Kathryn Bigelow Addresses the "Zero Dark Thirty" Controversy

Here is her take on it.  The Cine-Sib, who loved the film, has this to say: "There wasn't anything worse than what Jack Bauer did."

A Look Back: 45 Memorable Images of 2011

A picture says a thousand words.

2011 Retrospective in Lego

News stories reproduced in glorious Lego!

The End of Bin Laden: "Geronimo E.K.I.A.”

Read the whole riveting account, right down to the Navy SEAL on the radio: "For God and country."  Indeed.

You know, my sentiments haven't changed at all since the great moment when the news broke that Bin Laden was dead.  The guy wanted to be a symbol, and he got his wish -- though not, in the end, as he fantasized it would be.  His exit was a great moment for all decent people everywhere.  Related posts here.  I don't even care that this New Yorker piece seems oddly timed to highlight the president's one (admittedly) great success even while just everything else is going to hell in a handbasket, especially the economy.

A Law Prof's Perspective: International Law and the Legality of Killing Bin Laden

Via law prof Instapundit, here's something worth a read, written by Yale School of Law prof Jed Rubenfeld.  RELATED POST: Another legal eagle's thoughts.

Nerd Analysis: Professor Mead on Pakistan, "This Unsatisfactory Ally"

Oh, my!  With friends like these ...?  Here's a blurb:

The Assassination in Abbottabad was a strategic catastrophe for the military rulers of this slowly and painfully failing state.  On the one hand, it leaves the reputation of Pakistan as an effective partner against fanatical terror groups in ruins.  The debate in Washington and around the world now is whether the Pakistani state is in league with Al Qaeda or whether it is so weak, divided and incompetent that rogue factions within the state have escaped all control.  The rich intelligence haul the US gathered in Osama’s lair will help the US learn more about Osama’s protectors in Pakistan; in the meantime it is transparently clear that whether incompetence or malfeasance is more to blame, the government of Pakistan cannot safely be trusted — by anyone, on anything.

Well, OK, and all, but maybe not having Pakistan as an ally is even worse?

Satire Alert: Iowahawk on Bin Laden

The inimitable and truly glorious Iowahawk strikes this again, this time in the persona of Zarqawi, whose roommate in the jihadist afterlife is driving him crazy.  Strong language alert, but I laughed out loud.  Iowahawk, you magnificent bastard, we're not worthy!

Sympathy For the Devil: Thoughts on Killing Bin Laden

The British commentator Brendan O'Neill says pretty much everything I want to say for now.  As for me, I felt then and feel now nothing but an immense grim satisfaction over the end of bin Laden.  All these people handwringing about whether it were immoral to end Osama ... Hey, how about this for a thought?  It would have been immoral NOT to.

Let Slip the Dogs of War: A Look at Military Working Canines (and Their Humans Too)

Here's a great little photo essay. After all, the Navy SEALS took a dog with them when they went calling on Osama. You may also remember this four-legged Austrian special forces paratrooper.  GOOD BOY!  Check out this weekly feature too.

Post-Bin Laden PR Muddle, or, Life Imitates "Firefly"

Well, I suppose it's kind of like this.  Let me now give you two quotations.

Quotation the first: 

The core conflict is the White House’s “desire to kill bin Laden but also to have the world think we did so respectfully and politely,” said Eric Dezenhall, founder of Dezenhall Resources, a PR firm. 

Quotation the second:

Mal: "If anyone gets nosy, just... you know... shoot 'em. "
Zoe: "Shoot 'em?"
Mal: "Politely."

On Killing Bin Laden: Perspectives from Kenya

Read this.  Caveat: predictable BBC-speak and "Debbie Downer" BBC-bias.

Internet Humor: the Situation Room Meme

LOL!

Steve Coll on Osama in Pakistan

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist (and Bin Laden biographer) Steve Coll has some thoughts about the circumstances of Bin Laden's discovery -- i.e., that he was found mere yards from Pakistan's equivalent of West Point.  Yeah, we've all got some thoughts and questions on that front.  Is it possible that Pakistan didn't know Bin Laden was living there for years? In Coll's words, "It strains credulity."  I guess it involves who knew what when.  But somebody knew something in the tangled mess of Pakistani government and society where, as we've seen lately, there are both good people fighting for freedom and extremists bent on advancing their own radical agenda.

Watch the full episode. See more FRONTLINE.

Salman Rushdie on Osama and Pakistan

A few thoughts.

Nerd Analysis: Fouad Ajami on the Weak Horse

Read this.  The weak horse and, literally and metaphorically, yesterday's news?  UPDATE:  Read this too.

Congratulations from Israel

Quote of the Day: Walter Russell Mead on Osama

The whole piece is worth a look.  Here's a snippet:

President Obama has been able to announce the news that Americans have longed to hear for the last ten years:  Osama bin Laden is dead, his corpse flung into the sea. 

Better, he is dead at America’s hands. 

Better yet, he died a beaten man.  His bid for the leadership of global Islam had failed, and Osama lived long enough to see other movements and other ideas shoulder his perverted synthesis aside.  Osama was yesterday’s man, and he knew it. 

... now the deed is done and there is no need to downplay its importance.  The death of Bin Laden will discourage and depress terrorists and their potential recruits the world over.  The world’s most ‘successful’ terrorist had nothing to show for his efforts — no forced withdrawal of the US from the Middle East, no proclamation of a caliphate, no destruction of Israel, no theocracy in Iraq. 

Jon Stewart on Osama's End: "A Good Night For Human People"

I am pretty much in love with Jon after this.  I've embedded three pieces of Jon's show from yesterday (after the fold).  The clips are hilarious (some content warning), and he manages to combine both humor and a moment of serious and personal perspective in the second clip: "Last night was a good night for me, and not just for New York or DC or America, but for human people."  He also makes a piquant point about Al Qaeda being left behind even if it is still dangerous.

Internet Culture Humor: Tweeting Personas

Too soon? I laughed anyway when I saw these on Twitter:

Quote of the Day: Psychology and Osama's End

From Ed Morrissey (my emphasis in italics):

But even with that said, the targeting and destruction of the world’s most-wanted terrorist will have a deep symbolic and operational impact on Al Qaeda. For years, the network could reassure itself with the fact that the Americans hadn’t been able to touch the man who professed to be acting for Allah, and who served as their inspiration. His death at the hands of U.S. forces cannot help but to shake that faith, and that may end up being the most powerful blow America could possibly deliver to the radical Islamists who demand world domination. 

If we can find and kill Osama bin Laden, we can find and kill the rest of them, too. And now they know it.