Okay but why did they bury him at sea? That has already set off all the conspiracy theorists.

I'm actually beginning to believe he'll also repeal DOMA at some point in his presidency. The man is slick and appears to work in mysterious ways.

There are going to be deathers anyway after the whole burial at sea thing. They are going to say that the whole thing is a hoax, the photos of the corpse and other evidence are doctored, etc., but Obama's decision to make sure that there was at least some evidence will limit the number of people who buy into it.

They buried him at sea to keep his grave from becoming a pilgrimage site for loonies.

See also: destruction of Spandau Prison.

From the Fatawa of Ayatullah al Uzama Syed Ali al-Husaini Seestani:
624. If it is feared that an enemy may dig up the grave and exhume the dead body and amputate its ears or nose or other limbs, it should be lowered into sea, if possible, as stated in the foregoing rule.

Burial at sea not only prevents people from using his grave to their own ends but is the correct choice for a Muslim burial in this situation.

I have a friend who works for the main library in Denver, and he reported that some patron has already claimed that bin Laden jumped overboard and swam away.

What @4 said.

I hope the shark attractant worked.

Brownie points in the Islamic world for burial at sea within 24 hours - but I am concerned that he's going to need some evidence to refute the "Deathers" (nice coin). Has any been trotted out.

I would love to see some square jawed, scared and tattooed navy seal in full uniform in front of the cameras telling all the red blooded 'mercans out there that yes, I put a bullet in him and anyone who calls me a liar is next.

I'm going to tread into un-pc territory here, but aside from people doubting his death, I think he should have been presented to the world and refused burial of any sort.

A big deal has been made about him being 'put to rest' within a day of death, per Islamic custom. But he helped to cause the death of over three thousand people - many of whom were not permitted a burial of any sort, much less within a day or a week. His body should have been kept in a freezer for three thousand days.

It's not going to change anything - the planes, the war(s), the destruction. But why should he be allowed the dignity of a burial when so many more weren't?

I also suspect that the strike was delayed for 8 months so as not to be construed as a political ploy right before the election.

@1 if they buried him in a cemetery, conspiracy theorists would say it was an empty casket. If you produced a video of the raid, they'd claim it was a setup, or doctored. Presumably the administration will release some photos at some point. Anyone who disbelieves at that point would be unpersuaded by any amount of evidence.

@9 Because as much as it gives us satisfaction to see him dead, he was also regarded as a hero in some parts of the Muslim world... so being respectful of his remains may help to quell anti-American backlash that is no doubt brewing.

That, and it shows we're above all that petty bullshit.

Remember when people freaked out over public trials of terrorist suspects in New York because the trials themselves would become targets for terrorism? Funny how that fear went out the window now that OBL is dead. Guess a public viewing of the poster boy for terrorism wouldn't attract any unwanted attention...

Yeah @6, because that's a pretty common occurrence after someone's been shot several times through the head.

But then, crazy seems to be our nation's largest cash-crop these days, so no real surprise there.

"Every American has a right to walk right up to bin Laden’s corpse and view it."

That's one "right" I will gladly give up. That's like the ghouls who hang out and party near prisons on the days when an execution is going to be performed. A dreadful person I knew from Texas said they all used to do that in college. When the execution was completed, they would all honk their horns and yell in that annoying southern way.

Watching someone die is horrible, even when it's a "peaceful" death. Seeing a bloody corpse is worse, even if the corpse "deserved" it.

The quick burial at sea was the best option. It prevents both loony followers and mentally disturbed Americans from getting their kicks off a corpse.

They announced a burial at sea in accordance with Muslim customs, but I would not be one bit surprised if the body were actually in Langley, VA right now.

I love that despite all the obvious and demonstrated sensitivity Obama has shown to Islam throughout this whole thing, some of these "Islamic leaders" still have the fucking nerve to complain that some obscure burial right wasn't done properly. From MSNBC: "The Americans want to humiliate Muslims through this burial, and I don't think this is in the interest of the U.S. administration," said Omar Bakri Mohammed, a radical cleric in Lebanon. Another one: "What was done by the Americans is forbidden by Islam and might provoke some Muslims," said another Islamic scholar from Iraq, Abdul-Sattar al-Janabi, who preaches at Baghdad's famous Abu Hanifa mosque.

Well boo fucking hoo.

As @9 points out, it would have been easy, perhaps even justifiable, to parade this asshole's body around New York like a trophy. Some would probably like to defile him even further (stuffing his corpse in a dead pig, perhaps?). But we--or at least, Obama--are better than that. We treated a man respectfully who didn't deserve respect, and in so doing, underscored once again that our war is NOT with Islam. Sure, burying him at sea isn't ideal. But clearly, that was not done to humiliate or provoke, but to prevent an obvious problem: Wherever he was buried on land would become a flashpoint of controversy and conflict.

Obama thought this shit through, and it shows. These "clerics" and other supposed wise men can go fuck themselves.

@16 I think you mean his eyetooth which Obama is wearing on a necklace around his neck.

Powerful juju that.

I get a perverse pleasure from looking down my nose at people doing vulgar and hypocritical things but I think it is wise to preempt the folks who want to drag the body through the streets. It makes the whole country look like a bunch of third world radicals.

@18 - O_o

They should have hanged him from a bridge for a week, the butchered his carcass and feed his flesh to dogs and his bones to pigs.

@12 - Well, some people are above petty bullshit. Me, not so much.

@17 - I'm not saying that he should be paraded so much as ignored. Stick him in a freezer and forget about him. But dumping him in the ocean was obviously the best.

I can't celebrate his death, I don't have blood-lust. His death solves nothing. But a perverse part of my brain thinks that a burial within a day is too respectful.

Not being contrary here, but how exactly do we know that bin Laden is dead? Because some jackholes who lie 99% of the time sez he is?

Perhaps the bigger story is that our politicians, media and military have less than zero credibility. It's not like his death is going to change anything, like the wars, the torture, the mass-murders of innocent civilians by "predator drones," or the end of privacy and civil liberties.

We did it all to ourselves and it's not going to stop.

I imagine that if his death could have been so easily doctored, it would have happened already. The reaction from those within Al-Qaeda, as far as can yet be seen, confirms the killing.

The US government should really try to increase their photoshop skills.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may…

@27, Did you read the first sentence of the article you link? The image comes from Pakistani TV and was picked up by British news outlets. Don't be so quick to start jumping down conspiracy rabbit holes.

It's a really smart move if you look at it from the enemy's perspective. No image of his shattered body to gain sympathy and rally the troops. No "sacred ground" to become a pilgrimage for martyr wannabies. He's just gone.

Here's the hero of radical Islam, protected and succored by the best friend a terrorist can have, the ISI, and even more than a decade after 9/11 he's taken out in the middle of the night and never seen again. That shows some serious juice and would have to be on the mind of any future strategist who aspires to take the reigns.

@24, I have it on good authority the moon landing was faked, too.

@29 I agree. It creates this narrative of an omnipresent, unstoppable force. You can hide in your house and never go outside again but they'll still find you and make you disappear. There's something almost mythic about it.

Faking it was probably ruled out from day one: there would be an immediate response from al qaeda with real proof of OBL alive. He's very dead, alright, but the rest of the details...?

If we act like barbarians, we've lost.

They can't conquer us, but if we let them make us---no, if we let us use them as an excuse to---start acting indecently, then we are no longer worth defending, because 'My country, right or wrong,' deserves nothing but an edifying trip to Nanking or Katyn or Oswiecim (now, not then), and any claim that Americans Are Different deserves derisive laughter with a Cherokee accent.

And, as a practical matter, pettiness is a signifier of weakness and delegitimiser of power---evaluate your date by seeing how they [sic] treat the wait-staff.

(Beside, if we _did_ let people gawk at the body, someone would complain, ‘Why can't we fuck it?’)

how bout this - we don't bomb the complex in which enemy no. 1 is living so we have indisputable evidence that the deed is done. instead go in black ops - then, dump the body at sea.

everywhere the message repeats, despite the physical evidence is (?) swimming with the fishes? photographs and images when they come are NOT reliable.

point is this: media everywhere is more n happy to repeat the company line. who wants to be questioned as a wet blanket aye?