ABC:

"We are looking at releasing additional information, details about the raid as well as any other types of material, possibly including photos. We want to understand exactly what the possible reaction might be to the release of this information," said White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan on "Good Morning America."

[. . . ] The gruesome photos show bin Laden shot in the chest and the head by elite Navy SEALS on Sunday. The head wound is above his left eye and is a particularly grisly picture which has tempered officials willingness to display it.

I found this from the NYTimes interesting:

Prisoners in American custody told stories of a trusted courier. When the Americans ran the man’s pseudonym past two top-level detainees — the chief planner of the Sept. 11 attacks, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed; and Al Qaeda’s operational chief, Abu Faraj al-Libi — the men claimed never to have heard his name. That raised suspicions among interrogators that the two detainees were lying and that the courier probably was an important figure.

You see? The key was the denials extracted from Khalid Sheikh Mohammad and Abu Faraj al-Libi through torture. Or maybe not:

The Daily Mail has an extensive article on the Navy Seals, "the silent warriors who took out Bin Laden."

The Seals website is here. They are deployed in 30 countries. Team Six, which in 2009 changed its name to the US Navy Special Warfare Development Group or DEVGRU, is the Seal team that conducted the raid.

The leader of the Naval Special Warfare is Rear Admiral Edward G. Winters III. Their mission statement is here.

Relying on information from "top level official sources", Pakistan's newspaper "The Nation" has a completely different version of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden. Conspiracy theorists will have a field day.

About 200 Pakistan Army men provided ground support, top level official sources told TheNation. During the operation, four helicopters of the Pakistan Army hovered over the fortress-like hideout....

....Initially, the US military personnel opened fire at the outer wall of Osama’s hideout, which was retaliated by the house inmates with heavy gunfire. After almost twenty minutes of cross-firing, the US forces directly targeted the house with sophisticated bombs, eventually killing Osama, his eight bodyguards, seven close aides and an unspecified number of family members including a young son, children and two wives.

Then there are those who don't believe Osama is dead.

On the other side, there's Wikileaks which says Pakistani security forces helped Osama evade detection and capture. [More...]

The headlines will probably appear en masse that Osama bin Laden was a coward who used his wife as a human shield. That's not what John Brennan said.

John Brennan said, "when she fought back and there was an opportunity to get bin laden, she was positioned in a way that indicated she was being used" as a shield. He stated he doesn't know whether she placed herself there, whether the son placed her there, or whether Osama put her there. He only knows she was used as a shield (by someone to protect Osama.)

Earlier in the conference he said a female was in the line of fire that reportedly was used as a human shield to shield Osama "from the incoming fire." So they were firing in. He said he did not know whether Osama got his hands on a weapon or whether he fired during the "firefight."[More...]

Jay Carney is conducting the White House briefing on the killing of Osama bin Laden. You can watch live here, it's just starting. John Brennan is up: (Live-blog)

If they had the ability to take Osama alive, they were prepared to do that. But they thought that was a remote possibility. There was a firefight and he was killed.

Killing Osama was killing the head of a snake. It gives us an opportunity to show the people of Pakistan that al Qaida is something in the past.[More...]

The principals convened mid-day. Obama joined them early afternoon before operation got underway. He left and rejoined the group when it started. They monitored the entire operation on a real-time basis. "The minutes passed like days." Obama was concerned about the security of our personnel. It was very tense. When we were informed that bin Laden was found, there was "a sigh of relief." Refuses to answer whether there was video, but says there were visuals they could track on an ongoing basis.

Last night on NBC, the correspondent with Brian Williams kept repeating we would be hearing more about JSOC (Joint Special Operations Command) in connection with the killing of Osama bin Laden. Today, there is this description from Marc Ambinder at the National Journal. It makes warrantless wiretapping seem so last year.

McChrystal and Flynn introduced hardened commandos to basic criminal forensic techniques and then used highly advanced and still-classified technology to transform bits of information into actionable intelligence. One way they did this was to create forward-deployed fusion cells, where JSOC units were paired with intelligence analysts from the NSA and the NGA. Such analysis helped the CIA to establish, with a high degree of probability, that Osama bin Laden and his family were hiding in that particular compound.

[More...]

Kevin Drum writes:

Tyler Cowen on the news that the intelligence that eventually led to the raid on Osama bin Laden's hideout may have been the result of torturing detainees at Guantanamo [. . .] This is one of the reasons that I think it's important not to put too much emphasis on practical arguments against torture. After all, if the reason you oppose torture is because torture doesn't work, then you'd better be prepared to change your mind if it turns out that torture does work. I'm not willing to do that.

Kevin is wrong. The practical argument is applicable as well as the legal and moral arguments. But first things first, Cowen simply is sort of making this up. The Haaretz column he is relying on says:

U.S. officials say Osama bin Laden's son was one of three adults besides Osama killed in the attack that killed Osama bin Laden.

Here's a thread for you to post updates with details on the killings, and your thoughts about them.

An administration briefing revealed that the CIA had been following the so-called "couriers" – a pair of brothers – for years, but only two years ago found where they lived, in the town of Abbotabad 35 miles outside Islamabad.

The group lived in a large compound built in 2005, with 12ft high walls, few windows, and with no phones or internet connection in an effort to avoid detection. As well as the brothers, a family was living inside that matched the profile of bin Laden's.

Update: The State Department just issued an increased terror threat alert for Americans worldwide.

My thoughts on Obama's speech and killing Osama bin Laden:

Justice is done when someone is apprehended and brought to trial, and convicted or acquitted. Murdering a suspect is not bringing him to justice.

What changes Osama's death will bring: Heightened security measures, retributive attacks, and years more of the Government's war on terror and war in Afghanistan and elsewhere.

I can understand that people are relieved Osama bin Laden is dead. I cannot understand cheering his murder. Murder is not a cause for jubilation. [More...]

Obama's speech: 9:36 p.m. (Live blogging) (Update: Full text now available here.)

Obama starts recounting the 9/11 attacks.

He says years ago Osama escaped from Afghanistan into Pakistan. After he took office, he directed Leon Panetta to make the killing or capture of Osama the top priority.

Last August, they got a lead. It took many months to run it to ground. Osama was within a compound deep into Pakistan. Obama determined last week we had enough intelligence to take action and he authorized an operation.

Today the targeted operation was carried out in Pakistan. No Americans or civilians were killed. They got Osama and recovered his body. Osama bin Laden was brought to justice. [More...]

Unless you've been living under a rock the past few weeks, you know that Friday is the day for the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton.

Time/Yahoo reports on the security precautions for the event. From nut jobs to al Qaida, there are contingency plans for everything.

[S]nipers from London's Metropolitan Police will have taken their positions on rooftops throughout the city. If a bomb explodes along the parade route, police will siphon crowds into areas that have been blocked to traffic, and ambulances will follow predetermined routes to get victims to various hospitals. Should terrorists launch a Mumbai-style gun attack on the streets, armed commandos, waiting in undisclosed locations, will storm the area within minutes to take out the assailants.

Cost of security: $33 million. Number of police officers: 5,000. [More...]