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The entire process takes only four hours at present but the research team is already optimizing it and reducing the cycle time down to two hours.
With the test, police could check on whether a person’s DNA matches that found at past crime scenes while suspects are still being processed and before a decision on whether to release them on bail has been made. Portable DNA testing could also be used in disasters such as earthquakes to identify victims the researchers said.
The officials did not immediately say where or how the testing was done but the test explains why President Barack Obama was confident to announce the death to the world Sunday night. Obama provided no details on the identification process. The U.S. is believed to have collected DNA samples from bin Laden family members in the years since the 9/11 attacks that triggered the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan. It was unclear whether the U.S. also had fingerprints or some other means to identify the body on site. Bin Laden was shot in the head during the firefight with members of an elite American counter-terrorism unit that launched a helicopter-borne raid on the al-Qaida leader's compound in Pakistan early Monday, U.S. officials said. Officials said the U.S. special forces who stormed the compound came face to face with their prey. U.S. officials also said bin Laden was identified through "facial recognition," a reference to technology for mapping unique facial characteristics, but it was not clear exactly how the Navy SEAL troops performed the comparison. The body was later taken to an American warship, but the senior Pentagon official declined to say which one and where the ship was situated. The body was photographed before being buried at sea, although no images have been released by the Obama administration. The U.S. official who disclosed the burial at sea said it would have been difficult to find a country willing to accept the remains. Obama said the remains had been handled in accordance with Islamic custom, which requires speedy burial. Positive identification of the remains is considered a critically important part of the U.S. operation, given the symbolic importance of bin Laden's leadership of the Islamic extremist movement that was based in Afghanistan until the U.S. invaded in October 2001. When al-Qaida's leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was killed in a U.S. airstrike in June 2006, DNA tests were performed by the FBI to positively identify the remains. The U.S. military also performed an autopsy, in part to dispel allegations in the immediate aftermath of the airstrike that the terrorist leader had been beaten or shot by U.S. soldiers while in American custody. It was not clear Monday whether the Obama administration intended to release its photos of bin Laden's body. In July 2003, when U.S. forces killed Saddam Hussein's sons, Odai and Qusai, in a gunbattle in northern Iraq, the U.S. military released graphic after-death photographs in an effort to prove to Iraqis that they were dead. Two of the photos showed the first man, identified as Qusai, with bruises and blood spots around his eyes. That face was far more intact than the other, identified as Odai; the mouth was open with the teeth showing.
Originally posted by Lurch
The biggest concern about all of this is Pakistan's "involvement".
If you believe the reports they found Bin Laden not far outside of Islamabad. No way did the ISI and Pakistani authorities not know where he was. It's been known for years that the ISI has had links with Islamic fundamentalists (they helped the Taliban to win control of Afghanistan in the first place). Harbouring Bin Laden following 9/11 is something quite different though.
"The compound (where OBL was staying) is just "a stone's throw" and less than 200 yards from the Pakistan Military Academy, an elite military training centre, which is Pakistan's equivalent to Britain's Sandhurst, one local journalist from Abbottabad told the BBC. Other reports have put the distance at 800 yards."
There is not a facepalm in the world big enough to respond to that. I find it hard to believe that US didn't know where he was for years now, let alone Pakistan, having read that. OBL probably ran out of money to pay his bribes and they finally gave him up. Whatever happened, Pakistan is a shambles of a country and a ticking timebomb ready to go off. A country with nuclear weapons with people in important positions who clearly have sympathies with Al Qaeda, as shown by the way they harboured Bin Laden for christ knows how long. The phrase; "keep your friends close, your enemies closer" comes to mind.
Originally posted by butcherguy
reply to post by kevinunknown
It is hard to bury him with his head pointed toward Mecca if the ocean currents are spinning him around, I hear that a Muslim is supposed to be buried that way. I would have stuffed him in a giant sausage skin with a mixture of pork and pigs blood, thereby denying him his 70 or whatnot virgins in paradise. Hee hee.
Originally posted by cloaked4u
OMG, they do not want any photos of him spreading around so we can look at the body of bin laden. Apparently they buried his body at sea. This is the BIGGEST conspiracy on the web. Someone can take and run with this one, i am currently working on something else. here is the link. www.msnbc.msn.com... We all wanted proof and to see in photos and they dump the body in the ocean. WHY?
Originally posted by SaturnFX
We first off don't agree pakistan is the birthplace of terrorism...terrorism comes from disparity and religious intolerance. Pakistan is just one of many front lines around the world...however, even if you make the front line glow, it won't change a thing..religious and economic injustice will continue and new front lines will be created.
Originally posted by marg6043
reply to post by ButterCookie
So convenient, right, it was okay to show pictures of Saddam death sons, to the world to see and even Saddam execution by hanging, but Bin laden will forever remain a mystery and we just have to believe the here say manufactured by our government.
People DNA from his family can be used to fake bin ladens death. Just because we are told that is his DNA it doesn't make it real.
Originally posted by cloaked4u
OMG, they do not want any photos of him spreading around so we can look at the body of bin laden. Apparently they buried his body at sea. This is the BIGGEST conspiracy on the web. Someone can take and run with this one, i am currently working on something else. here is the link. www.msnbc.msn.com... We all wanted proof and to see in photos and they dump the body in the ocean. WHY?
Originally posted by marg6043
reply to post by ButterCookie
So convenient, right, it was okay to show pictures of Saddam death sons, to the world to see and even Saddam execution by hanging, but Bin laden will forever remain a mystery and we just have to believe the here say manufactured by our government.
People DNA from his family can be used to fake bin ladens death. Just because we are told that is his DNA it doesn't make it real.