Osama Bin Laden is dead

[bunique]

My sister is in America at the moment and she told be that on the news (including on big screen at Times Square) they keep making the mistake of reporting: "Obama Bin Laden has been killed". Absolutely true.

[Banana Co]

Like that one? It's been doing the rounds all day!

[5co77ie]

I can't believe this amount of coverage contains so little evidence - seems totally bizarre to me!

At the moment, for me, its just hearsay and I don't believe a word of it.

[llcoolphil]

I can't believe this amount of coverage contains so little evidence - seems totally bizarre to me!

At the moment, for me, its just hearsay and I don't believe a word of it.

[Ed209]

There's certainly enough there to keep the conspiracy theorists happy, but I find it impossible to believe that the american's would make such a thing up. They'd look pretty bloody stupid if a video goes out of Bin Laden holding tomorrow's newspaper.

[llcoolphil]

There's certainly enough there to keep the conspiracy theorists happy, but I find it impossible to believe that the american's would make such a thing up. They'd look pretty bloody stupid if a video goes out of Bin Laden holding tomorrow's newspaper.

[strummer77]

I generally loathe US foreign policy and can be a right cynical bastard... but I think they got him. As for the lack of evidence, there wasn't much proof after Hitler died either but that's because parading photos of his body would be a naiive and futile exercise. There wasn't anything official of Saddam's excution either. There will probably be something soon.

Yes there's been narratives to fill- especially with Iraq- and it was hard to believe anything the US and especially the Bush administration said... but this would be one hell of a lie to be pulling off. If it wasn't true someone will prove it, either by showing he's alive or that he died like many people thought a long time ago. Obama would look an absolute tit. Too much to lose there.

If this is all bollocks, which I'm fairly sure it isn't, it will be a f**king disaster and a massive terrorist recruiting aid. Just like the Iraq war then...

Edited May 3, 2011 by strummer77

[strummer77]

Oh i dont believe he's at liberty but there are too mamy nigh on perfect circumstances and outcomes for me here. Lets not forget Pakistan's interests and 'ours' are very different. There are strong reasons in the west to make them look conspiritors or incompetent for future action and the obfuscation surrounding hard evidence shouts 'lies' at me.

Edited May 3, 2011 by strummer77

[rabid]

How do you gently slip a body into the water from an aircraft carrier?

[Kowalski]

How do you gently slip a body into the water from an aircraft carrier?

[diddly-dee]

The question that is sadly lacking in all the media coverage and analysis is that why, for hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people, was Bin laden's view of how the world should be configured a far more potent and appealing symbol of hope and aspiration than anything 'the american dream' or 'western liberal democracy' could offer? Until those in 'the west' start to address that fundamental issue then there'll be a never ending stream of people wanting to step into Bin Laden's shoes and carry on the 'holy fight' that he became the figurehead for.

[The Nal]

How do you gently slip a body into the water from an aircraft carrier?

[worm]

I think the real narrative is a political attack on pakistan.

[worm]

There's certainly enough there to keep the conspiracy theorists happy, but I find it impossible to believe that the american's would make such a thing up. They'd look pretty bloody stupid if a video goes out of Bin Laden holding tomorrow's newspaper.

[worm]

Gotta remember, and its hard sometimes, that just because the western world like to make things up and twist things to justify their actions, it doesn't mean that everything they say is false. And vice versa. Pakistan might be one twisted country for all we know, it might not. Probably the truth is in the middle, but let's not get all conspiracy over everything either way just yet.

Edited May 3, 2011 by worm

[strummer77]

The truth is not the issue, it's the narrative that you choose to place it in.

Bin Laden is meaningless. He's long gone, though holds symbolic value as a terrorist icon. Pakistan is a current threat to western captalist interests. It cannot be invaded or made into a terrorist nation in the way that other nations have post-911. So, if we trade him in now we can begin an anti-Pakistan narrative, thereby putting huge cultural pressure on the country, such as investments being pulled and the heightening of internal and regional conflicts. The truth is of little consequence next to the narrative into which it is slotted.

Edited May 3, 2011 by strummer77

[worm]

It's jut I want to reserve judgement on Pakistan because I've heard enough people be a bit suspicious of Pakistan who don't care one bit about about American interests either and have very little sympathy for their foreign policy usually.

[strummer77]

It's not a simple dichotomy of American interest and Pakistani interest. There's a great deal of inner turmoul within Pakistan itself. They have an insane social stratification that sees an overt class system in operation. The problem is in the western exploitation of this political sphere for its own ends.

Edited May 3, 2011 by strummer77

[worm]

Fair enough, like I said I'm not 100% sure on Pakistan so you clearly know more. It's not quite the same as even when I was a kid I knew why the operations in Iraq were really taking place.

Gonna be interesting whatever happens.

[Ed209]

My daughter could provide that very image.

[eFestivals]

I'm loving the conspiracy theories.

[Greeny_Musicchild]

I'm loving the conspiracy theories.

[eFestivals]

But it's all so perfect. Some of the shit I've heard is far out, but don't you even think some of what's coming through the news is bullshit?

oh, a lot is made up - by the media, cos they don't know enough about what happened to say much of much sense. For example, from what I've heard, the Army Academy is anything from 50 metres to 2 miles from Bin Laden's house, Abbottabad is anything between 25 miles and 70 miles from Islamabad, and a simple block-built house in Pakistan without luxury fittings is worth a million, apparently.

But all the same I won't be going to the shop any more, I'll be getting my fruitcakes from here from now on.

[The Nal]

oh, a lot is made up - by the media, cos they don't know enough about what happened to say much of much sense. For example, from what I've heard, the Army Academy is anything from 50 metres to 2 miles from Bin Laden's house, Abbottabad is anything between 25 miles and 70 miles from Islamabad, and a simple block-built house in Pakistan without luxury fittings is worth a million, apparently.

But all the same I won't be going to the shop any more, I'll be getting my fruitcakes from here from now on.

[worm]

But all the same I won't be going to the shop any more, I'll be getting my fruitcakes from here from now on.