What evidence is there that Osama is dead?

[retterkl]

I might just be being skeptical here, but how do we know that he was actually killed?


All we have to go on at the moment is the word of politicians, which isn't always the greatest thing to go by.

I only mention it because in the 'Bigger death then Hitler' poll only 2.7% questionned his death.

From what i've read it said that they killed only a small number of people in a large mansion like house and then they burried Osama at sea... So how do we know it's all true?

 

[Shepard's Shadow]

What would they have to gain from lying about it?

 

[Thaluikhain]

A politician will tend not to lie about something the truth of which will be revealed before the public forgets about it. Except right before an election, of course.

Now, if it was an unconfirmed report or something, that'd be different.

 

[Ldude893]

They allegedly got hold of his body and they found the DNA of the body to be similar to that of Bin Laden's deceased sibling.

 

[TerribleAssassin]

What would they have to gain from lying about it?

/thread.


Because there'd be no point in lying about it. And the BBC said so, so it's true...

 

[retterkl]

What would they have to gain from lying about it?

Massive popularity (as can be seen by the celebrations outside the White House), justification for remaining in areas of conflict (because until now there hasn't been much to show for being there) and just general moral of the troops who are there.

Besides the people who are going to react best to this are going to be the people in the mid-west right? Those who are usually Republican? The ones who might change their mind about voting Democrat in the nearing election?

 

[SomethingUnrelated]

What would they have to gain from lying about it?

Exactly. Apart from the initial benefits, it would eventually be discovered that he wasn't killed, and that'd only make people angry at the US government for lying to them, making it a pretty stupid move on their part if they were lying.

 

[Nackl of Gilmed]

Surely they wouldn't fake it. He could just release a video holding today's newspaper or something and everyone involved in the deception would be fucked.

 

[Ca3zar416]

I don't remember hearing about them burying it. I heard they still had it in possession. Course my information may be a bit old as I stopped watching the news after a bit because it was repeating itself.

 

[Shepard's Shadow]

What would they have to gain from lying about it?

Massive popularity (as can be seen by the celebrations outside the White House), justification for remaining in areas of conflict (because until now there hasn't been much to show for being there) and just general moral of the troops who are there.

Besides the people who are going to react best to this are going to be the people in the mid-west right? Those who are usually Republican? The ones who might change their mind about voting Democrat in the nearing election?

Maybe. Let's pretend your right. What happens when it is revealed he is alive? Long term lying about it, is a beyond words bad move. He is dead.

 

[retterkl]

Surely they wouldn't fake it. He could just release a video holding today's newspaper or something and everyone involved in the deception would be fucked.

He might be dead, he probably is, i'm just not sure about the Americans having killed him.

Look at the BBCs bulletin:

Al-Qaeda founder and leader Osama Bin Laden is killed by US ground forces in Pakistan, President Barack Obama says.


Ok so Obama says... I still would like an ounce of evidance. He also says a lot of things which turn out not to be true, but no one's calling him on this.

 

[Bon_Clay]

Well what they could gain by lying about it is a pretty big list. That's not a very good counter argument. Provides a popularity boost, reason to pull troops out of the war, distract people from other issues, etc. When you think like a politician it could be applied to any number of things.

The only problem with lying about it would be if he makes an effort to prove he's still alive. However if you believe the people who say hes been working for the US government for a long time then he wouldn't do that. And in that case the shadow government is one step closer to enslaving us all.

So lets hope he really is dead, else the government will either look like fools, or we're all doomed as the Illuminati has made its move. DUN DUN DUN.

 

[Kortney]

snip

If Obama was lying about Bin Laden's death, wouldn't Bin Laden just release a video explaining he is still alive - thus completely destroying the integrity of the US government, and therefore sparking mass unrest and resistance within the USA?

Or is this a case of 99% of other conspiracy theories - and it is complete and utter bullocks?

Yeah, I think the latter.

 

[Knusper]

They probably didn't lie because saying that Bin Laden is dead and then him making a message to his followers would have the US government looking like fools.

The fact that the US didn't tell anyone else about it is a bit fishy, though.

 

[Laser Priest]

This is a well known figure who could easily release videos throughout the world proving otherwise.

I doubt that a politician would say something that could entirely destroy his credibility if he has a chance to run for another term.

 

[Denariax]

DNA Test.

 

[Nackl of Gilmed]

Al-Qaeda founder and leader Osama Bin Laden is killed by US ground forces in Pakistan, President Barack Obama says.


Ok so Obama says... I still would like an ounce of evidance. He also says a lot of things which turn out not to be true, but no one's calling him on this.

If there really is a lack of evidence for Bin Laden's death, you can bet some independent journalists will look into it. This is going to be a big story for a while. There will probably be feature articles and interviews from people who were in Pakistan at the time, and probably an official investigation too.

 

[Dravda]

From what I heard, they took the body whole, which indicates they went out of their way to do so. They probably could have destroyed the compound he was in with a drone strike or whatever, but they took a chance in sending in a Special Forces ground team to recover the body intact.

Bin Laden is a symbol. There are other Al Qaeda leaders, and the whole organization is so decentralized that eliminating its leadership is next to pointless. But the image of the 9/11 mastermind's corpse next to an American soldier? That's powerful, and the US wants to make sure its fully felt. Not just with a DNA test, but a body.

Of course, there are people who still think that JFK is still alive. And I really can't PROVE that the government isn't really lying about everything. But if you're that paranoid, you can't trust anything and shouldn't really be on the internet anyway (the government propounded in that hypothesis would almost certainly be tracking your movements online!).

Long story short: if the president went on TV and flatly stated something as important as this in terms as unambiguous as he did, it's because it's true.

 

[Kortney]

Surely they wouldn't fake it. He could just release a video holding today's newspaper or something and everyone involved in the deception would be fucked.

He might be dead, he probably is, i'm just not sure about the Americans having killed him

The CIA was involved with the intelligence of the issue. Why would the CIA then hand the task to a foreign armed forces - especially considering they are the most capable military force to do so in the first place?

The US military is also the only army that is actively seeking the whereabouts of Bin Laden. If any other military (we will use the British as an example) located Bin Laden, they would immediately report to the CIA and the USA because Bin Laden is wanted for crimes committed in the USA.

Either way, the US would be the ones to actually go in and get him.

The problem with your outlook is that the chances of the USA lying and pretending they killed him and that another group of people actually killed him are much, much lower than the probability that the US found him and US forces killed him.

From what I heard, they took the body whole, which indicates they went out of their way to do so. They probably could have destroyed the compound he was in with a drone strike or whatever, but they took a chance in sending in a Special Forces ground team to recover the body intact.

Bin Laden was killed in small arms fire. He was shot in the head.

 

[MajorDolphin]

What would they have to gain from lying about it?

How about a nice distraction from other events? How about scoring political points? Obama is the guy who "caught" Osama, something I'm sure we'll hear about during the election cycle.