The Riveting Story Of The Raid That Killed Osama Bin Laden

This week's NEW YORKER magazine has a fascinating and intensely detailed story about the U.S. military raid that killed Al Queda cheif Osama Bin Laden on May 1st.  There are some incredible details about the operation as the writer, Nichoas Schmidle, puts you in the helicopter, flying illegally over Pakistani air space with a team of elite Navy operatives on a mission to kill the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks.

It's incredible how the raid seemed like it was going to be a disaster from the minute of their arrival, when the team's Blackhawk stalled and crash landed into the compound.  But, in an interesting point of view, one of the Seals later says it was best the copter was left behind as it's physical evidence instantly quelled any conspiracy nuts. Another great detail was what was found in the computers and hard drives in the compound. There were plots to assassinate President Obama, General Patraeus and even plans for another massive attack on the 10th anniversary of 9/11.  But more shocking was the sizable cache of digital pornography too.  However, this discovery didn't phase the intelligence folks... they have found that on every computer they've seized in all their Al Quadea raids.

Anyway, this is an amazing story reported to death in true New Yorker style.  Coming in 2012--the movie version of this fateful night via THE HURT LOCKER's Kathryn Bigelow.

My Favorite Meme Re: The Death Of Osama

On TV, the networks have now branded Sunday's extraordinary raid "The Killing of Osama Bin Laden" and, two days later, keep promoting their "continuing coverage of the death of Osama Bin Laden".  Really?  Continuing?  I think he's still dead last time we checked. Meanwhile, over on The Internets, things are a little lighter as memes continue to grow in the wake of Osama's demise.

I think this one above is my favorite because it actually gets at something true.  Meanwhile, GhostOsama continues to rack up followers on Twitter and has surpassed the 40K mark.  Also on Twitter, the most popular retweet was something @Jesus had to say about the terrorist/mass murderer's death; "You're at the wrong gate, Osama."  Classic.

Osama's Death On Twitter--Real and Fake

Osama Bin Laden was killed yesterday in a U.S. raid on his compound in Pakistan.  The top secret military action, though, was actually tweeted about for the world to read....except that no one knew exactly what it was at the time.  An IT consultant on vacation near Bin Laden's hideout unwittingly tweeted about the attack as the helicopters circled above....you can read his tweets on the Washington Post website.

In other Twitter-related news, following in the footsteps of that escaped snake from the Bronx Zoo, there is now a GhostOsama user (pictured here) that popped up last night shortly after the big news hit the airwaves at 10:45pm.   I found this stream last night around 11:30pm as I was following reactions on Twitter and Facebook....a lot more interesting than watching the networks I have to say.  Anyway, in less than 24 hours, the silly-sounding ghost of OBL has racked up nearly 40,000 followers.  Sample tweet: 70 Virgins Left...I need a cigarette and a nap. LOL.

Joking aside, the death of this mass murderer has been a long time coming and,in New York today, there is a general sense of communal relief.