the Baskerville Express

a dirty job {May 2, 2011 , 2:50 PM}

Since it's too obvious I'll be proved right about this in the coming days, I'd like to just post the following conversation concerning the unverified photo of bin Laden's corpse, which I think any person with working eyes can tell is fake. Off the message board of the brilliant Michael J. Totten:

17. Brendan
Michael, that photo is unverified and even the slightest glance shows it to be photoshopped.

May 2, 2011 - 1:10 am Link to this Comment
18. Maxtrue
The media prediction is obvious. They will use this termination to catch viewers for days and then project the attitude that AQ is dead.

The operation which the US did not disclose to Pakistan reveals how much we trust their leaders and Intelligence service. I thought Pakistan said OBL wasn’t in Pakistan.

This should prompt some to question where Pakistan is going.

Brendan, lay off the drugs…..

May 2, 2011 - 6:22 am Link to this Comment
19. Jay, beltway
Max, assuming the photo is current and real it does reveal that OBL dyed his beard.
It was the same black/grey mix in 1998.

May 2, 2011 - 6:30 am Link to this Comment
20. Brendan
@Maxtrue,
Sir, if you took my comment to be some sort of denial of Osama’s death, you’re mistaken. I’m fully clear that bin Laden is literally swimming with the fishes as we speak — thanks all the same for the attempt at a snide remark.

This does not change the fact that the photo is bogus — the site it originally appeared on (http://pikchur.com/Af0J) claims it was produced a week ago. Doesn’t quite square with the facts. Take a look at the photo and you’ll notice the bottom half of Osama’s face is a completely different pigment than the top half, not to mention identical with *this* photo of him very much alive: http://topnews.in/law/files/Osama-Bin-Laden11.jpg

The guy’s dead, but the photo’s a fake. Good day to you.

May 2, 2011 - 6:36 am Link to this Comment

* * * UPDATE 6:28pm: Yep. * * *

Labels: Abbottabad, dead, osama bin laden, photo, shot in head

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Holy shit. { , 3:52 AM}

I use that phrase as both an exclamation about the news and a description of the subject.

And though I belong to no party, I like this:

As Ahmed Rashid has just said on BBC Radio 4, the death of bin Laden is in no way the death of al Qaeda. I don't think anyone celebrating in America actually expects this, but when a figurehead perishes there is a tendency to act as though his empire is soon to crumble as well. Al Qaeda will outlive bin Laden, that is for sure.

As far as we know, the recently departed has not been the actual head of operations for quite a long time, if only because of his efforts to avoid detection: If one gives orders day in and day out it becomes very easy for intelligence services to map the diffusion of one's word and scrap together a rough idea of one's whereabouts. The highest-level Qaeda member to be involved in the management of the main organization probably remains the Egyptian al-Zawahiri.

Now we will probably see some serious reprisals for the man's death in Pakistan, and probably Afghanistan. Maybe Europe, maybe the States. But definitely Pakistan.

All the same, we've been rid of a one-of-a-kind sociopathic holy warrior. Would've liked to see a trial, but a bullet in the head will have to do.

Labels: 9/11, dead, obama address, osama bin laden

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Brendan James