Usama Bin Laden is Dead, Say Sources

[LAPhil]

Originally Posted by Twoller

Capturing OBL alive would have been a far greater victory than just executing him.

Not necessarily, Twoller, because this would have left us vulnerable to other terrorists using this as a bargaining chip by possibly taking American hostages in exchange for Bin Laden, or making some other type of credible threat which could force us to submit by turning him over. I think the Seals (or whoever it was) made the right decision to take him out and avoid that scenario.

Originally Posted by Twoller

The other issue is not showing the images of the dead OBL. Worrying about Muslim reaction is just pathetic considering, as you mention, their flagrant appetite for displaying their own victims in public. As recently as during the Egyption riots, we see the open display and mutilation of the corpses of the opposition. Recall the display of own dead soldiers and the mistreatment of their bodies during the military advance in Iraq. There simply is no good reason for showing that kind of respect for the body of OBL. The public needed to see that he was dead and the case was really closed.

I agree with you on that point.