Nato forces in Afghanistan have confirmed the killing of one of their most wanted al-Qaeda militants in the decade-long conflict a day after an embarrassing jailbreak by hundreds of suspected Taliban militants.

The Nato-led International Security Assistance Force said on Tuesday that Abdul Ghani had been killed in an air strike in Kunar province, a mountainous region in north eastern Afghanistan, on April 13.

It called the death of the Saudi national, who it considered a “key financial conduit” for militant operations, a “significant milestone” in its quest to hunt down al-Qaeda leaders and bring stability to Afghanistan.

Confirmation of a prized militant scalp came after a four-year manhunt in a region, bordering Pakistan, where Osama bin Laden, the al-Qaeda leader who masterminded the 2001 terror attacks on the US, had earlier been suspected of hiding.

Usama bin Laden is dead, multiple sources confirm to Fox News.

President Obama is expected to deliver a statement from the White House Sunday night to discuss the major development.

Sources said bin Laden was killed by a U.S. bomb a week ago. The U.S. had been waiting for the results of a DNA test to confirm his identity.

The announcement comes nearly a decade after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks which started a tireless hunt for the terrorist mastermind and Al Qaeda leader.

I like how he took the importance off the military and said it was the American people who killed him.

Obama announces Osama bin Laden killed by U.S.
By Michael A. Memoli and Michael Muskal

May 1, 2011, 8:35 p.m.
Reporting from Washington and Los Angeles— Osama bin Laden, the world's most wanted terrorist, was killed in Pakistan as the result of a U.S. military operation, President Obama announced to the nation Sunday night.

The historic revelation comes about four months before the 10th anniversary of the devastating Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, which were executed by the Al Qaeda network helmed by Bin Laden and prompted the start of a war on terror that has dominated U.S. foreign policy.

Bin Laden, 54, was a member of a wealthy Saudi family and has been on the FBI's Most Wanted Fugitives List since 1999.

Bin Laden broke with Saudi leaders over their beliefs regarding Israel. He was eventually denounced by his family and gave up citizenship.

Al Qaeda has taken responsibility for the bombings of U.S. embassies in 1998 in Tanzania and Kenya. More than 200 people were killed in the attacks.

Al Qaeda has also claimed responsibility for other attacks on other symbols of U.S. power around the globe. It has spawned local organizations in hot spots from Iraq to Afghanistan.

The announcement by Obama from the East Room of the White House came eight years to the day after President Bush announced the end of major combat operations in Iraq, the so-called “Mission Accomplished” speech from the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln.
...

Bush: “I congratulated him and the men and women of our military and intelligence communities who devoted their lives to this mission. They have our everlasting gratitude,” the former president said in a statement. “The fight against terror goes on, but tonight America has sent an unmistakable message: No matter how long it takes, justice will be done.”

Clinton: "I congratulate the President, the National Security team and the members of our armed forces on bringing Osama bin Laden to justice after more than a decade of murderous al-Qaida attacks,"

Officials said the U.S. would ensure that bin Laden's body was handled in accordance with Islamic tradition.

tonight, I even find myself in agreement with G-Man. string that fucker's corpse up and let the New Yorkers throw shit at him.

Irwin Schwab Moderator Educator to comprehension impaired (JLA, that is you)

Obama is a tactical genius!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110502/ap_on_re_us/us_bin_laden



WTF?!?!?!

A congressional source familiar with the operation that killed Osama bin Laden confirmed that the terror mastermind was shot in the head during the U.S. raid, according to a briefing the source received, CNN's Dana Bash reports.

Can't we just be happy that Osama is dead and that we were the ones who did it?

Political correctness is officially shit when a guy kills thousands if Americans in the name of Islam and our government feels the need to respect his religious wishes.

Hours before President Obama’s announcement that Osama Bin Laden had been killed, Dwayne Johnson tweeted, “Just got word that will shock the world — Land of the free … home of the brave DAMN PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!. Post announcement, he followed that up with “..couldn’t have asked for a better birthday present..”

A generation of young Americans slammed the door Monday on the great, big boogeyman of their childhoods with an epic woot-woot and rounds and rounds of "U.S.A.!"

At the news of Osama bin Laden’s death, thousands of people - most of them college-aged and in requisite flip-floppy collegiate gear — whipped up a raucous celebration right outside the White House gates that was one part Mardi Gras and two parts Bon Jovi concert.

There were cigars, a few beers, a lacrosse stick turned flagpole waved by a kid who just climbed a statue, joining others aloft in trees and atop lamp posts. Well past midnight, cars zipped up and down the streets of downtown Washington with women standing up through sunroofs waving ginormous American flags and guys blowing vuvuzelas, spring break style.

It felt a little crazy, a bit much. Almost vulgar.

When I saw that folks were celebrating in the streets at the news of bin Laden’s death, my first reaction was a cringe.

WASHINGTON — Officials say CIA interrogators in secret overseas prisons developed the first strands of information that ultimately led to the killing of Osama bin Laden.

Current and former U.S. officials say that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, provided the nom de guerre of one of bin Laden’s most trusted aides. The CIA got similar information from Mohammed’s successor, Abu Faraj al-Libi. Both were subjected to harsh interrogation tactics inside CIA prisons in Poland and Romania.

The news is sure to reignite debate over whether the now-closed interrogation and detention program was successful. Former president George W. Bush authorized the CIA to use the harshest interrogation tactics in U.S. history. President Barack Obama closed the prison system.

According to another one of those White House briefings of reporters designed to suck up all available credit for good news, President Obama's homeland security advisor reveals that it was a really tense time in the air-conditioned White House as unidentified U.S. Navy SEALs closed in on the world's most wanted man after midnight a half a wohomeland security advisor john Brennan 5-2-11rld away.

"Minutes passed like days," says John Brennan, who bravely stood with press secretary Jay Carney before reporters and TV cameras today chronicling his boss' weekend heroics.

The heavily-armed commandos flying in a quartet of darkened Blackhawk and Chinook helicopters more than 100 miles into Pakistan were probably listening to their iPods and discussing the NFL draft.

"The concern was that bin Laden would oppose any type of capture operation," said Obama's Sherlock Holmes. So U.S. troops were prepared "for all contingencies."

In fact, this weekend was such a tense time in the White House that Obama only got in nine holes of golf. But he still managed to deliver his joke script to the White House Correspondents Assn. dinner Saturday evening.

Sunday was, Brennan revealed to his eager audience, "probably one of the most anxiety-filled periods of times in the lives of the people assembled here." Poor poor bureaucrats. Extra Tums all around. Did someone order dinner?

There may have been a little anxiety aboard those combat choppers. Who knows? We can't hear from them. And, as every day, anxiety in the kitchens, hearts and mind of thousands of military families who put up with the terrifying uncertainty of the dangerous deeds their loved ones have volunteered to secretly do for their country. During his 49 minute presentation Brennan did squeeze in one reference to the mission's "very brave personnel."

But the emphasis, with 2012 just around the calendrical corner, was on the boss' valor. "There was nothing that confirmed that bin Laden was at that compound," Brennan related as if such uncertainty is uncommon in war.

"And, therefore," Brennan continued, "when President Obama was faced with the opportunity to act upon this, the president had to evaluate the strength of that information and then made what I believe was one of the most gutsiest calls of any president in recent memory."

According to early reports of the incident, detailed here in The Ticket, 24 SEALs rappelled down ropes from hovering Chinooks in post-midnight darkness Monday Pakistan time with Osama security forces shooting at them. Brennan didn't have much time to go into all that today, the goal is to elevate the ex-state senator to at least a one-star commander-in-chief.

Here's something else that didn't get much recognition in all the street celebrations or all-hail-Obama briefings:

The trail to Monday morning's assault on Osama's Pakistan compound began during someone else's presidency. That previous president authorized enhanced interrogation techniques which convinced folks like Khalid Shaikh Mohammed to give up, among many other things, the name of their top-secret courier, now deceased. His travels ultimately led the CIA back to Osama's six-year-old suburban home.

According to early reports of the incident, detailed here in The Ticket, 24 SEALs rappelled down ropes from hovering Chinooks in post-midnight darkness Monday Pakistan time with Osama security forces shooting at them. Brennan didn't have much time to go into all that today, the goal is to elevate the ex-state senator to at least a one-star commander-in-chief.

I wonder if the SEALs who shot bin Laden will get a piece of that reward money. Or at the very least a bucket of fish.

A member of the US Senate Intelligence Committee has told CNBC that the death of Osama Bin Laden was a direct result of enhanced interrogations.

“The information that eventually led us to this compound was the direct result of enhanced interrogations; one can conclude if we had not used enhanced interrogations, we would not have come to yesterday's action,” US Senator Richard Burr in a telephone interview with CNBC.

As a member of the US Senate Intelligence Committee, Burr was briefed on the attack on the compound that led to Bin Laden’s death and believes the failure of Pakistani security forces to find the al-Qaeda leader sooner will be a strain on US relations.

“It's common knowledge that the US-Pakistan relationship was strained prior to this action, there will be continual talks about what ISI (Pakistani security forces) did or didn't know,” he said.

The death of Bin Laden will, however, improve the US position in Afghanistan where the US and NATO forces are locked in a war of attrition with the Taliban and al-Qaeda forces.

“Yesterday's action sends a loud message, we can find you and we can kill you...even though we had a victory…, the war on terror continues,” Burr said.

“The United States Department of Defense did not do waterboarding for interrogation purposes to anyone. 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.”

Rumsfeld says harsh treatment didn't get them anything that helped with this.



newsmax.com

I just listened to Rumsfeld, interviewed on Hannity, saying:

"Anyone who does not acknowledge that an enormous amount of valuable intelligenge was gained through 'enhanced' interrogation techniques is simply denying the truth."

"Who is it?"

". . .Candygram. . ."

BRIAN WILLIAMS: Can you confirm that it was as a result of water boarding that we learned what we needed to learn to go after Bin Laden?

LEON PANETTA: Brian, in the intelligence business you work from a lot of sources of information and that was true here… It's a little difficult to say it was due just to one source of information that we got… I think some of the detainees clearly were, you know, they used these enhanced interrogation techniques against some of these detainees. But I'm also saying that, you know, the debate about whether we would have gotten the same information through other approaches I think is always going to be an open question.

BRIAN WILLIAMS: So finer point, one final time, enhanced interrogation techniques -- which has always been kind of a handy euphemism in these post-9/11 years -- that includes water boarding?

LEON PANETTA: That's correct

In an interview with Steve Kroft for this Sunday's "60 Minutes" conducted today, President Obama said he won't release post-mortem images of Osama bin Laden taken to prove his death.

"It is important to make sure that very graphic photos of somebody who was shot in the head are not floating around as an incitement to additional violence or as a propaganda tool," said the president.

"We don't trot out this stuff as trophies," Mr. Obama added. "The fact of the matter is, this is somebody who was deserving of the justice that he received."

The president said he had discussed the issue with his intelligence team, including Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and that they agree with the decision. White House press secretary Jay Carney said Wednesday that Mr. Obama made the decision today.

In explaining his choice not to release the photo, Mr. Obama said that "we don't need to spike the football." He said that "given the graphic nature of these photos it would create a national security risk."

President Barack Obama is to release up to 2,000 photographs of alleged abuse at American prisons in Iraq and Afghanistan in a move which will reignite the scandal surrounding Abu Ghraib prison in 2004.

The decision to make public the images sought in a legal action by the American Civil Liberties Union comes amid a political firestorm over alleged torture of detainees under President George W. Bush.

Some of the photographs, which will be released before May 28, are said to show American service personnel humiliating prisoners, according to officials.

The images relate to more than 400 separate cases involving alleged prisoner abuse between 2001 and 2005.

The Pentagon fears a backlash in the Middle East similar to the one provoked by pictures from Abu Ghraib prison, near Baghdad, in 2004 which became emblematic of American mistakes in Iraq.

WASHINGTON — In a reversal of an 18-year-old military policy that critics said was hiding the ultimate cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the news media will now be allowed to photograph the flag-draped coffins of America's war dead as their bodies are returned to the United States, but only if the families of the dead agree.

Gates, who said at the news conference that he was "never comfortable" with the ban, tried to have it overturned a year ago.

But he said he encountered resistance in the Pentagon, and so he "demurred."

But once President Barack Obama said this month that he was reviewing the ban, Gates again sounded out senior officials at the Pentagon.

"I'm very disappointed," said John Ellsworth, the president of Military Families United, whose son, Lance Corporal Justin Ellsworth, was killed in Iraq in 2004 at age 20. "There was nothing wrong with the way things were. I believe that the administration basically caved to the special interest groups, the antiwar groups, that are going to politicize our fallen."

"What is the need to show these caskets," Ellsworth added, "other than to try to inflame controversy?"

Debra Burlingame, the sister of Charles "Chic" Burlingame (pilot of the plane that crashed into the Pentagon) met with President Obama today, along with other families who were victims of 9/11. Burlingame said she confronted Obama about Attorney General Eric Holder prosecuting the men who interrogated KSM, which may have produced intelligence leading us to bin Laden.

Burlingame describes the encounter with Obama: "As a former attorney I know you can't tell the Attorney General what to do, he said, 'No, I can't.' But I said 'we -- that shouldn't stop you from giving your opinion. We wouldn't be here today if they hadn't done their jobs. Can't you at least give them your opinion.' And he said 'no I won't,' and he turned around and walked away."

Sarah Palin.

You edited my post.

It's been interesting watching some of the sniping by the other side in the aftermath of Obama sending Osama to hell. Also makes it clear that those people will never be reasonable. After all if they can't even give the guy credit for this, it isn't going to happen ever.

Trump is the greatest!

Good job summing up some of the con talking points but Obama's involvement was more than just saying ok to a plan. He actually made it more of a priority to get Osama and took criticism by both parties over two years ago for his willingness to go into Pakistan and take him out.

I want to be bsams friend.

Even as he eliminated the "enhanced" interrogation techniques and other intelligence procedures that over several years led to the killing of Bin Ladin.

So the country is actually less safe now, because we are no longer able to gather the kind of intelligence that has kept us safe up from terrorist attacks up to this point. Thanks to Obama.

I'm just waiting until this administration eventually takes credit for the policies that allowed for his death.

He was killed on Obama's watch. That means he's solely responsible for Osama's death.

Obama didn't take sole credit for this and went out of his way to give credit to everyone that worked on getting the big bad guy.

How many times did he mention the military in his speech and how many times did he mention himself?

President Obama thanks Fort Campbell soldiers
Obama, Biden pay tribute to troops
3:31 AM, May. 7, 2011 | Comments

President Obama thanks soldiers at Ft. Campbell fo...: Meets privately with operatives who killed Osama bin Laden

FORT CAMPBELL— President Barack Obama paid tribute to an appreciative audience of more than 2,300 soldiers Friday, thanking them for the spirit of service and sacrifice that led to the capture and killing of terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden.

“You’ve been on the front lines of this fight for nearly 10 years,” the president told a standing-room only, camouflage-clad crowd in a hangar at Fort Campbell, home of the 101st Airborne Division.

“You were there in those early days, driving the Taliban from power, pushing al-Qaida out of its safe havens. Over time, as the insurgency grew, you went back for, in some cases, a second time, a third time, a fourth time.”

Obama spoke five days after bin Laden, whose al-Qaida organization was responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, was killed in Pakistan.

Before the rally with the troops, he met privately with units that were heavily involved in the mission: the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, which is based at Fort Campbell, and Navy SEAL Team 6.

“Job well done,” he told the special forces.

To the 101st, Obama said: “I came here for a simple reason — to say thank you on behalf of America.”

...

tennessean.com

Obama is clearly trying to grab all the credit.

It's funny how, when you present some people with absolute fact and proof, they still try and either claim it's false, or simply try and twist their argument a different way. Meanwhile, though, you proved your point with facts. Well done and argument unquestionably won.

I love making you dance. It's so effortless...

It's funny how, when you present some people with absolute fact and proof, they still try and either claim it's false, or simply try and twist their argument a different way. Meanwhile, though, you proved your point with facts. Well done and argument unquestionably won.

So I'm a pundit now?

Yep, now it's time to pretend that Obama just started giving credit to the military when he's been doing it all along.

President Obama thanks Fort Campbell soldiers
Obama, Biden pay tribute to troops
3:31 AM, May. 7, 2011 | Comments

Pundits aren't interested in "unity". All they want is "their side" to "win". Either for ego, vanity, or greed. They have no real interest in truth, but more in how good a group can make them look if they belong to said mentality. And, let's be fair, we're not just talking Conservative Extremists, either. Plenty of the Liberal Elite out there have the exact same selfish goals. So, it's just the complete and utter corruption of American politics as we know it...

Silly MEM. Don't you know you have to get a linked-article to match a date Pariah approves? How do you expect facts, the truth, or reality to convince him if you can't link to an article he approves of??!!

That's great.

Now if only he'd done that before being criticized about not doing it.

Hmm. Somehow I don't think Bush would have had the same problem.

How long ago was he killed again?

Go away Pariah! You've made a fool of me too many times in the past already. I'm not falling for it again!

NO! I will not be made a fool of again! I refuse!

How do you expect facts, the truth, or reality to convince him if you can't link to an article he approves of??!!

Chris Wallace just asked a great question to national security advisor Tom Donilon: Why is it okay to shoot an unarmed man in the face --Bin Ladin-- but it's not okay to conduct "enhanced" interrogation [waterboarding] of Al Qaida prisoners?

...

It's just like the time Pariah told us anything

Poor MEM. I guess he's just too busy getting fellated by Pro to bother making sense.

It's not the same thing. For one thing the ones that went into Pakistan were taking on far more risk than the ones doing the torture. You don't have to worry about an already captured and detained captive blowing you up. The team that got Osama really did have to worry about that stuff.

If only given the option of being waterboarded or shot in the face which would you choose?

It's not the same thing. For one thing the ones that went into Pakistan were taking on far more risk than the ones doing the torture. You don't have to worry about an already captured and detained captive blowing you up. The team that got Osama really did have to worry about that stuff.

I love bsams. I am also not wearing pants.

It's not bogus to recognize that the SEALS were at far more risk than an already captured and detained prisoner. Your scenario of an unexpected attack is far less likely and so there is much less risk.

I made no such statement about one being more valuable than the other, nor see that having anything to do with the torture debate.

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Sen. John McCain: Osama Bin Laden was not killed because of information obtained by torture
BY Helen Kennedy
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Thursday, May 12th 2011, 2:27 PM

Torture did not produce the information that led to Osama Bin Laden, Arizona Sen. John McCain declared Thursday.


"It was not torture, or cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of detainees that got us the major leads," he said on the Senate floor.

The key information about Bin Laden's courier "was obtained through standard, noncoercive means" - not from waterboarding detainees, McCain wrote in a Washington Post editorial.

A former prisoner of war who endured five years of mistreatment in Vietnam, McCain has a unique authority to speak on the subject.

Former Bush administration officials have repeatedly claimed that the relentless waterboarding of terrorist Khalid Sheik Mohammed cracked the case.

McCain said he learned from CIA Director Leon Panetta and staffers at the Senate intelligence committee that Mohammed actually lied to his interrogators about the courier, Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti.

"He specifically told his interrogators that Abu Ahmed had moved to Peshawar, got married and ceased his role as an Al Qaeda facilitator - none of which was true," McCain said.

The initial information about the courier's central role in Al Qaeda and his nickname, which ultimately led to Bin Laden, "came from a detainee held in another country, who we believe was not tortured," McCain said.

McCain's account directly contradicts the version told by several top Bush administration officials.

...

“We are very concerned about the security of our families – of your families and our troops, and also these elite units that are engaged in things like that. And without getting into any details … I would tell you that when I met with the team last Thursday, they expressed a concern about that, and particularly with respect to their families,” Gates told an audience of Marines at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.

Then he dropped this bombshell: “Frankly, a week ago Sunday, in the Situation Room, we all agreed that we would not release any operational details from the effort to take out bin Laden. That all fell apart on Monday, the next day.”

"He was indeed voicing his concern about the breakdown in operational security after the killing of Bin Laden," Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense Geoff Morrell said. "Anonymous sources revealing secret information about the tactics, training, and equipment of covert forces put at risk our ability to successfully mount similar missions in the future."

bush did it first

Wonder woman looks old.
Flash really let himself go.
Captain America looks like a midget.
I'm not even sure who most of those people are supposed to be.

Here's a reference for you: