Osama bin Laden Killed

Scroll down for John Brennan's press briefing.

Here's the President's speech, announcing that U.S. forces had killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan. The speech was delivered at about 11:45 pm ET:

You can read the text of the President's full remarks here on the White House site.

Secretary Hillary Clinton makes a statement:

The hideout of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is pictured after his death. Getty image. This ABC News video is a gruesome tour of the bin Laden compound taken after the U.S. raid. I hesitated to post it. More video here:

White House press briefing. National secruity advisor John Brennan conducted most of the press briefing, and he was really interesting & quasi-informative. I suspect John Brennan is a son-of-a-bitch, and if I had to get stuck someplace scary with one other person, I would like that person to be John Brennan, as long as Brennan was on my side:

40 Minutes in Abbottabad. James Oliphant of the Chicago Tribune: "After landing by helicopter at the Pakistani compound housing Osama bin Laden early Monday, local time, the U.S. special operations team tasked with capturing or killing the Al Qaeda leader found itself in an almost continuous gun battle. For the next 40 minutes, the team cleared the two buildings within the fortified compound in Abbottabad, north of Islamabad, trying to reach Bin Laden and his family, who lived on the second and third floors of the largest structure, senior Defense Department and intelligence officials said Monday. 'Throughout most of the 40 minutes, they were engaged in a firefight,' said a senior Pentagon official...."

Follow the Messenger. Mark Mazetti & Helene Cooper of the New York Times: "A trusted courier of Osama bin Laden’s whom American spies had been hunting for years was finally located in a compound 35 miles north of the Pakistani capital, close to one of the hubs of American counterterrorism operations. The property was so secure, so large, that American officials guessed it was built to hide someone far more important than a mere courier. What followed was eight months of painstaking intelligence work, culminating in a helicopter assault by American military and intelligence operatives that ended in the death of Bin Laden on Sunday and concluded one of history’s most extensive and frustrating manhunts."

The New York Times has an obituary of bin Laden.

AP: "The State Department early Monday put U.S. embassies on alert and warned of the heightened possibility for anti-American violence after the killing of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden by American forces in Pakistan. In a worldwide travel alert released shortly after President Barack Obama late Sunday announced bin Laden’s death in a U.S. military operation, the department said there was an 'enhanced potential for anti-American violence given recent counterterrorism activity in Pakistan.'”

Greg Miller & Joby Warrick of the Washington Post: "... al-Qaeda has metastasized in the decade since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, expanding its reach and adapting its tactics in ways that make the organization likely to remain the most significant security threat to the United States despite its leader’s demise."

Alissa Rubin of the New York Times: "In Afghanistan>, where Osama bin Laden was based for many years and where Al Qaeda helped to train and pay insurgents, there was relief and uncertainty about how his death would play out in the fraught regional power politics now shaping the war. While senior political figures welcomed the news of his death, they cautioned that it did not necessarily translate into an immediate military victory over the Taliban, and urged the United States and NATO not to use it as a reason to withdraw."

Brian Stelter of the New York Times on "how the bin Laden announcement leaked out."

"A Moment of National Unity." Dan Balz of the Washington Post: "Obama’s announcement, which came just before midnight, was grounds for celebration for a country still scarred by the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, producing a rare moment of national unity at a time of deep divisions on many domestic and foreign policy issues."

Los Angeles Times Editors: "Sunday night's announcement should remind the nation that the presidency is not just an office to be contested and that American values are not merely empty words to be used as political rhetoric. Obama ordered the seizure of America's most vile enemy, who resisted and was shot down. The world is better and safer for his death."

Paul West of the Los Angeles Times: "A foreign policy novice when he came to office, President Obama can now claim a national security victory that eluded his predecessor for almost eight years.... The caliber of his leadership, often the target of withering attacks by the Republican opposition, has now been bolstered in a very tangible way.... This may not be the turning point many Obama supporters would like it to be -- but the immediate result will almost certainly be a rise in his sagging popularity."

Jeff Zeleny of the New York Times: "President Obama’s announcement late Sunday that Osama bin Laden had been killed delivered not only a long-awaited prize to the United States, but also a significant victory for Mr. Obama, whose foreign policy has been the subject of persistent criticism by his rivals.

Mike McPhate of the Washington Post on Abbottabad, the town where Osama was killed.

Glenn Greenwald: "... what, if anything, is going to change as a result of the two bullets in Osama bin Laden's head? Are we going to fight fewer wars or end the ones we've started? Are we going to see a restoration of some of the civil liberties which have been eroded at the alter of this scary Villain Mastermind? Is the War on Terror over? Are we Safer now? Those are rhetorical questions. None of those things will happen."

I stand with MLK, who said 'I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy.' -- David Sirota, Tweet

David Sirota, in Salon, on U.S. public reaction to bin Laden's killing: "... an America that once carefully refrained from flaunting gruesome pictures of our victims for fear of engaging in ugly death euphoria now ogles pictures of Uday and Qusay’s corpses, rejoices over images of Saddam Hussein’s hanging and throws a party at news that bin Laden was shot in the head. This is bin Laden’s lamentable victory -- he has changed America’s psyche from one that saw violence as a regrettable-if-sometimes-necessary act into one that finds orgasmic euphoria in news of bloodshed."

Karen Garcia: "Cynic that I am, I have to wonder about that massive compound surrounded by razor wire, practically right next door to Pakistan's version of West Point, going unnoticed all these years. Doesn't the CIA have Google Earth Didn't they talk to the neighbors, who have noticed for a long time that the occupants of the compound never brought out any freaking garbage?"

A personal note from Greg Sargent, which I highly recommend.

Eight years ago Sunday:

George Bush, May 1, 2003.

The Commentariat -- May 2

Sen. Mark Warner brings a buzzer to meetings of the 'Gang of Six' senators who are working to craft a grand deficit-cutting deal. If talks get too tense, Mr. Warner, a Virginia Democrat, hits the button, which intones: 'Bullshit detected. Take precautions.' -- Wall Street Journal ...

... The paragraph above opens a disconcerting WSJ article by Naftali Bendavid & Damian Paletta, which informs us that the Gang of Six is still working on what is surely to be a horrible budget compromise. I hope there's enough bullshit being spewed to break up that old gang of special interest advocates. The budget they should be working from is the Congressional Progressive Caucus proposal. But, needless to say, they aren't.

Paul Krugman: Republicans ran hard against the bank bailout -- pretending it was Obama's idea, not Henry Paulson's -- and now they're planning to dismantle all the regulations that might prevent another crisis -- and another bailout. I've put up a comments page for Krugman on Off Times Square and have posted my comment on his column. Update: Karen Garcia has posted her comment also.

Robert Reich: "That’s the proposal emerging in the Senate from Republican Bob Corker of Tennessee and also Democrat Claire McCaskill of Missouri. It would get the deficit down not by raising taxes on the rich but by capping federal spending.... According to an analysis by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the McCaskill/Corker plan would require $800 billion of cuts in 2022 alone. That’s the equivalent of eliminating Medicare entirely, or the entire Department of Defense." It's still a pig.

E. J. Dionne of the Washington Post: "Those who would use the debt limit as a way of reducing spending risk increasing the deficit by forcing our debt-service costs upward. Moreover, conservatives show little actual interest in decreasing the deficit.... What they really care about is reducing government outlays and keeping tax rates on the wealthy low."

Ezra Klein: "Sen. Al Franken introduced the Pay for War Resolution. 'Iraq and Afghanistan have cost us well over a trillion dollars,' he said in a floor speech.... My one qualm with Franken’s approach to this issue is that he frames it almost entirely in terms of fiscal responsibility.... The importance of paying for war — of paying, really, for anything — is that it forces you to make decisions about what is and isn’t worth doing.... But all in all, this is a very worthwhile piece of legislation from a man who has turned out to be a very serious and thoughtful senator."

Rory Carroll of Reuters: "California is putting its reputation as a pioneering environmental heavyweight on the line as it prepares to launch a carbon market in eight months' time.... The idea of capping greenhouse gas emissions and providing cleaner companies with the potential to profit off their success in doing so is not new, but it has never been tried in the United States on this scale."

Robert Parry in TruthOut: "... the 'birther' case became a stand-in for those who saw political benefit in undermining Obama's legitimacy with the American people. By drawing attention to his ethnicity, 'birtherism' became as much a code word for racism as was the states' rights excuse used by white segregationists in the South a half century ago. While some on the American Left seem to have forgotten how extraordinary it was for the United States to elect a talented black politician as president, it does not appear that the right has been so colorblind."

Right Wing World *

Consistency is the Hobgoblin of Little Minds. Neera Tanden of The New Republic: "While Republicans initially manufactured lies about [healthcare reform] — anyone remember death panels? — they eventually focused on one provision in the bill that was focused on cutting costs: the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB).... Now, more than a year after health care reform passed, Paul Ryan, facing stiff opposition to his plan to end Medicare as we know it, has taken to attacking the IPAB as a way to rebut his critics.... What’s fascinating about the posture of these cosponsors is that it runs into direct conflict to the vote the House took mere days ago on the overall Ryan budget.... So, after all of their complaining about how the IPAB moved too far away from public accountability, they’ve just proposed eliminating all such accountability, insisting instead that private insurance companies know best."

Local News

Wisconsin Gov. Walker's "Starvation Scheme." TruthOut Buzzflash: Gov. Scott Walker wants to "allow a for profit corporation to decide who gets food and who doesn’t. On top of this 20 million dollars will be taken away from Wisconsin in Federal aid for help." Apparently Walker also doesn't care that his proposed plan has a lousy track record. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, privatization of the food stamp program failed in Texas & Ohio; Ohio is still locked in a suit with the private provider who didn't provide. Here's the Journal Sentinel article by Jason Stein. ...

... Gov. Scott Walker is a genuine high school graduate, but he doesn't think much of libraries. Mark Karlin of TruthOut Buzzflash: Walker is planning to cut Wisconsin library funding by $18.5 million in 2012 alone. The cuts come at a particularly bad time, according to Rhonda Putney, President of the state Library Association: "It's not just books and story times and computer access. We're helping people look for jobs and learn computer skills, so they can apply for jobs. That's been a really big focus."

News Ledes

New York Times: "Senator Scott P. Brown of Massachusetts announced Monday that he had asked to conduct his annual training as a member of the state’s Army National Guard this summer in Afghanistan." CW: Scott Brown may have begun his Senate career as an uninformed, gaffe-prone doofus, but he is turning into a darned smart Senator & politician.

AP: "President Barack Obama plans to visit New York City on Thursday to mark the death of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. The White House says Obama will visit ground zero, the site of al-Qaida's attack on the World Trade Center, and meet with the families of those killed nearly 10 years ago."

President & Mrs. Obama hosted a dinner for bipartisan leaders & their spouses. Politico: "President Obama was congratulated by dozens of lawmakers Monday night for authorizing an attack that killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan. The members of Congress, who were eating dinner at the White House, interrupted Obama’s opening remarks with sustained applause as he said, 'Last night, as Americans learned the United States had carried out an operation that resulted in the capture and the death of Osama bin Laden —.” Update: see video under May 3 Commentariat above.

Las Vegas Sun: "Sen. John Ensign apologized Monday to an all but empty Senate chamber for his extramarital affair with a former aide and hoped aloud that his legislative record would speak for him.... Ensign's farewell speech was notable as much for who was not there as for what he said. Not a single colleague came to hear him speak or to pay tribute to his service. The gallery was empty of family members and staffers who often pack its seats for such occasions."

Las Vegas Sun: "Saying the decision on who to elect should rest with the people and not “politically elite' powerbrokers,' Secretary of State Ross Miller announced today that the special election ballot for the 2nd Congressional District will be open to all candidates and not just nominees selected by the state’s political party.... The special election will be Sept. 13 to replace U.S. Rep. Dean Heller, R-Nev., who will be appointed to the U.S. Senate next month following Sen. John Ensign’s resignation." CW: this means Sharron Angle is in the mix.

AP: The Obama "administration used DNA testing to help confirm that American forces in Pakistan had in fact killed bin Laden, as U.S. officials sought to erase all doubt." ...

... Reuters: "Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Monday cooperation with Pakistan helped lead the United States to the Pakistani compound where Osama bin Laden was found and killed by U.S. special forces." That's about all there is to this article (at 1:20 pm ET), tho it might be fleshed out later.

** New York Times: "Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of the most devastating attack on American soil in modern times and the most hunted man in the world, was killed in a firefight with United States forces in Pakistan on Sunday, President Obama announced." Here's the AP story. The Washington Post's lead story is here. A new, updated New York Times story includes related WikiLeaks info.

     ... The New York Times' The Lede is following reactions to the killing.

     ... Here's the Al Jazeera story, with video report. Al Jazeera also has a liveblog of developments related to Osama's killing.

Chicago Tribune: "The Boston University center that studies brain injuries to professional athletes says former NFL player Dave Duerson had brain damage when he committed suicide in February. The Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy at the B.U. School of Medicine announced on Monday its findings on its examination of Duerson's brain. The safety who began his NFL career with the Chicago Bears was 50 when he shot himself in the chest." New York Times story here.

Washington Post: "The U.S., British and Italian embassies were attacked and burnt by mobs in the Libyan capital Sunday, hours after a NATO airstrike was reported to have killed one of Moammar Gaddafi’s sons and three of his grandchildren. Britain responded to the attack on its embassy and ambassador’s residence, which were gutted by fire, by expelling Libya’s ambassador to London. The United Nations announced that it had temporarily withdrawn its 12 international staff members from Tripoli and sent them to neighboring Tunisia after a mob entered its compound."

The Commentariat -- May 1

President Obama speaks at the White House Correspondents' Dinner:

Here's a handy graph to whip out when your Republican friends (& certain stupid members of Congress) say the national debt is all Obama's fault. Washington Post graphic.Those Irresponsible Republicans. Lori Montgomery of the Washington Post explains in simple terms with straightforward numbers how the federal government got in the fiscal mess it's in. "The biggest culprit, by far, has been an erosion of tax revenue triggered largely by two recessions and multiple rounds of tax cuts.... Federal tax collections now stand at their lowest level as a percentage of the economy in 60 years.... All told, Obama-era choices account for about $1.7 trillion in new debt, according to a separate Washington Post analysis of CBO data over the past decade. Bush-era policies, meanwhile, account for more than $7 trillion and are a major contributor to the trillion-dollar annual budget deficits that are dominating the political debate." Oh yeah, and do blame Alan Greenspan. Thanks to Doug R. for the link.

New York Times Editors: "In an announcement on Friday afternoon — the time slot favored by officials eager to avoid scrutiny — the Treasury Department said it intends to exempt certain foreign exchange derivatives from key new regulations under the Dodd-Frank law. These derivatives represent a $4 trillion-a-day market, one that is very lucrative for the big banks that trade them." CW: also entirely coincidental that Geithner made that announcement right after Obama went to Wall Street hat-in-hand. You see how campaign money comes out of your pocket: bankers contribute to Obama, Obama gives bankers a deal, bankers trade with abandon & get in trouble, taxpayers bail out bankers. If you pay federal taxes, you just made a campaign contribution to BaracK Obama.

New York Times Editors: "President Obama should take the court up on its transparency blessing forthwith and sign a proposed executive order that would require government contractors to disclose their donations to groups that support or oppose federal candidates.

Dave Eggers & Ninive Calagari in a New York Times op-ed: "... the average teacher’s pay is on par with that of a toll taker or bartender. Teachers make 14 percent less than professionals in other occupations that require similar levels of education. In real terms, teachers’ salaries have declined for 30 years." The authors compare the way the U.S. & countries with more successful educational results recruit & hire teachers."

Maureen Dowd ruminates on the British royal wedding, the Grimms' version of "Cinderella," and Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre. Pretty cheerless stuff....

... I've put up a comments page for Dowd on Off Times Square. You can comment on other political matters there, too. I've posted my own comment, too. Update: PLUS I've added a little challenge for readers on Off Times Square -- an opportunity to tell Democrats what to do in 2012. Be creative!

Dream On. Karen Garcia: "Presente.Org, one of the nation's largest Hispanic advocacy groups, is asking its members for input on a formal plan to withdraw active support for the president's re-election, in light of his continued failure to executive power to defer the deportation of a million DREAM Act candidates."

George Zornick of The Nation: Republican Congressmembers & right-wing front groups play defense at townhall meetings, screening questions & bussing in supporters.

ProPublica has a whole page of stories about the dangers of fracking, a method used to extract natural gas. I've sent the link to the page along to the New York Times' Fracking' Joe Nocera, friend of Boone Pickens.

Right Wing World *

Right Wing World Hypes a New Round of Birther Conspiracy Theores. Media Matters: the long-form certificate is "an obvious forgery"; the pdf of the birth certificate has been altered; delivery doctor is dead & his wife didn't know he had delivered Obama -- how curious. Oh, there will be more.

The Hatch Identity. Justin Elliott of Salon: "Around noon [Thursday], I posted a piece looking back at Sen. Orrin Hatch's sponsorship of a 2003 measure to allow foreign-born citizens to run for president. Less than 24 hours after the piece went up, a tech blogger discovered that the section of Hatch's website that mentioned the 'Presidential Eligibility Amendment' had mysteriously disappeared." A spokesperson for Hatch told Elliott that the section had disappeared because the Senator has a "brand new website," but Elliott writes that "the design of Hatch's website looks the exact same as it did yesterday. The only thing that has changed is that the archive of Hatch's bills now ends at 2008. Everything before that, including the 2003 Presidential Eligibility Amendment, is gone." CW: Hatch has been in the Senate since 1976. But in Right Wing World, if some of your past votes & bill sponsorships don't comport with your new fake persona, you just erase them & establish a brand new Website identity.

* Where facts never intrude.

News Ledes

** New York Times: "Osama bin Laden has been killed, two United States officials said. President Obama was expected to make an announcement on Sunday night, almost ten years after the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. One of the officials said that American forces, acting on intelligence, launched a 'targeted assault' that killed Mr. Bin Laden, whose ability to elude capture for so long deeply frustrated the Bush administration." Story has been updated. Here's the AP story....

     ... Update: Here's the Al Jazeera story, with video report. Al Jazeera also has a liveblog of developments related to Osama's killing.

AP: "Pope Benedict XVI beatified Pope John Paul II before more than a million faithful in St. Peter's Square and surrounding streets Sunday, moving the beloved former pontiff one step closer to possible sainthood."

AP: "Berkshire Hathaway’s annual meeting Saturday was dominated by somber topics as CEO Warren Buffett explained to about 40,000 shareholders how the company had been battered by a trusted former employee’s misdeeds and a string of natural disasters. Buffett assured the crowd at an Omaha convention center that Berkshire is strong enough to withstand both the David Sokol scandal and the estimated $1.7 billion in insurance losses that drove profits down 58 percent in the first quarter." Here's the New York Times story. AND here's the Times' liveblog of the meeting.