Obama announcement at 10:30 p.m. - Bin Laden Dead

[secretariat]

Why stand on a silent platform? Fight the war. fork the norm.

 

[Azrael]

Which threads was it inappropriate to call George W. Bush a murderer?
Was it ever inappropriate to call for his arrest and trial in the Hague?

Sidebar.

Just for the record, Bush was not much criticized for his pursuit of OBL. Our early incursions into Afghanistan were applauded nearly everywhere.

The phenomenon you keep describing, especially the 'war criminal' stuff, began in 2003 and has everything to do with our calamitous misdaventure in Iraq.

Proceed.

I would say that our interrogations of KSM were part of our attempts to capture OBL.

Plenty of upset and protest and noise over the Patriot Act and Gitmo and so forth, yes. But from late 2001 until late 2002 he was given the benefit of the doubt on grounds of national security and an imminent threat to our safety.

But no one branded him a 'war criminal' until we went in to Iraq.

 

[YGBFKM]

The most epic day in sj history will be the day the Scientists Cure Cancer thread devolves into a political pissing match.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm all for curing cancer, but ..."

 

[secretariat]

Shackle their minds when they're bent on the cross. When ignorance reigns, life is lost.

 

[YankeeFan]

Stop already with the left-right crap, YF.

"The left" is not a monolith. The entire American left was not calling George W. Bush a murderer, nor calling for his trial in The Hague. Any on the left who were doing that are idiots, and certainly no friends of mine. Plenty of us are more than content to let Bush and his cohorts face the dispassionate verdict of history after we're all long gone.

Continuing to use this same broad brush is not doing anyone any favors. Some of us would like to keep this thread from getting locked, because there are plenty of legitimate issues to be discussed. It's hanging by a thread, as has already been hinted at by two moderators.

It's times like this that it's a real shame that the politics board has not only been closed but has been erased.

If not, I'd be able to just search for the term "frog marched" and come up with a number of hits.

But, Dave, I've not been rude or called names.

I've simply questioned the decisions of our nations leaders. That used to be applauded around here.

Now, we applaud "kill orders". A lot has changed.

 

[YankeeFan]

And look, if it was George W. Bush who had ordered this operation, you can be damn sure that I would be defending him.

But, I'm also sure that multiple people would be asking the very questions I'm raising.

But now, not only do most here not think the questions need to be answered, the very idea of asking them offends the sensibilities of the American left.

So, you're trolling.

How so?

I know how I'd answer the questions I'm raising. How would you answer them?

Oh, that's right, you won't.

 

[secretariat]

He turned the power to the have-nots. And then came the shot. What was the price on his head?

 

[Mark McGwire]

Because you don't believe a thing you're posting. You're just trolling for a political pissing match. Which you admitted above.

And since your questions always rest on a faulty premise, they really don't deserve answers.

But happy fishing, anyway. You'll get it locked, but without me.

 

[secretariat]

He may be a real contender for this position should he abandon his supposed obedience to white liberal doctrine of non-violence and embrace black nationalism. Through counter-intelligence it should be possible to pinpoint potential trouble-makers and neutralize them.

 

[LongTimeListener]

And look, if it was George W. Bush who had ordered this operation, you can be damn sure that I would be defending him.

But, I'm also sure that multiple people would be asking the very questions I'm raising.

But now, not only do most here not think the questions need to be answered, the very idea of asking them offends the sensibilities of the American left.

So, you're trolling.

How so?

I know how I'd answer the questions I'm raising. How would you answer them?

Oh, that's right, you won't.

Many people have offered up their answers to your questions that you say nobody will address. Personally, I know I have weighed in with these two points:

1) bin Laden is the center of the war and it is a strategic boon to kill him, so treating him as a "criminal" is insufficient when treating him as a military target that must be destroyed is what's called for.

2) Those houses could be wired with a remote detonator, and even 10 seconds or less could allow the terrorists to kill every U.S. soldier at the compound.

Others have given other opinions, which you just choose to ignore because you so desperately want this to turn out badly for Obama.

 

[YankeeFan]

Because you don't believe a thing you're posting. You're just trolling for a political pissing match. Which you admitted above.

And since your questions always rest on a faulty premise, they really don't deserve answers.

But happy fishing, anyway. You'll get it locked, but without me.

So, just because I -- or you -- would defend the actions of the SEALs or even a "kill order" from our President, then there's no reason to ask any questions at all about the operation.

And, actually, I do have some issues with the kill order. I don't think we should prosecute the President for the order or the SEAL for carrying it out.

But, I think the order was designed to cover the ass of the person who issued it. And, I would like to know if they had a legal ruling from the Justice Department.

 

[Stoney]

I presume I'm not the first to notice how remarkably often Secretariat's posts seem to immediately follow and bolster McGwire's. On thread after thread, exact same pattern.