AND NOW FOR SOMETHING ENTIRELY DIFFERENT – AT 8:49 A.M. ET:  If you want to know why the "Arab street" thinks the way it does, get this report from one of the most important Arab outlets, Al Arabiya, which I think translates roughly as "It's America's fault":

Senior Pakistani security officials said Osama bin Laden’s daughter had confirmed her father was captured alive and shot dead by the US Special Forces during the first few minutes of the operation carried out at the huge compound in Bilal Town, Abbottabad.

Besides recovering four bullet-riddled bodies from the compound, Pakistani security agencies also arrested two women and six children, aged between 2 and 12 years, after American forces flew toward Afghanistan. Some reports suggest 16 people, including women and children, were arrested from the house, most of them Arab nationals.

And...

The official said a 12-year-old daughter of bin Laden was among the six children rescued from the three-storey compound.

The daughter has reportedly told her Pakistani investigators that the US forces captured her father alive but shot him dead in front of family members.

According to sources, Bin Laden was staying on the ground floor of the house and was dragged on the floor to the helicopter after being shot dead by US commandos.

There were conflicting reports about the second person the US forces took along with them. Some Pakistani officials say it was one of Bin Laden’s sons injured by the US commandos and thrown onto a separate military chopper; others say he was killed in the operation and it was only his dead body that they took along.

COMMENT:  Watch how quickly this "narrative" spreads.  We are very naive about foreign propaganda, especially in the Muslim world. 

It is highly unlikely that the Seals captured bin Laden alive and then executed him in front of witnesses.  But one can expect members of bin Laden's family to advance their own story. 

Apparently there is video of the raid.  We may have to release it.  Among other claims being made is this one:

“Not a single bullet was fired from the compound at the US forces and their choppers. Their chopper developed some technical fault and crashed and the wreckage was left on the spot,” a well-informed official explained.

We were told there was a firefight.  And this:

Security officials said they did not recover any arms and explosives during their detailed search of the compound on Monday and Tuesday. Also, they said, it was a simple house comprising 13 rooms, six on the ground floor and the remaining on the first and second floors.

No arms around the world's most wanted man?  Come on. 

We have some information work of our own to do.

May 4, 2011