BIN LADEN IS DEAD!

Do you seriously see a Civil War happening in America any time soon?

With all the freakin assed nut jobs out there it wouldn't surpise me.

Can't work.

There are things wrong with both of these. First off, unlike Halo, a video game designed with a strategy to win, terrorist organizations don't just collapse when you kill a leader. There are people in line to take that spot. If they killed Obama, we would put the next in line in power and go blow shit up. That's what they are going to do. It might take days, it might take years, but they will attempt retaliation.

Second, considering the amount of UK users here, you should refer to it as the US civil war. "The civil war" is a tad vauge and I'm sure our friends in other countries (particularly those that had civil wars) don't know ours as just "the civil war". It might seem implied to some, considering your location and the post you quoted, but to others I'm sure it looks like you just left part of the name out.

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The US has a clear set of proceedures for what do if our leader is killed, with a very long chain of command being written in the constitution. Within al-Qaeda, they don't have anything like that. Osama bin Laden was the founder and face of the organization. Al-Zawahiri was Bin Laden's right hand man, though not everyone in al-Qaeda might agree with his views where they differed from Osama's and accept him as the new leader. It sounds like terrorist organizations in the middle east are much more fragile organizations than national governments.

A recent editorial from CNN articulates this pretty well I think. http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2011/05/02/al-qaeda-is-dead/?hpt=T1&iref=BN1

And no, there isn't going to a Civil War in the US anytime soon. Political differences have always been part of this country, but no states are threatening to succeed right now as far as I know...

Like I said, it might take years, but one of them will try something to retaliate for the death of their leader.

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"DNA tests later confirmed that Bin Laden was dead, US officials said."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-13256676
i dunno how much you choose to believe what the news says, but i'm not bothered enough to question something like this.

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Yeah, it looks like DNA tests basically confimed it already. It matched the DNA of Bin Laden's sister exactly. Too bad no news stations posted picture confirmation of it, though a guy with a bullet hole in his head isnt really something you can just throw up on the news...

I think its funny how some people are claiming its a sham so that Obama can bolster his ratings. There were so many people involved in the operation to take him out, it's not exactly the kind of thing you can just pretend happened without being flooded with people claiming you're a liar.

I think its stupid that anyone would give Obama ANY credit for this. He didnt kill Bin Laden, a military member that, just last month, Obama was debating on whether or not to give a pay check to killed Bin Laden. The info on his wearabouts wasnt found by Obama either.

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this is obviously the case, but i'm afraid you're going to have to endure all the, "Obama was in office at the time, it's all thanks to him" because you're gonna hear it a lot.

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No, but the president is the commander in chief. From the sound of it, the raid was an acummulation of missions and intellegence gatherings spanning from August. The president is involved in these things and ultimately is the one who makes the decisions at the highest level. Of course, the SEALS who actually carried out the action are the ones who deserve the most credit but I think the president definately deserves some of it as well.

Also, there is a difference between cutting down funding to military and not giving a pay check whatsoever to soldiers. All things considered, in the state our country is in right now, there are areas that could probably use extra funding more than the military. The US military is already several times more powerful than the second most powerful military.

The president gives the go ahead for missions, but in no way organizes them. His part in everything was basically "Sounds good. Yes, shoot him. Shoot him in the face". The actual raids and survailence was set up and done by the forces deployed to that area.

And dude, I'm in the military. Don't tell me it was just funding cuts and not the possibility of not getting paid because that government shut down almost stopped my god damn paycheck. News flash, if there is no budget then the military has NO money, which means we don't get paid.

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You make it sound as if Obama wasn't sure he felt like paying the military. The fact is that the government shutdown danger came about because of disagreements between the president/congressional Democrats and the Republican majority in the house about the budget.

The shut down almost happened because Obama didnt do his damn job and make them decide on a budget in October like they were supposed to. The shut down almost happened because Obama said he would veto the Republican backed DOD funding bill in early April without reading it. If he didn't let congress dick around and actually did his job as president no one would have ever thought about a possible government shut down. The guy is clown shoes.

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The reason the budget wasn't passed last year was because, although Democrats controlled the house and the senate, the Republicans held enough seats in the senate to filibuster the bill, which meant the same kind of political scuffle that happened last month happened last year as well. You can't put it all on one guy.

I understand that, but ultimately, as president he has the authority to make them figure it out. Obviously the Republicans are to blame as well, everyone in congress was being stupid about it, but it shouldn't have taken Obama until April to say no more extensions, hash this shit out. That's part of his job as a represenative of the people, making sure the other represenatives do theirs.

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Yeah it's not that easy to "make them figure it out" when they're openly hostile towards you. Not absolving him of responsibility he does have, but it takes more than the president to pass a budget. It's not quite an authoritarian dictatorship yet.

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LOL.

Goodbye to the hide & seek champion 2001-2011

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I think people sort of give the President a lot more power than he really has. He has a lot of influence, yes, but his ultimate job is to enforce the laws that he signs, not to make the laws or judge them.

As for credit or no credit, he had to make the ultimate yes/no decision. Just like with any executive position in any organization, 80% of the day to day tasks can be done by a high schooler, it's that tough 20% of decisions that he's really takes heat for. Just as Harry Truman received credit for dropping the A-bomb even though it was a continuation of Roosevelt's operations, Truman made that final decision. Give Obama credit for making the right call and he'll get a lot more than that, but any president would have.

But it is. When he finally stopped granting extensions before April 8th and told them that this wasnt over until it was figured out (I'll give him that, he really didn't want the backlash of the government shut down) they cut the shit and figured it out. Its not a dictatorship, but the president does have the power to make congress do their job. He made them stay until 2300 on a Friday to figure out that budget and dammit they did it. It was one of the few times I respected what the man did, because he finally stood up in front of congress and said enough is enough. I dont agree with his actions toward the separate DOD budget they tried to pass to prevent military shut down, but when the man put his mind to it he actually got both Republicans and Democrats to do their job which is amazing considering neither group is fond of him.

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