First off: This is definitely fantastic news! The goat fucker deserved to die and that it comes at the hands of US forces, bullet to the head form, is a great thing. Kudos to President Obama for having the balls to authorize the operation, for this must have been a delicate operation, deep inside Pakistan, not a drone strike near the border.
However, as everyone notes: this won't end the war on terror. It may be a temporary body blow to the terrorists, but, that's it. It'll be interesting to hear in the next few days, to what extent bin Laden was still involved in Al Qaeda operations. I've said many times that, living or dead, he's been irrelevent to the war for many years, offering no moral support to the people that would look to him for inspiration. I don't think he ever was too involved at the tactical level. Hopefully we'll learn soon to what extent he was still involved with things.
But, there are some things that make you say "hmmm":
- A covert operation deep inside Pakistan, close to the capital. This is where Osama's been hiding? How did the ISI not know about his whereabouts all this time? Is it remotely conceivable that they didn't know?
- Assuming they did know where he was, did they just recently give up the whereabouts to US intelligence, or is this something US intelligence figured out themselves?
- Obama authorized what, on the surface, would be a very risky mission. He just doesn't seem like the kind of guy who would do that.
And maybe it's time? What does the RTP&GG community think?
It'll be interesting what we learn in the near future about what really went down. What if the Pakistanis didn't know anything or didn't give him up? Then I've got to say that Obama and our Special Forces really kicked ass. And what about Pakistan?
This whole ordeal makes me realize how little we know. The questions you bring up are good.
ReplyDeleteRegardless of what happened, it is good. Its hard to say anything this early though.
I'm wondering if it was just a coincidence that Obama waited to have his speech until The Apprentice began. It would be just like Obama to pull a silly stunt like that.
I think it is good news. But I don't know if it will have any great impact on the war on terror. It appears to be just a victory for moral.
ReplyDeleteI think America will be in that region of the world for a long time to come and President Obama will contiue to see that the war on terror is won.
I think America should stay in that region of the world and try to contiue to achieve its goal of creating a stable and free region. Although in the end I don't think it will be successful. Pulling out of the Middle East before achieving its goals would be a waste of the resources that have been spent in that region.
One update to my article that's been revealed is that the Pakistanis had no knowledge of the raid. Kudos to Obama for this risky choice (though I would hope any American president would have made the choice. It's just that our expectations of Obama are so low, that this choice is a pleasant surprise).
ReplyDeleteAlso, it's been revealed that the trail originated from 'enhanced interrogation techniques against high-level operatives' during the Bush administration. So, I guess they can be -very- effective. Kudos to Bush and Obama for seeing this difficult task through, and of course, the dedicated intelligence and military personnel who did the real work.
So, Pakistanis: no knowledge of the raid...lots of things to be drawn from that fact...
We should demand a refund from Pakistan and pull back all aid. They are a terror harboring nation.
ReplyDeleteWhats up with all the media outlets all the sudden pronouncing his name as Usama rather than Osama? Are they trying to be PC?
ReplyDeleteOsama and Obama rhyme. It is a little confusing for the news casters.
ReplyDeleteThe copy and paste function doesn't work for creating a post and I ain't gonna make a post where I have to type a lot.
I got a good article here about education by Sowell, http://townhall.com/columnists/thomassowell/2011/05/10/the_education_mantra#
"One of the sad and dangerous signs of our times is how many people are enthralled by words, without bothering to look at the realities behind those words."
"One of those words that many people seldom look behind is "education." But education can cover anything from courses on nuclear physics to courses on baton twirling."
"Unfortunately, an increasing proportion of American education, whether in the schools or in the colleges and universities, is closer to the baton twirling end of the spectrum than toward the nuclear physics end. Even reputable colleges are increasingly teaching things that students should have learned in high school."
"We don't have a backlog of serious students trying to take serious courses. If you look at the fields in which American students specialize in colleges and universities, those fields are heavily weighted toward the soft end of the spectrum."
and here http://mises.org/daily/5256/The-Plight-of-the-MBA-Generation
I wonder what the statistics on that theory are. I don't doubt it is true.
ReplyDeleteI've heard that they are now writing Usama so they don't accidentally write Obama when they mean Osama. That makes sense to me as I had a hard time with it when I wrote the post.
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