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Osama bin Laden sleeps widda fishes
Today's Headlines
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Page 1: WoT Operations
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Page 6: Politix
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-Lurid Crime Tales-
Final Bin Laden Tape Expected: Sent Out Just Before His Death
WASHINGTON (AP) -- U.S. intelligence officials believe the late Osama bin Laden
... who used to be alive but now he's not...
made a propaganda recording shortly before his death and expect that tape to surface soon.

It is unclear whether the tape is audio or video, but a U.S. official says that intelligence indicates it is already working its way through al-Qaida's media pipeline. The official said the timing was coincidental and there is no indication he knew U.S. forces were bearing down on him.

A new recording from bin Laden would provide a final word from the beyond grave for a terrorist who taunted the U.S. with recorded propaganda for years. It could also provide fodder to those who insist he is still alive.

Posted by: Unating and Company3195 || 05/02/2011 17:37 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


-Obits-
Bin Laden Dead: Video animation of terrorist leader's final moments
Taiwan Edition
Posted by: tipper || 05/02/2011 17:47 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1 



Posted by: Zebulon Thranter9685 || 05/02/2011 18:15 Comments || Top||

#2  Not for those prone to the vapors or of a delicate constitution, but pretty danged funny. Also needs a Beverage Alert. Nice to see our guys observing 'Islamic traditions'!
Posted by: SteveS || 05/02/2011 18:39 Comments || Top||

#3  I love the part where they urinate on him. And all the bottles of Jack Daniels scattered around the floor!!!
Posted by: Scooter McGruder || 05/02/2011 19:06 Comments || Top||

#4  And the sheep and the ISI officer in bed with OBL.
Posted by: gorb || 05/02/2011 22:12 Comments || Top||


More on bin Laden - as of 3 pm ET
DNA test on bin Laden shows strong match to family

WASHINGTON - DNA tests on the body of Osama bin Laden showed a virtual 100 percent match to relatives, and a woman believed to be his wife also identified him by name, a senior US intelligence official told reporters on Monday.
"He's dead, Jim."
The United States was now reviewing a large cache of materials seized at the compound in Pakistan where US forces killed bin Laden, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to reporters.
Woo hoo -- documents! Cell phones!! Computer hard drives!!111!1!!11
"Those materials are currently being exploited and analyzed and a task force is being set up at CIA ... given the volume of materials collected at the raid site," the official said.

General Musharref: Mission violated Pakistani sovereignty
True. But in a good way.

Gen. Musharref: bin Laden's death a positive step

DUBAI - Pakistan's former military ruler Pervez Musharraf said on Monday that news of Osama bin Laden's death was a "positive step" even as he criticized the United States for launching the raid within his country's borders.

Calling it a victory for the people of Pakistan, Musharraf said he also expected some short-term instability due to acts of revenge.

"It's a very positive step and it will have positive long-term implications," Musharraf told Reuters in Dubai, where he has a home. "Today we won a battle, but the war against terror will continue."
Posted by: || 05/02/2011 14:56 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


More on bin Laden - as of 3 pm ET
DNA test on bin Laden shows strong match to family

WASHINGTON - DNA tests on the body of Osama bin Laden showed a virtual 100 percent match to relatives, and a woman believed to be his wife also identified him by name, a senior US intelligence official told reporters on Monday.
"He's dead, Jim."
The United States was now reviewing a large cache of materials seized at the compound in Pakistan where US forces killed bin Laden, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to reporters.
Woo hoo -- documents! Cell phones!! Computer hard drives!!111!1!!11
"Those materials are currently being exploited and analyzed and a task force is being set up at CIA ... given the volume of materials collected at the raid site," the official said.

General Musharref: Mission violated Pakistani sovereignty
True. But in a good way.

Gen. Musharref: bin Laden's death a positive step

DUBAI - Pakistan's former military ruler Pervez Musharraf said on Monday that news of Osama bin Laden's death was a "positive step" even as he criticized the United States for launching the raid within his country's borders.

Calling it a victory for the people of Pakistan, Musharraf said he also expected some short-term instability due to acts of revenge.

"It's a very positive step and it will have positive long-term implications," Musharraf told Reuters in Dubai, where he has a home. "Today we won a battle, but the war against terror will continue."
Posted by: || 05/02/2011 14:56 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


More on bin Laden - as of 3 pm ET
DNA test on bin Laden shows strong match to family

WASHINGTON - DNA tests on the body of Osama bin Laden showed a virtual 100 percent match to relatives, and a woman believed to be his wife also identified him by name, a senior US intelligence official told reporters on Monday.
"He's dead, Jim."
The United States was now reviewing a large cache of materials seized at the compound in Pakistan where US forces killed bin Laden, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to reporters.
Woo hoo -- documents! Cell phones!! Computer hard drives!!111!1!!11
"Those materials are currently being exploited and analyzed and a task force is being set up at CIA ... given the volume of materials collected at the raid site," the official said.

General Musharref: Mission violated Pakistani sovereignty
True. But in a good way.

Gen. Musharref: bin Laden's death a positive step

DUBAI - Pakistan's former military ruler Pervez Musharraf said on Monday that news of Osama bin Laden's death was a "positive step" even as he criticized the United States for launching the raid within his country's borders.

Calling it a victory for the people of Pakistan, Musharraf said he also expected some short-term instability due to acts of revenge.

"It's a very positive step and it will have positive long-term implications," Musharraf told Reuters in Dubai, where he has a home. "Today we won a battle, but the war against terror will continue."
Posted by: || 05/02/2011 14:56 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


More on bin Laden - as of 3 pm ET
DNA test on bin Laden shows strong match to family

WASHINGTON - DNA tests on the body of Osama bin Laden showed a virtual 100 percent match to relatives, and a woman believed to be his wife also identified him by name, a senior US intelligence official told reporters on Monday.
"He's dead, Jim."
The United States was now reviewing a large cache of materials seized at the compound in Pakistan where US forces killed bin Laden, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to reporters.
Woo hoo -- documents! Cell phones!! Computer hard drives!!111!1!!11
"Those materials are currently being exploited and analyzed and a task force is being set up at CIA ... given the volume of materials collected at the raid site," the official said.

General Musharref: Mission violated Pakistani sovereignty
True. But in a good way.

Gen. Musharref: bin Laden's death a positive step

DUBAI - Pakistan's former military ruler Pervez Musharraf said on Monday that news of Osama bin Laden's death was a "positive step" even as he criticized the United States for launching the raid within his country's borders.

Calling it a victory for the people of Pakistan, Musharraf said he also expected some short-term instability due to acts of revenge.

"It's a very positive step and it will have positive long-term implications," Musharraf told Reuters in Dubai, where he has a home. "Today we won a battle, but the war against terror will continue."
Posted by: || 05/02/2011 14:56 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


More on bin Laden - as of 3 pm ET
DNA test on bin Laden shows strong match to family

WASHINGTON - DNA tests on the body of Osama bin Laden showed a virtual 100 percent match to relatives, and a woman believed to be his wife also identified him by name, a senior US intelligence official told reporters on Monday.
"He's dead, Jim."
The United States was now reviewing a large cache of materials seized at the compound in Pakistan where US forces killed bin Laden, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to reporters.
Woo hoo -- documents! Cell phones!! Computer hard drives!!111!1!!11
"Those materials are currently being exploited and analyzed and a task force is being set up at CIA ... given the volume of materials collected at the raid site," the official said.

General Musharref: Mission violated Pakistani sovereignty
True. But in a good way.

Gen. Musharref: bin Laden's death a positive step

DUBAI - Pakistan's former military ruler Pervez Musharraf said on Monday that news of Osama bin Laden's death was a "positive step" even as he criticized the United States for launching the raid within his country's borders.

Calling it a victory for the people of Pakistan, Musharraf said he also expected some short-term instability due to acts of revenge.

"It's a very positive step and it will have positive long-term implications," Musharraf told Reuters in Dubai, where he has a home. "Today we won a battle, but the war against terror will continue."
Posted by: || 05/02/2011 14:56 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Osama buried at sea
Osama bin Laden, the long-time figurehead of the al Qaeda terrorist network, has been buried at sea after being killed in a U.S. raid in Pakistan.

U.S. officials told CBS News that bin Laden's body would be handled in accordance with Muslim traditions, which include strict rules on burial taking place within 24 hours after death.

Sources confirmed to CBS News national security correspondent David Martin that his body was released into the sea from a U.S. Navy vessel on Monday, likely into the Indian Ocean.

Bin Laden was a Saudi national, but officials tell CBS News that the Kingdom was unwilling to have his remains repatriated.
From The Telegraph:
A senior US official told US television networks that he had been buried at sea, without giving further details.

Earlier an administration official said of the corpse: "We are ensuring that it is handled in accordance with Islamic practice and tradition.

"This is something that we take very seriously. And so therefore this is being handled in an appropriate manner."
Posted by: Angimp Glavise7223 || 05/02/2011 04:33 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Did er no-one think to take a few pictures, get some proof?
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 05/02/2011 6:37 Comments || Top||

#2  good idea, Bright Pebbles, I have been thinking the same
Posted by: anon1 || 05/02/2011 6:56 Comments || Top||

#3  I think the 48 hours rule applies here
Posted by: European Conservative || 05/02/2011 7:04 Comments || Top||

#4  Very curious lack of PR skills being shown here.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 05/02/2011 7:20 Comments || Top||

#5  One part of me doesn't believe this. The other part says just the usual PC lunacy.
Posted by: phil_b || 05/02/2011 7:27 Comments || Top||

#6  I know it's early days, but er... what if they don't show us any photos or any proof?
Posted by: anon1 || 05/02/2011 7:38 Comments || Top||

#7  If you go to the "Good Morning" comments a little way down, Scooter Magruder has posted a headshot of the headshot, if you like. It's in comment number four, anon, just before your number 5.
And it is a good morning, too.
Posted by: Grunter || 05/02/2011 7:46 Comments || Top||

#8  Hey Grunter, I'm sorry to say that the image I had linked has now been definitively debunked as a fake.
Posted by: Scooter McGruder || 05/02/2011 8:02 Comments || Top||

#9  why bury him at sea?
Posted by: Angeretle Snore6772 || 05/02/2011 8:09 Comments || Top||

#10  Burial at sea probably solves a lot of problems with people trying to get the body (or a piece of it - see 'car swarm') or digging him up.

Or having the ACLU start claiming his rights were violated because he had a bruise on his pecker or some such shit.

Perhaps they saved his head to be mounted on the pike at ground zero....
Posted by: CrazyFool || 05/02/2011 8:14 Comments || Top||

#11  Wouldn't a death shot be a war crime or something? Ditto his head on a pike at Ground Zero.
Now here's a conspiracy theory for you - he's been dead for 10 years and we just now declared him so, as an excuse to exit A'stan and a diversion from economic problems.
Posted by: Glenmore || 05/02/2011 8:20 Comments || Top||

#12  The KGB removed Hitler's remains from Berlin and disposed of them at a secret location unreported till the fall of the first Soviet Union. They too wanted to avoid the development of a shrine to the man. While it lead to speculation of 'alive and living in Argentina', it did accomplish the goal.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 05/02/2011 8:31 Comments || Top||

#13  " he's been dead for 10 years and we just now declared him so, as an excuse to exit A'stan and a diversion from economic problems."

Glenmore is prescient. He formulated my exact thoughts precisely and in less word than I tend to customarily use.

I) Burial at sea...which is end of story kind of no shrine, no flowers and no marker. AND it doesnt say WHERE. Somewhere off New Jersey?

2) No pictures. Yes I will be willing to bet there WILL be NO pictures. Head shots are usually not pretty, which is an understatement. A head shot tends to be a look,( long pause), squint and ohjzuz moment... and THEN you try again.

3) they blew up the house after they were done and burned it to the ground didnt they. After the raid, lots of explosives and gas cans emptied? What do you bet they did just that? Hmmmmm....

4) Bambo checked with Bush and Bill before releasing the statement concerning the Op. Getting all the big mouseys on the same page, as it were. Quick call, no pictures, no full briefing( take my word for it would I lie to you?). Have a nice day. hangup... the phone clicks... buzzzzzz....

5) I would be willing to bet Osama has been definitively dead for a decade and the govt. has known such with documentation. But we might have found it to our national advantage to continue as if he were still alive because we were still involved in certain real estate deals ongoing business, you can see how that might be the case? Of course, you can.

6) Bambo is going to "pull out" and its to his advantage with that scenario to sort of wrap things up, as it were and dump it in the Ocean and as the setting sun sinks in the West we bid a fond adieu, sort of thing. Now let's get on with the re-election?

7) more mustard?
Posted by: de Medici3489 || 05/02/2011 8:48 Comments || Top||

#14  For future reference: I saw the notification from NorthCom and put it up in the O Club. Based on the time I got the notification, it was either right when the attack when down, or just before.

"NorthCom is sending out notifications that it has upped the threat condition to FPCON Bravo. This is its first threat elevation it has issued for some time.

FPCON BRAVO describes a situation with somewhat predictable terrorist threat. Security measures taken by agency personnel may affect the activities of local law enforcement and the general public."
Posted by: Anonymoose || 05/02/2011 9:00 Comments || Top||

#15  Anonymoose, would the timing of that announcement have been tied to the raid or to President Obama's announcement of the raid? And thank you for posting it - knowing something is up, even without the details, is good.
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/02/2011 9:37 Comments || Top||

#16  I was awake at 10:43 last night when the POTUS came on to speak, Mighty ballsy if this was a Fake.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 05/02/2011 9:41 Comments || Top||

#17  That's a shame, Scooter. I was about to shop around for a high quality 8x10 glossy, suitable for framing.
Posted by: Grunter || 05/02/2011 10:00 Comments || Top||

#18  tw: I suspect at this point that NorthCom was advised of the OPLAN and immediately issued the alert, possibly even *before* the mission went down, in case Osama had set up some "immediate action attacks" in the event he was killed.

For the next couple of weeks, I wouldn't advise anyone to get too gleeful around any high security US installations, because I believe the expression "trigger happy" may be operable.

And, snarkily, the TSA will probably be grabbing people's genitalia *twice* as hard for a while.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 05/02/2011 10:07 Comments || Top||

#19  Things that are fishy belong in the sea.
Posted by: 746 || 05/02/2011 10:20 Comments || Top||

#20  [Godfather]
"Osama bin Laden sleeps with the fishes."
[/Godfather]
Posted by: Mike || 05/02/2011 11:18 Comments || Top||

#21  Hopefully, they dropped his dead ass near GITMO in the Bay of PIGS!!
Posted by: VietVet68 || 05/02/2011 11:45 Comments || Top||

#22  I want a death certificate.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 05/02/2011 11:46 Comments || Top||

#23  Just sayin'.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 05/02/2011 12:18 Comments || Top||

#24  It's even better, moose. Check out a charming creature called the hagfish. They are devouring Osama bin Laden, from the inside out, as we speak.
Posted by: Grunter || 05/02/2011 12:29 Comments || Top||

#25  I just had a conversation with what I thought was my least-political co-worker. She was convinced that the whole thing is a put-up job, completely manufactured.

Dumping the body at sea was the worst possible way to manage this sort of conspiratorial suspicions. They're going to regret that idiocy for a very long time.

For the record, I'm pretty sure this bullshit is on the level, it's the exact sort of halfassed PC imbecility you could expect from something stagemanaged by that jackass in the Oval Office.
Posted by: Mitch H. || 05/02/2011 12:59 Comments || Top||

#26  Mitch, some people will have conspiratorial suspicions no matter what. As others here have pointed out, conspiracy theories require no connection to reality, and believers can't be reasoned with or appeased. Care should be taken not to fuel them, of course, but they shouldn't the drive decision-making either.

Many options were available for dispensing with the corpse. Which one would you have chosen?
Posted by: RandomJD || 05/02/2011 14:43 Comments || Top||

#27  Public exposure on the outskirts of Kabul or Kandahar. Let the media crawl all over it, then leave it exposed for the birds to pick over.

This crap about fearing that the corpse could become the nucleus of some sort of shrine is nonsense. al Queda is seriously, psychotically Wahhabist. They *blow up* saints' shrines, they don't found new ones. If you're worried about al Queda toads sneaking in under cover of night & pulling an Antigone, then rig the body with a booby trap, but I don't insist on that last point.
Posted by: Mitch H. || 05/02/2011 15:20 Comments || Top||

#28  The reason he was buried at sea is simple: We wanted an Islamic-sanctioned burial to reduce backlash. Which is stupid of course, but Obama's in office. We couldn't bury him on land anyway since no country would EVER allow him to be buried on their soil.
Posted by: Charles || 05/02/2011 16:01 Comments || Top||

#29  Did they play Eternal Father strong to save when they dumped him?
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 05/02/2011 16:10 Comments || Top||

#30  >"The reason he was buried at sea is simple"

Someone actually had a fun conspiracy theory. OBL got captured and we're getting medieval on his ass right now.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 05/02/2011 16:43 Comments || Top||

#31  Well this kind of action does create, as el prez joked around about the other night, Roswell-type thinking.

Example, I was/am having a tough time envisioning how they transferred the body from Afghan to a Navy Ship (I assume that is what they mean). Answer is likely simple to a military person or who knows about such things but I had been drawing a blank on what vehicle could make that trip and transfer cargo to a ship. I am also rightfully short on information such as origin and times. So I satisfy myself with the idea of the Air Force selling a C-130 to the Navy for $1, its now a Navy vessel, and they dropped it out the back at 10,000.

If an assignment, I do have a guess I'd be comfortable turning in, but if there is a conspiracy I like BP's.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 05/02/2011 17:08 Comments || Top||

#32  It is true that no photos and a quick dumping at sea is fuel for the "truthers" out there

But then again there are people so stuupid that they believe the planes that flew into the buildings never did... that it was just explosives planted by the CIA and or the joooooos that brought them down.

Well people are so dumb they'll believe night is day.

But not having any pictures to show, not having anything... this is hours later. That is going to fuel the fire even for those who are not stupid. People are asking: Where's the body? or... Where's the evidence?
Posted by: anon1 || 05/02/2011 17:14 Comments || Top||

#33  From what I've read, they came out of Jalalabad, Afghanistan. Do the deed, back to Jalabad, Navy C-2 COD plane's on the runway, off the choppers onto the C-2, straight out to the Vinson.
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/02/2011 17:19 Comments || Top||

#34  BTW, hagfish are specifically not Halal. Its as if the Navy fed him to pigs. But not on purpose, nooooo.

Heh.
Posted by: OldSpook || 05/02/2011 20:03 Comments || Top||

#35  German name is "Schleimaal" (slimy eel).
Excellent.
Posted by: European Conservative || 05/02/2011 21:30 Comments || Top||

#36  Ahh, I was thinking attached to a point on a super hornet, but C-2 I guess would work. It seemed to be time-wise that this potential aftermath likely would have been considered beforehand?

Heh, Binney has crabs and a slimey eel.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 05/02/2011 21:57 Comments || Top||

#37  "This is something that we take very seriously. And so therefore this is being handled in an appropriate manner."

And to that end, Obean inisted that the captain call for all hands on deck to pay appropriate respects. Unfortunately for Obean, he couldn't have imagined how every last sailor, male and female alike, interpreted his orders, or he wouldn't have done that ...
Posted by: gorb || 05/02/2011 22:41 Comments || Top||


Osama Bin Laden dead: full text of POTUS speech
Posted by: anon1 || 05/02/2011 03:34 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Good words and fair.

On the day of 9/11 we said: we are all Americans.

We support 100% the US fight against Bin Laden and militant Islamism.
Posted by: anon1 || 05/02/2011 4:09 Comments || Top||

#2  "Whether we bring our enemies to justice or bring justice to our enemies, justice will be done."

George W. Bush, September 20, 2001

Amen.

Binny won't be coming down to breakfast anymore.
Posted by: Lone Ranger || 05/02/2011 5:01 Comments || Top||

#3  justice is the sweetest word in english
Posted by: anon1 || 05/02/2011 5:15 Comments || Top||


#5  Maybe there is something in that, gr(o)m. I mean, it was known where he was, he was under surveillance, the order was given. It is good timing for BO: that won't affect the US much. Mainly because Congress must soon approve a new debt ceiling or the Government won't be able to pay anybody. Now is a good time to shore up support for the US dollar / put more faith in the ability of the US GOvernment. The dollar is sliding fast and buyers must be found for bonds (ex the Fed) or the bills won't be paid soon.

Or conversely maybe it was time to get Bin Laden because the cash is running out and soon perhaps the troops must come home? Get him while you can?

I don't know. And really, I don't think I care much either except to wish good things upon the US. I am just happy that POS is dead. Dead dead dead.

So i don't care about timing or anything else. There are only two options: on or off, zero or one. Alive or dead. I prefer Bin Laden to be dead.
Posted by: anon1 || 05/02/2011 7:56 Comments || Top||

#6  Oops, I meant to say: It is good timing for BO: and not because of the birth certificate thing as that won't affect the US much.... congress. bonds. US$. Debt ceiling.
Posted by: anon1 || 05/02/2011 7:57 Comments || Top||

#7  Obama got Osama .......mmmmm....mmmm....mmmm
Posted by: bman || 05/02/2011 9:37 Comments || Top||

#8  "That is the story of our history, whether it's 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."

This seems completely out of place. How exactly does the killing of Osama relate to the "struggle for equality"? Gotta get that race-thing in there, I guess.
Posted by: JonC || 05/02/2011 10:21 Comments || Top||


Binny's Body Bagged in Pak-land firefight
WASHINGTON | Mon May 2, 2011 12:00am EDT - Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was killed Sunday in a firefight with U.S. forces in Pakistan and his body was recovered, President Barack Obama announced Sunday.

"Justice has been done," Obama said in a dramatic, late-night White House speech announcing the death of the elusive mastermind of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the New York and Washington.

Obama said U.S. forces led the operation that killed bin Laden. No Americans were killed in the operation and they took care to avoid civilian casualties, he said.

"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 men, women and children," Obama said.

A crowd gathered outside the White House to celebrate, chanting, "USA, USA."

U.S. officials said that after searching in vain for the al Qaeda leader since he disappeared in Afghanistan in late 2001, the Saudi-born extremist was killed in the Pakistani town of Abbotabad and his body recovered. Having the body may help convince any doubters that bin Laden is really dead.
Posted by: Steve White || 05/02/2011 00:14 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  His kids and wimmin captured and taken out by US troops according to Al Jiz
Posted by: Water Modem || 05/02/2011 0:58 Comments || Top||

#2  Al Jiz is showing the mansion burning.
Posted by: Water Modem || 05/02/2011 0:59 Comments || Top||

#3  Next up: we give some serious thought to paying Pakistan back for screwing with us like this. (Yeah, yeah: I know it's all very complex. Big picture, blah, blah, blah. So what?)

What does India need these days? Aircraft carriers? Spacecraft? F-16s?
Posted by: Secret Master || 05/02/2011 1:22 Comments || Top||

#4  Pakistan needs to be dismembered and turned back to a simple agrarian tribal entity. No airports, electricity, diesel fuel. They enabled the Taliban who allowed Binny and Co to set up a base in Afghanistan.

And no cricket, either.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 05/02/2011 2:09 Comments || Top||

#5  Note the bullet through the eye!

Let's hide this behind a link, shall we? Not really a suitable image for the women and kiddies.
Posted by: Water Modem || 05/02/2011 3:00 Comments || Top||

#6  Egypt News story claims: Osama bin Laden was holed up in a two-story house 100 yards from a Pakistani military academy when four helicopters carrying US anti-terror forces swooped in the early morning hours of Monday and killed him.
Posted by: Water Modem || 05/02/2011 3:13 Comments || Top||

#7  Go to Google Maps and look at his home next to the cricket field. NOW..... Turn on photos....
Go East one BLOCK...
ah.. IF IT ISN"T KHAN"S HOUSE!
Posted by: Water Modem || 05/02/2011 3:49 Comments || Top||

#8  The building had an odd design
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 05/02/2011 5:41 Comments || Top||

#9  I have been waiting many years to see these headlines. A great feeling.

Note on google maps that the compound is also close to Margis Arif Hospital. Previously specualtaion was that Osama needed routine medical care.
Posted by: airandee || 05/02/2011 7:55 Comments || Top||

#10  Read that the house was bigger and higher than any other in the area and no security forces knew who lived there LOL!
Posted by: Angeretle Snore6772 || 05/02/2011 8:00 Comments || Top||

#11  There's a rumour that there were a great many tunnels running between the house and the military academy.
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/02/2011 9:40 Comments || Top||


Dubya, Bill pass on congrats on Osama op
Former presidents are weighing in on the killing of Osama bin Laden by American forces operating inside Pakistan.

Former President George W. Bush, whose entire presidency was defined by the September 11th attacks, said in a statement tonight that President Obama called him to inform him of the news of bin Laden’s death.

Bush called the operation a “momentous achievement” that “marks a victory for America, for people who seek peace around the world, and for all those who lost loved ones on September 11, 2001.”

“I congratulated him and the men and women of our military and intelligence communities who devoted their lives to this mission. They have our everlasting gratitude,” the former president said in a statement. “The fight against terror goes on, but tonight America has sent an unmistakable message: No matter how long it takes, justice will be done.”

Former President Bill Clinton, who was in office for the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993, also issued a written statement.

"I congratulate the President, the National Security team and the members of our armed forces on bringing Osama bin Laden to justice after more than a decade of murderous al-Qaida attacks," he said.
Posted by: Steve White || 05/02/2011 00:12 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Don't be premature, Bill, Dubya, as some Bloggers are ranting that post-strike death pics of Osama in 05/2011 is the same one that was already released on the Net years ago after Tora Bora, except that back then the USA denied Osama was dead nor did they have control of his dead body as now???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 05/02/2011 2:59 Comments || Top||


Osama dead, sez US (followup from late last night)
Followup to the breaking story Gloria posted near the roll-over. Great news if it all pans out. 48 hour rule applies. A severed head would be nice. Etc. This report from ABC has a couple pages of boilerplate biography, quite respectful, almost as if Osmana was just some titan of industry somewhere.

But if it's true: U-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu-lu!!!
Osama bin Laden, hunted as the mastermind behind the worst-ever terrorist attack on U.S. soil, has been killed, sources told ABC News.

His death brings to an end a tumultuous life that saw bin Laden go from being the carefree son of a Saudi billionaire, to terrorist leader and the most wanted man in the world.

Bin Laden created and funded the al Qaeda terror network, which was responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. The Saudi exile had been a man on the run since the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan overthrew the ruling Taliban regime, which harbored bin Laden.

Until the capture of one of his top al Qaeda lieutenants in March 2003, there had been no confirmation of his whereabouts -- or even that he was still alive -- since late 2001, when he appeared in a series of videotapes later released to news organizations.

In recent years, several audio recordings of bin Laden have been authenticated by U.S. officials and made public. In an 18-minute videotape weeks before the 2004 U.S. presidential election, bin Laden threatened fresh attacks on the United States as well as his intent to push America into bankruptcy.

In March 2005, Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf admitted that bin Laden had been in Pakistan in the spring of 2004 and was almost captured. Intelligence officials said they believed he was hiding in the rugged mountains that straddle the border with Afghanistan. The U.S. government even launched a series of television and radio ads in Pakistan trumpeting the $25 million reward for his capture.

In January 2006, a purported Bin Laden audio tape was released where a male voice threatens the United States with more attacks on U.S. soil.
Posted by: Steve White || 05/02/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Congratulations to the intelligence team and special forces that carried out the operation.
Posted by: Penguin || 05/02/2011 0:06 Comments || Top||

#2  OBL has been relieved of his duties at al-Qaeda and will be heading up Bammo's reelection campaign.

Personally, I don't really think this seem the moment to be "taking shots" at our President (or his re-election campaign members). -Scooter McGruder
Posted by: Iblis || 05/02/2011 0:13 Comments || Top||

#3  And everyone who fired a round, packed a wound, packed a lunch, lost a friend, trained a friend, all the way up and down the line; and their families, and their good friends.

Now, sacking the quarterback is good stuff. Game does not end. And be ready, there are those who will take this as a reason.

All said, congratulations.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 05/02/2011 0:16 Comments || Top||

#4  This is a twofor for Obama. He gets to announce the death of Bin Laden and he gets to innterupt Trump's Celebrity Apprentice Tv show.
Posted by: tipper || 05/02/2011 0:27 Comments || Top||

#5  Understood that sham job vs. Trump was a bad, tactless assault.

It is also important to note that this is a continuation of the Bush/911 policy, if not an escalation of, and got a bad guy.

I think if we saw this as a movie people would not beieve it. This should be a credit to the people with dirt under the fingernails and crosseyed by the spreadsheets.

I have my opinions about the speech. click. but will save that for another day.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 05/02/2011 0:42 Comments || Top||

#6  The team must have flown in from Afghanistan. Although border is 200Ks away.

Indian border is much closer, but flying in from India seems unlikely.
Posted by: phil_b || 05/02/2011 1:06 Comments || Top||

#7  Update
Osama’s son also killed in the operation while two of his wives have been arrested.
Posted by: tipper || 05/02/2011 1:07 Comments || Top||

#8  Looking forward to seeing his head on a pike in the middle of Ground Zero. I'll fly to NYC to see that. I think a lot of people would.

They say it was a headshot. Good shooting to whoever took him out.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 05/02/2011 1:12 Comments || Top||

#9  Gridlock at the White House, at 1 am!

USA!

And a thank you to Fred and the others of the Rantburg team.

Beside the obvious thanks to those who contributed, including my youngest!
Posted by: Bobby || 05/02/2011 1:16 Comments || Top||

#10  Debka,

An American source describes his hideout as an enormous compound enclosed by a high wall with hardly any windows built in the mountainous area of Abbottabad like a fortress nearly six years ago at a cost of a million dollars. The compound was never connected to the phone or Internet.
Posted by: phil_b || 05/02/2011 1:19 Comments || Top||

#11  Aaapee reporting indicates a 4 ship helo assault or virtical envelopment. Wednesday is the 33rd anniversary of the highly successful Cassinga Raid. Somehow, I doubt few in Washington will wish to discuss the operational parallels.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/02/2011 1:25 Comments || Top||

#12  Besoeker, can you describe "vertical envelopment"? I can kinda picture what that means, but . . . ?
Posted by: RandomJD || 05/02/2011 1:32 Comments || Top||

#13  They say it was a headshot. Good shooting to whoever took him out
CrazyFool, reports say there was a firefight and then the body was recovered. Bin Laden's bodyguards were under instructions to kill him if he looked like being captured. So probably dispatched by one of his bodyguards.
Posted by: tipper || 05/02/2011 1:49 Comments || Top||

#14  Short version: Avoiding enemy ground reporting early warning networks, observations posts and the like, attacking from above enveloping the target utilizing the element of surprise.

All warfare is based on deception. Hence, when able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must seem inactive; when we are near, we must make the enemy believe we are far away; when far away, we must make him believe we are near. Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him.
- Sun Tzu, the Art of War

Posted by: Besoeker || 05/02/2011 1:49 Comments || Top||

#15  Both 'Good News & Bad News.' The Good News needs no further explanation. Potentially Bad News; the administration exploits or leverages this event as a major turning point in the unspoken Global War on Terror. Like the Good News, the Bad News requires no further explanation.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/02/2011 2:07 Comments || Top||

#16  Possible background to the capture.
Posted by: tipper || 05/02/2011 2:16 Comments || Top||

#17  Location of compound on Google Earth

Lat/lon 34.187663° 73.242617°

HT WUWT
Posted by: phil_b || 05/02/2011 2:34 Comments || Top||

#18  Two hospitals in the neighborhood...
Posted by: European Conservative || 05/02/2011 2:39 Comments || Top||

#19  In case you were wondering, the field just to the NW with the funny markings, is a cricket pitch.
Posted by: phil_b || 05/02/2011 2:54 Comments || Top||

#20  Disturbing image of the body.
Posted by: tipper || 05/02/2011 3:35 Comments || Top||

#21  Go to Google Maps and look at his home next to the cricket field. NOW..... Turn on photos....
Go East one BLOCK...
ah.. IF IT ISN"T KHAN"S HOUSE!
Posted by: Water Modem || 05/02/2011 3:49 Comments || Top||

#22  tipper I think I've seen that photo before.
More likely an old photoshopped fake.
Posted by: European Conservative || 05/02/2011 3:56 Comments || Top||

#23  E.C. -- Evidence? Please link the photo you've seen before. Please forgive me if I don't just take your word for this.
Posted by: Scooter McGruder || 05/02/2011 4:26 Comments || Top||

#24  European Conservative, you're correct.
A Tineye Reverse Image search of the photo turns up several conspiracy theory blog posts from late last year.
Posted by: tipper || 05/02/2011 4:29 Comments || Top||

#25  E.C., Tipper,

Care to share a link? I did a Tineye search, and came up with NO matches.
Posted by: Scooter McGruder || 05/02/2011 4:35 Comments || Top||

#26  Found one of the Conspiracy sites

http://thenewsbomb.com/2011/04/15/years-of-deceit-united-states-openly-admits-bin-laden-long-dead/

Note the date.

Google Cache proves that the article really was there at this date

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http%3A%2F%2Fthenewsbomb.com%2F2011%2F04%2F15%2Fyears-of-deceit-united-states-openly-admits-bin-laden-long-dead%2F
Posted by: European Conservative || 05/02/2011 4:43 Comments || Top||

#27  OBL pic originates from Express TV. One of several Pak TV channels notorious for simple making up the news.
Posted by: phil_b || 05/02/2011 4:52 Comments || Top||

#28  I'd say that the U.S. would be able to take care that no unofficial pics would leak out. And someone who had a real photo would hold on to it until he could sell it to the highest bidder.
Posted by: European Conservative || 05/02/2011 4:57 Comments || Top||

#29  Another earlier (German) source
(Note I'm not endorsing those wacko sites)
This is from January 2010

http://stevenblack.wordpress.com/2010/01/16/nwo-tote-schonheitschirurgie/

Also with Google Cache

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http%3A%2F%2Fstevenblack.wordpress.com%2F2010%2F01%2F16%2Fnwo-tote-schonheitschirurgie%2F
Posted by: European Conservative || 05/02/2011 5:04 Comments || Top||

#30  Ok, this google cache:
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http%3A%2F%2Fstevenblack.wordpress.com%2F2010%2F01%2F16%2Fnwo-tote-schonheitschirurgie%2F ...

...is dated April 4, so it's not as incriminating as you suggest, but I'm beginning to come around regarding suspicion of manipulation re: headshot image timing.
Posted by: Scooter McGruder || 05/02/2011 5:30 Comments || Top||

#31  Only the cache is a month old, the article is over a year old plus I remember this photoshop being around for much longer.
Posted by: European Conservative || 05/02/2011 5:34 Comments || Top||

#32  Ok, as a Photoshop user since version 1.0 I acknowledge that this is probably the partial source of the photoshopped image I previously linked. I bow to E.C.'s superior recollection of existing images regarding the graphic in question!

It was a fake.
Posted by: Scooter McGruder || 05/02/2011 5:45 Comments || Top||

#33  SM:

If your sentiment is personal, then please confine it to your own comment. Not mine.

As for Bammo's role in all this, go ahead and enjoy the bread and circuses. The other side isn't taking their eye off the ball, and neither will I.
Posted by: Iblis || 05/02/2011 14:26 Comments || Top||


Osama bin Laden dead
Presidential press conference starting soon. Fox News sez he was killed by a U.S. bomb, DNA was tested an confirmed. More detail to follow... Geraldo sez U.S. has the corpse...

They're waiting for the press conference as of 11:05 pm and Geraldo's filling time by trying to figure whether al-Qaeda dies with bin Laden.
For some reason the Rantburg edit page won't let me add a proper title link, but an MSM overview is here.
Fixed. AoS. Binny is in the Obits. Where he belongs.
Conflicting reports over whether it was a dronezap (in one of the Wazoos) or a headshot. He was living in Qazi's guesthouse a mansion in Islamabad. Was killed about a week ago...

Senior Pak officials now confirming he was killed in Pakistan...

Obama speaking now, confirming... nattering about 9-11... recapping the past ten years of GWoT... He (B.O.) told Panetta to make killing or capturing bin Laden number one priority... leads to Binny living in Abbottabad last August... Firefight on the ground... Small team of Americans, non of whom were harmed, no civilians wounded... we have the body... death doesn't end GWoT... Not at war with Islam... bin Laden wasn't a Muslim leader... Counter-terrorism cooperation with Pak led to the kill... Called Zardari, thanked him... Thanks troops, covert ops...
Abbottabad's in Khyber-Pakhtunwa, but it's just about as far from the Pak-Afghan border as you can get and still be in Pakistan...
Posted by: Gloria || 05/02/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Doorknob dead?
Posted by: badanov || 05/01/2011 22:55 Comments || Top||

#2  Allah ackbar!!!!!!

Enjoy your 72 raisins, asshole!
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 05/01/2011 22:55 Comments || Top||

#3  Deader than DEAD
Posted by: European Conservative || 05/01/2011 22:56 Comments || Top||

#4  Show me the head on a stick.
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/01/2011 22:58 Comments || Top||

#5  I have cracked open a beer to celebrate. There will be more in the future. Rot in hell, you bastard.
Posted by: IG-88 || 05/01/2011 22:59 Comments || Top||

#6  DNA on a stick probably
Posted by: European Conservative || 05/01/2011 23:00 Comments || Top||

#7  Drag his body through the streets of NY, DC and that Pennsylvania field.
Posted by: Jefferson || 05/01/2011 23:00 Comments || Top||

#8  +1 For Obama Nuff Said :)

Dead as a rock I love it
Posted by: Play4keeps || 05/01/2011 23:00 Comments || Top||

#9  My compliments to the pilot or drone operator (whichever is appropriate).
Posted by: Mike || 05/01/2011 23:02 Comments || Top||

#10  This is going to look good for Obama. He said he was gonna get the bastard and he got him.
Posted by: tipper || 05/01/2011 23:04 Comments || Top||

#11  How's that spring offensive going, %ssh*£€?
Posted by: Perfesser || 05/01/2011 23:04 Comments || Top||

#12  Fantastic. And on May Day no less.
Posted by: Free Radical || 05/01/2011 23:04 Comments || Top||

#13  I can't wait for Obama to take all the credit. Pointing out how Bush couldn't do it, and he did.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 05/01/2011 23:06 Comments || Top||

#14  tipper, I won't hold THIS against him.
Posted by: European Conservative || 05/01/2011 23:06 Comments || Top||

#15 
Posted by: CincinnatusChili || 05/01/2011 23:08 Comments || Top||

#16  CBS is saying it was a headshot, not a bomb. In which case, my compliments to the guy with the rifle.
Posted by: Mike || 05/01/2011 23:09 Comments || Top||

#17  I hope the son of a bitch died very, very afraid.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 05/01/2011 23:10 Comments || Top||

#18  As someone whom knew Osama during the 1980's Afghan War I will hold off on any conclusions or opinions, etc. until after I watch andor read the News, Net reports.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 05/01/2011 23:10 Comments || Top||

#19  Some credit should go to the intervention of St. Anna Nichole Smith.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 05/01/2011 23:10 Comments || Top||

#20  How'd the start of the dread Spring Offensive work out for you guys, Taliban?
Posted by: IG-88 || 05/01/2011 23:11 Comments || Top||

#21  Appears we ALL may have received a Royal wedding present.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/01/2011 23:12 Comments || Top||

#22  Killed just outside capital of pakistan? Arseholes.
Posted by: Bunyip || 05/01/2011 23:14 Comments || Top||

#23  To the men and women of our military and intelligence communities - job well done. Thank you.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 05/01/2011 23:14 Comments || Top||

#24  As per other Islamist Personages claimed to had been killed, I would like to see a solid death pic(s) of OBL.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 05/01/2011 23:14 Comments || Top||

#25  Whether we bring our enemies to justice or bring justice to our enemies, justice will be done. - G.W. Bush, Sept 20, 2001
Posted by: Percival || 05/01/2011 23:15 Comments || Top||

#26  Finally, it's done. Congrats to the armed forces, and everyone affected by this piece of shit.
Posted by: Destro || 05/01/2011 23:15 Comments || Top||

#27  E's not DEAD, E's PINING!
Someone had to say it.
Posted by: Joger Oppressor of the Lichtensteiners9577 || 05/01/2011 23:16 Comments || Top||

#28  In a mansion in the FUCKING PAK CAPITAL !
Posted by: Water Modem || 05/01/2011 23:17 Comments || Top||

#29  Let's wait for the ACLU to sue due to the extra-judicial nature of this.
Posted by: jack salami || 05/01/2011 23:17 Comments || Top||

#30  Don't let your guard down yet. There are a lot of his mujahadine disciples, many now with renewed vengeance on their minds, still out there.

But definitely, keep taking the fight to them.
Posted by: Pholutch Bumble9115 || 05/01/2011 23:17 Comments || Top||

#31  I bet the smell was only marginally worse
Posted by: Frank G || 05/01/2011 23:19 Comments || Top||

#32  The guys who did this won't be buying their own liquor for a while. Next stop, Mullah Omar.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 05/01/2011 23:19 Comments || Top||

#33  Petreaus just returned from Karachi. Very interesting.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/01/2011 23:20 Comments || Top||

#34  Once again, I'm thinking of those black shadows disappearing out of nowhere to drag him into eternal darkness.

To quote Dante Alighieri:

Through me you pass into the city of woe:
Through me you pass into eternal pain:
Through me among the people lost for aye.

Justice the founder of my fabric mov'd:
To rear me was the task of power divine,
Supremest wisdom, and primeval love.

Before me things create were none, save things
Eternal, and eternal I endure.
All hope abandon ye who enter here.
Posted by: European Conservative || 05/01/2011 23:23 Comments || Top||

#35  Bin Laden living in ostentatious splendor in Islamabad does not speak well for the Pak government.
Posted by: Gloria || 05/01/2011 23:24 Comments || Top||

#36  Nothing ever spoke well for it.

Is Fred already sleeping?
Posted by: European Conservative || 05/01/2011 23:27 Comments || Top||

#37  I REALLY hope that Obama will get ONE speech right.
No BS of "religion of peace", please.
Posted by: European Conservative || 05/01/2011 23:29 Comments || Top||

#38  News say it was a ground operation.

He was living in a mansion in Islamabad.

Rawalpindi? Hmm. Wonder how the US slipped that team through Paki intelligence?

News say it was a ground operation.
Posted by: Zebulon Thranter9685 || 05/01/2011 23:32 Comments || Top||

#39  Gloria got me up. I'm using her computer.
Posted by: Gloria || 05/01/2011 23:33 Comments || Top||

#40  tu3031, my wife said the exact same thing.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 05/01/2011 23:37 Comments || Top||

#41  Oh I wasn't aware of this.
So let me be the first to thank you for all the great work you have done here. I'm sure others will chime in.

Thank You for your service, Fred
Posted by: European Conservative || 05/01/2011 23:37 Comments || Top||

#42  Team America: Fuck yeah!
Posted by: RandomJD || 05/01/2011 23:37 Comments || Top||

#43  Oh come on now, it seems fairly obvious. During the wedding an OBL operative snuck into the palace, stole Obambis gift to the Queen of his speeches, he listened to them and he head blew up. Or perhaps a 12.7mm, just hoping.
Posted by: Steven || 05/01/2011 23:43 Comments || Top||

#44  Credit where credit is due: happened on Obama's watch, Obama should get the kudos. That's how it works.
Posted by: Secret Master || 05/01/2011 23:45 Comments || Top||

#45  Pull all Americans out of Pakistan and nuke the place until it's a glowing crater from the Indian border to the Iranian border. They that befriend my enemy become my enemy. Let Pakistan rot, as it so richly deserves.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 05/01/2011 23:45 Comments || Top||

#46  Old Patriot

Let's keep focused on the real enemies: Everyone who knowingly gave shelter to this monster.

Let's not become monsters ourselves.
Posted by: European Conservative || 05/01/2011 23:50 Comments || Top||

#47  Took the wife outside to literally dance in the street. Then had a toast to him rotting in hell.
Posted by: JonC || 05/01/2011 23:52 Comments || Top||

#48  Congrats to all of the intelligence/military folks for their hard work & perseverance. Next up: Ayman, with Mullah O in the hole...
Posted by: PBMcL || 05/01/2011 23:54 Comments || Top||

#49  Whom owned the deed on the mansion?
Follow the money trail!
Posted by: Water Modem || 05/01/2011 23:56 Comments || Top||

#50  I won't say what I think we should do with his body, just congrats to all the military and intel guys that made it happen.
Posted by: Silentbrick - Lost Drill Bit Division - Halliburton || 05/01/2011 23:59 Comments || Top||

#51  About time!
Posted by: Spimble tse Tung2768 || 05/02/2011 0:00 Comments || Top||

#52  I go to log in for the first time in forever, and I get fluffy bunnies. Figgers.

Anyway, good riddance to bad rubbish, and congrats to all involved.
Posted by: Seafarious || 05/02/2011 0:17 Comments || Top||

#53  Hello, Sea. Good news brings the people out.
Good to see you back
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/02/2011 0:19 Comments || Top||

#54  Crowd outside the White House confirms that.
Posted by: Seafarious || 05/02/2011 0:24 Comments || Top||

#55  Sounds like they cornered him like a rat and took him out. That's a story I'd like to hear.
And someone in Pakistan has some splainin' to do...
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/02/2011 0:28 Comments || Top||

#56  I have waited ten years for this. Now the monster is dead and I have lived to see it. There have been times when that outcome was in doubt.

HALLELUJAH!
Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy || 05/02/2011 0:28 Comments || Top||

#57  Hiya Sea!

Glad to see the crowd outside the White House. Good news indeed.

Pleased to see that Obama gave Bush credit, and a phone call before the TV announcement. That was appropriate.

It'll take a few days (maybe less) for the firefight story to come out. The fellas who went into Abbottabad? Their money is no good at any enlisted or officer's club in the world.
Posted by: Steve White || 05/02/2011 0:52 Comments || Top||

#58  Only a guess, but I suspect this has been a on-going US/PAK collaborative effort. General Petreaus was just in Islamabad, probably a connection. Comments reference "no collateral damage" were for host nation consumption. They may also indicate he was lured to a kill site. Timing of news release is of great interest as well, coming amid the 1 May Taliban Spring Offensive "we're killing everyone" news releases. Great Information Operations effort! Mark Bowden, author of 'Killing Pablo,' where are you.
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/02/2011 0:54 Comments || Top||

#59  Thousands outside the White House. Jubilation! USA!
Posted by: Bobby || 05/02/2011 0:55 Comments || Top||

#60  1 km from the academy A garrison town.
Posted by: Water Modem || 05/02/2011 0:56 Comments || Top||

#61  I heard someone quoting Mark Twain, "I've never wished a man dead, but there are some obituaries I've read with great pleasure."

He had no idea.
Posted by: Bobby || 05/02/2011 0:59 Comments || Top||

#62  Job well done, guys --- Godspeed

Which brings me to ask this question:
Will this team request to meet with Pres Bush?

The Saddam guys met with Bush after they had told Saddam, "President Bush sends his regards," to present him with Saddam's pistol.

And after the Fort Hood shooting, word spread fast, "The President is coming," and no one questioned that it was Bush coming.

Just wondering....... reports -- a perfect mission. Thanks guys, hope you are seeing the folks in front of the White House and in Time Square... it's all for you.. --- WOW
Posted by: Sherry || 05/02/2011 0:59 Comments || Top||

#63  No words can describe how happy I am at this moment. I was a Freshman in Highschool when I watched the second plane hit and both towers come crashing down live. My fondest wish is to shake the hand of the SpecOps that got the kill-shot on Bin Laden.
Posted by: Charles || 05/02/2011 1:13 Comments || Top||

#64  Just had a thought I had to get out: They say he was killed a week ago and were waiting on the DNA tests. So, he was killed on Easter? Oh sweet dear LORD above, you exist.
Posted by: Charles || 05/02/2011 1:18 Comments || Top||

#65 
Posted by: Water Modem || 05/02/2011 1:19 Comments || Top||

#66  [Updated, 12:54 a.m. ET] CNN's Chris Lawrence, citing U.S. officials, reports that the compound where bin Laden was found - in Abbotabad, Pakistan, about 100 kilometers outside Pakistan's capital of Islamabad - was three stories tall, and about eight times larger than any of the buildings around it.

An official said a "small U.S. team" was involved in the operation at the compound - the official would not confirm any U.S. military involvement. An official said bin Laden resisted the assault - and was killed in the firefight.

Three other men were killed in the firefight, and a woman being used as a human shield was also killed, the officials said. There were no U.S. casualties, the officials said. The U.S. team was at the compound for about 40 minutes, officials said.

A U.S. helicopter crashed during the raid because of mechanical reasons, an official said. It was destroyed, the officials said.

A senior administration official told reporters that U.S. President Barack Obama's administration did not share intelligence gathered before the attack on bin Laden in Pakistan with any other country - including Pakistan - for security reasons. The official said that only a small group of people inside the U.S. government knew about this operation targeting Osama bin Laden in advance.

[Updated, 12:24 a.m. ET] A team of U.S. Navy SEALs carried out the operation in Pakistan that ended in the death of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, CNN's Chris Lawrence reported. The operation lasted about 40 minutes, and the team had practiced the raid a few times.
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/02/2011 1:26 Comments || Top||

#67  Greetings, Seafarious. We've missed you!

European Conservative, the Dante bit is especially apt. I've put it up on my Facebook page.

Ulululululululuuuuuuuuuu!!!

CNN is blogging the story updates:

[Updated, 12:54 a.m. ET] The compound where bin Laden was found - in Abbotabad, Pakistan, about 100 kilometers outside Pakistan's capital of Islamabad - was three stories tall, and about eight times larger than any of the buildings around it.

An official said bin Laden resisted the assault - and was killed in the firefight.

Three other men were killed in the firefight, and a woman being used as a human shield was also killed, the officials said. There were no U.S. casualties

Updated, 12:54 a.m. ET] A senior administration official told reporters that U.S. President Barack Obama's administration did not share intelligence gathered before the attack on bin Laden in Pakistan with any other country - including Pakistan - for security reasons.

Updated, 12:24 a.m. ET] A team of U.S. Navy SEALs carried out the operation. The operation lasted about 40 minutes.

[Updated, 12:11 a.m. ET] Members of Pakistan's intelligence service - the ISI - were on site in Abbotabad, Pakistan, during the operation, CNN's Nick Paton Walsh reports, citing a senior Pakistani intelligence official.
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/02/2011 1:29 Comments || Top||

#68  "a woman being used as a human shield"

Surprise surprise
Posted by: European Conservative || 05/02/2011 1:32 Comments || Top||

#69  Aaaaan tu3031 beat me to the post. Which means y'all saw it three minutes sooner than I planned. ;-)
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/02/2011 1:34 Comments || Top||

#70  I'm flying a US flag from the roof of my house now.
Posted by: European Conservative || 05/02/2011 1:34 Comments || Top||

#71  did not share intelligence . . . with any other country - including Pakistan - for security reasons.

And that's why it worked this time.
Posted by: RandomJD || 05/02/2011 1:39 Comments || Top||

#72  Observation of the media --- Seems to me, all but Fox got a heads up of what was about to happen.

Admit it, I was watching Celebrity Apprentice, when there was a break in --- of breaking news of a White House announcement to come.... followed by waiting for Prez to announce UBL dead.

Switch to Fox --- Geraldo reading words coming at him, as he was first seeing them. Obviously reading the words on his computer screen for the first time. He didn't know what was coming .....

Switched back to NBC... they already had the big forces on air.... Same with ABC -- kept clicking through the channels....Each station had their "experts" on .... anchors on board..

And Fox still had Geraldo -- took about 20-30 minutes before Bret got there to take over...

Fox hadn't gotten the forward info.

Just speculation on my part...... but the White House released info that let everyone get their bigs on.... except to Fox. Fox had Geraldo, networks had their bigges in place, to make the initial announcement.........

Posted by: Sherry || 05/02/2011 1:43 Comments || Top||

#73  If this had happened under Dubya, ole George would have Binny stuffed and mounted in the lobby of the White House.

Too bad Obama is too civil.

Revenge is a dish best served cold as ole T.E. would say, but in this case, I'll take it anyway I can get it.

If we can't have his head, can we have his right hand, signet ring and all in a jar for the Smithsonian?
Posted by: Bill Clinton || 05/02/2011 1:44 Comments || Top||

#74  From what I've read, the dead are one of his wives, his youngest son (who was supposed to be a chip off the old block, so good riddance to him) and two of his couriers. Bin Laden took one in the head.
I guess the key to finding him was finding out his favorite courier, figuring out who he was, tailing him, and nailing the location. It supposedly took four years to put it all together.
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/02/2011 1:48 Comments || Top||

#75  Xinhua is reporting:
Local Urdu TV channel Duniya quoted sources as saying that:
six children, two wives of Osama Bin Laden were arrested along with his four close friends in a search operation launched early Monday morning by the Pakistani forces in a mountainous area located some 60 kilometers north of Pakistan's capital Islamabad. The report said that one of Bin Laden's sons was killed in the operation.
Posted by: Water Modem || 05/02/2011 2:08 Comments || Top||

#76  I will bet you dinars to donuts that US intelligence did this one on the QT without help from Paks. Last time we found Binny with that prince, we notified Paks cause we were going to overfly and they gave Binny a warning and we did not get him. Bloody Paks are vermin that should be dealt with in an appropriate way.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 05/02/2011 2:19 Comments || Top||

#77  HA HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH AHHAHAHAHA

LOL the Fat Lady Has SUNG

Goodbye you old bastard

Enjoy the fires of hell

It's time for ululating, handing out sweets and firing machine guns in the air - oh. I forgot. That's what the Islamists do when ordinary people get killed.

We handle ourselves with a bit more dignity.

Justice is served. It might have taken 10 years but it's great to see the US get their man.

Congratulations all who took part in this effort.

Thank you for ridding the world of a nasty piece of work.

Amen brothers.

all the best from Australia
Posted by: anon1 || 05/02/2011 2:20 Comments || Top||

#78  BURY HIS BODY WITH THE HEAD OF A PIG

FILM IT AND STICK IT ON YOU TUBE AS A WARNING TO OTHERS

PUT HIS HEAD ON A STAKE TO MARK THE GRAVE
Posted by: anon1 || 05/02/2011 2:23 Comments || Top||

#79  Pigs are very useful tasty animals.
No need to insult them.
Posted by: European Conservative || 05/02/2011 2:34 Comments || Top||

#80  from times of india:
"For some time there will be a lot of tension between Washington and Islamabad because bin Laden seems to have been living here close to Islamabad," said Imtiaz Gul, a security analyst.

"If the ISI had known then somebody within the ISI must have leaked this information," Gul said, referring to the Pakistani intelligence agency. "Pakistan will have to do a lot of damage control because the Americans have been reporting he is in Pakistan ... this is a serious blow to the credibility of Pakistan."
Posted by: Water Modem || 05/02/2011 2:37 Comments || Top||

#81  HMMMMM, HMMMMMM, wehell, the written text of POTUS Bammer's announcement says OBL was killed early this AM Monday - BUT-T-T, VARIOUS NEWS, MIL BLOGS REPOR THAT OSAMA WAS KILLED LAST WEEK WID THE US NEEDING TWO OR MORE DAYS TIME TO CONFIRM HIS IDENTITY WID DNA TESTS???

So which is it?

Even iff OBL is undeed gone, it still leaves ZAWAHIRI + MULLAH OMAR, + a number of Others + their Heirs.

Again, ISLAMIC MIL HISTORY = MUSLIMS LIKE FIGHTING PREDATORY, LIMITED WARS OF MANY YEARS, DECADES, + GENERATIONS. The USA is fighting not just Osama, but Osama's Sons, Brothers, Uncles, + Associates, etal.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 05/02/2011 2:46 Comments || Top||

#82  question: Obama said "After a firefight, they killed Osama bin Laden and took custody of his body. "
Does that mean he died after or in the firefight?
Posted by: Water Modem || 05/02/2011 2:47 Comments || Top||

#83  another interesting carefully worded part of the statement: "
Tonight, I called President Zardari, 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. "
Posted by: Water Modem || 05/02/2011 2:49 Comments || Top||

#84  Water Modem,

Thank you for your interesting and thoughtful contributions.

I always look forward to your commentary.
Posted by: Scooter McGruder || 05/02/2011 3:06 Comments || Top||

#85  As per GUAMPDN > AP claims two US CT Officials say that OBL was killed in Pakistan LAST WEEK, NOT early Monday or even this weekend as POTUS Bammer indics in the text of his speech announ Osama's death???

Just sayin.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 05/02/2011 3:25 Comments || Top||

#86  Also, SHOT-IN-THE-HEAD versus DEATH-BY-BOMB-BOOM thingy.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 05/02/2011 3:28 Comments || Top||

#87  It would be cool if he had been shot during Passover.
Posted by: Scooter McGruder || 05/02/2011 3:33 Comments || Top||

#88  I don't believe the last week thing

1) Hard to keep secret
2) Obama would have given a better speech, and on prime time
Posted by: European Conservative || 05/02/2011 3:36 Comments || Top||

#89  More.
There are also a couple of reports that he's been buried at sea.
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/02/2011 3:51 Comments || Top||

#90  Tu3031, I hope that you are right. On second thoughts, though I'd very much like some pork on his fork, I think it's the best that Osama Bin Laden be dumped at sea

With a bit of burley to ensure sharks maul the body.

That way there is no land-based grave site for followers to turn into a shrine.
Posted by: anon1 || 05/02/2011 4:16 Comments || Top||

#91  But a shrine would be useful, anyone shows up to visit it, shoot them.

I didn't get to tell the Rig crew, the Directional hand did. I'm sure they're grinning big tonight.
Posted by: Silentbrick - Lost Drill Bit Division - Halliburton || 05/02/2011 4:26 Comments || Top||

#92  Sic semper tyrranis.
Posted by: no mo uro || 05/02/2011 4:43 Comments || Top||

#93  Pentagon confirms that Osama's bullet-riddled carcass has already been buried at sea, with "full Islamic ceremony." Burial at sea is permissible under Islamic custom and this also meets the 48 hour requirement for timely burial. He does indeed sleep with the fishes. As for the ship, the LHAs and LHDs (big amphibs) have comprehensive mortuary facilities. It may have been one of these rather than a carrier where the examinations were carried out. After that, he would be sewn into a sea bag or possibly a garbage bag, weighted down, and a Muslim chaplain would be ordered to say a few words before they pitched him overboard. Good riddance.
Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy || 05/02/2011 4:47 Comments || Top||

#94  It probably would have been good to get him alive, if only because the world will pretty soon be awash in conspiracy theories saying he's not really dead, he's alive and living in.... (insert nearest backwater).

Plus we could have questioned him and found out who was plotting what.

But then we would have had the problem of putting him on trial etc, which would give him a platform to spread his evil views.

We probably needed the dead body on display for a while so people could not be able to dispute the death.

What for to give him the dignity of an Islamic burial? It speaks well of us, our restraint and respectful nature I guess. It makes us better people to honour even the dead enemy. But still... could be shooting ourselves in the foot come the Michael Moore conspiracy theories
Posted by: anon1 || 05/02/2011 5:21 Comments || Top||

#95  anon1

Conspiracy theories are completely disconnected from reality, so it doesn't matter.
Posted by: European Conservative || 05/02/2011 5:33 Comments || Top||

#96  I guess there is always a trade-off between triumphant display vs. quick disposal, a la Hitler. IMNSHO going the Hitler route is probably not the worst option.
Posted by: Scooter McGruder || 05/02/2011 5:33 Comments || Top||

#97  Last week. It happened last week, right before zero released his birth certificate. That way, he knew the controversy would die down after Sunday night. While he basked in the glow of something he couldn't stop.

Cynical this morning, aren't I.
Posted by: Bobby || 05/02/2011 5:53 Comments || Top||

#98  Hitler actually made sure that nothing "exposable" would be left of him.

The Nazi Criminals hanged in Nuremberg were quickly cremated, so no trace was left.
Posted by: European Conservative || 05/02/2011 6:19 Comments || Top||

#99  He deserved nothing more than the dignity he afforded to his innocent victims. Enough recording to establish his identity, then shoved off chopper over waste ground, or thrown overboard at sea.

Congratulations to the bringers of justice, and may he rot in hell forever.

Died hiding behind a downtrodden woman - pretty much sums up the whole jihadist thing.
Posted by: Bulldog || 05/02/2011 6:35 Comments || Top||

#100  Even if it's raining, it's a good morning. Thanks to all who have pursued this scum for so many years. Keep up the good work on your next target.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 05/02/2011 7:13 Comments || Top||

#101  Great news.

Why the quick burial at sea? I am glad that POS will have no shrine, but was burial before evidence was acknowledged a wise move?
Posted by: Jules187 || 05/02/2011 7:26 Comments || Top||

#102  George Washington, Patrick Henry and the 70 other Virginians are rolling up their sleaves to give him a beat down even now.
Posted by: eLarson || 05/02/2011 8:48 Comments || Top||

#103  Hopefully, there was actionable intelligence in the compound as well that can lead to further successes when acted upon quickly. Not to mention a certain amount of movement of operatives switching locations which also gives chances at them because movement brings chances.
Well done to all involved in the mission!!!!!
Posted by: Odysseus || 05/02/2011 9:14 Comments || Top||

#104  CNN just reported there were lots of computers with the hard drives torn out at the site afterward. Ulululululululuuuuuuu!

Local man tweated the raid.

Analysis.

Latter two links from Michael Yon's Facebook page.
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/02/2011 9:20 Comments || Top||

#105  As I said here many times, not hiding in a cave, living it up in a mansion in Pakistan.
Posted by: John Frum || 05/02/2011 9:38 Comments || Top||

#106  My prediction was a mansion in Rawalpindi. This was Abbottabad. Bet the mansion was owned by a Pakistani General.
Posted by: John Frum || 05/02/2011 9:43 Comments || Top||

#107  tis' true, John. One might almost think the Paks are not our ally or friend.

/sarc
Posted by: Frank G || 05/02/2011 9:45 Comments || Top||

#108  Abbottabad

The city is situated in the Orash Valley, 50 kilometres (31 mi) northeast of Islamabad and 150 kilometres (93 mi) east of Peshawar at an altitude of 4,120 feet (1,260 m) and is the capital of the Abbottabad District. The city is well-known throughout Pakistan for its pleasant weather, high standard educational institutions and military establishments. It remains a major hub for tourism of regions in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir in the summer.

Abbottabad is home to Kakul, the West Point of the Pakistani military.
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 05/02/2011 9:48 Comments || Top||

#109  bin Laden was alive and Obama's longform was perfectly normal. I'm zero for two.

Betting types will want to know a couple of my other predictions: we're going to double dip and Obama will be re-elected, but maybe not in that order.

In any event, congratulations are due to the Obama administration and the agencies and forces that effected this raid. It's been in planning for months with Obama and Panetta directly in charge, and they were able to pull off a perfect mission.
Posted by: KBK || 05/02/2011 10:19 Comments || Top||

#110  I wouldn't say it assures his reelection. I remember Bush I was a shoe in after Desert Storm. How'd that work out?
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/02/2011 10:22 Comments || Top||

#111  A military cantonment!!!!
Posted by: John Frum || 05/02/2011 10:51 Comments || Top||

#112  One week ago, the chief of Pakistan's Army Staff, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, told graduating cadets in the city of Abbottabad that the "back of terrorism" in Pakistan had been broken, thanks to the sacrifices of Pakistan's soldiers.

Kayani was speaking at the "passing out parade" at the prestigious Kakul military academy in Abbottabad, the West Point of Pakistan. At that very moment, the man who had dragged Pakistan into the "War on Terror" a decade earlier was, it transpires, just a mile or two away, living in apparent comfort behind the high walls of a very private compound. Osama bin Laden, who had declared war on Pakistan, had apparently been living for months in a city that had made its name as a military garrison.
Posted by: John Frum || 05/02/2011 10:54 Comments || Top||

#113  Congratulations and many thanks to our military and intelligence folks! They are super. I cannot express my feelings about how I feel about their accomplishment--probably feelings of relief and gratitude come closest. UBL had this coming for a long time. Payback is a bitch. Others of our enemies should take notice. They are reachable anywhere in the world.
Posted by: JohnQC || 05/02/2011 11:07 Comments || Top||

#114  obama is happy no doubt, because saudis... hmm i mean americans wanted obama dead
Posted by: Shish Squank8162 || 05/02/2011 11:27 Comments || Top||

#115  Pakistan's Army Staff, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani at minute 5. I hope all the music, shouting and marching didn't bother the Paskistan Military Academy's next door neighbor, OBL.

Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 05/02/2011 13:53 Comments || Top||

#116  Shish Squank8162, was that supposed to make any sense?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 05/02/2011 14:06 Comments || Top||

#117  More from the news service that cannot be named...

The al-Qaida leader was identified by name by a woman believed to be one of his wives — bin Laden had several — who was present at his Pakistan compound at the time of the U.S. raid. He also was visually identified by members of the U.S. raid squad, a senior intelligence official told reporters at a Pentagon briefing. Under ground rules set by the Pentagon, the intelligence official and two senior defense officials could not be identified by name.

The intelligence official also said quite a bit of unspecified material was collected by U.S. forces during the raid. Without describing the material, the official said it is being analyzed by a team of people at the CIA.


The officials said bin Laden was killed toward the end of the firefight, which took place overnight Monday in a building at a compound north of Islamabad, the Pakistani capital. His body was put aboard the USS Carl Vinson and placed into the North Arabian Sea.

Traditional Islamic procedures for handling the remains were followed, the officials said, including washing the corpse, placing it in a white sheet. Preparations for at-sea burial began at 1:10 a.m. EDT Monday and were completed at 2 a.m. EDT, one official said.

The intelligence official said the DNA match, using DNA from several family members, provided virtual certainty that it was bin Laden's body. The U.S. is believed to have collected DNA samples from bin Laden family members in the years since the 9/11 attacks that triggered the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan. It was unclear whether the U.S. also had fingerprints or some other means to identify the body on site.

Bin Laden was shot in the head during the firefight with members of an elite American counter-terrorism unit that launched a helicopter-borne raid on the al-Qaida leader's compound, U.S. officials said. Officials said the U.S. special forces who stormed the compound came face to face with their prey.

U.S. officials also said bin Laden was identified through "facial recognition," a reference to technology for mapping unique facial characteristics, but it was not clear exactly how the Navy SEAL troops performed the comparison.

The body was photographed before being buried at sea, although no images have been released by the Obama administration.

The U.S. official who disclosed the burial at sea said it was not possible to find a country willing to accept the remains. Pressed by reporters to say which countries had been contacted about taking the remains, the official said, "I'm not going into details of those conversations."
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/02/2011 14:59 Comments || Top||

#118  The U.S. official who disclosed the burial at sea said it was not possible to find a country willing to accept the remains. Pressed by reporters to say which countries had been contacted about taking the remains, the official said, "I'm not going into details of those conversations."

(That's our story, we're sticking to it. And frankly, admit it, it's a fine story that works on many levels. Next question!)
Posted by: Pollyandrew || 05/02/2011 15:35 Comments || Top||

#119  hello all,

white house undecided on releasing Dead Binny snuff pics:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iq_z7J8vZFcHdSS_352WC3EGYT6A?docId=CNG.4ec0d644f5638e40f182b6d39cbee4b3.e41

also reported on google news link that i can't find now... it was a pakistani military safe house... raising further questions.
Posted by: anon1 || 05/02/2011 17:47 Comments || Top||

#120  "white house undecided on releasing Dead Binny snuff pics"

Well, hell, anon, I went to the link and it was just a story, no pictures. I want to see pictures!

Thanks for the heads-up (I guess).
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 05/02/2011 19:21 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
11 Afghans killed in renewed Taliban offensive
[Pak Daily Times] The Taliban killed at least 11 people across Afghanistan in a renewed springtime offensive on Sunday despite a huge security clampdown, hours after the UN pleaded for all sides to avoid civilian casualties.

The Taliban have warned civilians to stay away from public gatherings, military bases and convoys, as well as government offices, because those sites would be the target of a wave of attacks beginning on Sunday.

Both sides of the conflict have vowed to protect civilians -- the civilian toll hit record levels in 2010 -- but more than half of those killed on Sunday were ordinary Afghans.

"Our mission is to make sure that civilians and Afghan people are not affected by the now 11 years of conflict," Staffan de Mistura, the UN chief in Afghanistan, said.

"What we are worried about, and I think every Afghan is worried about, is whether the Afghan people and the Afghan civilians will be again the victims of a long conflict," he added.

The vast majority of civilian casualties in Afghanistan are caused by terrorists, figures from the UN and other rights groups show, although there are still many caused by foreigners hunting snuffies with air strikes and night raids.

The increasingly sophisticated Taliban communication network quickly sought to counter de Mistura's comments. Taliban front man, Zabihullah Mujahid, said, foreign forces must also protect civilians and stop their "rising atrocities".

The new wave of attacks began early on Sunday with what appeared to be a startling and rare tactic -- the use of a child bomber in the southeastern province of Paktika.
...which coincidentally borders South Wazoo...

The bomber, wearing a vest packed with explosives, killed four civilians and maimed 12, a government front man said. A statement from the governor's office in Paktika, near the Pakistain border, said the bomber was 12-years-old.

In neighbouring Ghazni, two police and two non-combatants were killed in a shootout after snuffies opened fire on a passing police vehicle in the province's main city, police said. A bomb planted on a bicycle near Ghazni police headquarters maimed 13.

In the volatile south, the governor of Kandahar province, the birthplace of the Taliban, ordered thousands of security forces onto high alert, with police and Afghan soldiers manning checkpoints on every roundabout in Kandahar city.

However,
The didactic However...
gunnies riding a cycle of violence killed an Afghan soldier in Kandahar. In Pashtun-infested Logar, south of Kabul, two members of a community police unit were killed by a roadside kaboom, police officials said.

Senior military commanders have been expecting a spike in violence with the start of the spring and summer "fighting season", although the usual winter lull was not seen as US-led forces pressed their attacks against terrorists, particularly in the Taliban's southern heartland.
Posted by: Fred || 05/02/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Taliban Prisoners Escaped Through Gate, Not Tunnel: Govt
[Tolo News] Afghan Justice Minister has said Kandahar jailbreak did not happen through tunnel, but the Taliban prisoners were helped to escape through the main gate of the jail.

There has been collaboration between Taliban detainees and Kandahar dungeon chiefs in Kandahar jailbreak, Justice Minister Habibullah Ghalib has said.

Deputy Chief of Afghan intelligence has accused neighbouring countries' intelligence organisations of being involved in Kandahar jailbreak.

On Sunday Justice Minister, Deputy Chief of Afghan National Directorate of Security and Chief of Prisons were summoned to the national security commission of the parliament for a brief about their investigations into the Kandahar prison break that raised questions about potential of Afghan cops.

Describing the prison break as painful, Justice Minister said as long as corruption is left unaddressed, any sort of efforts would have no results.

Speaking in the national security commission of parliament Deputy NDS Abdul Qayum Katawazi said "the process has been done thoroughly and we accept that prison personnel have shown negligence.

Members of national security commission of the parliament criticised security officials for being reckless.

Lawmakers said considering the sensitive situation of Afghanistan the outbreak of such incidents are embarrassing to security forces.

In line with investigations into the Kandahar jailbreak Afghan authorities have tossed in the calaboose 15 Kandahar jail staff, including the prison chief, a deputy and four guards who were on duty at the time, said officials in the justice ministry.

Close to 500 Taliban inmates beat feet out of Kandahar central Jail on April 25 which is believed to be one of the biggest escapes of its type in jail history in the country.
Posted by: Fred || 05/02/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban

#1  Oh dear. Could it be this was merely a matter of common jailer cupidity, not a romantic and technically impressive tunnel job after all?
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/02/2011 12:04 Comments || Top||


Afghan officers fired after jailbreak
[Iran Press TV] Afghan officials have fired 17 top coppers in Kandahar, declaring security alerts a week after a big jailbreak in the southern province.

Kandahar's police commander said on Sunday that the measures were aimed at boosting security in the province, a Press TV correspondent reported.

Earlier, eight coppers and the head of Kandahar's main prison were nabbed on suspicion of involvement in the Taliban prison break.

Last Monday, at least 540 Talibs, including 106 commanders, beat feet from Kandahar central prison.

The prisoners had dug a 360-meter-long tunnel under the prison's ground, which took over six months to complete.

Following the prison break, Afghanistan's Caped President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai
... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use...
said the escape of all the inmates through the tunnel signaled cooperation and assistance from inside the prison.

The Taliban claim that the move was pre-planned and that the Islamic exemplars' vehicles had been waiting for the prisoners at the end of the tunnel, somewhere outside the prison.

Afghan officials say both local and foreign forces are to blame for the prison break.

They say the US troops, who were present at the prison as the tunnel was taking shape, should have noticed something.

The Taliban say they will soon start their spring offensive against military bases, foreign forces and Afghan officials.
Posted by: Fred || 05/02/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Africa Horn
Somali pirates hijack chemical tanker ship
SEOUL, May 1 (Yonhap) -- A Singapore-registered chemical tanker with crew that include four South Koreans has been hijacked by Somali pirates, foreign ministry officials here said Sunday.
That sounds unwise for men accustomed to wandering about barefoot. That kind of thing causes impotence, or so Mr. Wife told the guys at his Egyptian supplier, to get them to wear safety shoes.
The MT Gemini, carrying 25 crew members, was boarded by pirates off Kenyan waters on Saturday, the official said, asking not to be named. Another official said the Singaporean government will deal with the incident, including possible negotiations.

The vessel had been carrying crude palm oil from Indonesia to Kenya when it was hijacked, the ministry officials said. The South Koreans aboard the MT Gemini include the 56-year-old captain identified only by his surname, Park, they said. International media reported that 13 Indonesians, three Myanmar nationals, five Chinese and four South Koreans were aboard when the ship was hijacked.

A South Korean military official said the government was not immediately considering mobilizing a warship that had been operating in the Gulf of Aden as part of a multinational anti-piracy campaign.

Foreign ministry officials said they were setting up a task force to monitor the situation, the latest in a series of hijacking cases involving South Koreans off the Somali coast.
Posted by: Steve White || 05/02/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Smart guy, that Mr. Wife. Besides, it sounds like something that could happen.
Posted by: Pollyandrew || 05/02/2011 15:41 Comments || Top||

#2  Smart guy, that Mr. Wife.

Why thank you, Pollyandrew! Now, how to get the same message to pirates with no access to protective footgear in the middle of the ocean?
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/02/2011 17:26 Comments || Top||

#3  Message about the impotence, not about Mr. Wife. There's absolutely no reason why illiterate Somali pirates should care about him.
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/02/2011 17:31 Comments || Top||

#4  (Or even literate ones...)
Posted by: Pollyandrew || 05/02/2011 18:49 Comments || Top||


Africa North
UN's international staff leave Tripoli - When the going gets tough....
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/02/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  How would YOU like to be a UN staffer in Tripoli right now?

420 people read this article. But no comments.

You know the UN wont have anybody down front who is gonna stop a catered mob from busting the glass out and storming into the place, setting fire and raping the first anus they find (Moslems are heavies for butt, they dont have much else in their social planning. Its a culture thing).

You gonna go back to your apartment after going to work at UN HQ every evening? Say hello to the people on the street under the palm trees? Yeah?

Or are you gonna get on the first flight provided you CAN make it to the plane?

NObody loves the UN, anywhere. Nobody in the whole world respects the UN. The UN is a blow up sex doll and NOBODY sees anything even vaguely human about any UN staffer.
You work for the UN? Drop your pants and hold a jar of mayonnaise and make a noise like a sheep.

Nothing tough about the UN. The UN is about as savage as a thumb in a jar of peanut butter.
TAKE me, Dwayne.
Posted by: de Medici3489 || 05/02/2011 20:18 Comments || Top||


Gaddafi forces bombard Misratah
[Iran Press TV] Forces loyal to Libyan ruler Muammar Qadaffy have bombarded the opposition-held city of Misratah, killing at least two people and wounding several others.

Initial reports say Qadaffy forces began shelling the port of Misratah and its surrounding areas late on Sunday.

Witnesses and residents say large areas were engulfed in flames following the deadly attack.

This comes as the Libyan regime has threatened to attack any ship entering the port city of Misratah.

Libyan State TV says aid to the besieged city should be sent overland, under the regime's supervision.

Misratah has been under a siege by government forces for over seven weeks now.

Human rights groups say hundreds of people have been killed in the port city during the weeks-long regime siege.
Posted by: Fred || 05/02/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


London Expels Libyan Envoy after British, Italian Missions Torched
[An Nahar] Perfidious Albion expelled the Libyan ambassador Sunday following attacks on the British and Italian embassies in Tripoli, saying Moammar Gadhafi's regime had failed in its duty to protect diplomatic missions.

Protesters set fire to the buildings, which are on the same street in central Tripoli, early on Sunday, Agence La Belle France Presse reported, adding that the mob at the Italian embassy ripped down the Italian flag and threw it into the street.

Perfidious Albion and Italia are both involved in military strikes against Libya as part of a U.N.-authorized operation to protect civilians from fierce fighting between Gadhafi's forces and rebels opposed to his four-decade rule.

"I condemn the attacks on the British embassy premises in Tripoli as well as the diplomatic missions of other countries," British Foreign Secretary William Hague said in a statement.

"The Vienna Convention requires the Gadhafi regime to protect diplomatic missions in Tripoli. By failing to do so that regime has once again breached its international responsibilities and obligations.

"I take the failure to protect such premises very seriously indeed.

"As a result, I have taken the decision to expel the Libyan ambassador. He is persona non grata pursuant to article nine of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and has 24 hours to leave the country."

The embassy attacks and the expulsion of ambassador Omar Jelban came just hours after the Libyan regime accused NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the style of the American pants...
of killing Gadhafi's son and three grandchildren in bombing raids on Saturday evening.

Perfidious Albion's embassy was thought to be empty at the time, as London has had no diplomatic presence in Tripoli since it recalled its ambassador at the start of hostilities. The only British team is in the rebel-held city of Benghazi.

The Italian embassy was also thought to be empty, as Rome closed down the diplomatic post in March.

In a statement, the Italian foreign ministry confirmed the "acts of vandalism", saying the attacks were "grave and vile actions".

"Gadhafi's regime, by not ensuring the necessary protection for foreign diplomatic missions in Tripoli, has again failed in its basic international obligations," it said.

Italia only joined the military operation against its former colony last week, almost six weeks after the campaign began with strikes by Perfidious Albion, La Belle France and the United States.

Hague stressed that the embassy attacks "will not weaken our resolve to protect the civilian population in Libya".

Italia was Libya's top foreign trade partner before the conflict began, and Gadhafi signed a friendship treaty with Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in 2008, which opened the way for massive investments in each other's economies.

Interior Minister Roberto Maroni said Sunday that the government was boosting security checks after Gadhafi threatened retaliation for Rome's entry into the military campaign.

"Gadhafi's words confirm that we have to monitor the situation. It's what we are doing and we have intensified monitoring on our territory," he said.
Posted by: Fred || 05/02/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


UK cannot verify Saif's demise
LONDON - Britain cannot confirm reports that a son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was killed in a NATO air strike, junior Foreign Office minister Alistair Burt said on Sunday.

"We've no verification of that at the moment. These are still unconfirmed reports. I'm afraid we don't know one way or the other," Burt told Sky News when asked about a Libyan government statement that a NATO air strike in Tripoli had killed Gaddafi's youngest son and three grandchildren.

Burt said command and control centres were "often placed in civilian areas by forces overseas".
Posted by: Steve White || 05/02/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Guy in the picture is Saif-Al-Islam not Saif-Al-Arab who was reportedly killed.
Posted by: Lonzo Elmereting7633 || 05/02/2011 7:26 Comments || Top||


Three explosions hit Libya's capital
[Iran Press TV] Three kabooms have been heard as NATO
...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the style of the American pants...
warplanes flew over the Libyan capital, Tripoli, after earlier attacks that reportedly killed one of Muammar Qadaffy's sons.

The attacks reportedly took place on Sunday night in the eastern part of Tripoli but no further details were known, AFP reported.

NATO fighter jets have carried out air attacks on Libya for several weeks according to a UN mandate to protect civilians against Qadaffy forces. However,
The essential However...
their jets attacked Qadaffy's headquarters of Bab al-Aziziya on Saturday, killing the ruler's son Saif al-Arab and three of his grandchildren.

Qadaffy forces and outraged crowds attacked British and Italian embassies on Sunday in retaliation for the killing of Qadaffy's family members, torching the missions' building and destroying the UK embassy completely, reports said.

The Libyan government has said NATO's attack was "a direct operation to assassinate the leader of the country," but the military alliance says they targeted a command and control building and their target was "military in nature."

Following the UK embassy attack, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Libyan ambassador Omar Jelban had been given 24 hours to leave England, adding that Libya has once again violated its international responsibilities for protecting diplomatic missions.

On Saturday, Qadaffy said he was ready to talk with NATO member states operating in Libya to stop the fighting but his offer of ceasefire was rejected by NATO.
Posted by: Fred || 05/02/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Arabia
GCC Chief to Return to Yemen to Renew Mediation
[An Nahar] Gulf states said on Sunday they are to renew efforts to end a deadly political crisis in Yemen, after the opposition accused President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh of having torpedoed their bid at the weekend.

The Gulf Cooperation Council "hopes to remove all the obstacles still standing in the path of achieving a final agreement," the six-nation grouping of Yemen's oil-rich Arab neighbors said after a meeting in Riyadh.

GCC secretary general Abdul Latif al-Zayani is to "go back to Sanaa with this aim," it said, without specifying a date.

Delegations from Saleh's ruling party and the Common Forum opposition coalition had been expected to join GCC foreign ministers in the Saudi capital on Sunday to sign the deal ahead of Saleh's exit.

"There is no longer an invitation. The general secretary of the GCC left yesterday without the president's signature, so the initiative has failed," opposition official Mohammed al-Sabri told Agence La Belle France Presse earlier.

Zayani left Sanaa on Saturday after failing to have Saleh endorse the GCC-proposed deal to end Yemen's three-month-old crisis, but the meeting of Gulf foreign ministers went ahead as scheduled in Riyadh.

"Four sessions of talks were held to convince him (Saleh), and every time he came up with a new condition," Sabri said.

The Common Forum, in a statement, has held the regime "completely responsible for ruining the (Gulf) effort" and accused Saleh of "maneuvering ... to gain time in an effort to push the country into chaos."

They urged Yemen's Arab neighbors to "continue with their efforts ... and to exert all sorts of pressure to stop the violence and killing of peaceful protesters."

Another leading opposition figure, Sultan al-Atwani, head of the Unionist Nasserist Party, urged the Arab monarchies of the GCC to pressure Saleh to sign the deal.

The GCC deal proposes the formation of an opposition-led government of national unity, Saleh transferring power to his vice president and an end to the deadly protests that have rocked the country since late January.

Under the accord, the president would submit his resignation to parliament on the 30th day after the deal, a day after parliament would have passed a law guaranteeing immunity from prosecution to Saleh and his aides.

A presidential election would follow in 60 days.

However,
The flatulent However...
a defiant Saleh has publicly insisted on sticking to the constitution in any transfer of power, even though his ruling People's Congress Party has said it accepts the GCC plan.

Zayani visited Sanaa on Saturday to formally invite Saleh and his opponents to sign the power transfer deal, state media had said ahead of a signing ceremony that was to have taken place in Riyadh on Monday.

But he left empty-handed after the president refused to sign the deal himself, instead assigning one of his advisers to do so on his behalf, sources close to both sides said.

And after Zayani informed members of the Common Forum of Saleh's position, they also refused to sign the pact unless the veteran leader himself endorsed the agreement.

Demonstrations calling for Saleh's immediate ouster have cost more than 145 lives over the past three months.

On Sunday, demonstrators again erupted into the streets of Taez, Yemen's second-largest city, insisting on their demand for the ouster of Saleh and his regime.

"We are not concerned by the initiative, whether they sign or not," said Ahmed al-Wafi, a leading activist among the mostly young protesters in Taez, south of the capital.

Demonstrators also condemned the killing of four protesters in Aden on Saturday when security forces stormed a sit-in demonstration.

The Watan coalition of youth groups denounced the attack, charging that "bloody oppression apparatus stormed the 'Freedom Square' with armored vehicles and tanks, and burned tents."

It urged the Common Forum to "return to their grass roots ... on the street with other demonstrators."
Posted by: Fred || 05/02/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Yemenis stage fresh protests
[Iran Press TV] Anti-government protesters in Yemen have staged fresh rallies in the capital Sana'a and several more cities, insisting on the ouster of President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Protesters once again spilled out into the streets of Yemen on Sunday after Saleh torpedoed a deal aimed at ending three months of deadly protests that would have seen the president quit after 30 days.

In exchange, Saleh would have got immunity from prosecution and would have opened the way for the opposition parties to come together in a national unity government.

Saleh's refusal to sign the [Persian] Gulf Cooperation Council deal on Saturday canceled a ceremony on Sunday to finalize the deal.

The [P]GCC members -- Soddy Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain -- held an informal meeting in Riyadh and said their chief will again travel to Yemen to renew mediation.

Protesters and relatives in the capital gathered around the body of Ahmad Saleh, an anti-government protester who was injured last Wednesday in festivities with security forces and died of his wounds on Saturday.

Hundreds of thousands of people have turned out for regular demonstrations in cities including Sana'a, Aden, Taiz, calling for corruption and unemployment to be tackled and demanding President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh step down.

Some 40% of the population live on $2 a day or less in the country, and a third face food shortages.

The protests have been met by riot police or supporters of President-for-Life Saleh
... exemplifying the Arab's propensity to combine brutality with incompetence...
armed with knives and batons.

The corpse count in the country has surpassed 300 since anti-government protests began in late January.
Posted by: Fred || 05/02/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Saleh backtracks, cancels ceremony
[Iran Press TV] The [Persian] Gulf Cooperation Council cancels the ceremony slated for the signing of a proposed deal on Yemen crisis after facing President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh refused to sign.

The press office of the regional Arab grouping's Secretary General Abdullatif al-Zayani said, "The ceremony, that was supposed to be held [on Sunday], ...will not take place," AFP reported.

On Saturday, Saleh backtracked on his earlier agreement with the plan, which obliges him to stand down within 30 days of signing the deal with the Joint Forum opposition coalition. The head of state would instead ensure immunity from prosecution for himself and his aides.

Saleh has been in office for nearly 33 years with several opposition members arguing that his long-promised reforms have not taken place.

Some 40 percent of Yemen's population lives on USD 2 a day or less and one third is wrestling with chronic hunger.

In a popular revolution, hundreds of thousands of people have turned out for regular demonstrations in Yemen's major cities since late January, calling for corruption and unemployment to be tackled and demanding that the president step down.

The popular protests in Yemen have been confronted by riot police and supporters of Saleh armed with knives and batons.

The corpse count in the country since the launch of the revolution has surpassed 300.

The Persian Gulf bloc's ministers would now meet in the Saudi capital of Riyadh, where the finalization ceremony was supposed to be held, to discuss the future of the deal.
Posted by: Fred || 05/02/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Caribbean-Latin America
Mexico police find secret home arsenal
[Iran Press TV] Mexican police have found a hidden stockpile of weapons in an upscale neighborhood of Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, a city notorious for drug violence and kidnappings.

Police discovered the arsenal, including three anti-aircraft guns, dozens of grenades, a grenade launcher, AK-47s and other high-powered weapons, in a basement hidden behind the mirrors of a home gym on Friday, The News Agency that Dare Not be Named reported.
Hopefully nothing there can be traced back to Operation Gunrunner. Especially the anti-aircraft guns.
Several makes of machine guns, rifles, a shotgun and more than 26,000 ammunition cartridges along with 50 military uniforms, bulletproof vests, gas masks and three money-counting machines were also found in the basement, according to the Federal Police Commissioner of Ciudad Juarez Raul Avila Ibarra.

Police discovered the weapons by pressing a button near the floor that opened up the mirrors of the gym to a hidden room. They had been acting on an anonymous tip that kidnapped victims were in the house, but no one was reportedly found or jugged in the search.

More than 3,000 people were killed last year in what police claim to be a pie fight between the Sinaloa and Juarez narco mobs.

Ciudad Juarez, home to 1.3 million residents, has become infamous for unsolved kidnapping cases involving the brutal rape and murder of maquiladora workers over the past two decades. Some believe that the police are complicit in the crimes, while others blame narco mobs and even wealthy business men.
Posted by: Fred || 05/02/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Narcos


Home Front: WoT
Timeline of the mission to kill Osama
Hat tip Jennifer Rubin at WaPo.
The mission to kill Osama bin Laden was years in the making, but began in earnest last fall with the discovery of a suspicious compound near Islamabad, and culminated with a helicopter based raid in the early morning hours in Pakistan Sunday.

Since last August, Obama convened at least 9 meetings with national security principals about this operation and the principals met 5 times without the president, a senior administration official said. Their deputies met 7 times formally amid a flurry of other interagency communications and consultations.

Last week Obama finally had enough intelligence last to take action. The final decision to go forward with the operation was made at 8:20 AM on Friday, April 29 in the White House's Diplomatic Room. In the room at the time were Donilon, his deputy Denis McDonough, and counterterrorism advisor John Brennan. Donilon prepared the formal orders.

On Sunday, at 2:00, Obama met with the principals at the White House. At 3:32 he went to the situation room for another briefing. At 3:50 he was told that bin Laden was "tentatively identified." At 7:01 Obama was told there was a "high probability" the high value target at the compound was bin Laden. At 8:30 Obama got the final briefing.

Before speaking to the nation, Obama called former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.

Three senior administration officials briefed reporters late Sunday night on the surveillance, intelligence, and military operations that ended with bin Laden's death at the hands of U.S. operatives.

"The operation was the culmination of years of careful and highly advanced intelligence work," a senior administration official said.

The stream of information that led to Sunday's raid began over four years ago, when U.S. intelligence personnel were alerted about two couriers who were working with al Qaeda and had deep connections to top al Qaeda officials. Prisoners in U.S. custody flagged these two couriers as individuals who might have been helping bin Laden, one official said

"One courier in particular had our constant attention," the official said. He declined to give that courier's name but said he was a protégé of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and a "trusted assistant" of Abu Faraj al-Libbi, a former senior al Qaeda officer who was captured in 2005.

"Detainees also identified this man as one of the few couriers trusted by bin Laden," the official said. The U.S. intelligence community uncovered the identity of this courier four years ago, and two years ago, the U.S. discovered the area of Pakistan this courier and his brother were working in.

In August 2010, the intelligence agencies found the exact compound where this courier was living, in Abbottabad, Pakistan. The neighborhood is affluent and many retired Pakistani military officials live there.

"When we saw the compound where the brothers lived, we were shocked by what we saw," one official said.

The compound was 8 times larger than the other homes around it. It was built in 2005 in an area that was secluded at that time. There were extraordinary security measures at the compound, including 12 to 18 foot walls topped with barbed wire.

There were other suspicious indicators at the compound. Internal sections were walled off from the rest of the compound. There were two security gates. The residents burned their trash. The main building had few windows.

The compound, despite being worth over $1 million, had no telephone or internet service. There's no way the courier and his brother could have afforded it, the official said.

"Intelligence officials concluded that this compound was custom built to hide someone of significance," the official said, adding that the size and makeup of one of the families living there matched the suspected makeup of bin Laden's entourage.

The intelligence community had high confidence that the compound had a high value target, and the analysts concluded there was high probability that target was bin Laden, one official said.

When the small team of U.S. operatives raided the compound in the early morning hours Sunday Pakistan time, they encountered resistance and killed three men besides bin Laden and one woman. The three men were the two couriers and one of bin Laden's sons. The woman was being used as a human shield, one official said. Two other women were injured.

One U.S. helicopter was downed due to unspecified "maintenance" issues, one official said. The U.S. personnel blew up the helicopter before leaving the area. The team was on the ground for only 40 minutes.

A senior defense official told CNN that US Navy SEALs were involved in the mission.

No other governments were briefed on the operation before it occurred, including the host government Pakistan.

"That was for one reason and one reason alone. That was essential to the security of the operation and our personnel," one official said. Only a "very small group of people" inside the U.S. government knew about the operation. Afterwards, calls were made to the Pakistani government and several other allied countries.

"Since 9/11 the United States has made it clear to Pakistan that we would pursue bin Laden wherever he might be," one official said. "Pakistan has long understood we are at war with al Qaeda. The United States had a moral and legal obligation to act on the information it had."

Americans abroad should stay indoors be aware of the increased threat of attacks following bin Laden's killing, the State Department said in a new travel warning issued Sunday night. State also issued a specific travel warning for Pakistan.

"Al Qaeda operatives and sympathizers may try to respond violently to avenge bin Laden's death and other terrorist leaders may try to accelerate their efforts to attack the United States," one official said. "We have always understood that this fight would be a marathon and not a sprint."
Posted by: Steve White || 05/02/2011 09:24 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Didn't the CIC say last week in the news conference?

This makes it sound like the good guys hadn't even hit the showers when the announcement was made.
Posted by: Bobby || 05/02/2011 10:34 Comments || Top||

#2  The size of the compound and the 'extraordinary' security measures taken were dead give-aways that someone like bin Laden would be living there, at least part of the time.
How many other places like that exist in the Muslim world?
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 05/02/2011 11:17 Comments || Top||

#3  The woman was being used as a human shield

How Islamic.
Posted by: gorb || 05/02/2011 13:30 Comments || Top||

#4  Bobby: yeah. I'm trying to figure out when/where they squeezed in the DNA analysis. Purifying and/or amplifying DNA is slow, no way to short-cut. Even with decent lab equipment, it would take at least 24 hours. I'm assuming confidence was high enough that the announcement was made anyway, while the analysis is still forthcoming?
Posted by: RandomJD || 05/02/2011 19:31 Comments || Top||


How the US tracked couriers to elaborate bin Laden compound
First a name, then an extraordinary house with high walls — and no telephone or Internet. Bin Laden and a son are among five killed in a firefight.
Video from MS-NBC, no less. Apparently some of the Gitmo detainees provided key information that identified a courier. Once our intel people knew who the courier was they could track him, and once they saw where he was going with some frequency they had a lead on Binnie.

Excellent work. Proves the value of Gitmo. Good thing we didn't close it.
Posted by: Steve White || 05/02/2011 09:18 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  See also FREEREPUBLIC/TOPIX > WIKILEAKS: OBL KILLED AFTER [courier] TIPOFF FROM HIS DEPUTY.

Actually - DEPUTIES [plural], i.e. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed + Other, likely after so-called "Water-boarding"???

and

* SAME > WIKILEAKS: OBL PROTECTED BY PAKISTANI SECURITY.

IMO IT WOULD HAVE TO BE - KSM is a close top associate to OBL. From what I remember as per their interaction + relationship, unlesss something had seriously changed in my absence I do not believe KSM would wilfully snitch on Osama unless he was forced to, i.e. KSM was subjected to heavy or excessive torture.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 05/02/2011 22:00 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Osama bin Laden, done in by a double tap to the left side of his face
From Ghazi Air Base in Pakistan, the modified MH-60 helicopters made their way to the garrison suburb of Abbottabad, about 70 miles from the center of Islamabad. Aboard were Navy SEALs, flown across the border from Afghanistan, along with tactical signals, intelligence collectors, and navigators using highly classified hyperspectral imagers.

After bursts of fire over 40 minutes, 22 people were counted, and five were killed. One of the dead was Osama bin Laden, done in by a double tap -- boom, boom -- to the left side of his face. His body was aboard the choppers that made the trip back. One had experienced mechanical failure and was destroyed by U.S. forces, military and White House officials tell National Journal.
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 05/02/2011 18:31 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Col. Mustard, in the ISI safehouse, with an M-4?
Posted by: SteveS || 05/02/2011 20:03 Comments || Top||

#2  CNN AM > repors US Officials as stating that Osama may had been residing in his Abbottabad compound for as long as THREE YEARS.

This leads me to wonder iff OBL's health problems may had started to get the better of him [relapse] despite the presence of any advanced Portable Equipment wid him + entourage.

THE OSAMA I REMEMBER FROM THE 1980's AFGHAN WAR WOULD KNOW ENOUGH TO KEEP MOVING AROUND + NOT STAY IN ONE PLACE TOO LONG, + TO DO SO WID OR WIDOUT PAK MIL SECURITY.

At some point in time, Osama's health probs forced him to stop???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 05/02/2011 22:27 Comments || Top||

#3  Looks like one above the eyebrow, one below.
Posted by: Skidmark || 05/02/2011 22:47 Comments || Top||


Q: SEAL Team 6 partied with Osama for 40+ minutes. Where was the Pak military all this time?
No source link associated with this, just something that I don't understand and thought I would share.

I understand that a major Pak military base was less than a kilometer down the road. Surely they would have heard all the commotion. Was this a Pak military base, or just some kind of academy?

If the Pak military knew they were there, wouldn't they have reacted instantly if they were allied with Osama?

If they didn't know he was there, wouldn't they have been a bit curious as to what all the gun-seks was about?

If they were against Osama and wanted the operation to proceed, wouldn't they have given the US time to get in and out before "responding"?

It's hard to believe that the US was the only side to do any shooting, and that we only used silencers. There was a guy in Pakistan who unknowingly tweeted the whole thing, I understand, bit by bit. It couldn't have been all that quiet.

Do we have "Blue Thunder"-style technology on our helicopters that allow them to fly in and land silently? Didn't they have to blow up one chopper in place for some reason? Do we also have silent explosives?
Posted by: gorb || 05/02/2011 14:17 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Over there, explosions and chopper noises are probably like car alarms...
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/02/2011 14:38 Comments || Top||

#2  If the Pak military knew they were there, wouldn't they have reacted instantly if they were allied with Osama?

They didn't want to die. The Paks in Somalia were pathetic. UN duty paid good money so it was a detail that was sought for cheap gain, political reward, etc. It wasn't sent because of its crack training. The same would go with those stationed in and around that immediate area. It was 'good' duty, palace guard type stuff that was a reward not based upon skill.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 05/02/2011 15:02 Comments || Top||

#3  Maybe the 'helicopter crash' was an across town diversion for the pakistan military to run to. The noise of the raid would then appear to be reaction to the crash.
Posted by: airandee || 05/02/2011 15:20 Comments || Top||

#4  One eyewitness report I read said there was an explosion, followed by a whole lot of shooting, followed by a big explosion.

So that would be blow the hole in the bedroom wall, five minutes to secure the target, then thirty minutes to exploit the premises, destroy the disabled chopper, and get out of Dodge.
Posted by: KBK || 05/02/2011 15:45 Comments || Top||

#5  If you are military in a war zone, and there is a bunch of shooting going on and an occasional exposion, here is what I would be thinking if I was a 100 yards away at the gate of the military installation. Now I, just a regular Pakistani army Joe of low rank, am not gonna know Osama lives only 100 yards away. Osama wouldn't want that known to army Joes, anywhere.

1st) Helicopters coming in. Well, this is an army area. And Terrorists don't have 4 military helicopters.

2) They ain't shootin at us! Must be our guys in helicopters taking out some bad people near the base or practicing, no other country would dare fly their army into Paky land. Drones but no army soldiers in helicopters.

3) 1 hour later, well they flew away. Its over, some women just ran up and said they been attacked.

4) D*****mn!!! Americans just came in! And the commander just told us Americans just contacted them about this thang! Better be a good reason or this is WAR!
Posted by: Chuckles Glomoque8763 || 05/02/2011 15:49 Comments || Top||

#6  Say you're a battalion commander in the Pak army. You hear lots of booms and bangs from that strange house down the road. Is it an ISI operation? An operation by some Pak general who doesn't keep you posted? And if you do think it's an American operation, you also think that America probably sent the baddest of its bad on this one, and if you walk outside there's a Hellfire with your name on it. Better just to stay in the barracks and turn the TV up to max volume.
Posted by: Matt || 05/02/2011 15:54 Comments || Top||

#7  #5 - sorry, posted before I saw yours.
Posted by: Matt || 05/02/2011 15:57 Comments || Top||

#8  Not to mention C3 problems the Paks don't want to tell the world about.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 05/02/2011 16:13 Comments || Top||

#9  "Where was the Pak military all this time?"

Hiding under the bed?

Mods: Needs the "frightened little girl hiding under bed" graphic. :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 05/02/2011 16:25 Comments || Top||

#10 

It is reported 4 MH-60's went in.
Posted by: Unating and Company3195 || 05/02/2011 16:46 Comments || Top||

#11 

Special ops MH-60 working the graveyard shift.
Posted by: Unating and Company3195 || 05/02/2011 16:58 Comments || Top||

#12 

"DevGru" Seal Team 6 - The team that went in to take out Osama Bin Laden and came out without a fatality or injury to themselves.
Posted by: Unating and Company3195 || 05/02/2011 17:08 Comments || Top||


Video: Bloody aftermath inside Osama bin Laden's compound
Amateur footage shows the bloodstained interior of Osama bin Laden's compound following his death at the hands of US special forces.
Posted by: Zebulon Thranter9685 || 05/02/2011 13:21 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1 
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 05/02/2011 14:33 Comments || Top||

#2  I do hope this animated "version" is nearer the truth than the what we're being told.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 05/02/2011 14:37 Comments || Top||

#3  White House: Osama bin Laden Used Wife As Human Shield
Brennan says bin Laden was engaged in the firefight, but it was unclear if he got any shots off. He identified bin Laden as the combatant who used a woman as a human shield. She was the only woman killed in the operation. Brennan later said it was his understanding that the woman was one of bin Laden's wives.
Posted by: Zebulon Thranter9685 || 05/02/2011 15:08 Comments || Top||


In Pakistan, an embarrassed silence on bin Laden
Neither Pakistan's spy agency, the Directorate of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), nor its military spokesmen returned repeated calls for comment on Monday. Adding to the silence, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani have said nothing publicly about the operation.
Ah...the spin will be delicious.
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/02/2011 12:25 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Here is a comment that was posted following a Times of India article:

[qt]I just saw a news programme on Al-Zazeera TV, in which the Arab reporters interviewed a few residents of Abbotabad, who lived in the neighborhood of the Compound where Osama lived from 1995. They said this house is strange, as it is almost 8 times larger than the houses in this area and it had about 18 feet high compound walls. The residents said the house always appeared mysterious, especially that it was located at a stone's throw away from Pakistani Military Academy and military establishment. The residents said that the town and the area is a highly Restricted Area, and EVERYBODY who wants to move in the area is subjected to a detailed security scrutinees, like checking IDs and references. Under these circutances, it was impossible for Bin Laden, his large family and armed security guards to be able to live there from 1995, without the protection of the ISI and Pak Army. The house was worth more than 1 million dollars and to survive in such a large and specially built house (large family and huge/constant medical expenses for ailing Osama) without any source of income was impossible, unless Bin Laden was being taken care of by the ISI, was not possible. Therefore, the conclusion is Osama was living in a ISI safe house.[/qt]
Posted by: Water Modem || 05/02/2011 13:47 Comments || Top||

#2  Water Modem

It was built in 2005 with whose permission?

Perv has been on UK TV with the right hump!
Posted by: Angeretle Snore6772 || 05/02/2011 14:00 Comments || Top||

#3  Somebody's got some splainin to do.
Posted by: Jefferson || 05/02/2011 14:01 Comments || Top||

#4  does it really surprise any of you that the paki government knew where he was at? Obama must have threatened too cut off the checks when they found out his location, that's why they suddenly gave eprmission too go in.
Posted by: chris || 05/02/2011 14:07 Comments || Top||

#5  "Oh, *that* Osama bin Laden!"
Posted by: SteveS || 05/02/2011 14:37 Comments || Top||

#6  The Pakis announced they had agents involved in this operation. What they didn't explain was that those agents were part of Osama's guard detail.

Al
Posted by: Frozen Al || 05/02/2011 15:08 Comments || Top||

#7  First it was 5 kills, now it's 22. I'm kinda getting real interested in who those other 17 were.
Posted by: RandomJD || 05/02/2011 22:45 Comments || Top||

#8  would be sweet if they were ISI minders and retired Pak Army honchos
Posted by: Frank G || 05/02/2011 22:53 Comments || Top||

#9  Why would that be sweet, Frank? Kinda like finding out your no-good freeloading boyfriend is also a backstabbing scumbag who hocked a family heirloom to spend on hookers and blow, gave you an incurable STD, ran over your dog, blames his abuse on your nagging, and still expects you to post bail after his 8th DUI arrest. Even when it isn't a shock, betrayal is never sweet.

Except if you mean the payback part?
Posted by: RandomJD || 05/02/2011 23:34 Comments || Top||


Abbottabad
Here are google maps of the place. I present a standard map and a terrain map. 'A' is the Pakistaini Military Academy. 'B' is Binny's Love Compound. Nope, one would never see the other, would they.






Posted by: Steve White || 05/02/2011 12:18 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I hear Abbottabad is lovely this time of year. Just a short Helicopter ride from most places.
Posted by: DK70 the Scantily Clad7177 || 05/02/2011 12:35 Comments || Top||

#2  Hmm... since I posted last night the photo of Khan's home has been removed from Google Maps.

It was straight east along the next road.
Posted by: Water Modem || 05/02/2011 12:51 Comments || Top||

#3  Heard Khan brought the bagels and lox when the community welcomed their new neighbors.
Posted by: DK70 the Scantily Clad7177 || 05/02/2011 14:41 Comments || Top||


Pak IT guy liveblogs Bin Laden raid...and doesn't know it
Sohaib Athar of Pakistan had no clue he was giving updates on one of the most daring helicopter assaults in history -- the deadly Navy SEAL operation targeting the world's most wanted terrorist.

So much for getting a rest -- IT consultant Sohaib Athar, who says he was trying to "take a break from the rat race" by staying in Abbottabad in north Pakistan, live tweeted one of the biggest events in history: the American raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

At about 1AM on May 1, Sohaib tweeted complaining about the disturbance a helicopter was making nearby. "Helicopter hovering above Abbottabad at 1AM (is a rare event)," he wrote. "Go away helicopter -- before I take out my giant swatter :-/"

"A huge window shaking bang here in Abbottabad..." the information-technology consultant continued. "I hope its not the start of something nasty :-S"

Within an hour, Sohaib mused that the helicopter didn't belong to Pakistan or the Taliban. "Since taliban (probably) don't have helicpoters, and since they're saying it was not "ours", so must be a complicated situation" he tweeted.

After hours of speculating why helicopters were over Abbottabad, Sohaid finally connected the night's events with the fact that the United States and President Barack Obama were behind that raid that left bin Laden dead.

"Uh oh, now I'm the guy who liveblogged the Osama raid without knowing it," Sohaid wrote. "I need to sleep, but Osama had to pick this day to die :-/"

Because of his tweets, Sohaib now has a remarkable 40,000 + followers on Twitter. Sohaib last tweeted on May 2: "Bin Laden is dead. I didn't kill him. Please let me sleep now."
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/02/2011 11:45 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Physics that even makes sense to me, dept.

Scientists have created anti-hydrogen atoms. Now they have managed to trap a number of them for 1000 seconds, or 16 minutes 40 seconds. Now they plan to cool them down, so they can watch them do something ordinary.

In gravity, will they fall down or up? They hope to find out in a few months.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 05/02/2011 20:24 Comments || Top||

#2  Ummmmmmmm...what?
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/02/2011 22:39 Comments || Top||

#3  apparently Bin Laden's body contained alien DNA and anti-hydrogen, along with anti-gravity and Pelosi's Boson particles....errr what?
Posted by: Frank G || 05/02/2011 22:52 Comments || Top||

#4  In gravity, will they fall down or up?

Warn me before you start the experiment so I can be on the other side of the planet, OK?

As for UBL, he's headed down ....
Posted by: gorb || 05/02/2011 23:04 Comments || Top||


Osama bin Laden dead: killed yards from Pakistan's 'Sandhurst'
Osama bin Laden was killed by US forces just 800 yards from Pakistan’s top military academy which is seen as the equivalent of Sandhurst.

The most wanted man in the world was living in a secure compound in the town of Abbottabad, 60 miles north of the capital Islamabad.

His fortress-style property – described as “custom built to hide someone of significance” – was only a short distance from the Kakul Military Academy, which trains officers of the Pakistan army. The academy is one of several military strongholds in the town.

His proximity to Kakul prompted questions over how much the Pakistani security services knew about his whereabouts.
Posted by: Zebulon Thranter9685 || 05/02/2011 10:52 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Alot of retired generals lived in the area.

I wonder if Hamid Gul and Dr Khan live in the neighbourhood?
Posted by: Angeretle Snore6772 || 05/02/2011 13:53 Comments || Top||

#2  net rumors that he was teaching there.
Posted by: Water Modem || 05/02/2011 14:26 Comments || Top||

#3  "About how much the Pakistani security services knew about his whereabouts" > THE HELL YOU SAY!

[KELLY BUNDY here].
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 05/02/2011 22:06 Comments || Top||


Osama's Killing Major Embarrassment for Pak Army
In what could come as a big embarrassment for Pakistan's powerful army chief General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, al-Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden was killed just yards from a military compound that he visited last month where he had famously claimed that his forces had broken the "terrorist backbone".

"The terrorist backbone has been broken and Inshaallah we will soon prevail," Kayani said in his address at a passing out parade at the Pakistan Military Academy at Kakul on April 23 in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.

Incidentally, Osama was today killed in a highly secured compound just 800 yards away from the academy by the US special forces' personnel.
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 05/02/2011 10:22 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Interesting to find out who built the house five years ago and the planning permission.

I can see some paperwork going up in fire!
Posted by: Angeretle Snore6772 || 05/02/2011 11:27 Comments || Top||

#2  I was just looking at the Osama spread on Google Earth. Is that the Military Academy to the West, across the highway? With two grass airstrips alongside? I took the place for glasshouses.
34 09 59 N, 73 13 42 E, by the way.
Posted by: Grunter || 05/02/2011 11:28 Comments || Top||

#3  Turn on Google Maps "Photo" feature. Slide 1 block East to the first Photo....
Ah Hah! Khan's house!!!!
Posted by: Water Modem || 05/02/2011 11:41 Comments || Top||

#4  Clear your cache and check again, WM. I am afraid the info is no longer there.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 05/02/2011 12:10 Comments || Top||

#5  Imagine being a big bad Paki General with scrambled eggs all OVER your hat and having some American Special Forces pull your trousers down and laugh at you little limp twinkie.

Way to go there Brigadier General Abdrool. Majot Boogey March.

..mmm..mmm..had one BIG ball, Goering had two but they were small. Himmler had sumthin' simmler, but Goebbels had NO ball at'all.....

Tubas on full, stomp your boots...
Posted by: de Medici3489 || 05/02/2011 20:06 Comments || Top||

#6  IMO THE ATTACK + DEATH OF OSAMA THIS WEEK ASKS MORE QUESTIONS THAN ANSWERS, ESPEC FOR THE US GOVT INCLUD BUT LIMITED TO POTUS BAMMER + ADMIN.

E.g. DRUDGEREPORT > [Osama Bin Laden, etal] PROTECTED BY PAKISTANI SECURITY.

No one is going to believe that wid a PAK Army Mil Academy nearby, + Mil Hospital, + a certain Top Govt. Islamabad Pol-critter, etc. that Pakistan did not know nor did protect OBL.

The above + use of 24-40 USN SEALS tells anyone that the US expected heavily armed resistance from Osama's personal/compound security including ala Osama-assigned Pak Army elements - as OBL was a high-value target, there were most likely USAF AC-130 SPECTRE gunships overwatching the SEALS' insertion + surrounding areas in case the Pak Army attempted to send in mass reinforcements from the nearby PAK garrison(s) to save Osama + company.

* 24-40 SEALS > STRIKE IN SURPRISE, CAPTURE OR KILL OBL, THEN QUICKLY DEPART WID OSAMA, OTHER? WID ENOUGH MEN TO FIGHT OFF ANY INCOMING PAK ARMY RESISTANCE THAT GET THROUGH THE SPECTRES OR OTHER CLOSE-SUPPORT HELOS.

Its quite possible that Islamabad may had decided to sacrifice OBL to the USA, given the current state of US-PAK Relations [Drone Strikes controversy] + detrimental risk to PAK econ asistance from the US. IOW, OSAMA'S PAK ARMY GUARDS MAY HAD WEIRDLY-N-MYSTERIOUSLY
"DISAPPEARED" AT THE TIME OF THE SEALS' ATTACK.

Osama was also personally wealthy enough to buy advanced area monitoring systems, as complemented by those used for his security by the Pak Army.

I believe the USA knew Osama's whereabouts for YEARS longer than publicly or officially acknowledged - IMO THE REAL QUESTION IS WHY ATTACK + KILL OSAMA NOW???

DID THE PAK ARMY NOT ONLY REMOVE THEIR GUARDS BUT HAD ALSO "TURNED OFF" THEIRS + OSAMA'S? MONITORS THAT WOULD'VE DETECTED THE INCOMING AMER SEAL FORCE???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 05/02/2011 21:20 Comments || Top||

#7  On a separate note, I wouldn't use SGT SCHULTZ in this Artic - when Schutlz was made temporary STALAG 13 Commander by Col. Klink in order to promote German NCO morale, Hogan + Boyz thought they would have an easier time accomplishing their covert sabotage ops than as under Klink.

IIRC it tunred out that Schultz was not only a better Leader than officer Klink, but the reforms he instituted for Stalag security stopped Hogan + Boyz dead in their tracks.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 05/02/2011 21:29 Comments || Top||

#8  DID THE PAK ARMY NOT ONLY REMOVE THEIR GUARDS BUT HAD ALSO "TURNED OFF" Didn't have to be done by the whole 'PAK ARMY', could have been done by just a few key people in it, perhaps lured with promises of Green Cards for them &/or their relatives.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 05/02/2011 21:53 Comments || Top||

#9  So. Let's assume the Paks were actually and actively hiding him.
The folks who know best how good our intel gathering and analysis is is us. Next, due to practical experience, is the ISI.
Did they really think we would never find him?
Did they really think that, having found him, we wouldn't go after him wherever he was?
Recall the time the IAF didn't destroy a nuclear reactor the Syrians didn't have and left no tracks? We couldn't do as well?
What were they thinking? That they could defend him against us?
Something missing here.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey || 05/02/2011 22:43 Comments || Top||

#10  JoeM, good analysis. I actually understood every word. :)

Richard, I bet they were thinking "Insh'allah." And, "we have nukes, and they have no spine."

I'll be interested to see what we're gonna do about it.
Posted by: RandomJD || 05/02/2011 23:05 Comments || Top||


And Credit For The Kill Goes To SEAL TEAM 6
The military team that killed Osama Bin Laden is an elite special forces group unofficially called Seal Team 6.

Officially, the team's name is classified and not available to the public, technically there is no team 6. A Tier-One counter-terrorism force similar to the Army's elusive Delta group, Team 6's mission rarely make it to paper much less the newspaper.

It shows how important the publicity about Bin Laden's killing is to the U.S. that this morning, Team 6 is front pages news.

The members of Team 6 are all "black" operatives. They exist outside military protocol, engage in operations that are at the highest level of classification and often outside the boundaries of international law. To maintain plausible deniability in case they are caught, records of black operations are rarely, if ever, kept.

The development of SEAL Team 6 was in direct response to the 1980 attempt to rescue the American hostages held in Iran. The mission was a terrific failure that fell apart at many points and illustrated the need for a dedicated counter-terrorist team capable of operating with the utmost secrecy.

The Team was labeled 6 at the time to confuse Soviet intelligence about the number of SEAL teams in operation at the time. There were only two others.

Team 6 poached the top operatives from other SEAL units and trained them even more intensely from there. Even among proven SEAL's the attrition rate for Team 6 is reported to be nearly half.

There are no names available for current Team 6 members, but the CIA does recruit heavily from their numbers for their Special Operations Group, so it makes sense that they were chosen to work with the CIA on this mission.

Team 6 is normally devoted to missions with maritime authority: ship rescues, oil rigs, naval bases or land bases accessible by water. There are no waterways near Bin Laden's compound.

When a former Navy SEAL was called for a comment about this article all he could say was: "You know I'd love to help you man, but I can't say a word about Team 6. There is no Team 6."
Posted by: Anonymoose || 05/02/2011 09:50 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  “We sleep safe in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would do us harm.”

George Orwell


Amen...
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/02/2011 10:04 Comments || Top||

#2  ..and thanks to the judiciary's striking down of the Stolen Valor Act, there are now 25,000 new members of SEAL TEAM 6 as of today.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 05/02/2011 10:10 Comments || Top||

#3  Well done, gentlemen. Well done.
Posted by: Mike || 05/02/2011 10:16 Comments || Top||

#4  US Navy DEVGRU and CIA SAD are the names you want to google.
Posted by: The Other Beldar || 05/02/2011 10:18 Comments || Top||

#5  Is it possible to give these guys the CMOH?

We must continue to hunt and kill people who advocate the violent destruction of our country. Too bad we can use this operation as a warning to Hamas and Hizbullah.

Who's next? Zawahiri?
Posted by: Bill Clinton || 05/02/2011 10:34 Comments || Top||

#6  Brave men! Thanks!
Posted by: JohnQC || 05/02/2011 10:43 Comments || Top||

#7  Navy SEAL Team 6
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 05/02/2011 10:45 Comments || Top||

#8  Has the New York Times published their name, home addresses, and that of their next of kin yet?

And yes - that is a serious question.

And apparently their mission was to kill, not capture Bin Laden.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 05/02/2011 11:06 Comments || Top||

#9  And apparently their mission was to kill, not capture Bin Laden.

The rumblings I have been hearing is that they were to go in and, if possible, capture. But dead is an acceptable outcome as well and the rules of engagement were almost zero in the building. Which means if it moves, or hides behind a woman, or is said woman, it either complies or dies.
Posted by: DarthVader || 05/02/2011 11:27 Comments || Top||

#10  ROE: "Cut down their groves and vineyards, and plow their fields with salt. Make their wives widows and their children orphans. Collect all bodies if possible, take DNA samples if you can't. Take pictures. Recover all useful intelligence information. Leave smoking holes as needed. The Secretary may disavow all knowledge of your actions. Happy hour is from 2000-close. This ROE is classified."
Posted by: Anonymoose || 05/02/2011 12:12 Comments || Top||

#11  Picture of the downed helicopter. Looks like they clipped the wall.
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/02/2011 12:58 Comments || Top||

#12  Job well done.
Posted by: Dave UK || 05/02/2011 13:15 Comments || Top||

#13  The nomenclature is SEAL Team Six, but that's exactly the sort of detail that I'd expect a journalist to get wrong.
Posted by: gromky || 05/02/2011 13:26 Comments || Top||

#14  Congrats again to the FBI for promptly updating its records.
Posted by: Matt || 05/02/2011 13:41 Comments || Top||

#15  since they probably not abloe too receive the CMOH, how about we split the 25 million reward between the members!
Posted by: chris || 05/02/2011 14:11 Comments || Top||

#16  > how about we split the 25 million reward between the members?

I must've been in business too long, as I thought, that'll just about cover the cost of the Helo...
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 05/02/2011 16:26 Comments || Top||

#17  just take the helo cost out of the next AID check too pakiland! Especially since they have been hiding him for 10 plus years.
Posted by: chris || 05/02/2011 18:11 Comments || Top||

#18  "the next AID check to pakiland"

I demand a refund!
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 05/02/2011 19:24 Comments || Top||

#19  I have never figured out why it was printed
Posted by: chris || 05/02/2011 22:04 Comments || Top||

#20  Is it possible to give these guys the CMOH?

I doubt it. It would make them targets. Perhaps they could issue a medal to the team and display it at HQ, if such a place exists?

Picture of the downed helicopter. Looks like they clipped the wall.

They blew it up. Given those guys' testosterone level, I'm surprised it didn't end up entirely outside the compound wall.
Posted by: gorb || 05/02/2011 22:23 Comments || Top||

#21  These were LB drivers from the 160th.
The pilot probably smacked down a roof defense cell on his way out.
Posted by: Skidmark || 05/02/2011 22:54 Comments || Top||


Pakistan Military thread discussing Abottabad helicopter crash
Retrieved from Google Cache...
Default Re: Pakistan army helicopter crash.

They were on a training mission and the heli crashed due to some technical fault.

Original Post By CallsignAlzaeem
Yes u are right cuz I know somebody who witnessed this helicopter roaming around 12:30am till 1:15am like 200meters above ground....the area is almost 1-2km away from PMA kakul road its called Thanda Chowa Village area now developed into a small town... The helicopter looked like on training exercise... there seemed to be some kinda faulty noise coming from its engine(from the noise it looked like something iswrong with it).....there was some kinda explosion ...but the helicopter fell 15 minutes after the explosion..... The helicopter lights were turned off....and it was roaming around in the radius of 2 to 3 kilometers....over that area...the guy seen this all from his roof top....cuz he was amazed why the helicopter is not landing for one hour and is flying without its lights turned on(maybe the lights were not wrking)..maybe it was trying to find place to land in some open area....the whole area was covered under darkness due to load shedding at that time...After the incident pplz seen rushing towards the scene area...The more detail will be seen tomorrow I guess...
Posted by: phil_b || 05/02/2011 03:47 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Linked to the second page by mistake. Well worth going back to page 1 and reading whole thread.

From one post,

as a friend of mine who was having a fag on the roof of his house said , there were three or more helis none looked like normal pak ones , one crashed or either entered a fire ball and then disappeared .,the other two hovered around for a minute or so and then went toward mansehra and as he was seeing the helis flying toward mansehra he was knocked out but a massive blast .

Sounds to me like it was hit by a missile.
Posted by: phil_b || 05/02/2011 3:54 Comments || Top||

#2  Is it just me, or did this page disappear. I read the forum earlier, but now the site seems to be blocked.
Posted by: anon || 05/02/2011 7:07 Comments || Top||

#3  Yep, its offline.

Google cache copy
Posted by: phil_b || 05/02/2011 7:23 Comments || Top||

#4  Thanks for posting that, Phil. I read it before it went down , very interesting!
Posted by: anon1 || 05/02/2011 7:40 Comments || Top||

#5  Very interesting, but not really much info. Google cache was REALLY slow. Maybe not complete page load??? Style sheet didn't load....
Posted by: Scooter McGruder || 05/02/2011 8:06 Comments || Top||

#6  This is why we post the relevant snippets in the article summary instead of just a link to who knows where.
Posted by: gromky || 05/02/2011 8:12 Comments || Top||

#7  If you cant trust your government, who CAN you trust?

So the Paks are saying they "Gave" us Bin Laden's body and we say we then quietly disposed of it in the nearest salt drink.

Bill Clinton:"Okie dokey. (And no pictures).
George Bush:" Tie this dildo on your face and squat on the coffee table..Hussein".

Obama:"Hand me the press phone and get me my clown nose first."
Posted by: de Medici3489 || 05/02/2011 9:01 Comments || Top||

#8  Seriously troll? Get lost you loser. Time to put an IP ban on the asshole formerly known as Angleton.
Posted by: The Other Beldar || 05/02/2011 9:13 Comments || Top||


Zawahri likely to succeed bin Laden - Rooters
Islamabad - Egyptian-born doctor and surgeon and
"emir as it were"
Ayman al-Zawahri is al Qaeda's second-in-command expected to succeed Osama bin Laden following his killing in a fire-fight with US forces in Pakistan.

Zawahri has been
the leader Egyptian Islamic Jihad and
the the brains behind bin Laden and his al Qaeda network, and at times its most public face, repeatedly denouncing the US and its allies in video messages.


from Wikipedia:

The Egyptian Islamic Jihad formerly called simply Islamic Jihad originally referred to as "al-Jihad," and then "the Jihad Group", or "the Jihad Organization", is an Egyptian Islamist group active since the late 1970s. It is under worldwide embargo by the United Nations as an affiliate of al-Qaeda. It is also banned by several individual governments including that of the Russian Federation. Since 1991 it has been led by Ayman al-Zawahiri.

The organization's original primary goal was to overthrow the Egyptian Government and replace it with an Islamic state. Later it broadened its aims to include attacking the United States and Israel interests in Egypt and abroad.

EIJ has suffered setbacks as a result of numerous arrests of operatives worldwide, most recently in Lebanon and Yemen.[citation needed] In June 2001, Al Qaeda and Egyptian Islamic Jihad, which had been associated with each other for many years, merged into "Qaeda al-Jihad."
Posted by: Besoeker || 05/02/2011 02:22 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Yup, now our attention turns to Dr. al-Zawahiri.

That should be about the end of it. We have killed all the "#3" leaders several times over.

Posted by: crosspatch || 05/02/2011 3:09 Comments || Top||

#2  Compound (NOTE: not the one that has been floating around purported to be the compound):

Linky
Posted by: crosspatch || 05/02/2011 3:13 Comments || Top||

#3  Hint: Concentrate on fortified buildings in Pakiland without telephone and internet.
Posted by: European Conservative || 05/02/2011 3:18 Comments || Top||

#4  Keep the eyes and ears open. Chances are the rats are moving to another hole. Maybe you can catch them on the run.
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/02/2011 9:30 Comments || Top||

#5  Zawahiri is probably living in a compound in Costellobad.
Posted by: Penguin || 05/02/2011 11:37 Comments || Top||

#6  What military town is he hid in?

Same as Mullah Omar?
Posted by: Angeretle Snore6772 || 05/02/2011 14:30 Comments || Top||

#7  Probably someplace in Laurelandhardystan.
At least I got it, Penguin...
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/02/2011 14:35 Comments || Top||

#8  Penguin and tu3031 -- my wife and I were cracking similar jokes last night. First references I've seen so far on line. Y'all are good (as much as us, of course ;) ).
Posted by: Pollyandrew || 05/02/2011 16:00 Comments || Top||

#9  In Iraq after we got Zarquawi the next up clown usually bought the farm in about six to eight weeks average. Then there were no more.

And the Left and the Newshounds dont talk so big about Iraq anymore. If fact its just not in the news much.

Obama never did shut Guantanamo down did he?

Now Osama is dead cringing behind a woman in his last seconds.
And every Moslem who doesnt like it can suck on it ANYWAY.
Posted by: de Medici3489 || 05/02/2011 19:47 Comments || Top||

#10  "... Costellobad" > Actually, as per "Abbottobad" it may be more truth than fiction, as I remember reading News from the late 1960's-early 1970's that Pakistan did seemingly name a place there in honor of the famous comedy team.

OTOH it was a long time ago, + it is possible that the Artic per se describing the above was just a Sensationalist/Tabloid fake meant for Adult fun, not impressing kids like myself.

[VERY YOUNG GLEN BECK + EXOSKETCH, NOTE BOARDS here].
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 05/02/2011 22:45 Comments || Top||

#11  As for AYMAN, given his age + background I'm more inclined to think He as a successor to Osama will share leadership of AL QAEDA wid one of the younger set.

Also, OSAMA per se had TWENTY = 20 SONS.

* ION FREEREPUBLIC > US EXPECTS RAPID Al-QAEDA RETALIATION [for OBL's death = "martyrdom"], US RECALLS MARINE NUCLEAR-BIOLOGICAL-CHEMICAL UNIT, from 03/11 Earthquake-Tsunami damaged Japan.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 05/02/2011 22:54 Comments || Top||

#12  ABC NEWS > [Omar Bin Laden] BIN LADEN'S SON: WORSE IS YET TO COME.

OMAR says now-dead Big Daddy-o OSAMA was actually the MOST BENEVOLENT = REASONABLE OF HIS CIRCLE.

IOW, IUUC OSAMA = UNCLE MUAMMAR IN LIBYUH = AMER'S BEST "FRENEMY" IN PAKISTAN = AFPAK???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 05/02/2011 23:01 Comments || Top||


Pakiwakiland claiming their operation killed Osama and they gave his body to US.
Pakistani Urdu TV channel Geo News quoted Pakistani intelligence officials as saying that the world's most wanted terrorist Osama Bin Laden was killed in a search operation launched by the Pakistani forces after a Pakistani army helicopter was shot down in the wee hours of Monday in Abbotabad, a mountainous town located some 60 kilometers north of Pakistan's capital city of Islamabad.

At about 1:20 a.m. local time a Pakistani helicopter was shot down by unknown people in the Sikandarabad area of Abbotabad. The Pakistani forces launched a search operation in the nearby area and encountered with a group of unknown armed people. A fire exchange followed between the two sides.

When the fire exchange ended, the Pakistani forces arrested some Arab women and kids as well some other armed people who later confessed to the Pakistani forces they were with Osama Bin laden when the fire was exchanged and Bin Laden was killed in the firing.

Local media reported that after the dead body of Bin Laden was recovered, two U.S. helicopter flew to the site and carried away the dead body of Bin Laden.

Initial reports said that at least one was killed and two others were injured in the crash. At least two houses were engulfed by the huge fire caused by the crashed chopper.

Rescue team rushed to the site shortly after the crash was reported and the armed forces cordoned off the area and launched a search operation there.

Sources of Xinhua said they tried to enter the area after the incident took place, but no media people were allowed inside.

"No one knows in that helicopter crash Bin Laden was killed," said the sources.
Posted by: Water Modem || 05/02/2011 02:09 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  and we all know this is a fabricated lie. The Paks and ISI knew he was there. Cut off all aid and cooperation
Posted by: Frank G || 05/02/2011 8:22 Comments || Top||

#2  Ah, yes. The Mighty Pak Army™. Guardians of...something.
At least this should impress the girls at the local whorehouse. Might even get 'em a freebie.
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/02/2011 9:37 Comments || Top||

#3  of COURSE it was a local op. wink wink Just like when the Colombians took out Pablo Escobar with a head shot.
Posted by: Whenter McCoy5965 || 05/02/2011 10:03 Comments || Top||

#4  Saving face. It's bad enough that the CIA is not only sending drones all over the wild border areas with impunity, and mere CIA contractors like the arrested Mr. Davis roam major cities, carrying guns to defend themselves from being mugged, but American Special Forces can helicopter in from Afghanistan to steal a special guest out from under the noses of Pakistan's West Point generals. If Pakistan can't claim control of the operation, at very least the government is likely to fall, it seems to me.
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/02/2011 10:06 Comments || Top||

#5  No doubt the Pakistainis finally dropped a dime on their foreign guest, otherwise there would be a lot more fireworks and a little battlespace prep for this operation. The interesting question is why now? I suspect the motivation was money and how to keep it coming in. I also suspect there are some new vacancies at the ISI now.
Posted by: SteveS || 05/02/2011 18:54 Comments || Top||


NATO supplies attacked in Pindi Gheb, four policemen killed
[Pak Daily Times] Four coppers were killed and 11 containers transporting supplies to NATO forces in Afghanistan were completely destroyed when unidentified ermed men fired rockets on NATO containers and the police checkpost on Rawalpindi-Talagang Road near Dhalya Chowk on Sunday. The attack took place in Pindi Gheb some 122 kilometres east of Islamabad. According to reports, four personnel, including sub-inspector Ramazan, constable Muhammad Munir, constable Asif Mehmood and wireless operator Zafar were killed in the rocket attack. The fire engulfed the petrol pump as the fire brigade personnel were trying to control it. As soon as the police reached the spot, the attackers managed to escape.
Posted by: Fred || 05/02/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: TTP


11 vehicles torched as MQM mourns leader's killing
[Pak Daily Times] Karachi: Around 11 vehicles were torched in incidents of violence, as complete strike was observed here on Sunday on the call given by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) to observe the day as the day of mourning against the incidents of murders, in which sympathisers, workers and leaders of the party have been targeted.

Commercial and private activities in major parts of the city remained completely suspended.

Almost the entire city gave a deserted look. There was no public transport and only a few vehicles were seen on roads.

During the day, myrmidons set 11 vehicles on fire in different areas of the city, while gun sex was also reported in many areas, creating panic and tension.

Heavy contingents of police and rangers were deployed across the city but the law enforcers were unable to halt the incidents of firing.

According to reports, three vehicles were set ablaze in Ibrahim Hyderi, while two cars were gutted in Karimabad, within the limits of Azizabad cop shoppe.

Other areas where vehicles were set on fire, included Sadder, Burns Road, Orangi Town, Baldia, Korangi and New Bloody Karachi area.

The areas where call for the mourning was not as much effective, included Sohrab Goth, Sultanabad, Quaidabad, Old Subzimandi, Banaras and Mangopir.

Rest of the city, however, remained closed and even no pushcart vendors or petrol pump was seen open across the length and breadth of the city. Intercity transporters avoided plying their vehicles, while buses disembarked the commuters at Sohrab Goth.

Skirmishes between rival ethnic groups were reported from various ethnically sensitive areas, such as Orangi Town, Banaras and Abul Hassan Ispahani Road.

However,
The well-oiled However...
no major incident was reported, but intermittent gun sex continued in different sensitive areas of the city.
Posted by: Fred || 05/02/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


25 terrorists killed, hideouts destroyed in gunship attacks
[Pak Daily Times] At least 25 bad boyz were potted and several were maimed in Baizai tehsil of Mohmand
... Named for the Mohmand clan of the Sarban Pahstuns, a truculent, quarrelsome lot. In Pakistain, the Mohmands infest their eponymous Agency, metastasizing as far as the plains of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar, Charsadda, and Mardan. Mohmands are also scattered throughout Pakistan in urban areas including Bloody Karachi, Lahore, and Quetta. In Afghanistan they are mainly found in Nangarhar and Kunar...
Agency when security forces destroyed their hideouts by gunship helicopters on Sunday. One security personnel was killed and five were also injured in the exchange of fire. According to reports, security forces on Sunday targeted terrorist hideouts in the rural areas of Baizai tehsil near the Pak-Afghan border including Soran Dara, Sheikh Baba and Walidad Kor, destroying many hideouts. Separately, a deceased member of the Aman Committee, Raza Khan, was buried at his ancestral graveyard in Rawalpindi. Mohmand Agency political agent, Amjad Ali, condoled the death of Khan with the bereaved family and announced Rs 100,000 for the family.
Posted by: Fred || 05/02/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: TTP

#1  When Dara Shikoh lost out in the succession ( about 1587 give or take) against Aurangzeb he fled into this region with a retinue of wives and loyal servants. Its narrow dark stone precipice lined valleys...and high above the valley is a stone fortress, much of it dug into the mountain like Ali Baba's cave with great barn doors and steel studded gates. Dara Shikoh was never heard from again...but the local people did send his head to Aurangzeb with a witty note that he could come himself and he would get the same.

Its all still up there today and tourist markers alongside the road put there by the British in the 1800's telling that the 14th Welsh and the 9th Irish lost 203 men storming the place and never DID take it. The Paks leave the signs on the road today untouched so anybody in the next 500 years who want to try it again can read all about it.

It you want to drive through there it will cost you about 800 rupees per truck per trip. And they will steal your watch too.

There is no law in there, there hasnt been any for hundreds and hundreds of years. Bring the kids.
Posted by: de Medici3489 || 05/02/2011 20:33 Comments || Top||

#2  PS, those people hate Helicopter gunships equipped with rockets.
Nobody has to climb rocks and storm jack poop if they have a couple of attack helicopters and some serious boom boom.

The people who live up there are stupid and greedy. They also are Moslems. They want that baksheesh. Sometimes you have to "persuade" them to leave the trucks alone.
Rockets and 40 mike mike convince even stupid people.
Posted by: de Medici3489 || 05/02/2011 20:38 Comments || Top||


Iraq
11 U.S. soldiers killed in April
BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: Eleven U.S. soldiers were killed in April including six in "non-combat operations," upping the U.S. army’s fatalities to 4452 since the March 2003 invasion of Iraq, 22 of them in 2011.

On April 2, the U.S. army said two soldiers were killed in indirect fire in Babel and Baghdad. On April 3 it said one soldier was killed in a non-combat incident in Mosul, and announced on April 4 that a captain and a soldier were killed in other non-combat incidents in Baghdad and Mosul respectively.

On April 10, the U.S. military said a soldier was killed in Kirkuk, and on April 19 it announced the death of a soldier was killed of another U.S. soldier but did not say where.

On April 22, two soldiers were killed in improvised explosive device (IED) blasts in Ninewa, as well as another one in Babel in a non-combat operation on April 27. Reuters quoted the U.S. army as saying that another soldier was killed on April 27 by hostile fire in southern Iraq.
Posted by: Steve White || 05/02/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Well, someone's not happy about it...
Surprise, surprise, surprise...
The Palestinian Islamist group Hamas on Monday condemned the killing by U.S. forces of Osama bin Laden and mourned him as an "Arab holy warrior."

"We regard this as a continuation of the American policy based on oppression and the shedding of Muslim and Arab blood," Ismail Haniyeh, head of the Hamas administration in the Gaza Strip, told reporters.

Though he noted doctrinal differences between bin Laden's al-Qaida and Hamas, Haniyeh said: "We condemn the assassination and the killing of an Arab holy warrior. We ask God to offer him mercy with the true believers and the martyrs."
Perhaps you're next, Izzy?
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/02/2011 10:10 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  May Allah grant Sheikh Usama Martyrdom
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 05/02/2011 10:25 Comments || Top||

#2  "We regard this as a continuation of the American policy based on oppression and the shedding of Muslim and Arab blood,"

..because we won't roll over and submit like a groveling kafir? Kill our people and we'll hunt you down like the dogs you are and kill you. "Millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute."
Posted by: Procopius2k || 05/02/2011 10:57 Comments || Top||

#3  Good. Need more - Ismail would be a good start.

They want to play dirty, play real dirty.
Posted by: mojo || 05/02/2011 11:13 Comments || Top||

#4  i wonder if short round is happy?
Posted by: Angeretle Snore6772 || 05/02/2011 11:22 Comments || Top||

#5  Not many things are this clear in life.

If you support osama bin laden you are instantly a black hat.

IF you are a namby pamby what good does killing him do? you have revealed yourself to me.

it's just amazing. Count me on the side of the people that shoot osamas.
Posted by: anon1 || 05/02/2011 11:23 Comments || Top||

#6  I still keep waiting for Choudary to "fall" under an Underground train.
Perhaps someone will get the hint...
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/02/2011 11:27 Comments || Top||

#7  i wonder if short round is happy?

Can he even be reached for comment?
Posted by: gorb || 05/02/2011 13:12 Comments || Top||

#8  Perv Musharraff has been on UK TV really pissed off re the attack.Any money he gave the go ahead to build/house Bin Laden!
Posted by: Angeretle Snore6772 || 05/02/2011 14:03 Comments || Top||

#9  "We condemn the assassination and the killing of an Arab holy warrior."

I don't quite get it. He's a warrior, but his mortal enemy must not kill him if he can?

What's the point then?
Posted by: European Conservative || 05/02/2011 15:07 Comments || Top||

#10  Interesting comments from Haniyeh given HAMAS' historical proclamation for the support + empowerment of COMMIE-SOC SECULARISM.

* DRUDGEREPORT > TALIBAN COMMANDER [Commander "Qudos"]VOWS TO AVENGE BIN LADEN'S DEATH, warning that OBL's death = akin to MARTYRDOM by Osama = bring NO CHANGES TO JIHAD AS MUSLIMS WORSHIP GOD = ALLAH, NOT PUBLIC PERSONAGES.

* FREEREPUBLIC > TALIBAN THREATEN US, PAKISTAN OVER BIN LADEN.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 05/02/2011 21:42 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Malaysia arrests two Iranians in latest drug haul
[Pak Daily Times] Police said Sunday they shut down an international syndicate's bid to distribute drugs in southern Malaysia with the arrest of two Iranian smugglers and 4.5 kilos (10 pounds) of methamphetamine.
Free samples? Surely serious drug dealers would have a larger supply available.
Mohammad Mokhtar Mohamad Sharif, police chief in southern Johor state, told AFP the pair were tossed in the clink on arrival at the state's international airport on Wednesday. "We believe that both men are part of an international drug syndicate from the Middle East trying to distribute drugs in southern Malaysia which we have stopped," he said. "The drugs could be dealt out to at least 15,000 addicts in Johor," he added.

Mohammad Mokhtar did not identify the nationality of the couriers but state media said they were Iranians aged 22 and 27, and that the drugs were found hidden in a secret compartment of a trolley bag held by one of them. There has been a steep increase in the number of alleged Iranian narcos caught in Malaysia, with 138 tossed in the clink from January to October last year compared with 16 in the whole of 2009.
Posted by: Fred || 05/02/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Narcos


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Mass Arrests in Daraa, Douma
[An Nahar] Syrian forces tossed in the calaboose more dissidents Sunday in the flashpoint southern town of Daraa and in a Damascus
...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti...
suburb under siege for a week, after two days of fresh bloodshed, activists said.

Anti-regime protesters appealed for new protests to launch a "week of breaking the siege" imposed on Daraa and the Douma suburb, and other towns facing deadly crackdowns.

Six non-combatants were killed in Daraa on Saturday, after a day of massive protests in Syria, where rights groups say the civilian corpse count from unprecedented protests that erupted March 15 has topped 580.

Troops in tanks backed by other armored vehicles cruised Daraa streets on Sunday, shooting to keep residents indoors and arresting men aged 15 and over, an activist from the town told Agence La Belle France Presse by telephone.

"Since early morning the army and security forces have been combing neighborhoods one by one and making sweeping arrests. Hundreds have been tossed in the calaboose since Friday," said Abdullah Abizad.

In Douma, "the army has tightened the siege and has a list of 200 names of people it wants to arrest," another activist said.

"It appears the army has vowed not to leave Douma before arresting everyone on the list," the activist said, adding that scores have been rounded up already.

"There are also intermittent festivities in Douma between residents and the security forces, and there is a rumor that a member of the security forces was killed on Saturday," the activist said.

The Syrian Revolution 2011, a driving force behind the protests, vowed in a Facebook statement that "we will only kneel before God," and gave a daily schedule of protests in solidarity with the Daraa and Douma from Sunday.

The Facebook page reported a "mass rally" in the Idlib Governorate town of Kfarnibel "in support of Daraa" on Sunday.

For its part, opposition-affiliated Sham News Network reported demos in the Damascus suburb of Darayya and the Homs neighborhood of al-Khaldiyeh. "Protesters are calling for an end to the siege imposed on Daraa, Darayya and other cities," the news network said.

"At least 356 people were tossed in the calaboose today across Syria, including in Daraa, Douma, Latakia and Qamishli," an activist told AFP by telephone.

He said demonstrations were taking place in the central city of Homs, where protesters were chanting "the people demand the fall of the regime" in the Khaldiyeh area near al-Nour mosque.

A protest was also being held in the coastal city of Latakia and a candlelit vigil in Banias.
The army said it entered Daraa last Monday at the request of residents to rid them of "forces of Evil gangs" responsible for a spate of killings and vandalism.

"The manhunt for terrorist groups has lead to the death of six of them and the arrest of 149 wanted people as well as the seizing of a quantity of arms," a military front man said on Saturday.

The front man said one soldier was killed and seven others maimed on Saturday in Daraa.

Water and power have been cut in Daraa as the situation worsened after 3,000-5,000 troops supported by tanks stormed the town at dawn last Monday.

Abizad said living conditions were worsening.

"The humanitarian situation is very dire. There is no water, no food, no electricity. There are six bodies on the streets since Friday and we cannot get to them because of the snipers. There are also maimed we cannot reach."

"The snipers shoot at everything that moved. We had a dog in our neighborhood, a white dog, and they even shot him."

Activists were collecting signatures for a petition addressed to the health authorities urging the government to dispatch urgent medical and food supplies to Daraa's "women and kiddies," one activist said.

The Committee of the Martyrs of the 15 March Revolution, which has been keeping a tally of the dead, put the toll since the start of protests at 582 civilians.

The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights has a slightly lower toll of 545 civilians, adding that 86 army and security forces personnel have also been killed.

Activists say that more than 66 were reported killed on Friday alone in a "day of rage" against the regime. The authorities said nine members of the security forces were rubbed out by "terrorist groups."

Scores of prominent human rights
...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty...
and opposition Orcs and similar vermin are also being rounded up despite the lifting last week of nearly five decades of emergency rule and the abolition of the repressive state security court.

Lawyer Hassan Ismail Abdul Azim was taken from his office on Saturday, the National Organization for Human Rights in Syria said. At least 11 women who took part in a Damascus protest were also jugged, an activist said.

Activists said countrywide protests would begin with demonstrations for Daraa on Sunday and around Damascus on Monday.

Rallies are planned on Tuesday in the northern towns of Banias and Jableh, Wednesday in Homs, Talbisseh and in Tall Kalakh on the border with Leb, and nationwide night vigils on Thursday.

Pressure against the embattled president from home and abroad increased as more members of Assad's ruling Baath party resigned to protest at the security crackdown, a new list of 138 names showed.
Posted by: Fred || 05/02/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  That's an improvement on just shooting them.
Posted by: gr(o)mgoru || 05/02/2011 5:16 Comments || Top||


Syrian Troops Redeploy at Northern Border
[An Nahar] The number of Syrians seeking refuge in the Wadi Khaled region in Leb from the unrest in their country has diminished after the redeployment of Syrian border troops in the area adjacent to Leb, reported the daily An Nahar Sunday.

Hundreds of Syrian families flooded into the al-Buqayaa area last week following violence against anti-regime protestors in Syria.

Some 1500 Syrians from 325 families sought refuge in Leb, said security forces on the Lebanese-Syrian border.

They added that some 150 families returned to their town of Tall Kalakh in Syria overnight on Friday.

Regarding Leb's security precautions on the northern border, the daily reported that they have continued at the same rate in monitoring the border and mobilizing army patrols.
Posted by: Fred || 05/02/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Syrian protesters plan week 'to break the siege'
[Pak Daily Times] Anti-regime protesters in Syria on Sunday planned the start of a "week of breaking the siege" a day after troops killed six civilians in the southern flashpoint city of Daraa.

The Syrian Revolution 2011, a driving force behind the protests, vowed in a Facebook statement that "we will only kneel before God," and gave a schedule of protests in solidarity with the Daraa and the Damascus suburb of Douma, both besieged since Monday.

Troops in tanks backed by other armoured vehicles cruised Daraa streets on Sunday, shooting to keep residents indoors and arresting men aged 15 and over, an activist from the town told AFP in Nicosia by telephone.

"Since early morning the army and security forces have been combing neighbourhoods one by one and making sweeping arrests. Hundreds have been tossed in the calaboose since Friday," said Abdullah Abizad.

Thousands of troops stormed into Daraa six days ago and imposed a draconian siege on the town, epicentre of seven weeks of protests against the regime of President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad.
One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators. Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor...
On Saturday, scores of people killed the previous day in a "day of rage" were buried as Assad's regime came under renewed pressure from home and abroad with the United States imposing fresh sanctions on Syria.

At least 66 people were killed on Friday when tens of thousands of people demonstrated across Syria, activists said. The authorities said nine members of the security forces were rubbed out by "terrorist groups."

Activists said countrywide protests from Sunday would begin a "week of breaking the siege" -- a reference to Daraa and Douma -- with demonstrations planned for Daraa on Sunday and around Damascus on Monday.

Rallies are planned on Tuesday in the northern towns of Banias and Jableh, Wednesday in Homs, Talbisseh and in Tall Kalakh on the border with Leb, and nationwide night vigils on Thursday.

Water and power have been cut in Daraa as the situation worsened after 3,000-5,000 troops supported by tanks stormed the town nearly a week ago.
Posted by: Fred || 05/02/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria

#1  An old Moslem comedy routine..."I KEEEELL You!".


Syria isnt our friend, let's watch. Its Moslems killing Moslems so ANOTHER big moustache in stinky old curly toed slippers can be up next.

Is there any way we can air drop some guns and get paid? No?
Well, let them gnaw on each other's heads then.

Mohammed was that kinda guy.
Posted by: de Medici3489 || 05/02/2011 20:47 Comments || Top||


Syrians hang an effigy of Assad in front of their embassy in Amman
[Ennahar] More than 200 Syrians symbolically hanged an effigy of President Bashar Al-Assad during a demonstration Sunday against his regime in front of their embassy in Amman.

The protesters accused President Assad of committing "massacres and crimes against humanity", called for the downfall of his regime and condemned the repression of demonstrations in Syria.

"Stop the bloodshed," read a banner they were chanting, "people want to bring down the regime. Bashar is a traitor."

The army and Syrian security forces have carried out numerous arrests Sunday in several cities in Syria, while opponents have called for demonstrations in the country for the "lifting of the siege."

Unprecedented protests erupted in Syria since March 15, killing at least 539 deaths, while the "Committee of the deaders of 15 March" had counted at least 582 deaths.

"I decamped Deraa 13 days ago. My family is still there and told me that the army and security forces have committed mass murder," told AFP Imad, a Syrian of 29 who took part in the demonstration.

"People collect the corpses in the streets, but the army came and took them to conceal the crimes," he said.

Imad and other Syrians are considering an aid convoy to Deraa "to break the siege" and more demonstrations in Amman.
Posted by: Fred || 05/02/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  And Abdullah let them? Interesting.
Posted by: gr(o)mgoru || 05/02/2011 5:19 Comments || Top||


Syrians protest from rooftops after army action
[Arab News] Women and children in the besieged Syrian city of Daraa chanted "God is greatest against the tyrant" from rooftops in the night after troops backed by tanks intensified a crackdown on the city, a resident said.

Troops stormed into Daraa, cradle of a six-week-old uprising against President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad
One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators. Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor...
's authoritarian rule, a week ago to try to crush protests that have spread across the country of 20 million. Power and communications have been disrupted.

On Saturday, tanks shelled the old quarter of the southern city and security forces stormed the Omari mosque, a focal point for protests.

"The shelling has intensified. It is the worst night. Women and children are on their rooftops chanting 'God is Greater' against the tyrant," one resident, who lives in the Manshia neighborhood in the old quarter told Rooters by telephone.

He said security forces were entering homes and dragging men onto buses.

The chants echoed the calls of Iranian protesters who took to rooftops in Tehran chanting 'Allahu Akbar' (God is Greatest) during post-election unrest in 2009.

Foreign correspondents have largely been excluded from Syria since the protests escalated and the crackdown began.

A Syrian rights group said at least 560 civilians have been killed in the six-week-old uprising in support of demands for greater political freedom and action against corruption that has flourished under the Baath Party, in power since 1963.

The uprising, unthinkable only months ago, flared after mass protests toppled authoritarian leaders in Egypt and Tunisia. Demonstrations spread in Bahrain and escalated to civil war in Libya.

Newly appointed Prime Minister Adel Safar was quoted by state news agency SANA as saying his government would in the coming weeks draw up a "complete plan" of political, judicial and economic reforms.

The pledge was unlikely to dampen the intensity of protests. A severe crackdown followed the once-unthinkable gesture of lifting a decades-old emergency law this month.
Posted by: Fred || 05/02/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Does ANYBODY see Assad getting out of this?

I think no matter how it goes down in Syria that he is going to eat a whole dripping plate full of this and it wont get better, it will get worse.

The best thing for the US is do nothing at all to help Assad and let both sides bleed each other white. Is there any way we can get Iraq and/or Turkey to bite off a piece?

Its hard to feel sorry for Syria even on a good day. I recommend that as many people as possible crap in a plastic bag and mail it as a care package to anyplace in Syria. Do it for a better tomorrow.
Posted by: de Medici3489 || 05/02/2011 20:54 Comments || Top||


Terror Networks
One unwary phone call led US to bin Laden
Excellent summary on the hunt and the kill.
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/02/2011 17:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  In a secret CIA prison in Eastern Europe years ago, al-Qaida's No. 3 leader, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, gave authorities the nicknames of several of bin Laden's couriers, four former U.S. intelligence officials said. Those names were among thousands of leads the CIA was pursuing.

I would love to find that "water boarding" interrogation so hated by the left wing whackos lead to this information.
Posted by: Unating and Company3195 || 05/02/2011 17:23 Comments || Top||

#2  FTA: "Obama tapped two dozen members of the Navy's elite SEAL Team Six to carry out a raid"

SOCOM "tapped", Obama authorized. He made a decision, it took him how many months?
Posted by: tipover || 05/02/2011 17:27 Comments || Top||

#3  In the ensuing firefight, Brennan said, bin Laden used a woman as a human shield...
Posted by: Unating and Company3195 || 05/02/2011 17:29 Comments || Top||

#4  A purported head shot of a dead Osama Bin Laden has been released across the web. Rather gruesome. Was hit right between the eyes, twice. Can be Googled, warning, graphic.
Posted by: Unating and Company3195 || 05/02/2011 17:52 Comments || Top||

#5  Photoshop fake.
Osama bin Laden corpse photo is fake
Posted by: Zebulon Thranter9685 || 05/02/2011 18:20 Comments || Top||

#6 
Fox News now reporting the shots were a classic 'double tap'. One to center of mass, one to head.
Posted by: Parabellum || 05/02/2011 18:28 Comments || Top||

#7  "Bin Laden's body was washed and placed in a white sheet."

I'd have washed him in pig's blood and tossed him naked into the drink, with a couple of barbells chained to his ankles and neck just to be sure.

But that's just me.

Anybody remember the "Highlander" series/movie? I've got a great fantasy - Osama bin Dyin' was an immortal, so he woke up underwater, and lived awhile as the denizens of the deep nibbled on him, before he finally succumbed to the pressures of the bottom of the ocean that crushed him like the cockroach he was.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 05/02/2011 19:18 Comments || Top||

#8  Dick Cheney, we all know who he is, accepts the story about Bin Laden being killed. I was very doubtful this AM but am also now convinced. 40 minutes of tapes from the kill site in Pakistan. And apparently real photos DO exist of the body and the burial.( there will be fake ones made since there are a lot of people out there who want such articles and the original have not yet been commonly released).

He's dead. Tried to hide behind a woman? I believe that. The statement given to the entire Moslem world: you want to be like Osama? We WILL kill you.

You dont like us, we dont like you. And we have the size and the resources and you dont. Say hello to Zarquawi ,Binny. And if the Palestinians want to dance? We wont forget you either.

Long haul, lots of patience and double tap standard.
As long as it takes, we wont let it go and we WILL keep on coming.
As certain as it gets.
Posted by: de Medici3489 || 05/02/2011 19:41 Comments || Top||

#9  "Bin Laden's body was washed and placed in a white sheet."

This is the burial custom for run-of-the-mill muslims, not the same as that for martyrs.
Posted by: gorb || 05/02/2011 22:16 Comments || Top||


More on the firefight: Osama used wife as human shield
Posted by: Frozen Al || 05/02/2011 16:06 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


White House: Osama bin Laden Used Wife As Human Shield
John Brennan, a chief counterterrorism adviser to President Barack Obama, described to reporters on Monday the "tense" operation that killed Osama bin Laden, which he described as "decapitating the head of the snake known as al-Qaeda."

Brennan says bin Laden was engaged in the firefight, but it was unclear if he got any shots off. He identified bin Laden as the combatant who used a woman as a human shield. She was the only woman killed in the operation. Brennan later said it was his understanding that the woman was one of bin Laden's wives.
Posted by: Zebulon Thranter9685 || 05/02/2011 15:09 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  bet he was like zarqari in the video of his gun jamming and a subordinate having too show him how too clear it. She deserved too die as much as him good riddance too both. Now she won't be able too have anymore little jihadist.
Posted by: chris || 05/02/2011 18:09 Comments || Top||

#2  A wife, after all, is just so much baggage for the fearless mooselimb warriors...

What are they saying over at Kos, by the way?

Just wonderin'...
Posted by: Bobby || 05/02/2011 18:59 Comments || Top||

#3  It'll be good if they release the video of the firefight - or at least him cowering behind his wife and getting popped anyway.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 05/02/2011 19:02 Comments || Top||

#4  Hope his Silky Haired Goat's okay. And finds a new boyfriend...
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/02/2011 19:24 Comments || Top||

#5  Now we get to hunt for "ol' Bumpy" the new #1 with the prayer knob, Zarko.

That should about do it. How are they reporting all this in Mecca? I checked Paki news and its not a big leader in THEIR news. They are reporting that THEY captured bin Laden themselves and we were not involved until they GAVE him to us.
Moslem Values at it again. And NATO claims they were not after Khadaffy and it was all an accident they killed his son. Yeah? The News is fun, isnt it?

Eat it with a spoon.
Posted by: de Medici3489 || 05/02/2011 19:58 Comments || Top||


Taiwanese Animators Report on Bin Laden's Death - Hilarity Ensues
How we should be reporting OBL's death.
Posted by: DK70 the Scantily Clad7177 || 05/02/2011 13:49 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Video: OBL Dead - Inside the killsite..
Video at link from ABC News of the inside of the compound...
Posted by: CrazyFool || 05/02/2011 12:04 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Damn - can someone reclassify this from 'Tech and Moderator Notes' to something more approprate?

Thanks!
(On a side note - why can I post to that classification and why is it the default?)
Posted by: CrazyFool || 05/02/2011 12:09 Comments || Top||

#2  Something has to be the default, Crazy Fool. Quite a few of us have on occasion suffered from premature submission. ;-)
Posted by: trailing wife || 05/02/2011 12:14 Comments || Top||

#3  He's dead, Jim.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 05/02/2011 12:36 Comments || Top||

#4  Well..it appears SEAL Team Six knows how to party.
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/02/2011 12:38 Comments || Top||

#5  Just seen Perv on UK news and he is not happy LOL!
Posted by: Angeretle Snore6772 || 05/02/2011 13:56 Comments || Top||

#6  Interesting. Video shot during daylight hours, so long after US forces were gone.

Posted by: crosspatch || 05/02/2011 15:49 Comments || Top||


Bin Laden dead: Pak the new enemy?

Osama bin Laden died in house near Islamabad
From: AP May 02, 2011 3:56PM

big edit and snip of most of the story we know now and enjoy... to...

Abbottabad is home to at least one regiment of the Pakistani army, is dotted with military buildings and home to thousands of army personnel. so they knew he was here.

Surrounded by hills and with mountains in the distance, it is less than half a day's drive from the border region with Afghanistan, where most intelligence assessments believed bin Laden was holed up. Lucky we never told Pakistan we suspected he might be here. They would have told him and he'd be on the run. Can't trust Pakistan clearly.

The news he was killed in an army town in Pakistan will raise more pointed questions of how he managed to evade capture and whether Pakistan's military and intelligence leadership knew of his whereabouts and sheltered him. "We make no distinction between the terrorists and those that harbour them" George W. Bush. Pakistan is now the enemy.

Critics have long accused elements of Pakistan's security establishment of protecting bin Laden, though Islamabad has always denied this. Liars.
GREAT JOY TO ALL and CONGRATULATIONS to the mighty personel of the USA Military Intelligence who planned and executed such a fantastic hit. GOOD WORK. Generations will thank you.

And was it Seafarious who said it best? Enjoy your 72 raisins, a*hole.

Posted by: anon1 || 05/02/2011 02:45 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


President to announce that Bin Laden is dead dead dead
FINALLY
Posted by: European Conservative || 05/02/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Fred you can of course delete this duplicate to avoid unnecessary clicks
Posted by: European Conservative || 05/02/2011 1:30 Comments || Top||


Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 05/02/2011 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Happy Birthday/Daily Gam Shot

Mitzi Kapture aka Sergeant Rita Lee Lance in "Silk Stalkings (TV)" aka Rita in "Sams (TV)" aka Alexis Ryke in "Baywatch" aka Anita Hodges in "The Young and the Restless" aka official celebrity spokesperson for "Xeroderma Pigmentosum Society" (age 47)



Proof of Global Cooling
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 05/02/2011 0:40 Comments || Top||

#2  Via Instapundit: Bill Hobbs tweets: "Dude who nailed bin Laden will never be 'one-upped' anytime he's in a group swapping war stories."

LOL!
Posted by: Scooter McGruder || 05/02/2011 0:55 Comments || Top||

#3 

OK, Barack, you can wear it for a while ....
Posted by: gorb || 05/02/2011 2:31 Comments || Top||

#4  Photo of the HEADSHOT HERE.

Not Safe For Work. Or for women. Or for kiddies.
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
Posted by: Scooter McGruder || 05/02/2011 3:12 Comments || Top||

#5  For the first time, in a long time, it really is a .... GOOD MORNING.

Good Morning world.

Osama Bin Laden no longer walks the earth.

Bless everyone on this website. Bless the military, bless the USA. Whether you believe in God or not, whatever it means to you, joy to all!
Posted by: anon1 || 05/02/2011 3:43 Comments || Top||

#6  Scooter is that headshot for real? It's not photoshopped or anything? Is that the official pic?
Posted by: anon1 || 05/02/2011 3:44 Comments || Top||

#7  Why is his eye socket area so white and burned sort of looking? I can see the bullet hole but how come all that area is so weirdly pale?
Posted by: anon1 || 05/02/2011 3:46 Comments || Top||

#8  shopped and old pic
Posted by: European Conservative || 05/02/2011 3:58 Comments || Top||

#9  As far as I know it's authentic. Doesn't look Photoshopped to me... and I've been using Photoshop since version 1.0. You can compare it to this screenshot.
Posted by: Scooter McGruder || 05/02/2011 4:11 Comments || Top||

#10  ohhh thanks EC. I am vaguely disappointed. It might be ghoulish but I want to see the headshot.
Posted by: anon1 || 05/02/2011 4:12 Comments || Top||

#11  I wouldn't bet my life on it but I think I've seen a very similar pic years ago
Posted by: European Conservative || 05/02/2011 4:17 Comments || Top||

#12  E.C. -- Evidence? Please link the photo you've seen before. I hope you will forgive me if I don't just take your word on this.
Posted by: Scooter McGruder || 05/02/2011 4:27 Comments || Top||

#13  Live report by Chip Reid on CBS just asserted that there were only two helicopters, but even though one 'copter went down the remaining 'copter managed to extricate all US operatives, plus Osama's body which is in custody (presumably not buried at sea). The operation was allegedly in Northern Pakistan-- not far from India (Kashmir region), but not far from Afghanistan either.
Posted by: Scooter McGruder || 05/02/2011 4:47 Comments || Top||

#14  Scooter, link in the other thread
Posted by: European Conservative || 05/02/2011 4:51 Comments || Top||

#15  Well, date of the operation was allegedly about a week ago. Which matches the google cache, so I'm not entire sure the image has been debunked.
Posted by: Scooter McGruder || 05/02/2011 5:06 Comments || Top||

#16  My second source is from January 2010
Posted by: European Conservative || 05/02/2011 5:11 Comments || Top||

#17  Good work to the Strike Team! The president gets to meet YOU! hehe.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 05/02/2011 5:24 Comments || Top||

#18  Ok, as a Photoshop user since version 1.0 I acknowledge that this is probably the partial source of the photoshopped image I previously linked. I bow to E.C.'s superior recollection of existing images regarding the graphic in question!

It was a fake. I apologize for any confusion.
Posted by: Scooter McGruder || 05/02/2011 5:46 Comments || Top||

#19  No need to. It's popping up unchecked in the MSM.
Posted by: European Conservative || 05/02/2011 5:50 Comments || Top||

#20  One more post -- the mouth in both images line up perfectly in Photoshop. Image is totally fake. Thanks to E.C. for the help in debunking it.
Posted by: Scooter McGruder || 05/02/2011 6:06 Comments || Top||

#21  Welcome Scooter

But expect conspiracy theories popping up like mushrooms in 3..2..1

(photo is fake so the killing must be fake, too)
Category "no plane hit the Pentagon"
Posted by: European Conservative || 05/02/2011 6:17 Comments || Top||

#22  Elton John has released a tribute song called “sandals in the bin”
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 05/02/2011 6:17 Comments || Top||

#23  As penance for my previous fake headshot link, I hearby offer the following "Downfall" video link:



"...he had such a great beard!!!"
Posted by: Scooter McGruder || 05/02/2011 6:22 Comments || Top||

#24  On this occasion, I am reminded of the words of a great American philosopher and observer of the human condition, Jackie "Moms" Mabley (1894 – 1975):

Dick Cavett: Well, can't you say anything good about the dead?
Moms Mabley: He's dead--that's good!
Posted by: Mike || 05/02/2011 7:33 Comments || Top||

#25  thanks ec and scooter, good to go through that exchange since the pic is cropping up in the MSM, good to be informed ahead of time!

Because wait for it... the existance of a photoshopped pic going into the MSM is like a flaming red rag to the conspiracy bulls out there. They may take that as evidence he's not dead, it's all a hoax etc etc. You know what people are like. They are idiots, like the ones that somehow believe planes never flew into buildings, it was all an evil joooo conspiracy etc etc
Posted by: anon1 || 05/02/2011 7:44 Comments || Top||

#26  I wonder what Mullah Omar's pucker factor is at right about now. Time to get those bus tickets and see if he can get to North Korea.
Posted by: Tyranysaurus Thrigum9014 || 05/02/2011 8:16 Comments || Top||

#27  Abbottabad

The city is situated in the Orash Valley, 50 kilometres (31 mi) northeast of Islamabad and 150 kilometres (93 mi) east of Peshawar at an altitude of 4,120 feet (1,260 m) and is the capital of the Abbottabad District. The city is well-known throughout Pakistan for its pleasant weather, high standard educational institutions and military establishments. It remains a major hub for tourism of regions in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir in the summer.

Abbottabad is home to Kakul, the West Point of the Pakistani military.
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 05/02/2011 9:47 Comments || Top||

#28  One of Bennie's former neighbors, the Pakistan Military Academy at Kakul.



Abbottabad is also a fovorite retirement area for former Pak Army Officers.
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 05/02/2011 10:05 Comments || Top||

#29  i have now come across two... TWO facebook acquaintances who have sympathy for the devil. How?

One said... an eye for an eye makes everyone blind. Like an idiot.

The other one said. What good does it do?

Well I set them straight. I might be two friends down by morning.
Posted by: anon1 || 05/02/2011 10:42 Comments || Top||

#30  ...shows remarkable success in deterring recidivism.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 05/02/2011 10:59 Comments || Top||

#31  "an eye for an eye makes everyone blind"
Ghandi was a philosopher, not a mathematician or a sociologist: the criminal rate is closer to 1 to 100, so we're talking about 1 blind neutralized criminal, 2 guys with one eye, and 97 with both eyes and a valuable lesson learned.
Posted by: Ptah || 05/02/2011 11:32 Comments || Top||

#32  Another thing Ghandi was? A murder victim.
Posted by: tu3031 || 05/02/2011 11:36 Comments || Top||

#33  Abbottabad

Isn't that just down the road from Costellobad? (I'm still unfolding my map)
Posted by: SteveS || 05/02/2011 16:06 Comments || Top||

#34  He's dead, Jim.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 05/02/2011 16:46 Comments || Top||

#35  ahh HA Ptah, Tu3031. i'm going back on facebook to spread your wisdom before i get 'unfriended'!!
Posted by: anon1 || 05/02/2011 17:22 Comments || Top||



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Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has dominated Mexico for six years.
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Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
Gloria
Fred
Besoeker
Glenmore
Frank G
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Two weeks of WOT
Mon 2011-05-02
  Osama bin Laden sleeps widda fishes
Sun 2011-05-01
  Osama bin Laden dead
Sat 2011-04-30
  Saif al-Arab Gadhafi Reported Titzup
Fri 2011-04-29
  Blast kills 14 in Marrakesh; suicide bomber suspected
Thu 2011-04-28
  Some Syrian military units appear to be fighting each other.
Wed 2011-04-27
  Yemen's Ruling Party and Opposition To Sign Deal in Riyadh soon
Tue 2011-04-26
  NATO air strike pounds Gaddafi compound
Mon 2011-04-25
   470 inmates escape Kandahar jug
Sun 2011-04-24
  US carries out first drone strike in Libya
Sat 2011-04-23
  Yemen's president agrees to step down
Fri 2011-04-22
  Obama Authorizes Use of Drone Airstrikes in Libya...
Thu 2011-04-21
  Nigeria: Over 200 dead in the post-election riots
Wed 2011-04-20
  Syria government approves lifting state of emergency
Tue 2011-04-19
  Suicide Bomber Attacks Afghan Ministry of Defence
Mon 2011-04-18
  Five Hurt as Regime Agents Disperse Rallies in South Syria

Better than the average link...



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