I like to think that Osama Bin Laden is now aware that the  number of virgins available for his pleasure in the afterlife was, to put it mildly, grossly inflated.  Since he apparently has joined Luca Brasi in sleeping with the fishes, I can only say that his burial at sea was the greatest act of water pollution since the BP spill off of the Gulf Coast. 

Someone, somewhere just won their Dead Pool.  And of course some real estate agent in Abbattobad just got a listing for a large home (some fix up required).  His death in some ways was like the death of some celebrity who had retired from the scene a while back.  By that I mean you hear of the death and say to yourself, I thought he was already dead.  

I have a book called Portraits of Grief in my living room.  It is a compilation of brief snapshot profiles of many of those killed on September 11, 2001.  After a few pages of reading, I would imagine that few people would shed tears to hear of Osama’s end.  He would have liked to have killed more of us, and he would have given the chance.  A murderer like Osama deserved to never rest.   And it is good to know he feared.  But his money and contacts would not save him.  His walls and guards would not save him.  His Islamic-tinged Nihilism and terrorist allies would not save him.  He was hunted and he was afraid.  Hunted through the years, a trail grown hot and cold, until he was hunted down and justice delivered to him. 

The days ahead will show us how the raid was accomplished.  How there was clearly a high level of assistance for him among Pakistan’s military and/or intelligence, and how the same forces stood aside when the US confirmed the target and went in.  Whether to dump him in the sea or keep his body for public view the Elephant Man’s remains will of course delight the conspiracy nutcases and frustrate the sane, but he’s gone.  Islamic terrorism is not gone, but its posterboy is as dead as a doorknob.   And the credit it seems to me can be shared by all those who pursued him through the years.  His death, welcome as it is, does not erase the pain and anguish of the relatives of those he killed, but the pursuit and killing of him certainly keeps faith with our obligation to seek justice for the departed.   Osama, enemy to freedom, do not rest in peace.

Sipping his martini (never mind the rules against alcohol, he mused to himself; they are just boring) the elderly sheikh gazed out through the windows of his Islington townhouse. Glancing wryly at the banner headlines which announced his death, he recalled the very moment when he realised his time in Pakistan had to be ended, and he had to commence thinking about a place in which to end his days without the worry of discovery or pursuit. His body-double had been bought, and placed in the residence in that small town in Pakistan, and he had moved as instructed, in secrecy and at speed!

He remembered the series of traitorous soldiers and politicians who had been granted interviews whilst he was in control of the world’s best death machine, and he also recalled their words of friendship and encouragement; but they were all from Pakistan, and he had been warned that their friendship had both a price and a time limit. He had also searched back in his memory to the other one who had be-friended him, the slimy very-senior European man whose hand-shake was as false as his beamimg smile. The same one that his envoys had declared to be the single worst enemy of the country which now sheltered him.

The bearded Sheikh saw his new passport lying alongside the documentation which gave him absolute permission to remain within the country which had sheltered so many of his kith and kind in previous years, and mused that at least the rulers of this strange Nation, whose people never knew what had been arranged in their name, kept their promises and their word.

He raised his glass to the sunny windows, and murmured, “Thanks be to Allah; and also to my good friend, who now is also a millionaire!”

It’s one of those moments. Almost ten years since the most horrific terrorist event in human memory, Osama Bin Laden was brought to justice by a team of American special forces deep inside Pakistan. My feeling? Grim satisfaction – I am GLAD he is dead and pay tribute to all concerned. I salute President Obama (Yes, I chose those words carefully), I salute all those who worked up the intelligence to track down this mass murderer, and in particular I salute whoever it was that put the bullets in his body so ending his tenure on our planet. Al Queda may live on, but Bin Laden is dead and THAT is reason to rejoice. It is so fitting he met his death at the hands of Americans.

There are so many obvious questions that must be asked in particular of the Pakistan government. Bin Laden appears to have been living with 30-60miles of Islamabad in a relatively well to do area in a heavily fortified compound that seems to have been specially built for him. HOW could this happen? What will the response of the remnant of Al Queda be now that the Sheikh is shaken apart? It was President Bush who said he wanted Bin Laden “Dead or Alive” – dead is inestimably better since the legal vultures have nothing to pick on.

Naturally, those thousands who have lost loved ones care of Bin Laden still carry that enormous loss this morning but at least they can reflect that justice has been done. In this moment, we should think of THEM – we should think of all those families and we pray that they may find some small comfort in this news.

The great British boxer Henry Cooper has died, just two days before his 77th birthday. Cooper was an old fashioned gent – such a contrast to the crude posers of this modern age, For a few seconds back in 1963, he rocked the world when he rocked Cassius Clay off his feet in a legendary fight. Here is Henry at his best….

We got him.

Nearly ten years ago, my city and my country suffered the worst terrorist attack in world history.

This unspeakable act impacted people from all over America. Even if you were from a small town in say Alabama, miles away from the attacks, it was as though it was your family who had lost somebody. Because you had. This was personal.

Today, US forces have finally delivered justice to the man responsible for the destruction of the building I worked in, as well as the other atrocities done on September 11, 2001.

Let’s take a moment to honor those who died nearly ten years ago. And to remember how very grim it was that day.

God bless the US Military, including the Special Forces, and the CIA, FBI, and our brothers in arms from Britain and other lands, and all in the Obama and Bush administrations who played any part in a ten year effort to deliver justice.

The mills of God grind slow, but they grind exceedingly fine.

God bless America.

Frankly I would be delighted to pay ten times as much for the Royals if I could pay 1/10th as much tax for all the other oh so modern things the state does.

- Perry de Havilland, in this thread at samizdata.

What a thoroughly sensible and splendid idea.

I flew out to Vancouver BC yesterday, by way of San Francisco. I’m here for a conference. There will be little time for play, but I’m happy to visit a place I’ve always wanted to see.

The airport here is pretty cool. It’s like going through a section of the Museum of Natural History – you walk past life-size Native American war boats,totems, waterfalls, listening to recorded bird calls. A little more fun than passing through JFK.

Took the Canada Line train from the airport right into town. Even on Saturdays, it runs every 5-6 minutes. A perfect service imposed on the citizenry at the point of a gun. The people seem pleased with it, but I know they’re faking.

Had a good, simple dinner with local beers at the Alibi Room past Gastown, the old part of town (http://www.alibi.ca/ )

Hockey is the national sport in Canada, and last night, the Vancouver Canucks had a playoff game against the Nashville something or other. I was in the Cactus Club bar with some London cronies watching the battle. The Canucks lost in double overtime. Life went on.

This is a one of the swell towns in North America, and I look forward to spending a few more days here.