Not to discredit Wikileaks, but the whole world has known for quite some time just how dangerous and untrustworthy the Saudis have proven themselves to be.

As far as the NeoCons not wanting to withdraw from Afghanistan: They're NeoCons. They love war. Would you expect anything less from them?

from the Post...

CIA boss Leon Panetta said he feared that Pakistan could have undermined the operation involving Osama bin Laden by leaking word to the terror lord, according to a bombshell interview.

Months before Panetta ordered General William McRaven, the head of the Joint Special Forces Command, to undertake the mission last Friday, the CIA director had decided to leave Pakistani authorities out of it.

Panetta told Time.com in an interview posted today that the US had "decided that any effort to work with the Pakistanis could jeopardize the mission."

"They might alert the targets," he added

The US had at one point also looked at utilizing a bombing raid over the compound or launching a “direct shot” with cruise missiles, but ruled those options out because of the possibility of “too much collateral,” Panetta said in his first interview since bin Laden was killed on Sunday.

The al Qaeda leader lived and died in a massive, fortified compound built in 2005 and located on the outskirts of Abbottabad, some 60 miles from the capital of Islamabad. It stood just a half-mile from the Kakul Military Academy, Pakistan's equivalent of West Point, and close to various army regiments.

Amid the high praise for the successful US operation, congressional Republicans and Democrats questioned whether bin Laden was hiding in plain sight, with Pakistani military and intelligence operatives either totally unaware of his location or willfully ignoring his presence to protect him.

After months of intelligence work, Panetta said they had enough “circumstantial evidence” that bin Laden was living in the compound.

Early last month, Panetta met with Pakistan's intelligence chief, Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha, a meeting Washington officials saw as make or break.

The Obama administration said it was negotiating a possible reduction in US intelligence operatives and special operations officers in Pakistan as they sought to ease Pakistani concerns about spy activity.

Unaware and unnerved Pakistanis scrambled their aircraft in the wake of the U.S. military intervention.

Publicly, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton thanked Pakistan for its cooperation and said the country "has contributed greatly to our efforts to dismantle al Qaeda."

She said that "in fact, cooperation with Pakistan helped lead us to bin Laden and the compound in which he was hiding."

John Brennan, White House counterterrorism adviser, said the administration was looking at whether bin Laden had a support system in Pakistan that allowed him to remain in the country.

"We know that the people at the compound there were working on his behalf, and that's how we ultimately found our way to that compound," Brennan told reporters at the White House on Monday.

"We are talking with the Pakistanis on a regular basis now, and we're going to pursue all leads to find out exactly what type of support system and benefactors that bin Laden might have had."

Prior to the mission, Panetta said there were fears. In a meeting with advisors last week, Panetta said he wanted to get their opinions on the potential mission to capture the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks.

“What if you go down and you’re in a fire fight and the Pakistanis show up and start firing?” Panetta said some feared. “How do you fight your way out?”

But Panetta concluded the evidence was strong enough to risk the raid and decided to make his case to President Obama.

“We have the best evidence since [the 2001 battle of] Tora Bora [where bin Laden was last seen], and that then makes it clear that we have an obligation to act," Panetta said he told the president, according to Time.com.

Panetta and his team watched the raid in a conference room in Langley, Va., at the same time as President Obama and his advisors followed along in a separate room at the White House.

The CIA chief said that after the mission was successfully completed, US commandos were able to collect an “impressive amount” of material from the compound. The materials are now being reviewed by his staff and intelligence officials.

With AP

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/internation...O#ixzz1LIuhD6IY

Sauid Arabia...reminds me of an episode of "West Wing":

C.J. Cregg:

"This is a country where women aren't allowed to drive a car. They're not allowed to be in the company of any man other than a close relative. They're required to adhere to a dress code that would make a Maryknoll nun look like Malibu Barbie. They beheaded 121 people last year for robbery, rape, and drug trafficking. They have no free press, no elected government, no political parties. And the Royal Family allows the Religious Police to travel in groups of six carrying nightsticks and they freely and publicly beat women. But 'Brutus is an honorable man.' 17 schoolgirls were forced to burn alive because they weren't wearing the proper clothing. Am I outraged? No. . . . That is Saudi Arabia, our partners in peace."

This is Jon Stewart's take on the killing of OBL. It's very funny, but the ending is a crack-up.

Sorry I couldn't direct link it cause I didn't know what "choice" to use for the media tag.

Anyway, check it out!



http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-may-2-2011/to-kill-a-mockingturd

Haha. He lives in a pineapple under the sea. I'll never let my niece watch Spongebob Squarepants again.

By Wynne Parry LiveScience updated 5/2/2011 4:39:45 PM ET 2011-05-02T20:39:45

It’s not hard to imagine why the announcement sounds suspicious: A decade-long search for an international terrorist ends with his body dumped at sea, with no photos, film or other documentation provided.

In fact, the conspiracy theorists are already out. Politico reporting that radio host Alex Jones, who thinks the U.S. government was behind the Sept. 11 attacks, said that he believes that the government had bin Laden frozen for years. Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan has also called the announcement a fake as did an arm of a Pakistani Taliban group, according to the website. A Facebook group Osama bin Laden NOT DEAD has begun collecting attracting like minded people, and apparently fake photos of bin Laden's battered face have added fuel to the fire.

Not a surprise Oli. They are reporting that the administration is contemplating whether to, OR what to release. Some are very graphic and bloody, and there also is a video of his burial at sea.

I saw a wife (or mother can't remember) of a 911 victim who was very glad (naturally) with OBL death/capture, but said she felt she needed to see him or needed more. She wanted them to show a picture of him, his face, his body...something. I kind of understand her thinking, but don't know if that would be the general consensus with family members of victims. In the end, I feel pretty confident they will release something. Don't you?

TIS

The drudge report is saying the White House will release the photo. It's too graphic for the media, so don't know when or how it will be done. I personally dont' want to see a picture of someone with half their head blown off. You all look at it and report back to me.

If it's too graphic to be posted on these boards (and it well may be), then I hope a link to the photo will be posted. I usually avoid scenes of real-life gore and carnage, but I want to see this bastard's corpse.

Signor V.

When I first heard he was buried at sea I couldn't help but start singing a song from The Little Mermaid.

"Under the sea, under the sea
Darling it's better down where it's wetter
Take it from me"

Thinking along the lines of less gory/bloody, perhaps they have a picture of him wrapped in a sheet (or whatever they put him in), showing his face before he went to sleep with the fish.

I don't know what the people in general would "want" but I'm sure not everyone will be happy no matter what they do.



TIS

Well, since his face is half off I guess they'll only be able to show one side of his face. Or maybe they had Bonasera work his magic on him.

I'm not one to get physically queasy with these things and I likely will look at what they release. Then again, it did feel really eerie when then released that cell phone video of Sadam getting killed. As despicable as he was I could have done without seeing that. It was creepy.


TIS

Associated Press

PITTSBURGH -- Rashard Mendenhall has created a stir with comments made on his official Twitter page regarding Osama bin Laden's death.

The Pittsburgh Steelers running back on Monday tweeted: "What kind of person celebrates death? It's amazing how people can HATE a man they have never even heard speak. We've only heard one side..."

Mendenhall didn't hold back, even making a reference to the Sept. 11 attacks.

"We'll never know what really happened. I just have a hard time believing a plane could take a skyscraper down demolition style."

The Steelers felt compelled to act. On Tuesday, team president Art Rooney II released a statement.

"I have not spoken with Rashard, so it is hard to explain or even comprehend what he meant with his recent Twitter comments. The entire Steelers organization is very proud of the job our military personnel have done and we can only hope this leads to our troops coming home soon."

There's gonna be a WH briefing shortly. There's supposed to confirm 2 sets of photos.

Beth,

What source are you reading/watching???


TIS

I'm just on the internet. Google any one of the 3 network stations and you'll find it. Fox was the one that has the link to the WH briefing.

Pakistan has Bin Laden's wife, children.

http://xfinity.comcast.net/articles/news...-CHILDREN-IN-C/

I guess he and fellow Truther Charlie Sheen now have something to talk about in Vegas sometime.

The man doing the WH briefing looks like a scared moron. I expect the reporters to storm the platform any minute. He looks like he'd rather be having a root canal.

Beth,

I forgot that press secretary's name but he's new. Robert Gibbs was the former Press Secretary. I think they all are pretty much the same. All of them get grilled by these reporters. Sometimes I feel sorry for them.

RR,

Great link with a little more detail. Did you get the impression from the press conference that some reporters were pressing the "was Bin Laden armed" issue???? The secretary repeated "he resisted but wasn't armed." However, there were others with weapons. I don't know, it just sounded like they were defended OBL.

TIS

This wasn't the press secretary I saw. The guy before him. He's on now. When I first went on the link I didn't catch the guy's name.

There is a fake Osama death picture making its way around the web. It is not real, even though it's a pretty good fake.

Here's the fake pic:

Good grief! See how easy it is to get "something" started??? I mean, I wouldn't have known if it was real or not.



TIS

Beth, and you can add to CJ's comments "And use their wives as a human shield...", disgusting fuckers.

True. Here's the original photo. It appears to be a frame from a movie or video.

Ok CNN said they are announcing that a photo of OBL WILL be released. Don't have further info.



TIS