My thoughts

Who is interested in my thoughts on this Osama bin Laden assassination?

Well no one really, but this is my forum to speak, so I will.

The media needs to STOP talking about it, like right now. Them continuing to talk relentlessly about it will make the retaliations happen.

As in all news articles, one must give a little background about what I'm speaking.

I remember the night of 11th September 2001 (not sure of the date in Australia, but truly does it matter, it matters the date it was in America) very very clearly. We were living in our new home in Tullamarine, we'd been there since June. It was late at night about 10.30 or 11pm, and I was asleep on the couch in the lounge room (fallen asleep watching telly), Jamie was in bed (hmm, he used to sleep). I woke up about 10:30ish and thought some strange movie about burning buildings was on. That movie didn't interest me, so I changed the channel and the same scene was on, and then the next channel had the same scene. This must NOT be a movie. So I woke Jamie up... we watched for a bit, and finally realised that is was real, we saw the second plane crash into the World Trade Centre. We called both sets of parents to get them to watch. We stayed up most of the night and watched the events unfold. I remember the awfulness of the twin towers collapsing and hearing the messages that family members left on telephones. The sheer hopelessness of everyone who was in those buildings, there was no escape.

We joined in the world in hate for Osama bin Laden. He caused it, he masterminded it, even if he didn't actually do it. Every few months bin Laden put out a taunting video via El Jazeera news network. But that stopped quite a few years ago. The war in Iraq and Afghanistan continues, but not as a search for bin Laden, more of a path to democracy for those countries. To be honest, I thought that maybe bin Laden had died or gone into hiding so much that he had become irrelevant.

Then the news came this week that bin Laden had been living in a large compound in Pakistan quite close to an army training facility and Navy Seals had gone in and killed him (and others).

I'm pleased he was killed. I'm pleased he wasn't captured and put on trial. He would haven been made a spectacle of, if they had tortured him (very likely), I wouldn't have felt bad for him, no one deserves to be tortured, but a straight assassination, I'm in favour of. Its quick and cost effective - my goodness did I just write that?

But I also feel its a little irrelevant. He is not a Taliban powerhouse, Al Queda is not really a force to be reckoned with anymore (or maybe it is and I'm not paying attention). I feel it was correct to have him assassinated, but the US government should have reported nothing more than what President Obama said in his speech and then said nothing else. They do NOT need to have reported that he was unarmed, or that he was carrying money, or that he possibly used a woman to shield him. The details are NOT necessary. It was a secret mission by the elite Navy SEALS, they did their job, and leave it at that.

I do not want to see pictures of his body, he was shot in the face, so a picture won't stop conspiracy theorists. Bin Laden was far removed from public consciousness, it seems silly to say he's been killed if he wasn't. If it was a year after 9/11 then it could be a conspiracy, but as its 10 years... well.... good for Obama's re-election (but that has been said also)

I don't have influence, so if you are a blog troller, please don't worry about my opinion, which is just that... my opinion.