Osama Bin Laden Dead
As I am sure many of you know, U.S. Armed Forces killed Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan earlier today. I do not know what will result from this (if anything), but at the very least it is a symbolic victory for the U.S. in its counter-terrorism operations world wide. Feel free to discuss the significance (or lack thereof) of Bin Laden's death in the comments!
[Invisible Hand Update (Armen): I guess I am now old enough to find these types of advances in technology and mass communication impressive, but I find it absolutely remarkable that someone could have unwitting liveblogged the raid on Bin Laden. I have posted some screen shots, but please scroll down to the bottom and read up. Pay particular attention to the jaded wit. Sounds like a Boaltie, almost.]
And later...
[Invisible Hand Update (Armen): I guess I am now old enough to find these types of advances in technology and mass communication impressive, but I find it absolutely remarkable that someone could have unwitting liveblogged the raid on Bin Laden. I have posted some screen shots, but please scroll down to the bottom and read up. Pay particular attention to the jaded wit. Sounds like a Boaltie, almost.]
And later...
posted by McTwo at 8:51 PM
35 Comments:
Donald Trump is going to want to see the death certificate.
Bittersweet.
Four thoughts.
First, this is hugely symbolic. Set aside speculation about how strong Al Qaeda will be without him or whether this will make a practical difference in the long run -- this means a LOT in the political narrative of the United States.
Second, I've been watching the coverage of this on Al Jazeera and it is hands down, far and away, better than any of our home-brewed media sources. The one American pundit they put on described Bin Laden as "the Michael Jackson of dangerous extremists," which is without a doubt the most ridiculous, and least insightful, remark I've heard all day.
Third, we caught him in a bunker in Pakistan. What does this mean for our already quite troubled relationship with that country?
Fourth, $64,000 question: will Al Qaeda feel pressure to demonstrate its legitimacy without Bin Laden?
I watched this with some people who lost family members on 9/11.
As we discuss politics--I know I am too--let's keep the feelings of people in mind.
I am so sorry for all y'all's loss.
At least according to CNN, it was a mansion, not a bunker.
First, major congratulations to our armed forces and intelligence officials who helped with this critical mission. The President went out of his way to thanks these folks because as President he sees first hand their diligence, dedication, and professionalism, while we the public don't.
Second, this has major ramifications in terms of future geopolitics, historical narratives, etc., including the key questions that Patrick asked. I would probably switch three and four because it now is pretty clear that we launched this mission without a peep to Pakistan. Whether we like it or not, Pakistan is essential for our war in Afghanistan. And Bin Laden living in a conspicuous mansion ~100 km from Islamabad in a town that is apparently a retirement community for the Pakistani military does not bode well for the future of that relationship.
Third, I have to join Patrick's disappointment with the media coverage. A few minutes ago I was about to pop a vein listening to Wolf Blitzer on CNN. Chris Lawrence, a reporter on CNN, revealed that this mission was carried out by Navy SEALs, using helicopters, and during the mission, one helicopter suffered from some sort of a failure, but no one was hurt. Instead, the team followed protocol and destroyed the helicopter to prevent the technology from falling into the wrong hands.
Wolf follows this revelation by asking, "Do you know if it was a Blackhawk? I only ask because of historical reasons" (or something along those lines). Lawrence: "Um, obviously you're referring to the popular movie, Blackhawk Down." Is there anyone dumber than Wolf on cable news? I realize the bar is low here, but I mean come on. It's like watching Wayne Campbell cover this momentous occasion.
I’m glad he is dead. But it will change nothing. If anything, things might just get worse.
He has many followers and the retaliation is goanna to be HUGE! To make it worse they are very patient so it could happen anytime from tomorrow till a decade away. Don’t mess with crazies. Cause crazies will do anything! RIP Osama Bin Laden.
Coincidentally, the Germans announced Hitler as dead 66 years ago on May 1st, 1945. Link. I guess May 1st is a good day to hope for the death of villians.
Wow. Just wow on Blitzer's "Blackhawk Down" reference. That may be the dumbest thing I have ever heard.
Nope. New entry. Blitz claiming residents must have known OBL was living there because he's taller and Saudi.
Armen, your update to this post is simply fantastic.
The guy has a seriously wicked sense of humor. He left Lahore for Abbottabat to get some peace and quiet...now there goes the neighborhood. One of his recent tweets: "I apologize for reporting the operation 'unwittingly/unknowingly' - had I known about it, I would have tweeted about it 'wittingly' I swear."
My favorite: "Bin laden is dead. I didn't kill him. Please let me sleep now."
So they dumped his body in the ocean? Are you fucking kidding me??
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/05/02/limbaugh-thank-god-for-president-obama/?hpt=T2
I don't understand the Limbaugh link. Are you posting it to show that CNN is so dumb they don't understand Limbaugh is being sarcastic and insulting the President? Or are you posting it to show that Limbaugh is a pill popping prick who has no tact, dignity, or anything of value to offer to society?
Michelle Bachmman's idiocy... please feel free to tell me why this is not idiocy. Why this is NOT ignorant. Why this does not contribute to Islamophobia.
Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann:
"Tonight's news does not bring back the lives of the thousands of innocent people who were killed that day by Osama bin Laden's horrific plan, and it does not end the threat posed by terrorists, but it is my hope that this is the beginning of the end of Sharia-compliant terrorism."
This is gem is interesting form the LA Times:
"Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) was told the news by Panetta on Sunday but did not wait for the president's speech to share the development. She blurted it out at a memorial service in California."
As much as I love the Senior Senator from California, she really seems to have a serious problem with discretion. This is the same person who embarrassed the US and Pakistan by revealing that the drones fly from bases in that country and as mayor of SF, revealed at a news conference that the Night Stalker serial killer used Puma shoes, ensuring that in future killings Richard Ramirez did not use those shoes. I don't know, maybe they've told her some other critical secrets and she hasn't blabbed about them to the media, but this is getting a bit umm repetitive.
I always snicker when I hear that Feinstein is chair of an "Intelligence Committee."
What a snide f#ckin snicker that must be...
whatever you think Feinstein's intelligence is, and I think it's pretty high, what do you think of Boxer? isn't it an embarrassment that a state like California has a senator with the IQ slightly above Forest Gump? Boxer is routinely voted onto lists for "Dumbest Members of Congress" as voted by bipartisan staffers.
The only dumb part of the Bachmann quotation is the phrase "Sharia-compliant terrorism". Otherwise, she's absolutely right.
I guess she should have said Islamist terrorism. And yes, let's hope Islamist terrorism ends someday. Because radical Islamists are a scourge. And saying that has nothing to do with hating on real, peaceful Muslims.
the "only dumb part"? i mean, it's a one-sentence statement. try making one without fanning flames that have led to increasingly widespread and baseless hatred within our borders. unless that's her goal. which it obviously is.
the 5:41 comment, btw, is one of my favorite ever.
Interesting question:
Bin Laden's real first name is Usama. But after 9/11 the Bush Administration didn't feel comfortable with the first three letters of his name being "usa" so they publicly used the "Osama" translation of his name and the media followed.
But now if you go to foxnews.com you see that they are the only media company referring to him as Usama. Why would fox of all media outlets decide to use Usama?
Any thoughts?
Actually, his name doesn't translate perfectly into the Roman alphabet, which is why you'll see "Osama," "Usama," and less frequently "Ussamah" and "Oussama." I'm skeptical that there was any sort of tactical decision to avoid "Usama" because of the first three letters.
I recall seeing Feinstein on celebrity Jeopardy! years ago and it was not an impressive display of intelligence.
"Among them was John Yoo, a former Justice Department official who wrote secret legal memorandums justifying brutal interrogations. 'President Obama can take credit, rightfully, for the success today,' Mr. Yoo wrote Monday in National Review, 'but he owes it to the tough decisions taken by the Bush administration.'"
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/04/us/politics/04torture.html
"It is true that some information that came from normal interrogation approaches at Guantanamo did lead to information that was beneficial in this instance. But it was not harsh treatment and it was not waterboarding.”
-Donald Rumsfeld
http://www.newsmax.com/Headline/DonaldRumsfeld-gitmo-waterboarding-osamabinladen/2011/05/02/id/394820?s=al&promo_code=C30F-1
Not sure how credible that is, given his claim in the same interview that no one was waterboarded at Guantanamo. Still, a possible corrective to Yoo.
Waterboarding is not the only enhanced interrogation technique.
Rumsfeld said no waterboarding and no "harsh treatment." As far as I can tell, he's using "harsh treatment" generically, and not as some kind of term of art for practices distinct from "enhanced interrogation." I'm not sure how that leaves room for any other kind of "enhanced interrogation," 12:31.
Not to hijack this threat (since it seems like discussion has since died down), can we get a N&Bs post on library policies starting in Fall 2011? Namely, whether we should restrict access and allow ONLY law students during the last 2-3 weeks of the semester?
I get that we're a "public institution" and therefore should be open and accessible. For the most part, we are--but let's not forget that we are operating under a private school financing model. A model, mind you, that has put the financial onus on law students to fund the construction of the new library. If there is going to be any change to library access policies, this is the moment where it is most likely to happen. We cannot let that opportunity pass.
Word choice / typo fail!
Not only can we not restrict access to only law students, we cannot restrict it only to students generally. Since the Boalt library is an official government repository, members of the public can gain access if they say that wish to view government documents (or so we learned in ALR, feel free to correct me!).
I'll give credit where credit is due. Maybe Wolf was not so batshit crazy to ask if the chopper was a Blackhawk. This write up in WIRED is also a great read.
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