Monday, May 02, 2011
IN FOCUS: PAKISTAN'S ROLE IN PROTECTING BIN LADEN
Sunday, May 01, 2011
THE MONSTER IS DEAD
OSAMA BIN LADEN REPORTED DEADLIBYAN REBEL: 'I HATE AMERICA'
GERMANY FOILS AQ BOMB PLOT
ISLAMISTS RIOT IN BANGLADESH
Monday, 2 May 2011
Pakistan's intelligence service had to have been in on it--had to know where he was, had to have helped him all along.
The compound was built five years ago; and Bin Laden lived in it for at least nine months.
What did Pakistan's intelligence and military officials know? When did they know it?
UPDATE: US NAVY SEALS CREDITED WITH HELICOPTER RAID
FROM AFGHANISTAN THAT KILLED BIN LADEN, CAPTURED
HIS BODY IN AFFLUENT AREA; DAYS OF CAREFUL PLANNING
BRILLIANT US INTELLIGENCE SUCCESS
U.S. President Barack Obama has announced that the world's most wanted terrorist, Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, was killed by U.S. forces on Sunday at a compound deep inside Pakistan.
Obama made the announcement during a live nationwide television address at the White House Sunday night.
This development comes nearly 10 years after the catastrophic attacks by Al Qaeda operatives on the United States on September 11, 2001.
U.S. forces have been hunting the Saudi terrorist kingpin ever since.
Obama said bin Laden was not a Muslim leader, but a "mass murderer of Muslims." The president said bin Laden was captured with the help of Pakistani intelligence.
ANALYSIS: The United States has killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and recovered his body, according to numerous media reports May 1 citing U.S. officials. U.S. President Barack Obama is scheduled to make an announcement on the subject. It is not clear precisely how bin Laden was killed or how his body was recovered, but the assertion that he is dead is significant.
Bin Laden had become the symbol of Al Qaeda, even though the degree to which he commanded the organization was questionable. The symbolic value of his death is obvious. The United States can claim a great victory. Al Qaeda can proclaim his martyrdom.
It is difficult to understand what this means at this moment, but it permits the Obama administration to claim victory, at least partially, over al Qaeda. It also opens the door for the beginning of a withdrawal from Afghanistan, regardless of the practical impact of bin Laden’s death. The mission in Afghanistan was to defeat al Qaeda, and with his death, a plausible claim can be made that the mission is complete. Again speculatively, it will be interesting to see how this affects U.S. strategy there.
Equally possible is that this will trigger action by Al Qaeda in bin Laden’s name. We do not know how viable al Qaeda is or how deeply compromised it was. It is clear that bin Laden’s cover had been sufficiently penetrated to kill him. If bin Laden’s cover was penetrated, then the question becomes how much of the rest of the organization’s cover was penetrated. It is unlikely, however, that al Qaeda is so compromised that it cannot take further action.
At this early hour, the only thing possible is speculation on the consequences of bin Laden’s death, and that speculation is inherently flawed. Still, the importance of his death has its consequences. Certainly one consequence will be a sense of triumph in the United States. To others, this will be another false claim by the United States. For others it will be a call to war. We know little beyond what we have been told, but we know it matters.
The above report was provided by
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