It's a busy day.

Here's an open thread for news updates and other things, all topics welcome.

Here's the English translation of Al Qaida's statement confirming the death of Osama bin Laden. It says it will release Osama's final taped statement made one week before he was killed.

"The sheikh (OBL) didn’t leave this world before taking part in sharing the joy with his Muslim Umma (nation) regarding its revolutions when the nation has risen in the face of injustice and the tyrants and may God have mercy on him, the sheikh recorded an audio message one week before his killing that we will release soon, God willing and his audio message included a congratulation greeting, advices and a guidance.

Aside from the usual threats, the group had a warning about what would happen if bin Laden's body was mistreated and demanded that the other bodies at the compound be turned over to the families of the deceased: [More...]

Here's the latest from The Guardian, with information reported by U.S. media from statements of officials, and statements by Pakistani officials who interviewed the survivors.

The consistencies: The only shot fired was by the occupant of the guest house. The commandos approached the guest house first, were fired on by the occupant, and fired back, killing the man and his wife.

The guest house was divided from the main house by a big wall. There was no firefight after the guest house and no armed resistance in the main house. In other words, those clarifications by White House Press Secretary Jay Carney and the statements of Leon Panetta about prolonged firefights were wrong. [More...]

According to this CNN Poll, Donald Trump has replaced Sarah Palin as the Republican they most want to run against:

According to the poll, taken before the announcement of Osama bin Laden's death, President Barack Obama has an edge over all the top GOP candidates in hypothetical match-ups.

Who does best against Obama? [Ron] Paul. The congressman from Texas [. . .] trails the president by only seven points (52 to 45 percent) in a hypothetical general election showdown. Huckabee trails by eight points, with Romney down 11 points to Obama. The poll indicates the president leading Gingrich by 17 points, Palin by 19, and Trump by 22 points.

The Obama Team is definitely in "Run Donald Run!" mode.

Speaking for me only

Uh-oh:

The number of people applying for unemployment benefits surged last week to the highest level in eight months, a sign that the job market continues to struggle to gain any momentum.

The Labor Department said Thursday that applications rose by 43,000 to 474,000 in the week ended April 30, the third increase in four weeks. The four-week average, a less volatile measure, rose for the fourth consecutive week to 431,250.

The Washington Post Editorial Board argues that the killing of Osama bin Laden was compliant with the laws of war:

SOME ARE questioning the legality of the raid in Pakistan that resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden. [. . .] Did they comply with international strictures when they killed the al-Qaeda leader rather than capturing him and bringing him before a court of law? [. . .T]he Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) [. . .] was, in short, a declaration of war, and Osama bin Laden was rightly targeted for his central role in the atrocities. Absent a surrender, there is no question that U.S. forces would have been entitled to shoot him on sight [. . .]

Without considering the merits of the particular actions regarding bin Laden, I agree that the laws of war apply to US military actions against Al Qaida. This is true in the context of detention of enemy combatants, and it is also true with regard to torture. The United States committed war crimes when it tortured enemy combatants. That stain remains upon the Nation, unexamined and uncleansed.

Speaking for me only

Matthew Alexander, former senior military interrogator in Iraq:

I don’t torture because it doesn’t work. I don’t torture, because it’s immoral, and it’s against the law, and it’s inconsistent with my oath of office, in which I swore to defend the Constitution of the United States. And it’s also inconsistent with American principles [. . .]

Survivor, American Idol, and Justified tonight. A welcome break from the continuing contradictions in the retelling of the death of Osama bin Laden.

I'm sure there's also other news. Here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

Update: MSNBC reports only one person at the compound in Abbottabad where Osama bin Laden was killed was armed, the "courier", and he was in the guest house, not the main house. He and his wife who was with him were killed first, before a second team of commandos even entered the compound.

None of those in the main house were armed, including Bin Laden's son, who was killed coming down the stairs as the commandos were going up. The account is so different from all the versions the White House and Panetta have provided, you really need to read it. There was no firefight inside the house, the only people with guns and shooting were the commandos.

Osama was in his pajamas. There were 22 women and children in the house. Original post below:[More...]

Sam Stein:

Officials inside the Obama administration have grown discouraged by the abruptness with which the news over the killing of Osama bin Laden has turned into a debate over the efficacy of harsh interrogation techniques and torture. [. . .] White House spokesman Tommy Vietor [said . . .]"I think this is a distraction from the broader picture, which is that this achievement was the result of years of painstaking work by our intelligence community that drew from multiple sources[.]

I have an idea for the White House -- how about saying torture does not work and was not a part of the picture of this operation. From Stein - "By most accounts, harsh interrogation measures including waterboarding did not play a role in helping to track bin Laden's whereabouts or his associates." (Emphasis supplied.) Is that too hard for them to say? If so, why?

Speaking for me only

The Guardian has a lot of new details from Pakistani security officials on the raid that killed Osama bin Laden and others, and the survivors. More conflicting information. As to Osama's 12 year old daughter who reportedly witnessed the shooting:

Pakistani officials told the Guardian yesterday that Bin Laden's daughter, which various reports named as Safina, Safia or Ayesha yesterday, had been hit in the ankle in the moments before the American assault team reached the room where they found her father, and later passed out. The wound was possibly caused by fragments from a grenade thrown by the assault team as they attacked, one said.

[More...]

Today is the 41st anniversary of the 1970 National Guard killings of Vietnam War protesters at Kent State University. The enhanced audio tape released in 2007 provided evidence the Guards were ordered to shoot.

What precipitated the protest: On Thursday, April 30, 1970, President Richard Nixon told the American people that we were sending troops into Cambodia. He had been elected on his promise to end the war. Rallies began around the country on May 1. [More...]