>>>>>>>>I can believe that OBL is dead (some people believe he was dead as early as 2002), but it is hard to believe that real events match story that was told. Last but not least, despite all that, news are essentially good. I doubt lot of energy will be invested to disprove it.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>I thought you believed that the US blew up the World Trade Center in some evil plot against the rest of the world?
>>>>>>
>>>>>>No, I just do not believe in official story regarding 9/11. With OBL captured alive perhaps some things of the past could have
>>>>>>been better investigated, whereas just killing and burying instantly main suspect serves exactly opposite purpose.
>>>>>
>>>>>By killing him and making his body disappear, there is no possibility of them making him a martyr by storing his pecker in the nearest mosque for all to worship...
>>>>
>>>>But that's the thing. We have exactly made him a martyr. It's like a recruiting poster.
>>>
>>>That's silly. We have made him dead. Are you being serious or just going into confrontational mode?
>>
>>No, not being confrontational. Militant Islam is a cause founded in indoctrination and poor (if any) education. Of course there will be new recruits who swear jihad over this. Of course it will happen again. For maybe the first time since I met you I think you are the naive one.
>
>I just mean that Bin Laden alive and well is a recruiting poster, dead it's a recruiting poster - it's a wash. Remember reality doesn't really enter into the worldview of the "Arab street".
>
>Look into the events surrounding the siege of Mecca in Nov of 1979. Militant Saudis who thought they had the Mahdi seized the grand mosque in Mecca. Pakistanis riioted and destroyed the American Embassy to protest the Yankee-Imperialist Zionist desecration of the holy place. Americans were killled. ( Jimmy Carter , of course, did nothing )
>
>So the seizure of the Grand Mosque by Moslems to the right of Bin Laden was a stimulus to recruit anti-American crowds in Islamabad.
>
>Even considering the degree to which our actions are "recruiting posters" is a misunderstanding of how it all works.

Let's see how it plays out. I think there is a huge difference between him being alive or dead in terms of recruitment. Death calls for vengeance in that part of the world. Heck, kissing someone you're not married to calls for vengeance in that part of the world. They make our social conservatives look like hippies.

I could be wrong. You know far more about the Middle East and U.S. agencies than I do and I am the first to admit it.

PS -- Good line about exhibiting his pecker in a mosque <g>. Who knows, the guy did have a lot of wives....