why do people lie in general?
Respectfully, I think you miss the point. The question was not why people lie but why would an American president lie
about something that is easily disproved and that would destroy his reputation and career?
I've thought about that. OBL had many look-alikes. We have been fooled by a few. So, what if a "look-alike" shows up on a video somewhere claiming to be OBL and that he isn't dead? How are we going to be able to prove that it isn't the real deal?
I kinda think all hello would break loose if a new tape emerges claiming that its him and we would pay hello in trying to disprove it.
I think OBL is easy to recognize. Look a likes are usually useful from a distance only. OBL has no twin.
The senior administration official told reporters on Sunday that for years, we were unable to identify his true name or his location. It took until four years ago 2007, then for intelligence officials to learn al-Kuwaitis real name. By then, President Bush had ceased waterboarding and shuttered the black sites, moving the detainees within them, including Mohammed and al-Libbi, to Guantanamo Bay. In a Monday interview, Donald Rumsfeld said normal interrogation techniques were used at Gitmo on those detainees.
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/05/surveillance-not-waterboarding-led-to-bin-laden/
In truth, we may never know.
True. I have now heard conflicting reports. One was that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed gave the name of the courier during normal interrogation, although he had been water-boarded in the past and another was that
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed never gave up the name and that the CIA confirmed the identity supplied by other detainees, through normal interrogation techniques, by observing KSK lie about the identity. In other words, they knew if he was telling them they had the identity wrong, they must have had it right. The following article states torture did not lead to OBL's apprehension:
http://www.rawstory.com/rawreplay/2011/05/obama-advisor-waterboarding-didnt-lead-to-bin-laden-kill/
Why didn't they take a picture of him after they washed the body? I would think it would be a much more palpable picture. Taking pictures of the dead may be against Muslim tradition (I don't know if it is or not - just speculating) but they took that picture (the gruesome one) in the hanger right after they got back.
Most ME's clean the body before taking pictures of Jane Doe's or unidentified persons.
I would think they did. They videoed the burial - so why no picture of him after he was "cleaned up"?
I think I heard they did take such a picture. I'm sure they have quite a few different ones. But I heard that in the "after" picture, he was not as recognizable. Not sure why that would be.
We have long been an ally to Israel, yet - oil isn't the reason why.
Yeah, because that's where the oil is. Do you really think it's for some other reason? Human rights maybe?
I think we engage in middle east activities for various reasons, but mostly oil. We need Israel as the only non-Arab ally in the region to help protect our oil interests. Certainly, Iraq had nothing to do with the Taliban, Al Qaeda or any form of terrorism against westerners. But they do have a lot of oil. We lost a lot of good soldiers for that oil, IMO.
Nevertheless, I think we do get involved there for humanitarian and security reasons apart from oil.
This lively discussion is veering into multiple tangents, each of which invites or deserves attention but perhaps not here. JMO
I hope tomorrow brings more 'official' information on the subject/title of this thread. This is such a remarkable event about which we need far more clarification.
Peace
Quick Shana! Add a post! You are at 666 posts! LOL.
I wonder how many of the people all over the world who are censoring or disapproving of the ones who celebrate, would : if their child was murdered, raped and murdered, or tortured and murdered, and the killer then received the death penalty. Would they celebrate that this evil that hurt and terrorized their child, then killed their child, was being put to death? Would they "celebrate" when he was? Me? I would pray for God to forgive their soul, then send him to Hell. Then I would celebrate.
I have seen interviews from many people who viewed the execution of their loved one's killer or who did not witness it but who spoke about it afterwards. Not one of them cheered. Not one of them celebrated. It deson;t bring their loved one back.
Which society has lasted without using force to protect themselves?
Black people in the U.S.. They are not a nation, but as a community, as a society, they succeeded in dismantling Jim Crow, stopping lynchings (for the most part) and otherwise gaining civil rights. They did it wholly without force. Ghandi is another example of a movement that achieved greatness without force.
But, I always go back to WWII and the Nazis and the Jews. Without force, I believe many, many more Jews would have been exterminated. I love the idea of peaceful resistance but on occasion, IMO, force is necessary.
Sorta like the "President" living in the white house while many of our citizens live in ghettos, public housing, or in homes in suburbia being foreclosed?
Two different things, in the case of OBL. He wasn't life a president. He was the head of a hardcore terrorist organization and always tried to make his followers believe he lived as poorly as they did.
There has rarely been a starker juxtaposition of evil and innocence than the moment President George W. Bush received the news about 9/11 while reading
The Pet Goat with second-graders in Sarasota, Fla.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20110504/us_time/08599206932700
No matter what anyone thinks of President Bush and his policies (I didn't vote for him nor am I happy with how he ran our country), the look on his face when he got that news is something I will never forget. I've heard people say he was involved in 911 somehow and knew it was coming. Nonsense. The shock, anguish, horror, grief and anger showed in his face, all at the same time at that moment and I was right there with him. I think he felt deep rage for what had been done to his people and a strong resolve to get those responsible and destroy them. I don't think he went about that in the best way possible in some cases (Iraq), but I surely identified with him and when he spoke publicly later that day, he spoke for us all.
