osama bin laden is dead

[Colonel Flagg]

Originally Posted by Zhukov

Accused "terrorists" are already incarcerated indefinitely and subject to torture without their guilt being proven, and while many people around the world are outraged, it's still going on because not enough people in the US care about the rights of people that their government tells them are evil.

Define "many". By any measure there are many in the States who feel the same way, but there are more groups of dissaffected, misinformed or mindless lemmings that will remain silent and let the goverment do what it wants. You probably have this problem in Australia too.

I do believe Osama was a terrorist, and certainly a criminal, but executing him on the spot prevents the other side of the 9/11 story (and other stuff) from being known, and it allows your government to pick and choose who it dishes out rights too.

As others have pointed out, Wikileaks will probably have the video of the takedown posted on YouTube within a few months anyway, so what's the diff? Even so, this still will only be one version of the truth i.e. one viewpoint of the operation.

I thought Americans were meant to be wary of 'big government'? Why do so many people stand idly by while the government gives itself more and more ways to control them?

See comment #1 above.

Damn. This discussion reminds me of something .... (F-)

[Zhukov]

Well, video of them shooting him isn't going to explain in detail how he masterminded 9/11. I'm not saying that is the reason he shouldn't have been killed, I'm saying that is something that has been lost because of it.

I also don't mean to just be picking on the USA; if Australia was in the same position and it all went down the same way then I'd be surprised if his execution would arouse outrage from the majority of the population here either. I was impressed by the support of David Hicks (Australian held in Guantanamo Bay and tortured) but it was more the fact that he was a white Australian in trouble, and there is little support for other detainees.

There are 'many' people inside the US that would be unhappy about the incarceration and torture of "suspected" terrorists, I don't deny it.



Australians aren't wary of big government; they are just apathetic about everything unless it's Islam and Asians TAKING JOBS.