Too little too late. A couple of trillion $$ and ten years late. Too little in that we got a corpse instead of a captive, when there was an opportunity to take him alive (or “mostly dead” if you get the reference).
In all, we got more of a PR stunt than an actual historical event. Why? A trial could be cathartic and that is dangerous. It would reveal the gap between demonization and reality. It would also deflate the fear bubble.
Fear was/is so useful in making the defense and homeland security dollars flow (at levels beyond reason) and perpetuating the government's emergency powers.
The broad implications of the death of Osama bin Laden were discussed in a new report from the Congressional Research Service. The report does not contain any new factual information or much in the way of new analysis. Rather, it presents an account of the policy questions arising from bin Laden’s death that may warrant congressional attention. See “Osama bin Laden’s Death: Implications and Considerations” (pdf), May 5, 2011.
Following is a translation of a statement attributed to the Qaida't al-Jihad Organization-General Command. It's actual provenance cannot be confirmed.
You Lived a Compassionate and You Died a Martyr
Statement Regarding the Defiant Battle and the Martyrdom of Sheikh Usama
bin Laden-may Allah have mercy on him
In the name of Allah the Most Merciful the Most Compassionate [Verse]
and prayer and peace upon His prophet [Hadith] and upon his family and
companions who spread the truth with their justice, and preserved the religion with their bodies and shed their blood to raise it, and upon those who walked their path and carried jihad as theirs, and were steadfast like them until the day of judgment, and thereafter:
NIGHTWATCH: Four points are clear. Pakistan is much more concerned about India than about internal terrorism or the Taliban in Afghanistan. Pakistan has many alternatives to the ISI Directorate for managing clandestine arrangements with terrorists. The Intelligence Bureau must be investigated. The timing of all known clandestine arrangements falls within Musharraf's tenure.
Phi Beta Iota: Americans are known in Latin America as “tontos utiles” [useful idiots]. It is inconceivable to anyone who actually knows what living in Asia entails [$1 per static, $2 per mobile surveillant], to conceive of Bin Laden [or anyone else, perhaps in Karachi] being comfortable in Pakistan without the knowledge of the intelligence service and Army Chief of Staff; and it is highly questionable whether the same CIA that self-destructed over Khost Kathy could infiltrate Pakistan when its “norm” was the likes of Ray Davis. As much as we may all want to believe this theatrics, a sufficiency of questions demand investigation.
Below the Line: NIGHTWATCH on Pakistan and Bin Laden at Length
Phi Beta Iota: In another change to its story, to prove that Bin Laden had in fact been “captured,” the White House today released a photo of Bin Laden with Condi Rice at a safehouse maintained by the Department of State at the South-Central Complex between State and the new US Institute for Peace building. Condi remains Bin Laden's closest ally within Washington circles where both Republicans and Democrats agree: Bin Laden has been the single best bi-partisan brand in decades. The White House did not appear to notice the inconsistency between this photograph and its earlier refusal to publish a photograph of the allegedly dead Bin Laden. Source
In addition, it has now been revealed that the below photograph, previously alleged to be in the situation room with the Bin Laden kill operations on screen, was actually taken at the conclusion of a very hard-fought battle over changes in Old Executive Office Building (OEOB) room assignments. Hillary Clinton is reacting to the announcement that the Indian Treaty Room is now the Boy's Club with cigar smoking permitted at all times.
Click on Image to Enlarge
Below the line: alternative versions of the EOEB briefing photograph.
Phi Beta Iota: This is one of the most extraordinary, erudite, credible, and well-put-together indictments of the CIA and the White House for a variety of false flag attributions to Bin Laden, to include detailed repudiations of CIA translations and detailed repudiations of the figures alleged to be Bin Laden.
