Republicans Republicans chances of winning Senate majority continue to brighten

We play hardball in FSA, mister. I pay you the compliment of not pulling punches because of your gender. We can't do that with most anonymous internet females, who wear their feelings on their sleeves and are easily upset.

OK, perhaps you were not aware, a US muslim chaplain oversaw the burial at sea which was conducted as per standard US Navy procedure and quickly as per muslim custom. The idea was that were burying an terrorist enemy not disrespecting his religion. We have muslim allies. We have muslims in US service.

So what? Do you imagine that they never have eyewitness conflicts. The point is that both agree that Osama bin Ladin was killed in the raid and so do the anonymous SEALS that are singing to the press like canaries. It kind of shoots down your notion of a vast conspiracy.

If they went there to collect a dead body, its presence would have violated the laws his own people are very strict about. Are you suggesting that we discovered and took his dead body along on the raid to stage it all? Pardon me for being skeptical.

I'm believing what has been in the official records, documented, attested to by officials on-the-record and widely accepted -- even by Al Qaeda who admitted that bin Ladin had been killed in Pakistan. I have no reason to disbelieve it.

You believe things that have not been stated by any person involved, apparently from no sources that you can name, and believed by . . . who?

You are the one who asked me when the last bin Ladin video was, so I cited you a list of the videos. Must I link each one? Would you deny their authenticity if I did so?

And I'm pointing out a lot of holes in that notion and the lack of evidence.

Did you not say that bin Ladin could not have been killed because shooting him in the head was not official SOP? Forgetting for the moment that you have not offered the official SOP as evidence, I simply point out that wrecking a helicopter is not SOP either. Shit happens in battle. Your thesis is unconvincing.

Melted it how, exactly? Who says this? The demolition expert at hand blew it up so thoroughly that it's tail flew over the wall leaving behind burning wreckage.

 

I don't believe in any conspiracies on the OBL death either, but I do think it would have behooved the gum'mit to compile some evidence before dumping the body. Fingerprints, a DNA swab and comprehensive photos of distinguishing features could have been taken in about 30 minutes. In the immediate aftermath of the raid no one was questioning the results. But obviously some people have begun to raise questions - not all of whom are nutjobs - and it would not have taken an enormous amount of pre-planning or effort to be prepared to answer those questions.

 

All of those things were done . . . DNA, fingerprints, dental X-rays and casts, lots of photos, why would you think that they were careless about identification? Confirming bin Ladin's identity was a big part of the planning and execution of the raid.

The photos were not released because of the grisly nature of his head wound. The US had taken a lot of international criticism for releasing the photos of Saddams sons with their bruised and bloody faces. Technically it is a violation of the Geneva convention. We ourselves condemned Iraqis and Somalis for photographing and releasing picture of dead American soldiers.

 

Didn't realize Al Quaeda was a signatory of the Geneva Convention. Furthermore, despite your claims that we were trying to be sensitive to Muslims, there were Islamic clerics who immediately argued afterward that burial at sea is permissible only under extraordinary circumstances, which OBL's death did not meet.

As for the rest....the head wound was too grisly? Don't release that picture. Give up the DNA evidence, the fingerprints, the photos of distinguishing marks. Every credible news agency out there asked for even a partial release of corraborating evidence under the FOIA and were denied.

 

The United States of America is.

We were being respectful of Islam, not trying to make every muslim cleric in the world happy.

The CIA has special authority to prevent the release of "operational files" in ways that can't effectively be challenged in federal court. They view this as part of an ongoing war and don't want the enemy to know what they can and can't do.

If bin Ladin is alive, why does Al Qaeda call him a martyr? Why has he made no new videos? Why is Ayman al -Zawahiri now leader of Al Qaeda?

 

We're not obligated to apply terms of the convention to non-signatories, certainly not to combatants that don't even represent a recognized nation.

The mullahs making that argument were doing so as authorities on Islam, not offering a personal opinion.

I'm not suggesting they should have revealed tactics or sources, some of which happened anyway. I'm suggesting they could have offered some proof they got who they say they got.

Go back to my first post. I never said we didn't get him.

 

Why would we want him or expect any other country to take him? He would end up in a country where he would have a monument built. Now he is crab shit at the bottom of the Arabian Sea. You really have a problem with that?

The Pentagon turned over all of their records on the raid to the CIA.

Bin laden was raised in luxury by a billionaire father in Saudi Arabia. He has dental records. CIA has had them for years.

Yes, funny that bin Ladin's son was there ain't it? They have photos, dental, and DNA for positive ID of him, as well.

I know. People still don't believe Oswald killed Kennedy. Or that OJ killed Nicole. People think the moon landings were staged and aliens landed in Roswell and the government lies. I understand having a suspicious nature and innate skepticism. You are entitled.

But I will challenge what I think is phony evidence or raw speculation purported as fact.