Iraq Militants Say Violence Is to Avenge Bin Laden

[alp227]

Source: The New York Times

BAGHDAD — One of the most powerful insurgent groups in Iraq, Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, released a statement on Saturday, warning that it had launched a 100-attack campaign to exact revenge for the United States’ killing of Osama bin Laden.

The statement did not explicitly refer to a string of over 40 attacks on Monday that killed more than 90 people and was the most violent day in Iraq this year. But the statement said the campaign had begun in the middle of this month — Monday was Aug. 15 — and would continue until there had been 100 attacks.

“We began this stage with an invasion we have called the battle of revenge for Sheik Osama bin Laden and other senior leaders,” said a statement posted on the Internet.

Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia has long claimed an affiliation to Bin Laden’s group, and has clearly been inspired by it. Bin Laden died in May in an American raid on his compound in Pakistan.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/21/world/middleeast/21iraq.html

[coalition_unwilling]

1. See, but there's no need whatseover for 'due process' or

anything quaint and obsolete like that. Why we can execute Al Quaida's leaders extra-judicially without even the pretense of a trial and there will be no consequences for such behavior.

:sarcasm:

Instead, let's just have a new 100 Years War

[christx30]

4. So what would you do

if you are trying to arrest a wanted criminal and he and his friends are shooting at you? Let yourself or your teammate die? Or shoot back? They had lawyers ready to go should Bin Laden be captured alive. Bin Laden could have surrendered to them, been arrested, and gotten a trial for the crimes. Not just 9/11, but the embassy bombings and a lot of other crimes. But the man made a decision to try to fight back and escape. It was a poor decision and he paid for it with his life. This is not about due process. It was poor decision making on Osama's part.
You shoot at the cops, and you are probably going to end up 6 feet under. Or shark bait.

[Vattel]

5. He fought back? That would be news to me.

Do you have evidence for this?

[christx30]

7. I'm just going by

what I've heard in the news. I seriously doubt the SEALS would summerially execute the man. The intelligence he could provide would have been hugely helpful in dealing with his underlings.
I always put mentally put myself into the minds of the guys that went in. It's dark. You don't know how many people are in the place. I know that the absolutely best thing to do would be to capture him alive. But I'm not willing to die for that. The reports that I've heard state that he resisted capture. He may or may not have been armed, but if Osama did resist, then he got himself killed. Simple as that. You resist arrest in any country against any police force, you risk great injury or death. It's up to you on how to handle the situation.

[Vattel]

10. The most recent reports suggest otherwise.

You should read the New Yorker article about it. If that reporting is accurate, he did not resist.

[KansDem]

6. Osama was never wanted for 9/11

From the FBI's "10 most wanted":

USAMA BIN LADEN

Murder of U.S. Nationals Outside the United States; Conspiracy to Murder U.S. Nationals Outside the United States; Attack on a Federal Facility Resulting in Death

REWARD: The Rewards For Justice Program, United States Department of State, is offering a reward of up to $25 million for information leading directly to the apprehension or conviction of Usama Bin Laden. An additional $2 million is being offered through a program developed and funded by the Airline Pilots Association and the Air Transport Association.

Usama Bin Laden is wanted in connection with the August 7, 1998, bombings of the United States Embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya. These attacks killed over 200 people. In addition, Bin Laden is a suspect in other terrorist attacks throughout the world.

Bin Laden is the leader of a terrorist organization known as Al-Qaeda, "The Base". He is left-handed and walks with a cane.

http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/topten

Doesn't mention "9/11"

And maybe if we had taken him when the Taliban offered him up:

From 2001
Saudi: Bin Laden extradition botched

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) — The leader of Afghanistan's ruling Taliban militia agreed to extradite Osama bin Laden to Saudi Arabia in 1998 but reneged following U.S. strikes on Afghanistan that year, a former head of Saudi intelligence said Saturday. Prince Turki al-Faisal, who left his post a few days before Sept. 11, also said he is convinced bin Laden and his al-Qa'eda network were behind the attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center and damaged the Pentagon.

USA Today

...we might not be in the mid-East today, but then, certain people wouldn't be making gobs and gobs of money off these wars.

[christx30]

11. I realize that.

And I said that he was wanted for a lot of other things, like the embassy bombings, ect. He was still a wanted criminaal Fact is that the cops showed up at the door, he's said to have resisted. I can't say whether he is guilty or not. He considered it a better move for himself to resist. He died rather than give up.
Again, I ask you... what would you do in the SEAL's situation? You have a job to do. Suspect resists arrest. Do you risk yourself or a teammate dying just to try to get this guy's day in court? Or you you defend yourself with deadly force? I think the SEALs acted absolutely correctly. They did what they needed to do.

[coalition_unwilling]

9. There was no (REPEAT: ZERO) armed resistance from the

compound in Abottabad. You are clearly and woefully misinformed about the circumstances of the raid. Even the administration admits it faced no armed resistance from anyone in the compound.

That's why they had to dump the corpse at sea. They had to prevent any forensic exam.

Whatever - let's have our 100 Years War.

[Unvanguard]

16. Do you think Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia wouldn't strike if we had tried bin Laden instead?

Seriously?

[Igel]

18. That would be the underlying assumption, it seems.

Sounds rather silly, if you ask me.

[coalition_unwilling]

19. I guess we shall never know, now shall we? War crimes trials

were good enough for German and Japanese military and political figures after World War II. So why not now?

Whatever.

Get ready for a new version of the 100 Years War.

[Unvanguard]

20. We assassinated Yamamoto.

And given that al Qaeda hasn't yet surrendered to us, that seems to be the closer parallel. :shrug:

Edit: And "We will never know now" is a cop-out. If you want to say we should have given bin Laden due process because that best expresses our moral principles as a nation, fine; I think that's out of sync with the character of a war that is ongoing and still very real, but reasonable people can disagree. But don't suggest that people like this terrorist group care all that much about whether we kill bin Laden via a gunshot or via a lethal injection after a fair trial. Their mindset is not, "He may have been a bad guy, but it was totally unfair of you to kill him without a trial," but rather, "He was a great hero whom we should emulate." Why would they accept the justice of the judgment of their enemy, even if was procedurally fair?

[coalition_unwilling]

22. You asked me to engage in a silly hypothetical speculation about

what Al Quaida might or might not have done, rather than come out with your real thoughts. So your passive-aggressive stance started this little ball roling.

The Yamamoto analogy has been thoroughly discredited here and in other forums, so I'm not going to rehash it.

And, for the record, we should have given bin Laden due process because that best expresses our moral principles. But extra-judicial executions best express the current reality of America.

[yurbud]

2. this sounds like bullshit to justify extending the occupation

[Fuddnik]

3. Nobody could have ever seen that coming, could they?

[Turbineguy]

8. Al Qaeda plan:

Kill lots of Iraqis, convince US to send in more troops.

To paraphrase GOP Cut and Run hero Ronald Reagan: "I'm from Al Qaeda and I'm here to help!"

[LetTimmySmoke]

12. So in order to take revenge for the US killing Bin Laden, they are going to kill Iraqi civillians.

Eye for an eye makes so much sense when you really think about it.

[BNJMN]

13. A senior Muslim cleric in New Delhi said U.S. troops could have easily captured bin Laden.

A cashier at a corner store in Austin says,
"Osama never even blinked once before he was shot. It was insane!"

And on it goes.

[pasto76]

14. The bullshit is coming from them

OBL always gave "us" the option to change our ways, or convert, or whatever, before he launched an attack. This is not in his style.

They did not mention the 40 attacks (it was about 200 attacks per day when I was there) on monday. Leads this amry guy to think they are jumping on the bandwagon and trying to drum up some media attention.

Lastly, OBL has been dead for six months. If this is the fastest response they are capable of launching; I'd say they arent much of a global threat.


on a separate note, there should be no surprise that the teams who went into Abbotobad were on a "kill or capture" mission. IF you believe covert assassinations dont happen, you have your head in the sand.

[alp227]

17. 3 not 6 months n/t

[daleo]

15. I guess that means the Iraq occupation can never end

That darn Ossama - even dead he can be used to keep wars going. It's like Weekend at Bernie's.

[dipsydoodle]

21. The joke of course here

is that when Saddam was in power there was no Al Qaeda in Iraq.

The USA - spreading terrorism abroad to keep you safer at home. :sarcasm: