Osama Bin Laden Reported Dead, Body In US Hands

Reader Tom Hudson, and now several others, have submitted the news that Osama Bin Laden is reportedly dead, and that his body is in the hands of the US military. A statement from President Obama is expected shortly. Watch this space for more details. Update: 05/02 04:01 GMT by T : More coverage at ABC News, at CNN, and at Al Jazeera. The reports say that Bin Laden was actually killed about a week ago by a bomb in Pakistan, and the time taken to confirm his identity via DNA testing helped delay the news. In downtown Austin, Texas, in the time since the story broke I've heard what sound like numerous celebratory gunshots.

Comments

A few details

[sayfawa]

This article's a bit heavier on details:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/americas/reports-say-osama-bin-laden-dead-us-president-obama-to-speak-soon/article2006299/

Mr. bin Laden was killed at a mansion outside the Pakistani capital Islamabad, CNN reported. A senior U.S. counterterrorism official told Associated Press Mr. bin Laden was killed in a ground operation in Pakistan, not by a Predator drone. A senior Pakistani intelligence official confirmed that he was killed in Pakistan.

Re:A few details

[cold fjord]

Interesting, so the US has ground troops in Pakistan, too? Shall we assume that they have both permission of the Pakistani government and the constitutional blessing of the US Congress for being at war in a FOURTH country...

Why, yes, as a matter of fact they do. And I'm glad to see that you are clear that they are fighting against the same enemy in Pakistan, not against Pakistan.

SEC. 2. AUTHORIZATION FOR USE OF UNITED STATES ARMED FORCES.

(a) IN GENERAL- That the President is authorized to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons, in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States by such nations, organizations or persons.--- Authorization for Use of Military Force

Re:A few details

[artor3]

MSNBC just reported that the mansion was several times larger than any other building in the town, surrounded by a 15 foot wall topped with barbed wire, with a double gate, and no telephone wires connecting it to the outside. If that doesn't scream "hide out", nothing does. I'm thinking there were a lot of locals who knew and didn't care. Their loss I guess, they missed out on that million dollar reward.

Re:Awesome

[Anonymous Coward]

You just like getting your balls grabbed, don't you?

Re:Bin Laden murdered?

[larry bagina]

You think that's bad? Anwar al-Awlaki is the subject of an executive order ordering his death. He's also an American citizen.

Re:where's the long form?

[Anonymous Coward]

Man, check out this comment... http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=21541&cid=2277566

Nailed it?

Re:Mission Accomplished

[Anonymous Coward]

Bacon is a dietary restriction; burying him wrapped in dogskin would be a greater insult to the body.

Re:Please: NO POLITICAL POSTURING.

[Chuck Chunder]

The people who died that day were liberal and conservative, but all were American.

Do American's ever pass up an opportunity to look like an ignorant asshat?

Re:Scumbag President(s)

[Anonymous Coward]

> I bet that next we'll have a queer

Been there, done it, airbrushed his boyfriend "Miss Nancy" from the official US Archives a hundred years ago. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Buchanan

Re:Terrorists who were trained in Afghanistan by A

[Col Bat Guano]

Saddam Hussein didn't like Al Quidea - it's very, very unlikely that he would have had anything to do with them at all. AQ moved into Iraq filling the power vacuum when the government fell.

Re:Terrorists who were trained in Afghanistan by A

[Kagura]

Al Qaida did not move into Iraq. Very, very few fighters from Al Qaida or the Taliban operating in Afghanistan or Pakistan made it to Iraq to fight, since they already had infidels to fight. Abu Musab al-Zaraqi renamed his group "Al Qaida in Iraq" and had direct correspondence with Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri, but they quickly split due to ideological differences. Long story short, there is no current connection between the two groups "Al Qaida" and "Al Qaida in Iraq", and there hasn't been since 2006 at the latest. Be careful which term you use.

Re:Mission Accomplished

[AK Marc]

Now - was there WMDs? Its not far fetched to believe there were. The US had sold Iraq the basic chemicals needed to manufacture chemical weapons during the Iran-Iraq War. There was a fledging nuclear program. And inspections were not done to the extent that they had been agreed to - certainly not to the extent that the US and former Soviets conducted against each other under various nuclear non-proliferation treaties.

Saddam purposefully lied in order to make it look like he had a bigger program that he did. Of course, all investigations revealed that his statements were false. They were made to make him appear strong and help prevent an invasion or uprising. And, of course, he didn't give carte blanche to the investigators because if he did, his own followers would have thought him weak, opening up a chance for a coup. Again, his actions were predictable for a paranoid dictator (was he paranoid? Everyone was really out to get him...).

All his WMD programs were aimed to keep up the appearance of strength, and nothing more. And they were all verified to the ability of the UN, CIA, MI6, FSB, etc. to be that and nothing more. There was no operational WMD in the country when we invaded, and all the WMDs he ever used were given by the US. And the worst part was that everyone knew (or suspected) that was the case. But those in the points of power in the US purposefully chose to believe the known lies and ignore the truths, as long as it supported their goals of invasion. The decision to invade was made before 9/11. They were just looking for excuses and "got lucky" with 9/11.