Is Bin Laden Dead?

The Saudis say he is. Typhoid got him. France cannot confirm the report. Pakistan says it knows nothing about it. No comment yet from our government.

Read all about it at Gateway Pundit here. Here's a news report from Canada. Here's the AP report with video. Everything is speculative.

This would explain a lot, like his absence from al Qaeda propaganda videos, the recent moves by the Pakistani government to end operations in the northern provinces, and so forth. But given the unreliability of intelligence services let's wait for confirmation before celebrating.

UPDATE: Time is reporting that reliable sources say that Bin Laden has been very sick for several weeks and is probably dead, but they cannot confirm the death. [here]

Of course, right now Democrats are preparing their response -- "We're glad he's dead, but the timing of the announcement is suspicious, and if not for Iraq we could have got him much earlier, and now that he's dead it's time to bring the troops home, and if we can't it's because Bush blundered."

UPDATE 2: It seems that Muntasir al-Jibouri, leader of Ansar al-Sunna, one of the worst terrorist groups in Iraq and one associated with al Qaeda, has been captured.

Read it here.

UPDATE:

The Saudis say they have no information that Bin Laden is dead or even sick. Pity! [here]