How Does this Change the War on Terror?

[BS-87]

Osama Bin Laden is dead.

 

Before the media starts telling us how this will change the War, let's get our own opinions in here.

 

Something tells me now would be the best possible time to bring folks home...

 

If you demoralize this group (and by that I mean young Arab men who are susceptible to influence by Islamic Extremists just the same way young people who are Christian here are susceptible to being drawn into cults), it may incite them further.

 

This is probably the end of the War on Terror, and the start of the one Middle Eastern caliphate (and no, I'm not miming Glenn Beck I'm pretty sure this is a possibility).

[Twocubdad]

Dont' know.

 

But I raise a glass to honor the young men and women involved in the operation. Thank you!

 

 

[jhankins]

It won't change it much. AQ will probably be a little more disorganized than usual for a little while, but someone will rise to the surface to take on the the role of serpent head again.(This message has been edited by jhankins)

[Lisabob]

Agree that it won't change a lot on the ground. ObL wasn't making a lot of the day to day moves for quite some time. This was symbolic for the US, as much as anything.

 

My question: what will happen in Pakistan, now? US raids in Pakistan are incredibly unpopular and while the gov't there has been saying positive things, the fact remains that Al Qaeda has some significant support there. Will be interesting to see what the popular reactions are.

 

For an interesting alternate perspective as things unfold, Al Jazeera English is a quality source more in touch with the "Arab street" (too the extent that there really is such a monolithic opinion group as that). Well worth checking out from time to time - can be googled.

[Eagle92]

Agree it won't change much, as a new head will come about. Plus AG was a loose conglomeration to begin with.

 

As for the Pakistani response, Lisa is correct, it will get very interesting.

[Twocubdad]

Dont' know.

 

But I raise a glass to honor the young men and women involved in the operation. Thank you!

 

 

Sorry -- how the h**l do you double post nine hours later? This new IE upgrade really sucks.(This message has been edited by Twocubdad)

[Basementdweller]

It bothers me to see my fellow americans celebrating the death of one man. In the grand scheme of things it won't change the "War" at all.

 

I understand what he did and what he symbolizes. But it just doesn't feel right to celebrate any ones death.

 

In a couple of discussions this morning at work, more than one person has wondered how long we had him captive and how much information we got from him before we killed him. We will never know the truth of what happened.

 

So now that he is gone??? North Korea next????

[OldGreyEagle]

It does show resolve on the USA's part. I have often heard it said that the terrorists and the radical islamics feel that the west (and that means us and Europe) are soft and have no stomach for "What it takes", we just showed the "Arab Street" that we will hang on and almost ten years later, we accomplished what we set out to do.

 

Will it give pause to future planners of attacks? Probably not, but at the very least we showed we are not as weak and ineffectual as they had painted us to be

[scoutingagain]

I can understand the sentiment of not celibrating death. But I agree with OGE. This more than anything demonstrates US resolve. Should an ObL wannabee consider future actions against the US, they should know full well they will be found, no matter how long it takes and what the consequences will be.

 

Would have been nice if he could have been taken alive. I would have loved to been able to broadcast to the world ObL shuffling in chains, wearing an orange jumpsuit in front of US justice, civilian or military. But I certainly don't feel sad at his death.

 

SA

[packsaddle]

"Mission Accomplished"

It's good to think that our intelligence services are not run by cub scouts after all.

Now it's time to pull the plug on Karzai and the rest of that wretched country. Bring our people home.

 

Heh, heh, but it's incredible. We'll argue for years about whether or not one guy's birth certificate proves he was born someplace but we just accept on the basis of the media that bin Laden is dead.

I say he's not dead at all but in custody at some 'extraordinary rendition' location. Hopefully suffering the fate that I have in mind. Prove me wrong. Show me the body. Oops, it's buried at sea....

[BS-87]

packsaddle -

 

You're right it's conspicuous, but I'm perfectly willing to accept the guy's dead.

 

The reason I'm willing to accept it is because if he is alive and captured, he'll be learning the meaning of the term "enhanced interrogation techniques"

 

Whatever the case, this is a big American psychological warfare win.

 

 

It'd be great if we'd just pull out now, but we'll stick around in the Middle East until we've riled them up enough to make some new enemies worth posting their face on the front of newspapers.

[CalicoPenn]

I'm hopeful it means we stop the silly "war" on terror garbage and this leads back to what has always proven successful - intelligence gathering, prevention, and a law enforcement approach.

 

 

[Eamonn]

A couple of years back I took a mini cab from London to Gatwick Airport.

The driver was a middle aged Pakistani.

While of course I know it would be wrong to determine the feeling of an entire country by the feelings of one mini-cab driver. This guy was about as anti American as I ever met.

He seen the crossing into Pakistan by American military as being just wrong. He felt that America was trying to force American values on people that they didn't know or really understand.

Many of the young (21-30 old)Muslim men that I talk with feel that they are in some way being picked on because of their religion.

I do think that the death of Osama Bin Laden is a much needed shot in the arm for the guys who are serving in the military and those who have served.

As far as I know within the next 90 days America is supposed to be bringing home some of the military that are in Afghanistan. I'm unsure if this will help or hinder this?

With all that is going on in the middle east, with people taking to the streets and governments trying to put down demonstrations. Who knows maybe your run of the mill terrorist will have enough on his plate and let this one slide?

I do hope that maybe in some ways this will bring some sort of closure for the families that were harmed 9/11.

 

As for the war on terror?

I really don't know.

For years I watched the IRA terrorize the mainland of England, with bombings and in Northern Ireland with shootings and all sorts of terror.

While I'm sure that the Good Friday Peace Accord did and has helped bring an end to the "Troubles". Part of me believes that many of the young people in both the North and the South just didn't have the same passion as the generations that went before them and without this passion they were not going to make the same moves that had been used in the past.

 

To be very honest my problem with Islamic terrorism is that I'm not sure what they really want?

Sure I understand that ending American military presence in the Middle East and the Arabian Peninsula is the goal of some of these organizations and a lot of them are unhappy about the American support of Israel.

Some groups seem to hold with the idea of radical Islam with a hatred for all things American.From what I've seen on the TV, some of these radicals hold with the idea that America is somehow leading their young people down the wrong path.

These same people are the people with large satellite dishes that bring western TV programs and movies into their homes.

We will at some stage have to sit down and talk with groups that we are in disagreement with. (I'm thinking about the Taliban and Hezbollah). Just like the English sat down and talk with Sinn Fein along the way Sinn Fein moved from being a para-military organization to become a political party.

Of course not everyone was happy and some groups refused to even attend meetings when they found out that Sinn Fein was going to be there.

I really don't think that there is a military solution to what's going on.

Removing Osama Bin Laden might make things worse as he might be seen as some sort of martyr and this could lead to more acts of terrorism.

Until we sit down and negotiate with the groups involved and people on both sides are willing to bend a little, I don't see any end to what's going on.

Eamonn

 

 

 

[Eamonn]

Sorry!

Double Post.

Ea(This message has been edited by Eamonn)

[BS-87]

SeattlePioneer -

 

In many ways, I can imagine many Obama 2008 supporters are a little confused that their message of "Change you can believe in" really meant "4 MORE YEARS!"

 

From Bin Laden to No Child Left Behind to Gitmo to Libya to Tax Cuts, etc... Barack Obama's done a great job of taking up the Bush banner and running with it...