Sunday, May 15, 2011

Gates Praises Obama

By the CNN Wire Staff
May 15, 2011 10:00 p.m. EDT

U.S. Defense Secretary, Robert Gates, said Obama's decision to raid Osama bin Laden in Pakistan was a courageous and gutsy call. "I've worked for a lot of these guys and this is one of the most courageous calls -- decisions -- that I think I've ever seen a president make," he said during a CBS "60 Minutes" interview that aired Sunday night(cnn.com). U.S. officials tracked a courier who they believed lived with and protected Osama. Gates stated,"
There wasn't any direct evidence that he was there. It was all circumstantial, but it was the best information that we had since probably 2001."(cnn.com). It is too early to say that troops will be withdrawn from Afghanistan. Robert Gates is the 22nd secretary of defense. He is expected to step down this year. "I think the hardest thing for me to deal with is leading a department that is organized to plan for war but not to fight a war. And so everything that I wanted to do to try to help the men and women in the field, I've had to do outside the normal Pentagon bureaucracy ... that's been very frustrating," he said(cnn.com). I found this article to be very interesting. I would've used the information in the class discussion. 

Staff, The CNN Wire. "Gates Praises Obama's Call on Bin Laden Raid - CNN.com." CNN.com - Breaking News, U.S., World, Weather, Entertainment & Video News. Cable Network News, 15 May 2011. Web. 16 May 2011. <http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/05/15/gates.cbs.interview/index.html?iref=NS1>.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Osama'sWife Always Wanted to go Down in History
By AHMED AL-HAJ
The Associated Press
updated 2 hours 23 minutes ago
 
Osama bin Laden's wife, Amal-al-Sadah, told her family she wanted to go down in history. I guess she obviously doesn't care if it's for a good or a bad reason. Bin Laden gave his wives the option of staying in Afghanistan or going back to their home countries. Amal-al-Sadah wanted to be matyred with him. Her family tells the Associated Press that they only seen Amal-al-Sadah once after her marriage in 1999. The family went on a month long trip to Afghanistan to see Amal-al-Sadah and the newborn, Safiya . The family describes Osama as being "easy going" and modest. A cousin of Amal-al-Sadah said that bin Laden told the family "of a big event that will occur in the world". Amal-al-Sadah's family were listening to the news of the 9/11 attacks and her father said"Osama bin Laden did it."
 
Al-haj, Ahmed. "Bin Laden's Wife: I'll Stand with You - World News - South and Central Asia - Afghanistan - Msnbc.com." Msnbc.com - Breaking News, Science and Tech News, World News, US News, Local News- Msnbc.com. The Associated Press, 11 May 2011. Web. 11 May 2011. <http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42997701/ns/world_news-south_and_central_asia/?gt1=43001>.

Monday, May 9, 2011

Why Abbottabad was a Good Hideout

May 9th, 2011
09:41 AMET
By Maryam Khan Ansari, Special to CNN
The compound Osama was hiding in didn't stick out like a sore thumb. This article explains why it was such a good hideout. One reason is that large compounds are common in Abbottabad. Also, the people there think the compounds house the Pakistan Military. Bin Laden made a smart decision to move to Abbottabad. The article also states that the average "soldier" probably didn't even notice Osama's compound because there's so many. Bin Laden was able to live comfortablly in "plain sight" without being noticed. 

Ansari, Maryam Khan. "5 Reasons Abbottabad Was a Great Hideout – Global Public Square - CNN.com Blogs." Global Public Square - CNN.com Blogs. Cable News Network, 9 May 2011. Web. 10 May 2011. <http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2011/05/09/5-reasons-abbottabad-was-a-great-hideout/?hpt=C2>.

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Virginia Church Retried Blasphemy Case Against Jesus
April 22nd, 2011
07:18 AMET
By Eric Marrapodi, CNN Belief Blog Co-Editor


The church of Holy Comforter in Richmond, Virginia decided to retry the sentencing phase of the blasphemy case against Jesus during Lent. Mark Olser is the person who decided to do the trial. Olser is against capital punishment and decided to do to the trial to call attention to it. Jeanne Bishop, played a defense attorney in the trial.“He also wanted to have a young African-American man play Jesus, and that’s what we have tonight. Most of clients look exactly like this young man who will be sitting beside me,” she said (cnn.com). I found the article to be interesting. I see the "point of view", Olser was trying to make.

Marrapodi, Eric. "Jesus on Trial: What Would a Modern Jury Do? – CNN Belief Blog - CNN.com Blogs." 
CNN Belief Blog - CNN.com Blogs. Cable News Network, 22 Apr. 2011. Web. 09 May 2011. <http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/04/22/jesus-on-trial-would-he-be-sentenced-to-death-today/>.

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Bin Laden Cost the U.S. Trillions
Osama has cost the U.S. $2.5 trillion. Richard Quest says it's only the beginning. I found the video pretty interesting. Hope you do too.

Quest, Richard. "Video - Breaking News Videos from CNN.com." CNN.com - Breaking News, U.S., World, Weather, Entertainment & Video News. Cable News Network, 3 May 2011. Web. 05 May 2011. <http://www.cnn.com/video/>.

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Mr. Bad Popularity

Osama bin Laden's death has the internet going crazy! Google had a ONE MILLION PERCENT increase in Google searches for "Bin Laden". More than 3,000 tweets were made a minute between 10:45 pm and 2:20 am when the news was released. This is ridiculous.

Jackson, Nicholas. "One Million Percent Increase in Google Searches for 'Bin Laden' - Nicholas Jackson - Technology - The Atlantic." The Atlantic — News and Analysis on Politics, Business, Culture, Technology, National, International, and Life – TheAtlantic.com. 3 May 2011. Web. 04 May 2011. <http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2011/05/one-million-percent-increase-in-google-searches-for-bin-laden/238319/>.

Monday, May 2, 2011

Republican Reactions to bin Laden's Death
By the CNN Wire Staff
May 2, 2011 1:42 p.m. EDT
The reaction's from the Republican's were very strong and opinionated. 


George W. Bush's Statement:

"A victory for America, for people who seek peace around the world, and for all those who lost loved ones on September 11, 2001. The fight against terror goes on, but tonight America has sent an unmistakable message: No matter how long it takes, justice will be done."