AP files FOIA for Osama bin Laden kill photos »

producermatthew:

The Associated Press wire service joins Politico, FOX News and a growing list of media organizations filing Freedom of Information Act requests in order to obtain controversial photos that show the body of Osama bin Laden.

The Atlantic Wire:

When it eventually surfaced that bin Laden was not killed in a firefight, his wife wasn’t used as a human shield, there was no live footage of the event and the “mansion” where he lived was only worth between $250,000 and $480,000, many became skeptical of the White House’s narrative.

The AP’s senior managing editor says the photos are “important for the historical record.”

Will some media property, under FOIA,  request the video of the assault?

Pakistanis disclose name of CIA operative - The Washington Post »

nickturse:

The Washington Post reports today on the deepening rift between the U.S. and Pakistan. 

In retaliation for the supposedly unilateral U.S. special ops mission that killed Osama bin Laden last week, Pakistan’s main spy agency apparently publicly outed the CIA’s station chief in Islamabad.

As a general rule, the WaPo doesn’t report the names of undercover U.S. intelligence agents, noting only that: “The CIA station chief’s name was first aired by a private Pakistani television station on Friday, and a misspelled version of the name was published the next day in the Nation newspaper, which is considered close to the security establishment.”

For its part, the Nation newspaper began its story this way: “ISI Director General Lt-Gen Ahmad Shuja Pasha held a meeting with CIA station chief Mark Carlton in Islamabad on Friday, a private TV channel reported.”

This won’t end well, will it?

Report: Jokes Were Most Prevalent Type of Post About Bin Laden on Facebook/Twitter - SocialTimes.com »

nickturse:

Whether it means we ought to laugh or cry is up for debate, but David Cohen at Social Times writes that:

Humor was the theme of 19 percent of Bin Laden-related posts on Facebook and Twitter, including “Breaking News: Donald Trump Demands Osama Bin Laden’s Death Certificate.” Conspiracy theories and hoaxes were next, at 17 percent…

We do love our gallows humor, don’t we?

“He wasn’t just a figurehead,” said one American official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, who had been briefed on the documents. “He continued to plot and plan, to come up with ideas about targets and to communicate those ideas to other senior Qaeda leaders.”

From the New York Times article, “

 

Data Show Bin Laden Plots; C.I.A. Hid Near Raided House

“

The C.I.A. had Bin Laden’s compound under surveillance for months before American commandos killed him in an assault on Monday, watching and photographing residents and visitors from a rented house nearby, according to several officials briefed on the operation.

SLATE: Release the Dead Laden Photos »

Shafer’s lede:

In a world where every form of splatter, dismemberment, and slaughter has found a home on the Web—a place in which tens, perhaps hundreds, of millions have watched blood bubble out of Neda Salehi Agha Sotan’s face and pool on the asphalt beneath her head—it seems nuts that President Barack Obama has decided not to release the photos of Osama Bin Laden’s bullet-dented cranium.

“The next time I go to a movie where they have some kind of wild special ops depiction — I have in the past said to my kids ‘there’s no way that’s realistic’ — I will never say that again,” said Democrat Claire McCaskill.”

From AFP story, “Fact beats fiction on Bin Laden: US Senator”

Her comments came after a closed-door briefing on the operation by top US military and intelligence officials, and as Washington mulled whether to make public pictures of Bin Laden’s corpse.

Bin Laden headlines placed at Arlington Cemetery grave [PHOTO]

ericathas:

Since President Obama announced that U.S. forces had killed Osama bin Laden, there have been an overwhelming number of amazing images, videos and stories. One five-second shot in this Washington Post video about reflections at Arlington National Cemetery caught my eye.

It’s a striking image of USA Today and Washington Post newspapers placed at a gravesite:

The Instagram version of this photo.

Share this using Flickr.

“The decision was vintage Obama — an enigmatic president, a strange mélange of caution and audacity, of mushiness and steel. He speaks eloquently about the need for compassion, but has no qualms about killing, as his decision to more than double Predator strikes in Afghanistan and Pakistan suggest. He preaches the need for transparency, but runs a secretive White House. His aides say he favors “leading from behind,” but he demands the ouster of America’s dictator ally in Egypt and transforms a humanitarian rescue mission of civilians in Benghazi into a campaign to oust Moammar Gadhafi, the region’s longest-reigning dictator. He speaks of unity, but his policies divide the nation and often offend both supporters and critics alike. He is a bundle of contradictions.
But today, he is a hero — for many Republicans as well as Democrats, and deservedly so.”

Judith Miller, in her editorial “Obama’s Triumph” in today’s The Daily.