Merged Osama bin Laden dead,

[dtugg]

It wasn't just any SEAL team, it was SEAL Team Six - apparently they are the cream of the crop even among SEAL teams.

I'm operating under the assumption that there was a big poker game a few months back, with representatives from the Rangers, SEALS, Green Berets, and so on around the table. Looks to me like the SEAL rep went "all in" and won the pot

Yeah they are most definitely badass. Anybody interested in its history should read Marcinko's (founder/first commanding officer) book.

For a misson like this it was really only down to SEAL Team Six or Delta. Why the SEALs got the job, I dunno.

 

[geni]

And agreed as well. With the body buried at sea, there's no shrines, no holy relics, no recruiting tool, no backdrop for motivational videos.

Osama's branch of islam would be rather opposed to all that. The diplomatic issues around finding somewhere to bury him would have been more of a problem.

 

[John Jones]

Here's a question for those more familiar with the U.S. Special Forces. Why the SEALs and not one of the other special forces units?

"If they had let the Marine Corps loose in Pakistan, the Marines would have killed the entire nation! Pakistan would no longer be in your daddy's dictionary! Do you ladies understand that?" - Senior Drill Instructor Hartman.

 

[leftysergeant]

Yeah they are most definitely badass. Anybody interested in its history should read Marcinko's (founder/first commanding officer) book.

For a misson like this it was really only down to SEAL Team Six or Delta. Why the SEALs got the job, I dunno.

They could be deployed from naval vessels that woulld have seemed inconspicuous would be my guess.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

That's how I understand it FROM THIS THREAD, Ginger.

Glad to see you're in your usual intolerable mood.

So this thread is your evidence?

I don't tolerate unsubstantiated claims of fact. The first supposed actual evidence it was a kill mission not a capture or kill was the rumor in Ausmerican's Politico link, "an official recalled". It was posted after your statement of 'understanding'.

 

[dtugg]

They could be deployed from naval vessels that woulld have seemed inconspicuous would be my guess.

Weren't they deployed from Afghanistan, which is much closer to this place than the ocean?

 

[John Jones]

So this thread is your evidence?

I don't tolerate unsubstantiated claims of fact. The first supposed actual evidence it was a kill mission not a capture or kill was the rumor in Ausmerican's Politico link, "an official recalled". It was posted after your statement of 'understanding'.

I haven't heard any official deny that it was a kill mission. Is that point in dispute?

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

Considering how the founder of SEAL Team Six has stated in print more than once that he did not intend for his shooters to bring terrorists back alive, that's probably accurate.

"The founder"? This is nothing more than a rumor posted as if it were a fact. Where's your link? What is the name of this "founder"? What makes him a founder?

 

[Baylor]

Yeah, if you don't want to discuss issues on an issues discussing forum maybe you should just turn off your computer.

Keep it on topic (bin Laden's death) and don't tell me what to do.

 

[leftysergeant]

Weren't they deployed from Afghanistan, which is much closer to this place than the ocean?

I would not have wantred to hold him in Afghanistan had he been taken alive. Get him out of mortar range ASAP. Somebody might have tried to get him back

 

[dtugg]

"The founder"? This is nothing more than a rumor posted as if it were a fact. Where's your link? What is the name of this "founder"? What makes him a founder?

Richard Marcinko is the founder. What makes him the founder is that he was personally involved in the formation of the team, personally trained them, and was the commanding officer. Read his book.

I dunno if he said this but he probably did.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

I haven't heard any official deny that it was a kill mission. Is that point in dispute?

Obama and all top officials interviewed publicly said it was capture if you can, kill if you need to.

Stuff on the net starts out as made up, progresses to being called a rumor and by the time it is posted twice more it begins to be cited as a fact.

This is one of those made up 'facts'.

I totally agree it is possible it was a kill order. It could even have been a, catch him alive, but kill him if you need to, wink wink, order. But let's keep speculation separate from "facts" please. At least in this forum.

Coincidentally, Rachel Maddow is citing a dozen false statements in the "evolving story" at this very minute. Now she's playing the news accounts with multiple contradictory "facts". That would be consistent with my experience of the news media filling in all sorts of missing pieces in the story not given to them with their own facts.

The segment is titled, "Faux Sure", (pronounced "fo sure" for those who didn't know).

 

[dtugg]

I would not have wantred to hold him in Afghanistan had he been taken alive. Get him out of mortar range ASAP. Somebody might have tried to get him back

They didn't hold him there for long, probably not even long enough for anybody to know he was dead. But it seems he went there before he went to the USS Carl Vinson.

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

Richard Marcinko is the founder. What makes him the founder is that he was personally involved in the formation of the team, personally trained them, and was the commanding officer. Read his book.

I dunno if he said this but he probably did.

So Richard Marcinko^WP in his book or on his radio show, "has stated in print more than once that he did not intend for his shooters to bring terrorists back alive," according to Polaris and this is evidence the mission Sunday included a kill directive?

I don't find the description of someone about his Seal group to be definitive in this case.

SEAL Team Six
During the Iran Hostage Crisis in 1979, Marcinko was one of two Navy representatives for a Joint Chiefs of Staff task force known as the TAT (Terrorist Action Team). The purpose of the TAT was to develop a plan to free the American hostages held in Iran which culminated in Operation Eagle Claw. In the wake of the operation's disaster, the Navy saw the need for a full-time dedicated Counter-Terrorist Team and tasked Marcinko with its design and development.
Marcinko was the first commanding officer of this new unit which he named SEAL Team Six. At the time, the US Navy had only two SEAL teams. Marcinko purportedly named the unit Team Six in order to confuse other nations into believing that the United States had three other SEAL teams that they were unaware of. The men in the unit were handpicked by Marcinko himself from across the US Navy's Special Operations community. SEAL Team Six would be known as the US Navy's premier counter-terrorist unit; being compared to the US Army's Delta Force.[1][2] Marcinko held the command of SEAL Team Six for three years from 1980-1983 instead of what was typically a two-year command in the Navy at the time.[3]

That's 3 decades ago!!!!!

 

[BenBurch]

Let me get this straight; Osama used a woman as a human shield?

Wow. Osama used a woman as a human shield? That's what I just read. And I thought I hated the man before now. Now I realize that I hadn't even begun to hate the guy. You know, a warrior, a fighter in something he believes in; You have to have some respect for him, and that is healthy because it means you will take him seriously. But I just lost that respect. This was not a warrior's death. This was not a martyr's death. This was a yellow dog's death.

 

[leftysergeant]

And agreed as well. With the body buried at sea, there's no shrines, no holy relics, no recruiting tool, no backdrop for motivational videos. Nothing. The only ones that directly benefit from that burial location are the crabs. And the hagfish.

Most important, the Muslim world knows that we are not doing ghastly ghoulish things with the body and showing some respect for Islam even if not for OBL.

We even gave Ted Bundy and McVeigh a decent burial.

We're supposed to be the more civilized side, I was thinking.

 

[LTC8K6]

No, he did not...of course, with the number of times the story of this op has changed, you may be correct again in a day or two.

 

[The Fool]

Most important, the Muslim world knows that we are not doing ghastly ghoulish things with the body and showing some respect for Islam even if not for OBL.

We even gave Ted Bundy and McVeigh a decent burial.

We're supposed to be the more civilized side, I was thinking.

yes. I know....but......couldn't they just tow him behind the ship as a fleet gunnery target for a few hours before they cut him adrift?


anyway, I've not checked the osama threads for a while, Have they posted any upodate on his condition? is he stilll dead?

 

[elgarak]

Not clear what happened exactly.

According to the latest White House statements, (one of) Usama's wives was in between the SEALs and Usama. Whether she herself, Usama or another person placed her there, dunno. However, she seemed to have identified Usama by name, and 'rushed' towards the SEALs. They shot her in the leg, clearing the shot for Usama. She was left alive, and seems to be now in custody by Pakistan's intelligence service ISI.

Obviously, the SEALs had their priorities straight -- Hooyah!

 

[EGarrett]

I'm wondering what the lighting situation was, since it was 1AM. Did they do this raid with the lights out in the house? Were they under helicopter lights coming through the windows? Were they using night-vision goggles?