osama bin laden is dead

Everyone already knows this, but I wanted to make sure to have a blog post 'on the record' for such a momentous event. I missed out posting on pretty much the whole Arab Spring, but not this.

President Obama announced last night that Osama bin Laden had been killed by US forces, in a raid on a fortified compound in Pakistan. The operation was carried out by the US Naval Special Forces Development Group, commonly known as 'SEAL Team Six', in conjunction with the CIA. Seems to be an exception to the rule that an intelligence agency is known by its failures, because no one ever knows about its successes. (Sorry, I forget the exact phrase.) At the moment, there seems to be some confusion as to whether Pakistani intelligence was also involved.

The New York Times has a good summary of events. Here's links to the coverage of the story from the BBC, CNN, the Washington Post, USA Today, and even Al-Jarzeera. Fox News, predictably, has their own unique take on things.

Somewhat strangely, bin Laden was buried at sea. The reasons given for this were that US officials did not want bin Laden's grave site to become a 'terrorist shrine' and due to the unlikelihood of any country being willing to accept his body. Also, officials seem to have taken care to bury him according to Islamic tradition within 24 hours. Of course, this will probably become a key element in the fantasies of conspiracy theorists, but there's nothing one can really do about that. Even if bin Laden had been killed on live television, some nutjobs would still claim it was 'faked'.

Since bin Laden had apparently not been involved in the operational aspects of Al-Qaeda in some time, some have said that this is largely a 'symbolic' victory. But one shouldn't underestimate the impact of that symbolism. Just as terrorist victories are not simply about the innocents killed, but also the symbolic impact of those deaths (i.e. the fear inspired), victories over terrorists are not simply about the law enforcement or military successes in disrupting their operations, but also the symbolic impact of those victories (i.e. the sense of safety and justice inspired). The symbolism accompanying the death of Osama bin Laden is sure have a wide ranging impact, not only on Al-Qaeda's effectiveness in financing, planning, and carrying out terrorist attacks, but also on international relations and internal US politics--all of it for the better.