Thank you, Aviation-Leak.

A justifiable response in my opinion. If/when it happens again, I certainly hope we send the right message next time.

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Question Authority before it Questions you.

I'll have to ask my friend who designs them what his take on it is.

They do fall out of the sky sometimes, we had one crash into the river next to the plant only a few years ago.

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2016 Corvette Stingray 2LT
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Perfect use for one, its in such a remote area that the fall out would be contained.

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2016 Corvette Stingray 2LT
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

A good description of taking down Bin Laden. At first it was reported that 20 men took part the attack, now it is up to 79.

https://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/03/world/asia/03intel.html?pagewanted=all

That is a good point. Unless they had a garrison at their disposal, they'd be hard pressed to go against the kind of tech and firepower that they would likely know Americans would have. I've never tried to shoot down a Blackhawk so I don't really know how easy or hard it would be to damage one with an AK47 or how long during take-off you'd have to do it. Does seem like that would be the real weak link on the operation, that is, when they were getting out of there.

I'm thinking more and more that probably a small number of higher up intel people knew where he was but that few if any of his neighbors knew. That would be a huge secret to keep, and with a $25 mil or so bounty, a few things go south in his reputation or usefulness, the temptation for at least a few people to try to arrange receipt of ransom along with a witness relocation of sorts could be large.

Probably a very small chance that no one knew but who knows, with sufficient bribery of police, and plausible stories about religious privacy regarding the owner, might have happened. More likely is that only part of the govt. knew of and sanctioned his presence.

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Te futueo et caballum tuum

1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

A few comments back the subject of Bush 1's poll ratings being way up after the Gulf War came up, and that it did him little good at election time. I think the reference was to Obama getting a bump in the polls over this operation and would it be reflected at the polls.

Well, I think it is going to take a little more than that, but it will remove the right wing mantra of 'Democrats don't know how to..... (fill in the blank)'.

But the job Bush 1 did during the Gulf War was swept away by Ross Perot who thought he could do a better job and who spent quite a bit of money tearing down Bush.

I recall a lot of people at the time saying they were voting for Perot because it was clear Bush did not know how to run the country. They agreed that he did a good job during the war, but as far as everything else he was just in over his head.

In short, Bush lost the hard right to a third party and Clinton took the race even though he got less than 50% of the vote.

I think when election time comes up Obama will downplay this event and want to talk about other things since this is a once in a lifetime event and not a real indication of the type of job he is doing overall.

However, if I were a friend of Osama BL I would keep my head down since Obama has proven he is not afraid to make hard decisions when it comes to the interests of the US.

http://www.telegraaf.nl/buitenland/9695593/__Gruwelfoto_s_uit_huis_Osama__.html?p=16,1

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAH-66_Comanche

He also sent the Seals in after the 3 Somali pirates whose behavior proved to be harmful to their health.

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Te futueo et caballum tuum

1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

Maybe. It all depends on how well he performs on national security issues between now and then. For example, Afghanistan and Pakistan are going to be terribly difficult to disentangle. He could very easily screw it up or some external thing could happen beyond his control that leaves egg on his face.

Remember what happened to GHW Bush. He looked unstoppable, too.

You don't just pick up a gun and start shooting for no reason.

I suspect all the al qaeda people were in the compound in order to maintain secrecy. The neighbor's probably suspected it was something strange since a secret compound full of people who never come outside and talk, with lots of guards isn't normal, even for that area of the world. How much they knew is debatable, probably a bit because clearly there was a leak since we found out about it.

So in light of that fact, your waken up at 2am by American choppers doing a raid, are you going to open fire to help a bunch of strangers when your family is in the house?

NFW, your going to sit tight and maybe get on the phone to see whats going on. More so if your an officer your not going to act without orders, even if you have troops nearby. If you attack and find out its a sanctioned operations your curare is over.

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2016 Corvette Stingray 2LT
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

I got the impression that GHB simply lost interest in being re-elected at some point during the campaign, then Ross Perot came along and split the "conservative" vote.

I do think that BO needs to make significant progress getting out of Afghanistan before the election. Then, it will all depend on the republican candidate.

I guess I better read that one. 79 people on a Chinook would be a treat to see.

I've been kinda wondering about the helicopter that crashed. Did all of the ppl on that one get on the one that flew out?

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Jim