Bin Laden: Death in the Media

Image Source: ComfortablySmug.

Here is a range of responses to Osama Bin Laden's death.  The source for images is primarily the Business Insider (here and here); some front pages are from Mashable, NY Daily News, Newseum and Syracuse.com.

Twitter

Sohaib Athar, an IT professional who lives in Abbottabad, tweeted the raid while it was happening without knowing what was going on:

Image Source: Twitter via ABC World News.

Strange coincidence - Daily Record headline, 2 May 1945:

Facebook

LA Times reports that Facebook is awash in virus-laden links promising Bin Laden-related information.  Below - Facebook is not always the go-to source:

US Front Pages

North American newspapers carried the story initially and several sites have covered front page stories, as here.  Online demand to see front pages on this news story crashed the Newseum Website today.  The story dominates papers worldwide, from Dubai to New Zealand.

The change of the NYT front page for the May 2 edition:

Canadian Papers

Mexico

El Salvador

Brazil

Guyana

Colombia

Chile

Argentina

United Kingdom

Many of the UK and European front pages have not yet been posted. This week by coincidence, the hearings into the 7/7 bombings will be published in Great Britain. Inquest verdicts are due May 6.

France

New Zealand Papers

 India

South Korea

Conspiracy Theories and Sympathetic Forums

Most reports have noted that the FBI has updated its Ten Most Wanted List. The most euphemistic term I've seen to describe Bin Laden so far is the reference to him as a "legendary activist."  There are already plenty of sources speculating that Bin Laden has either already been dead for a long time - or that he didn't really die at all.

Image Source: What Really Happened.com.

On May 2, The Guardian reported that the death photo was fake:

An image apparently showing a dead Osama bin Laden broadcast on Pakistani television and picked up by British newspaper websites is a fake.

The bloodied image of a man with matted hair and a blank, half-opened eye has been circulating on the internet for the past two years. It was used on the front pages of the Mail, Times, Telegraph, Sun and Mirror websites, though swiftly removed after the fake was exposed on Twitter.

It appears the fake picture was initially published by the Middle East online newspaper themedialine.org on 29 April 2009, with a warning from the editor that it was "unable to ascertain whether the photo is genuine or not".

The Website Jihadology claims to translate sympathetic forum reactions to Bin Laden's death as follows (Hat tip: CS Monitor):

“How sound is the news of the martyrdom of Sheikh Osama bin Laden?”

“O Allah, make this news not true”

“Allah protect us in our loss”

“God willing, news is not true. Catastrophic if it is authentic.”

“O Lord for your kindness”

“May Allah increase you rank in Jannah o Sheikh Usamah!”

“Ameen AMEEN AMEEN! May Allah give you a place next to our beloved Prophet (saws), ameen ameen”

“Please everyone calm and pray”

“We ask God to be the news is not true Lord of the Worlds”

“God damn you, Obama”

“Shut up and delete this thread”

“I think the Americans are doing this to make a good excuse for leaving Afg this year.”

“I hope with tears in my eyes that it is false. But if it is the will of Allah(swt) then may Allah(swt) grant the Sheikh ul Mujahideen, the status of a Shaheed and a place in Jannat ul Firdaus..”

“Inna li Allahi wa inna ilaihi raaji’oon. May Allah forgive his sins and raise him to the ranks of greatest Shuhada in the modern history of Islam.Ameen”

“Jihad will not stop because of Sheikh’s death, it will continue until we gain victory.”

“Kullna osama bin laden kullna osama bin laden kullna osama bin laden”

“I’m with Osama either in winning a victory or earning status as a martyr”

“May Allah accept his martyrdom and enter him into al-Firdaws with the Ambiya, Shuhada and the Saliheen.This day is the greatest day of shame in the history of Pakistan and what dignity had been left in calling oneself a Pakistani has now gone. Wallahi if the people of Pakistan keep on tolerating the kufr and riddah of that filthy kafir Zardari after this day, then may Allah deal with them as He sees fit.However, not all is so bad. Events like this are sent by Allah to remove the munafiqeen from the ranks of the Muslims. In the aftermath of this, we’ll see many munafiqeen, including ‘scholars’, come out in happiness and support for the Americans.Good news for Osama inshallah and good results for this Ummah inshallah.”

“This has not been confirmed by the Mujahideen what ever the out come Usamah bin Laden is the most influencial man of our times and May Allah accept all his sacrifices ameen”

“If it is true then we must thank Allah that America was not able to capture him alive. Else they would be humiliating him like Saddam Hussain. At last he may have find his greatest desire of Shahada.”

“Think not of those killed in the way of Allah dead, but alive with the Lord. We consider him a martyr. O Allah, accept the martyrs. And join us by the Lord of the Worlds”

“Brothers and sisters the order to attack the shaykh didn’t come from Obama, it came from Allah SWT and we should be aware that Allah SWT has the power to obliterate the White House in no time. So have yaqeen in Allah SWT because today the kufaar celebrate but tomorrow the ash of their fitna will block out their joy.”

“It seems obama has secured his seat in the white for the next term. This week only, he proved the world he was born in america by releasing his birth certificate and now he killed america’s worst enemy.”

“The celebrations are amusing. Cheer all you want kuffar, you only have a limited amount of time in this dunya in which to do it. And then you will see the reality of this life.”

“I hope Allah sends them [an] earthquake that will choke them further”

“And if its true it would be the most shameful moment for the pakistani people who could not protect 1 muslim hero…its a black day and a day when we should keep our voices and gazes lowi personally feel the lowest i have ever felt, we couldnt protect our beloved Sheikh”

“Mashallah the whole nation is celebrating the death of one man. Shaykh osama was a true lion.”

“We renew our pledge of allegiance with the Covenant and the first with the Lord to continue our path until the end. We will continue .. We will continue .. We will continue ..”

“Coming Oh America; Coming Oh Jews, Coming Oh rejectionists (Shi’a); Coming Oh Kufar, secularists, and apostates. Arrivals are coming and they are bringing the coffins with merciless devices”

“May Allah bring thousands osama to give nusra to his deen”

“Ya ikhwati wa akhawati, hold your horses. No conclusion should be derived until we get word from Muslims who are affiliated with him and who can confirm so. No words should be taken from the enemies of Islam and Muslims. They faked so many videos in the past of him, so why can this not be one of them? Just look at those beer-drinking, hog-eating, incestuous, red-necks, uncle sams, house negros, vatos locos, all celebrating outside the White House. It’s like a holiday for them. Really a sad bunch of people. I’m just waiting for the Chocolaty Muslims, Talafies, and those borderline murtad/moderates to join the ugly bandwagon of cheering this so-called victory.”

“I dont get it. How come Shaykh was living next to militray area and he was not seen before. Seems like a plot of america to wage war on pk. Anyways, it will be good to see pk fighting america ….actually Excellent!”

“please let them celebrate, they are celebrating their own end.
osama is in the heart of every muslim, even those who dont admit publicly.
in sha Allah its the start of something. this is the day muslims will remember Allah alot and seek the destruction of this pharoanic nation of our time. oh Allah destroy this nation for their hatred and enmity toward your deen oh Allah seal their hearts with disbelief they shall never taste faith untill they taste your severe punishment. oh Allah send them endless tornados to destroy their homes and earthquakes to crash them.”

“Why can’t people admit he was killed? he is a human being, not a prophet. another man will replace his shoes, its easy.”

“The kuffar can show only symbolic success. Militarily, the beaten, like the Russians in Chechnya. Whenever the Russians have claimed that Doku Umarov has fallen and he reported back again and again.”

“Death of the commander of the Mujahideen Sheikh Osama bin Laden – as he had wished – a new victory for the approach of the Islamic Jihad”

Anjem Choudary’s reaction to the death of Bin Laden. He’s the leader of UK jihadi group al-Muhajirun: http://bit.ly/jHyzTZ

“I think America knows that Sheikh Osama already passed away in recent years. Now they have planned to take advantage of his confirmed death. And they are taking advantage as US people have greatly appreciated the news. Also this news have pressurize the Pakistani intelligence that Osama was declared to be found in a sensitive settled area.”

“We should not forget that these illitarete idiots in the past have killed sheikh ayman zawahiri many times sheikh osama and cmdr ilyas kashmiri in their dream. Let the kuffar and murtadeen keep dreaming.”

“Yes, the Covenant continues until the establishment of the law of God in the land”

“We are all Osama bin Laden, God willing; We are all Osama bin Laden, God willing; We are all Osama bin Laden, God willing; We are all Osama bin Laden, God willing”

New statement from Hānī al-Sibā’ī: “Congratulations Osama .. Woe Obama .. And Woe to the Traitors of Pakistan”

“Si la nouvel est vrai ,mon coeur sera plus que jamais brisé par cette nouvel , mais j’ai moi aussi le sentiment que cela est vrai , car il ont annoncer qu’il détenait le corps du Cheikh ( Allahou A’lem ) et ces derniers temps , je ne sais pas si ça explique cet nouvel , mais je faisait un rêve quasiment toujours le même ou je perdais mes dents et ou j’avais une barbe encore plus grosse que d’habitude , j’ai fait des recherches on m’a dit que cela signifiais la mort la mienne ou celle d’un proche , je sais que cheikh Oussama n’est pas un proche au sens propre mais je l’aime pour Allah énormément comme s’il faisait partie de ma propre famille voir plus.”

“En tout cas s’il était vraiment vivant et que les amerloques l’ont vraiment tué, je pense que hervé ghesquière et stéphane taponier ont du soucis à se faire…”

“If Osama is martyred then we are all Osama. And the march of struggle will inevitably continue.”

“I’ll cut the head of everyone who says Sheikh Osama is dead”

New Elegy from Ḥāmid Bin ‘Abdullah al ‘Alī: “To the Lion Shaykh Usāmah Bin Lāden, God Have Mercy”

“After the news of the killing of the Sheikh a sharp drop in oil prices and gold and silver. U.S. stock market is witnessing an unprecedented profit. How much are you [worth], O great Osama? Blessed, living and dead. What if all the heads of Arabs killed in one day were influenced by oil prices? Gold? Silver? The stock market?”

“The absence of trophy photos, like they had with zarqawi and saddam hussein’s sons, is highly suspicious.”

“Agggh!!! This news on TV is annoying. These sell out Muslims really piss me off. I hope that Allah (swt) raises them with their community of shaytaan who they chose to side with, make friends with and obey instead of His (swts) law in the duniyah. May these sell outs also be thrown into the lowest depths of Hell with no respite.”

“The denial of the Pakistani Taliban has been relayed by the Russian news agency, so nothing prevents us from asserting that denial. Since when Mujahideen use the Russian news agency to connect?”

“My father woke me with this news, I had tears…The worst is when I saw the Kuffar celebrate on TV, I felt lousy”

“The killing of Sheikh Osama bin Laden does not affect the progress of victory, God willing. After the death of Sheikh Abdullah Azzam, Jihad did not stop. And went on…….. And went on……… And went on ………”

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