Did Osama Bin Laden deserve a trial?

reply to post by ka119


I can't believe I'm going to say this, but I actually agree with Michael Moore on this. We give trials to some of the most gruesome serial killers to ever walk the earth, yet we conveniently shoot the most wanted man without asking some questions first? Saddam Hussein had a trial and so did other dictators responsible for thousands of deaths. Why not Osama Bin Laden? We have laws in this country, and we get punished when we break those laws. Nobody is letting us off the hook. For people like Osama, life would have been a lot worse than giving him death. Death is the easy way out, it's practically a gift considering what he would have had to go through for the rest of his life.

Then again..... there is the distinct possibility that Osama has been dead for the last ten years, and the only way to cover their tracks was to stage this assassination and "dump his body" into the ocean. We give him no trial and shoot him on the spot for all he's done, but then we supposedly respect his Muslim customs and bury him in the ocean? WTF???! It makes no sense.

Everyone knew he wasn't getting a trial.

Wasn't there a bounty hunter that tracked him down and then subsequently got deported from the area and the reward refused?

No chance this guy was ever going to get to tell his story. He should have spilled the beans live on Al Jazeera before they took him down.

You know perhaps he never was like some of the other posters have eluded to. Just a made up person there fore nothing or no one to kill for real. But to the rest of the world he served a purpose as a trial run to see how the public would react to someone in his position being denied due process? Plausible I would say and mission accomplished as well. It's worth looking into as I am sure many have already done. One thing for certain for me though, I don't personally trust any of it any further than I can throw it.

reply to post by rudigerfoodiger




I'm sorry.

You can't be serious?

Are you

reply to post by jaynkeel


Osama may have thought he was above the law, but the American government most certainly is
not. Once we start down this slippery path, where does it end.

Who decides who gets a trial and who gets executed without a trial.

No sir Justice MUST be seen to be done.

It is the only way for us who live in democracies, anything else, then we may as
well rip up the ballot paper and pick up the the assault rifle.

Trials are what defines us as fair and free countries.

can I coin the term NEW DARK AGE, because that's what it feels like

on topic, clearly a trial of some sort is needed, anyone that says otherwise is running on emotions and is pushing for double standards, we are a country and people based on principles or we are nothing

See, initially I agree with that fact that he does deserve a trial. I believe that anyone deserves a fair trial, no matter of the magnitude of their crime.
However, being a military man I know that emotions can get the best of you in a scenario such as this, so I can also see how the SEAL members shot him on the spot.

Now that is all based on the conclusion that this actually did happen. I am still somewhat skeptical on the actual facts of the mission, but based on what we were told, I believe that he absolutely deserved a trial; yet on the opposing side I can see why he was shot.. "In the heat of the moment" if you will

p.s. thanks for the edit, 'trail'.. 'trial' I got caught up in my own "moment"

reply to post by rigel4


Well someone better let the potus know that as well as his cronies. Anywho it's been going on for a lot longer than the current administration. In fact throughout history even our own people within the law have taken the law into their own hands. So it shouldn't come as any surprise now that it still goes on. But as we have seen not even the public cares anymore and if they do what really are they gonna do about it? The "man" has become to powerful because of our lack of dealing with it and through our own ignorance.

There would appear to be few reasons for assaination.

To cut the head off an enemy to save lives.

The assasinated refused to be taken alive

To shut them up.

Bin laden was already a spent force so that is not the reason

Our troops are still being killed and crippled. So again not the reason.

He was unarmed so again not the reason

That leaves you with one answer. So I ask you who benifits from denying him a trial and us seeing justice being done and maybe get some answers.

Maybe the lable of infidels actually fits us.

One of the things Elisabeth Hasselbeck said was that he was killed because they didn't want to make him a martyr. Wouldn't hiding the body make him a bigger religious icon? They could have made a Jesus figure. It is very strange to say they buried him quickly in accordance with religious practices. We were told they didn't show the body because they didn't want to offend Muslims. I suppose killing him in front of his wife and not allowing proper burial practices went over great.

Of course, if this was the real OBL a fair trial is the right course of action. I remember that initially he denied he was responsible. Giving him a trial would have shown we believe in our own and the world's laws. It is also against the law for a soldier to shoot an unarmed civilian or enemy combatant. This tale of the killing tells the world and US citizens that the real law is Might makes Right. Whoever has power can and will do whatever they want. Why obey any law it is a farce? Do what you can get away with is the message.

depends, what are the charges?

Isn't it a little late for Micheal Moore to be jumping on the sanity bandwagon? All criminals deserve a fair trial or as fair as can be recieved; fact is, he was an international terrorist and should have been tried in an international court. The American government however, does what it wants when it wants, without remorse.

The idea relayed in this narrative is that America is above it's own laws, that it decides when and how law and by extension, justice is done.

America is Judge Dredd.

Did Osama Bin Laden deserve a trial? Does any evil murderous human deserve anything at all? Does the law abiding innocent citizen deserve anything? I think the question should be, "Was Osama entitled to a trail?" My answer to that question is yes, he was entitled to a trail.

Quit it with your bleeding hearts and the sympathy for monsters. He did not deserve a trial. The people killed in the twin towers, the pentagon, and the people who sacrificed their lives to save the destruction of even more, deserve justice and that does not include a platform for a raving lunatic to voice how his belief make his actions just. Remember our soldiers who do not ask to be overseas putting their lives in danger. Are you trying to say that Americans are not worthy of justice? Are you really willing to sit back and say "hit me again"? Where is your courage, your outrage and your dignity?

Originally posted by Maxatoria
if you want to adhere to the law then the law is all that matters and for such a high profile target i'd imagine turning him out would bring much kudos and then you can take the person through due legal process and jobs done BUT if he's [ insert conspiracty here ] so he cant be tried then a swift death and booting off a carrier is the best choice

If you want to adhere to the law, he was an enemy combatant, legal to attack and kill at any time. He could have surrendered and made himself hors de combat, or rescinded his 1996 fatwa and sued for peace, or resigned as Emir of Al Qaeda, but he didn't. He maintained his role as commander of a hostile force, and so retained his combatant status. All the due process needed for a combatant is the determination that the means of attack are proportional and will not cause unnecessary harm to noncombatants. The means were proportional, the mission was successful, job's done.

Originally posted by searching411
Quit it with your bleeding hearts and the sympathy for monsters. He did not deserve a trial. The people killed in the twin towers, the pentagon, and the people who sacrificed their lives to save the destruction of even more, deserve justice and that does not include a platform for a raving lunatic to voice how his belief make his actions just. Remember our soldiers who do not ask to be overseas putting their lives in danger. Are you trying to say that Americans are not worthy of justice? Are you really willing to sit back and say "hit me again"? Where is your courage, your outrage and your dignity?

Listen, I completely agree with you on some levels but I think you are missing the point of America and what we (well, what we say we) stand for, and that being equality for all.
Just because he has a trail does not mean that we let him go or let him off easy, it just means that he is entitled to what every one of us is. Justice is not always an eye for an eye, although I absolutely agree that he should at some point be put to death.
By giving him a trail we are by no means sitting and being the passive aggressive nation that you think we would. Dignity, is treating all on the grounds that we wish to be treated; And for America, that is equally.
Do I think he should of been killed at some point? Yes.
Do I believe that he at least deserved the dignity of a trial? Yes.

reply to post by ka119


OBL didn't deserve a trials but the victims of 9/11 did!!!

ALS

Dare I comment?

Of course he did...who in the system of justice we call the American justice system does not get a trial?

Everyone in our corrupt system stands before their peers don't they?

Too many questions!

reply to post by ALOSTSOUL


Spot on.

His trial would be so that we see justice being done. All the world has seen now are the actions of gangsters not the leaders of democracy.

reply to post by ka119

Look at the underwear bomber, arrested December 2009 and still no trial. He is even asking that sheria law be implemented in his trial. How much of a platform would have been provided for OBL? Look at the people held in Guantanamo. What is the conviction rate for those inmates? I do not want to hold on to these war criminals so that they can be used for bargaining. Our people are beheaded, gutted, unjustly imprisoned, etc.; so the idea of being humane in hopes of like treatment does not exist. These are monsters we are facing. I do not want them to have access of my children and my grandchildren. Are you willing to take the chance? Trial by jury only applies to citizens. Our constitution only applies to citizens.