"Signature Achievement" CNN is saying. Significant, yes, but has Al Qaeda even been directly run by Bin Laden recently? Is his death a martyrdom that will instigate other action? Thoughts from diplomers?

@Graeme01 -- agreed, I was still typing my follow-up!

Oh sorry. Jumped the gun there. No honestly I think it will just fire them up to greater efforts.

It is only significant in that Obama successfully interrupted "Celebrity Apprentice" and stuck a thumb in Donald Trump's eye.

Joking aside...this "big announcement" should *never* have been made. You think some nutjob Pastor in florida burning a Quron incites violence? Well, you have just created the biggest, most important Jihad martyr in the world...The announcers call this the biggest turning point in the war on global terror: True. It is about to escalate beyond belief.

If he was ever important, he certainly wasn't yesterday, but the media is only going to react to this in a way that infuriates the people that supported Bin Laden in the first place. It's really dark to say, but I'd expect terrorist attacks in the near future to attribute their actions to this and him regardless of whether it is the truth or not.

He's the symbolic heart of the movement, even if he doesn't run the day-to-day action. Of course it matters. Al Qaeda has to recruit, and with its spiritual godfather dead it will be more difficult.

some conspiracy theorist (not me) claims that bin laden was never the pivotal element of anti-terrorism. he was a symbol of which the US used to attack the middle east.

yeh, Putin33 has a very good point ... but I still see some vicious backlash possible

More difficult to recruit? Wrong. Their numbers will swell.
If anything, his passive leadership might have kept dangerous subordinates from acting out violence Osama may have deemed pointless. Now there's going to be a power grab, with the most violent man winning control.

Not really. This won't be like with Hussein in which people visibly saw him being mistreated and executed in front of a kangaroo court of bloodthirsty bandits. It will be enough to say the US has the body and move on.

Qaeda isn't an organization with a hierarchical structure, it seems. So I doubt there will be a competition for power. Top lieutenants have been killed off frequently over the years. It doesn't seem to have much effect on leading to a rash of avenging attacks.

killed in a "mansion" outside Islamabad?

sources for those who have doubts or have not yet heard
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-13256676
http://www.ajc.com/news/reports-bin-laden-dead-931726.html

cnn.com is going to have a live stream of President Obama's address.

link to the live stream:
http://www.cnn.com/video/flashLive/live.html?stream=stream1&hpt=C1

STILL a great moment...the Mets/Phillies game is amazing right now, whole crowd chanting USA, Mets and Phillies fans alike! :D

do you have to install this Octoshape shit to watch it?

ah yes, the Mets and Phillies, each with their own new billion dollar stadiums ... ain't THAT America ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-YyL7X4CWw&feature=player_embedded#at=39

This is how I feel. Obi will understand.

Interesting. I was pretty convinced he was already dead. It will be interesting to see if they actually show the body.

As for backlash, the popularity of 'al-Qaeda' isn't as high as we are led to believe. Keep in mind that Wahhabi terrorists have been behind tons and tons of terror attacks in Muslim countries that have killed other Muslims. In fact, they probably killed more Muslims than non-Muslims over the years.

'al-Qaeda', such as it was, was organized as a leaderless resistance anyway (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leaderless_resistance). This latest development will not have much of an effect on anything I expect.

yeah it's a big deal i think its a death knell for al-qaeda which has been on the rocks of late anyway. what's funny is all the celebration. fireworks going off in the streets here.

What a sad and tragic event. A brave, Holy Warrior murdered by the greedy, cowardly, lunatic Americans, with their remote control weapons.This is exactly how I felt when John Lennon got shot and killed by that lunatic American, Mark David Chapman. Many American women will weep bitter tears tonight,as they did when Elvis died. ALLAHU AKBAR.

Interesting. OBL was killed in "a firefight" by "a U.S. military asset", not 'a U.S. solder'. Was it an infiltrator(s) in OBL's inner circle? Mercenary? I have a feeling this will result in a made-for-TV movie being pumped out in 60 days or less.

You remember when the Starship Troopers caught the Brainbug?

Fireworks here too, going to be an interesting class in the AM

Tolstoy I didn't hear the President say US military asset, I heard military. I think Joint Special Operations Command conducted a raid with some Pakistani help and shot him. To the earlier post about a mansion, it was a residential compound, much like other compounds we've been attacking for years.

I think that it is going to be a huge turning point. Now there will be a short, violent backlash, but it also means that the network has lost another leader, and certainly almost all of its original hierarchy in 2001 has been killed or captured, so that says one thing. I think with his death, the operational capability of Al Qaeda to conduct international strikes is taken away. Also, this means we can focus more resources on the Taliban now, since one aspect of our operations in Afghanistan is complete. In the long run, I think this will mean we are safer. I don't see the organization recovering from this.

I love the fact that I am in DC right now. Partying everywhere. Sad fact is that I have a final tomorrow and can't go to the White House :(

Report your school for being un-American or something :P

It may kill the al Qaeda in name, but not in threat. Let's just hope the face that grows in place of his isn't younger, meaner, and more violent than the one before it.

I'm pretty sure Pakistan doesn't want to come out and say that their forces killed him. They keep saying "sensitive operation".

"Tolstoy I didn't hear the President say US military asset, I heard military"

Yeah, apparently he did say that. I missed the live press conference and have been going off printed news reports. I still say there will be a made for TV movie produced in record time, though.

And as for the original hierarchy, Zawahiri (the real brains behind the operation) is still alive and kicking so far as I know.