05/ 5/2011, 5:48 PM | Eric Lach | #

Materials Seized At Compound Show 'Aspirational' Plans

Materials seized at the compound where Osama bin Laden was killed show what one U.S. official described to ABC News as "aspirational" plans to attack a train on the 10th anniversary of 9/11.

05/ 5/2011, 5:29 PM | Eric Lach | #

Pentagon Has No 'Definitive Evidence' That Pakistan Knew Where Bin Laden Was

U.S. Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Michele A. Flournoy said today that that administration officials "do not have any definitive evidence at this point" that Pakistan knew Osama bin Laden was living in Abbottabad, The New York Times reports.

05/ 5/2011, 4:18 PM | Eric Lach | #

Man With 'GETOSAMA' License Plate Trading It In For 'GOTOSAMA'

Arno Herwerth, of Hauppauge, New York, fought hard a few years ago to secure a license plate that reads "GETOSAMA." Reuters reports that a grateful Herwerth has now put in paperwork for a "GOTOSAMA" plate.

05/ 5/2011, 3:51 PM | Eric Lach | #

What Happens To Bin Laden's Children?

The Toronto Star reports on the fate of the children left behind at the compound where Osama bin Laden was killed, at least some of which appear to be bin Laden's own children.

Because of bin Laden's revoked citizenship status, his children may now be stateless, said a United Nations official based in Pakistan.

05/ 5/2011, 3:12 PM | Eric Lach | #

Obama To Meet With Unit That Killed Bin Laden On Friday

President Obama on Friday will meet with members of the special forces unit that killed Osama bin Laden, The Los Angeles Times reports. The meeting will take place at Ft. Campbell, Kentucky, where the president is scheduled to give an address.

05/ 5/2011, 2:29 PM | Eric Lach | #

David Koch: I Don't Think Obama 'Contributed Much At All' To Bin Laden Killing

Billionaire Republican financier David Koch told New York magazine he doesn't think President Obama "contributed much at all" to the operation that killed Osama bin Laden, and the military and intelligence agencies deserve all the credit.

05/ 5/2011, 2:18 PM | Eric Lach | #

Left-Wing Canadian Politician Questions Bin Laden Photos, Party Backs Off

The NDP has gotten off to a rough start as an opposition party, in its handling of the killing of Osama bin Laden.

05/ 5/2011, 2:06 PM | Eric Lach | #

Biden Lays Wreath At Pentagon

While President Obama is in New York City, Vice President Joe Biden is in Virginia, where he laid at wreath at the Pentagon, alongside Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Time reports.

05/ 5/2011, 1:12 PM | Eric Lach | #

Obama Lays Wreath At Ground Zero

President Obama has laid a wreath on a wooden easel at Ground Zero in New York City.

05/ 5/2011, 12:50 PM | Eric Lach | #

Report: Bin Laden's Wife Said She Hadn't Left Compound In Five Years

A Pakistani military spokesman said that Osama bin Laden's wife told interrogators she had not left the compound where the terrorist leader was killed in five years, CNN reports.

05/ 5/2011, 12:47 PM | Eric Lach | #

Obama Stops In At NYC Police Station

President Obama's latest New York City stop is at a police station in lower Manhattan.

05/ 5/2011, 11:58 AM | Eric Lach | #

Obama Eating Lunch With NYC Firefighters

According to The New York Times, President Obama is eating lunch with firefighters at a midtown New York City firehouse. "The firefighters and the president were to dine on eggplant parmesan, scallops, shrimp, pasta with a cream sauce and a spring mix salad with dijon balsamic vinaigrette, all prepared by firefighters," a Fire Department spokesman told the Times.

05/ 5/2011, 11:26 AM | Eric Lach | #

Obama Arrives In New York City

NBC reports that President Obama has arrived in New York City. He is scheduled to stop in at a midtown Manhattan firehouse that lost 15 members on 9/11.

05/ 5/2011, 10:41 AM | Eric Lach | #

Pakistan's Army Warns U.S. Against Similar Raids

Pakistan's army issued a statement today that said more raids like the one that killed Osama bin Laden will result in a "review" of its cooperation with the U.S.

"COAS made it clear that any similar action violating the sovereignty of Pakistan will warrant a review on the level of military/intelligence cooperation with the United States," the statement said.

05/ 5/2011, 10:14 AM | Eric Lach | #

The Rules of Engagement And Bin Laden

At The New Yorker's News Desk blog, Raffi Khatchadourian examines the legality of killing Osama bin Laden:

The key legal question is not whether bin Laden was armed before he was killed, or even whether or not he posed an immediate "lethal threat," but whether he was "positively identified" before the trigger was pulled, and whether Holder is accurate when he says that "there was no indication" that bin Laden was actively attempting to surrender. Those are the more relevant facts. And if there is a formal inquiry into the incident, this is what it will undoubtedly seek to establish.

05/ 5/2011, 9:49 AM | Eric Lach | #

Clinton: Battle Against Al Qaeda 'Does Not End With One Death'

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said today that the death of Osama bin Laden does not end the battle against Al Qaeda or its affiliates.

"Let us not forget that the battle to stop al-Qaida and its affiliates does not end with one death," she said, according to NBC News, while in Rome to discuss the situation in Libya with foreign leaders. "We have to renew our resolve and redouble our efforts, not only in Afghanistan and Pakistan but around the world.

05/ 5/2011, 9:27 AM | Eric Lach | #

Unwitting Raid Live-Tweeter Puts Up FAQ

The man who unwittingly live-tweeted the raid on Osama bin Laden's compound on Sunday has put online an FAQ, "to save everyone's time (but especially mine), to clarify a few facts and to answer most of the (mostly redundant questions) that I am receiving via email and tweets."

05/ 5/2011, 9:24 AM | Eric Lach | #

Clinton: Allergies Behind My Expression

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says that allergies, not emotion, are behind the pose she struck in the instantly iconic photograph taken in the White House Situation Room on Sunday.

"I am somewhat sheepishly concerned that it was my preventing one of my early spring allergic coughs. So it may have no great meaning whatsoever," Clinton said.

05/ 5/2011, 9:12 AM | Eric Lach | #

Pakistan Islamist Party To Protest Against Bin Laden Raid

Pakistan's most influential Islamist party urged its followers to hold mass protests on Friday, after U.S. forces killed Osama bin Laden near Islamabad.

"We have appealed to everyone to hold peaceful demonstrations on Friday on a very large scale," Jamaat-e-Islami chief Syed Munawar Hasan said. "Our first demand is Pakistan ... should withdraw from the war on terror."

05/ 5/2011, 8:44 AM | Eric Lach | #

The Elite Of The Elite

The New York Times offers some information about Seal Team 6, "a unit so secretive that the White House and the Defense Department do not directly acknowledge its existence."

05/ 5/2011, 8:37 AM | Eric Lach | #

Obama Visiting Ground Zero, Meeting With 9/11 Families

President Obama will attend a wreath-laying ceremony at Ground Zero in New York City today, and will also be meeting with families of the victims of the terrorist attacks.

05/ 5/2011, 8:33 AM | Eric Lach | #

Report: Bin Laden Had AK-47 And Pistol Within Arm's Reach

The New York Times reports that when U.S. forces entered Osama bin Laden's bedroom on Sunday, the terrorist leader had an AK-47 and a Makarov pistol in arm's reach.

05/ 5/2011, 8:31 AM | Eric Lach | #

Report: Bin Laden's Courier Fired On U.S. Forces

Administration officials told The New York Times that Osama Bin Laden's trusted courier, Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti, fired on U.S. forces during Sunday's raid -- the only resident of the compound to do so.

05/ 5/2011, 8:26 AM | Eric Lach | #

Report: Only One Man Was Armed In Firefight

U.S. officials told NBC News that four of the five people killed in Sunday's raid on Osama bin Laden's compound were unarmed, though all were considered a threat.

Instead of a chaotic firefight, US officials says, the American commando assault was a precision operation, with SEALs moving carefully through the compound, room to room, floor to floor.