Osama bin Laden killed by US forces in Pakistan

[DotCommunist]

deny all knowledge is going to be default position, regardless of the truth- say 'yes we helped the yanks off St Osama' and there'll be domestic hell to pay.

 

[dylans]

The repercussions of which will be...I'm guessing...not good?

The repercussions could be internal collapse and civil war, an Islamist coup within the military, terrorst attacks on India leading to war. Indian invasion and consequent expansion of the conflict in Afganistan across the region. Pakistan strategy in regards to its internal problems has always been to provoke national identity by instigating conflict with its neighbours and its strategy in regards to war with India has always been based on retreat into Afghanistan. All of these are very real possibilities. Oh and it has nuclear weapons too

 

[DotCommunist]

not enough to win in an exchange with india- but enough to scare the shit out of me.

 

[dylans]

deny all knowledge is going to be default position, regardless of the truth- say 'yes we helped the yanks off St Osama' and there'll be domestic hell to pay.

I have been to Pakistan several times. Strangers and foreigners stick out like a sore thumb. On many occasions I would find myself completely surrounded by dozens of curious onlooker just for being a foreigner. Bin Laden is a 60 foot 5 Arab. There is no way he could live for months in a small town without attracting the notice of both ordinary Pakistanis and the military. He was 50 miles from Islamabad! There is simply no way he could live there for months without the protection of some high placed people in Pakistan. Pakistan has some embarrassing questions to answer. This is the real signifance of this.

 

[Voley]

Bin Laden is a 60 foot 5 Arab.

 

[dylans]

not enough to win in an exchange with india- but enough to scare the shit out of me.

It can't win a war with India on any terms. But this fact may become irrelevent if Pakistan is facing internal existential collapse. Conflict with India serves one great purpose. It is the only thing that can hope to unite a very fractured country.

 

[dylans]

hahaha . Oops.

( I will leave that typo unedited just for the lols)

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

Bin Laden is a 60 foot 5 Arab.

No wonder they found him, I'm just surprised it took this long. Pakistan do indeed have much explaining to do.

 

[Steel Icarus]

The repercussions could be internal collapse and civil war, an Islamist coup within the military, terrorst attacks on India leading to war. Indian invasion and consequent expansion of the conflict in Afganistan across the region. Pakistan strategy in regards to its internal problems has always been to provoke national identity by instigating conflict with its neighbours and its strategy in regards to war with India has always been based on retreat into Afghanistan. All of these are very real possibilities. Oh and it has nuclear weapons too

So no need to worry then.

 

[_angel_]

Killing Bin Laden may - or may not - prove to be a psychological blow, but until the basic things that attract people into the world of terrorism are addressed (lack of education, limited aspiration, poverty, inequality and demonisation of other faiths by dodgy religious leaders) then the problem's not going to go away any time soon.

Thing is, that doesn't apply to the Leeds 7/7 bombers, they were more or less all lower middle class.

 

[Voley]

hahaha . Oops.

( I will leave that typo unedited just for the lols)

It's a beaut. I had visions of a 50's B-Movie 'Attack Of The 60 Foot Arab'.

 

[editor]

So Americans are whooping in front of the camera at the news of his death in the same tasteless manner as those 'evil animals' who whooped at the news of 9/11 when it happened.

 

[dylans]

So no need to worry then.

Pakistan today is the most dangerous place on Earth and I expect things to get worse. The only comparison I can think of (and it is a severely limited analogy) is Cambodia 1970. Where war in neighbouring Vietnam led to cross border bombing which increased instability in the country fed a coup de tat and civil war and led to the madness of Pol Pot. Pakistan is not Cambodia of course but it is a country facing a war on its border, a hostile neighbour, daily bombing by US drones, a fractured elite, and a growing anti modernist rebel movement (the Taliban) operating across the country and Islamist influence amongst sections of its military elites

 

[Barking_Mad]

Contradictory stories anyway, one source talking about 'buried at sea', others talking about 'following islamic tradition' ...

... which I'm guessing doesn't include bunging him out the window over a nearby ocean, not that there are any nearby oceans really, nearest is probably Arabian Sea about 800 miles away or maybe the Caspian ...

CBS originally reported that the body would be flown to Bagram airbase so journos could inspect it.

 

[gawkrodger]

Jason Burke's twitter is good to follow at the mo.

 

[Voley]

Jason Burke's twitter is good to follow at the mo.

Ah, thanks for that. I was hoping to read something from him on this. His book on Al Qaeda was excellent.

 

[SpookyFrank]

Bridge Over Troubled Water by Simon and Garfunkel was recorded on September 11th 1969. 32 years later the world trade centre was destroyed. 32 is 23 backwards. Are we really supposed to believe Paul Simon wasn't the real Al Qaeda mastermind?

 

[rekil]

Plane-shaped coffin for sure.

 

[DotCommunist]

Bridge Over Troubled Water by Simon and Garfunkel was recorded on September 11th 1969. 32 years later the world trade centre was destroyed. 32 is 23 backwards. Are we really supposed to believe Paul Simon wasn't the real Al Qaeda mastermind?

me and mo' down by the schoolyard

 

[Augie March]

Hooray, evil has been defeated!

 

[Idris2002]

The real evil one remains at large:

 

[dylans]

US special forces just launched a military operation 50 miles from the Pakistan Capital. There is probably no question of the US informing Pakistan of this operation. Pakistan is a US allied country. What does this say about the relationship between Pakistan and the USA? Once this news sinks in I predict Pakistan to start screaming about "violation of sovereignty. Likewise once this calms down I expect some hard questions to be raised in the US about how Bin Laden could live in a military garrison town so close to a military base without Pakistan knowledge and protection. This could be the issue that finally leads to a total breakdown in US/pak relations

 

[dlx1]

Bullshit. Americans would hang his body from a bottom of a helicopter and parade over the streets.

 

[Stigmata]

Farewell, "Bin Laden's already dead" conspiracy theory. Hello, "Bin Laden's still alive" conspiracy theory. Turn, turn etc

 

[skitr]

Coincides with the start of Obama's election campaign..... Just a coincidence the body had to be buried at sea where no-one could see it etc. etc.

 

[Bernie Gunther]

Not 100% confident of the provenance of this, but interesting if it's confirmed accurate.

Google Map of compound location

edited to add: BBC would seem to confirm.

Details are emerging of how al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden was found and killed at a fortified compound on the outskirts of Abbottabad in north-west Pakistan.

The compound is just "a stone's throw" and less than 200 yards from the Pakistan Military Academy, an elite military training centre, which is Pakistan's equivalent to Britain's Sandhurst, one local journalist from Abbottabad told the BBC.

Other reports have put the distance at 800 yards.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-13257330

 

[likesfish]

Pakistan to end up as part of greater india would probably be a better idea Pakistan is a failed state with nukes
can't see anyway to reform governance of the place

 

[Combustible]

He was 50 miles from Islamabad! There is simply no way he could live there for months without the protection of some high placed people in Pakistan. Pakistan has some embarrassing questions to answer. This is the real signifance of this.

Since the US is well aware of the consequences of a collapse in the Pakistani military, these are questions the US will presumably avoid asking (at least publicly).

 

[Idris2002]

Pakistan to end up as part of greater india would probably be a better idea Pakistan is a failed state with nukes
can't see anyway to reform governance of the place

Partition - the gift that keeps on giving.

 

[dilute micro]

Personally speaking, no "justice" has been done here, and this will backfire on the US sooner or later.

Bin Laden would agree.