Smoking Guns

Seized cellphone of bin Laden courier exposes links to Pakistani intelligence service.

And in the not-talked-about-here Casey Anthony Trial, a major crack in the case... the mother Searched Internet for ‘Chloroform’.

Which one do you think is going to get more press today?

I'll wait for your answer.

The Week in Review

This PSA sums up the week fairly well.



And for a fresh perspective, four kids born after 9/11 sit down with Beck Bennett to offer some truly fresh perspectives on the ramifications of Osama bin Laden’s death.

Arabic Menundo: في كثير من الأحيان

Back when Osama was touring in the Saudi version of Menudo, or في كثير من الأحيان

Here Osama bin Laden poses as a teen back in 1971. Had we seen this picture in 2001, maybe we wouldn't have been so afraid of him. His slacks, maybe.

It's Official

Al Qaeda confirmed the death of Osama bin Laden in an Internet message that vowed revenge on the United States and its allies, including Pakistan, according to a statement issued by the Islamist militant group.

-- Now here's the gag, they were kind of in a bind.... They were going to have to confirm or deny Bin Laden’s death. If they’re to have credibility among the faithful who follow their jihad, they must identify a new fearless leader. If they are to call for revenge, they must admit to the reason for that rabid outcry.

Al Qaeda confirmed the death of its leader as a historic moment, and vowed not to deviate from the path of armed struggle.

"In a historic day for the great Islamic nation... the mujahid (holy warrior) Shiekh Abu Abdullah, Osama bin Mohammed bin Laden, God have mercy on him, was killed on the path taken by those before him and will be taken by others after him."

"Congratulations to the Islamic umma (community) for the martyrdom of its son Osama."

The global militant group, which said it will soon release an audio tape made by its leader a week before he died, vowed not to deviate from the path of armed struggle and said bin Laden's blood "is more precious to us and to every Muslim than to be wasted in vain."

"It will remain, with permission from God Almighty, a curse that hunts the Americans and their collaborators and chase them outside and inside their country," the militant network said in a statement released on Islamist Internet forums.

"Their happiness will turn into sorrow, and their blood will be mixed with their tears," al Qaeda said.

"We call upon our Muslim people in Pakistan, on whose land Sheikh Osama was killed, to rise up and revolt to cleanse this shame that has been attached to them by a clique of traitors and thieves ... and in general to cleanse their country from the filth of the Americans who spread corruption in it."

The al Qaeda statement also urged the United States to treat the bodies of Osama bin Laden and those killed with him in the raid with care, and to return their bodies. Ooops. Hold on, I'll get a net.

"We warn the Americans not to harm the corpse of the sheikh or expose it to any indecent treatment or to harm any members of his family, living or dead, and to deliver the corpses to their families," it said. So, the sailors shouldn't have wrapped it in bacon? Was that wrong?

"Any harm done will open the doors of evil upon you doubly, and you will not have anyone but yourselves to blame." Yes, that statement is true, and goes triple for you.

Pelosi Thanks Bush

Pelosi thanks President Bush for his role in bin Laden's demise
Not an Onion Article - By Molly K. Hooper

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) said she called former President George W. Bush on Tuesday to congratulate him on the capture and killing of Osama bin Laden.

Following a classified briefing on the operation to take down bin Laden, Pelosi told reporters that she called the former president earlier in the day to "congratulate him and thank him for the leadership role he had played in this quest over the years."

Pelosi was Speaker of the House for two years while Bush was in the White House.

Pelosi said she thought Bush appreciated the call.

“I wanted him to know the appreciation that many of us have in a bipartisan way ... that his role was important," she said.

Perhaps this is the dawn of a new day?

Shaping the Narrative

Bin Laden’s Daughter Confirms Her Father Shot Dead By US Special Forces In Pakistan
-- Al Arabiya News

Senior Pakistani security officials said Osama bin Laden’s daughter had confirmed her father was captured alive and shot dead by the US Special Forces during the first few minutes of the operation carried out at the huge compound in Bilal Town, Abbottabad. 
 


Besides recovering four bullet-riddled bodies from the compound, Pakistani security agencies also arrested two women and six children, aged between 2 and 12 years, after American forces flew toward Afghanistan. Some reports suggest 16 people, including women and children, were arrested from the house, most of them Arab nationals.
Read more

Sure, not the most un-biased person in the world to quote. But, for the Muslim world, this will become the narrative of what happened to Osama Bin Laden. He will be treated as a martyr who was murdered by American crusaders. Which was probably inevitable anyway. At least there's no doubt what happened, right? Right?

Hold on, the White House is changing the "official story" again --

The Slippery Story Of The Bin Laden Kill
-- Garance Franke-Ruta, The Atlantic

The early narrative of the assault on Osama bin Laden had him using his wife as a human shield and firing from behind her. Now we learn he wasn't armed.

The White House Tuesday blamed "the fog of war" for conflicting statements in its recounting of the events surrounding the Abbottabad raid that killed Osama bin Laden, but the history of misstatements from U.S. government officials about various combat operations raises questions about whether briefers also were subjecting us to a counter terrorism strategy and not just completely confused in their initial statements.
Read more

Hold on, weren't they WATCHING it, LIVE? Perhaps, and this is not just my own opinion here, perhaps the White House shouldn't politicize things that should not be politicized? Ooops. Too late on that one. The general politic out of the Obama Administration has been incompetent, and that's on their best day. If they don't get a handle on this quickly, it's going to spin out of their control. (Pun noticed, and moving on)

Meanwhile, the Secret SEAL Team will likely be honored in Secret for their Secret Raid. No ticker tape parade for the GI Joe Team.

The team that killed Osama bin Laden will likely be honored in the only way such a covert group can be: in private with nobody but themselves and their commanders in the know.

Quietly recognizing heroic actions for clandestine operations is not new in the military. Some service members wear war decorations but refuse to talk about how they earned them. Others stash away their medals, either because they've been ordered to hide them or they have chosen to for their own security.
Read more

It's not over. It's the end of the beginning.

Response to The Big Win

I'm just not feeling it.

Sorry gang. The blood lust. The 'Big Win'. I got nothin'.

I'm refusing to feel the way I'm told that I am supposed to feel about the US's actions in the most recent of recent events.

In the morning I see headlines that Quadaffy's son and grandchildren were killed by a NATO airstrike. That was Sunday morning. Later that night, Osama Bin Laden's death is announced to the nation.

"A good day for America," was proclaimed. By the President of the United States, no less.

Teenagers converge upon the White House and the cemetery of the former World Trade Center to celebrate. Cameras pop up their microwave antennas to make a spectacle of the gathering. Chants of "USA" and impromptu singing of "God Bless America" are recorded for the world audience. At best, the home team won the football game. Gloating to the world at their prowess. At worst, the LA Lakers won another ring and LA is in flames, again.

But I don't feel good about this one.

Yes, Bin Laden was a bad man. A very, deeply bad man who used religion and blood to support his own financial and political goals. He is responsible for killing and supporting killers directly and indirectly. His death should bring the end of a bookcase of the last three decades of Middle Eastern conflict. Starting with Afghanistan and the Soviet Invasion, and ending with the Americans and Afghanistan. He was a major player in both.

But I'm not going to write a history of the man, nor make any apologies for him.

He was a bad, bad man. To quote Jack Nicholson's Joker to a burnt corpse, "I'm glad you're dead!"

Here's the thing that's bugging me. Gnawing at my gut. He was killed by an Assault squad. This just doesn't add up in the history of these sort of things.

The narrative for the death of American-bad guys, and especially the end of their most notorious Bond-Villain State Enemies, doesn't seem to fit the mold.
Hitler had the decency to spare us the trial and offed himself. He even did it twice, one with a bullet, the other with a pill -- so we've been told. Mussolini was hung by a mob. Saddam was hung after being tried. Slobodan Milošević , Pol Pot, and Stalin all died of old age. The ending for Castro and Quadaffy haven't been written -- yet.

But the video game imagined sequence of the SEAL team dropping into Osama's Waco inspired compound just seems so... too... 21st Century? It doesn't seem complete, or final. Not just yet. There's the nagging element of violence begetting violence - that begets only more violence, compounding into a death spiral. It's a cycle that tends to keep repeating itself like a scene on a scratched Netflix DVD -- especially when religion is involved. Perhaps I'd feel a little more relieved had he been put on trial in the Hague and finally executed after a lengthy 10 year show trial -- had he lived that long. Maybe people would be arguing that the Assaulters should have popped him when they had the chance and saved everyone a lot of trouble? Maybe? These tend to be the same folks who think we should have nuked his compound. It seems like a big show trial is more in the USA's narrative. At least, that's how it used to be.

And the other thing - and maybe this is something I have to get over - is that the West isn't playing chess or WWII anymore. If you off the boss your $60 Xbox game, the game is over. You Won. You now may deflower the virginal princess. Not anymore. You've got 10 or 12 other, smaller side games going on now. Yemen, Newborn Iraq, the Philippines, German sleeper cells, Pakistan double agents, and Nuclear North Korea and Iran all are all still in play. And all are much more dangerous.

On the bright, sweet, and dripping ironic side of it all, the American team takes out Osama exactly three months after he deemed irrelevant by the Arab Spring. The people of Egypt, Tunisia, Libya (maybe), Jordan, Bahrain, Syria, and Yemen all rose up -- not using Al Queda's example of the gun and the C-4 martyrdom -- but a much simpler device, their phones.

Facebook, Twitter and strong will stood up to oppression and finally brought the much desired revolution. Social media, not guns. “If protest movements access significant numbers of people, for any opposition event, they can somewhat confidently act on their political motivations and challenge the state.” [Mary Bottari The Day Egypt Disappeared PRWatch. Feb 14, 2011] Hey, will someone text that to Hamas?

Hell, take the idea that Google Executive Wael Ghonim's Facebook page “We are All Khalid Said” after an Egyptian Activist was killed by the police, organized over 100,000 people to protest on Egypt’s Police Day. How many people were ever in Osama's friend page? Who had better results?

Isn't it poetic that after the last decade, Al Queda means, "The List?"

Maybe the world will be a little more optimistic now that he's gone. Maybe it's a little safer? We can hope. And that can be very powerful. Maybe that's what I need to focus on?

Maybe it's what we all need to focus on?

Maybe we can start discussing dismantling the illegal wiretaps and 24/7 surveillance of American citizens? Maybe we can discuss drawing down the intrusive and unconstitutional TSA at our nations airports before we expand them? And those are just the items related to Osama and his gang. Perhaps we can stop exporting violence, and instead export a little more hope?

War Room Photos

The White House photo of Obama and his national security team following events in the Bin Laden operation

Very serious. Look at Mrs. Clinton.

Caption from the official photo by Pete Souza: "President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, along with members of the national security team, receive an update on the mission against Osama bin Laden in the Situation Room of the White House, May 1, 2011. Please note: a classified document seen in this photograph has been obscured."

EDIT to point out interesting detail: the man sitting center-stage in this photo is Brigadier General Marshall B. "Brad" Webb

Now look a little closer, and you'll see a little image enhancement... you'll see a burn bag next to Mr. Obama, and Hillary's secret code word. And something else...

Good Shooting, Sir.

Here's a Link to the official White House flickr photostream with the original photo and others from that day.

And, gang, do you think we can all pitch in so that the White House Situation Room can look a little more like this:

Blame For All the Blood Spilled in Iraq and Afghanistan

Al-Qaeda founder launches fierce attack on Osama bin Laden.

One of al-Qaeda's founding leaders, Dr Fadl, has begun an ideological revolt against Osama bin Laden, blaming him for "every drop" of blood spilt in Afghanistan and Iraq. (original)

By David Blair in Cairo 
Last Updated: 10:36PM GMT 20 Feb 2009

Sayyid Imam al-Sharif: The terrorist attacks on September 11 were both immoral and counterproductive, he writes

Sayyid Imam al-Sharif, AKA Dr Fadl, helped bin Laden create al-Qaeda and then led an Islamist insurgency in Egypt in the 1990s.

But in a book written from inside an Egyptian prison, he has launched a frontal attack on al-Qaeda's ideology and the personal failings of bin Laden and particularly his Egyptian deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri.

Twenty years ago, Dr Fadl became al-Qaeda's intellectual figurehead with a crucial book setting out the rationale for global jihad against the West.

Today, however, he believes the murder of innocent people is both contrary to Islam and a strategic error. "Every drop of blood that was shed or is being shed in Afghanistan and Iraq is the responsibility of bin Laden and Zawahiri and their followers," writes Dr Fadl.

The terrorist attacks on September 11 were both immoral and counterproductive, he writes. "Ramming America has become the shortest road to fame and leadership among the Arabs and Muslims. But what good is it if you destroy one of your enemy's buildings, and he destroys one of your countries? What good is it if you kill one of his people, and he kills a thousand of yours?" asks Dr Fadl. "That, in short, is my evaluation of 9/11."

He is equally unsparing about Muslims who move to the West and then take up terrorism. "If they gave you permission to enter their homes and live with them, and if they gave you security for yourself and your money, and if they gave you the opportunity to work or study, or they granted you political asylum," writes Dr Fadl, then it is "not honourable" to "betray them, through killing and destruction".

In particular, Dr Fadl focuses his attack on Zawahiri, a key figure in al-Qaeda's core leadership and a fellow Egyptian whom he has known for 40 years. Zawahiri is a "liar" who was paid by Sudan's intelligence service to organise terrorist attacks in Egypt in the 1990s, he writes.

I have often suggested that those in Al-Qaeda never picked up a history book, and have always underestimated the American ability to "over react" to foreign aggression, i.e. no one asked a Japanese person how that worked out for them. And even if you win or stalemate (Vietnam and North Korea) how well your country comes out of it. No, you're much better off letting the Americans blow you to hell, declare victory, and let the US rebuild your country for you. We love doing that. 

This story is interesting to me because, I had to read this story in an English newspaper, and two, ole' Doc Fadl has just echoed what I've said since Sept 11, 2001. Too bad it took him this long to figure it out. 

... and if you're worried he wrote this because he had an AK-47 trained at his gut, while it is possible, it's unlikely he would have typed 200 pages, and made it so personal.