Osama Bin Laden is dead

No doubt the killing of Bin Laden will give Obama a considerable boost in the polls.

But (& I'm sorry to sound like a wet blanket, or something) the repercussions of his death, if his followers do choose to retaliate, are likely to impact on far more than just the US. We could well see retaliation/revenge attacks in any number of "allied" countries. This is not just about US domestic politics.

I note that the message is out that Bin Laden's body will be treated in accordance with Islamic tradition. Nice touch.

That is a huge relief to hear, hinge.
There would be widespread Islamic outrage, otherwise.

He orchestrated the killing of 2000 of my countrymen. Do you expect us to take that passively, because his angry supporters might blow up a train in Madrid or London - oh, wait, they have done that already. Do you really think that passivity will deter folks like that? Do you have any historical evidence with which to support that notion? (I think not.) Did British PM Chamberlain deter Hitler from his aggression by betraying the Czechs at Munich and playing nice with the tyrant?

Do you really believe we are endangering anyone else by killing him? If so who?

Nice timing, really....considering how old he was and the bad health he was in...they couldnt keep him "alive" for too much longer .

Strange how they found him surrounded by the Pakistan military .

Strange how a 6'4" world's number one wanted man made it through all those check points that far into Pakistan .

Or he was dead for years and they chose now to tell everyone in the hope of influencing the upcoming elections in the Arab world .

Okay, I did the transcript myself since it was taking so long for news organizations to produce it.

For Soz and others:



"Good Evening, Tonight I can report to the American people and to the world, that the United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden the leader of Al Qaeda and a terrorist who is responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent men, women, and children.

It was nearly ten years ago that a bright day was darkened by the worst attack on the American people in our history. The images of 9/11 are seared into our national memory, hijacked planes cutting through a cloudless September sky and the twin towers collapsing to the ground, black smoke billowing up from the Pentagon, the wreckage of flight 93 in Shankesville, Pennsylvania where the actions of heroic citizens saved even more heart break and destruction.

And yet we know that the worst images were those that were unseen to the world. the empty seat at the table, children who were forced to grow up without their mother or father, parents who would never know the feeling of their child's embrace. Nearly 3,000 citizens taken from us leaving a gaping hole in our hearts.

On September 11t, 2001, in our time of grief, the American people came together, we offered our neighbors a hand and we offered the wounded our blood. We reaffirmed our ties to each other and our we and our love of community and country. On that day, no matter where we came from, what god we prayed to, or what race or ethnicity we were, we were united as one American family. We were also united in our resolve to protect our nation and to bring those who committed this viscous attack to justice.

We quickly learned that the attacks were carried out by Al Qaeda, an organization headed by Osama bin Laden which had openly declared war on the United States and was committed to killing innocents in our country and around the globe... and so we went to war against Al Qaeda to protect our citizens, our friends and our allies.

Over the last ten years thanks to the tireless and heroic work of our military and our counter terrorism professionals, we have made great strides in that effort. We have disrupted terrorist attacks and strengthened our homeland defense. In Afghanistan we removed the Taliban government which had given bin Laden and Al Qaeda safe haven and support. Around the globe we have worked with our friend and allies to capture or kill scores of Al Qaeda terrorists, including several that were a part of the 9/11 plot.

Yet Osama Bin Laden avoided capture and escaped across the Afghan border into Pakistan. Meanwhile Al Qaeda continued to operate from along that border and operate through its affiliates across the world.

And so shortly after taking office I directed Leon Panetta, the director of the CIA, to make the killing or capture of Osama Bin Laden the top priority of our war against Al Qaeda, even as we continued our broader efforts to disrupt, dismantle and defeat his network.

Then, last August, after years of painstaking work by our intelligence community, I was briefed on a possible lead to bin Laden. It was far from certain and took many months to run this thread to ground. I met repeatedly with my national security team as we developed more information about the possibility that we had located bin Laden hiding within a compound deep inside Pakistan. Finally, last week, I determined that we had enough intelligence to take action and authorized an operation to get Osama bin Laden and bring him to justice.

Today at my direction the US launched a targeted operation against that compound in Abadabad, Pakistan. A small team of Americans carried out the operation with extraordinary courage and capability. No Americans were harmed. They took care to avoid civilian casualties. After a firefight they killed Osama Bin Laden and took custody of his body.

For over two decades Bin Laden has been Al Qaeda's leader and symbol and has continued to plot attacks against our country and our friends and allies. The death of bin Laden marks the most significant achievement to date in our nation's effort to defeat Al Qaeda. Yet, his death does not mark the end of our effort. There is no doubt that Al Qaeda will continue to pursue attacks against us. We must and we will remain vigilant at home and abroad. As we do, we must also reaffirm that the United States is not and never will be at war with Islam. I have made clear just as President Bush did shortly after 9/11, that our war is not against Islam. Bin Laden was not a Muslim leader. He was a mass murderer of Muslims. Indeed, Al Qaeda has slaughtered scores of Muslims in many countries including our own. So, his demise should be welcomed by all who believe in peace and human dignity. Over the years I have repeatedly made clear that we would take action within Pakistan if we knew where bin Laden was. That is what we've done, but it is important to note that our counter terrorism cooperation with Pakistan helped lead us to bin Laden and the compound where he was hiding. Indeed, bin Laden had declared war against Pakistan as well and ordered attacks against the Pakistani people.

Tonight, I called President Zadari and my team has also spoken with their Pakistani counterparts. They agree that this is a good and historic day for both of our nations and going forward, it is essential that Pakistan continue to join us in the fight against Al Qaeda and its affiliates.

The American people did not choose this fight, it came to our shores and started with the senseless slaughter of our citizens. After nearly 10 years of service, struggle and sacrifice, we know well the costs of war. These efforts weigh on me every time I, as Commander in Chief, have to sign a letter to a family that has lost a loved one or look into the eyes of a service member who has been gravely wounded. So, Americans understand the costs of war, yet as a country we will never tolerate our security being threatened and stand idling by while our people have been killed. We will be relentless in defense of our citizens and our friends and allies. We will be true to the values that make us who we are and nights like this one we can say to those families who have lost loved ones to Al Qaeda's terror, tonight we can say, justice has been done.

Tonight we give thanks to the countless intelligence and counter terrorism professionals who have worked tirelessly to achieve this outcome. The American people do not see their work nor know their names, but tonight they feel the satisfaction of their work and the result of their pursuit of justice. We give thanks for the men who carried out this operation for they exemplify the professionalism, patriotism and unparalleled courage of those who serve our country. They are part of a generation that has born the heaviest share of the burden since that September day.

Finally, let me say to the families who lost loved ones on 9/11 that we have never forgotten your loss nor waivered in our commitment to see that we do whatever it takes to prevent another attack on our shores. Tonight let us think back to the sense of unity that prevailed on 9/11. I know that it has at times frayed, yet today's achievement is a testament to the greatness of our country and the determination of the American people. The cause of securing our country is not complete but tonight we are once again reminded that America can do whatever we set our mind to, that is the story of our history whether it is the pursuit of prosperity for our people, or the struggle for equality for all our citizens, our commitment to stand up for our values abroad, and our sacrifices to make the world a safer place. Let us remember that we can do these things not just because of wealth or power but because of who we are, one nation, under god, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Thank you, may god bless you and may god bless the United States of America.

After a firefight

they killed Osama Bin Laden and took custody of his body.

Oh oh!

Any number of countries which have actively supported the US-inspired "war against terror", George. (Including my own country.)

At this point in time I am simply hoping for this madness to stop, from both sides.
There has been more than enough death & suffering of innocent people from this "war".
Far more civilian deaths than the 2000 of your countrymen ....in Iraq, for example.
My concern is about all the completely unnecessary civilian deaths, no matter which country.
These crazy ideology wars hurt civilians the most.

Not to put words in Olga's mouth, but I don't think she's commenting on the rightness or wrongness of the action, just what the consequences might be.

Exactly, hinge.

Okay, let's speculate about it...

I heard a news reporter saying that bin Laden had probably planted terror cells here for the express purpose of retaliating against us in the event of his death - in fact, that he had been planning and preparing those cells for all these almost 10 years...

We can only hope that our heightened intelligence operations have been tracking those cells and won't be caught as unprepared as we would have been 10 years ago.

CSPAN just had someone from Al Jazeera on a few minutes ago, basically saying the same thing -- that there are some long-term sleeper cells who will probably now become active.



And it looks like it is being taken seriously:


http://www.wcti12.com/news/27739960/detail.html


http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/osama-killing-us-issues-worldwide-travel-alert/articleshow/8140641.cms

What is this reporter's basis for these claims, snood?
Could you supply a link, please?

Cynical me thanks that when a reporter says "probably", he's divorcing himself from sources and looking for lines of print. It's about equavalent to me saying that if the could take a particular action now, they "probably" would have already done so.

I'm really sorry, roger, but I can't be sure that I've figured out what you actually mean in that post.

I was afraid of that. What I should have said is, he made it up to get himself attention. By saying 'probably', he relieves himself of any obligation of proof.

Remember the old Abuzz question. "Is Ricky Martin gay?" See, the guy doesn't have to defend the statement because all he did was ask an innocent question.

This is the google satelite map of Osama Bin Ladin's Pakistani compound.
Sorry for the very long URL but I can't figure out how to make it smaller. Cut and Paste...
If anyone knows how to imbed this, I'd be grateful for the instruction.

<iframe width="425" height="350" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Abbott%C4%81bad,+Khyber+Pakhtunkhwa,+Pakistan&aq=0&sll=49.891235,-97.15369&sspn=26.811401,78.662109&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Abbott%C4%81bad,+Abbottabad,+Khyber+Pakhtunkhwa,+Pakistan&ll=34.146787,73.219223&spn=0.004191,0.009602&t=h&z=14&iwloc=lyrftr:h,18273323483617756199,34.146754,73.2194&output=embed"></iframe><br /><small><a href="http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&source=embed&hl=en&geocode=&q=Abbott%C4%81bad,+Khyber+Pakhtunkhwa,+Pakistan&aq=0&sll=49.891235,-97.15369&sspn=26.811401,78.662109&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Abbott%C4%81bad,+Abbottabad,+Khyber+Pakhtunkhwa,+Pakistan&ll=34.146787,73.219223&spn=0.004191,0.009602&t=h&z=14&iwloc=lyrftr:h,18273323483617756199,34.146754,73.2194" style="color:#0000FF;text-align:left">View Larger Map</a></small>

Ah, I see what you mean, roger!

Thank you for clarifying.

It does seem weird that Bin Laden would hold back Al Qaeda's jihad resources to avenge his death (to the point that terrorist attacks seem limited to Iraq and Afghanistan - involving 12 year old boys with bombs strapped to them :-( - ) rather than continually targeting high profile western targets, for what? Five years now?

Has the spate of popular uprisings in the Arab world mollified, to a degree, the mounting frustrations in that part of the world about western backed dictatorial governments that originally inspired Bin Laden?

I was simply sharing something I had heard amongst all the babbling by all the many reporters this evening. No, I don't have a link. Is there some rule we need a link before we can join in the speculating?