It would appear the head of the snake has been cut off..
Osama bin Laden, so long searched for and the target of the 'war on terror', has been killed in northern Pakistan by a 'small group of American operatives'.. meaning the CIA..and a Black Ops team..
The announcement came just before midnight by President Obama, who emphasized that this was not the end of the fight against terrorism, nor will it presage a change in the American drive to eliminate al Q'aida, but it does mean that a key leader, the focus of so much attention, has been removed.
Now what this will mean to the terrorists themselves, has yet to been seen.. however it might be expected that terrorist attacks will be stepped up in retaliation.. This movement is a hydra headed beast, and there are many who will happily lay down their lives to demonstrate anti-Americanism has not ended with the death of the titular leader.
Eyes will now be turned to Afghanistan, where the fight against the Taliban has been ongoing for so long.. Whether al Q'aida will join with the remnants of the Taliban to step up attacks against the West..
It must be remembered that bin Laden was originally funded by the very group that took his life today, the CIA, when he was with the Muha'jideen fighting the Russians in Afghanistan. He became the ultimate enemy of the West, and especially the US, when the Russians left Afghanistan and Western forces took their place..
It is now almost one o'clock in America at the moment, and reports are that hundreds, perhaps thousands of people have congregated outside the White House to celebrate the death of bin Laden.. Barack made his announcement some two hours ago, saying 'justice has been done' with the death of Osama. This, says Barack, brings relief to the thousands who lost relatives on 911, and strikes a blow against the worldwide terrorist movement..
The latter part of this statement may well be optimistic in the extreme, for again, it will likely prompt retaliation from those who followed the al Q'aida..
Now we know that at least three people were killed, one of which was Osama, but we have no names for those as yet..
Barack made it plain in his statement, that no civilians were killed.. Yet there have been reports that some of the bodies removed, were women. This has of course, yet to be confirmed..
As to the reaction in Pakistan, reports suggest that there is no official statement as yet.. In fact, this may be a major embarassment to the Pakistani government, for while they apparently approved this surgical strike, it remains that bin Laden was living in some comfort within Pakistan.. and the Prime Minister of that country, Hamad Karzai.. may be seen as having no choice but to put his seal of approval on this operation..
The CIA had information on where bin Laden was for about eight months, and if anything had delayed last night's attack, it would certainly have revolved about having an American strike force perform an operation on Pakistani soil..
And again, while this is indeed a symbolic killing, one which will almost certainly guarrantee Barack's re-election, it is also one which will bring about further terrorist attacks against those countries which were hunting bin Laden.
With Obama about to visit Eire next week, it will be interesting to see what increased security will surround the President, and it is a matter of much speculation at this point, as to when the next attack from any one of the many terrorist groups around the world, will take place.
Then again, as the Arab mind well understands, revenge is a dish best served cold..
Now, we must wait for positive identification of the body.. but a photo of the dead body of the man has been posted on the Net at:


www.google.co.uk/search?q=bin+Laden+dead+body&hl=en&client=firefox&hs=xRS&rlz=1R1GGLL_en-GB___GB416&prmd=ivnsu&source=lnms&tbm=isch&ei=Nkm-TZK5OYWyhAf0-IHIBQ&sa=X&oi=mode_link&ct=mode&cd=2&ved=0CBgQ_AUoAQ&biw=1024&bih=616 ...

More, when this event has been digested...