Would you prefer it if Osama Bin Laden had been caught alive instead?

[Electric Monk]

Poll question: Would you prefer it if Osama Bin Laden had been caught alive instead?

[Ohio Joe]

1. No, I'm good - nt

[DJ13]

2. The whole truth about 9/11 died with him

[themadstork]

3. Wasn't really an option

How would we take him? Dude was always going to go down shooting. Makes him a martyr and he avoids interrogation and being used as an intelligence source. There's no reason for him to do otherwise.

[leftstreet]

5. He wasn't in a cave, he was in a fucking mansion. They had phones, right?

Have your lawyer call mine kinda thing

[themadstork]

10. Yeah. I'm sure he would have worked the whole thing out over tea.

He's either going to run or fight. What does he gain by surrendering? It'd be degrading for his movement.

[leftstreet]

20. How do you think he stayed alive for 8 years? You think he didn't cut deals?

[themadstork]

30. How would a deal ever benefit him strategically?

He's important as a symbol. Groveling to the US and cutting a deal so he can rot in jail his whole life makes him look weak. Why would he want to negotiate with us?

[leftstreet]

35. You think he didn't 'negotiate' to stay alive for 8-10 years?

You honestly think he could go undetected THAT LONG by the combined forces of the worlds intel agencies?

:shrug:

[joshcryer]

36. He had hundreds of millions of dollars. It is very easy to buy silence.

The fact that he was in an upper echelon neighborhood in Pakistan means that a whole bunch of creeps were on his payroll.

Doesn't mean he wouldn't die for the cause.

[themadstork]

37. Are you implying he was cutting deals with us? With allied intel?

What are you getting at? You still haven't explained how he could have cut a deal with us that would benefit him.

[fishwax]

13. lol -- just come down to the station for some routine questioning

You'll be back home in no time. Only--you probably shouldn't leave town without letting us know ...

[Poll_Blind]

4. Finding out the truth about the funding of 9/11, for instance, would be incredible.

PB

[leftstreet]

8. Would have been a helluva trial n/t

[bigwillq]

6. Doesn't matter.

He's dead. That's the way it was meant to be.

[RaleighNCDUer]

9. meant to be by the powers that be.

There's a lot of people who don't want any answers.

[bigwillq]

17. And one who didn't want to give them up.

[dkf]

7. I would have preferred whatever caused less turmoil.

I'm not sure what that is right now.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

11. Sure

I've always wanted to see him executed by dumping him into the chummed waters of the Red Triangle and eaten by Great Whites.

[EFerrari]

12. Yes, and for a lot of reasons that aren't even about him.

Not the least of which, this country seems to be losing touch with how our own justice system is supposed to work.

[themadstork]

18. I hate the "targeted kill" drone bombings as much as anyone. . .

But the guy engaged us in a firefight. It's a legit kill. Our judicial system would say, Go team.

[EFerrari]

34. If the Pentagon said so, it must be true.

:)

I'm glad he can't hurt anyone else, how's that?

[themadstork]

39. At this point what basis is there to suspect otherwise?

I don't trust them blindly but it's a narrative that seems to fit. For a figurehead like him going out a martyr is exactly the right call.

If other facts arise then yeah, we can talk about the sham we've made of the judicial system. But right now this seems completely legal.

[joshcryer]

23. So how many seals should we have sacrificed trying to catch him alive?

Only for him to put a bullet in his brain if we got close enough?

Lordy, the failure to recognize how tyrants behave and to place all the blame on the US is just typical.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

14. I think it's better that he's dead...Why?

I think they would have tortured him is why.

This way there's none of that, and no brouhaha over where the trial would be held.

[RiseInside]

15. I've changed my mind

After hearing the news my first reaction was to wish he had been brought in alive and taken to trial. Then I have read some of the pro's and con's and come to the conclusion that having him in custody may have been worse than when he was in full power. I honestly do not see a guy who believes so strongly in what he he has fought for giving up his secrets.

[cherokeeprogressive]

16. I would have killed him myself. n/t

[Lyric]

19. It could never have worked. Taking him alive (with a certain execution to follow his trial)

would have left his insane followers with literally NOTHING to lose. We'd have seen innocent "westerners" kidnapped and murdered all over the world until we agreed to release him. We already know that he has followers who were more than willing to die for their "cause", and we already know that those followers are also more than willing to kill innocents in pursuit of the same.

Imagine the horror of a radical Al Qaeda group kidnapping hundreds of Americans, Brits, Australians, and Canadians--women, men, and children--and threatening to behead one every single day until he was released.

There are some people who are too dangerous to be prisoners.

[MadMaddie]

21. That's what I was thinking about too.

[somone]

22. The asshole needed to be DEAD

Period.

[joshcryer]

24. Of course it would've been awesomer to catch him alive, but that was never a likely outcome.

Anyone who believes otherwise is delusional.

[Dark]

25. I'd prefer it so he doesn't become a martyr. But, hey, the fucker's dead, and I'm OK with that.

nt

[fujiyama]

26. Please, oh please tell me

the logistics of capturing him alive! I'd love to hear it. I'm sure thousands of others trying to get him over the last several years would too.

There was no way in hell he was going to be captured alive.

[TransitJohn]

27. He deserved the same as McVeigh got.

As far as I'm concerned. But, I'm against state execution, so I think they both should've gotten life imprisonment.

[immoderate]

38. I'd agree if he was captured.

But he wasn't going to give up.

--imm

[EmmettKelly]

28. Actually I would have prefered to see him spend the

rest of eternity going through TSA airport screenings. But maybe that's just me.

[mvd]

29. Taking alive is always better. But I don't believe..

he would have surrendered willingly, so this was probably the only option. Bear in mind that I don't think Bin Laden's death makes everyone safe, and America has not been the perfect peacemaker - but it should help the President be elected and maybe help end the wars.

[Liquorice]

31. No, he would have been put to death anyway. nt

[provis99]

32. catch him alive, put him in a pillory, and let every American have their whack at him.

[johnaries]

33. Yes, but only so he won't be viewed as a "martyr".

As for his guilt, he not only admitted it, he GLOATED about it. That case is closed.

[SmileyRose]

40. Doesn't really matter - the man was going to die sooner or later.

Dispatched to the great beyond by his own hand or that of someone at his side is my guess. I can't explain why I feel that way, but I just don't picture him letting himself be taken alive.

[Common Sense Party]

41. Why? So we can NOT have a trial for him, like Khalid Sheik Muhammed?

No, thanks.

The bastard was BEYOND guilty, and he died using a woman as a human shield.

[Electric Monk]

42. Hmm, poll results so far aren't as lopsided as I thought they might be. nt

[glen123098]

43. Everyone deserves a fair trial, including Osama.

But the fact is, it wasn't possible this time. He was involved in a 40 minute shoot out and even took a human shield.

[Lucinda]

44. Alive. n/t