How now, brown cow?
So now that Obama has “killed” old Osama bin Laden, the whole thing seems to be raising more questions than answers. Like, really? You shot an unarmed man in the head and chest? Why? This is motherfecking Osama guys … you say he’s evil? Where’s the show trial, the spectacle of bringing the Enemy to book, throwing the full force of justice at him, executing the Evildoer to show the world that Good always Triumphs?
You executed him, then you dumped his body in the ocean? What are you, the fecking Mafia? What happened to your moral authority, the Global Policeman, cruising the world for Bad Guys and delivering swift justice? Is an execution justice? How? Upon whose authority? Has ANY judge ANYWHERE convicted him on the facts?
So yeah, Osama was, as confessed in his messages, a fecking Bad Man. He killed thousands of people. Wanna know who else killed many more thousands of people? George W. Bush and Barack Obama. How would you feel if someone shot THEM in the head and tossed them in the ocean? Would you accept the other (weaker) side’s right to celebrate as well?
Another question, on a different note – is a suicide vest more a terrorist act than a drone missile or cluster bomb? As both target civilians, is one more war crime than the other, even if the war is undeclared?
Back to Osama, if you can parade Saddam, why not him? Surely he was a bigger catch, the symbol of the Enemy, and what better way to give closure to the victims of 9/11 than to put the mastermind to trial?
As for the execution, do you really think that’s gonna pacify The Terrorists? the idea of martyrdom seems to be taking root, given that he was admittedly unarmed, yet the order was to kill him anyway? Won’t that just galvanise what has appeared to be a complacent and fading network into vengeful action?
And finally, really? You compared his “DNA” with his sister’s? Now that the body’s gone, we only have your word for it, yeah? Even if you release the photos, will we recognise Osama, considering you put a bullet in his head?
Before Obama goes on a nationwide tour, high-fiving the shit out of America, I wanna see some proof, cos this seems Far. Too. Convenient.
Like an illusionist once said, the best magic trick is one where the audience doesn’t even know it’s been tricked.
Show me something. Anything.
Till you do, I call “bullshit”!
not forgetting of course the fact the intel that got him came from ‘enhanced’ interrogation. The site of which Obama promised to close down within months of his gaining office.
Actually, none of the intel which led to Osama was gotten during the torture times. Only after the torture program had been stopped did they start getting meaningful stuff.
Check the timeline.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/03/world/asia/03intel.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1
Also, Guantanamo wasn’t the site of “torture” as we traditionally call it, but the torture was done in ‘black sites’ run by the CIA around the world.
This is not to say that indefinite detention is not torture, or shackling and solitary and all the other treatment detainees are subjected to – it’s all torture.
Conversely, I’m not defending Obama from allegations of hypocrisy either – he’s the biggest hypocrite of them all, as his civil liberties record will attest.
does this mean that your euphoria about the man has since evaporated? or are you just going through a bumpy phase in your relationship with the man?
Gee Elle, you’ve been away a long time, huh? I, like what I guess are the majority of true progressives around the world, am extremely disappointed by Obama the President, compared to Obama the Candidate.
School has its foot firmly shoved up my rear shamwari. This business of going the scholarly route at an advanced age and leaving the workforce: not highly recommended.
re: Obama, it’s like the LibDems in the UK. It’s easy to come up with all these fancy policies when you are standing on the sidelines, outside the corridors of power. But once you are there in that driver’s seat and then reality takes hold, all bets are off. Has your disappointment led you to drink? Coz i hear Delta is about to become a billion dollar market share company. Those (licquor) profits must be driven from somewhere….
Nothing to do with reality. It’s about principle as policy, not policy over principle. If you promise to do A, then do B, you haven’t admitted “reality”, you’ve adopted someone else’s policy (in BO’s case, expanded).
My point is, this guy touted a progressive agenda to get elected. He had the mandate to pursue this agenda.
Not pursuing this agenda is political cowardice, and for me over here, America’s image is tarnished all the more by thie “Peace” President.
Still … better than McCain.
I don’t know JB. Sometimes, a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do. He had to tell people somethings they needed to hear so as to make it to the office, even though he mayhave not actually planned to do it. Granted, that can backfire when tryna get back in office for a second term, but if he does enough good shit that enough people in the right places like, maybe it will be enough to make people forget the fact that he aint delievered (or even done a u turn on a few) things he promised (see right there, you weren’t managing your expectations 🙂 ). Principles are over-rated. Sometimes, the means do justify the end (my bad if I got my plural wrong. …means does justify the end?). Look at me, I was mad when the Lib Dems went with the Tories. But now I get it, it was for the good of the people. Lib Dems weren’t going to achieve much as backing back-benchers. They had to get into bed with the Devil to get their AV to the polls.
Let me tell you a few things, cos you seem to be under the wrong impression.
“Principles are over-rated” … I won’t respond to that, cos you may find it insulting.
Obama ran on a principle platform – stopping aggressive wars, closing Guantanamo, restoring respect for civil liberties, establishing a consumer protection bureau, ending tax cuts for the rich, protecting whistleblowers and so on and so forth.
Read up, by yourself, on ANY ONE of those policy positions. In some cases, he’s even GONE FURTHER than Bush ever did (yes, he’s worse than Bush in some ways).
E.g. Obama has asserted the right of the President to order the assassination of a US citizen, with neither charge no trial, hearning nor due process.
This guy’s basically a weak-kneed sellout.
Times change! People change! Priorities change! Perceived situations change! Motivation and enthusiusm changes. Two years is a long time. What was relevant back then, is not necessarily as relevant now. It sucks, but it is what it is. Besides, they all do it (sell out).
*sigh* You’re beyond salvation LOL
@ Tara, I don’t see how civil liberties can be considered as no longer relevant. With those sorts of ideas, we’d all either still be picking cotton in the fields or sitting at the back of the bus.
as for the Lib Dems, Nick Clegg is basically David Cameron lite. And that is not a ringing endorsement. As for getting AV on the polls, there is a certain irony about using a first-past-the-post system to vote on not using a first-past-the-post system.
@JB: Whaaaaaat?!
@ Eleanor: I meant what people said once upon a time being no longer relevant. I accept your point, but fact is, relevance is relative, being terribly subjective. What is relavant to you or I ain’t necessarily relevant to the next guy, even us x years down the line. Theory of relativity. Things get complicated and kinda go to shit when people throw in ideas that contain the phrase ‘greater good’. The greater good is the reason why things are not as black and white as you would like it.
PS: I neither condone nor condemn the ‘greater good’ argument. I am merely trying to say it’s complicated.