Woah. I'm not sure what to think about this development.
I figured people would want to discuss it, though.
ETA: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42852700/ns ... tral_asia/
EETA: Once I figure out what I'm thinking, I'll also post my thoughts. I'm too exhausted to say anything intelligently, in any case.
Osama bin Laden
I don't know if it is right or just, but I hope this is the beginning of an end to too many years of needless bloodshed. Of course this will prompt even more bloodshed for a time, but I hope that this will finally be an end to one of the world's most disturbed sects.
And of course I hope and pray that anyone on the ground in Afghanistan will be safe until this blows over. My son is scheduled for a two week leave in 10 days and I hope that still goes through.
And of course I hope and pray that anyone on the ground in Afghanistan will be safe until this blows over. My son is scheduled for a two week leave in 10 days and I hope that still goes through.
Holby, I hope you see your son, safe and sound, on schedule.
Obama is supposed to speak here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/live?utm_sour ... n=shorturl
Obama is supposed to speak here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/live?utm_sour ... n=shorturl
If there was anything that depressed him more than his own cynicism, it was that quite often it still wasn't as cynical as real life.
Terry Pratchett, Guards! Guards!
Terry Pratchett, Guards! Guards!
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Primula Baggins
- Living in hope
- Posts: 40005
- Joined: Mon Nov 21, 2005 1:43 am
- Location: Sailing the luminiferous aether
- Contact:
Just . . . wow. 
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
I'm with River. If anything, I thought we would one day discover that he had been dead for years. I'm fully shocked!
Even the bleeding hearts of Boulder are shooting off fireworks.
It makes me wish I was back in DC--all my friends there are celebrating in front of the White House.
Even the bleeding hearts of Boulder are shooting off fireworks.
It makes me wish I was back in DC--all my friends there are celebrating in front of the White House."I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived." - HDT
I can't rejoice over us assassinating someone, even a murderer like Osama bin Laden. I just think of all the suffering caused by bin Laden, all those deaths in New York, and then all the deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan and Pakistan as we struck back, and then all the deaths that will probably come in the future from attempts to avenge this death, and the whole horrible cycle makes me feel very discouraged about human beings.
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N.E. Brigand
- Posts: 6961
- Joined: Sat May 26, 2007 1:41 am
- Location: Cleveland, OH, USA
That pretty well sums up my feelings, although I admit I'm glad he's been executed. But why did it take so long? And what did it have to do with Iraq?Teremia wrote:I can't rejoice over us assassinating someone, even a murderer like Osama bin Laden. I just think of all the suffering caused by bin Laden, all those deaths in New York, and then all the deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan and Pakistan as we struck back, and then all the deaths that will probably come in the future from attempts to avenge this death, and the whole horrible cycle makes me feel very discouraged about human beings.
Dig deeper.
I just read that Donald Trump is demanding to see a death certificate.
Sorry, I couldn't resist...
Sorry, I couldn't resist...
"What do you fear, lady?" Aragorn asked.
"A cage," Éowyn said. "To stay behind bars, until use and old age accept them, and all chance of doing great deeds is gone beyond recall or desire.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
"A cage," Éowyn said. "To stay behind bars, until use and old age accept them, and all chance of doing great deeds is gone beyond recall or desire.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
elsha: it's possible. I'm down in Martian Acres, but it seems like I should've heard something. 
About ten years ago, an active duty officer in the Air Force told me bin Laden would not be taken alive. She also told me he'd be dead within six months. Turns out she was half right.
Anyway, I wonder if this will generate the political will to finally, finally, finally close Gitmo...
I know. I hope for too much.
ETA: anth, I am torn between laughing and fish-slapping you.
About ten years ago, an active duty officer in the Air Force told me bin Laden would not be taken alive. She also told me he'd be dead within six months. Turns out she was half right.
Anyway, I wonder if this will generate the political will to finally, finally, finally close Gitmo...
I know. I hope for too much.
ETA: anth, I am torn between laughing and fish-slapping you.
When you can do nothing what can you do?
I wonder if they tried to take him alive.
I am pretty astonished that they got to him at all. It sounds like the compound where he was is a military compound?? It's also been reported it was a mansion. Here I was thinking he was in a cave somewhere, all these years...
ETA: River, you know you love me.
I am pretty astonished that they got to him at all. It sounds like the compound where he was is a military compound?? It's also been reported it was a mansion. Here I was thinking he was in a cave somewhere, all these years...
ETA: River, you know you love me.
Last edited by anthriel on Mon May 02, 2011 5:55 am, edited 1 time in total.
"What do you fear, lady?" Aragorn asked.
"A cage," Éowyn said. "To stay behind bars, until use and old age accept them, and all chance of doing great deeds is gone beyond recall or desire.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
"A cage," Éowyn said. "To stay behind bars, until use and old age accept them, and all chance of doing great deeds is gone beyond recall or desire.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
Dang, she beat me to it!I just read that Donald Trump is demanding to see a death certificate.
Anthy, I was just about to post the same thing!
Last edited by Sunsilver on Mon May 02, 2011 5:57 am, edited 2 times in total.
When the night has been too lonely, and the road has been too long,
And you think that love is only for the lucky and the strong,
Just remember in the winter far beneath the bitter snows,
Lies the seed, that with the sun's love, in the spring becomes The Rose.
And you think that love is only for the lucky and the strong,
Just remember in the winter far beneath the bitter snows,
Lies the seed, that with the sun's love, in the spring becomes The Rose.
How could I not love a fellow horse-lover and biologist, and all round cool person? 
When the night has been too lonely, and the road has been too long,
And you think that love is only for the lucky and the strong,
Just remember in the winter far beneath the bitter snows,
Lies the seed, that with the sun's love, in the spring becomes The Rose.
And you think that love is only for the lucky and the strong,
Just remember in the winter far beneath the bitter snows,
Lies the seed, that with the sun's love, in the spring becomes The Rose.
Sunny: 
I feel really bad for, of all people, Geraldo! He clearly said tonight "OBAMA is dead"... we rewound it to make sure... those names are SO darned close... that is such an easy mistake to make. I hope he's not pounded too hard for it!
I feel really bad for, of all people, Geraldo! He clearly said tonight "OBAMA is dead"... we rewound it to make sure... those names are SO darned close... that is such an easy mistake to make. I hope he's not pounded too hard for it!
"What do you fear, lady?" Aragorn asked.
"A cage," Éowyn said. "To stay behind bars, until use and old age accept them, and all chance of doing great deeds is gone beyond recall or desire.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
"A cage," Éowyn said. "To stay behind bars, until use and old age accept them, and all chance of doing great deeds is gone beyond recall or desire.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
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BrianIsSmilingAtYou
- Posts: 1233
- Joined: Wed Dec 14, 2005 6:01 am
- Location: Philadelphia
Hopefully, this will weaken Al-qaeda as a group, but there are other leaders out there still, Ayman al-Zawahiri, for example.
And we should hope that people in the U.S. and the West don't blame Pakistan or Pakistanis in general for having harbored him (although, obviously, there were specific Pakistanis who provided him aid).
I also hope that the movement in some Muslim circles to see Osama as a kind of folk-hero don't seize on the opportunity to make him a martyr.
In a lot of ways, I'd like to see it as business-as-usual, with the focus continuing on dismantling the Al-qaeda leadership, such as Zawahiri, mentioned above.
And on the lighter side...
BrianIs AtYou
And we should hope that people in the U.S. and the West don't blame Pakistan or Pakistanis in general for having harbored him (although, obviously, there were specific Pakistanis who provided him aid).
I also hope that the movement in some Muslim circles to see Osama as a kind of folk-hero don't seize on the opportunity to make him a martyr.
In a lot of ways, I'd like to see it as business-as-usual, with the focus continuing on dismantling the Al-qaeda leadership, such as Zawahiri, mentioned above.
And on the lighter side...
BrianIs
AtYou
All of my nieces and nephews at my godson/nephew Nicholas's Medical School graduation. Now a neurosurgical resident at University of Arizona, Tucson.