Bin Laden assassinated?

I heard in class yesterday that there are reports that Bin Laden is attempting to fake his own death so he can escape Afghanistan.

 

do you guys think there's a chance bin laden's hiding in some other country this whole time? that's what I'm scared of..

 

we could only hope.

rH

 

Afghanistan is the only place he is "safe" at this point. Anywhere else (Sudan, Iraq, Somalia, even Pakistan) he will not be able to avoid attracting attention. He's still there. Whether he's alive or not...

 

I read a couple of weeks ago that even if he was killed, that many senior Pentagon officials wouldn't want it made public until the bombing was over so they could be sure that the public was behind them the entire way.

 

Bin Laden's bodyguards reportedly have orders to shoot him if it looks like he is about to be captured. He would be very happy becoming a martyr at US hands. Either way, he will not be taken alive.

 

You know the funny thing is, so many people are scared to death of Osama bin Laden, and they don't know what to do. And they think the terrorist are fearless, but I guarantee they're as scared, if not more, of us then we are of them because the U.S. is capable fo just wiping them off of the planet. If bin Laden and his henchmen weren't afraid of death they wouldn't be hiding, and they wouldn't be convincing young men to die and do their job for them!

 

Here's another ironic twist. Last Saturday on one of the CBS national news broadcast, it was stated that Bush gave the CIA the go ahead to kill bin Laden. This is getting more and more interesting. . .

 

You could only hope that the report is true, but if I remeber correctly Bin Laden's family has nothing to do with him and disowned him a few years ago so the part that says his relatives were killed also is a bit shakey.

 

Could this be doublespeak from Rumsfeld?

<i>``It's a big world,'' he said. ``There are lots of countries. He's got a lot of money, he's got a lot of people who support him and I just don't know whether we'll be successful. Clearly, it would be highly desirable to find him.''

But he said in any event bin Laden's terrorist network would carry on without him. <b>``If he were gone tomorrow, the same problem would exist.'' </b></i>

I get the feeling that if he were already dead and the US acknowledged it, it would deflate the effort going on right now to get rid of the tailbone, er…taliban.

I also believe that there is a LOT going on right now in Afghanistan that we aren't privy to. And to be quite frank, don't want to know.

 

Mullah Omar's relatives. That part has actually already been confirmed.

 

Actually that's not true. Osama bin Laden literally has 50 brother and sisters, and I don't think they all live in the U.S. He also has kids, including a daughter that is married to the Taliban. So if they also meant Osama bin Laden, he could have hundreds of relatives.

 

RM,

Bin Laden's brothers and sisters have apparently disowned him, and his son is married to Omar's daughter I think... But it was meant that Omar's relatives were killed, and that has been confirmed.

 

Osama bin Laden himself doesn't mean too terribly much to the threat against the US. If he is killed, the organization may lose some human capital, but I doubt it would be very crippling for them at all. If Americans think our work is done with the death/capture of bin Laden, we're stupider than I thought.

As for Bush giving the go-ahead to the CIA to kill him: I thought there was a ban on assassinations? Of course, as I recently learned, shooting a cruise missile at someone doesn't count as an "assassination attempt" under the rule even if you are trying to kill a specific person.

As for bin Laden's bodyguard having orders to kill him if he is in danger of being captured: who managed to discover that piece of information and how did they get it? Do we have someone privy to bin Laden's conversations with his bodyguard? This doesn't seem to wash.

 

JuanValdez:

100% correct that bin Laden is just the head of the pimple. Killing him alone will not solve the problem.

The ban on assassination only extends to heads of state, and bin Laden is not a head of state. Apparently, we actually had Mullah Omar's location and an order was given to bomb that location, but a military adjutant general (a military lawyer) called off the attack. Rumsfeld was pissed, as we don't recognize the Taliban as a legitemate govt... Damn lawyers.

As for his bodyguards' orders, we have over 800 people currently under arrest or detained who have suspected links to Al Qaeda, along with several people from earlier attacks who personally know Osama. Most of them aren't talking, but... Well, I'm sure you get the picture.

 

True treeman, but Osama bin Laden is one of about, I believe, 52 or 57 children, depending on the report, so no telling where they all are. One of his sisters is married to Mullar Omar though. I heard somewhere that a daughter of his (I believe she is 16) is one of the Taliban's wives, which makes sense if true. But you're right they're talking about Omar.

<b>Juan</b>

Osama bin Laden isn't a world leader or public figure head or anything, he's a wanted fugitive. He is one of America's and the World's most wanted so he's fair game. As for how they're finding out, China, Russia, and others countries have had spies in there for years.