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Originally Posted by Sarah Skinner:
Bin Laden said he would bleed us dry, & he's done a pretty good job.

i don't think the bleeding will stop upon his death.

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Originally Posted by Dødherre Mørktre:

so here's what i think happened. either he was unarmed and they had orders to kill him anyway, or he was drug out of there alive, interrogated, and then executed. either way, something doesn't add up here.

Well, one report which I read today said that the Navy Seals "were told to assume Osama bin Laden was wearing a suicide vest and must be killed, unless he was naked when they found him.

The assault team sent into his compound would have accepted surrender only if they could be sure he had nothing hidden under his clothing, meaning his fate was sealed as soon as he was found in his bedclothes."

Why he'd be in the habit of wearing  a semtex vest around the house if he didn't have any suspicions of being raided is another matter - and if he did get wind of the raid, surely he'd have tried to escape rather than out on a suicide vest?

Either way, however it went down, I don't think that many people will be overly concerned about what really happened: the people at the moment who are criticizing the operation for "not respecting Bin Laden's human rights" or for the US "high-handedness" in going in without warning are the kind of ppl who criticize the US/the Obama administration for a living anyway -  it doesn't matter how it was done, they'd still find something to **** about.

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Originally Posted by Sarah Skinner:
  By the way, Bob said they should have burried him with cans of spam.  (pork)

Heh, if you wanted to **** off every muslim in the world that'd be a good way to do it. An even better way would be to chop the body up and feed it to the pigs.....

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Originally Posted by Kieran Colfer:
Heh, if you wanted to **** off every muslim in the world that'd be a good way to do it. An even better way would be to chop the body up and feed it to the pigs.....

Yes, or bury him with one.  That's mean, innit?

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this **** just keeps getting better and better. now, having decided not to release a photo, the white house has said that it's not divulging anymore info on the raid, just as word gets out that the seals took one person into custody from the compound. i mean does anyone really believe that they're NOT trying to stir up conspiracy theories on all this? and like giuliani said, eventually the photos will be leaked and made public anyway, so why not release them now, and get it over with? if all the details would've remained classified, that's one thing. but to come out with false information, shifting stories and accounts, and then go mum on the subject?

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Before an elite team of U.S. Navy SEALs executed a daring raid that took down Osama bin Laden, the commandos were able to silently sneak up on their elusive target thanks to what aviation analysts said were top secret, never-before-seen stealth-modified helicopters.

In the course of the operation that cost the al Qaeda leader his life, one of the two Blackhawk helicopters that carried the SEALs into bin Laden's Pakistani compound grazed one of the compound's wall and was forced to make a hard landing. With the chopper inoperable, at the end of the mission the SEALs destroyed it with explosives.

But photos of what survived the explosion -- the tail section of the craft with curious modifications -- has sent military analysts buzzing about a stealth helicopter program that was only rumored to exist. From a modified tail boom to a noise reducing covering on the rear rotors and a special high-tech material similar to that used in stealth fighters, former Department of Defense official and vice president of the Lexington Institute Dan Goure said the bird is like nothing he's ever seen before.

"This is a first," he said. "You wouldn't know that it was coming right at you. And that's what's important, because these are coming in fast and low, and if they aren't sounding like they're coming right at you, you might not even react until it's too late... That was clearly part of the success."

In addition to the noise-reducing modifications, a former special operations aviator told The Army Times the general shape of what was left of the craft -- the harsh angles and flat surfaces more common to stealth jets -- was further evidence it was a modified variant of the Blackhawk.

A senior Pentagon official told ABC News the Defense Department would "absolutely not" comment on anything relating to the destroyed bird.

Neighbors of bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan, told ABC News they didn't hear the helicopters the night of the Sunday raid until they were directly overhead. The rotor covering, along with a special rotor design, suppressed the choppers noise while inbound, Bill Sweetman, editor and chief of Defense Technology International, said.


i read that a former spec ops pilot said these things were being flown "out of an installation in nevada" a.k.a. the groom lake facility, a.k.a. area 51.

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here's a concept of the stealthhawk (as i coin it).

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and a lot of people think this stealthy ucav was the eyes in the sky overhead. they've been flying the RQ-170 out of a base in kandahar for a while now, where it's been dubbed, "the beast of kandahar."

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Originally Posted by Dødherre Mørktre:


i read that a former spec ops pilot said these things were being flown "out of an installation in nevada" a.k.a. the groom lake facility, a.k.a. area 51.

They've been testing that sort of "stealth helicopter" for years, but as attack helicopters not transport ones:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing/Sikorsky_RAH-66_Comanche

Makes sense that they'd do a troop-carrying version for missions like this.

Of course if you are a fan of the X-Files and other such "govt trying to keep aliens a secret" conspiracies, you'll know that they've had stealth helicopters for years..... ;-)

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well yeah, any military buff would know about the comanche program. was canceled, but the military said that it's technology would be incorporated into other airframes. guess we found out which one. but i heard they canceled production on these stealthhawks, and that we're using the ones that were produced.

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Originally Posted by Dødherre Mørktre:
this **** just keeps getting better and better. now, having decided not to release a photo, the white house has said that it's not divulging anymore info on the raid, just as word gets out that the seals took one person into custody from the compound. i mean does anyone really believe that they're NOT trying to stir up conspiracy theories on all this? and like giuliani said, eventually the photos will be leaked and made public anyway, so why not release them now, and get it over with? if all the details would've remained classified, that's one thing. but to come out with false information, shifting stories and accounts, and then go mum on the subject?

Well...I dunno.  I think its funny how some were trying to claim Bin Laden wasnt killed.  Even a friend of mine in Kuwait has claimed this.  And some in Pakistan claim this.  But if not, then why would his wife or wives accuse us of murdering Bin Laden???  Plus, if the US Navy Seals said he's dead...then he's dead.  The Seals would never run the risk of staining their reputation to enhance the political ambitions of any politician.  So if they said he's dead, as far as I'm concerned...he's dead.

And no, I dont care if we violated Pakistan's sovereignty to get him.  I'm still suspicious as to why Bin Laden was there in the first place.  It is inconceivable to me that the most wanted terrorist in the world could have hid in that eyesore of a house so close to a Pakistani military instillation for close to 5 years!  so as far as I'm concerned, they were harboring this piece of dung.

Also, I'd be tempted to give the Pakistani's 1 chance to turn over that piece of wreckage.  If they didnt comply withing 24 hours, I'd hit it with a tomahawk missile.  We can drop those things down an elevator shaft, we should be able to hit that.  Then stop giving the Pakistanis billions of dollars and turn our atention toward working with India.  The Pakistanis are said to be terrified of India already.

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Originally Posted by Dødherre Mørktre:
this **** just keeps getting better and better. now, having decided not to release a photo, the white house has said that it's not divulging anymore info on the raid, just as word gets out that the seals took one person into custody from the compound. i mean does anyone really believe that they're NOT trying to stir up conspiracy theories on all this? and like giuliani said, eventually the photos will be leaked and made public anyway, so why not release them now, and get it over with? if all the details would've remained classified, that's one thing. but to come out with false information, shifting stories and accounts, and then go mum on the subject?

Some semi-relevant humor.

http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/103770/stans-double-cross

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Originally Posted by Dennis Young:
if the US Navy Seals said he's dead...then he's dead.  

no no, he's dead, the question is, did he die in that house, or had he been taken into custody and was executed? either way, i think there's some detail that the admin doesn't want getting out. OR they just want to create conspiracy theories, and then come out with all the goods, and say, "see, we told you he was dead."

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Dod I'm wondering that too. Not that I care if he was taken in custody and executed.  I mean...really.  As long as we have Eric Holder as our attorney General, you think anyone was gonna take a chance on Bin Lauden getting read his miranda rights and hiring an army of ACLU lawyers and dragging this thing out for ten years in a courtroom spectacle?

That man had his death warrant signed on 9-12.

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it's a good thing the seals killed bin laden rather than punching him in the lip. could have faced court martial after all...