For many many years the order has been to capture/kill this individual ---It still amazes me that it took us and our allies so long to catch up with him ---but thats another story . From an operational standpoint , ending this individuals life , saved our country alot of time and money , (housing , guarding etc.. ) ---operators on site did not allow him to go out as a martyr for his cause --fueling more violence to non combatants around the world.
He was not the shot caller for along time --capture would have served us no useful purpose , however manipulating him into suicide by the tactical team sends the message we always wanted to send to the world ,We can defend ourselves from terrorists and are capable of communicating in their language --this man's life was forfeit when he stood as a leader that declared war on the United States and its allies ---He personally took credit for killing hundreds of innocent People , He worked to establish a criminal network that even today attempts to subvert ,kill and injure people around the world .
Did this change anything ? Not really --terrorists prey on the fear they can create in a society or a populace --the war on terrorism will be a long one ,until the general populace stands up and destroys anybody that fosters this mindset so harmful to others around them and teaches their children that this behavior is not acceptable in a civilized society.
The myth that this individual was unarmed was most likely thrown up by those sympathetic to his cause --- in the 11 years I lead teams in counter insurgency in that area of the world I have never met or heard of anyone that had met a member of a terrorist organization that was ever unarmed or prepared to use lethal force against anyone that opposed them--you shoot them first or they kill you its as simple as that ---they live and operate in a different world and set of beliefs than most of us . When we captured them it was only due to us incapacitating them while they were attempting to end our lives and us showing mercy on an enemy that was either too injured or stunned to provide an immediate threat.
Just remember , all attempts to resolve this issue peacefully failed though were attempted many , many times .....
I am curious though toothpick --If these terrorists blew up a heavily populated office building in your country , killing your loved ones , friends and countrymen --would you still be concerned about treating them as anything other than the animals they were (are ) ?
Most likely we will never get the real story with what went down ---and many of us know not to trust the media much --- most people wont believe that this man is even dead without seeing a body --
As far as the using others for a human shield ? are you kidding me ?
Anybody that has seen combat in Iran /Afghanastan will tell you experiences of this type of behavior --- it has added months to our training /preparing new troops that will be operating in those areas to have them "re-learn " to think of things from a viewpoint that wont get them and everyone around them killed . It is expected that they will use human shields and those we may see as non-combatants to allow them to evade or get the advantage on us in a confrontation.
I have personally been shot at by women(I'm just glad they were not as accurate as some of our XI Women or I would not be here today ) --my first couple weeks in country I was tasked to investigate an incident where marines hesitated on engaging an armed terrorist using a crowd of children while firing an Ak 47 from the middle of them --3 marines died before he was neutralized , they hesitated to shoot due to the children .(out of the 6 marines present --only one had the stun grenades available for deployment on his rack . all of them should have had them ready as they were standard load-out for operations in that area at that time... )
Those first couple weeks also allowed me to learn quickly upon talking to the children and people (they are taught from day 1 that Americans and allies are to be shot on sight or to be evaded then fired upon ) how to better prepare my men for the enemy they would face every day .
SCooBY