Bin Laden Dead

Posted on Mon 05/02/2011 by PA Pundits - International

By Andrew Bolt

The US reports that it has the body of Osama bin Laden, the al Qaeda chief..

UPDATE

Fox believes bin Laden was killed by a missile. Barack Obama is said to be considering an urgent address to the nation, closer to midnight.

What is significance of this? Bin Laden said it best, in talking to his senior followers in November 2001, two months after hijacking four jets and bringing down the World Trade Centre, with the loss of nearly 3000 civilians.

When people see a strong horse and a weak horse, by nature, they will like the strong horse.

UPDATE 2

He reportedly was killed in Pakistan, and a DNA test verified his identity. Reports differ as to whether he was killed with a missile or a bullet. The killing apparently happened days ago.

So ends the conspiracies:

UPDATE 3

It is believed that bin Laden was killed in a mansion not far from Islamabad, Pakistan, with members of his family.

Early intelligence suggests that bin Laden was killed as a result of a US-led military assault.

The location of bin Laden and his family confirms recent speculation that he was hiding in comfortable surroundings and close to civilisation, not in the remote mountains dividing Pakistan and Afghanistan.

UPDATE 4

The questions so far:

If this was a covert US operation near Pakistan’s capital, does this mean bin Laden had Pakistani protection?

How long had bin Laden been living there? How? How long did the US know he was there?

Was any information recovered with his body? Any henchmen?

Where is bin Laden’s deputy, the allegedly even more radical Ayman al-Zawahri?

And then the unknowables:

How will jihadists around the world react?

Is this the beginning of a slow end of the jihadist culture, especially given the failure of al Qaeda to strike the US on its soil again in the decade since September 11, and given, too, how miserable the latest jihadist operations have been:

A day after the Taliban declared the beginning of its spring offensive, a young suicide bomber detonated his explosives in a town near the Pakistan border in southeastern Afghanistan on Sunday, killing 4 people and wounding 14, an Afghan official said… He said a 12-year-old boy had carried out the attack…

And I guess we’ll soon know how empty was this threat:

Al-Qaeda terrorists have threatened to unleash a “nuclear hellstorm” on the West if their leader and world’s most wanted terrorist Osama bin Laden is nabbed. A senior al-Qaeda commander has claimed that the terror group has stashed away a nuclear bomb in Europe which will be detonated if bin Laden is ever caught or assassinated, according to new top secret files made public by internet whistleblower WikiLeaks.

UPDATE 5

Obama adresses the US just after 11.30pm, Washington time:

Says in August he had a possible lead on Osama, apparently in a compound in Pakistan. Last week, he determined there was enough intelligence for a US operation. Today, a small team carried it out. No Americans harmed. After a firefight, Obama killed and body taken.

Now riffs on his theme that Osama was not a “Muslim leader” but killer of Muslims.

Claims Pakistan helped lead the US to Osama’s hideout. But then says he tonight called the Pakistan president, suggesting Pakistan did not know of the operation.

“Justice has been done.”

UPDATE 6

About Abbottabad, bin Laden’s hideout:

– far from being some remote cave, it is a very large town of 80,000 people, 60 km from Islamabad.

– far from being discreet, it is relatively modern and has tourists passing through:

– far from being out of reach from Pakistan’s military, it is actually a military centre:

Abbottabad became and is still an important military cantonment and sanatorium, being the headquarters of a brigade in the Second Division of the Northern Army Corps. The garrison consisted of four battalions of native infantry (Gurkhas) and four native mountain batteries

– far from being secret, it’s celebrated:

ABBOTTABAD, July 23: Pakistan’s two dozen cricketers are currently undergoing strenuous training in the foothills of the Himalayas in Kakul like novice soldiers.

Led by captain Shoaib Malik, the national players are attending a conditioning camp at Pakistan Army’s Physical Training Institute (5KM from Abbottabad) in typical military style in a bid to sharpen up for September’s Champions Trophy. Cricketers are generally used to five-star hotel facilities even during training sessions, but Kakul offers no such luxury, not even room service.

So what was Osama bin Laden doing there, and isn’t it very, very likely he was protected by the Pakistani military?

UPDATE 7

Associated Press reports:

Osama bin Laden was killed in a helicopter raid on a mansion in an area north of the Pakistani capital, U.S. and Pakistani officials said Monday.

Four helicopters launched the attack in the Bilal area of Abbottabad, about 100 kilometers north of Islamabad, said a Pakistani intelligence official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information. One of the helicopters crashed after it apparently was hit by fire from the ground, the official said. He gave no word on casualties.

He said the helicopters took off from a Pakistani air base in the north of the country.

Women and children were taken into custody during the raid, he said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information.

Published in Pakistan’s The Express Tribune today:

ABBOTABAD:
A helicopter crashed in Abbottabad near the Pakistan Military Academy Kakul late on Sunday night, police sources said.

The chopper was seen flying low before it crashed, locals said. The sound of gunfire and two small blasts was heard before a massive explosion, sources said.

They added that the third blast damaged windowpanes of the area houses. This was stated to be the first incident of its kind in Abbottabad at night.

The Dunya News Network:

At least three people were injured when a helicopter crashed near the Pakistan Military Academy.

According to eyewitnesses, a low flying helicopter crashed in a populated area and as a result two houses were engulfed in flames. Three people including two women were injured in the attack and were taken to the CMH Hospital.

On receiving reports, rescue teams arrived at the scene and started the relief work. After the incident, law enforcement agencies surrounded the area.

The US reports no casualties on the US side.

UPDATE 8

Was the arrest in January at Abbottabad of Bali bomber Umar Patek a breakthrough? And why didn’t Osama run?

This photo taken on Wednesday, April 13, 2011 shows the home of Abdul Hameed in Abbottabad, Pakistan from where Indonesian al-Qaida-linked militant, Umar Patek, was arrested in Jan. 2011. Patek was on the run from a $1 million U.S. bounty on his head, for allegedly helping mastermind the 2002 suicide bombings of nightclubs in Bali that killed 202 people.

Interesting deail in this report three weeks ago on Patek’s arrest:

Questions also remain over his fate, and there are signs he may be caught up in tensions between Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence agency and the CIA, which have previously cooperated during terror arrests and would like access to him.

Islamabad has said it will not hand Patek over to the CIA and that he will be sent to Indonesia. But officials in Jakarta don’t appear that keen to have him, and have expressed doubts whether they could make charges stick against him for his alleged role in the Bali attacks.

Abbottabad is in northwest Pakistan, one of the first towns on the famed Karakoram Highway that leads to the Himalayas and China and less then a day’s drive from the Afghan border. During the era of British rule, it was a major garrison town and it remains so today, with Pakistani troops now occupying the barracks built and lived in by the region’s former rulers.

Officials did not say how or why Patek ended up there, but his arrest followed the detention of an alleged al-Qaida facilitator in the town called Tahir Shehzad, who worked as a clerk at the town’s post office, a squat building just across the road from the British-era St. Luke’s Church.

Tahir had been under surveillance since last year when he was spotted in Abbottabad with an Arab terror suspect, said the intelligence official, who like all Pakistani spies is not permitted to give his name.

UPDATE 9

Smart propaganda by the US, if true:

Pakistani television stations on Monday broadcast what they described as unconfirmed images of Osama bin Laden’s bloodied face after the United States said he had been killed.

“The picture of Osama bin Laden’s dead body has been released. It is unverified,” said the commentator on Pakistan’s largest TV network, Geo.

Andrew Bolt is a journalist and columnist writing for The Herald Sun http://www.heraldsun.com.au/ in Melbourne Victoria Australia.

Andrew Bolt’s columns appear in Melbourne’s Herald Sun, Sydney’s Daily Telegraph and Adelaide’s Advertiser. He runs the most-read political blog in Australia and is a regular commentator on Channel 9′s Today show and ABC TV’s Insiders. He will be heard from Monday to Friday at 8am on the breakfast show of new radio station MTR 1377, and his book Still Not Sorry remains very widely read.

Read more excellent articles from Andrew Bolt’s Blog . http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/

See the other articles on this subject:

OSAMA BIN LADEN IS DEAD! – Breaking News
We Got The SOB! Bin Laden Dead
The Death of Osama bin Laden
American Muslim Organization Applauds US Effort to Bring Osama Bin Laden to Justice
Case Closed on the Osama File + More
Where Osama Died Just Underlines The U.S. Message
Pakistan, the Epicenter of Global Terrorism
Bin Laden Killed by Special Operators – That’s Where Credit is Due
The Swirl of Conspiracy Theories
A Triumph In The War Against Islamic Terrorism!
WikiLeaks Nearly Saved bin Laden
Color Me Happy
Bin Laden Operation: CIA Officers Praised for Their ‘Transgressions?’
Osama’s Gone. Now What? + More
Osama -ToonLog
Five Reasons It Was Important to Get Bin Laden
Bin Laden’s Death Was Overdue – Video
Bullet Points: OBL’s Termination
Is Obama Right Not to Release Bin Laden Photos? – Video
Special Operations/Covert Operations to the Rescue
New INFOSEC Guidelines from the White House