Obama to speak at 10:45 EST

[ChuckF]

Fuck that drone noise. It was our guys.

[Jerome]

Sources: Al-Qaida head bin Laden dead - Yahoo! News

Osama bin Laden, the mastermind behind the Sept. 11 attacks against the United States, is dead, and the U.S. is in possession of his body, a person familiar with the situation said late Sunday.

President Barack Obama was expected to address the nation on the developments Sunday night.

Two senior counterterrorism officials confirmed that bin Laden was killed in Pakistan last week. One said bin Laden was killed in a ground operation, not by a Predator drone. Both said the operation was based on U.S. intelligence, and both said the U.S. is in possession of bin Laden's body.

[Crumb]

It happened a week ago?

[ChuckF]

Some places say so, but not clear. Read somewhere they did DNA tests in the intervening time to confirm identity.

[wildernesse]

Am I the only person who does not think this is 11:45 pm on a Sunday news? I was seriously worried about the whole thing, but Oh we killed a person who we based and escalated two unwinnable wars and was the excuse for giving up our civil liberties, and decided torture and inhumanity is our birthright is something that could wait for me.

[livius drusus]

The President just said the operation went down today.

[ChuckF]

BBC clarified the timeline a little bit to say that the action was authorized last week.

[wildernesse]

And a bunch of kid-looking people outside the White House who probably can't remember jack about embassy bombings, USS Cole, OR 9/11 are cheering because....what is going to change now?

I mean, I understand that this was an intelligence success, but Woo?

[Jerome]

Originally Posted by livius drusus

The President just said the operation went down today.

Interesting, then someone is telling an untruth.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: "Today, at my direction, the United States launched a targeted operation against that compound in Pakistan. a small team of Americans carried out the operation with extraordinary courage and capability."

[ChuckF]

Originally Posted by JEROME DA GNOME

Interesting

With the possible exception of your other posts, this is one of the least interesting things about this story.

[SharonDee]

Originally Posted by wildernesse

Am I the only person who does not think this is 11:45 pm on a Sunday news? I was seriously worried about the whole thing, but Oh we killed a person who we based and escalated two unwinnable wars and was the excuse for giving up our civil liberties, and decided torture and inhumanity is our birthright is something that could wait for me.

No, I do believe this is worthy of a late night news break. Regardless how we feel about this whole "war on terror", taking down the head of the organization that admitted to the attacks that started the US down that road is a big deal.

And that it was the US that took him down is also big news. He wasn't mistaken for a wolf and shot by a farmer; he didn't take a stray bullet in his dialysis machine; he didn't slip and fall getting out of the tub.

It's my opinion that the asshole could have been taken down sooner if someone hadn't screwed around and taken the scenic route through Iraq.

[ZEZOZE]

i just heard the firefight that killed bin Laden took place on the same set they used for the Apollo Moon landing.

[Nullifidian]

Originally Posted by JEROME DA GNOME

Interesting, then someone is telling an untruth.

Maybe we should get the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to look into it.

-----

Now, I'm with wildy. I can remember the USS Cole, the bombings of the embassies in Nairobi and Dar-es-Salaam, and exactly what I was doing when I heard about the 9/11 attacks, and I still don't think this was ALERT EVERYONE! MUST REPORT IMMEDIATELY NEWS!

For one thing, there's still no solid evidence that Osama bin Laden was the mastermind behind the 11 September attacks, and even if he had been responsible the effect on international terrorism is going to be negligible. Bush raised one person of doubtful international influence into The Representative of World Terrorism Everywhere and people bought it. Terrorist cells don't have to work that way, and truly they work better the less people are involved, but pointing that out wouldn't have given him the excuses for invasion that he wanted.

[wildernesse]

Originally Posted by SharonDee

No, I do believe this is worthy of a late night news break. Regardless how we feel about this whole "war on terror", taking down the head of the organization that admitted to the attacks that started the US down that road is a big deal.

Yeah, I think it would be, too except for the second part of what you say:

It's my opinion that the asshole could have been taken down sooner if someone hadn't screwed around and taken the scenic route through Iraq.

But because we got all tangled up in nonsense and idiocy years ago, this is kind of pointless to me. Next thing you know, they are going to announce that they've melted down a Japanese bomber that attacked Pearl Harbor to make commemorative coins. Breaking news at 11pm.

[ChuckF]

Rather than try to replicate the amount of win in Wonkette's liveblog I will just post the link.

[SharonDee]

It depends on what "newsworthy" means. Is this an important development in making the unreasonable airport searches unnecessary? No, that won't happen. Does this mean we are no longer terrorism targets? Hardly.

"Newsworthy" in this context means this is a big deal to the country at large. Truthiness has little to do with it, as we should all know by now.

[livius drusus]

Damn, Bin Laden was living like a Kennedy.

[ChuckF]

Died a little like one too.

[Nullifidian]

Originally Posted by ChuckF

Rather than try to replicate the amount of win in Wonkette's liveblog I will just post the link.

Favorite parts:
10:59 PM — “It will send a rocket around the world” — Wolf Blitzer, metaphor guy

11:43 PM — “America can do whatever we set our minds to.” As long as it’s killing people, we’re really good at that. And as long as you give us a decade to get around to doing it.

12:05 AM — So many people outside the White House! This is America’s Mighty Ducks 4. We are the champions.

[fragment]

Public reaction in Pakistan could be interesting.

[wei yau]

Been watching Al Jazeera English broadcast live from Islamabad. Pretty quiet so far.

[ChuckF]

Re: newsworthiness. I personally think it was worth the announcement, because bin Laden's death will have some major regional consequences; the security implications for the US aren't clear yet. The weird cheering and dancing and chanting "USA!" outside the White House is pretty disturbing though. And don't worry! The multiple endless wars are not going to end and the government can still grope you when it wants to, to keep you safe.

[wildernesse]

Originally Posted by SharonDee

It depends on what "newsworthy" means. Is this an important development in making the unreasonable airport searches unnecessary? No, that won't happen. Does this mean we are no longer terrorism targets? Hardly.

"Newsworthy" in this context means this is a big deal to the country at large. Truthiness has little to do with it, as we should all know by now.

I think it is newsworthy. I just don't think it deserved the hype.

I am also sitting in Houston without any A/C, with a blue ice pack wrapped in a kitchen towel to cool off my pregnant self, being allergic to the world, so I am a leetle cranky about breaking news that wouldn't get broked for over an hour but that I fully expected would be terrible.

[ChuckF]

lol wildy imma mock ur hormoans

[wildernesse]

Originally Posted by ChuckF

lol wildy imma mock ur hormoans

You should be glad you are a safe distance away. RA was not so lucky earlier.