BULLETIN: Reports began to circulate about 5 a.m. local time that Osama bin Laden's body was buried at sea, the remains handled in accordance with Islamic custom, to prevent his burial place from becoming a "terrorist shrine."
Washington – When the smart phones started ringing at the Mets-Phillies game, fans started cheering, chanting "USA - USA - USA," jubilant at the news carried to them on RSS feeds.
Chanting Americans thronged Times Square and the Ground Zero site where the World Trade Center towers once stood in lower Manhattan.
People gathered in front of the White House. Motorists in Dearborn, Mi, cruised the streetsheavily populated with Islamic faithful, tooting their horns in front of restaurants and Mosques as the news that a surgical military operation by U.S. Navy Seals led to the death of Osama bin Laden.
Chanting Americans thronged Times Square and the Ground Zero site where the World Trade Center towers once stood in lower Manhattan.
People gathered in front of the White House. Motorists in Dearborn, Mi, cruised the streetsheavily populated with Islamic faithful, tooting their horns in front of restaurants and Mosques as the news that a surgical military operation by U.S. Navy Seals led to the death of Osama bin Laden.
Stocks rose worldwide on the news.
On-camera television news correspondents broadcast from the White House with their cell phones in their hands as they announced the news, just waiting for the next vibration to bring them a new revelation. Soldiers retrieved his body and had it in U.S. custody, according to the announcement, following a firefight at an outpost located at Abbotabad, Pakistan. It is a matter of macabre irony, since cell phones have been used to trigger bombing attacks such as that carried out on a Madrid rail station which claimed the lives of many innocent people.
Mr. bin Laden had long had a price on his head.
The FBI's “Ten Most Wanted” poster on Mr. bin Laden notes that a reward of “up to $25 million” had been offered for information leading to his capture. The Airline Pilots Association and the Air Transport Association offered an additional $2 million reward for help in his apprehension.
According to the author of a definitive history of the 9/11 attacks, Michel Chossudovsky, “A few hours after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the Bush administration concluded without supporting evidence, that '...Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda organization were prime suspects.'”
Termed an act of war by Secretary of State Colin Powell, the airborne assault using American passenger jets which crashed into the buildings causing much loss of life signaled the fact that al Qaeda “has the capacity to plan multiple attacks with little or no warning.”
President George Bush told the world the U.S. would make no distinction between those who planned the attacks and carried them out and “those who harbor them.”
The attacks sparked the beginning of a worldwide “war on terror” to which U.S. resources have been committed ever since.
Mr. bin Laden was also wanted in connection with the August 7, 1998 bombing of the U.S. Embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya, as well as other terrorist attacks worldwide, according to the FBI's Ten Most Wanted notice.
Details of how the man wanted for “murder of U.S. Nationals Outside the United States; conspiracy to murder U.S. nationals outside the United States; attack on a federal facility resulting in death were sketchy when the news broke at about 3 a.m. GMT.
Mr. bin Laden was the son of a Saudi Arabian billionaire who became involved in the fight against the Soviet Union's invasion and occupation of Afghanistan in the years 1979-1988. During that time, he was recruited by the CIA and established military training bases in that nation in support of 7 main militias that fought the Soviets.
A devout Islamic fundamentalist, Mr. bin Laden and his militia and support services organization morphed into the major terrorist organization that funded the highjackers who flew the jets on Sept. 9, 2001, after flight training at airports in Florida on simulators.
Speaking from the White House early this morning, President Barack Hussein Obama termed the operation as the “most significant event to date” in the American war on terror, adding that Mr. bin Laden was “responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent men, women and children.” Mr. Obama said that he directed Leon Panetta when he took over as Director of CIA to make ready to kill Osama bin Laden, targeting the fugitive for an attack as a number one priority.
Targeting an individual for killing in the course of a war is a complicated area of international law applied to hostilities. The U.S. has an extensive program governed by rules of engagement as it regards troop contacts, air strikes, and drone attacks.
On-camera television news correspondents broadcast from the White House with their cell phones in their hands as they announced the news, just waiting for the next vibration to bring them a new revelation. Soldiers retrieved his body and had it in U.S. custody, according to the announcement, following a firefight at an outpost located at Abbotabad, Pakistan. It is a matter of macabre irony, since cell phones have been used to trigger bombing attacks such as that carried out on a Madrid rail station which claimed the lives of many innocent people.
Mr. bin Laden had long had a price on his head.
The FBI's “Ten Most Wanted” poster on Mr. bin Laden notes that a reward of “up to $25 million” had been offered for information leading to his capture. The Airline Pilots Association and the Air Transport Association offered an additional $2 million reward for help in his apprehension.
According to the author of a definitive history of the 9/11 attacks, Michel Chossudovsky, “A few hours after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the Bush administration concluded without supporting evidence, that '...Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda organization were prime suspects.'”
Termed an act of war by Secretary of State Colin Powell, the airborne assault using American passenger jets which crashed into the buildings causing much loss of life signaled the fact that al Qaeda “has the capacity to plan multiple attacks with little or no warning.”
President George Bush told the world the U.S. would make no distinction between those who planned the attacks and carried them out and “those who harbor them.”
The attacks sparked the beginning of a worldwide “war on terror” to which U.S. resources have been committed ever since.
Mr. bin Laden was also wanted in connection with the August 7, 1998 bombing of the U.S. Embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya, as well as other terrorist attacks worldwide, according to the FBI's Ten Most Wanted notice.
Details of how the man wanted for “murder of U.S. Nationals Outside the United States; conspiracy to murder U.S. nationals outside the United States; attack on a federal facility resulting in death were sketchy when the news broke at about 3 a.m. GMT.
Mr. bin Laden was the son of a Saudi Arabian billionaire who became involved in the fight against the Soviet Union's invasion and occupation of Afghanistan in the years 1979-1988. During that time, he was recruited by the CIA and established military training bases in that nation in support of 7 main militias that fought the Soviets.
A devout Islamic fundamentalist, Mr. bin Laden and his militia and support services organization morphed into the major terrorist organization that funded the highjackers who flew the jets on Sept. 9, 2001, after flight training at airports in Florida on simulators.
Speaking from the White House early this morning, President Barack Hussein Obama termed the operation as the “most significant event to date” in the American war on terror, adding that Mr. bin Laden was “responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent men, women and children.” Mr. Obama said that he directed Leon Panetta when he took over as Director of CIA to make ready to kill Osama bin Laden, targeting the fugitive for an attack as a number one priority.
Targeting an individual for killing in the course of a war is a complicated area of international law applied to hostilities. The U.S. has an extensive program governed by rules of engagement as it regards troop contacts, air strikes, and drone attacks.
Numerous legal opinions have been developed regarding the matter, many of them in a state of flux as the nation has begun to target individuals in the war on terror.
President George W. Bush congratulated Mr. Obama when the President phoned him with the news. He praised American servicemen and women for their dogged 10-year pursuit of Mr. bin Laden.
The fact that U.S. forces have the body of the wanted man is significant, according to a military analyst named Mike Lyons. He told a CBS “Up To The Minute” anchor woman that the body would undoubtedly be returned to Mr. bin Laden's family and treated with the respect it is due in accordance with Islamic law.
The true significance of having the body in custody, according to Mr. Lyons, is that it is needed “for proof” in the counterinsurgency operations that will follow that Mr. bin Laden was killed by the U.S..
He predicted that the U.S. will seek a political, rather than a military solution in a coming surge against both Taliban and al Qaeda forces. U.S. military leaders are hoping they can divide the two factions and persuade the Taliban, a radical fundamentalist sect bent on strict adherence to Islamic law, to lay down its arms, according to Mr. Lyons.
America is on high alert. Such elite units as the U.S. Marines' rapid reaction force that deals with chemical, biological and nuclear attacks are standing by in case of retaliation by al Qaeda or other terrorist organizations.
President George W. Bush congratulated Mr. Obama when the President phoned him with the news. He praised American servicemen and women for their dogged 10-year pursuit of Mr. bin Laden.
The fact that U.S. forces have the body of the wanted man is significant, according to a military analyst named Mike Lyons. He told a CBS “Up To The Minute” anchor woman that the body would undoubtedly be returned to Mr. bin Laden's family and treated with the respect it is due in accordance with Islamic law.
The true significance of having the body in custody, according to Mr. Lyons, is that it is needed “for proof” in the counterinsurgency operations that will follow that Mr. bin Laden was killed by the U.S..
He predicted that the U.S. will seek a political, rather than a military solution in a coming surge against both Taliban and al Qaeda forces. U.S. military leaders are hoping they can divide the two factions and persuade the Taliban, a radical fundamentalist sect bent on strict adherence to Islamic law, to lay down its arms, according to Mr. Lyons.
America is on high alert. Such elite units as the U.S. Marines' rapid reaction force that deals with chemical, biological and nuclear attacks are standing by in case of retaliation by al Qaeda or other terrorist organizations.
The Department of Homeland Security has cautioned law enforcement agencies to be ready for backlash attacks by Islamic fundamentalists in reaction to the news of Mr. bin Laden's death.
This is not the first report of Mr. bin Laden's killing. Benazir Bhutto, who was twice elected Prime Minister of Pakistan and twice removed by parliamentary procedure before her assassination in 2007, told David Frost in a televised interview 3 months before her death that Omar Saeed Sheikh murdered Mr. bin Laden.
Bhutto returned to Pakistan on October 18th 2007, after reaching an understanding with President Pervez Musharraf by which she was granted amnesty and all corruption charges were withdrawn. She was assassinated on 27 December 2007, after departing a political party rally in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi, two weeks before the scheduled Pakistani general election of 2008 in which she was a leading opposition candidate. The following year, she was named one of seven winners of the United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights.
This is not the first report of Mr. bin Laden's killing. Benazir Bhutto, who was twice elected Prime Minister of Pakistan and twice removed by parliamentary procedure before her assassination in 2007, told David Frost in a televised interview 3 months before her death that Omar Saeed Sheikh murdered Mr. bin Laden.
Bhutto returned to Pakistan on October 18th 2007, after reaching an understanding with President Pervez Musharraf by which she was granted amnesty and all corruption charges were withdrawn. She was assassinated on 27 December 2007, after departing a political party rally in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi, two weeks before the scheduled Pakistani general election of 2008 in which she was a leading opposition candidate. The following year, she was named one of seven winners of the United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights.
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