(Reuters) – A stash of pornography was found in the hideout of Osama bin Laden by the U.S. commandos who killed him, current and former U.S. officials said on Friday.

The pornography recovered in bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, consists of modern, electronically recorded video and is fairly extensive, according to [...]]]> True story:

(Reuters) – A stash of pornography was found in the hideout of Osama bin Laden by the U.S. commandos who killed him, current and former U.S. officials said on Friday.

The pornography recovered in bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, consists of modern, electronically recorded video and is fairly extensive, according to the officials, who discussed the discovery with Reuters on condition of anonymity.

I have two reactions to this.

1. When I was told verbally that Osama bin Laden had a porn stash, I heard it as “porn ‘stache,” as in one of these:
   
2. Enough already with the secrecy and the lack of transparency, President Obama. Where are the pictures?!

Seen above, the Pentagon has released home videos of Osama bin Laden that it attained during the Navy Seal raid that killed the terrorist leader.

Most revelatory:

He loved watching videos of himself on TV. Yes, he was that guy.

“Guys guys, check out this part…..WHAMMO, hahahahaaha! Right in the face of the [...]]]>

Seen above, the Pentagon has released home videos of Osama bin Laden that it attained during the Navy Seal raid that killed the terrorist leader.

Most revelatory:

He loved watching videos of himself on TV. Yes, he was that guy.

“Guys guys, check out this part…..WHAMMO, hahahahaaha! Right in the face of the infidels! Heh! Guys, HEY, guys, watch this! Are you watching? Shhhh, listen…YOWZA! Ouch, that one’s gotta hit close to home! Oh man, Allah Ackbar. Guys, watch this part…”

Totally deserved it.

All joking aside: I think it does reveal a bit of what’s not talked about, which is that despite insistence that the movement was to re-establish an Islamic caliphate to rule over the region, there was no shortage of ego and cult of personality behind Bin Laden’s efforts and the following he attained.

Like so many before him, he had charisma. Pundits and journalists mistake his soft speech and thoughtful pauses for a lack of it, but that’s misleading. It was a different type of charisma that Bin Laden exuded which gave him the appearance of a thoughtful, reflective holy man. Charisma is not exclusive to extravagance and pounding your fist on the podium during oratorical rants.

Like Carlos the Jackal and so many other terrorists before him, the more involved he became in the movement the less it became about the actual movement itself, creating a level of self-deification owing either to egomaniacal delusion or outright insincerity. This does not mean we should not examine the means and the cause. Rather, no matter who or where we are, caution should always be exercised when a man becomes bigger than the movement he propogates.

This is what fundamentalism in all its forms always, inevitably, breeds.

The President finally took the podium a full hour after his scheduled [...]]]>

In Washington, DC and New York City, people took to the streets and celebrated. Why couldn't I join them?

As I write this, it’s 11:35pm on Sunday night and we have known Osama bin Laden has been dead for about forty-five minutes. Strangely, I don’t feel the same joy and exaltation that I hear and see other people expressing over the news.

The President finally took the podium a full hour after his scheduled announcement and delivered an eloquent speech. There was a particularly powerful statement he made about the worst images of the terrorist acts unseen by most of America, such as the empty seat at the dinner table reserved for those loved ones taken away from us. He finished by reciting the end of the pledge of allegiance and walked away from the podium to silence. It was, I suppose, to allow us a dramatic moment to reflect. Instead, to me, the silence was deafening. As I watched and read reaction on Facebook, Twitter, and from texts of friends, family, and loved ones that came through on my phone, I became confused as to why I didn’t feel that level of joy that everyone else seemed to be expressing.

I turned off my phone’s alerts, closed my Macbook, and went outside to clear my head. Yesterday had been a gorgeous and productive day, capped off by an equally gorgeous evening. The cool night air blew gently on my forearms and neck. Yet, as I looked around, I did not see or feel the world any differently than I had before the news broke; not like I had on that weird day a little less than ten years ago where men under the direction of the now deceased bin Laden crashed planes into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

This realization made me angry. It seemed unfair that he could take away so much from us and leave permanent scars, but when we finally succeed in our mission to capture or kill him the scars didn’t automatically heal. There was no great fix and no restoring that sense of loss of life and security. I felt disappointed at the lack of karmic balance, then ashamed that I thought there somehow might be.

Despite its structure and pretense to the contrary, al Qaeda is a personality-driven organization with bin Laden as a figurehead. His death is definitely a blow to their morale, cohesion, and sense of central purpose, even if it doesn’t destroy the organization in the long run. But the fight of free nations against terrorism isn’t over, and realistically, it may not be in our lifetime. Too many things have to fall into place and much more effort and loss of life will be put towards this venture. It will also require us to perform an honest introspective examination of ourselves and our history, which we as human beings find difficult to do on a large scale. The man is dead, but he’s been a ghost to me for ten years and I can’t help but feel like no great change has occurred, nor can I bring myself to celebrate.

Last night I took the time to thank people like Kate, Tom, John, and so many others I know who opted to serve our country during and after the events of September 11th, 2001, and I’ll do so here again. I will not fault them any revelatory excitement over the news. They were a part of that search and their joy is at a mission accomplished and the justification of the death of compatriots. Nor will I fault any other American who first saw that news confirmed at 10:40pm or thereabouts and said “good” or opened a bottle of wine. Because, to be honest, I envy that sense of closure. What I feel is not a feeling of sadness over a death, but regret that I can’t join in on the celebration.

Maybe one day I’ll be able to look back on last night differently and convey its meaning in a more eloquent manner. For now, all I know is that Osama bin Laden is dead. Also dead, still, are those three thousand civilians in New York City, hundreds of thousands of our soldiers and civilians on both sides, and even more who didn’t know they were on a “side.” No operation, no celebration, no clandestine Presidential announcements, and no assassination of a targeted figurehead can bring them back and fill those empty seats.

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On an unrelated note, I want to bring to your attention the fact that you can make a $10 donation to help victims from last week’s tornadoes that swept through the South by texting “REDCROSS” to 90999.