THE USUAL SUSPECTS – AT 10:35 A.M. ET:  While most sane people are shedding no tears over the death of Osama bin Laden, there are those who are indeed all choked up.  Included in this exclusive club are the leaders of Hamas, which controls Gaza, and has just entered into a unity agreement with the Palestinian Authority, which controls the West Bank.  From Reuters:

GAZA (Reuters) - The Palestinian Islamist group Hamas on Monday condemned the killing by U.S. forces of Osama bin Laden and mourned him as an "Arab holy warrior."

"We regard this as a continuation of the American policy based on oppression and the shedding of Muslim and Arab blood," Ismail Haniyeh, head of the Hamas administration in the Gaza Strip, told reporters.

Though he noted doctrinal differences between bin Laden's al Qaeda and Hamas, Haniyeh said: "We condemn the assassination and the killing of an Arab holy warrior. We ask God to offer him mercy with the true believers and the martyrs."

COMMENT:  The sound you hear is Jimmy Carter and like-minded Hamas sympathizers rushing to explain away that statement.  We should remember what Haniyeh said the next time we're informed that Hamas is really a swell group of guys who are misunderstood in the West.

No misunderstanding those words.

May 2, 2011