Letters to Lillys.

YOU know it's been a busy news week when a Royal Wedding gets knocked off the front page.

How Kate and Wills must have cheered when Osama bin Laden was killed - just like about 40 per cent of you, who took exception to this post about the US mishandling not just the raid and its purpose but also its aftermath.

Comrade Nick Cohen said:

"Oh stop whining... 'Men sleep peacefully in their beds at night because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.' George Orwell."

Anthony sarcastically added: "I am weeping over my tea at this great loss to humanity." And Stu responded: "Whereas ... I am weeping over my tea at this great loss of humanity."

Ed: Which neatly sums up the entire debate.

Gareth thought the death of a bad man can only be good:

"I understand this is an Op-Ed piece but I couldn't disagree more. How else do you think this should have been played out? Do you think they won't release the photo because of some incriminating evidence against the stated nature of death or could it be that it would be unwise release such an image to spread around the internet/media and further fan the flames of religious apartheid? Bin Laden is dead, and however it happened I am happy about it. For over ten years he was the (wrongly assumed) poster boy for all Muslim identity in America, and now he's not. And THAT, in my opinion, is a good thing."

Colin had a point when he asked:

"Why didn't the Seals think to chuck him a gun before shooting him. Legally that would have made everything fine, no?"

Peter thought the raid was about US vengeance:

"I have heard the description of the wounds to Osama's face, apparently, part of his forehead and an eye are missing and brain tissue is visible. I am not a ballistics expert, I do not own a gun but that type of wound sounds more like an exit wound than an entry wound. I fear he was shot in the back of the head execution-style. The Americans really should learn the difference between the words 'justice being served' and 'revenge'."

But poor Milesey was left scratching their head:

"I am becoming concerned. I keep agreeing with what you say..."

And Paul added:

"Been meaning to say, your blog on the #obl raid was inspired, great read and totally agree."

Finally, Del was thrilled to note your correspondent had been out on the lash during the week:

"Can't decide which I enjoy more, your boozy singalong jaunts home tweets or your hard-hitting, telling it how it is, blog."

Ed: I have a horrible feeling it's the singing.

Have a good weekend, y'all.

Foxy out.

"Brilliantly executed."

FOR a Middle East peace envoy, Tony Blair really is an idiot.

As the Americans' version of the raid on Osama Bin Laden slowly unravels, making the leader of the free world look like a thug and his spin doctors a bunch of clumsy-fingered apes, our former PM has weighed in to the growing scandal about what, exactly, happened in Abbottabad.

Bear in mind that first we were told a helicopter was shot down, there was a raging firefight, Bin Laden used his wife as a human shield while spraying Navy SEALS with bullets from an AK-47 and there was a live video feed relayed straight to the White House situation room.


Just three days later we find the helicopter had a technical fault, no guns or explosives were found, Bin Laden was unarmed and special forces switched off the cameras on their helmets for 25 minutes after they entered the house.

And Tony Blair comes out and says, I presume entirely without forethought, the raid was "brilliantly executed".

Face, meet palm.

He added: "The Americans have given their account and I am sure that is accurate."

I hate using acronyms but frankly there is only one suitable response to this statement: ROFL*.

The truth is the Americans have handled this so badly they're actually starting to make Bin Laden look good.

The truth is the President of the United States of America is supposed to uphold democracy, freedom and the rule of law, not send pumped-up goons to shoot people dead without trial.

The truth is it doesn't take 25 minutes to get inside a house at 1am in which no-one has any guns, there are no booby traps or explosives, and shoot a man with kidney disease surrounded by women and children.

The truth is that the only things we know they found in the compound after Bin Laden was shot were, and I quote, "two buffaloes, a cow, and 150 chickens".

The raid has already been rebranded as "an act of national self-defence" by the White House, whose statements are starting to make Colonel Gaddafi sound sane. It added that "resistance does not require a firearm", a line I am sure police forces around the world are making a careful note of.

My grandad used to say the worst thing about the Second World War wasn't the Nazis in front of you, it was the Yanks behind. They've made an absolute hash of not just the raid but the PR upon which their national reputation depends.

Those pictures of a dead Bin Laden will leak - it's inevitable. Probably showing a bullethole in the back of the head, and accompanied by a grinning SEAL doing a thumbs-up and miming a sex act with the corpse, thereby proving those 25 lost minutes were spent re-enacting Abu Ghraib. An enterprising reporter will get a chat with the wife, who saw the whole thing and is sitting in Rawalpindi hospital guarded only by the highly-corruptible Pakistani security services. Conspiracy theories will bloom like algae on a stagnant pond and we'll find out the situation room was actually glued to The Only Way Is Essex all along.


But we will never, ever find out what exactly it is about chickens that is so threatening.

* Roll on the floor laughing, for the benefit of my mum.