OSAMA BINLADEN IS DEAD

[atomiczombie]

Originally Posted by Ciaran

Ok, so he's dead. There might be some sense of accomplishment or feeling that the bogeyman is dead but that's all he was, a bogeyman.

The islamist extremist / jihadist threat was always and has always been much more than about Bin Laden even if sometimes the western media have personified the threat through Bin Laden. By all accounts, Bin Laden had limited practical leadership for most of the last decade and, in any event, there are thousands ready and willing to take his place.

I'd celebrate if a war was won or terrorism was defeated. However, that's not the case. No celebrations from my (admittedly non-American) perspective.

Agreed, and I think until the US, to a significant degree, pulls its troops out of the Middle East and stops influencing the oil market there, we will have to deal with terrorism from that area. People don't often realize that this isn't a war about religion. It's about US presence and interference in sovereign nations and economic Imperialism. At least that is how it all got started. The wars we have waged there have costs countless lives, which just ingrain the hatred of many people in that region.

[Martina]

http://www.time.com/time/world/artic...068931,00.html

[Nat]

Hi AtLast -

I wanted to address a few of your points (I would address more fully, but I am at work and at the mercy of time and my iphone).

"I hear you and I hear the shame of Muslims (quite a few people from the middle east live around me) that do not and have not viewed him as a true Muslim for many years. How he was buried matters not to them. He was not recognized as religious."

GW is seen by many as a war criminal, and many people could say he is not a "true" Christian, but if his body were dumped in the ocean without a funeral, I'm pretty sure many people (Christian or not) would be upset about it.

However, this issue is somewhat moot since it has been reported that he did receive a proper send-off. I still think it was a weird decision to dump his body in the ocean. I didn't even know it was legal to dump a body in the ocean as a means of burial.

"I don't personally like the idea of defaming anyone's faith or burial customs, but, there are many people worldwide (as well as US folks after 9/11) that have never had any remains to apply their traditions or customs to!"

This sort of tit-for-tat logic could justify anything - no matter how horrific. I'm going to hold with the belief that any number of wrongs don't make a right.