Osama's Hideout Gets 3 Out of 5 Stars on Google Maps

Many submitters have pointed out that Osama bin Laden's hideout is getting a lot of reviews on Google Maps. Some of my favorites of the 600+ so far include: "The hotel is obviously doing quite well, as evidenced by the fact that the cleaning crew is actually helicoptered in each evening, and in fact they go so far as to destroy any furniture that they feel is outdated or in need of repair," and "Privacy was great...until being leaked out on the Playstation Network."

Comments

Awesome Streetview Tagged Photo

[Anonymous Coward]

I love that someone already tagged the location with a streetview photo of the Arrested Development model home.

All in all, it's amazing what Americans can accomplish when the Playstation Network is down.

Re:Awesome Streetview Tagged Photo

[lxs]

That's not an edit but an artifact caused by the hellmouth in his basement.

And with all that attention...

[Deadstick]

...nobody in the media has noticed that Osama chose to hide out in a city named after a British colonial overlord.

rj

Re:And with all that attention...

[QuasiSteve]

nobody in the media has noticed that Osama chose to hide out in a city named after a British colonial overlord

Seriously? Maybe you should change your venue of media. It was explicitly mentioned on the Dutch news in several of the first few news broadcasts on Monday morning.

Checking Google News, I'd say there's also plenty of other media that spent 30 seconds on Wikipedia or something to find out a little historical background on the town;
http://www.google.com/search?q=Abbottabad+"james+abbott"

Re:And with all that attention...

[gmhowell]

What?

I thought it was named after a '40s straight-man.

What's on second.

Review

[Anonymous Coward]

Needed a nice place in Abottabad for wife's honeymoon. So impressed when I saw the place it nearly blew my eyes out of their sockets. Interior left something to be desired. Surprising number of rowdy Americans staying here.

Re:Review

[sqldr]

"a guest on the third floor had some late night guests who made far too much noise. the common area was a mess the following morning, and there was a helecopter up on cinder blocks. no wifi"

Re:Review

[plover]

"Abbottabad? More like Abbottas-bad-as-it-gets . Worst customer service, couldn't even find the place. And worst of all their meals are loaded with trans-fatwas."

Re:Review

[elrous0]

Cons: Room was obviously previously occupied by someone who smoked.

Computers?

[aywang31]

The military supposedly recovered a lot of digital information (hard drives, DVDs, flash drives, etc.) over there. I'm wondering how Osama reconciled the use of computers with his anti-Western beliefs (which I assume includes Western technology).

Re:Computers?

[Opportunist]

You may rest assured it was made in China, that's cool.

Re:Computers?

[gmhowell]

Wait, China is communist now? When did that happen?

Re:Computers?

[JWSmythe]

    It's just an unsubstantiated rumor. Now move along before we have to send you to a re-education camp.

Re:Computers?

[LordLimecat]

Being against western beliefs doesnt mean that he was Amish; he simply believed that western culture and governments are "bad" (to put it mildly).

Re:Computers?

[sqldr]

his point does have some merit. muslims (particularly fundamentalist) strive to live like mohammed who was according to hadith "a most excellent character". This includes pass times, such as horse riding and archery which he actually did, as opposed to chess or (god forbid) listening to music. In his rhetoric, he regularly dismissed certain things like wearing jeans as "western".

Meanwhile, there is nothing in my views which says I can't be pragmatic about where the stuff I buy is made. Fundamentalist muslim doesn't know the meaning of pragmatism unless it involves killing infidels. Case in point, you must never lie.. unless it enables you to win the battle of the Trench, where he did exactly that to turn the confederation against each other.

I should really stop reading into this shit.

Re:Computers?

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

I'm not really convinced in his case(or in that of a fair number of other extremists). Religions are full of charismatic con-men acting out L. Ron Hubbard's famous advice, and politics is larded with people whose 'principles' conveniently match their interests; but it is both the empirical fact that, and absolutely necessary to the success of the cynics that religions be full of genuine suckers ready to be milked dry, and politics have a supply of voters ready to line up and cheer lest the wrong pathological narcissist be awarded the right to reward his friends and owners out of their pockets.

In Osama's case, he abandoned a relatively straight shot into comfort and ease, born somewhere between third base and home plate, in order to take up the relatively risky and poorly paid cause of stirring up the distaste of the world's major powers. That seems like a rather illogical move, unless jihad is, in fact, a kind of extreme sport, in which the more adrenaline-dependent trust fundies recreationally engage...

Re:Computers?

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

They practice what they call "Communism with Chinese characteristics". Westerners know it as "Crony capitalism" or "what we are busy running headlong into".

Re:No Streetview

[Anonymous Coward]

Eh?

Re:Mansion?

[perpenso]

Who exactly, thinks this dump is a mansion?

The millions who live nearby.

Re:That's a lot of visitors

[osu-neko]

It's called hiding in plain sight. Think of it like playing Where's Waldo, just instead of a funny shirt you look out for a face eating beard.

Spotting the guy with a face eating beard isn't as easy in Pakistan as it is in Delaware.

Re:No Streetview

[Sabalon]

That's okay. I hear there was a commissioned low altitude aerial fly by.

Re:epic lawls

[SharpFang]

This is Idle.
Idle is all about non-newsworthy stuff.

Re:Waidaminute...

[SharpFang]

"Oh c'mon, there's no way he would be hiding there! That place is on Google Maps Street View for pete's sake!"

Your princess

[sourcerror]

Your princess is in another cave.

Re:That's a lot of visitors

[vegiVamp]

One would presume it would be a lot easier in Pakistan. Unless you're searching for a very specific one, of course.

Re:epic lawls

[rgbatduke]

No, Eric is Idle. This is one more piece of evidence in time travel. The reviews are clearly from the future, when the compound is a bed and breakfast that advertises "Bring your wives and children! Sleep in Osama's bed!"...

subhumans

[Tom]

Everyone who gloats about this in any way, including writing "funny" reviews, is somewhat less than human.

Not that I feel sorry or wish he'd still be alive. Snap out of that "black and white", "with us or against us" mindset you brainwashed drone.

I strongly believe the adequate reaction is a solemn acknowledgement of the fact that there is now one dangerous man left on the planet. Though how dangerous exactly he was in the past past years and for the future is a matter of debate, but we can ignore that.

But gloating? Happiness? Celebration? You're not an inch better than the muslims that celebrated 9/11.

Re:subhumans

[Tom]

EVERYONES ARGUMENTS ABOUT ANYTHING SUBJECTIVE AS MOOT.

Subjective creates objective - opinions shape our actions which shape our world. Subjective is anything but moot, I don't know why this meme hasn't died out long ago. Subjective is in no way less important or vital than objective is.

My family is from Poland and those are the words Nazis used to define my family, and how they justified murdering much of them.

Accepted, that explains how you came to that conclusion. Then let me simply explain that I don't think less sophisticated and more barbaric humans, like americans or fanatical muslim terrorists, or fanatical right-wing christians, for that matter, should be killed or otherwise treated badly. I maintain they are missing out on many of the more refined advancements of the human race.

We dont have a trial for EVERY enemy combatant engaged in a battle.

Osama was not a soldier on a battlefield, even if he liked to think of himself that way on occasion. He was shot in his bedroom, next to his wife, man! That's not what I picture in my mind when I read "enemy combatant engaged in a battle".
So no, I will not withdraw that argument and I challenge your claim that it's a straw man.

On October 30th 2004 Osama bin Laden released a tape to Al Jezeera (and they aired it) where he explained his reasons for ordering the 9/11 attacks. Essentially this would be construed as an admission of guilt.

Yes, very likely. And I am quite certain that the ICC would have found him guilty. But - it did not, because no trial was ever conducted. And that is a vital and important point. Judges pass verdicts in a civilized society, not presidents, not generals, not navy seals.

So, to re-cap, a high profile enemy combatant is killed in a foreign country, with the permission of the country the operation was performed in, and youre complaining about legal proceedings? I personally think its funny that the irony of your statements is totally lost on you.

Yes, I am complaining about legal proceedings. Because without a judgement, this is plain and simple murder. Nothing else.

Argue that he needed killing, I'll gladly go there, we have almost 3000 years of philosophical discussion on the topic, with the ancient greek question of the murder of a tyrant providing most answers, not really has been added in the 2000 years since.

But all this "enemy combatant" quack is just propaganda. We don't like to admit that we're vanishing and torturing people, and breaking the Geneva Convention, so we give it different labels. But labels don't make things. You can't eat the menu. A rose by another name is still a rose. And so is murder.

I'm not a peace hippie, far from it. In fact, my personal list of people the world would be better off without doesn't even start with terrorists. What I do insist is calling things what they are and facing yourself in the mirror to admit that you're not that much better. When you break into people's houses to shoot them, you've left a part of civilization behind. You can argue it was necessary, it was good, it was whatever you want it to be - but you should start dropping the marketing speech and admitting that it was cold-blooded murder, that unarmed civilians were involved, and that there was absolutely no legal justification to make it ok whatsoever. No court verdict, no UN mandate, it was a demonstration of power.

Re:subhumans

[Tom]

You said, "everyone who gloats about this in any way, including writing "funny" reviews, is somewhat less than human." But you are also saying that it is ok to celebrate something. Can you detail what exactly you think is acceptable, namely what sort of celebration is permissible?

A good weekend, best friends, whatever it is you have to celebrate.

The man committed a crime in which thousands of Americans were killed. He deserved to be brought to justice.

Yes, but he was not.
He was killed.

I thought we had left the middle ages behind in which we equate those two different things.

Bringing someone to justice involves, in my mind, well, justice. You know, a trial, a court, a judge, a verdict. All of that is missing here. How can you talk about justice when absolutely no element of the justice system is involved? What kind of justice is that? Is it not a cornerstone of our society that we do not each define our own justice and deal out our own punishments?

Losing that is in my book a bigger loss than the death of a terror leader is gain.

That is my point. That is why I think we should be shocked instead of happy. Much of what we should stand for has been trampled into the dirt. In Iraq, in Guantanamo and now in Abbottabad. Every time an american speaks of justice, much of the rest of the world will answer with a sad laugh. Because your actions do not match your words. You speak of justice, but you conduct revenge, and abductions, and torture, and invasions.