Bin Laden killed by US earlier today

CNN is showing a Video of the fire fight by GEO TV.
I think this is after the fact... The Mansion is on fire
 
You missed a lot of politics and anger directed between RFF members.

If this thread gets into that territory, it will be closed and deleted as well.
 
It's an impressive symbolic victory, but I'm not really sure how significant it is otherwise. As plenty of others have pointed out, in the short term there may well be more 'revenge' attacks, and in the longer term there will always be jihadists.

The marginalization of mediaeval-style extremism in recent Arab uprisings, and the far greater importance of Twitter and Facebook, is probably more important. As a BBC correspondent wrote (I paraphrase from memory) "Islamic extremists have been trying to overthrow the Egyptian government for decades. The fact that the same end was achieved in a few days by a bunch of middle-class people with mobile phones leads one to suspect that Al-Qaeda is not a very good business model for regime change."

Cheers,

R.
 
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I would have to go along with what Roger has said and no the war will not end as it is not in the interest of the business of anti terrorism. Just too many vested interests to see it continue.

Bob
 
I think the most interesting aspect of this is not Bin Liner's death, but where he was killed. Right on the back door of Islamabad.

This will change things in exactly the same way as Zarqawi's death.
 
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What I'm curious about is the DNA test that confirms (99.9%) that the man killed was bin Laden. Did they have a DNA sample from him previously that they compared it with? Not doubting, just wondering.
 
FrankS said:
What I'm curious about is the DNA test that confirms (99.9%) that the man killed was bin Laden. Did they have a DNA sample from him previously that they compared it with? Not doubting, just wondering.
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I seem to remember hearing that he was trained in the US by the US military before he decided to wage war on the west.

Just been trying to look this up and it seems there are numerous rumours about it. So it's very unclear. But one says he received some medical treatment in the US. I guess DNA might easily be availble if that was the case.
 
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FrankS said:
What I'm curious about is the DNA test that confirms (99.9%) that the man killed was bin Laden. Did they have a DNA sample from him previously that they compared it with? Not doubting, just wondering.
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One of his sisters died recently in a US hospital and her DNA was part of the ID process.
 
tlitody said:
I seem to remember hearing that he was trained in the US by the US military before he decided to wage war on the west...
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Not in the U.S., but possibly by the U.S.

The CIA were heavily involved in training, advising, and supplying the Mujahideen (in which bin Laden was an influential leader) in Afghanistan when they were fighting the Soviets.

It's good news regardless.
 
ddutchison said:
Not in the U.S., but possibly by the U.S.

The CIA were heavily involved in training, advising, and supplying the Mujahideen (in which bin Laden was an influential leader) in Afghanistan when they were fighting the Soviets.

It's good news regardless.
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Absolutely, the Mujahideen were trained and financed with large mounts of US money, using the ISI as local proxies.

Since then the west has poured money into Afghan militias, Afghan govt troops (still with fragmented true loyalties), has bankrolled the Pakistani army and intelligence services (which has belatedly realised that admitting to being 'embarrassed' that Bin Liner was in their back garden is an awful lot better than letting the notion of complicity fester any longer) and we are on the road to withdrawal. Why do I get the feeling this story won't end well?

Ask the average Afghan what the problem is and you will get one or both of the following answers: Pakistan & Karzai. Grumbles about America are quite high on the list, but not as high as these two and both are more powerful and entrenched than ever before. heaven help the world.
 
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