Osama Bin Laden Confirmed Dead

Slinky wrote:President Obama announced that "we" would not be releasing photographs of bin Laden's death. I think it is a wise and tasteful decision unlike Bush, Cheney & Rummy's flaunting of the photographs of Sadam Hussein's two sons.

http://www.google.com/search?q=Leon+Pan ... 1I7SUNA_en

So Well wrote:Obama Golfed and Voted Present; Panetta Overruled Him and Issued Order to Get Bin Laden

PST wrote:Yeah, you guys sure know how to get under my skin. I think I'll give myself an extended time-out for profanity.

Did Researchers Predict Bin Laden's Hideout in '09?

In early 2009, University of California at Los Angeles geography researchers not only predicted that Bin Laden wasn't hiding in a remote cave, they figured out there was an 88.9 percent probability he would be found in a major city about 130 miles from where the terror kingpin was actually found.

UCLA geography professor Tom Gillespie, who co-authored a paper with colleague John Agnew and five undergraduate students, concluded that Bin Laden was hiding in Parachinar, a Pakistani border town just west of Abbottabad, where he was actually found.

On some levels, we were about 130 miles off from where the town he was actually found, but my goodness, he certainly wasnt living in a cave, was he? It was a structure that really did match his life history characteristics, which was actually pretty surprising to all of us that worked on the paper, Gillespie says.

In fact, they were so convinced with their findings that one undergrad student who was working on the research passed the paper to her mother, who hand delivered the results to CIA Director Leon Panetta's wife, who lives in the same area.

I expected the government should pretty much not take it seriously, former UCLA student-researcher, Erika Mariano, tells FoxNews.com. Because how much truth or credibility could there be to something built from open source materials.

Gillespie said he passed the paper along to the FBI prior to its publishing but never heard anything back.

I think anyone in the CIA if they said they were going to use a bird theory to find Bin Laden theyd probably lose their job, Gillespie says with laugh.

The FBI's Los Angeles told FoxNews.com it was unable to confirm or deny receiving this particular study but says it is not uncommon for the FBI to receive information in high-profile cases from all kinds of sources. The CIA didn't respond to requests for comment on this story.

We used geographic theories about locations of different people and animals to try and find where Bin Laden is, and then we used satellite imageryto kind of pick out an actual single location on earth, explained Gillespie.

Gillespie and Agnew, with the help of UCLA geography students, used two geographical scientific theories normally used in locating endangered species, known as distance decay and island biogeographic to narrow down Bin Ladens probable location.

These theories led students to hypothesize that the further bin Laden moved from his last known location, the more likely he would find himself in areas with different religious and political beliefs, making it more likely he would be discovered; meaning he wasnt hiding very far from Tora Bora -- his last reported location used in the study.

They concluded after studying bin Laden's "life history characteristics" that the list of requirements for his hideout included a tall building to fit his unusual 6-foot-4-inch height, access to electricity for a dialysis machine to treat his reported kidney disease, rooms for a small number of body guards and walls for privacy.

They picked Parachinar because several buildings there met those requirements. Bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad also fit their mold a fact Gillespie draws a sense of satisfaction from.

We didnt find that actual location in 2009, but when you look at where he was found its pretty close.

Mariano, now in her first year of a masters degree in non-proliferation and terrorism studies at Pepperdine University in California, says she ran to a computer as soon as she heard news of bin Ladens death to check the location.

I was stunned that our theories that used common, open source materials would be that accurate, says Mariano. To find out that just the brainstorming and these theories were relatively accurate is incredible."

http://gislounge.com/pinpointing-bin-laden/