![reuters:
DEVELOPING:
U.S. President Barack Obama shakes hands with U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Ryan Crocker upon his arrival at Bagram Air Base in Kabul, Afghanistan May 1, 2012. [REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque]
READ MORE: Obama lands in Afghanistan on OBL death anniversary
He knows how to show up at just the right time, doesn’t he?](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m3czvvVZ9r1qmaoalo1_500.jpg)
DEVELOPING:
U.S. President Barack Obama shakes hands with U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Ryan Crocker upon his arrival at Bagram Air Base in Kabul, Afghanistan May 1, 2012. [REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque]
READ MORE: Obama lands in Afghanistan on OBL death anniversary
He knows how to show up at just the right time, doesn’t he?
Based on this above article, you might expect the threat from al-Qaeda is basically gone, right? Well, perhaps you should read these other articles first. As we pointed out in our analysis on Sunday, media outlets left and right are saying al-Qaeda’s threat is basically gone a year after Osama bin Laden’s death. Or it isn’t.
So, when looking up stories on the upcoming one-year anniversary of Osama bin Laden’s death, we noticed a bizarre trend: None of the stories seemed to agree with one another. Some seemed to suggest al-Qaeda was basically gone. Others suggested that they were still planning major terror attacks. Seeing this, we got an idea: What if we scored the stories based on the done-ness of al-Qaeda, from 1 to 10? Because one wire service’s “in ruins” is another national newspaper’s “far from defeated.” Check the results above, and take one major point from this: Not every story has an agreed-upon answer.
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Breaking: A federal judge just denied a Freedom of Information Act request for photos and video of Osama Bin Laden’s death. Here’s the document, above.
Osama bin Laden’s compound currently getting destroyed: The place where the al-Qaeda leader spent his final days is getting razed in what appears to be a surprise demolition. Not that locals are complaining: “We were searched and questioned every time we wanted to reach our homes,” said 22-year-old college student Shabbir Ahmed, who lives in Abbottabad. “When this symbol of evil is finally gone, people in the area will be able to rest.” Last year’s raid angered the Pakistani government, who were not told that it was going to take place by the U.S. government, who feared that an official would tip off the figurehead. (ht idroolinmysleep; photo by Anjum Naveed/AP)
To close out, Obama again pulls out the Bin Laden hook he used at the beginning:
One of my proudest possessions is the flag that the SEAL Team took with them on the mission to get bin Laden. On it are each of their names. Some may be Democrats. Some may be Republicans. But that doesn’t matter. Just like it didn’t matter that day in the Situation Room, when I sat next to Bob Gates – a man who was George Bush’s defense secretary; and Hillary Clinton, a woman who ran against me for president.
All that mattered that day was the mission. No one thought about politics. No one thought about themselves. One of the young men involved in the raid later told me that he didn’t deserve credit for the mission. It only succeeded, he said, because every single member of that unit did their job – the pilot who landed the helicopter that spun out of control; the translator who kept others from entering the compound; the troops who separated the women and children from the fight; the SEALs who charged up the stairs. More than that, the mission only succeeded because every member of that unit trusted each other – because you can’t charge up those stairs, into darkness and danger, unless you know that there’s someone behind you, watching your back.
Think this was totally the right way to intro — and end — his speech.
Year-end photos: What made it in, and what didn’t
In the Express newsroom, our year-end photo package always leads to a bit of debate — what should get in, and what shouldn’t? What tells the story of the year at large, and what gets pushed aside due to tough choices and limited room? Whittling it down to six pages and a cover is tough work. Here are a few shots that we put in the package — you might recognize them from covers and stories throughout the year — and a few that just missed the cut. (Hop over to today’s paper to see each of the ones that made the cut.)
- Aiming for Change A rebel fighter cheers as a rocket races toward Moammar Gadhafi loyalists amid fighting west of Ajdabiya, Libya, on April 14. NATO provided air support for the revolutionaries during the nearly nine-month conflict to oust Gadhafi. Perhaps the strongest photo we ran this year, it was one of the last photos taken by Chris Hondros, a Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer who died in Libya on April 20. (Photo by Chris Hondros/Getty Images)
- Norway Grapples With Devastating Loss: Despite this being perhaps the most iconic image of the Norway shootings, several editors didn’t immediately recognize what news event it was from. It seemed like a generic mourning shot lacking the resonance we were looking for. We ended up using an image from Hurricane Irene in N.C., something with much more impact for local readers. (Photo by Emilio Morenatti/AP)
- Protests Hit a Nerve: University of California, Davis, police Lt. John Pike uses pepper spray Nov. 18 on seated Occupy UC Davis protesters. Spurred by the Canadian activist group Adbusters to protest economic inequality, the Occupy Wall Street movement began Sept. 17 in New York City and quickly spread to cities around the world. (Photo by Wayne Tilcock/The Enterprise/AP)
- The Situation Room: We love this shot, of course. But, while it is THE historic situation room shot from Osama bin Laden’s death, it didn’t work well on the page in the mix of photos we had. Too hard to read at a small size and too busy and overwhelming in a larger spot. In the end, the package worked best by playing better images bigger (Sept. 11 mourning, for example!) and nixing the sit room shot. (Photo by Pete Souza/The White House/AP)
- Collateral Damage: A limestone angel dislodged by an Aug. 23 earthquake lies shattered on the roof of the National Cathedral in Northeast D.C. The magnitude-5.8 earthquake jolted much of the Mid-Atlantic region. Officials say the cathedral sustained about $25 million worth of damage, which could take up to 10 years to repair. (Photo by J. Scott Applewhite/AP)
- Meme on ice: We discovered that we had overlooked this local photo about five minutes after deadline. This was probably the picture we gushed about most when it happened (The gelato from the place across the street! In the snow! Whilst wearing a pink shirt!). Drat! Three lovely photo spreads ruined without the Ice Cream Cone Man. (Photo by Ricky Carioti/TWP)
Think we made the right picks?
The Washington Post Express makes a big deal out of its year-end photo packages. And this year was no exception — the paper ran six pages and the cover. Here are a few of the shots we ran, and a few others we passed on. — Ernie @ SFB
The oldest bottle in his friend’s restaurant? an 1870 Chateau Lafite Rothschild. Years ago, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta made a bet with a restaurateur around his CIA-led mission to find Osama Bin Laden: If Panetta’s team caught Bin Laden, Ted Balestreri would open up a bottle of wine that predates the first automobile. Now that time’s come. With Bin Laden dead, Balestreri will uncork that 141-year-old bottle around New Year’s Eve. Did we mention the bottle costs between $10,000 and $15,000? Careful to walk a line, though, one of Panetta’s spokespeople notes that this gesture isn’t meant to celebrate Bin Laden’s death. “Secretary Panetta has had New Year’s Eve gatherings with toasts with friends for years and this year there will be a special toast,” noted Douglas Wilson, the assistant secretary of defense for public affairs. source
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The FBI also released a similar warning when U.S. forces killed Osama bin Laden. In related news, the guy who designed the underwear bomber’s underwear bomb was likely also killed in the strike that killed al-Awlaki.
Did China get a good look at the downed Bin Laden stealth copter?: The Pentagon thinks Pakistan let the uber-powerful communist nation take a look at this stealth Blackhawk copter, which crashed just before a bunch of Seal Team 6 members killed Osama bin Laden. source
Update: Now the AP reports that “that none of the Navy SEALs who died in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan had participated in the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, although they were from the same unit that carried out the bin Laden mission.” Additionally, ABC News Senior Foreign Affairs Correspondent Martha Raddatz tweets that: “There are only about 2000 SEALS. Losing more than 20 is unbearable.”
Worth noting. (Earlier report here)
» And they weren’t just any Navy SEALS, either: These are some of the guys who took out Osama bin Laden in Pakistan back in May. (Edit: There are conflicting reports.) This is horribly sad, and we’ll keep you posted as we learn more. The AP has received word of this but nothing official has been noted due to the fact that families are still being notified. (h/t ProducerMatthew)
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