Putting holes in Osama . . .

THE NEW YORKER has a detailed account of the planning and activities that culminated with Osama's acquaintance with a couple of .223's — Eugene Stoner would have been so pleased. The article, "Getting Bin Laden", by Nicholas Schmidle, reads like a Tom Clancy oeuvre.

Interestingly, to the distress of the feckless, corrupt Pakistanis who are either unwilling or incapable of dealing with obstreperous Muj, it seems that the US SOCOM outfits do these midnight rambles all the time. Compared to the stumbles and fumbles of abortive rescues and raids in the past, it appears that SOCOM has its shit together, so to speak.

This was one of almost two thousand missions that have been conducted over the last couple of years, night after night.” He likened the routine of evening raids to “mowing the lawn.” On the night of May 1st alone, special-operations forces based in Afghanistan conducted twelve other missions; according to the official, those operations captured or killed between fifteen and twenty targets.

Like SOCOM says, "we own the night". This can be frustrating for those who love a heaping helping of schadenfreude. Anyway, here's an appropriate sound track, with the inimitable Mick Taylor and Keefer at their best.