We Got Him II: Electric Boogaloo

[Internet Apex]

Please tell me this is false.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_bin_laden_burial;_ylt=AnqQprrBgg8aJecq3HxytElg.3QA;_ylu=X3oDMTJtODVnNWpxBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTEwNTAyL3VzX2Jpbl9sYWRlbl9idXJpYWwEY3BvcwM3BHBvcwM3BHNlYwN5bl90b3Bfc3RvcmllcwRzbGsDb2ZmaWNpYWxiaW5s

WASHINGTON – A U.S. official says Osama bin Laden has been buried at sea.

It sends different messages to two different audiences.

To one, it says, "We respect Islamic customs and traditions even when it comes to our worst enemies."

To the other, it says, "We totally dumped this asshole in the fucking Indian Ocean!"

Well, ok. As long as they took care to chop his face off and parade around the deck in it while snapping off a bunch of sweet Abu Ghraib style Poaroids, I'm good with it.

[CT III]

[J. Walter Weatherman]

If you haven't seen this Twitter feed yet, scroll down to the post that says, "18 hours per day is not loadshedding" and read up.  It's essentially a live-blog of the capture.

http://twitter.com/ReallyVirtual/status/65015803543695360

Bin Laden is dead. I didn't kill him. Please let me sleep now.

[Eli]

Pretty good run-down of everything that is known so far:

http://motherjones.com/mojo/2011/05/osama-bin-laden-dead

According to Rogin, the meetings Obama convened with his national security team concerning the operation were held on March 14, March 29, April 12, April 19, and April 28. And Rogin breaks down the the chain of events from over the weekend that led to the final go-ahead:

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 [national security adviser Tom] Donilon, his deputy Denis McDonough, and counterterrorism advisor John Brennan. Donilon prepared the formal orders.

On Sunday, Obama went to play golf in the morning at Andrews Air Force Base. He played 9 holes in chilly, rainy weather and spent a little time on the driving range, as well. Meanwhile, the principals were assembling in the situation room at the White House. They were there from 1:00 PM and stayed put for the rest of the day.

At 2:00, Obama met with the principals back 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.

[J. Walter Weatherman]

Pretty good run-down of everything that is known so far:

http://motherjones.com/mojo/2011/05/osama-bin-laden-dead

According to Rogin, the meetings Obama convened with his national security team concerning the operation were held on March 14, March 29, April 12, April 19, and April 28. And Rogin breaks down the the chain of events from over the weekend that led to the final go-ahead:

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 [national security adviser Tom] Donilon, his deputy Denis McDonough, and counterterrorism advisor John Brennan. Donilon prepared the formal orders.

On Sunday, Obama went to play golf in the morning at Andrews Air Force Base. He played 9 holes in chilly, rainy weather and spent a little time on the driving range, as well. Meanwhile, the principals were assembling in the situation room at the White House. They were there from 1:00 PM and stayed put for the rest of the day.

At 2:00, Obama met with the principals back 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.

Via the shoutbox...

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2011/05/notes-on-the-death-of-osama-bin-laden.html

It stretches credulity to think that a mansion of that scale could have been built and occupied by bin Laden for six years without it coming to the attention of anyone in Pakistan's Army.

The initial circumstantial evidence suggests the opposite is more likely—that bin Laden was effectively being housed under Pakistani state control. Pakistan will deny this, it seems safe to predict, and perhaps no convincing evidence will ever surface to prove the case. If I were a prosecutor at the United States Department of Justice, however, I would be tempted to call a grand jury....

...

Of course, Mullah Omar and Al Qaeda's number two, Ayman Al-Zawahiri probably also enjoy refuge in Pakistan. The location of Mullah Omar, in particular, is believed by American officials to be well known to some Pakistani military and intelligence officers; Omar too, they believe, is effectively under Pakistani state control. Perhaps the circumstantial evidence in the bin Laden case is misleading; only a transparent, thorough investigation by Pakistani authorities into how such a fugitive could have lived so long under the military's nose without detection would establish otherwise. That sort of transparent investigation is unlikely to take place.

[J. Walter Weatherman]

More:

After President Obama took office, he and the new Central Intelligence Agency director, Leon Panetta, reorganized the team of analysts devoted to finding Osama Bin Laden. The team worked out of ground-floor offices at the Langley headquarters. There were at least two-dozen of them. Some were older analysts who had been part of the C.I.A.'s various bin Laden-hunting efforts going back to the late nineteen-nineties. Others were newer recruits, too young to have been professionally active when bin Laden was first indicted as a fugitive from American justice.

As they reset their work, the analysts studied other long international fugitive hunts that had ended successfully, such as the operations that led to the death of Medellín Cartel leader Pablo Escobar, in 1993. The analysts asked, Where did the breakthroughs in these other hunts come from? What were the clues that made the difference and how were the clues discovered? They tried to identify "signatures" of Osama bin Laden's lifestyle that might lead to such a clue: prescription medications that he might purchase, hobbies or other habits of shopping or movement that might give him away.

The Langley analysts were one headquarters egghead element of the hunt. Similar analytical units at Central Command in Tampa and at the International Security Assistance Force in Kabul sorted battlefield and all-source intelligence, designated subjects for additional collection, and conducted pattern analysis of relationships among terrorists, couriers, and raw data collected in the field. Detainee operators in Iraq, Afghanistan, at Guantanamo and at secret C.I.A. sites also participated. Apparently, the breakthrough started several years back from detainee interrogations; it's not clear yet how or by what means the information about the courier who led to the Abbottabad compound was extracted.

Overseas, C.I.A. officers from the Directorate of Operations and the Special Activities Division—intelligence officers who ran sources and collected information, as well as armed paramilitaries—carried out the search for informants from bases in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Units from the military's Joint Special Operations Command, which includes the Navy Seals, Delta, and other specialized groups, joined in. Often, Special Operations and the C.I.A. worked in blended task force teams deployed around Afghanistan, and, more problematically, as the Raymond Davis case indicated, around Pakistan.

These teams searched not only for bin Laden, but also for other "High Value Targets," as they are legally and bureaucratically known inside the U.S. government. My understanding is that as of this spring, there are approximately forty legally designated, fugitive High Value Targets at the top of the wanted list system. If there were forty, I suppose there are now thirty-nine.

[World's #1 Astros Fan]

I find it interesting that celebrating the death of one of America's biggest villains is what churns your stomachs.

Just to cherry pick from recent news we've had people obsessing over a pointless wedding in another country, Snooki had a best-selling book  and every other magazine cover has something about Teen Mom on it.

A few celebrations aren't going to tarnish the image of Americans any more than it already has been to those that already hate us.

That said, it's over and everyone can go back to requesting the President's school records, watching Real Housewives, doubting that bin Laden was actually killed...you know, productive shit like that.

Me, I'm just excited to see the national anthem at the Bulls game tonight.

Wait, what?

Man, we haven't won anything.

[thehawk]

Charming right on down to his last victim:

http://www.doublex.com/blog/xxfactor/bin-laden-used-wife-human-shield-says-white-house

[BH]

Charming right on down to his last victim:

http://www.doublex.com/blog/xxfactor/bin-laden-used-wife-human-shield-says-white-house

XX Factor - What women really think.

[Oleg]

I find it interesting that celebrating the death of one of America's biggest villains is what churns your stomachs.

Just to cherry pick from recent news we've had people obsessing over a pointless wedding in another country, Snooki had a best-selling book  and every other magazine cover has something about Teen Mom on it.

A few celebrations aren't going to tarnish the image of Americans any more than it already has been to those that already hate us.

That said, it's over and everyone can go back to requesting the President's school records, watching Real Housewives, doubting that bin Laden was actually killed...you know, productive shit like that.

Me, I'm just excited to see the national anthem at the Bulls game tonight.

Wait, what?

Man, we haven't won anything.

No, Mike, it's fine.  This is the Snooki from Jersey Shore.

[thehawk]

Charming right on down to his last victim:

http://www.doublex.com/blog/xxfactor/bin-laden-used-wife-human-shield-says-white-house

XX Factor - What women really think.

If you would like the link to the general Slate.com article, I'd be happy to oblige, but after splooging for 6 hours last night while playing with a beach ball and chanting USA USA, i decided to let my feminine side out today I guess

[Eli]

I know the picture is a little oversized, but I'm feeling too lazy to re-size and re-upload.  Anyway, this is the situation room during the operation.  Anyone (TEC?) know if they could have been watching an actual video feed of what was going on in the compound?  Pretty intense expressions here.

[JD]

I know the picture is a little oversized, but I'm feeling too lazy to re-size and re-upload.  Anyway, this is the situation room during the operation.  Anyone (TEC?) know if they could have been watching an actual video feed of what was going on in the compound?  Pretty intense expressions here.

HOW DID YOU GET THAT???  You're not supposed to have that!!!!!!

[Gilgamesh]

I know the picture is a little oversized, but I'm feeling too lazy to re-size and re-upload.  Anyway, this is the situation room during the operation.  Anyone (TEC?) know if they could have been watching an actual video feed of what was going on in the compound?  Pretty intense expressions here.

My takeaway: the Situation Room is small.  And Obama looks like he has ice water in his veins.

[SKO]

I know the picture is a little oversized, but I'm feeling too lazy to re-size and re-upload.  Anyway, this is the situation room during the operation.  Anyone (TEC?) know if they could have been watching an actual video feed of what was going on in the compound?  Pretty intense expressions here.

My takeaway: the Situation Room is small.  And Obama looks like he has ice water in his veins.

BEKAWZ DAY KENYUN MOOSLIM COMMIE SOCIALIST DONT CARE IF NO AMERICAN BOYS GET KILLED IN DE OPERATION.