Obama announcing death of Osama bin Laden [edited title]

[Marley23]

@Lakai

Check out this great picture of the situation room as the mission was being watching in real time.

That’s a fascinating picture alright. (Compared to some of the others, Biden doesn’t look too worried, but the Times says he “fingered his rosary beads.”) If I had to sum up Obama’s expression in a word, I’d say he looks grim. I’ve never seen another picture where he looks like that, but that’s not a bad thing. He does look very relaxed most of the time, so it’s quite a contrast.

@Mahaloth

Has it been confirmed yet if it was Osama that hid behind his wife or if it was someone else that did that?

Please, please, let it be Bin Laden that hid behind a woman in his final moments.

I haven’t heard anything that direct. I saw one report that the woman attempted to shield bin Laden, but if you think about it, that doesn’t mean he was directly hiding behind her- it doesn’t say that he hid or that he used her as a shielf, just that she was in the way. I don’t know how specific anyone is going to get.

[Marley23]

On the other hand this NYT story hints that the incident with the woman being used as a shield was on a lower floor of the building. But they’re not totally definitive either.

The Seal team stormed into the compound — the raid awakened the group inside, one American intelligence official said — and a firefight broke out. One man held an unidentified woman living there as a shield while firing at the Americans. Both were killed. Two more men died as well, and two women were wounded. American authorities later determined that one of the slain men was Bin Laden’s son and the other two were the courier and his brother.
The commandos found Bin Laden on the third floor, wearing the outfit known as a shalwar kameez, and officials said he resisted before he was shot above the left eye near the end of the 40-minute raid.

[Marley23]

But you might like the Washington Post version better:

Finally, shortly before 2 a.m. in Pakistan, the commandos burst into an upstairs room. Inside, an armed bin Laden took cover behind one of his wives, [John O. Brennan, the administration’s chief counterterrorism adviser] said. With a burst of gunfire, one of the longest and costliest manhunts in modern history was over.

[Qin_Shi_Huangdi]

Does anybody feel like they’re living in a novel right now? I mean we had in the last four months revolutions in Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Syria, Yemen, a massive tsunami and quake in Japan, the Royal Wedding of Prince William, and now the death of Enemy #1!

[Rilchiam]

Good Og, Tony Blair looks like that guy in Phantasm.

[Johnny_L.A]

@Rilchiam

Good Og, Tony Blair looks like that guy in Phantasm.

Tony Blair

Angus Scrimm

[Siam_Sam]

@Elendil_s_Heir

As to the $25m reward: http://money.cnn.com/2011/05/02/news/osama_bin_laden_reward/index.htm

I thought the reward was doubled to $50 million some years ago. Osama’s Wiki page says that was almost four years ago.

I heard Sunday night was picked due to the absence of moonlight. I don’t pay attention to these things, but looking at my calendar right now it shows some sort of a full-moon symbol for Monday, so it seems like there would have been a lot of moonlight Sunday night/Monday morning. But can you imagine if this had coincided exactly with the Royal Wedding in Britain? They wouldn’t know what to broadcast!

[Johnny_L.A]

@Siam_Sam

I heard Sunday night was picked due to the absence of moonlight. I don’t pay attention to these things, but looking at my calendar right now it shows some sort of a full-moon symbol for Monday, so it seems like there would have been a lot of moonlight Sunday night/Monday morning.

I read (I think on CNN) that the order to execute the mission was given on Friday. Weather was unfavourable for a planned Saturday raid, so they slipped it to Sunday.

[Rilchiam]

@Johnny_L.A

Tony Blair

Angus Scrimm

Are you agreeing or disagreeing?

[Colibri]

@Siam_Sam

I heard Sunday night was picked due to the absence of moonlight. I don’t pay attention to these things, but looking at my calendar right now it shows some sort of a full-moon symbol for Monday, so it seems like there would have been a lot of moonlight Sunday night/Monday morning.

Tuesday night is the new moon, that is, the moon will not be visible at all. Last night there was barely any moon, with only 5% of the disk lit.

[Siam_Sam]

Ah, thanks. That symbol must be “new moon.”

[Diogenes_the_Cynic]

interesting bit of trivia - if they’d have been able to stage the operation on saturday, they’d have killed bin Laden on the same day (April 30), that Hitler committed suicide.

[Mahaloth]

@Diogenes_the_Cynic

interesting bit of trivia - if they’d have been able to stage the operation on saturday, they’d have killed bin Laden on the same day (April 30), that Hitler committed suicide.

Another opportunity lost.

[Mahaloth]

@Marley23

But you might like the Washington Post version better:

That is the account of it that I have been hearing. I’m interested in this part of history. I hope we learn the specific details of what happened.

[CaveMike]

@Siam_Sam

I thought the reward was doubled to $50 million some years ago. Osama’s Wiki page says that was almost four years ago.

Congress doubled the maximum reward that the State Department could offer from $25 to $50 million, but it is unclear that the State Department ever increased the reward amount for Osama. Here is one article that discusses the reward: Osama Bin Laden’s $25 Million Heritage – The Moderate Voice.

[MizQuirk]

I’d been wondering where they disposed of the body, then found this:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_bin_laden_hunt_for_bin_laden

[cochrane]

@Dewey_Finn

I don’t think I would consider this an assassination. More like when a bank robber is killed when the police swarm in to arrest him.

“He’s not in this stove.”

“Oh ho, so he’s hidin’ in that stove, eh?”

“Now look, would I turn on the gas if my friend bin Laden was in there?”

“Eh, you might, rabbit. You might.”

“Well, would I throw a lighted match in there if my friend was in there?”

“Well, all right, rabbit. You’ve convinced me. I’ll look for bin Laden in the city.”

[Oslo_Ostragoth]

@teela_brown

My boss’s best friend was in the plane that crashed into the Pentagon, and my boss bought the friend’s new car out of her estate as a sort of memorial/keepsake to remember her friend. She’s still driving it, and I walked past it in the parking garage a few minutes ago. I gave it a pat and said, “Got the fucker.”

Damn, where did that thing come from that got in my eye?

[Elendil_s_Heir]

Do we know yet why actor/muscleman The Rock seemed to know about the raid sooner than anyone else outside of the White House or Langley?

[Colibri]

@Siam_Sam

Ah, thanks. That symbol must be “new moon.”

Also, the moon would have been up for only a short time during the night, so it was nearly a moonless night.