Why announce Bin Laden's death?

[Airbrush]

Here is a question I never heard asked. What good was it to immediately announce Osama Bin Laden's death? Why not keep it a secret and use the info gathered at his compound to track down and kill or capture other Al Qaeda leaders BEFORE they could find out by looking at the newpaper headlines "Bin Laden Killed"? Then they all scattered and we missed a golden opportunity.

[swansont]

How much more time would have elapsed before Al Qaeda knew of it? A broken helicopter was left behind in his compound! How much intelligence analysis and tracking down of leaders are you going to do in a day?

[iNow]

Another idea if we choose to treat the question as valid... It was probably best to get international sentiment and support from the global populace behind us before Pakistan went all apeshit and cried havoc over us invading their airspace.

[overtone]

I doubt the leadership of AQ and related organizations had to wait around for the US to announce OBL's killing. Their sources in the Pakistani police, government, and military, were on the ground, for starters.

 

From whom do you imagine the US would have been keeping such an event secret?

[Airbrush]

Thanks for the answers to my question above.

 

So basically, the reasons Barak Obama announced the killing of Bin Laden was because the operation was messy, we invaded Pakistani territory without telling them, and we assumed that the info would get out rapidly anyhow.

[iNow]

You know, or maybe we were chasing the guy for nearly a decade and we wanted to celebrate a long awaited win.

[akh]

I am sure that if the admistration had not announced his death, people would be asking question as to why we were not informed right away. They would be asking what is Barack Obama hiding?

 

Obviously killing Bin Laden was not good enough and it was a failed mission.

 

As far as I know, Al Qaeda is "scattered" by definition.

[overtone]

So basically, the reasons Barak Obama announced the killing of Bin Laden was because the operation was messy, we invaded Pakistani territory without telling them, and we assumed that the info would get out rapidly anyhow.

The way so many Americans talk as if nobody knows anything unless the American government officially announces it to the world is kind of strange.

 

People know when they are being bombed and rocketed, when squadrons of Special Ops forces have launched military raids on them, when they are being attacked in that fashion. Their neighbors know, too. The only people not informed of OBL's assassination would have been the Americans - just like the only people who didn't know about the intensified bombing of Iraq in the months leading up to the official "decision" to invade were the Americans, or the only people who don't know about the Israeli operations against the Palestinians are the Americans.

[zapatos]

The way so many Americans talk as if nobody knows anything unless the American government officially announces it to the world is kind of strange.

 

People know when they are being bombed and rocketed, when squadrons of Special Ops forces have launched military raids on them, when they are being attacked in that fashion. Their neighbors know, too. The only people not informed of OBL's assassination would have been the Americans - just like the only people who didn't know about the intensified bombing of Iraq in the months leading up to the official "decision" to invade were the Americans, or the only people who don't know about the Israeli operations against the Palestinians are the Americans.

Yes, we are just a bunch of ignorant peons being led around by the nose.

[iNow]

^There is actually a fair degree of truth in that comment, IMO. It's just that it's not the government holding the horn, but the right-wing media like talk radio and faux news.

[swansont]

The way so many Americans talk as if nobody knows anything unless the American government officially announces it to the world is kind of strange.

 

People know when they are being bombed and rocketed, when squadrons of Special Ops forces have launched military raids on them, when they are being attacked in that fashion. Their neighbors know, too. The only people not informed of OBL's assassination would have been the Americans - just like the only people who didn't know about the intensified bombing of Iraq in the months leading up to the official "decision" to invade were the Americans, or the only people who don't know about the Israeli operations against the Palestinians are the Americans.

 

Right. Somebody live-tweeted the raid, for Pete's sake. The op wasn't a secret once the team showed up hovering over Abbottabad.

[rigney]

 

Right. Somebody live-tweeted the raid, for Pete's sake. The op wasn't a secret once the team showed up hovering over Abbottabad.

No doubt many of the local folks were aware of the raid as it happened and others shortly there after. However, only SEAL team 6 and our government were privy to the reason for such a raid. And as for Ben Ladins death, it could have been concealed for months; but was blabbed to the world by the white house long before Ben's body had gone to room temperature.

[swansont]

No doubt many of the local folks were aware of the raid as it happened and others shortly there after. However, only SEAL team 6 and our government were privy to the reason for such a raid. And as for Ben Ladins death, it could have been concealed for months; but was blabbed to the world by the white house long before Ben's body had gone to room temperature.

 

Really? Al-Qaeda wouldn't have noticed his death?

 

 

[rigney]

Even the people who were with ben Ladin at the time of his death may not have known he was dead. His body was immediatly bagged up and whisked away by the SEAL team. Alluding to how slowly propaganda works at times; (ala Benghazi), it may have taken months before actual facts would have been known. You gotta remember, Bush made a king size ass of himself by flying out to that carrier and stupidly announcing "SHOCK & AWE" had been a great success.

Edited December 22, 2012 by rigney

[swansont]

Right. They would just say "He's in his room sleeping" and leave it at that.

[overtone]

No doubt many of the local folks were aware of the raid as it happened and others shortly there after. However, only SEAL team 6 and our government were privy to the reason for such a raid.

- - -

Even the people who were with ben Ladin at the time of his death may not have known he was dead.

Good Lord.

 

Look: It was a commando raid - American helicopters, searchlights, gunshots, people talking in English, dead people lying around, radar images, cops called, ambulances called, doctors, hospitals, OBL's house trashed and guards at the gates. It was a residential neighborhood. You couldn't keep that a secret from anyone within a half a mile, anyone who did business with the household, and anyone in their five hundred person extended families, let alone the Pakistani military and the local cops.

 

Recall the OP:

Why not keep it a secret and use the info gathered at his compound to track down and kill or capture other Al Qaeda leaders BEFORE they could find out by looking at the newpaper headlines

It makes not a whit of difference whether OBL was whisked away in some indeterminate state, does it. In point, probably more consternation and "scattering" (!?) would be generated by the possibility he was alive - and quite likely, that possibility was a serious concern of AQ higher ups upon first hearing of the raid, say ten minutes or so after it started. The Tea Party folks among them probably think he's alive to this day, being held by or at the behest of the Americans in some "interrogation" cell somewhere. Maybe Israel. Obama is a secret Jew, you know? Every pack of rightwing fanatics has its Tea Party faction. Edited December 23, 2012 by overtone

[rigney]

Good Lord.

 

Look: It was a commando raid - American helicopters, searchlights, gunshots, people talking in English, dead people lying around, radar images, cops called, ambulances called, doctors, hospitals, OBL's house trashed and guards at the gates. It was a residential neighborhood. You couldn't keep that a secret from anyone within a half a mile, anyone who did business with the household, and anyone in their five hundred person extended families, let alone the Pakistani military and the local cops.

 

Recall the OP: It makes not a whit of difference whether OBL was whisked away in some indeterminate state, does it. In point, probably more consternation and "scattering" (!?) would be generated by the possibility he was alive - and quite likely, that possibility was a serious concern of AQ higher ups upon first hearing of the raid, say ten minutes or so after it started. The Tea Party folks among them probably think he's alive to this day, being held by or at the behest of the Americans in some "interrogation" cell somewhere. Maybe Israel. Obama is a secret Jew, you know? Every pack of rightwing fanatics has its Tea Party faction.

Man! When some of you folks jump off topic, no one has a clue as to where it's going. Anyway, what the hell has T- Party people or Osama's religion have to do with this post? And as far as rightwing fantasies go, leftwing fanatics peaks volumes of prattle all by themselves.

Edited December 23, 2012 by rigney

[iNow]

Here we go again. Yet another thread where rigney makes asinine and outlandish claims, ignores peoples requests for clarification, and just keeps stirring the pot with unfounded and illogical insinuations.

 

I know. There are lots of big words there, rigney. Let me summarize for you. Your bullshit posts based on nothing whatsoever have grown tiresome.

[rigney]

legitimateHere we go again. Yet another thread where rigney makes asinine and outlandish claims, ignores peoples requests for clarification, and just keeps stirring the pot with unfounded and illogical insinuations.

 

I know. There are lots of big words there, rigney. Let me summarize for you. Your bullshit posts based on nothing whatsoever have grown tiresome.

 

Unfortunately friend you haven't a clue about normal conversation or discussion. Your posts are neither ignorant, asinine, outlandish or amusing, but total bullshit calculated to fit any occasion. Also, for your information, big words fit well in small minds.

Edited December 23, 2012 by rigney

[overtone]

Man! When some of you folks jump off topic' date=' no one has a clue as to where it's going. Anyway, what the hell has T- Party people or Osama's religion have to do with this post? [/quote'] I'll bet it's not true that "no one has a clue" about that post, and I assure you it was spot on topic.

 

The topic being the oddness of someone thinking an American military commando raid on OBL's house could be kept a secret from Al Qaida or anyone else in the radical Islamic partisan world, that those people rely on official announcements in the US media for their information on what each other are doing or suffering, and so forth.

 

Not everyone is Tea Party clueless - the worldshare of the wingnut American is not much of the world, after all.

[ralfy]

Perhaps one should see this in relation to public admissions of U.S. involvement with the al Qaeda. For example,

 

"Hillary Clinton Admits the U.S. Government Created al-Qaeda"

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifZK6SVlQ1Y

[iNow]

Do you have a source that's not youtube? Something more substantial, maybe?

[ralfy]

That's an excerpt from an interview with Hillary Clinton. More details here, featuring Clinton again:

 

 

Also, check out Scott's The Road to 9/11, an interview with Brzezinski, the Time article "The Oily Americans," and more.

Edited December 25, 2012 by ralfy

[iNow]

Okay. Thanks. I'll have to try to remember to come back to this later. I'm in a location right now where playing videos is much more frustrating and annoying than informative.

[overtone]

That's an excerpt from an interview with Hillary Clinton. More details here' date=' featuring Clinton again: [/quote'] The general circumstance that the US "created" AQ is standard leftist (or reality based, if you prefer) observation long familiar in the reality based political discussion community. It is not meant literally and specifically to apply to AQ exactly but to the Islamic fundie militias and partisan forces from which AQ arose.

 

The reality based crowd distinguishes between the various factions and organizations and forces involved in radical Islamic terrorism and rebellion and partisan struggle, rather than lumping them under one name.

 

That said, I'm not going to watch entire videos of stuff just to discover the exact manner in which some passing moment in them has been misrepresented by some poster. And I don't have sound on this computer, anyway. So do you have a transcript, something we can read and dismiss in a couple of minutes?