The Obama "To Make Important Statement" MEGATHREAD

[KRonn]

This is going to make it very tough to call Obama soft on anything the next few years. I read there was a take no prisoner order, which would be tougher than Bush. He also launched an attack in Pakistan across the street from a Pakistani military installation without their permission. And then had Osama tossed into the ocean immediately afterward.

I really haven't considered Obama soft on the wars and military actions the US has been fighting. He stepped up drone attacks and actions in Pakistan .He added troops and stepped up the Afghan fighting, though he set a quasi-timetable for withdrawal. But I don't think it's etched in stone, and contingent to some extent on what the situation is. The US was still attacking AQ types in Yemen, with the govt there allowing it and going along. He hasn't seemed to be soft on the anti-radical war.

[alfred russel]

This is going to make it very tough to call Obama soft on anything the next few years.

Yeah. Gaddaffi's son and grandchildren this day, Binnie & his son the next. What's he going to do next week?

Ahmedinejadabadad?

That would be interesting.

[MadImmortalMan]

     TEHRAN (FNA)- The US has killed the Al-Qaeda leader, Osama Bin Laden, in a bid to prevent any possible leakage of intelligence and information about the US-Al-Qaeda joint terrorist operations, a senior Iranian legislator underscored on Monday.   

    "The West was fully satisfied with bin Laden's performance during the past years and today... it was obliged to kill him to prevent possible leakage of the priceless intelligence that he had," member of the parliament's National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Javad Jahangirzadeh told FNA on Monday.

    He mentioned that the West seeks to rebuild its damaged face in the international community, and reiterated that Bin Laden's survival could endanger the interests of the western countries and disclose their past and future clandestine operations.

    Jahangirzadeh warned the world countries that the West has hatched a new plot to find new pretexts for invading and occupying the Muslim countries.

    Obama announced on Sunday that bin Laden was killed in a US operation in Pakistan.

    Obama said he had directed helicopter-borne US armed forces to launch an attack against a heavily fortified compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan on Sunday acting on a lead that first emerged last August.

    "A small team of Americans... killed Osama bin Laden and took custody of his body," Obama said.

    Senior US officials said that in addition to bin Laden, three adult males died in the raid, two who were believed to be couriers for the Al-Qaeda leader, and one who was said to be one of his adult sons.

    One woman who was being used as a human shield was also killed, the officials said.

I'll never understand the hyper-susceptibility to conspiracy theories in that part of the world. And also on pdox OT.

[Martinus]

It would be cool if Obama went on a killing spree and offed a different dictator each day.

Obama: new Chuck Norris?

[DGuller]

This is going to make it very tough to call Obama soft on anything the next few years.

Yeah. Gaddaffi's son and grandchildren this day, Binnie & his son the next. What's he going to do next week?

At that rate, Obama will become the next Charles Martel before the year is out.

[Neil]

Still happy to hear the good news.  And to think.  We couldn't have this thread on the old EUOT.  No celebrating the death of a person.  Even if the person is a mass murderer.

Apparently death can be celebrated, bt not murder, and Stonewall gave a pass to this because he didn't consider it murder.

Surely OHGamer will ban Stonewall and everyone on the forums, before hopefully shooting himself in the head?

[Viking]

I'll never understand the hyper-susceptibility to conspiracy theories in that part of the world. And also on pdox OT.

Conspiracy theories are a symptom of cognitive dissonance. They build on each other since they almost always set the unsubstantiated assumption in the same place. The cognitive dissonance exists in a presupposition which is not consistent with observed reality and reason. People will die for a much loved bad idea. The Arab world is so heavily beset with conspiracy theories because they have a lot of beloved bad ideas and because from time to time conspiracies do happen.

Think of the basic assumptions of the Arab world. They have the true religion that Allah wants to succeed. Allah will grant them victory. They are brave, honorable and competent warriors. Bravery, honor and competence will grant them victory. etc.etc. All of these basic presuppositions are patently false but they are presumed to be true. When the real world rolls around and hard facts hit the ground people basically have two options.

A) ditch their false presuppositions
B) find a false explanation that connects their presuppositions to reality

option A is Science, option B is Conspiracy Theorism

[Solmyr]

This is the part that does not compute for me. Why take great points to make sure it is him, and then promptly drop his remains into the ocean? This is going to fuel conspiracy theories like nothing else. 

Because you don't want a place to become a shrine or even a place to pay respects. You can get away with dumping him into the ocean a lot easier when you first get his body and the news cycle is dominated with the actual killing. You can't do that if you hold onto his body for a week--disregarding any 24 hour rule.

But now the entire ocean is a holy place that no infidel is allowed to touch.

[Caliga]

Does this mean I can't pee in it anymore?

[Legbiter]

I really haven't considered Obama soft on the wars and military actions the US has been fighting. He stepped up drone attacks and actions in Pakistan .He added troops and stepped up the Afghan fighting, though he set a quasi-timetable for withdrawal. But I don't think it's etched in stone, and contingent to some extent on what the situation is. The US was still attacking AQ types in Yemen, with the govt there allowing it and going along. He hasn't seemed to be soft on the anti-radical war.

How is Fox spinning this? "African-American male confesses to murder of homeless elderly man" or something else? 

[Razgovory]

I'll never understand the hyper-susceptibility to conspiracy theories in that part of the world. And also on pdox OT.

Magical thinking.  The inability to correctly ascertain cause and effect.

[dps]

We had taken a beef roast out of the freezer to cook for today's dinner.  If I had known this was going to happen, we'd have had a pork roast instead.

Good job, Mr President.

[derspiess]

Obviously I wouldn't have thought about it, but kind of interesting.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/httphealthlandtimecom20110502whosbinladenkidsbornafter911wanttoknowxidrssfullhealthsciyahoo

Who's Bin Laden? Kids Born After 9/11 Want to Know

President Obama certainly wasn't taking the sensibilities of West Coast children into consideration when he made his stunner of a speech Sunday night: Osama bin Laden is dead. It took parents by surprise. We weren't ready, had no time to hustle the kids into bed before flipping on the television.

Minutes before, my girls, 3 and 6, had been frolicking in their bubble bath. Now, shivering in towels, these children born after four airplanes attacked a September sky, had a question: who is Bin Laden?

My 3-year old asked me who bin Laden was when he saw his pic in a news article on my phone (he was looking for any excuse to not sleep).  I just told him he was a bad guy who had hurt a lot of people and that we "got him".  That seemed to be enough to satisfy his curiosity.  I think he could have handled more details but since he didn't press for any I let it go.

[Viking]

I really haven't considered Obama soft on the wars and military actions the US has been fighting. He stepped up drone attacks and actions in Pakistan .He added troops and stepped up the Afghan fighting, though he set a quasi-timetable for withdrawal. But I don't think it's etched in stone, and contingent to some extent on what the situation is. The US was still attacking AQ types in Yemen, with the govt there allowing it and going along. He hasn't seemed to be soft on the anti-radical war.

How is Fox spinning this? "African-American male confesses to murder of homeless elderly man" or something else? 

"Dazzling Urbanite kills homeowner in home invasion."

[Viking]

Certainly, the fact that Pakistani Press has published an internet photoshop edit as the true picture of the dead osama is going to be the cause of eternal conspiracy theories...

I really fucking hope they still have the body