THE HISTORIC PRECEDENT – AT 10:02 A.M. ET:  The erasure of Osama bin Laden marks the second time in the lifetime of many of us that the United States has mounted a spectacular operation to kill someone who masterminded a military attack on the United States.

On April 18, 1943, the United States launched Operation Vengeance to kill Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, who'd planned the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.  The operation was based on intelligence reports that told us of Yamamoto's travel plans in the Solomon Islands, in the southwest Pacific.  A flight of Army Air Force Lockheed P-38 Lightning twin-engine fighters was sent out, and intercepted Yamamoto's plane in exactly the spot and at exactly the time the intelligence reports predicted.  Yamamoto's aircraft crashed on the island of Bougainville, later taken by American troops.

Yamamoto's death had a devastating impact on the morale of the Japanese Navy, equivalent, one distinguished naval historian has written, to losing a major battle.  The crash site of Yamamoto's plane is preserved to this day, and has become a tourist attraction.

May 2, 2011