PM PDT by PilotDave
A major question lingers unanswered at the center of this story: Why was bin Laden killed? Michael Scherer has reported that the Navy Seals who landed at Osama bin Laden’s safehouse were not given orders specifically to kill, but were on a “kill or capture” mission. That implies they were prepared to accept bin Laden’s surrender. It didn’t work out that way. But despite earlier reports to the contrary, including from White House counter-terror adviser John Brennan, Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters Tuesday that bin Laden was in fact unarmed. (“Resistance does not require a firearm,” he said.) So, what happened?
(Excerpt) Read more at swampland.time.com ...
Does that matter? Just because obl wanted his bodyguards to shoot him rather than be taken prisoner, I don’t believe they were disciplined enough to do that. I don’t believe that asshole bin laden had the guts to shoot himself either. Don’t let the Present Obama’s fumbling around with this suggest it affected how the SEALs did their work.
Ummmm... war zone? Check.
Identified enemy? Check.
Ask questions later...
What are they supposed to do, ask him if he wants to have a couple tequila sunrises with them?
Obviously not in your opinion, would you care to show where I'm amiss ?
I don't know where you get the idea this is a leftist replacement but both are correct. Technically, Arabic has no equivalent for the letter O, so written, to be correct it would be Usama, however, because it is a completely different alphabet, phonetic spellings like Osama are considered acceptable as well. This is the same issue with the spelling of Koran versus Qur'an. There is no political motivations when you see different spellings anywhere- at that, I usually laugh when I see DU spreading the conspiracy that Usama is a right-wing conspiracy because it has USA in it.
I just don’t believe your fears about prosecution will come to fruition. No politician will touch it nor will the DOJ or the Pentagon. It was a kill mission.
OSAMA is his name. Please stop using the leftist replacement.
I don’t know where you get the idea this is a leftist replacement but both are correct. Technically, Arabic has no equivalent for the letter O, so written, to be correct it would be Usama, however, because it is a completely different alphabet, phonetic spellings like Osama are considered acceptable as well. This is the same issue with the spelling of Koran versus Qur’an. There is no political motivations when you see different spellings anywhere- at that, I usually laugh when I see DU spreading the conspiracy that Usama is a right-wing conspiracy because it has USA in it.
The leftist media has all of a sudden started using the U spelling to differentiate the two because gol-darn-it both are muzzie names. the received spelling here in the US has been Osama. I dont want to distance them.
As far as a fire fight up in the compound, there are many pics of OBL’s bedroom online. Blood covering the floor. Find me a bullet hole anywhere. I’ve looked. Clean walls, furniture, even the water bed?
Now you are going from the sublime to the ridiculous. How the hell can you do a forensic examination of the room and house from photos or videos? I am beginning to wonder what your motives are in this vanity.
It has been written both ways since he was on the radar. At that, the FBI's most wanted list had him listed as Usama. Not everything is a conspiracy just because you don't understand it or haven't paid enough attention to notice it before.
SEALs don't miss. You won't find any stray bullet holes.
Come again? Are you saying that as a sovereign nation at war we cannot pursue the enemy where WE decide is in our best interests? If by authority, you mean international law then let someone try to enforce it.
We have been conducting drone attacks in Pakistan, Yemen, and elsewhere to kill AQ. We have also abducted a few from foreign countries, including some in Europe. AQ is not a nation state actor. It is a terrorist group that insinuates itself in other countries.
The Taliban did not attack us on 9/11. But that didn't deter us from going into Afghanistan and pursuing AQ and those who support them. If you recall, there were plenty of Pakistanis who came across the Afghan border to support AQ. The Paks are the last ones to be claiming violations of national sovereignty. And I bet when the computer hard drives are analyzed we will find that the Pak government was harboring and protecting OBL--not much different than what happened in Afghanistan.
Except Carney is leaving Obama an out.
Obama didn’t order Osama to be killed.
The command control on the ground did..according to Carney yesterday.
The wife is saying that Osama was captured and then assassinated.
You have to consider she is lying..but she could be telling the truth.
Also, later no guns or explosives were found.
So did the Navy Seals take them?
Dude, don’t you know the current law.
Has someone rescinded Ford’s Executive Order???
Maybe I don’t know the law. Who rescinded it?
And let’s not forget the UN Charter.
I assume you are referring to Ford’s EO regarding assassination? That specifically covers political assassination and has nothing to do with taking out military targets in a field of operation.
Here are comments about assassination.
http://www.law.virginia.edu/html/news/2011_spr/cnsl.htm
Take note of what they are using to form their conclusions.
Take note the way the stories are changing to watch who will get thrown under the bus.
And remember there are eyewitnesses to what happened - no matter their reliability.
He said/She said/Available forensic evidence.
If you have a wife claiming the Navy Seals assassinated her unarmed husband..and a claim that the cameras went dark during the assassination..what happens next????
Navy Seals under inquiry is what is going to happen.
And that is why Carney is laying the groundwork to throw them under the bus.
>>...As a former combat rated military officer I’m getting uneasy here...<<
I’m not at all uneasy and given the tasking, I can’t think of anyone (up to and including Chief Justice Roberts) who has *any* standing to armchair-quarterback the operators who went through the door and had to make split-second decisions. If you are uneasy with the outcome, take it up with Obama. It’s his op. The team was merely an extension of Obama’s authority and as long as they stayed acceptably within mission parameters and followed orders, the team is blameless and held completely harmless in my opinion.
Could one or more operators involved in the raid have been a barbaric, sadistic, incredibly cruel person who enjoys killing? I *damn* sure hope so! I hope they shot OBL *just because they could*. I’d rather have OBL dead, than allow him to initiate some remotely detonated “if all else fails” bomb or something and injure a single operator.
Sorry folks, but when you (as command authority) give a team of this nature the green-light in these kinds of situations, you accept personal responsibility for all possible outcomes. If things don’t go as well as planned or you don’t like the outcome, you address that in training the *next* team before the *next* op. You don’t take your bruised ego/morals/delicate-sensitivities out on the team you *ordered* into harms way. These aren’t “maytag repairmen”; these are our ultimate resource for the most unpredictable, dangerous, extremely difficult operations imaginable — that are just as likely to end badly, rather than end well. If you are at all concerned about the possible negative outcomes, then DON’T SEND THEM IN THE FIRST PLACE. Either bomb the crap out of the target from altitude or let the target go and save these operators for the mundane stuff.
Just my $.02 worth.
“It’s true that Executive Order 12,333 prohibits anyone employed by the U.S. government from engaging in ‘assassination,’ but that provision clearly does not constrain otherwise lawful killings during armed conflict,” said Turner, the associate director of the center.
http://www.law.virginia.edu/html/news/2011_spr/cnsl.htm
Lawful Killings During Armed Conflict.
And the Navy Seals are bound by the Rules of Engagement.
There is going to be in inquiry. Obama is pissed after the Somali Pirate/Hurt Lip incidents.
The Navy Seals are about to be stuck in the middle of a CIA/White House Boxing Match.
Just wait and see.
It is just getting started.
The wife of Bin Laden is about to enter the scene.
P.S. Osama did not need to put his hands up in the air and yell surrender in order to be allowed to live as Panetta claims. Just ask a current soldier about the Rules of Engagment against the Taliban.
National Enquirer getting into the story.
Osama begged for his life?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1383106/Osama-Bin-Laden-dead-Wife-watched-die-White-House-reveals-WASNT-armed.html
If he was unarmed, wouldn’t it be easier to just beat him down with their own bare hands?
Just beat him down. That would be ok if you positively know he isn’t wearing explosive device? If he were nude at the time of death would be another question. But, who really cares?... he was responsible for many murders world wide.
If he was unarmed, wouldn’t it be easier to just beat him down with their own bare hands?
Just beat him down. That would be ok if you positively know he isn’t wearing explosive device? If he were nude at the time of death would be another question. But, who really cares?... he was responsible for many murders world wide.
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