Cheers and tears greet killing

ALMOST all major newspapers in the US were celebrating the death of Osama bin Laden on their websites ahead of going to press.

In New York, the symbolic focus of the 9/11 attacks, friends and family members of bin Laden’s victims were widely quoted.

The New York Daily News was full of tributes. The tabloid describes how “across New York, cheers rose and tears fell in the thousands of homes where dining tables still have empty places and altars to the 9/11 dead still flicker”.

The New York Post reported that “out of an abundance of caution” authorities “will add more police at its facilities including the New York area’s airports, the George Washington bridge and the World Trade Center site”.

The New York Times quoted a caveat by former Afghan interior minister Hanif Atmar. He said “the killing of Osama should not be seen as mission accomplished… this should not be used as justification for premature withdrawal” of US troops from Afghanistan.

In the US capital, analysts looked to the future and the consequences for a post-bin Laden al-Qaida.

The Washington Post headline said “Justice has been done”, quoting US President Barack Obama, and it went on to say that al-Qaida “is likely to remain the most significant security threat to the United States despite its leader’s demise”.

The Huffington Post carried the simple headline “DEAD” above bin Laden’s photo. Writing for the Huffington Post, Steve Clemons reserved praise for Mr Obama for killing the man George W Bush couldn’t catch. He said Mr Obama “has probably assured his re-election in 2012”.

A more international angle was provided by The Wall Street Journal, which contained an article that looked at Indian concerns that bin Laden had been hiding deep within Pakistan. The Indian home ministry issued a statement saying it believed perpetrators of the Mumbai attack in 2008 “continue to be sheltered in Pakistan”.