Cartoon(s) of the Week – Osama bin Laden Reactions

The death of Osama bin Laden brought out a flood of editorial cartoons. These are some of the best:

Clay Bennett in the Chattanooga Times Free Press:

…and, of course, there are loonies who don’t believe it…

– and –

Jim Morin in the Miami Herald:

…almost invisible if you’re Pakastani…

– and –

Kevin Siers in the Charlotte Observer:

… in your dreams…

– and –

Joel Pett in the Lexington Herald Leader:

…of course for some…like Republicans… nothing is good enough…

– and –

Lee Judge in the Kansas City Star:

… and a salute to the Eagle Team.

Related articles

• Osama bin Laden cartoon for the ladies. (psychologytoday.com)
• Al-qaeda Vows to Avenge The Death of Osama Bin Laden (socyberty.com)
• Osama bin Laden raid: Four fresh twists in the story (csmonitor.com)
• People not buying Osama Bin Laden’s Death (frankpaulgambino.com)
• Chris Hedges: Osama bin Laden’s death will lead to only more terrorism (via Dandelion Salad) (richardemanuel.wordpress.com)
• Osama bin Laden’s Last Tweet (humpdayreport.wordpress.com)
• “Osama bin Laden’s Wife Reveals More Details From Raid” and related posts (talkleft.com)

On the appropriateness of celebration…

There has now been a day to ponder the responses of the killing of bin Laden which, let me assure you, I think was an important and rightful act.

I am bothered, however, by the New Year’s Eve-style celebrations which went on for hours after the announcement: delerious street dancing, people wrapping themselves in flags, yelling and screaming… I would have expected something much more somber. I would have expected candles, thoughtful silence, remembrance of so many lost in the name of getting this one man.

I’ve been reading blogs, watching television, flipping through the newspapers and listening to radio for 24 hours or so (about half of which I was disconnected from the internet thanks to my friends at Frontier… boy, these guys are driving me to the Hughes Network) and finding there were a lot of people who also thought the party-like atmosphere made us seem as bad as Al Qaida, who did the same kind of thing after the twin towers went down. I had hoped we would be better than that, but I should know from experience that we, as a people, are easily tipped into emotional release.

Having had the day to think about everything I hope folks will be a little more reflective today. This, of course, means different things to different people. I spent five minutes switching from CSPAN‘s Morning Edition, Morning Joe, Fox News and CNN and each had their own perspective. CSPAN was taking calls from the public… at least two who were pushing the idea that 1.) bin Laden was not dead, but we really had scooted him off for secret interrogation without the rest of the world knowing about it, and  2.) that he has been dead for a couple of years and we have been keeping him on ice so Obama could stage this event in order to get reelected. In their usual reluctance to comment or get in the way of the craziest responses, CSPAN just let it go by with a “Thank You.”

Fox seemed to be devoting the morning to making sure there was plenty of focus on George W. Bush whose plans were in place to be carried out by Obama… plus repeated videos of Bush with megaphone at the 9/11 site, Bush doing the “Dead or Alive” speech, etc. Damned little focus on Obama.

My favorite was public radio which found part of the Seth Myers’ speech at the Correspondent’s Dinner the night before the attack and the one bin Laden joke he made… which the President did a deep laugh at… we know now that he knew what was about to go on in Pakistan and he kept it in unleaked control.

Morning Joe had the usual mix of conservatives and liberals and CNN was more concerned with a troop of missing boy scouts and massive flooding in Cairo, IL. Their Obama thoughts ran as a tickertape stream at the bottom of the screen.

Frankly, I’m going to start reviewing the “what do we do next” scenarios… with a certain amount of hope that we MAY no longer need to be in Afghanistan – that it becomes the new Iraq, the war that we have no reason to be in. I don’t really believe it will happen… after all we still have thousands of folks still in Iraq. If we could only get away from the need to be an empire!

I’ll comment on what I find later. Have a nice day.

Related Articles

• President Obama Laughed Thru Osama Bin Laden Jokes Saturday Night, Acted Against Bin Laden Sunday (blogs.abcnews.com)
• Hell Called, Your Place is Reserved: Muslim-country blogs react to Bin Laden death (leftfootforward.org)
• Obama: bin Laden’s death makes the world safer (ajc.com)
• “If Obama Gets Bin Laden They Will Forget He’s Black” (bigthink.com)
• Osama bin Laden — BOGUS Death Photo (tmz.com)
• Wanker Extraordinaire Joe Scarborough: Obama’s Base Didn’t Want Him To Catch Bin Laden (crooksandliars.com)
• Osama Bin Laden’s Death: The Internet Reacts (webpronews.com)
• Skeptics wonder: Where’s proof bin Laden’s dead? (cbsnews.com)
• Source: Bin Laden went down firing (boston.com)
• AP sources: DNA testing confirms bin Laden death (sfgate.com)
• Stephen Colbert appropriately giddy over Osama bin Laden news (popwatch.ew.com)
• Allies warned to expect al-Qa’ida revenge attacks (independent.co.uk)
• Al-Qaida ideologue condemns Bin Laden slaying (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Twitter hits record on Osama bin Laden story (lostremote.com)
• 5 Reasons to Not Celebrate the Death of bin Laden (mcauleyfreelanceblog.com)

Looks like Al Qaida is at it again…

This is not news we needed… however, it is good that we are on top of it now. If Congress has to push more changes for our protection, will Mitch McConnell and John Boehner keep things political and use their “NO!” routines?

clipped from www.herald-mail.com Explosive found in Dubai, part of U.S. terror probe Authorities in Dubai intercepted an explosive device bound for a Chicago-area Jewish institution aboard a cargo jet, officials disclosed Friday, triggering a worldwide alert and fears that al-Qaida was attempting to carry out fresh terror attacks. A second package — like the first, shipped from Yemen — was discovered aboard a plane in England. It, too, was addressed to a Jewish organization in the Chicago area, although there was no immediate confirmation about its contents. Several other cargo planes at airports along the Eastern Seaboard of the United States also were searched, and officials said no explosives were found. “The president directed U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies and the Department of Homeland Security to take steps to ensure the safety and security of the American people, and to determine whether these threats are a part of any additional terrorist plotting,” the White House said in a statement.

Related Articles

• Federal officials say suspicious packages were part of plot by Yemen’s al-Qaida group (nj.com)
• Suspicious devices on cargo jets trigger searches (msnbc.msn.com)
• Planes, Trucks Checked In NY, NJ As Part Of Terror Probe (newyork.cbslocal.com)
• Bomb scare as ‘sinister’ packages found on planes bound for US (guardian.co.uk)
• Yemen estimates 400 al-Qaida militants in country (sfgate.com)
• Yemen’s rising radical star (msnbc.msn.com)

More on the Detroit airline explosion failure..

This led Salon’s report this morning… more at the Salon site:

clipped from www.salon.com The passenger, who was traveling on Northwest Airlines Flight 253 from Amsterdam, was not identified. He was being questioned Friday evening, according to one of the officials, both of whom spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation was continuing. The motive of the Christmas Day attack was not immediately clear. “He appears to have had some kind of incendiary device he tried to ignite,” said one of the U.S. officials. Authorities initially believed the passenger had set off firecrackers that caused some minor injuries. Passenger Syed Jafri, a U.S. citizen who had flown from the United Arab Emirates, said the incident occurred during the plane’s descent. Jafri said he was seated three rows behind the passenger and said he saw a glow, and noticed a smoke smell. Then, he said, “a young man behind me jumped on him.” “Next thing you know, there was a lot of panic,” he said.

And this from CNN:

The administration official said there was no evidence that Abdulmatallab was a hard-core, trained member of al-Qaeda.

The suspect, identified as a Nigerian national, claimed to have extremist ties and said the explosive device “was acquired in Yemen along with instructions as to when it should be used,” said a federal security bulletin obtained by CNN.

The FBI is investigating, bureau spokeswoman Sandra Berchtold said.

The remains of the device used are being sent to an FBI explosives lab in Quantico, Virginia, for analysis, the sources said.
The suspect, identified as a Nigerian national, claimed to have extremist ties and said the explosive device “was acquired in Yemen along with instructions as to when it should be used,” said a federal security bulletin obtained by CNN.The FBI is investigating, bureau spokeswoman Sandra Berchtold said.

From Salon this afternoon…

I guess Salon got this from the AP. Not sure how accurate it is… we’ll find out more as we go along.

clipped from www.salon.com Al-Qaida link in failed plane attack The White House is reportedly calling the incident an attempted act of terrorism U.S. officials say a Northwest Airlines passenger from Nigeria said he was acting on behalf of al-Qaida when he tried to blow up a flight Friday as it landed in Detroit. Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., identified the suspect as Abdul Mudallad, a Nigerian. King said the flight began in Nigeria and went through Amsterdam en route to Detroit. One of the U.S. intelligence officials said the explosive device was a mix of powder and liquid. It failed when the passenger tried to detonate it. The passenger was being questioned Friday evening. Both of the officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation was continuing. The motive of the Christmas Day attack was not immediately clear.