After a ten-year manhunt, Osama Bin Laden is dead, killed by a joint CIA and Navy Seal attack on his fortress mansion outside of the Pakistani capital of Islamabad.
That sentence includes a lot of stuff that raises questions that won't be answered right away. Most of the world is pleased to know that he is gone. Some are not happy and some are threatening revenge. But the attack was quick, well executed and over in 40 minutes.
The individual Navy Seals were trained and ready and eager to take out Osama. The operation came off with only a few minor glitches. President Obama didn't personally pull the trigger but he put the operation in place and decided to take the risk of sending US soldiers into Pakistan without that country's knowledge to attack Bin Laden's compound. He and his advisors were tied into the operation by video as it took place and the pictures of that group clearly shows the gravity of the situation...especially since one of the helicopters was disabled and had to be destroyed on the ground.
The operation not only killed Bin Laden and removed his body but also resulted in the capture of a tremendous amount of intelligence information from computers and other items in the compound. This information is probably more important than the actual elimination of Bin Laden.
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President Obama deserves a lion's share of the credit and most Americans are recognizing his role in this. Fox News, always a group of idiots, managed to get the news headline wrong and didn't recognize their error -- "Obama Bin Laden Dead". That's giving them the benefit of the doubt because they can't pass up a chance to smear the President.
The Bush team has been busy trying to paint themselves as heros and it has been very self-serving. They are using this as a rationale to support their practices of torture and water-boarding. Time will tell whether any of that actually provided useful information...most experts say it doesn't help and we know that some information obtained this way is false.
I, of course, missed the news as it was happening but there were spontaneous celebrations in New York and at the White House that went long into the night. I found out about it in the morning and everyone looked exhausted.
It was a good day for the USA but I don't think this really changes much.Terrorists are still out there. It is the end of a chapter and it may bring "closure" for some people who lost friends and relatives in the 9-11 attacks. The psychological impact is important. Napoleon said "Victory comes to those who persevere" and I would have to agree.
Actual picture of deceased Osama Bin Laden:
(Top secret)
This has been a year of extreme weather and natural disasters. The massive earthquake and tsunami in Japan is still fresh in our memories but now we have other, more recent, storms, floods, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tornadoes that just continue to defy our ability to to comprehend the level of destruction and loss. These pictures are from CBS News of the tornado in Joplin, Missouri, of May 22, 2011.
I've been to Joplin many times over the last six years or so and I don't recognize anything in these pictures. There are no landmarks left. One street looks just like another....all is devastation. People who survived the tornado can't recognize their own neighborhood. Their homes are gone. All of their stuff is gone. Dozens of families have lost someone...there are about 120 fatalities identified so far. Some churches are gone. The major regional hospital took a direct hit and is gone. Two firehouses are gone. Some schools are gone. Grocery stores, Walmart, Home Depot....gone.
I can't even begin to imagine how a family would cope with this. It is too much for our human brains to comprehend. Sixty percent of the school enrollment for the city is displaced and families are scattered and separated. About 1,500 people are still missing and authorities don't know if they are under the rubble or fled town or are wandering the streets. Cell phones don't work because the towers are gone.
I can only barely guess at the horrendous task the city and county government has to try to piece this town back together again. There are about 50,000 people living in Joplin and the infrastructure and municipal and county services are nearly wiped out. There is probably no one in city government that has experience with this. There is no large source of local money to help. FEMA is the only real hope for directing some sort of recovery...setting priorities...setting up shelters. Just from the look of the pictures, insurance companies are going to be hard pressed to manage the claim process...they can't find the cars or the houses or, in some cases, the people are missing. 
A few years ago the town of Greenburg Kansas was hit by a category 5 tornado. This town had about 1,500 residents at that time and they lost 11 people in the storm. The entire town was destroyed. I went through Greenburg this last March on my way home from Albuquerque and was curious as to how they were recovering. The population is now around 700 people. The city is trying to come back as a LEED certified "green" city and they have built a new city hall and a few other public buildings. There are a few homes built that look like subsidized senior housing. There is a small new strip mall and only a few other buildings. It looks like they are trying hard to conform to their vision but I think the jury is still out on whether they will come back to be what they were before. One thing that is a potential problem is that there is another town just a few miles away that is larger and has a Walmart and some other businesses -- and jobs. 
Joplin is in a similar position. It was a viable community but was struggling with the economy and the changes that have taken place in the local industry and mining operations. Carthage is a smaller city nearby and there are other cities in Oklahoma and Kansas that might siphon off some residents or jobs. The town is resilient and will come back. Like Greenburg, this might be an opportunity to reinvent the place. The people are there but do they have the energy, resources or leadership to bring it back? The sign scrawled on the front of the house says "We are OK here" and we can only hope and pray that they are after such a devastating event.
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