Osama bin Laden killed

President Obama just announced that U.S. forces killed Osama bin Laden in a firefight in Abbottabad, Pakistan. I envy the American soldiers who killed bin Laden. The controversial intelligence methods allowed by Presidents Bush and Obama were vindicated. As President Obama emphasized tonight, the war goes on. But today is a victory.

9/11 changed my life - I captured my contemporary reaction in an opinion for my school newspaper. The kids attending college now were 9-12 years old when it happened, just old enough to understand the difference between the world on 9/10 and the world after 9/11. 9/11 defined their generation.

P.S. Team America - Fuck Yeah! Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue. Have You Forgotten? (The answer is we didn't forget.)

P.P.S. Professor Nacos reacts to the news.

P.P.P.S. Jon Stewart nails the propriety of celebrating bin Laden's death. My take:

As trite as it sounds to anyone who hasn’t served, our soldiers really do put their lives on the line with the American people and American nation in their hearts. Celebrate our first responders and military. As long as we don’t do any Terry Jones bullshit, I promise you they’ll appreciate it. They deserve to see the American people celebrating.

Let the President be dignified. For the American people, keep it real. Show the world that we the American people are not ashamed nor apologetic of ourselves, our nation, and our place in the world. We are not the meek and chastened people that our nationalistic, chauvinistic competitors and frenemies would prefer to supplant in the world order. Show the world that the American people retain the same competitive fighting spirit, the same fire in the belly, that built our nation by conquering great challenges and celebrating victory over our enemies.

Do it for our soldiers who are ‘over there’ competing for you. Celebrate loud enough for our soldiers to hear us in Afghanistan and everywhere else they’re serving in the world. Many of them are our age. They’ve earned hearing and seeing the members of their generation celebrate them as heroes.

P.P.P.P.S. From the Bush White House's September 2001 archive, remember when President Bush officially declared the War on Terror.

Add: Former Deputy CIA Director John McLaughlin provided insight on the manhunt spanning the Bush and Obama administrations, including explanation of disbanding of the CIA's Alec Station in 2005. More.

Obama NSA advisor, Tom Donilon (Meet the Press, 08MAY11):

GREGORY: Did harsh interrogations help in the hunt for bin Laden?

DONILON: I’m not, I’m not going to comment on specific intelligence except, except to say the following, that intelligence was gathered from detainees, it was gathered through interrogation, it was gathered from other liaison services, it was gathered technically, it was gathered through human sources, right, over time. And it was gathered, by the way – and this is a very important point I think for your viewers and for Americans generally to understand – this was an effort across two administrations. Indeed, many of the same professionals who worked for President Bush on this project work with us today. Right? So it is not a matter of, of partisanship. And indeed, one of the messages, I think, that goes out from this, is this, that the United States, about its goals, has persistence and determination. That the United States does what it says it’s going to do and, and very importantly, last Sunday night the world saw, it has the capabilities to do so.

Senator John McCain statement:

May 01 2011
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.), made the following statement this evening regarding the announcement made by President Obama that Osama Bin Laden has been killed:

“I am overjoyed that we finally got the world’s top terrorist. The world is a better and more just place now that Osama bin Laden is no longer in it. I hope the families of the victims of the September 11th attacks will sleep easier tonight and every night hence knowing that justice has been done. I commend the President and his team, as well as our men and women in uniform and our intelligence professionals, for this superb achievement.

“But while we take heart in the news that Osama bin Laden is dead, we must be mindful that al-Qaeda and its terrorist allies are still lethal and determined enemies, and we must remain vigilant to defeat them.”

01MAY15 add: CIA Saved Lives.

Eric