Taking no prisoners

[rov1100]

Why is it part of SAS training to kill the suspects on sight without getting them to surrender? The Iranian hostage scene where the SAS killed all the known terrorists was a case in point.

This time the American seals (equivalent to the SAS) shot Bin Laden rather than taking him prisoner. I think you can assume at 1am Bin Laden was not dressed and armed to offer any resistance.

Is this why pictures of his killing have been withheld?....it doesn't look good shooting an unarmed man even if he was Bin Laden

[Philtaz]

Just to clarif in the OP, the SAS did not kill all the terrorists during Operation Nimrod. One survived and was paroled in 2008.
As for their actions that day, they were dealing with terrorists who had already murdered one hostage. Despite any apparent attempts to surrender one the building assault began, I doubt the troopers were going to risk being 'mugged' by any who may have held their hands up, only to have a grenade or some other weapon concealed about their person.
They'd been asked to 'surrender' by the Police. They declined, escalated the situation and subsequently 'reaped the whirlwind'.

As for Osama, do you REALLY think that the world's most wanted man and his entourage would be tucked up in his little hovel with nothing more to defend himself than kitchen utensils? With all that close security, CCTV and 14 foot high walls, combined with security gates that cost more than half a million dollars, I'd wager that there might just have been the odd AK47 knocking about the place!,

[Lonnie]

Someone as high profile and Dangerous as Bin Laden is only safe when dead, (remember Gibralter)?, it only takes a twitch of a finger to set a bomb off.

The American Seals were 100% right in the way they handled it.

[Cowtipper]

Gromit:
I'm man enough to recant when I've been wrong. Sorry about that.

[rov1100]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/...d-south-asia-13274176

Bin Laden was unarmed! Back to the original question.

[RoganJoshPete]

If Obama has it on film he might stick it on YouTube in a few days time.

[Gromit]

Thanks CowtIpper (spelt correctly this time).

[Philtaz]

Rov,
Bin Laden may have been unarmed, but what of his friends/relatives
who were with him? Having declined the offer to surrender, who would
take their chances with him? Not a Special Forces team, that's for sure!

[Cowtipper]

I'm not going to arm chair quarterback the Seal team but I think the trigger man was trigger happy. I think he was way too hyped up on adrenalin to make a judgement call based on what he saw and erred on the side of shoot now ask questions later.