Blog Heap of Links for the day 3 May 2011

Osama bin Laden was not armed when a U.S. Navy SEAL raiding party confronted him during an assault on his compound in Pakistan, the White House said Tuesday.... shot in the head and in the chest ... not armed ... shot in the head and in the chest ... not armed ... shot in the head and in the chest ... not armed ... shot in the head and in the chest ... not armed ... shot in the head and in the chest ... not armed ... shot in the head and in the chest ... not armed ... shot in the head and in the chest ... not armed ... Carney: Resistance did not require a firearm shot in the head and in the chest ... not armed ... He said the decision to kill rather than capture bin Laden was made by forces on the ground, not by the White House.... There were many other people who were armed in the compound.... not armed ... shot in the head and in the chest ... not armed ... shot in the head and in the chest ... Asked if President Barack Obama is involved in the photo discussion, Carney said the president is involved in every aspect of this issue. ... not armed ... shot in the head and in the chest ... not armed ... shot in the head and in the chest ... not armed ... shot in the head and in the chest ... not armed ...

Barack Obama kept military commanders hanging by declaring he would 'sleep on it' before taking 16 hours to give the go-ahead to raid Bin Laden's compound. ... But the next morning after 16 hours, Obama summoned four top aides to the White House Diplomatic Room. Before they could speak, the president put his fist on the table and declared 'It's a go'. ... [He can make a fist? With the middle finger not extended? Who knew?] ... Mr Obama went straight to the Oval Office in his golf shoes, instead of to the residence as he normally does after golf.... Comedy Central host, Jon Stewart, was no less effusive on 'The Daily Show.' 'I suppose I should be expressing some ambivalence about the targeted killing of another human being. And yet - uhhhh, no!' ... [Hmmmm] ... 'How about those Navy SEALs?' said Letterman. 'They jump out of a helicopter and they break into the compound, and they fire a warning shot into his head.' [Hmmmm]

...today I stand proudly with my new friends of the formerly antiwar left in a mindlessly jingoistic salute to President Obama for an extralegal military assassination well done....

A small weekly paper in California claims that a White House official asked it to remove a sentence from a "benign" feature about Marine One because it reflected poorly on first lady Michelle Obama.... "Basically the reporter said that the First Lady didn't speak to the pilots but acknowledged them by making eye contact.... I thought it was interesting, though, that the [White House] was concerned enough about image to contact a little weekly paper in Pleasanton." The White House communications office did not return requests for comment

Under Bush, JSOC was routinely smeared by the left and placed at the center of many Bush/Cheney conspiracy theories. Specifically, New Yorker reporter Seymour Hersh alleged it was Dick Cheney's personal assassination squad.

"White House Insider": Point of determination made FOR Obama not BY Obama. Will clarify as details become more clear. Very clear divide between Military and WH. Jarrett marginalized 100% on decision to take out OBL. She played no part. BD worked with LP and HC to form coalition to force CoC to engage. IMPORTANT SPECIFIC: When 48 hour go order issued, CoC was told, not requested. Administration scrambled to abort. That order was overruled. This order did not originate from CoC. Repeat — this order did not originate from CoC. He complied, but did not originate. Independent military contacts have confirmed. Stories corroborate one another. This is legit. The killing of Osama Bin Laden was in fact a Coup within Obama WH.

Security has been heightened at the Kogelo rural home of the grandmother of US President Barack Obama following the killing of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. More police officers have been deployed to man Mama Sarah Obama's in homestead western Kenya following fears of a terrorist attack in retaliation for the killing of Osama by US special forces.

the picture that includes the most recognizable image of OBLs face — from the hangar in Afghanistan — is so gruesome and mangled its not appropriate for say the front page

From Omar bin Laden's up-close look at the next generation of mujahideen and al Qaeda training camps he says the worst may lie ahead, that if his father is killed America may face a broader and more violent enemy, with nothing to keep them in check. "From what I knew of my father and the people around him I believe he is the most kind among them, because some are much, much worse," Omar bin Laden, who was raised in the midst of his father's fighters, told ABC News in an exclusive interview in February 2010. "Their mentality wants to make more violence, to create more problems."

Ephrata Middle School teacher Gary Weddle vowed on September 11, 2001 to stop shaving until Osama bin Laden was caught. On Monday, after almost ten years, he finally shaved off his lengthy beard. [Principal:] Mr. Weddle, we are truly honored and humbled by your example and extremely privileged to know you. The life lasting impact the commitment to your vow has had on over 2,000 students in the last ten years is more than a teacher could even begin imagine. As of yesterday Facebook has come alive as your former students excitedly rejoice in the fact that you can now shave! It might be added that our current population of students was aged two and three when you made your vow. They are the ones to see what so many of them wanted to witness.

"At 4.32pm yesterday, Monday 2 May, police officers from the Civil Nuclear Constabulary conducted a stop check on a vehicle close to the Sellafield site in West Cumbria. "As a result, police officers from Cumbria Constabulary arrested five men from London, all aged in their 20s, under Section 41 of the Terrorism Act. "They were taken to police custody in Carlisle overnight and are being transported to Manchester this morning. "The investigation is being led by the North West Counter Terrorism Unit. "A road closure affected the area for a short period of time."

Conspiracy theorists are an ingenious bunch, but at the moment the White House is making this ridiculously easy for them. Gideon Rachman says he gives it 24 hours before conspiracy theories about Osama bin Laden begin circulating, but they are already flowing vigorously. The Taliban says he's still alive, for example.... why did it allow bin Laden's body to be dropped into the sea? Is the US really so sensitive to Islamic burial practices that it is prepared to hand conspiracy theorists such a gift?...

His face is one of the most recognizable in the world, but in the end, could it have been DNA fingerprinting that proved to U.S. officials that they had finally nailed Osama bin Laden? ... all the DNA analysis will say for sure is that the dead person is one of the many sons of Osama bin Laden's father. One factor could make things easier: Osama bin Laden was the only child whom his mother, Alia Ghanem, had with his father. That could make it easier to triangulate any tissue samples with samples from half-siblings. It is not an exact science, however....

A U.S. official says Osama bin Laden was shot above his left eye, blowing away part of his skull.

The White House backed away Monday evening from key details in its narrative about the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, including claims by senior U.S. officials that the Al Qaeda leader had a weapon and may have fired it during a gun battle with U.S. forces. Officials also retreated from claims that one of bin Laden's wives was killed in the raid and that bin Laden was using her as a human shield before she was shot by U.S. forces. ... "The bottom line is the team that entered that room was met with resistance and took appropriate action," said a third American official. The White House on Monday night declined to elaborate on the nature of the resistance bin Laden allegedly put up. However, an official confirmed that the Al Qaeda founder was shot twice, once in the head and once in the chest.

The number of the world's people is expected to grow from nearly 6.9 billion currently to 9.3 billion by 2050 and 10.1 billion by 2100, U.N. population experts said Tuesday. [I predict some slowdown of population growth, and severe culling, will undermine these estimates. Bets, anyone?]