RE: Bin Laden shooting v. trial. We had 10 YEARS to figure out how to handle him. . .

[wndycty]

. . .it wasn't until we shot him did I hear all this concern about having a trial for him.

The deed was done and I am glad it was.

I see all this hand wringing about it and think to myself, we had 10 FUCKING YEARS to address this issue and no one offered up a policy/legal guidelines until after the fact. For those 10 years most of us thought shoot to kill was acceptable and were not told otherwise. Its a little too late don't you think.

[Deep13]

1. Remember several years ago when we kept hearing...

...that coalition forces had killed a succession of #2 ranking men from Al Qaeda? No one seemed too concerned that they were not somehow captured and tried. PRobably because they, like ObL, were war casualties and not executions.

[mrcheerful]

2. That would be true except for the fact that Chimpster had no intention of capturing OBL

so why would he bother to set anything up for when OBL was captured.

[tularetom]

3. For the first 7 of those 10 years

If you would have asked the questions everyone in the liberal media is now asking, you would have been asked why you hate America.

The whole narrative changes depending on which party is in the white house.

I would have been glad they got him whenever, but it's somehow more satisfying to see the desperation on the part of the cheney/bush gang, knowing that a Democrat did quietly and efficiently what they were unable to pull off despite all their big talk.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

4. Yup

I wouldn't have cared if we had captured him alive (like Saddam Hussein) but I'm not upset that we killed him either. Going after Bin Laden IMHO was like going after Hitler or any other mass murderer- in a sovereign-not-exactly-friendly-country- to boot. People like OBL rarely ever allow them to be taken alive. We obviously will never know the precise facts of what happened during the raid itself but very few allowances probably could've been made by the Seals for an OBL surrender under the circumstances (without risking a standoff and possible hostile intervention by Pakistan) and that his death at our hands was going to be the most likely outcome IMHO. I don't subscribe to the idea that this was a plain and simple execution-style killing and tend to believe that, short of an outright declaration of surrender and quick ability to assess that he posed no threat (i.e. making sure he wasn't wearing an explosive vest or had concealed weapons), the Seals probably had no other reasonable choice but to kill him and get the hell out of there as fast as they could. I mean, police swat teams occasionally have to go in and try to apprehend dangerous suspects and sometimes those raids end the exact same way- with the perp dead.:shrug:

[LiberalFighter]

5. bin Laden had a chance for a trial

He just needed to turn himself in

[Proud Liberal Dem]

6. +1

Another important point to make. Anybody think that nearly 10 years is not enough time for OBL to have turned himself in and received due process?

[JoePhilly]

10. +1

[marlakay]

7. Its only because this was made so public

my husband said if it wasn't osama they found we would have heard nothing, nada...just another mission we don't hear about.

We only heard this from one side of the world to another to let all know Osama was dead. Obama was sending a loud message to the world not to screw with us.

I want to know if the people who are wanting him to have a trial think that every person killed in war should have a trial? Because we were at war with Osama
he declared war on us, admitted he was in charge of 9-11.

I know its a hard one, I hate war too, I want them all to stop.

Also those seals that killed him they had no idea if he had weapons on him, a button that would explode the building they were in, etc. Its easy to criticize but
a man like him could have had explosives easily nearby and they had no way of knowing while his people were firing at them if that was the case or not
and we also don't know what he said to them before they shot him.

[lamp_shade]

8. The pissers and moaners would be pissing and moaning either way.

NOTHING Obama does is acceptable. I ignore them.

[Canuckistanian]

9. unrec for "hand winging"

I'm sick to death of that term already.

[JoePhilly]

11. Can we go with "pearl clutching"?

:hide:

[golfguru]

12. OBL's son planning to Sue US Govt for

his father's burial at sea.