He's dead.

[Hamma]

Nope but it feels damn good to have the douche responsible for one of the darkest days in American history shot in the face by our military.

[Grimster]

I am happy for you guys.

Not a American myself so I can't say I hit the streets and celebrated but I can understand why you guys has such feelings after what that douche-bag did to your people.

[Kyonye]

Originally Posted by Sobekeus

Changes nothing really.

Actually, it has changed a lot. It has given us serious momentum. He was the reason this whole war was started. We've spent thousands of lives because of this one person. Yes, the war is no where near over. Yes, we will continue fighting for a long long time. But, we've accomplished something that we set out to do 10 years ago, and although I feel it took too long, it happened and we're happy about it.

Will there be backlash? Yes. Will we be ready for it? Probably not all of it. But, we'll be more motivated to keep on fighting. The morale hasn't necessarily been all that great in recent times.

The way I look at it, put on your party hats tonight because tomorrow is a whole new day. Be happy but don't lose focus on the task ahead.

[Tiberius]

Hope they teabagged him lol

Americafuckyeah

[Logit]

Originally Posted by Sobekeus

Changes nothing really.

In the immediate future, probably not. The retaliation is something to worry about it. But there will be a ripple effect, eventually..

When you join Al Qaeda, you pledge your allegiance to Osama bin Laden. Pretty hard to follow a guys orders when he is no longer breathing.

PS

AMERICA, FUCK YEAH

[Baneblade]

Originally Posted by Logit

In the immediate future, probably not. The retaliation is something to worry about it. But there will be a ripple effect, eventually..

When you join Al Qaeda, you pledge your allegiance to Osama bin Laden. Pretty hard to follow a guys orders when he is no longer breathing.

PS

AMERICA, FUCK YEAH

I think you greatly overestimate OBL's relative importance to the operation of Al Qaeda.

[otomotopia]

Originally Posted by Sobekeus

I think you greatly overestimate OBL's relative importance to the operation of Al Qaeda.

I think you greatly underestimate the moral impact this had on our country and our armed forces. This is just what we need in this time, with a massive sweep of tornadoes across the still-recovering South, at the tail end of a depression, right when everything is starting to look up, we go on the news and hear that. It's not about how influential he is or was anymore, or how much power he has or had, its that sweet, sweet (but as many have pointed out, still dangerous) revenge.

[Raymac]

Originally Posted by Sobekeus

I think you greatly overestimate OBL's relative importance to the operation of Al Qaeda.

Don't underestimate his importance either. The guy was the celebrity of the jihad. Sure, the cellular make up of the organization means that decapitating it doesn't completely destroy it. However, this is a major loss to Al-Qaeda, especially when you take into account the "Arab Awakening" in places like Egypt and Tunisia. Plus, you know the guy had information on his computers that will be helpful for us.

Remember, in Iraq, when we killed the AQ leader there, Zarqawi, people were saying it wouldn't make a difference. But it made a big difference. Al-Qaeda in Iraq was never the same. Sure they'll still set off a car bomb every couple months, but they are nowhere near as strong as they were before we bombed that sick fuck.

[Firefly]

Originally Posted by Sobekeus

I think you greatly overestimate OBL's relative importance to the operation of Al Qaeda.

ERRONEOUS.

1) OBL had a fuckload of money. Most of their operations were funded by him. We may have neutralized some of his money, but we didn't get anywhere close to bankrupting him. And what we vaped of his, he recouped in donations from well-wishers and organizations.

2) OBL was the head of al'Qaida. In addition to being a legendary, almost mythical figure, he is a charismatic and inspiring figure. Even non-Western Arabs who do not support OBL are pissed that we killed him. Imagine how many pissed-off Britons there would be if someone killed the Queen. That's not even close to the scale of what you'd see in terms of anger.

3) Al'Qaida and other Islamic/Jihadist organizations will see his death as a major blow, but it will also provoke almost every single member to try and get revenge. Islam is one of the world's largest religions. Even counting "religion of peace" among the majority of its members and you're still looking at thousands of holy warriors. Even counting the so-called "muted reaction" in the Muslim/Arab world following his death, you're still looking at thousands of pissed-off jihadis.

In the scope of operations, despite being a closed-cell operation, couriers still brought him word of operations. As I understand it, he gave his blessing to many, and gave his bolo/no-go to many. A no-go on an al'Qaida operation, something without his blessing, is tantamount to heresy.

Now they have to find a successor. It may not be al'Zawahiri - a lot of people think he's too blunt, too abrasive, and too inflexible. Whoever they find, it will have to be a serious, hardcore motherfucker. Nobody can fill OBL's shoes, they will have to find another way of stepping outside his shadow. The successful replacement will be someone who is inspiring, vicious, and eager to wage bloody and violent jihad.

[Dizeez]

I don't know if anyone has said this but I thought I'd throw it in there...

AMERICA, FUCK YEAH!

Morale makes or breaks a man's will to fight. This was a crushing blow to terrorism and a heal-pack to the US armed forces.

[xmodum]

I don't know about anyone else, but the Moral, pretty much the same, pretty shitty. Maybe my troop is a rare breed, but this shit doesn't bother us, doesn't make us any happier.

We heard the news, a few high-fives and yells of "FUCK YEA" happened, we posted a picture of him with "HE'S DEAD" on our brief room, and we drove on. Our moral has stayed the same. And we are taking the brunt of the backlash. Just had IDF, 4 60mm rockets, hit our FOB today, one hitting the other side of our building where we live, sleep, play, and operate out of.

I'm glad he is dead though. I don't mind the IDF, its fun. We get more excited the closer it hits. I think most of our soldiers are more worried about getting home safely to even pay mind to that dickhole getting what he deserved straight out of the womb.

But hey, party it up back home. I'll be doing the same here in a few weeks on my leave.

Oh and AQ isn't even recognized as a organization here anymore, in Baghdad at least. There are other factions, but they make empty threats. This place WILL fall apart after we leave. And I'm glad.

Anyways, enough rambling. I'm homesick.. FUCK IRAQ, AMERICA FUCK YEAH!

[Baneblade]

Life is going on here too. I don't even think half of America knows he is dead. And those that do are mostly worried about more immediate things.

[Hamma]

I'm pretty sure 90% of America is aware of this how the heck could you not?

[Rbstr]

Everyone knows about it.
But really...few people are directly or even impacted at at little distance. I mean...except for getting groped by the TSA, when was the last time the war on terror really had something directly to do with you that was really tangible?
We killed one man, that rarely causes some kind of instantaneous upheaval in our lives. Billions of people have a lot of inertia.

Also Xmod: morale not moral, rather different meanings. I was really confused for a second. Though, we might wonder about your morality if you're glad a county is close to falling to pieces. Especially because that'd be a terrible outcome for us.

[Baneblade]

Originally Posted by Hamma

I'm pretty sure 90% of America is aware of this how the heck could you not?

Plenty of ways to be 'out of the loop' on that.