Finally...Osama Bin Laden is dead

[drifty325i 0]

I wonder if we can eventually do away with this security at airports nonsense.

You guys ever walked into spain ... get off plane, pick up bags, go to little window and get passport stamped and pay airport tax, walk out door right next to passport window.

They dont give a flying f**k about secuirty over there.

I love how to be a friend of the US you must have every security system known to man.

I was in Spain the other day, couldnt belive it!. On another note I had almost the same treatment coming back into Gatwick.....no security at all. Just a stamp and I was in.

[drifty325i 0]

How long ago was that Josh ??

Don't think we'll ever see that again in our life time.. wouldn't it be great if people could just tolerate and live with each others differences and not hurt or kill each other.. humanity just seems to waste each other for the simplist or trivialist reasons... shame realy.. this is just me looking at what goes on around me... just ignor my ramblings

I was there the other day, just got a stamp and I was in. Same with Gatwick on the way back....

[kwhelan 232]

Google image "Osama's body"... looks like him... what's left of him.

Now, I'm just gonna put it out there... Obama either has announced his bid for reelection, or is about to... I wonder how long Osama has been dead for? Just putting it out there

hes been dead nine years, they just needed an excuse to be in someone else country,If you honestly believe they didnt know where he was and couldnt find him for 10 years you need your head read,

funnily he was buried at sea basically immediately,how convenient,

its just obama going full on into election mode,they need some good news fast

"I think we can all agree this is a good day for America. Our country has kept its commitment to see that justice is done," Obama said at the White House.

"The world is safer, it is a better place because of the death of Osama bin Laden,"

Today, we are reminded that as a nation, there is nothing we can't do when we put our shoulders to the wheel, when we work together."

Bin Laden

Osama bin Laden, one of 20 sons of a billionaire construction magnate, arrived in Afghanistan to join the jihad in 1980. An austere religious fanatic and business tycoon, bin Laden specialised in recruiting, financing and training the estimated 35,000 non-Afghan mercenaries who joined the mujaheddin.

The bin Laden family is a prominent pillar of the Saudi Arabian ruling class, with close personal, financial and political ties to that country's pro-US royal family.

Bin Laden senior was appointed Saudi Arabia's minister of public works as a favour by King Faisal. The new minister awarded his own construction companies lucrative contracts to rebuild Islam's holiest mosques in Mecca and Medina. In the process, the bin Laden family company in 1966 became the world's largest private construction company.

Osama bin Laden's father died in 1968. Until 1994, he had access to the dividends from this ill-gotten business empire.

(Bin Laden junior's oft-quoted personal fortune of US$200-300 million has been arrived at by the US State Department by dividing today's value of the bin Laden family net worth — estimated to be US$5 billion — by the number of bin Laden senior's sons. A fact rarely mentioned is that in 1994 the bin Laden family disowned Osama and took control of his share.)

Osama's military and business adventures in Afghanistan had the blessing of the bin Laden dynasty and the reactionary Saudi Arabian regime. His close working relationship with MAK also meant that the CIA was fully aware of his activities.

Milt Bearden, the CIA's station chief in Pakistan from 1986 to 1989, admitted to the January 24, 2000, New Yorker that while he never personally met bin Laden, "Did I know that he was out there? Yes, I did ... [Guys like] bin Laden were bringing $20-$25 million a month from other Saudis and Gulf Arabs to underwrite the war. And that is a lot of money. It's an extra $200-$300 million a year. And this is what bin Laden did."

In 1986, bin Laden brought heavy construction equipment from Saudi Arabia to Afghanistan. Using his extensive knowledge of construction techniques (he has a degree in civil engineering), he built "training camps", some dug deep into the sides of mountains, and built roads to reach them.

These camps, now dubbed "terrorist universities" by Washington, were built in collaboration with the ISI and the CIA. The Afghan contra fighters, including the tens of thousands of mercenaries recruited and paid for by bin Laden, were armed by the CIA. Pakistan, the US and Britain provided military trainers.

Tom Carew, a former British SAS soldier who secretly fought for the mujaheddin told the August 13, 2000, British Observer, "The Americans were keen to teach the Afghans the techniques of urban terrorism — car bombing and so on — so that they could strike at the Russians in major towns ... Many of them are now using their knowledge and expertise to wage war on everything they hate."

Al Qaeda (the Base), bin Laden's organisation, was established in 1987-88 to run the camps and other business enterprises. It is a tightly-run capitalist holding company — albeit one that integrates the operations of a mercenary force and related logistical services with "legitimate" business operations.

Bin Laden has simply continued to do the job he was asked to do in Afghanistan during the 1980s — fund, feed and train mercenaries. All that has changed is his primary customer. Then it was the ISI and, behind the scenes, the CIA. Today, his services are utilised primarily by the reactionary Taliban regime.

Bin Laden only became a "terrorist" in US eyes when he fell out with the Saudi royal family over its decision to allow more than 540,000 US troops to be stationed on Saudi soil following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait.

When thousands of US troops remained in Saudi Arabia after the end of the Gulf War, bin Laden's anger turned to outright opposition. He declared that Saudi Arabia and other regimes — such as Egypt — in the Middle East were puppets of the US, just as the PDPA government of Afghanistan had been a puppet of the Soviet Union.

He called for the overthrow of these client regimes and declared it the duty of all Muslims to drive the US out of the Gulf states. In 1994, he was stripped of his Saudi citizenship and forced to leave the country. His assets there were frozen.

After a period in Sudan, he returned to Afghanistan in May 1996. He refurbished the camps he had helped build during the Afghan war and offered the facilities and services — and thousands of his mercenaries — to the Taliban, which took power that September.

Today, bin Laden's private army of non-Afghan religious fanatics is a key prop of the Taliban regime.

[Apex 693]

Don't think we'll ever see that again in our life time.. wouldn't it be great if people could just tolerate and live with each others differences and not hurt or kill each other.. humanity just seems to waste each other for the simplist or trivialist reasons... shame realy.. this is just me looking at what goes on around me... just ignor my ramblings

Nice sentiment there Glenn.

[$toffz 0]

2 years ago, Madrid for our concert at the olympic arena in Seville. Seriously, every country who isn't trying to the US's best friend or gouverned secuirty is pretty laxed.

Im not anti authority at all however it all just makes me laugh.

At least its not as bad as going through aussie customs control, theyre very ego inflated unfortunitly. NZ is laxed in comparison apart from bio security.

Was there in mid-Feb in Barcelona and Madrid. Was exactly like Josh said , lax as man.

[AN E30 Fan 1]

Was there in mid-Feb in Barcelona and Madrid. Was exactly like Josh said , lax as man.

Lived in Barcelona last year, each and every time I left the country and returned it again it would surprise me how relaxed the security is.

[2002 1]

RIP Osama Bin Laden, World Hide & Seek Champion 2001 -2011

[hybrid 1039]

hes been dead nine years, they just needed an excuse to be in someone else country,

The cool kids stopped wearing tin foil hats 9 years ago

[briancol 3]

I hear Elton John is recording a tribute song for Osama.

It's called "Sandal in the Wind".

[kwhelan 232]

The cool kids stopped wearing tin foil hats 9 years ago

haha

I wonder if they asked him where he hid the infamous weapons of mass destruction Bush was looking for all those years

I guess not having a cellphone makes you disappear off the map

[westy 614]

This might be a bit harsh but, if you replace the flag with an Iranian, throw some beards around and bash the car up a bit, is the picture really that different?

[DrphTa 5]

They only found Osama because he used his phone to check in on Facebook

[kingkarl 136]

This might be a bit harsh but, if you replace the flag with an Iranian, throw some beards around and bash the car up a bit, is the picture really that different?

Haha too true. Different sides of the same coin.

One of the Dom Post's columns raised a good point today, along the lines of -

America shouldn't be celebrating the death of Osama. All his death is, is a reminder of the lives lost to Al Qaeda's and other groups' terrorist attacks. It shouldn't be a time for celebration, but for remembrance of those lost. Celebrating the death of someone who has caused so much pain shouldn't be the response. This isn't a win for the US merely a loss for Terrorism.

[E30-323ti 66]

"I think we can all agree this is a good day for America. Our country has kept its commitment to see that justice is done," Obama said at the White House.

"The world is safer, it is a better place because of the death of Osama bin Laden,"

Today, we are reminded that as a nation, there is nothing we can't do when we put our shoulders to the wheel, when we work together."

The way they are 'celebrating' killing OBL it almost condones the mentality of 'an eye for an eye'.

And as someone else said, will make stuff all difference in the scheme of things.

OBL has most likely been a liability to the terrorist movement with every redneck American chasing around after him with a gun.

[elmarco 56]

I'm just surprised where they found him - I always assumed he would be found living on the outskirts of Tijuana...

Edited May 3, 2011 by elmarco

[hybrid 1039]

I wonder if they asked him where he hid the infamous weapons of mass destruction Bush was looking for all those years

Hmmm possibly not as the Saddam/Iraq war was something completely different than the Afghanistan/ Taliban / Tora Bora / Al Qaeda battles/bombing campaign.

[bellicose 9]

I only have this to add.

I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.

Edited May 3, 2011 by bellicose

[westy 614]

Bellicose post is not bellicose?

[bellicose 9]

Bellicose post is not bellicose?

Believe me i have plenty to say on this subject but i won't.

Edited May 3, 2011 by bellicose

[mark247 38]

Believe me i have plenty to say on this subject but i won't.

I thought Chopper Reid was all about revenge.

[kingkarl 136]

"I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that."--Martin Luther King, Jr

I saw this quote somewhere else today.

It couldn't be more befitting.

[bellicose 9]

I thought Chopper Reid was all about revenge.

Once again an idiot has to take a thread OT and talk sh*t.

Also if you want to talk sh*t then check your spelling.

It's READ not Reid.

Edited May 3, 2011 by bellicose

[mark247 38]

Once again an idiot has to take a thread OT and talk sh*t.

Settle grettle.

It's a great quote.

[bellicose 9]

I saw this quote somewhere else today.

It couldn't be more befitting.

And as for you...

Stop agreeing with me

[polley 916]

Y'all need to harden the f**k up.