Noam Chomsky Attacks Israel's 'Expansion Over Security' at UCLA Lecture on 'Palestine in Crisis'

I experimented with video blogging, and this clip captures more of Chomsky's comments on U.S. policy than his remarks on Israeli expansionism. Here he argues that from Washington's perspective democracy and freedom in the Middle East are antithetical to American interests. The U.S. and Israel allegedly fear the Arab Spring because the revolutions threaten American hegemony in the region. Chomsky spouts a lot of disinformation, which is his trademark. He says at 40 seconds that "about 90 percent of Egyptians view the United States as the main enemy" and that "about 80 percent in the region wanted to be sure Iran had nuclear weapons":

Actually, public opinion in Egypt is much more complicated than that, and while there's obviously variation across individual polls and over time, there's no support for Chomky's claim of "80 percent" across the region supporting Iran's acquisition of nuclear weapons. In fact, according to a Pew Global Attitudes survey in April 2010, "a majority of respondents in Turkey, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon as well as Israel said the spread of nuclear weapons was a major threat" (the number was 41 percent in Egypt).

But these are only quick examples of the kind of propaganda one hears at a Noam Chomsky lecture. Indeed, what's even more fascinating than hearing Chomsky's America-bashing is observing the rock star status he's afforded by the huge crowd of collegiate wannabe bohemians, diehard pro-terror communists, and the campus Islamist jihadis who thronged the event. I'll post pictures later. Chomsky was swarmed by extremist acolytes upon entering the lecture hall. Upon speaking, it was as if his attacks on "American imperialism" and "corporate dominance" were like throwing bags of candy to children. I arrived at UCLA at 5:00pm, and the event was scheduled from 6:00 to 8:00pm. There was a long line out in front of the lecture hall, and while I was dressed casual with my baggy shorts and Famous Stars and Straps shirt and cap, I nevertheless hid the cover of Peter Collier and David Horowitz's, Anti Chomsky Reader with my copy Chomsky and Ilan Pappé's Gaza in Crisis. No need to get these thugs riled. That said, I haven't shaved in weeks, and the beard's getting a little scruffy, frankly, and thus I imagine that grizzled look went over well among the hordes. Honestly, some Muslim women simply do not smell good, and that's to say nothing of the countercultural radicals who look like they just awoke from a night's sleep out on the sidewalks of Westwood. Hey, I guess it's a good thing that the Muslim dude I saw in building of the Samueli School of Engineering, where I stopped off to take a leak before heading back out to the parking garage, was performing his ablutions right there at the bathroom sink!

In any case, listening to Chomsky drone on lethargically, I was reminded of this passage from David Horowitz's essay at the reader, "Noam Chomsky's Anti-American Obsession":

It would be easy to demonstrate how on every page of every book and in every statement that Chomsky has written the facts are twisted, the political context is distorted (and often inverted) and the historical record is systematically traduced. Every piece of evidence and every analysis is subordinated to the overweening purpose of Chomsky's lifework, which is to justify an idée fixe -- his pathological hatred of his own country.

The point was evident at the moment Chomsky commenced. The talk was on "Palestine and Israel in Crisis," but Chomsky was emphatic in stressing the everything Israel does "is at the direction of the United States." That claim sets the tone, of course, for Chomsky's attacks on America's imperial ambitions in the region. But despite the monotonous delivery, Chomsky was sharp intellectually and stayed on point in discussing the Middle East "crisis." And note that nothing, not a single fact surrounding the cycles of violence and bloodshed in the region, is the fault of the Palestinians. He made a big point, a number of times, to stress that the U.S. and Israel face a "crisis of legitimation" in world opinion. He argued, by that token, that this was in fact an increasing "crisis of delegitimation" that's bringing about a "tsunami" of condemnation against the United States, which Chomsky eagerly claimed to be a declining power, but which will nevertheless will remain influential of global affairs for some time to come. (Which begs the question of course of whether or not the U.S. really is the "hegemon" that's the basis for Chomsky's decades-long excoriation of his own country.)

Another term Chomsky used repeatedly was "illegal" --- as in Israel "illegally" occupying Gaza and now "illegally" occupying the West Bank with its "illegal" settlements that form the basis for its policy of "expansion over security." That theme, which was essentially the thesis of the night, was that, according to Chomsky, never has Israel been about peace in the Middle East. He cited a number times when Israel allegedly rejected accommodation with the Palestinians, and instead the Jewish state was alleged to be bent in expansion into the territories it claimed in its numerous wars of conquest. Chomsky laid out a vision of either a future two-state accommodation on the basis of peace (not likely) or Israel's complete decimation of Palestine resulting in a one-state domination. A third option was "what's happening right now." Israel will continue to expand the "illegal" settlements, and the U.S. will continue its "hegemonic" role of regional domination in the Middle East.

At the conclusion of the event, Chomsky responded to questions and went off on his familiar rant about how those who proclaim themselves pro-Israel are actually working feverishly for its moral degeneration and ultimate destruction. Chomsky then returned to the comparison of Israel to apartheid South Africa, and while he admitted key differences, he argued that in one key similarity the time will come when Israel's crisis of legitimation becomes overwhelming, and forces upon it a reckoning for the survival of the Jewish state.

I note here at the end that Chomsky concluded the question and answer session by arguing that Osama Bin Laden was assassinated, "murdered," so that the U.S. could avoid putting Bin Laden on trial, because "they have no evidence against him."

That final jab at the U.S. went over extremely well with the crowd of anti-Americans and Arafat-styled student-cum-terrorists.

Bin Laden's Compound Videos

At NYT, "Videos From Bin Laden’s Hide-Out Released." (Via Memeorandum.)

And at Lonely Conservative: "The dude lived like a pig. At least we know he wasn’t living in the lap of luxury."

RELATED: "Bin Laden’s Secret Life in a Diminished World." (At Memorandum.)

Noam Chomsky Lecture at UCLA Tonight: 'Palestine and Israel in Crisis'

I'm heading out to cover Noam Chomsky's talk tonight at UCLA, sponsored by the Students for Justice in Palestine.

I wrote previously about these people: "UCLA’s Palestine Awareness Week: Students for the Extermination of Israel."

I think given events of the past week, it's going to be even more of an Israel-hating, America-bashing blockbuster. See Ann Althouse, "Noam Chomsky: 'It’s increasingly clear that the operation was a planned assassination, multiply violating elementary norms of international law'." Or, go straight to the link: "Noam Chomsky: My Reaction to Osama bin Laden’s Death."

Check back late tonight or in the morning for a report.

Is Sarah Palin Over?

Asks Newsweek's Howard Kurtz. Obviously not, but it's an interesting piece, especially the insider gossip on Palin's relationship with the folks at Fox News. People are apparently dissing her appearance, of all things. She looks great to me:

Scott Lemieux Backs Anti-Semitic Tony Kushner at Lawyers, Guns and Money

So now Lawyers, Guns and Money is a Jew-bashing, BDS-backing, anti-Semitic hate-site? Well, of course we know that Robert Farley worships Che Guevara, so fanatical Israel-hatred is the logical next step for LGM. The confirmation is in Scott Lemieux's jihad against Jeffrey S. Wiesenfeld, a Member of the Board of Trustees of the City University of New York, who has spoken out against the the university's plan to give an honorary degree to gay socialist playwright Tony Kushner. Here's the screencap of Lemieux's attack on Wiesenfeld this morning, "The CUNY Disgrace."

I commented at the post:

I’m calling you out right now as an Israel-basher, Scott. And a hypocrite. You’re for free-speech for Israel’s critics but you want to punish Israel’s defenders. Seriously. You’re a sick fucker.

And here's the hypocrisy, from an earlier post where Lemieux decried "political correctness":

If there was a contest among the trustees to see who could commit the most egregious breach of CUNY’s mission and traditions, I think we have a winner! Well, at least we know that Roger Kimball has a point about “political correctness” running amok on campuses ...

Actually, the issue here isn't political correctness. It's whether some forms of speech, while protected, are unworthy of the legitimacy and recognition that's conferred with an honorary degree. Frankly, Kushner's attacks on Israel are anti-Semitic, as Wiesenfeld wrote in an essay at The Algemeiner:

When you hold the State of Israel – a nation in a struggle for its survival from the beginning, a target for the misogynist, racist, anti-western, dictatorial regimes which surround it – to a standard you would hold no other nation under normal circumstances, let alone under such exigencies – and when you spew libel against our sole regional democratic ally for “crimes” concocted by delegitimizers, you are an anti-Semite.

See also, "Transcript of CUNY Trustee’s Speech on Kushner Award."

And Bruce Kesler's been all over this at Maggie's Farm, for example, "CUNY Chairman: Kushner 'made the trains run on time'."

And from Jonathan Tobin, at Commentary, "The New York Times Piles on Kushner’s Critic":

A New York arts world that considers a hard-core leftist theatrical polemicist like Tony Kushner to be “compassionate” and fair-minded must find it hard to accept the fact that there are people in the world who deem his anti-Zionism so hard to stomach they refuse to remain silent when asked to honor him. The belief that Kushner is a “writer of rare intellectual scope” with an “extraordinary, active empathy that pervades every one of his plays” is clearly the dominant viewpoint among the city’s chattering classes, and it is hardly surprising that dissenters like Wiesenfeld will be treated harshly as a consequence. The drumbeat of incitement against Wiesenfeld, in which Kushner is falsely portrayed as a victim, will accelerate in the days to come. By the time this nonsense is played out, Kushner may be in line for a Nobel Peace Prize.

That is the way the cultural elites play hardball. Wiesenfeld must understand that he will not be forgiven for his act of lese majeste against a leading cultural liberal. But in standing up against a man whose opposition to Israel has always brought him honor rather than the shame it deserved, Wiesenfeld has restored a little bit of balance to New York’s cockeyed world of high culture.

Also, from Phyllis Chesler, "Communist University of NY (CUNY) Denies Honor to Israel-Bashing Playwright Tony Kushner":

I once labored at the City University of New York (CUNY). I am amazed but thrilled that enough (five) members on their twelve member Board of Trustees actually viewed Kushner’s views on Israel as “racist.”

I once taught a graduate course at the very branch of CUNY which proposed Kushner. Once, I was friendly with some of the professorial union thugs who literally occupy positions to the left of Stalin.

Yes, many are gay, many are feminists. Some are also homophobic and sexist. Life is complicated over there at Communist U because I am describing the same people as well as their opponents.

God bless CUNY Trustee Jeffrey S. Wiesenfeld, who was the first to speak against Kushner. He said that Kushner had tied the founding of the state of Israel to a policy of “ethnic cleansing.” He was surprised that he got the votes necessary to knock Kushner’s honorary degree off the table.

RELATED: From David Horowitz, "Andrew Sullivan’s Misguided Defense of the Regrettable Mr. Kushner":

Andrew Sullivan has posted an attack on CUNY trustee Jeffrey Wiesenfeld for blocking a politically motivated honorary degree that was to be given to the over-rated, crypto-communist and Israel-demonizing playwright Tony Kushner. Andrew’s intelligence is on display in the opening paragraph of his piece where he reiterates his clear-headed views of Kushner’s inflated literary reputation. Kushner’s Pulitzer-winning agitprop, Angels in America, is a puerile embarrassment and in recognizing this Andrew shows that he is capable of breaking out of the bubble of liberal derangement when it suits him. All the more reason that Andrew’s attack on Wiesenfeld is an instructive illustration of the unhinged attitudes of current “critics” of Israel, who are apologists for Hamas and their Gaza supporter.

More at the link.

Also, on the front page of today's New York Times, "Tony Kushner Is Now Likely to Get CUNY Honor."

Figures.

Front page treatment at New York Times too. Another nail in the coffin.

Sympathy For Osama Bin Laden

With apologies to The Rolling Stones.

From (left/libertarian) Brendan O’Neill, "The rise and rise of a pity-for-Osama lobby: How did ‘I hate bin Laden and I’m glad he’s dead’ become the most shocking thing one can say in polite society?" (via Ed Driscoll):

Behind the high-falutin’ expressions of passion for justice over shoot-to-kill, much of the pity-for-Osama lobby is really concerned with expressing its moral superiority over apparently vengeful Americans. Where ‘them’ Yanks still have an attachment to nationalism and war, ‘we’ Europeans are post-nationalist, cosmopolitan, empathetic rather than vengeful, and are far more comfortable with having a man in a wig rather than a man with a gun sort out our moral and political problems.

*****

It is extraordinary, and revealing, how quickly the expression of concern about the use of American force in Pakistan became an expression of values superiority over the American people. The modern chattering classes are so utterly removed from the mass of the population, so profoundly disconnected from ‘ordinary people’ and their ‘ordinary thoughts’, that they effectively see happy Americans as a more alien and unusual thing than Osama bin Laden. Where OBL wins their empathy, American jocks receive only their bile.

Progressives Conflicted Over 'Assassination' of Osama Bin Laden

I've written a couple of times now on John Yoo's thoughts on the Bin Laden killing. Recall that Yoo argues that President Obama had choices. U.S. forces could have gone in with a much heavier contingent for the primary purpose of capturing Bin Laden. We captured Saddam Hussein, for example. We could have taken Bin Laden as well. And, sure, we now know that Bin Laden's (purported) resistance was the (potentially lethal) fact of a couple of guns within arm's reach, and perhaps a suicide bomber's vest that could have been detonated as the commandos stormed the upper chambers of the compound. But given the administration's failure to close Guantanamo, and its backtracking on civilian trials for al Qaeda's leadership, it's entirely within reason to consider that President Obama frankly didn't want to deal with it. Screw it. Kill the f**ker and be done. The truth is, John Yoo's offered one of the most compelling explanations of the operation yet. And now the folks at Balloon Juice are freakin' out over his hypothesis, chest thumping at how the killing of Bin Laden has allegedly caused conservative heads to explode. See "Only Real Men Torture Folks…" (via Memeorandum and Talking Points Memo). Again, all of this is about claiming credit. The left's hypocrisy on national security is unmatched, and Republicans are going to have an enormous opportunity to clarify the debate in 2012. Indeed, it's not the idiotic dolts at Balloon Juice who represent the long-term progressive stand on this, but folks like Michael Moore. The communist filmmaker was on Piers Morgan's last night gnashing his teeth about how horrible it is that Americans killed Bin Laden. But not for the reasons that John Yoo identifies. No, Moore's just unhappy that U.S. forces would actually kill our foremost enemy. More than unhappy, in fact. He's completely dejected, "The world's a better place without him," Moore says, but "it's not necessarily the way" he would have done it:

At least Moore's honest about this. Most progressives are just too busy spiking the football to let both their rank hypocrisy and epic fail sink in. See Dana Loesch for more on that: "In the Left’s Rush to Politicize Bin Laden They Overlook Their Hypocrisy."

RELATED: At the Rhetorican, "White House Messaging Fail: Farenheit 2011?"

And Christopher Taylor, "The Vindication of Former President Bush?"

Show the Proof, Mr. President

It's so elementary.

See Peggy Noonan, "Americans don't want to 'spike the ball.' They want to show they crossed the goal line."

Here is the fact of the age: People believe nothing. They think everything is spin and lies. The minute a government says A is true, half the people on Earth know A is a lie. And when people believe nothing, as we know, they will believe anything. We faked the moon landing, there was a second gunman in Dallas, the World Trade Center was blown up in a U.S.-Zionist conspiracy, Hitler grew old in Argentina.

There will always be people who believe conspiracy theories, and with the Internet there will be more. They are impervious to evidence. But people who care about the truth need to be armed with evidence to refute them.

Mr. Obama misunderstands all this. He tells Steve Croft Sunday on Sixty Minutes that showing photos of the dead Osama would be to "spike the football." "We don't trot this stuff out as trophies." Trophies? Who does he think we are?

It's not about pride, it's about proof. "We got him, shot him and immediately threw him in the sea" is not enough. The U.S. government should release all the evidence it has that does not compromise security. Pictures of Osama are said to be gruesome. Then get the least gruesome one and put it out. Release the DNA evidence, incriminating information found in the house, and pictures of the raid. If there was a passport under the mattress, make it public. And let the SEALs tell their story. Allow them, if they are willing and eager, to go on "Nightline," "Frontline" and "60 Minutes." If they cannot be identified or don't wish to be, put a blue dot over their faces, filter their voices, and don't use their names.

All of this should be put in one big package and released to the world. In this way you give the nation and the world data, and a lot to talk about. That talk will crowd out and diminish conspiracy theories and deather denialism.

Americans don't want to spike the ball. They just want to show they crossed the goal line.

Al-Qaeda Vows Revenge

And that's after President Obambi bent over backwards not to inflame Islamist sensibilities.

See USA Today, "Al-Qaeda confirms bin Laden's death, threatens new attacks." (At Memeorandum.) Plus, a video report at CNN, "Al Qaeda, in Web message, confirms bin Laden's death."

John Yoo: 'This Administration' Really Doesn't 'Want to Capture al Qaeda Leaders'

A follow up to my essay from Wednesday, "The Editors at the New York Times are Living in Another World." I quoted John Yoo's latest op-ed at the Wall Street Journal, discussed at the clip below with Eliot Spitzer. It gets a little heated toward the end, and that's when Yoo reiterates his thesis: The Obama administration made a political decision to not even attempt a capture of Bin Laden, and this may have deprived the U.S. of valuable intelligence, while also adding more fuel to the hypothesis that reelection considerations were at least as important as national security in White House decision-making on the raid in Abottabad:

City University of New York Blocks Honorary Degree for Anti-Semitic Playwright Tony Kushner

At NYT, "CUNY Blocks Honor for Tony Kushner."

And see Jeffrey Wiesenfeld, "Tony Kushner, an Extremist, Can’t Represent CUNY" (via Maggie's Farm):

Following our consensus decision to table the honorary degree nomination of Mr. Tony Kushner it is worthy to note that Mr. Kushner repeats the ugly charges against Israel for which he is known in a letter to the City University Board of Trustees and the media, in which he attempts to defend himself. He is disingenuous and dissembling.

If his libelous statements against Israel were made by anyone outside the Jewish community, that person would be correctly labeled an anti-Semite. When you hold the State of Israel – a nation in a struggle for its survival from the beginning, a target for the misogynist, racist, anti-western, dictatorial regimes which surround it – to a standard you would hold no other nation under normal circumstances, let alone under such exigencies – and when you spew libel against our sole regional democratic ally for “crimes” concocted by delegitimizers, you are an anti-Semite.

More at the link above.

And it turns out that Kushner's views on Israel are informed by hardline BDS types, including Norman Finklestein, who Weisenfeld cited when calling out Kushner.

And right on cue the Israel-hating left has jumped to Kushner's defense, at Lawyers, Guns and Murder and Mondoweiss. Plus, some overtime action from Justin Elliot at and Salon: "School blocks Kushner honor over Israel" and "Fight over Israel and Tony Kushner heats up" (via Memeorandum).

Changing Reports on Bin Laden Raid

At Toronto Star:

Re: U.S. won’t release bin Laden photos, president says, May 5

It is somewhat disconcerting to hear the ever-changing reports from American officials regarding the death of Osama bin Laden. First, he was killed by Navy Seals following a firefight at his compound. Later it was announced that there were no armed guards at his compound. First, one of his wives was used as a human shield and was killed in the battle. Later it was stated that she wasn’t used as a human shield but was shot in the leg. First reports from American officials were that when the Navy Seals broke into his bedroom, he picked up a gun and was shot in an exchange of fire. Later it was reported that he wasn’t armed.

Although few in the western world will shed any tears over his death or the manner in which he was killed and his body dumped into the sea, it is important that we in the West observe the rule of law. If bin Laden was not armed and was not killed “in the crossfire,” then he should have been captured and put on trial for his crimes against humanity. This practice was properly observed with Saddam Hussein and the world didn’t fall apart.

Saul D. Paton, Toronto

Bin Laden Cartoon Roundup

At Orange County Register, "Cartoon Gallery: 40 Osama bin Laden Cartoons."

And at Cap'n Bob & and Damsel's, "Pakistan - No Ally in GWOT."

Bin Laden's Cowardly Last Moments

At New York Post, "Bin Laden acted 'cowardly,' confused in final moments."

The terrorist leader was apparently within reach of two guns when he died during Sunday's raid. A senior US official confirmed that bin Laden was near the door along with the two weapons -- an AK-47 and a Makarov hand gun -- which are now in US custody.

And Fox News' Jennifer Griffin spoke with agents who were on the ground:

Osama Bin Laden Planned 9/11 Anniversary Train Attack

At New York Times, "Data From Raid Links Bin Laden to Newer Terror Plots":

WASHINGTON — After reviewing computer files and documents seized at the compound where Osama bin Laden was killed, American intelligence analysts have concluded that the chief of Al Qaeda played a direct role for years in plotting terror attacks from his hide-out in Abbottabad, Pakistan, United States officials said Thursday.

The C.I.A. had Bin Laden’s compound under surveillance for months before American commandos killed him in an assault on Monday, watching and photographing residents and visitors from a rented house nearby, according to several officials briefed on the operation.

The documents taken at the Abbottabad compound, according to American officials, show that Bin Laden was in touch regularly with the terror network he created. With his whereabouts and activities a mystery in recent years, many intelligence analysts and terrorism experts had concluded that he had been relegated to an inspirational figure with little role in current and future Qaeda operations.

A rushed examination of the trove of materials from the compound in Pakistan prompted Obama administration officials on Thursday to issue a warning that Al Qaeda last year had considered attacks on American railroads.

The documents include a handwritten notebook from February 2010 that discusses tampering with tracks to derail a train on a bridge, possibly on Christmas, New Year’s Day, the day of the State of the Union address or the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, officials said. But they said there was no evidence of a specific plot.

More at the link above, and at Los Angeles Times, "Al Qaeda had U.S. trains in its sights, U.S. officials say."

Added: From ABC News, "Osama Bin Laden Evidence: Al Qaeda Considered 9/11 Anniversary Attack":

President Obama Disses Debra Burlingame

Via Atlas Shrugged and Pat Dollard (at Memeorandum):

Details on Operation Neptune Spear

WaPo has some background, "Operation Neptune Spear: Code name for killing Osama bin Laden."

And check Barbara Starr's report:

Also, at NYT, "In Bin Laden’s Compound, Seals’ All-Star Team."

Ann Coulter on Bin Laden Photos

She's in fighting form!

RELATED: From William Bennett, "4 reasons to release bin Laden photos."And at The Hill, "Watchdog group is prepared to sue for photos of bin Laden."

President Obama Wreath Laying Ceremony at Ground Zero — VIDEO

At USA Today, "Obama giving NYC its moment of justice on bin Laden," and at New York Times, "Obama Honors Victims of Bin Laden at Ground Zero":

President Obama laid a wreath of red, white, and blue flowers at ground zero on Thursday, honoring the nearly 3,000 people killed in the September 2001 terrorist attacks and marking the death of its perpetrator, Osama bin Laden.

The hushed ceremony on a sunny, breezy day was a somber coda to a triumphal week that began with Mr. Obama’s announcement that commandos had killed Bin Laden in his fortified compound in Pakistan.

Now, in the wreath ceremony and in a series of meeting across Manhattan on Thursday, the president had a chance to meet one-to-one with the people whose lives were changed most deeply by Bin Laden — relatives of the victims, as well as firefighters and other rescue workers who lost comrades that morning.

“Obviously, you can’t bring back the friends you lost,” Mr. Obama said to the crew at a firehouse in midtown Manhattan that lost 15 men, an entire shift, at the World Trade Center. “What happened Sunday sent a message: When we say we will never forget, we mean what we say.”

It was Mr. Obama’s first visit as president to ground zero, a patch of lower Manhattan that Bin Laden turned into hallowed ground ...

Pamela has commentary, "State Media." And from Elise Cooper, "Obama snubs 9/11 families at Ground Zero today."

I Got No Friends 'Cause They Read the Papers...

Alice Cooper, "No More Mr. Nice Guy":



From yesterday morning's drive time, at The Sound LA.

Killer set, especially while getting slammed in some serious traffic:

9:37am You're My Best Friend by Queen

09:30am Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald by Gordon Lightfoot

09:21am Mainstreet by Bob Seger

09:18am No More Mr. Nice Guy by Alice Cooper

09:15am Lady Madonna by Beatles (remastered)

09:12am Blue Morning Blue Day by Foreigner

09:05am Suite Judy Blue Eyes by Crosby, Stills, And Nash

09:00am One of These Nights by Eagles

08:51am Cold Shot by Stevie Ray Vaughan

8:46 - Empty Spaces / Young Lust by Pink Floyd

8:42 - Sunshine of Your Love by Cream

8:39 - Rock The Casbah by Clash

8:35 - Saturday In The Park by Chicago

8:26 - I Still Haven't Found... by U2

8:20 - Ready For Love by Bad Company

The Editors at the New York Times are Living in Another World

I wrote on this earlier, before I read today's big New York Times' editorial. See, "CIA Detainees 'Produced Enormous Amounts of Valuable Intelligence Information' in Decade-Long Manhunt for Osama Bin Laden."

I can understand the editors' position, since they did their darnedest to weaken national security during the Bush years, and more recently with WikiLeaks. But in attacking coercive interrogations they conveniently ignore that President Obama not only has reneged on his pledge to close Guantanamo, he also praised the intelligence gathering the led American forces to Osama Bin Laden --- and that intelligence-gathering process by all counts included enhanced methods at both Guantanamo and at off-shore black sites. See, "The Torture Apologists." It's boilerplate and predictable, but it's mostly the dishonesty and omissions that are bothersome. Folks can correct these by reading the commentary from Marc Thiessen and John Yoo, both of whom published essays yesterday, Thiessen at WaPo ("Obama owes thanks, and an apology, to CIA interrogators") and Yoo at WSJ, "From Guantanamo to Abbottabad").

Folks should read those carefully. Thiessen argues that critics of the CIA haven't a clue as to how the interrogations work in the first place, and thus the attacks that "enhanced interrogation doesn't work" are false, ignorant, and misleading. Thiessen argues that President Obama should apologize for dissing program officers and follow through by reestablishing the intelligence regime that brought success in Abottabad.

Also, Yoo makes an especially interesting point, and it's worth quoting:

Early reports are conflicted, but it appears that bin Laden was not armed. He did not have a large retinue of bodyguards—only three other people, the two couriers and bin Laden's adult son, were killed. Special forces units using nonlethal weaponry might have taken bin Laden alive, as with other senior al Qaeda leaders before him.

If true, one of the most valuable intelligence opportunities since the beginning of the war has slipped through our hands. Some claim that bin Laden had become a symbol, or that al Qaeda had devolved into a decentralized terrorist network with more active franchises in Yemen or Somalia. Nevertheless, bin Laden was still issuing instructions and funds to a broad terrorist network and would have known where and how to find other key al Qaeda players. His capture, like Saddam Hussein's in December 2003, would have provided invaluable intelligence and been an even greater example of U.S. military prowess than his death.

White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan said Monday that the SEAL team had orders to take bin Laden alive, "if he didn't present any threat," though he correctly dismissed this possibility as "remote." This is hard to take seriously. No one could have expected bin Laden to surrender without a fight. And capturing him alive would have required the administration to hold and interrogate bin Laden at Guantanamo Bay, something that has given this president allergic reactions bordering on a seizure.

That's an extremely interesting line of argument, and a devastating indictment of this president and the administration's counterterror policies. Americans are pleased that we killed Bin Laden, and as I also noted yesterday, only a small percentage in Rasmussen's polling said Bin Laden should been taken alive and put on trial. But it's highly likely that President Obama indeed would have had fits of apoplexy in deciding how, when, and where to try Osama. In short, he had no choice to be tough in ordering the hit on Bin Laden, because he's such a pussy. And of course by now we've seen how badly the White House has botched the post-killing public relations campaign. It's almost frightening to observe the government's incompetence.

It's a pity. Seriously. In any case, check those links. I'll have more on all of this tomorrow.

Related: See Michelle's essay, "Non-shocker of the day: Most transparent prez ever decides not to be transparent; : GOP Rep. Mike Rogers said what?"

Rise of Freedom: 9/11 Memorial to Display the Victims' Names

At Fox News:

Well, Yeah, Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye is Hot!

And she's the first Asian Chief Justice in California history, but turns out Democrat Assemblyman Charles Calderon is taking progressive heat for suggesting she's an attractive woman. At Los Angeles Times, "Senator demands apology for assemblyman's comments on the chief justice":

The head of the state Legislative Women’s Caucus called Tuesday for a state assemblyman to apologize for remarks that referred to the physical appearance and personality of the chief justice of the California Supreme Court.

Sen. Noreen Evans (D-Santa Rosa) sought the apology from Assemblyman Charles Calderon (D-Whittier) for comments he made during a legislative hearing on a bill he introduced to give judges more say in the running of the state’s courts. Calderon said he meant no disrespect to Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye.

A transcript and tape of the Judiciary Committee meeting were not immediately available, but the assemblyman said in an interview that he was making a point that the bill was being advocated on policy merits rather than based on some bias against the chief justice. The assemblyman recalled saying his support for the bill has nothing to do with how "smart" or "nice" the chief justice is.

"It isn’t that she isn’t pretty," he said in the interview, recounting his comments in committee.

Evans fired off a letter asking for a formal apology.

"Your remarks regarding the chief justice were degrading and inappropriate," Evans wrote. "As the leader of California’s Judiciary, Chief Justice Cantil-Sakauye should be taken seriously and not spoken about in such a dismissive and frivolous manner."

"It is crucial that women be valued for more than just being 'nice' or 'attractive,' " Evans added.

The letter is here.

No, no! You just can't objectify women, just ask (freakin' PC asshole) Scott Eric "I'll End You" Kaufman!

Hey, Little Scotty, does Calderon get a pass because he's a Democrat? Or are you going to "end him" for not toeing the left's totalitarian line? Okay, check back with me on that, will ya? Thanks bro. Freakin' dickwad loser.

RELATED: I'm throwing this post into the ring for "National Offend a Feminist Week 2011."

CIA Detainees 'Produced Enormous Amounts of Valuable Intelligence Information' in Decade-Long Manhunt for Osama Bin Laden

Two key updates on the waterboarding controversy.

First, Weasel Zippers has the longer version of the clip below. Secretary Rumsfeld has clarified his messaging: "Part Two: Yes, Waterboarding Helped Get Osama""

Rumsfeld says waterboarding "absolutely" produced enormous amounts of information intelligence. And be sure to check that link to Weasel Zippers, which includes a segment from O'Reilly's "Talking Points Memo," smacking down Alan Colmes.

And the Los Angeles Times has a careful analysis and complex analysis of the evidence-gathering process, and credits the coercive interrogations at Guantanamo as providing the initial clues about Bin Laden's courier, "Trail to Bin Laden began with CIA detainee, officials say":

An Al Qaeda suspect who was subjected to harsh interrogation techniques at a secret CIA prison in early 2004 provided a clue, the nom de guerre of a mysterious courier, that ultimately proved crucial to finding Osama bin Laden, officials said Wednesday.

The CIA had approved use of sleep deprivation, slapping, nudity, water dousing and other coercive techniques at the now-closed CIA "black site" in Poland where the Pakistani-born detainee, Hassan Ghul, was held, according to a 2005 Justice Department memo, which cited Ghul by name. Two U.S. officials said Wednesday that some of those now-prohibited practices were directed at Ghul.

Ghul was not waterboarded nor subjected to near-drowning, the most notorious interrogation technique and one that critics describe as torture.

Two other CIA prisoners — Al Qaeda operations chief Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and his successor, Abu Faraj Libbi — gave their interrogators false information about the courier after they were waterboarded repeatedly, U.S. officials said.

Those lies also played a role in the decade-long manhunt, however. Over time, they were viewed as evidence by CIA analysts that Bin Laden's top deputies were trying to shield a figure who might be a link to the Al Qaeda leader's hide-out, according to U.S. officials briefed on the analysis. "The fact that they were covering it up suggested he was important," a U.S. official said.

In the end, intelligence gleaned from interviews with numerous detainees, high-tech eavesdropping and surveillance, and other investigative spadework provided insights on people close to Bin Laden. No one source or bit of intelligence was so decisive or critical that it instantly solved the puzzle or ended the painstaking hunt for the world's most wanted terrorist, officials said. They stressed that none of the three most critical pieces of information — the courier's name, the area of Pakistan in which he operated and the location of the compound in which Bin Laden was living — came from detainees.

The nuances of that complex chain of events were often lost Wednesday amid a renewed public debate about the efficacy and morality of coercive interrogations that the CIA carried out under President George W. Bush.

"I think the issue has been mischaracterized on both sides," said a former CIA official who was involved in internal debate over the so-called enhanced interrogation techniques program at the time. "The people who say 'enhanced interrogation techniques' directly led to catching Bin Laden are wrong, and the people who say they had nothing to do with it are also wrong."

That closing remark there is probably about the best we're gonna get. Waterboarding was a key factor, but not the decisive factor. No one source was crucial; the range of methods and our ability to use them was central.

Osama Raid Death Photos Traffic Surge

Click on the image for the Sitemeter link:

And check the Feedjit page as well. Pretty interesting to watch the visitors arrive in real time.

Top Secret Stealth Helicopters Used in Raid Against Osama Bin Laden

Interesting report, at ABC News, "Top Secret Stealth Helicopter Program Revealed in Osama Bin Laden Raid: Experts":

Also, "Navy SEALs Who Captured, Killed Osama Bin Laden Return to United States" (via Memeorandum).

Reuters Releases Pictures From Osama Bin Laden Raid! — ADDED! Reuters Updates With Report and Photos!

It won't be long until we see Osama Bin Laden's bloody corpse.

HERE'S A PICTURE OF AN UNIDENTIFIED BODY.

And see iOWNTHEWORLD, "Reuters releases photo of unidentified victim of America’s raid on bin Laden’s compound":

WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE, IN TERMS OF INFLAMING MUSLIMS, IF THEY RELEASE ‘OTHER’ VICTIMS OF THE RAID?

Also, "Warning: These photos might be too graphic if you’re a progressive pussy."

Amazingly, I'm scooping Left Coast Rebel on this!

But check Ironic Surrealism. Turns out the Reuters' page has been taken down [now restored at the update].

ADDED: At Yeshiva World News, "Reuters Releases Graphic Images From Bin Laden Compound After Raid." Following the link takes us to a Yahoo page featuring a Reuters icon:

The unidentified body of a man is seen after a raid by U.S. Navy SEAL commandos on the compound where al Qaeda leader bin Laden was killed in Abbottabad...

More, at Bungalow Bill's, "The Reuters Images of the Attack Against Osama Bin Laden That Were Removed From Reuters Web Site," via Left Coast Rebel, who updates, "(PHOTOS) Reuters Releases, then Pulls, Graphic PHOTOS from Osama Bin Laden Raid (GRAPHIC WARNING"

UPDATE 3:21pm PST: At Reuters just now, "Photos show three dead men at bin Laden raid house":

(Reuters) - Photographs acquired by Reuters and taken about an hour after the U.S. assault on Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad in Pakistan show three dead men lying in pools of blood, but no weapons.

The photos, [see sidebar at left] taken by a Pakistani security official who entered the compound after the early morning raid on Monday, show two men dressed in traditional Pakistani garb and one in a t-shirt, with blood streaming from their ears, noses and mouths.

The official, who wished to remain anonymous, sold the pictures to Reuters.

And the sidebar report: "Photos from the Bin Laden Compound."

Also, at Jawa Report, "Photo: Dead Man at bin Laden Compound Had ... WATER GUN???" (via Memeorandum).

Justice Stayed? Osama Bin Laden's Killing and Theories of International Justice

From Charli Carpenter, at Duck of Minerva, "Was "Justice' Served?"

Charli cites left-wing sources almost exclusively, and the others are largely academic links (and leftist by default). Interesting discussion, despite the high-falutin nature of the debate. Most regular folks couldn't care less if Osama Bin Laden got a trial. See Rasmussen, "86% Approve of Obama’s Decision to Kill bin Laden":

Americans overwhelmingly endorse President Obama’s decision to kill Osama bin Laden and don’t believe a greater effort should have been made to bring the terrorist mastermind to trial.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 86% of American Adults approve of the president’s decision authorizing the mission to kill bin Laden. Just five percent (5%) disapprove of the president’s action, while nine percent (9%) are undecided.

Only 14% say the special operations forces involved in the weekend mission should have tried harder to capture bin Laden so that he could have been given a fair trial. Seventy-five percent (75%) disagree and say there was no need for the Navy SEALs to try harder to capture the man behind the 9/11 attacks on the United States and several other major terrorist incidents. Eleven percent (11%) are not sure.

This puts Charli Carpenter down there with less than one-sixth of the population, as she suggests that with America's actions, "justice ... has been stayed, not served." All is not lost, however. Charli's in good company with the folks from Human Rights Watch, "Human Rights Watch Condemns Bin Laden Killing: Odious Immoral Equivalence" (via Memeorandum).

World's Largest Google Bomb!

Seriously.

This puts Robert Stacy McCain to shame.

See Tim Daniel's post, "Left Coast Rebel's 'Osama Dead Photo' Google Bomb."

Congratulations are in order! Jeez, that is working it!

Code-Name Geronimo

The code name for Osama Bin Laden, "Geronimo," is offensive to Native Americans. See ABC News, "Congress to Examine "Inappropriate" and "Devastating" Use of "Geronimo" Codename in bin Laden Mission." And at the Syracuse Post-Standard, "Onondaga Nation leaders blast 'Geronimo' codename for Bin Laden":

Onondaga Nation Territory -- Leaders of the Onondaga Nation blasted as “reprehensible” the code name used for Osama bin Laden in the commando assault that killed him: “Geronimo.”

“We’ve ID’d Geronimo,” U.S. forces reported by radio Sunday to the White House. Later, word came that “Geronimo” was dead.

Geronimo was an Apache leader in the 19th century who spent many years fighting the Mexican and U.S. armies until his surrender in 1886.

“Think of the outcry if they had used any other ethnic group’s hero,” the Onondaga Council of Chiefs said in a release Tuesday. “Geronimo bravely and heroically defended his homeland and his people, eventually surrendering and living out the rest of his days peacefully, if in captivity.”

“Geronimo is arguably the most recognized Native American name in the world,” the chiefs said, “and this comparison only serves to perpetuate negative stereotypes about our people.”

More at the link.

Not the brightest idea for a code name. Good thing they didn't take out Osama with a Tomahawk missile.

Also at Wall Sreet Journal, "Osama Bin Laden Was No Geronimo."

U.S. Safer From Terrorism After Death of Bin Laden

For years analysts have argued that al Qaeda had matured into a many-tentacled global multinational actor, with offshoots, copycats, and official subsidiaries all vying for attention from the national security bureaucracies in the West. Killing Osama Bin Laden is most importantly a signal of American endurance, perseverance, and military effectiveness. His death brings a turning point and closure to the war of retribution that followed September 11. We are now in a much more complicated, developed competition with the forces of religious extremism around the world, with the United States and Israel in the crosshairs of totalitarian Islamist jihad. I don't believe we are necessarily safer. But I'm confident we're capable of defending our interest against our foes.

In any case, at Gallup, "Majority in U.S. Say Bin Laden's Death Makes America Safer":

Americans express mixed views on how Osama bin Laden's demise will affect U.S. national security, according to a Monday night USA Today/Gallup poll. A slight majority (54%) believe bin Laden's death will make the U.S. safer from terrorism, nearly double the 28% who fear it will make it less safe ...

Bottom Line

While fearful that a retaliatory attack could be imminent, Americans are guardedly optimistic about the longer-term national security ramifications of the dramatic U.S. military operation that killed al Qaeda leader bin Laden at his residence in Pakistan.

Americans are twice as likely to consider the United States safer rather than less safe as a result. However, they continue to believe the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan -- initiated in October 2001 to destroy al Qaeda terrorist training camps -- is needed. And they have fairly modest views about what the U.S. military's success at locating and killing bin Laden means for the war on terrorism more generally. Although three-quarters say their confidence that the U.S. will win that war is at least somewhat higher as a result, fewer than half, 39%, say it makes them a lot more confident. Similarly, not quite a third of Americans, 32%, say bin Laden's death gives them a lot more confidence in Obama as commander in chief.

RTWT (via Memeorandum and Los Angeles Times).

Military Families Reassess After Death of Bin Laden

This was a front-page report at yesterday's Los Angeles Times, "For friends and family of fallen troops, celebration and reassessment at news of Bin Laden's death":

Margot Stengel went to bed Sunday on the early side, with a heavy heart, as she had ever since her son died during his tour in Afghanistan. She was surprised when the phone rang a little before 10, and even more surprised to hear the voice of her grandson.

An often taciturn teenager, Jessee had a lot on his mind. Osama bin Laden, he told her, was dead. And it had come too late for his father, who died in December saddled with doubt about his slog through a dangerous pocket of Afghanistan, near the Pakistani border.

It had seemed a confounding mission, both to California Army National Guard Staff Sgt. Vincent W. Ashlock and to his family back home, with an objective as concrete as a handful of water. But here was a moment, Stengel told her grandson, of clarity — finally, mercifully.

"Your father," she told her grandson, "is tap-dancing in heaven."

Since 2001, more than 1,500 Americans have died supporting the war in Afghanistan, including 161 Californians, according to military databases. For the friends and relatives of those troops, the announcement that U.S. special forces had killed Bin Laden was cause for celebration. It was also an opportunity to reassess sacrifices, to wrest a historic and tangible result, at long last, from a murky war.

"He is a part of this," Stengel said of her son. "Every step he took over there was one step toward freedom. I believe that. I'll spend the rest of my life missing him. But his circle, his goal, is complete."

More at the link.

RELATED: "Osama bin Laden killing may shift Afghan strategy."

And that's Debra Burlingame above, who shares her thoughts and emotions on the death of Bin Laden.

U.S. Should Release 'Gruesome' Photo of Osama Bin Laden

Jay Carney, at today's press conference, described the photo of Osama Bin Laden's corpse "gruesome." He discussed the tremendous "sensitivities" surrounding the possible release, but they'd better get a move on, because the administration f**ked up with the burial at sea, big time, which is likely to fuel conspiracy theories. Not only is a speedy release politically necessary, but people won't get full closure until they see Osama's obliterated remains.

Canada's Conservative Party Returned to Office

Blazing has a roundup, "No. 1 - Deport all Hippies Starting with Margaret Atwood":

Tell me your dreams for the new conservative majority.

And from Mark Steyn, "Liberal Party of Canada Buried at Sea After Dying in Firefight."

Bin Laden Not Armed and Wife Not Killed: White House Backtracks on Official Account of al Qaeda Raid

At CNN, "Bin Laden unarmed when killed, White House says," and New York Times, "White House Corrects Bin Laden Narrative."

That's a really big lie, that Osama resisted U.S. forces. And why? The administration didn't want backlash against targeted assassination? How lame? The president's been doing so well. I didn't think I'd be going back to calling him "Obambi" so soon. Sheesh.

And from Jimmy Bise at Hot Air, "The Story Shifts on the Abbottabad Raid; UPDATE: Carney Revises Again, Says There Was “Resistance” from bin Laden." (Via Memeorandum.)

ADDED: Well, maybe this was just epic incompetence. See Michelle, "Brennan and the bin Laden story bungle":

Why the changes? As the famous situation room photo shows, Brennan was in the room watching the raid video along with President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and others.

He probably disclosed more than he should have and it’s possible his betters were forced to walk back his comments for opsec reasons. What’s your best, good-faith guess?

I'll update if I find more info, but my best guess is that the White House embellished --- as if our Spec-Ops guys needed that?

Rep. Peter King: Initial Information on Abu Ahmad al-Kuwaiti Was Obtained by Waterboarding in 2003

The debate continues today.

My previous post indicated that waterboarding put intelligence officials "on the trail" of Abu Ahmad. No doubt my ace commenter James B. SpongeBob has some questions for Representative Peter King, and of course J.B. SpongeBob didn't provide all the information on Donald Rumsfeld's comments, for example, speaking on The Today Show yesterday, Rumsfeld that the intelligence on Bin Laden may well "have come from interviews at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba."

And Matt Lewis quotes Karl Rove from his appearance on Fox & Friends yesterday:

Look, there is continuity in these kind of things and the tools that President Bush put into place, GITMO, rendition, enhanced interrogation, the vast effort to collect and collate this information, put it in a usable form obviously served his successor quite well because this served the information of the courier several years ago and moved forward to this administration.

And Thomas Joscelyn's leaning that way as well, "Did Enhanced Interrogation of the 20th Hijacker Help Identify Bin Laden’s Courier?"

And John Yoo yesterday, "Bush-Obama Continuity Is the Key to Terror War Victories":

Anonymous government sources say that the al Qaeda courier who led our intelligence people to bin Laden was a protege of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the architect of the 9/11 attacks who was captured in 2002, subjected to enhanced interrogation methods, and yielded a trove of intelligence on al Qaeda. Those same sources admit that interrogation of al Qaeda leaders, presumably by the CIA, yielded the identity of the courier. That identity was then combined into a mosaic of other information from other detainee interrogations, electronic intercepts, and sources in other countries, to eventually identify bin Laden’s hideout.

And here's this at The Atlantic, "Rethinking Guantanamo After Detainee Info Led to Bin Laden." Can't block quote that one without decontextualizing it, although it's noted that conflicting reports "are being used to support arguments in both directions."

There's a big report on Abu Ahmad at Telegraph UK. It's Hassan Ghul who gave up the Ahmad's name, but again, would that have been possible without the earlier intelligence from harsh interrogations?

More later.

Jack Grisham of T.S.O.L.

Has a new book out, and he's featured at O.C. Weekly. I never met him, but T.S.O.L. was huge back in the day, and reading this piece is a blast from the past. Grisham, though, was a vicious criminal, a remorseless bully, and a pathetic drug addict. I think he found God:

Grisham first started going straight in 1984, but the birth of his daughter, Anastasia, a few years later acted as a catalyst to cement his sobriety. He says he's been clean since Jan. 8, 1989.

"For me, when I got sober, it was like a tidal wave came, and I was swept along with it," he says. "I'm not really seeing what's happening, and it's dropped me off, and as the water recedes, I start to see things — just not right away. The water sucks back, and I'm 26 years old, living with my mother. It sucks back some more, and hey, you've got a daughter you're not seeing. It sucks back more, you owe $20,000 in child support. Sucks back more, you've got warrants out for your arrest. Sucks back more, you've got a father whose death you were blamed for. Sucks back more, you can't stand to be touched. Sucks back more, you've never been able to be intimate with anybody. The more it receded, the more I was able to see the damage and look at this behavior. It was like a coroner's blanket had been pulled off a frightening mess. I started waking up."

It's a long essay, but worth the time.

And at Amazon, Grisham's book: An American Demon: A Memoir.

War on Terror Goes On

At ABC News:

Osama bin Laden's death puts an end to a chapter that has cost the United States thousands of lives, billions of dollars and countless resources. But it's unlikely to end the U.S. war against terrorism or reduce the resources spent on such missions, though how they are allocated will likely change.

U.S. Navy SEALs killed -- in the words of President Bill Clinton -- "public enemy number one" in a top-secret, risky operation in Abbotabad, Pakistan Sunday night.

The mission itself was unlikely to have cost the U.S. military a substantial amount, experts say. It was conducted by 40 SEALs in the dead of night with four helicopters and lasted about 40 minutes. Any costs associated with the mission would come from the Department of Defense's overall operations and maintenance budget.

It's the hunt leading up to the raid that experts believe was more costly. It likely included aerial predators, unmanned surveillance aircraft, satellite imagery and other high-tech means to pin down bin Laden's location.

U.S. intelligence officials for years had been looking for a messenger close to the al Qaeda leader. They were able to track down his name in 2007 and finally spotted him in 2009. In August, they received a crucial tip that bin Laden was hiding in a mansion in Abbottabad, a city near Pakistan's capital, Islamabad.

The mission that killed bin Laden was only a part of a wider effort, lasting more than a decade, to take out the man who declared in 1998 that it was every person's duty to "kill Americans wherever they are found."

More at the link.

And related, from Andrew McCarthy, "A Different Kind of Justice."

Bin Laden Dead Photo Could Be Released Today

According to Jake Tapper: "A top source tells ABC News that President Obama and White House officials are discussing the possibility of releasing a photograph of Osama bin Laden's corpse today."

Waterboarding Works!

Rep. Peter King makes the case at the video.

And Andrew Malcolm notes:

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.

And the New York Times has the background, "Detective Work on Courier Led to Breakthrough on Bin Laden." Also, at ABC News, "Phone Call by Kuwaiti Courier Led to Bin Laden."

RELATED: Last night David Beamer, whose son Todd Beamer died fighting terrorists on Flight 93 on 9/11, told Sean Hannity that the U.S. government should continue to do what works in fighting our mortal enemies. And he's quoted, with video, at Freedom's Lighthouse:

I really wish I could have seen the look on Osama Bin Laden’s face when he realized, ‘Uh-oh – these are the Navy SEALs, and they’re right here.’ . . . He got American justice delivered by U.S. Navy SEALs. Moments thereafter, he received Divine Justice by God Almighty. . . . There’s a heaven and there’s a hell. Osama Bin Laden knows all about that now.

All of this is really driving progressives crazy, like McJoan at Daily Kos, "Waterboarding did not reveal Osama bin Laden trail." Check the post for a really, er, tortured attempt to tamp down the waterboarding worked meme. Seriously. The fact that this president is simply completing the job of his predecessor drives progressives nuts.

Warrior in Chief

I mentioned it earlier, that the killing of Osama Bin Laden ushered in the signal transformation of President Obama as the unequivocal wartime leader. Roger Simon, at Politico, made the point yesterday as well, "Barack Obama is Now Warrior in Chief." It's a partisan take, that exempts the previous administration's resolve and ultimate success in Iraq, but these are some points worth considering:

Make no mistake: The United States is now the gang that can shoot straight.

Our reputation for being able to carry out successful military missions has been in some doubt ever since former President George W. Bush stood under a ridiculous “Mission Accomplished” banner during the Iraq War, a mission that he did not accomplish in a war that he did not win.

But President Barack Obama managed to kill Osama bin Laden on Sunday, using a small special operations force, and in so doing, he sent a clear message to terrorists everywhere: You’re next.

We have seen Obama be the professor in chief and the orator in chief. Now he is the warrior in chief.

We should not get crazed with bloodlust. War should always be our last choice, not our first.

But bin Laden had it coming. And he got it. Twice. In the head.

He had not spent the past several years crouched in a cave, as we thought. He lived like the billionaire he was (his family is in construction in Saudi Arabia): in a fortified mansion behind high, thick concrete walls topped with barbed wire and protected by guards.

It didn’t matter. In a precision operation, our Navy SEALs found and killed him in 40 minutes.

So if you are just an ordinary terrorist, without billions of dollars and extraordinary protection, think how short a time it might take us to find and kill you. Maybe it’s time for you to retire before the United States retires you.

More at the link above. Notice how Simon shifts abruptly from "Mission Accomplished" to Obama's order to kill Osama Bin Laden. That said, one has to be thrilled that U.S. Navy Seals went in and did the job, not drones or bunker busters, and without casualties or civilian deaths. I'm just awed by this and anxiously awaiting more information.

IMAGE CREDIT: The White House Flickr page, "President Barack Obama listens during one in a series of meetings discussing the mission against Osama bin Laden, in the Situation Room of the White House, May 1, 2011."

Hoax? Viral Video Claims Dude Survives Lightning Strike — Twice!

At London's Daily Mail, "How unlucky can you get! Man survives being hit by lightning TWICE in remarkable CCTV footage":

Looks pretty real, but check MSNBC, "Lightning striking twice? Maybe not even once":

The first sign that the video might be fake, according to Vladimir Rakov, electrical engineer and co-director of the University of Florida Lightning Research Group, is that people almost never survive direct lightning strikes like the one shown in the video. "The chance of survival in the case of a direct strike is essentially zero," Rakov told Life's Little Mysteries. That's because lightning bolts emanating from storm clouds convey a gigajoule of energy, he explained — which is about enough to melt a ton of steel.

The vast majority of the 240,000 people who survive lightning strikes worldwide each year do not actually get hit directly. "They are struck by 'side flashes,'" Rakov said. "Lightning might strike a building near them, for example, and there's a side flash that jumps to them carrying a small fraction of the original lightning bolt's energy. In that case, they can survive and even walk away."

Rally 'Round the Flag After Killing Osama Bin Laden

Discussed this with my students today, and Frank Newport has some background, "History Suggests a Rally in Obama's Job Approval Rating as a Result of Bin Laden's Death."

Victory in Abbottabad

At Wall Street Journal, "A measure of justice for the thousands he killed, and a warning to others":

Mr. Obama ... deserves credit for ordering a special forces mission rather than settling for another attack with drones or stand-off weapons from afar. Drones have their uses, but a target as valuable as bin Laden was worth the gamble of a U.S. military raid both to reduce the chances of his escape and to end once and for all the myth that he couldn't be taken. The skill and success of the raid is also a boost to American prestige and pride at a moment of too much national self-doubt ...

That's about all I should quote. It's a sober and accurate commentary, and the editors suggest "burying" Osama's body at sea might have been a mistake --- one of the main points I raised in my classes today. So go RTWT.

PHOTO CREDIT: The White House Flickr page, "President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, along with members of the national security team, receive an update on the mission against Osama bin Laden in the Situation Room of the White House, May 1, 2011."

See also CNN, "Obama watched live video of bin Laden raid, U.S. official says."

Inside Osama's Compound (VIDEO)

At LAT, "Osama bin Laden's death: ABC correspondent Nick Schifrin discusses network's 'exclusive' video," and "Osama bin Laden's death: ABC News releases video of inside of mansion where terrorist leader was killed."

And at ABC News, "EXCLUSIVE: Inside the Compound Where Osama Bin Laden Was Killed: Photos from Inside the Osama Bin Laden Kill Zone."

Teachers Scramble to Incorporate News of Bin Laden's Death Into Lessons

Well, I wasn't scrambling.

I had the presidency scheduled for two classes today anyway, and it was interesting, especially because lots of students were shocked to find out that the death pictures of Osama Bin Laden were fake. But we had some great discussion. It occurred to me especially that President Obama's tenure will be defined more than ever as a wartime president. He's already presiding over three wars, and the frequency of U.S. predator drones strikes accelerated under this adminsration, but we're now at a turning point in the war on on terror, and last night's success will redound to this president's benefit. (See CSM, "Osama bin Laden's death will boost Obama approval rating, but for how long?") Indeed, one student asked how developments will help Obama's public approval ratings?

In any case, here's this at the Orange County Register, "Schools quick to integrate bin Laden death into lessons":

Across Orange County, many teachers scrambled Monday to change lesson plans to incorporate news about Osama bin Laden's death.

Teachers led discussions of the significance of killing the world's most-wanted man, while students debated everything from whether the world is now a safer place, to the root causes of terrorism.

At Dale Intermediate in Anaheim, seventh-grade world history teacher Grant Schuster began his classes Monday with a slide show of images from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. He followed that with the video from Sunday of President Barack Obama's announcement that bin Laden had been killed by American special forces.

Students in all three of his morning classes applauded at the conclusion of Obama's recorded speech.

"Many of students don't have memories of 9/11 because they were too young," he said. "Some of my students are asking if terrorism is over. But others are quick to explain that no, it's not. And we still have to be very careful."

Schuster also explained to his classes that bin Laden's death will allow families of victims of the terrorist attacks to continue their emotional healing.

"I would have been remiss if I didn't spend at least half of the period today talking about bin Laden," he said. "This served as a valuable teaching tool."

More at the link above ...

The Secret Mission to Kill Osama Bin Laden

A report from Mark Ambinder, at National Journal, "The Secret Team That Killed bin Laden."

And at ABC News, "White House Officials Debate Releasing Photographs of Bin Laden’s Corpse."

More updates throughout the day.

Progressives Claim Credit in Osama Bin Laden Killing

Little Miss Attila snarks:

A lot of the people celebrating this victory would have impeached Bush for doing the same thing; some of them didn’t even want us to collect some of the intel that helped us accomplish this.

And Michelle's got it, "All About Obama: Who’s politicizing bin Laden kill?":

Leftists are swarming Twitter to chastise any conservatives who dare give any credit to President Bush for his resolve and role in leading the post-9/11 counterrorism/national security response to the worst attack on American soil.

Meanwhile, Democrat hacks are burning the midnight oil making this All About Obama.

Steve Benen's first update appeared after he Googled around a bit, and found: "On March 13, 2002, George W. Bush said of bin Laden, 'I truly am not that concerned about him'."

The Obama White House acted and that is good. But the killing of Osama should be a victory for America and Americans. Politics is never far behind, but the left's sheer dishonesty in claiming credit on this --- after nearly ten years of the most intense demonization of GWOT hawks --- is no doubt digging deep for some news depths of progressive depravity.

Image via Markos "American Taliban" Moulitsas' Daily Kos.

Americans Cheer Death of Bin Laden!

Updating from my live blog earlier.

We still don't a lot of what happened. I've been communicating with Bruce Kesler and we were speculating on an abrupt U.S. withdrawal from Af-Pak as quid pro quo for Pakistani cooperation. More on that later as full details become available.

Meanwhile, at LAT, "Crowd celebrates bin Laden's death outside White House."

And check Patrick Ishmael's huge roundup at Hot Air.

More later ...