Thread:Comments:Osama bin Laden killed in U.S. operation in Pakistan, White House says/Comments from feedback form - "Why wasn't he captured alive? ..."/reply (2)

If were captured alive, he would have been the sacred cow. You would have had to place him in a very particular environment. Not only would that place have to be extremely secure, but you would have to find the right people to gard him. In the world, people either profoundly hated him or profoundly loved him: there aren't many shades of gray in his case.

If he would have been guarded by haters, they would have killed him or torture him (and by the same occasion, rendering him an even bigger martyr). On the contrary, with loving guards, if would have been liberated immediately. Plus, I'm pretty sure there are enough lovers of him out there ready to kamikaze themselves in order for him to escape.

Finally, I'll remind that a chance to surrender was given and, while starting to shoot, he supposedly said he preferred dying. It isn't the first time he refused surrendering. In fact, in a video dating back to 2003, he mentioned he would never allow himself to be captured alive.