The Random Yak

…the French news gave to me….the (maybe) death of Osama B….

(Proving once again that Yaks can make a song out of anything. Truthfully, the header was originally going to do with the fact that the news broke on Rosh Hashanah – the day of judgment – but All Things Beautiful beat me to that punch, so I had to work with what remained.)

The French newspaper L’Est Republicain (yes, it’s in French. Sites withtranslations are linked in the roundup below) is reporting that Saudi Police are reporting that Al-Qaeda is reporting that Osama bin Laden died of typhoid fever back in August.

I’m not getting my hopes up. Osama bin Laden could easily be called “the most-killed man of the century” -with enough unconfirmed sightings throughout the middle east and Pakistan togive evenElvis a run for his money. That, and the French aren’t exactly what I’d call cutting edge when it comes to intelligence (foreign or otherwise).

Still, the story seems to have enough credibility to attract some big names in the blogosphere, and I’m more than glad to point you in the right directionif you’d like to know more as the story develops. Here’s your “Ding, Dong, Osama’s (Maybe) Dead” roundup:

• Mary Katherine Ham at Townhall Blog has the extended story anda translation from the French papers along with updates on Chiraq’s reaction to the alleged news.
• Stop the ACLU has an update -CNN says Osama is not dead (”not dead yet”?) – a lot of blogger reactions and a somewhat humorous-but-definitely-not-politically-correct photo. Like me (and many others on the right side of the blogging aisle) STACLU is taking the news with asalt mine.
• Patterico’s Pontifications has the link to Ace (language warning at the Ace of Spades, which is why I’m not carrying that link directly) and the breakdown of the French story in translation, along withupdates from Reuters. From the updates, he’s likely to continue following the story through the weekend.
• Riehl World View has the Pakistan/typhoid angle, looking at the credibility of the story in light of the health situation in Pakistan and the possibility that ObL might have managed to obtain a vaccine.
• Pirate’s Cove has the Dhimmi Democratic reaction and the link to DU discussion of the story.
• Planck’s Constanthas the story, a translation from the French newspaper and a roundup of links (as well as a photo with some adult content).
• The Uncooperative Blogger offers the news, with a healthy dose of salt, as does Dr. Sanity.
• More on Chiraq and typhoid fever at Right Truth.

Linked to the Open Trackback Weekend at 123Beta and the Sprucing Up the House Weekend OTP at Blue Star Chronicles.