That quote from president Obama tonight. The story here
“Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet” – Afghan proverb
UPDATE #3: Zeroing in on the compound. Threes a charm. Like anything in the fog of war, early reports can be erroneous. The first two seemed plausible, especially the second one with the high walls. Now the official Google Earth Blog weighs in:
[UPDATE: The location has essentially been confirmed by the BBC
(via Ogle Earth).] You can fly there with this KML file
or view the image below:
Lat/lon 34.169314° 73.242304° see it on Google Maps
The Pentagon has released this photo, which matches:
A powerpoint from the Pentagon is here (PDF) which shows the details.
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UPDATE: I have the compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan mapped on Google Earth below:
Lat/Lon 34.146371° 73.216925° Google Maps It sure looks like a fortress. I’m betting they special forces landed the copters in the field to the east, near the blue roofed building, which is the Government Post Graduate College No.1 Another view here
Source: The Atlantic
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UPDATE2: The Atlantic’s story was wrong, here is the (likely) correct location:
Lat/lon 34.187663° 73.242617° See it on Google Maps
Here it is with the PMA Kakul Military academy mentioned in news reports h/t to Ryan Maue:
Wikipedia has already made an update about the PMA Kakul Military academy:
In May 2011, the US military conducted a raid and killed Osama bin Laden in a compound less than 1 km from Burn Hall Army Academy in Abbottabad. Burn Hall is a junior academy that feeds the Pakistan Military Academy. Bin Laden’s extended refuge near the academy is cited as evidence of the Pakistani government’s collusion with al Qaeda.
That places the compound back near the city center where we originally placed it from reports by The Atlantic. The compound originally identified din’t quite match the news reports.(see image below).
The imagery of the compound above described as “very high walled” matches the image of the white building and the tall white walls around it. I also just saw some helmet cam video of the scene in flames, and the white walls were visible.
The Google added red pointer location for OBL’s compound Abottabad in their database in the images above was originally near the city center, See below for the original placment Google had. But the pointer lat/lon has been updated within the last hour to the new location near PMA Kakul shown above. I think the locations above are correct, as they match news accounts much better.
In reference to what? The reduction in temperatures that could be seen by the 24th Century if our forcing estimates are possibly correct?
“…nam non vincit nisi veritas: victoria veritatis est caritas.”
…for nothing conquers but truth: the victory of truth is love.
Outstanding. The fact that we was living in a mansion near Pakistan’s capital is disturbing, but not surprising. I remember back after September 11th thinking they would get him some day. I’m glad they didn’t give up. I think everyone one in America wished they were with that group that killed him. Imagine that.
RealClimate is saying that Bin Laden became exposed because global warming made his cave uninhabitable.
Thank you Anthony. Being from the UK, I have just woken up, enjoying my tea with my daily WUWT, I had no idea what this was about. As I have a boycott against Google, Bing was my friend. This is indeed great news.
The proverb fit perfectly.
Better late than never.
Kindest Regards
I suspect that Bin Laden has been dead for years.
Osama bin Laden Killed by US Strike – ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/m/story?id=13505703
So now the dollar is rallying and silver and gold are heading down. The stock market should be giddy. I see opportunities in the air to get set up for the next tank, that we all should know by now follows the solar minimums. I hope this will turn the tide in Iraq and gets their terrorists and neighbors to give it up because many people there want peace and prosperity and the entire world would benefit from that oil supply.
I’ve never wished a man dead, but I have read some obituaries with great pleasure. – Mark Twain
Justice has been served, up close and personal. We didn’t forget Mr. Bush, we did not forget!
God Bless America.
Sean Peake says:
May 1, 2011 at 9:28 pm
It would take more than global warming to heat the rock underground…or cool it.
That is one reason why ancient man lived in caves.
Protection from the elements.
My! I best open mouth, change feet. Weird: I come back from my September hitch in Iraq…on the 11th. I can only imagine what airport security is going to be like, now that the martyr is a fact. Losing the godfather is likely to stir up a hive of hornets.
Great news!
But wait for it?
By being killed, he has become a martyr for the Islamic fanatics cause, I see a huge upsurge in terrorism!
Don’t shoot the messenger, I just hope I’m wrong.
Wonderful news.
Ted says:
May 1, 2011 at 9:51 pm
…
Well, maybe, but I think I’ll go with Totten’s opinion:
“Remember shortly after 9/11 when a certain kind of pacifist said that a thousand terrorists will rise to replace every one we kill? It was crap then, and it’s crap now. There is absolutely no up side to this for Al Qaeda at all.”
I think I would call it revenge, not justice
“Discussing climate change is not an intellectual luxury, but a reality. All of the industrialised countries, especially the big ones, bear responsibility for the global warming crisis.” – Osama Bin Laden, 2010
http://oi55.tinypic.com/2jb7fk7.jpg
Now the head has been removed hopefully the body will wither away
Given OBL’s comments about global warming – I thought that he’d be found in a UHI affected environment…
It would have been justice if the UN, Interpol or Pakistan had captured him, and then tried him and executed him.
The US going into another country and blowing people up is revenge
It appears that Bin Laden’s 72 virgins are a bunch of guys who love to play World of Warcraft all the time. ;-))
Osama dead?
I guess our mission in Afghanistan is fulfilled! We can go home now.
The AGW community surely mourns the loss of supporter with such notoriety.
WUWT beat out CNN. Watching CNN and they were showing the general area of the compound location, they did not know the exact location. I then check WUWT before bed, ya got it bad, and there is the picture of the compund.
I would not usually post my political opinion out where everyone can see it, but on this occasion I think it is time to let er rip…
1. It is good that Osama has payed the ultimate price at the hands of Americans.
2. I wish it had happened years ago.
3. I can’t believe Obama had the stones and was willing to give the order, I guess, for a moment he actually did his duty. (Or, and more likely, this all went down before our illustrious leader could put a stop to it…)
4. A real president would be wondering aloud why Pakistan (And muslims in general) was harboring this guy, not, I say again, NOT, worrying about the sensibilities of said country. (Or said religion.) At some point politics has to take a back seat, and you have to choose sides, then you fight till one side says “Uncle”. If you quit before the other guy has had the #$^% kicked out of him and his mother wishes he had never been born you will be fighting him again at a time and place of his choosing.
I’m not so sure about the landing. They might very well have done fast rope insertion into the compound, then headed for flat ground or roof nearby as LZ to use for extraction.
I doubt that such operational details will ever be revealed, though. Wouldn’t want the next guy to have info like that.