Osama Bin Laden: Dead

[Lateralthinking1]

.....Round Britain Quiz - How could one of the world's leading tennis players, an extremely talented artist from Margate and a small town in Sardinia once have been connected, albeit in confusion, to a foreign looking man who caused quite a lot of international kerfuffle?

Clues: It has been said by experts that the foreign looking man:

(a) had 12 children, 24 children and 26 children
(b) achieved a civil engineering degree or a degree in public administration or else left university without ever completing his degree and
(c) was six feet four tall and six feet six tall and not particularly tall at all.

This crystal clear information was very easy to obtain because lots of important people had spoken to many of the man's relatives.

[Lateralthinking1]

......Yes, that's right, it was an anagram. Nadal is the famous tennis player, the extremely talented artist from Margate is Emin and that small town in Sardinia is Bosa. Mix them all up and connect them suspiciously together. You get the guy who was on the walls of most students' bedrooms in the noughties - Osama bin Laden

[Uncle Monty]

......Yes, that's right, it was an anagram. Nadal is the famous tennis player, the extremely talented artist from Margate is Emin and that small town in Sardinia is Bosa. Mix them all up and connect them suspiciously together. You get the guy who was on the walls of most students' bedrooms in the noughties - Osama bin Laden

I think what threw me was the reference to "extremely talented artist from Margate". I knew Tracey Emin came from Margate, but decided you couldn't possibly have been referring to her, as she has no discernible talent whatsoever, except perhaps for boozing and self-publicising

[Lateralthinking1]

Harsh - very harsh.

[Mr Pee]

That's one of the things I love about these messageboards. Only here could we get from Bin Laden to Tracey Emin in a few easy moves.

It almost makes it worthwhile wading through all the ludicrous nonsense from the likes of Amateur and Flossie.

[Uncle Monty]

Harsh - very harsh.

Absurdly generous, I thought!

Wait till we get on to the people I really don't rate

[Flosshilde]

It is, isn't it? I have been dumbstruck by some of the idiotic ramblings from supposedly intelligent individuals.

Oh no you haven't - you've been posting here with gay (no slur intended) abandon

[amateur51]

Oh no you haven't - you've been posting here with gay (no slur intended) abandon

But in typical Pee/Simon/BTS fashion, he doesn't actually specify to what and to whom he's referring - I suppose you get a lot of that in F1 mags and television set comparison sites - but most of us who've had the privilege of a decent education expect an argument to be constructed of some evidence, claim and counter-claim and some exchange of views rather than 'ner ner de ner ner'

[Uncle Monty]

As far as I can see, the "idiotic ramblings" extend only to

* expressing a preference for military operations to be carried out lawfully and noting the US's rather poor record in this regard

* pointing out the potential legal and practical damage if they aren't

* opining that it would have been better if possible to take OBL alive and put him on trial so that his wickedness could be exposed for all to see


This doesn't seem to me like living in fairy-dairy land, to quote the PM.

[David Underdown]

Idiotic ramblings shared by several lawyers http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011...en-photos-raid

[Mr Pee]

As far as I can see, the "idiotic ramblings" extend only to

* expressing a preference for military operations to be carried out lawfully and noting the US's rather poor record in this regard

* pointing out the potential legal and practical damage if they aren't

* opining that it would have been better if possible to take OBL alive and put him on trial so that his wickedness could be exposed for all to see


This doesn't seem to me like living in fairy-dairy land, to quote the PM.

What, exactly, was unlawful about the raid on Bin Laden? He was the self-acknowledged head of Al-Qaeda, who had declared war on both Pakistan and the USA, and- funny how so few of the fairy-dairy land Guardian readers here have mentioned this- murdered thousands of civilians, including Muslims. Let's face it, the US could just have easily sent a laser-targeted bomb or cruise missile into his compound. Then all this pointless waffle about whether he was armed or not would have been even less relevant.

As for taking him alive, so that

his wickedness could be exposed for all to see

I can only assume you've been living on the moon if you're not already aware of the wickedness of Osama Bin Laden.

Although, come to think of it, I can only assume that a lot of the posters to this thread HAVE been living on the moon, so divorced do they seem from the realities of life back here on planet Earth. :p

[Lateralthinking1]

Let's try to be a bit more specific here. I am not sure we have heard clearly the reasons behind peoples views?

1. Is there anyone who doesn't believe that there is sufficient evidence for bin Laden arranging the slaughter of many?
2. Does this make a difference morally, rather than in purely legislative terms, in terms of his earthly rights?
3. He does not appear to have been a taxpayer or an identifiable citizen of any country. Do rights come with responsibilities?
4. Is the situation different from the murder of the Gaddafi children? In what ways?
5. Had he been imprisoned, should those who had relatives murdered have been exempted from the costs?
6. Would it have been better if unelected judges rather than democratically elected politicians had determined the outcome?
7. Should any arguments either way for future world harmony have been a factor in the decision on how best to deal?
8. Should his siblings have had any say in the best strategy and what might have been their views?
9. Are there any world leaders who have expressed outrage about the outcome?
10. To what extent was he a symbol of terrorism to bully and to what extent the crucial ringleader?

[MrGongGong]

What, exactly, was unlawful about the raid on Bin Laden? He was the self-acknowledged head of Al-Qaeda, who had declared war on both Pakistan and the USA, and- funny how so few of the fairy-dairy land Guardian readers here have mentioned this- murdered thousands of civilians, including Muslims. Let's face it, the US could just have easily sent a laser-targeted bomb or cruise missile into his compound. Then all this pointless waffle about whether he was armed or not would have been even less relevant.

As for taking him alive, so that I can only assume you've been living on the moon if you're not already aware of the wickedness of Osama Bin Laden.

Although, come to think of it, I can only assume that a lot of the posters to this thread HAVE been living on the moon, so divorced do they seem from the realities of life back here on planet Earth. :p

I'm assuming that (hopefully !) you are being deliberately obtuse
I'm not aware of ANYONE suggesting that Bin Laden was a lovely man who did no harm to anyone ? but you seem to only have space in your brain for two possibilities

1: He is a baddy so we should kill him as quickly as possible
and
2: He is a goody so we should leave him alone

which NO ONE has suggested (the second as its perfectly clear that you are with the first !)

What many people are uneasy with is the idea that somehow its ok to assassinate someone as we are all "aware of the wickedness"........... once you start doing this it sets are rather scary precedent

and

I would assume that you must have been "living on the moon" as you don't seem to have noticed that we have (mostly !) stopped simply killing our enemies and have a process of LAW for dealing with these things, you must have noticed those cars you see sometimes with the words POLICE on them ? or even occasionally seen buildings in towns and cities with the words COURT written on them ?
or maybe you haven't

killing someone who is the figurehead of an organisation based on an idea has never really been a good idea has it ?
you might have also noticed those buildings you see in parts of the world called CHURCHES and CATHEDRALS ???? ...........I guess not ?

[greenilex]

I think one of the reasons BL wasn't a good Muslim was that he saw himself as a prophet... so the argument about not making a martyr of him is enormously powerful.

[Uncle Monty]

As for taking him alive, so that his wickedness could be exposed for all to see
I can only assume you've been living on the moon if you're not already aware of the wickedness of Osama Bin Laden.

You're missing the point -- and a trick. Obviously we are pretty convinced of his wrongdoing, but there are less well-informed, and downright misinformed, people all over the world to whom OBL was a hero. By putting him on a public trial beamed all over the world, question marks could have started appearing for these people. As it is, they're now confirmed in their fantasy that it's all western lies, they now have a super-martyr to venerate and fight for -- and all apparently because the US engaged in another bit of showboating. As I said, we have to behave better than the terrorists, otherwise people will have no reason to desert them and act in a civilised fashion.