Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Off Topic Osama Bin-Laden is Dead

'Nuf said.

I actually watched president Obama's announcement although it was about 4am over here. Even if it was a speech of hope and accomplishment, my only fear is that instead of ending Al-Qaeda's reign of terror someone will replace the dead leader and continue the barbarities that have been commited. The death of Bin Laden was an expected result and I wish it'll have the outcome that the US government predicted.

I'm glad he's out of the picture. The way I figure it is, there will always be terrorism. Someone would have taken his place regardless of if he died a natural death many years from now or slipped on a banana peel. Him dying this way limited his time to train someone else to take his place (plus one of his sons died in the firefight) and Al-Qaeda will be a little disorganized for awhile. So while I don't think we are immune to a retaliation, overall I think the outcome will be good. Gas prices have gone down a little already!!!

Since dependence on middle-east oil is the main thing that keeps terrorists in business I don't feel particularly thrilled by this news. Going over to technology that reduced or eliminated the need for oil would be a major factor in cutting down their funds and support.

Cheaply made corn ethanol? Of course, big oil lobbyists really push to prevent this from happening.

As a former U.S. serviceman I have mixed feelings about this. Don't get me wrong, this is a major step forward in regaining peace and stability in the Mid-East region (at least "peace and stability" as defined by a lack of open war) and I'm happy about it. On the other hand I'm somewhat disappointed it didn't happen sooner.

If this news had been heard on 9/12/2001 it would've sent an entirely different message to these animals. Unfortunately, for almost ten years they have been on the loose and there's a long uphill climb to re-establish the reputation we need.

The true purpose of our (any) military is to make the enemies of the country, on realizing who is after them, say "Oh Crap. OH CRAP! OH CRAPOCRAPOCRAP!!" just before losing control of their bodily functions and deciding that their only hope of survival is immediate surrender. Better yet, to make even the fanatics say, "No way. We're not getting THEM involved," before any actions are taken. To them, the armed services should be seen as a relentless, single minded, almost zombie-like force of incredible power and sophistication that WILL get them if they commit acts of terror against us.

Sorry for going over the top in this post. My opinions are my own and I don't mean to be U.S.-centric or offend anyone from another country. This is an emotional issue to me for several reasons.

Shallowford
Former Combat Engineer
Specialist Grade 4
1st Engineering Batallion
First Infantry Division

I thank you for service to our country. I think most people here and our troops overseas are glad to see this man finally gone. He has caused much harm here and everywhere. My concern is the backlash. I think it is far far from over and I am sure they will retaliate. The whole thing stinks.

As a gentle woman, it is hard for me to accept that humankind can be so violent and unforgiving. I am a nurturer by nature and war and killing is unnatural to me. I know that it is a necessary evil to protect the ones you love but it doesn't make it any more palatable. I am glad it is in hands much stronger and more capable then mine. I could not make those kind of decisions, though I am sure many women do. I could if I were protecting my own son and I guess that is what our soldiers are doing, protecting all of our sons. Unless one of them is over there fighting for us. It is too sad when we lose one of our own to war. God bless you. Let us hope and pray that eventually this hatred on both sides ends and we are left with peace. Laura

I think the most important thing to remember is that just because he is dead is does not mean that Al Qaeda is and there still people out there who have the same sentiments about the west like Bin Laden did. Note though that most Muslims do not share the same sentiment and also condemn the acts that terrorists do. Obama made the point that we are not at war with Islam and I agree with him on this point.
Like Steph said this is a good outcome given that the world has been after the man for years and no doubt this has handed Al Qaeda a huge blow.

EDIT: I too would like to thank the men and women of our armed forces who risk their lives to protect our freedom.

True. I'm all about the alternate power sources and for USA not being dependent on anyone else's resources but in the mean time, I won't starve this summer bc the gas prices were so high I couldn't buy food!

The only thing problem though is that the big oil companies are reluctant to spend the money to research it because they already make too much money from draining what's left of the world's oil reserves. While I'm a firmly believe that we need to start looking for alternative sources right now these companies more than likely won't think about it until we have drained them all. In a big oil company's eye looking into alternative fuel sources is far more expensive than what they are doing at the moment. For example fusion which is what powers stars (and is the basis of the hydrogen bomb) is actually a great way of producing electricity however the energy to generate it is far greater than what is produced.