God job SEALS. Were they backed up by GI-JOE? Snake Eyes?

(One can hope.)

Regardless, its nice to see 4-5 years of intelligence work finally come down to this.

GT_bike: Serious troll question.

Doesn't it take 5-7 days for DNA tests to give accurate results? Or were they using fingerprints and calling that DNA?

Obama was reportedly ready to bomb the site in March but the plan switched to a raid so there would be identifiable remains. They built a replica of the house to rehearse the raid. This thing was planned like a NASA spacewalk, with guns. Fast identification was part of the plan and every resource to do that would have been with the Seals for preliminary ID and on their ship for positive ID.

HAMMERTOE: In fact, I think it's somehow fitting, especially since the current Secretary of State's husband let him walk after the first attempt on the WTC.


I can't believe they didn't arrest John Dillinger for the Valentine's Day Massacre either.

PonceAlyosha: Marine1: Interpretation and perversion of the Bible by people who wanted an excuse to murder does not equal chapter-and-verse commands to murder non-believers.

Also, you'll notice that Christianity finds its basis in the New Testament, not the Old.

Why is it only interpretation and perversion when its Christianity? And as for saying that the Old Testament isn't carried into Christianity is absolutely farking absurd. That'd saying that Christians don't believe in the Ten Comandments, the covenant with Abraham, Moses, King David. They are taken together as a whole.

It's a perversion of Islam as well. As stated earlier by another poster, Muslims may use self-defense when attacked by non-believers, which was far from the case with 9-11. Bin Laden called for a holy war with no justification. That's part of why him being taken out is good... he's no longer giving Islam a bad name.

Significant parts of the OT are ignored by those that believe in the NT.

1macgeek: This is Seal Team Six. All resistance was neutralized way before they left. Not saying they were killed, just that they wouldn't be kicking up a fuss for quite a while after Six left.

...well yeah, I guess, but that's why I was surprised to hear the reports of only 4 people dead. I was expecting them to need to mow down some more guards.

Though I suppose they could just wounded or locked up, still, it's interesting (just in a "wow, that must be some story" sort of way).

As for sovereignty issues, yeah, they're there. But it's true this guy was no head of state, AND it's been my opinion this entire thing should have been an international police/spy action from day one, rather than all the war crap, in which case... this is kinda how it would go down, anyway. Find your guy, go to arrest your guy, if there's resistance and the crime is big enough, well, your guy doesn't make it out. He's a major international crime boss, basically.

Surely Osama Bin Laden was expecting this day would come, sooner or later. Supposedly he had told his bodyguards to kill him rather than let him be captured?

ArtosRC: BALLS OF TITANIUM CAJONIUM

/big cajonas, yeah!

GT_bike: Serious troll question.

Doesn't it take 5-7 days for DNA tests to give accurate results? Or were they using fingerprints and calling that DNA?

As little as 30 minutes if you spend the money to develop a chip for a specific genetic pattern. So what the FBI likely did was look over the Bin Laden family DNA we have on file (via his siblings), pick out things unique to the Bin Laden genetic code and build a chip from that. It's too expensive for regular old shiat like paternity testing but I'm sure we pulled out all the stops for this one.

I Like Shiny Things: John Paul Jones: So while Real Americanstm were screaming about birth certificates and calling Obama a traitor and every name under the sun, he was busy orchestrating the demise of OBL.

So who's a "traitor" and a "true patriot" now?

And while libtards were screaming about Bush and calling him every name under the sun, he was busy orchestrating the torture of losers at Gitmo that led to the intelligence that allowed us to finally get OBL.

Bzzt! sorry, you deeply wish that were true but it simply isn't. The only usable intel we got at Gitmo was from the FBI interrogators who used standard psych interrogation techniques. The CIA/Military torturers got nothing useful and farked up the FBI's intel gathering

Marine1: PonceAlyosha: Marine1: Interpretation and perversion of the Bible by people who wanted an excuse to murder does not equal chapter-and-verse commands to murder non-believers.

Also, you'll notice that Christianity finds its basis in the New Testament, not the Old.

Why is it only interpretation and perversion when its Christianity? And as for saying that the Old Testament isn't carried into Christianity is absolutely farking absurd. That'd saying that Christians don't believe in the Ten Comandments, the covenant with Abraham, Moses, King David. They are taken together as a whole.

It's a perversion of Islam as well. As stated earlier by another poster, Muslims may use self-defense when attacked by non-believers, which was far from the case with 9-11. Bin Laden called for a holy war with no justification. That's part of why him being taken out is good... he's no longer giving Islam a bad name.

Significant parts of the OT are ignored by those that believe in the NT.

Significant parts of the NT are ignored by those that believe in the NT. But yeah, right on.

PonceAlyosha: Marine1: PonceAlyosha: Marine1: Interpretation and perversion of the Bible by people who wanted an excuse to murder does not equal chapter-and-verse commands to murder non-believers.

Also, you'll notice that Christianity finds its basis in the New Testament, not the Old.

Why is it only interpretation and perversion when its Christianity? And as for saying that the Old Testament isn't carried into Christianity is absolutely farking absurd. That'd saying that Christians don't believe in the Ten Comandments, the covenant with Abraham, Moses, King David. They are taken together as a whole.

It's a perversion of Islam as well. As stated earlier by another poster, Muslims may use self-defense when attacked by non-believers, which was far from the case with 9-11. Bin Laden called for a holy war with no justification. That's part of why him being taken out is good... he's no longer giving Islam a bad name.

Significant parts of the OT are ignored by those that believe in the NT.

Significant parts of the NT are ignored by those that believe in the NT. But yeah, right on.

Unfortunately, that is very true. Not all are that way, though.

Video of the operation in question. (new window)

Interesting, it's almost like how they describe it in novels and movies.

Bill_Wick's_Friend: It's the second-to-last?


Do you want to give more credit to bin Laden than this?

BuckTurgidson: Sphufounder: Hmmm...wonder if Flynavy was on that particular SEAL team...

Convincing reports now indicate Marine Core soldiers also participated.


I'm not convinced.

Tom Clancy couldn't have written it any better. Unfortunately we'll probably never know everything that happened due to the classified nature of the operation. Oh well, it's just nice to feel good about America again. I salute everyone who was involved from the President on down. One sentence I'd never thought I say but "Bravo Zulu President Obama". I have never been an Obama supporter and consider myself on the right but I can not think of anything critical or negative about the way he handled it. He has earned his right to be my Commander in Chief.

hammettman: They killed 22 people.

Killed or captured. The distinction is quite important to the captured.

ferretman: Didn't President Obama commit an act of war against Pakistan by flying troops in from Afghanistan, crossing over into Pakistan without informing the Pakistan Government? Does this mean that Obama believes he can invade anyone to "get his man"?!?

I love the fact that dems/libs now approve of violating another country's sovereignty when it serves their best interests.

As opposed to letting them know and then the mansion is mysteriously empty when they got there? Fark that.
Now we can call Pakistan - or at least elements of it - on their BS. The most wanted man in the world lives in the same town as the equivalent of West Point for five years and no one notices?

ha-ha-guy: I Like Shiny Things: John Paul Jones: So while Real Americanstm were screaming about birth certificates and calling Obama a traitor and every name under the sun, he was busy orchestrating the demise of OBL.

So who's a "traitor" and a "true patriot" now?

And while libtards were screaming about Bush and calling him every name under the sun, he was busy orchestrating the torture of losers at Gitmo that led to the intelligence that allowed us to finally get OBL.

Sadly the partisan trolling has already begun. The reality is though that Bush set the wheels in motion. Approving the kidnapping of foreign nationals and getting information from them and likely developing intelligence assets in Pakistan.

Obama kept the program going and had the balls to sign the order. Not to mention doing this without Paki knowledge from the sound of it. A total "fark you and your national sovereignty, SEAL 6 goes where it wants" move.

If either President had blinked on this we wouldn't have OBL dead.

I like the way you think.

Nem Wan: GT_bike: Serious troll question.

Doesn't it take 5-7 days for DNA tests to give accurate results? Or were they using fingerprints and calling that DNA?

Obama was reportedly ready to bomb the site in March but the plan switched to a raid so there would be identifiable remains. They built a replica of the house to rehearse the raid. This thing was planned like a NASA spacewalk, with guns. Fast identification was part of the plan and every resource to do that would have been with the Seals for preliminary ID and on their ship for positive ID.

I'm surprised bombing was ever seriously considered. I would think the ability to preserve and collect intelligence from computers, satellite phones, documents and any other data on the site would have been about as high of a priority as killing Osama.

ThatOldNavyGuy: Tom Clancy couldn't have written it any better. Unfortunately we'll probably never know everything that happened due to the classified nature of the operation. Oh well, it's just nice to feel good about America again. I salute everyone who was involved from the President on down. One sentence I'd never thought I say but "Bravo Zulu President Obama". I have never been an Obama supporter and consider myself on the right but I can not think of anything critical or negative about the way he handled it. He has earned his right to be my Commander in Chief.


And yet you still just called him a Zulu.

Marine1: Unfortunately, that is very true. Not all are that way, though.

They're really long books, how could you memorize every rule? It boggles my mind that there have been people who actually did that. I'd consider it completely divorced from any personal worth or morals.

bighairyguy: From the article side panel:

They obviously have behavioral targeted advertising... something you should tell us?

Latinwolf: thamike: A couple of great things about this:

1. He got GOT, face-to-face with a square jawed American commando, not a Predator drone or cruise missile

2. He was living like a prince. His entire holy warrior in the desert facade is f*cking destroyed.

And the sad part is his fans will totally disregard this point and believe the myth rather than the actual person.

I'm not so sure. The whole culture of the Middle East is changing. Sure, some kooks will believe it, but compared to 10-20 years ago, the numbers will be smaller. The man constituted the single worst curse on the Islamic world that history had ever seen.

moops: I heard this morning they went in to kill him, not take him captive. There was no way he'd go peacefully anyhow.

I'd much prefer he was taken to a US court and tried as the criminal that he is. Not a warrior or political martyr, but a murdering criminal. Lay out the testimony, make sure there's plenty of muslims and US immigrant arabs in there, show that we in the west are better than OBL, but still treat them with human respect.

That's what was done at the Nuremberg Trials. That's what happened to Eichmann. And if those sons of biatches deserved a trial, so does OBL.

PonceAlyosha: Marine1: Unfortunately, that is very true. Not all are that way, though.

They're really long books, how could you memorize every rule? It boggles my mind that there have been people who actually did that. I'd consider it completely divorced from any personal worth or morals.

Pretty minor considering there are people who learn to speak Klingon.

Mad_Radhu: Lt. Cheese Weasel: Rapmaster2000: There better have been motorcycles with rocket launchers.

And dune buggies with blue headlights.

I'll raise with Flying Motor Cycles with Rocket Launchers and extra tight Spandex Headband heroBoy....

I'll throw in a pissed off Mexican with a chain gun strapped to his chopper.



Anyone with actual 'shop skills can feel free to clean that up

farkeruk: I'd much prefer he was taken to a US court and tried as the criminal that he is.

I think if we kept him alive we should have turned him over to the Hague and tried him as a war criminal, but killing him is probably more efficient. He has no real authority to negotiate from, so there was nothing to gain by keeping him alive.

Also, I hope he feared the emptiness of death as it encroached upon him.

/that's pretty much the closest religiously neutral version of "go to hell"

farkeruk: moops: I heard this morning they went in to kill him, not take him captive. There was no way he'd go peacefully anyhow.

I'd much prefer he was taken to a US court and tried as the criminal that he is. Not a warrior or political martyr, but a murdering criminal. Lay out the testimony, make sure there's plenty of muslims and US immigrant arabs in there, show that we in the west are better than OBL, but still treat them with human respect.

That's what was done at the Nuremberg Trials. That's what happened to Eichmann. And if those sons of biatches deserved a trial, so does OBL.

I sort of agree, but the logistics involved in that would have been insane. Transporting him would have been a production in and of itself. You couldn't have held him in a facility with any guarantee of safety... even the guards would have wanted to kill him. The Nuremburg trials had all of that blame and hatred spread out over a large number of men. Osama would have been a lightning rod.

Yes Bush started Afghanistan, but he took his eye off the ball with Iraq. From Tora Bora to now saw 5-7 years spent focused on Iraq. The target was lost and it took a long time to re-acquire. The fact that in the end it took only time, intel, and 3 helicopters filled with the most bad-ass trained soldier guys ever to get him sure makes Iraq look even more dumb now.

PonceAlyosha: 1macgeek: There simply are no edicts for murdering the unbelievers in Christianity like there are in Islam

That certainly didn't stop the French Wars of Religion, the Wars during the reformation, the struggle in Ireland, the Crusades, the conquering of America...I could go on. Religion is nothing more than a justification.

For Christ's sake, a significant portion of the Old Testament is spent describing the ancient Hebrew wars against other tribal religions!

That's now what I said. Post the Biblical passages which COMMAND Christians to do it or STFU. There simply are no commandments to murder or enslave non-believers in Christianity as there ARE in Islam :

"9:29. Fight against those who believe not in Allah, nor in the Last Day, nor forbid that which has been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger and those who acknowledge not the religion of truth (i.e. Islam) among the people of the Scripture (Jews and Christians), until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued."

So, post the Biblical equivalent, or STFU.

McCainDemocrat: a) there is no DNA test fast enough to confirm his identity in under a day

Yes, actually, there is. Usually it takes some time to send samples off to a lab for processing, and for test results to be sent back, but if you outfit a ship with a DNA test lab -something that could easily have been done in the months this op took to prepare- then you just fly the body out to the ship (maybe 1 hour), run your tests (maybe eight hours of lab work, probably less), and then dump the body when you know you've got the right guy. The whole thing takes less than 12 hours.

b) even with a DNA "match" of BRAIN MATTER (not traditional DNA), it doesn't narrow the field due to his large family

Unless he has an identical twin we haven't previously heard about, it does indeed narrow the field. And come to think of it, what exactly is the difference between brain-matter DNA and "traditional" DNA?

c) they dumped his body in the ocean to prevent any excavations to disprove their claims (I mean "gave him an Islamic bruial", despite no Islamic person thinking ocean burials are Islamic)

Burials at sea are not particularly sacred to Islam, but they are not prohibited. Or if not, then could you please explain how navies of Islamic nations bury their dead?

d) OFA sent people out to start the giant crowds of people celebrating the news, and they got the media attention, causing more people to get out and celebrate

Certainly Obama is taking advantage of the political opportunity, just like any other remotely sane politician in this situation would. In literary terms, you've just slain the farking dragon; of course the people are going to celebrate, and the more they see you as part of the reason for celebration, the better.

But none of this means he's a mastermind, just an opportunist. Any elementary political-science textbook would tell you about this stuff in the first few chapters, and I don't think anyone disputes that Obama knows his politics.

Recent history says these sorts of bumps don't last.

They lasted for Bush: not forever, of course, but long enough that the time came to run for reelection before he had completely squandered his lead, and his Big Event happened much further away from that time than this event did.

taliesinwi: The most wanted man in the world lives in the same town as the equivalent of West Point for five years and no one notices?

In a building that can best be described as The Suspicious Castle. It couldn't be more suspicious without being a giant snake head carved out of the side of a mountain.

Marine1: The whole culture of the Middle East is changing. Sure, some kooks will believe it, but compared to 10-20 years ago, the numbers will be smaller. The man constituted the single worst curse on the Islamic world that history had ever seen.

Then there's this. I'm too cynical to hope to see it in my lifetime, but this is certainly an excellent first step.

My only question is, which #2 AQ guy will be the one they promote?

It's only a matter of time before one of the SEALs posts a picture of himself making the duck face and flashing a gang sign while standing in front of the corpse.

Hopefully "buried at sea" means they took him up in the helicopter, shot him and threw him out while he screamed.

Nocens: PonceAlyosha: Marine1: Unfortunately, that is very true. Not all are that way, though.

They're really long books, how could you memorize every rule? It boggles my mind that there have been people who actually did that. I'd consider it completely divorced from any personal worth or morals.

Pretty minor considering there are people who learn to speak Klingon.

Language has a specific neural substrate, it's different than just memorizing a book. If they try hard enough, they can alter it. Are religious dictums stored in declarative memory or something limbic? PonceAlyosha wants to know.

/where's that neurotheology douche when you need him
//that thread was full of farking fail.

dittybopper: It's not unusual for groceries to get delivered to a house in the city, but it is for a hut in the mountains, that sort of thing.

I thought it was interesting that one of the things that tipped people off as suspicious was the lack of any internet or phone service to the house.

Now, obviously no one there can USE the phone or internet for anything remotely real, but maybe in hindsight they should have pulled lines and had someone make random chats of the sort normally upwardly-mobile suburbanite Pakistanis would be making.

hammettman: Bloodless? They killed 22 people.

I'd heard four in the first report. THAT seemed pretty small number, to me. 22 seems a lot more reasonable.

The only thing I question is if intelligence had enough time to go through the computers captured on site and extract and decipher any information they held. Once word got out that OBL had been captured and killed, I'm sure a lot of sleeper cells are going into CYA mode and scattering to the winds until things die down. I hope we had cast a net for them.

Other than that, it was relatively flawless, all things considered.

thamike: Marine1: I'm not so sure. The whole culture of the Middle East is changing. Sure, some kooks will believe it, but compared to 10-20 years ago, the numbers will be smaller. The man constituted the single worst curse on the Islamic world that history had ever seen.

Even the Taliban told him that after 9/11.

He destroyed any political capital they had accrued, or any hope for his "manifesto" to become a reality by crashing those planes. And he knew it. He was a rich, spoiled Saudi brat who didn't give a sh*t about Islam.

I wonder if the greater Islamic world realizes this. A lot has been thrown around about how the US has mistreated Muslims in the Middle East. Unfortunately, some of it is true, but if that bunghole had turned himself in and disavowed his followers, a lot of pain and suffering would have been avoided for the US and Muslims everywhere. We were there because of him.