LETTER: How Do I Feel About Osama bin Laden's Death?

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EDITOR'S NOTE: The following letter was submitted by a Cannon County resident. The writer requested anonymity based on the nature of their employment.

I’m torn with the news of the killing of Osama bin Laden. First I am extremely glad that the world is rid of another ruthless despotic dictator in the mold of Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, and Saddam Hussein. However, there are several things that leave me perplexed.

First, President Obama started early in his term that he would not authorize “enhanced interrogation” and implied condemnation of the former administration for doing so to the point that many in the CIA were afraid they would be prosecuted for their previous acts.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28574408/ns/politics-white_house/

However, the initial tip off that started a chain of events in finding Osama bin Laden was from enhanced interrogation used on a detainee that gave the name of the courier that lead the CIA and others down the trail that lead to Abbotabad.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/05/02/bush-era-interrogations-provided-key-details-bin-ladens-location/

This doesn’t make legal sense. In any court, evidence in a case obtained illegally and that can not be obtained elsewhere will result in a mistrial. Therefore according to the President, the original admission was obtained illegally and that piece of evidence should not be used. This sounds a little arbitrary to me.

Secondly, the president on the campaign trail stated that he was going to try all the 9/11 terrorists in civilian court and give them all the rights as a US citizen. Even on the battle field our soldiers have to read Miranda rights to detained prisoners.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/06/11/lawmaker-says-obama-administration-ordered-fbi-read-rights-detainees/

I don’t think bin Laden had these rights read to him.

Thirdly, Presidents Ford and Reagan both had Executive Orders outlawing assassination (12036 and 12333). "No person employed by or acting on behalf of the United States Government shall engage in, or conspire to engage in, assassination."
http://hir.harvard.edu/leadership/on-the-offensive

After 9/11, President Bush ordered “targeted killings” of suspected terrorists. When President Obama came into office, he closed the CIA prisons over seas and pledged to close Gitmo. Since we had no place to detain more prisoners, he increased the number of targeted killings.
http://www.voltairenet.org/article165711.html
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/13/AR2010021303748.html

So, in the presidents thinking, it is better to indiscriminately kill someone from the air, than to capture them and hold them. I always thought that killing someone would make their family and friends hardened in their hatred towards us, where as holding them they would receive Geneva Conventions rights – not US citizen rights – but a simple human rights called life.

This policy of targeted killing is not limited to non-citizens. In 2010 Obama ordered the killing of an American citizen living outside the US.

Who will it be next?
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/07/world/middleeast/07yemen.html
http://www.aclu.org/files/assets/2010-4-28-ACLULettertoPresidentObama.pdf
http://opiniojuris.org/2010/04/07/the-constitutionality-of-president-obamas-targeted-killing-of-us-citizens/

I really have a problem with the president “ordering” a person, any person, to be assassinated. I quess assassination is only “legal” when the president orders it.

Lastly, the president seems to have no clear constant policy. Soldiers who violate any of a captive persons rights are subject to court martial, but the president can order unmanned drones to fly over a neutral county and blow up anyone below, whether terrorists, Taliban, or women and children.

This inconsistent policy is blatantly obvious with the questioning of Attorney General Eric Holder’s question by Senator Lindsey Graham. Holder is questioned on the use of Miranda rights and the civilian courts to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. Graham asks Holder if he would read bin Laden Miranda rights. Holder is extremely inconsistent, rambling, and at times incoherent.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2009/11/would_us_need_to_read_bin_lade.html
http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/12/07/letter-obama-targeted-killings

I realize that I may be in the minority, but I personally did not agree with President Bush’s Targeted Killings policy. However, it was clearly defined and I understood it! This policy of President Obama makes him the sole determiner of who should be taken out and who shouldn’t. Prior Executives Orders are of no count, the Constitutional Rights of citizens are of no count, and the alternative to use prisons is of no count to President Obama.

God help us all!

Cannon County Resident
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May 03, 2011 at 10:06am
you must be joking
May 03, 2011 at 10:43am
Maybe you should move over there and represent them poor people. I say good job Mr. President!
May 03, 2011 at 11:58am
I find it difficult to support any of your claims of concern. This was an action during a war. Replace Osama Bin Laden with another dastardly world leader past or present and make the same argument and see how unusual your statements will be interpreted by yourself. I do understand the whole torture issue and do not support such conduct, but it seems inconsistent to view another administration in a bad light because this suffering-induced intel was used. It would be the height of idiocy to have omitted this very useful information on principle. If you carefully note, this was a very long pursuit through three presidencies.... Not much would get done if every policy were reversed or terminated with each change of administration. I am most satisfied that this blight of the world criminal Osama Bin Laden is now out of the picture. Don't over analyze.
May 03, 2011 at 12:44pm
To the writer, I would like to ask you Mr. Anonomous if you believe the 3,000 plus victims of 9/11 feel the same as you?
To the Courier, how can someone submit this anonomously?
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May 03, 2011 at 1:44pm
First of all I have no problems with the way the operation to take care of Osama Bin Laden were handled. I think his decision to fight was his decision to die.

The U.S. policy is to not kill unarmed people trying to surrender. Bin Laden never had any intentions of going peaceably or without a fight. I am sure his intentions were to kill as many Navy Seals as he could before he got killed.

I agree 100% with the way this was handled from beginning to end. And that goes back to the days of President Bush to current day President Obama.

I think your argument is better served by saying the inconsistencies in the way the media treats our current President vs. former President Bush is ironic at best. The media hated Bush and so did liberal America. He gave them a lot of material to use, which did not help him in any way. Obama has always been a darling to the media and although much of his practices have been the same, it is not politically correct to chastise him the way they did Bush.

All of the hoopla about water boarding and interrogation practices that were used under President Bush led to Osama Bin Laden's death on Sunday. People who think they suddenly stopped when President Obama took office are sorely misinformed. How do you think they found out the name of the courier that led them to Osama? I am sure they just asked nicely, don't you?

Today's war is different. And to treat it like wars that have been fought in the past will lead to certain death of our civilians. These people are fanatics and sweet talking and flowers will never get you the information you need to learn about or stop the plans they have to kill as many Americans as possible.

Also, I don't believe in any terrorist having Constitutional rights because:
A. they are more than likely not American and don’t fall under our Constitution
B. most of them would invoke Sharia Law over our law anyway
C. in my opinion you give up your rights when you decide to fly a plane into the World Trade Center and kill 3000 people. Or your creed is to kill as many infidels as possible.

Lastly, in the words of General William Tecumseh Sherman, "War is Hell". To think otherwise is stupidity.

The surest way to achieve peace is to make war so horrible that the decision to stop fighting is the prevailing thought. I have no problems with any President of any party protecting the people of the United States.

I am proud of what our military achieved and am glad that President Obama took the necessary steps to put this into motion. It is one decision I can totally agree with!

One final note, isn’t it ironic that Osama Bin Laden was killed on the same day Adolf Hitler committed suicide!
May 03, 2011 at 2:53pm
Here's what newser.com reported:

(quote)

(NEWSER) – US forces had no intention of taking Osama bin Laden alive, US officials confirmed today. “This was a kill operation,” an official tells Reuters, though he added, “If he had waved a white flag of surrender, he would have been taken alive.” Instead, bin Laden “participated” in a firefight with US forces, the official said, though he would not explicitly say that the terrorist leader had fired on Americans.

"US forces are never in a position to kill if there is a way to accept surrender consistent with the ROE (rules of engagement)," a senior Obama administration official said. "That said, I think there was broad recognition that it was likely to end in a kill."

(end quote)

While I appreciate the pacifist desire to have bin Laden captured rather than killed, it was bin Laden, not our President, who chose death. The Seals were prepared to capture him upon surrender, but he and his men resisted and fired at the Seals. They killed him in self-defense. Legally and morally, self-defense justifies the killing.
May 03, 2011 at 4:04pm
EDITOR'S NOTE: The letter writer has requested the posting of the following:

Wow! I just wanted to give my opinion on the presidents policies and tried to support those opinions with references. Based from the comments, my points were totally missed. There were some things that I probably should have worded differently. I have no problem with bin Laden’s death, just the inconsistent policies and unconstitutional practices of the administration.
Thank you,
Anonymous
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May 03, 2011 at 4:25pm
Again to the writer of the letter, those people who participated in the terrorist activities and planned the killing of innocent people (i.e., Osama Bin Laden) are NOT AMERICANS.

Therefore in my opinion they do not have Constitutional rights and there is nothing Un-Constitutional about the way their deaths or the way the information obtained that led us to them was handled. The idea of forcing the U.S. Constitution on foreign citizens who have never lived here or was born here is ludicrous for anyone to attempt to do. It doesn't work and it never will. Nor would that idea work for someone to try to force their creed, constitution, morals, etc. upon us.

I got your point about the inconsistencies and I agree with some of them. Again, I go back to the idea of what is politically correct to point out is always different every time we change Presidents and parties. I think it was evident to President Obama that the way George Bush let out military handle certain situations and the tactics and methods that had to be used to obtain information was justified all along.

It is easy to say on the campaign trail you are going to stop all the wars and bring everyone home and you are going to close Guantanamo or stop the mistreatment of P.O.W.’s. I am certain that it is a lot harder when you face the realities of being President than when you are campaigning to be President. Why do you think they all turn gray in four years?

These are a different kind of people who have no concept of war in the traditional sense. To treat them like we treated people 60 years ago is impossibility! I am not advocating torture, but I do advocate protecting the citizens of the United States and if that means we obtain information in ways that are non-traditional, then so be it!
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May 03, 2011 at 7:43pm
All of the opinions here seem to assume that the government and MSM are telling us the truth about the killing of BL. The 'official' story seems to be changing almost by the minute. Of course there will be no proof forthcoming. Cute animations, fake photos and videos and a lot of lies are all we're getting.

Our great country has been hijacked at the highest levels and it's both parties.

To trust anything the government and big media says is naive. I'm always reminded of the old adage to describe current happenings ... "By way of deception."
May 03, 2011 at 7:43pm
I think people who have opinions on political grounds, should never be allowed to list them anonymously. This paper and all news outlets should uphold this attude. When people are killed without pryor knowledge AND are not combatants, then no price for information to find the perpetraters is too great. I do not agree with you and understand why you will not reveal yourself. Good luck with your future.LOL. Geroge Pittman
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May 03, 2011 at 8:32pm
Would someone please explain to me how the 'magic man' CIA asset bin laden and his minions caused WTC Building 7, which was not hit by a plane, to collapse straight down into its footprint at near free fall speed at approx. 5:20 pm on 9/11?

Please watch this video and let me know.

http://youtu.be/Atbrn4k55lA
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May 03, 2011 at 8:51pm
GAP, are you also against voting anonymously and secret ballots?

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May 04, 2011 at 7:58am
Seriously can we please not go through the whole conspiracy theory of the government is lying to us about the death of Osama Bin Laden.

There is video evidence of him over the last ten years with proof the man was alive during that time as well as audio of him talking about current events during that the last ten years.

With the President soon to be in a re-election fight there is no way they are going to let the man go on national TV and say Osama is dead without the him really being dead. The political ramifications of it not being true would be devestating!

Not only that, if he (Osama) wasn't dead he would have already made a video or sent some form of a picture out to prove he was alive just to make President Obama and the U.S. look like idiots.

Do I think the U.S. government is telling us everything about the raid or his death, NO. And to be honest I don't need to know and neither does anyone else. There are some things we need to know and some things we don't need to know.

Everything in life is not about hiding something or lying to the American people and to say Osama is not dead because you wasn't there or haven't seen a picture of him is like saying George Washington never lived because you never met the man or knew anyone who did.
May 04, 2011 at 9:29am
OMG - this is America - we are all allowed our opinions - no matter what they are - we can learn from each other & maybe find a trueness in all of them. What kind of country would we live in , if we all had to suck it in & keep our opinions to ourself?
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May 04, 2011 at 9:51am
What??? "I don't need to know and neither does anyone else. There are some things we need to know and some things we don't need to know. " That's exactly what 'they' want.

Reminds me of the movie "They Live" with the subliminal messages continually projected:

Obey, conform, consume.

Where are those sunglasses when you need 'em?

Not to say BL is not dead. Most evidence points that he has been for over 9 years. The last real video of him was from Dec. 2001. The rest have been shoddy studio remakes from Langley and Tel Aviv. BL has been our modern day Emmanuel Goldstein straight out of Orwell's 1984. It's a pretty good book. Everyone should read it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmanuel_Goldstein

But never mind, no time to debate, I've got to get back to Fox News, CNN and MSNBC to get the latest scoop. They wouldn't lie ... would they?
May 04, 2011 at 10:46am
I agree with you the most Deborah - but we also have to listen to the others - right or wrong & hope they listen to us too - I agree the man probably has been dead a long time - just on ice somewhere waiting to be carted out when the time was right - had a bad feeling when i saw the news sunday nite - why did it take so long to release the information - what ducks were they getting arranged....
May 04, 2011 at 11:03am
I recently watched a video of Colin Powell and he states that it wouldn't matter if the government posted photographs of Bin Laden dead... There will always be a faction that holds conspiracy higher than logic or belief. A conspiracy nut is a conspiracy nut. They will find a method to keep their claims alive... You just can't win with cynical paranoia. I still feel that if you are going to give such interesting provocative political statements without a name then you are simply a muckracker. Why can't people state who you are when you make such seemingly important claims...? Names, people... Or it has no real weight as an opinion... Sheltered through the editor? Pah-leez!
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May 04, 2011 at 12:10pm
Jeff, you mean the same Colin Powell that went before the UN in Feb. of 03 to spew a ton of unsourced, uncorroborated WMD allegations (lies) against Iraq in order to get public support for the invasion that was pre-planned before 9/11? All of the allegations turned out to be falsehoods.

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0811-09.htm

If the hundreds of thousands of dead women, children and innocents of Iraq plus thousands of our fine American youth who perished could speak, I doubt they would call him a credible spokesperson against 'conspiracy nuts.'
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May 04, 2011 at 12:37pm
HA. There have been conspiracy theorists around since the beginning of this country and there will be until the end of time.

I don't begrudge anyone their right to their opinion, I just find it very illogical to believe that the United States government has been conspiring to hide the fact Osama Bin Laden has been dead for years when there is video proof, photographic proof and audio proof that the man was alive up until Sunday.

And Deborah no I don't want to know everything the government does and I am not sure why you do either. When it concerns budgets, laws, projects and things that directly affect me then sure I want to be as informed as the next guy.

However, I don't think you or me or anyone else needs to know the names of the Seal team that went in to kill Osama. Nor do I think I need to know every secret the FBI or CIA has on file concerning Al Qaeda. When you release that type of information you put more people’s lives in jeopardy than it is worth. Not only their lives, but the lives of their family and friends as well.

You cannot fight this type of fanatical people by divulging every single thing you know on them or how you obtain the information you do have on them. There is a reason why it takes as long to catch them as it does; it is because they are not out there blabbing every single decision they make to their people like everyone in America wants our government to do.

Paranoia is fine if that is what someone wants to choose to live in. I can live with the idea there are some things I don't need to know and there are some things I won't ever know. To worry about them is an absolute waste of time! You cannot change any of it even if it were true, so why waste your time thinking about it?
May 04, 2011 at 1:33pm
how can you live in a country that is so corrupt and evil?
May 04, 2011 at 2:50pm
Two comments:

Had I been the writer of the letter I would have wanted to keep my name from the public, understandably so.

Recommend this book for at least one of the posters:
Conspiracy Theories & Secret Societies For Dummies By Christopher Hodapp, Alice Von Kannon
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May 04, 2011 at 7:04pm
Cory, with all due respect it's not about the small details such as the names of the Seal team, it's about the big picture and in my humble opinion and focus it's with the wars. Trillions spent, many dead and is everyone so sure that they are for honorable and 'national security' reasons? Just one more question "who benefits?"

goober, we're too poor to go anywhere else and where would that be anyway? We love our country and why is trying to improve on it and maybe have honest government at all levels bring out the insinuations of being un-American?

MMW, I'm fairly familiar with the masonic aspects but Hodapp is a tad too main stream for my tastes. His Dan Brown, History and Discovery channel connections tend to make me think 'gatekeeper.' Not that the information is not interesting and possibly relevant but I find it's only for the 'initiated', so to speak.


The concept of anonymous posting has a logic behind it. Human nature is such that prejudices can and do arise against those whose ideas are different from those that one may hold. Being able to express one's opinions without fear of retaliation ... job wise, economic or otherwise can be an important part of the democratic and learning processes. Thank you for allowing it Kevin.
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May 04, 2011 at 8:52pm
Deborah it is you opinion. You are more than welcome to it and as I said before I don't begrudge you for having it. I disagree with it and don't believe what you are implying to be true, but to each his own.

I understand your frustrations about trillions spent on wars because I have the same frustrations at times myself. However, trillions have been spent by BOTH parties on useless wars since the inception of the United States. It is a fact of life and will always be that way. You and I can never change that.

I will ask you the same question you asked me:
#1. Who benefits from the death of Osama Bin Laden today?
#2.Who would have benefitted from it nine years ago if he had been killed then as you say he was in another article?

The answer to question #1. is all of us to include President Obama who is soon to be in the political fight of his life. I would lay more credence to your theory had this all transpired in July 2012 when he is running for office and still has a approval rating in the 40’s and was projected to lose.

The answer to question #2. is again, all of us, but even more so to then President Bush who I have no doubt would have loved to have gone on national television and said to the American people that Osama was dead. Especially considering nine years ago he was about to run for his second term and was being bashed relentlessly by the liberal media.

Your theory and argument doesn’t follow political logic (sorry for the oxymoron). The two people who would have benefited most would have been then President Bush and now President Obama. Both could have used the political boost it would have given them during an election year, but there was one problem. Bush couldn’t say he was dead because he wasn’t. Obama couldn’t wait another year to help his cause for re-election.

Osama was well hidden for a lot of years and he was killed Sunday. There was no conspiracy to hide his body for the last eight or nine years and Obama didn’t wait until Sunday so he could interrupt Donald Trump’s Celebrity Apprentice. We found him, we planned the attack, we killed him and we go back to hunting the next person on the list.

That is the beginning, the middle and THE END!
May 05, 2011 at 6:17am
Life would be a lot duller without the Deborahs and letter writers like the one above. Sure the Palins, Bachmans and Gingriches are out there somewhere but we have the best right here at home.
I know they will get the truth out on 9/11, Elvis, Diana, JFK, UFOs, Lennon and especially bin Laden's death some nine years ago.

Can't wait for information on the flat earth theory.


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May 05, 2011 at 6:59am
Here's some true truth: The White House's version of "the truth" about what transpired during the mission has changed daily since Sunday night. They themselves don't seem to know what "the truth" is and they were watching it live.
May 05, 2011 at 8:40am
i am glad to see that the poor of our evil corrupt country have the essentials to exist ,such as internet.

do you accept any of the MANY charitable handouts that these lier make available?

As for where to go, anywhere that is better than here (good luck on that one and if you find it PLEASE let us know), but if i had to leave on foot i guess mexico because canada is too cold.

the corrupt and evil in this country are outweighted many times over by the good and honest and when good gets a chance they take pride in locking up evil to protect us and freedom.
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May 05, 2011 at 11:06am
You are right Kevin, the "truth" as the White House has told us has changed and will probably change some more.

But, if there was a true conspiracy wouldn't it make more sense to say that Osama was holding an AK-47 in a feirce fire gun fight with the Navy Seals when they blowed his head off?

Wouldn't it make more sense to wait and say "we got him" right before the election next year?

Wouldn't George Bush have used his death to his political advantage if he had been killed nine years ago?

I have my doubts about certain things that have transpired as well, but I just don't buy into the conspiracy theory too much.

What is really funny is I am usually one to look at things from a political standpoint on how it could help the politician when news like this breaks.

In this case, I think it will give Obama a boost in his approval rating, but I don't see it helping him win the Presidency in 2012.

I just think they found Osama and he (the President) made the right choice on a calculated guess that achieved the desired goal.

Kudos to him on acting very Presidential and I am glad we don't know every single detail of what it entailed!

Nor do I think we should know!
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May 05, 2011 at 11:22am
Conspiracy theories were not addressed in my post. I am not terribly troubled by the ends justifying the means in this instance. I am a bit troubled by those who complain about certain methods which were used to reach the end when without them there would have been no ending.
May 05, 2011 at 3:34pm
I suppose after all debriefings we will know the true story of what happened after the SEALs got into the compound.

Right now we have Repulicans Brown, Ayotte and Chamliss all saying they saw picures of the dead bin Laden and yet those pictures were never shown to them. (Boston Globe)

In the meantime what has been coming out of the White House reminds me of this routine:

Abbott: Well, let's see, we have on the bags, Who's on first, What's on second, I Don't Know is on third...

Costello: That's what I want to find out.
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May 05, 2011 at 8:09pm
Actually Kevin, according to Panetta they didn't see much of the action live. The helmet cams were conveniently shut off.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/al-qaeda/8493391/Osama-bin-Laden-dead-Blackout-during-raid-on-bin-Laden-compound.html


It's funny that Reuters had no problem getting hold of and releasing photos of 3 guys allegedly killed in the raid. (very graphic)

And that helicopter crash story has gone through several incarnations. Now it's a secret stealth that obviously is a beta version.

http://www.foxnews.com/slideshow/world/2011/05/04/inside-bin-ladens-secret-hideaway/#slide=1

MMW, you really should brush up on your commenting skills. Lumping Elvis and UFO's into a serious debate is an old and very tired tactic. Oh yeah, you left out bigfoot and the fake moon landing.

This may help you. "Twenty-Five Ways To Suppress Truth: The Rules of Disinformation"

http://www.whale.to/m/disin.html
May 06, 2011 at 5:58am
Deborah:
"Serious debate" with you saying bin Laden been dead for over nine years? Come on now.
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