R.I.P. Osama bin Laden

Before you do anything, read the title up there again and understand that this is NOT a satirical post.

The announcement late Sunday (5.1.2011) of the death of infamous al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has set the Internet, and media overall in a "got to get out how I feel" frenzy, as users searched for information and shared their thoughts on the killing of one of the world's most wanted men.

In a late-night appearance at the White House, U.S. President Barack Obama said that bin Laden had been killed in a U.S. operation in Pakistan on Sunday.

An IT consultant in Abottabad, the town where bin Laden was killed, inadvertently "live blogged" an early sign of the military operation on Twitter, without realizing its importance until much later. How crazy is that?!

So, here's how the cookie crumbled:

The statement said that U.S. President Barack Obama telephoned Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari Monday (Sunday, our time) "on the successful U.S. operation which resulted in killing of Osama bin Laden."

The statement also said that Pakistan has "extremely effective intelligence sharing arrangements with several intelligence agencies including that of the U.S." but didn't say whether Pakistan intelligence had helped pinpoint the whereabouts of the al Qaeda leader.

Earlier Monday, an official with the Inter-Services Intelligence military spy agency said the attack on a compound outside the town of Abbottabad where bin Laden resided at the time was a joint operation involving Pakistani helicopters, one of which crashed during the firefight with bin Laden's bodyguards.

Abbottabad is far from the border with Afghanistan, where U.S. troops are stationed, and the attack on bin Laden's compound would have likely needed Pakistan involvement of some kind, said Talat Masood, a former Pakistani army general. Military officials declined to comment, referring questions to the foreign ministry.

So, although I'd like to believe our highly-coveted President was responsible for this effort...what I'm reading tells me different. But hey, then again at this point, I could really care less who to charge.

SCREAM @ ME!!!