If you’re still up, you’re probably watching cable news or checking national/world news sites for updates on the stunning announcement tonight that U.S. troops have killed Osama bin Laden, less than half a year short of the 10th anniversary of 9/11. (If you missed it somehow, the official White House recording of the president’s late-night statement – late Eastern time, anyway – is embedded above.)
Remembering the gatherings at Alki’s Statue of Liberty after the 2001 attacks, we went by a little while ago to see if anything spontaneous had broken out. At least at the time we went by, only a few people were by the statue – but a TV crew had broken out a large light to illuminate the statue as a backdrop for a live report, no doubt on “local reaction.” (Just down the street a block, the usual spring/summer-night Alki crowds watched as a car took off too fast, burning rubber.)
We haven’t seen official comments from local leaders yet, though King County Executive Dow Constantine observed via Twitter, “Good to have @BarackObama – Doesn’t bluster ‘Bring it On” or crow “Mission Accomplished” but patiently, wisely, competently gets the job done.” Also on Twitter, City Councilmember Tim Burgess said, “This is wonderful news for the whole world!”
A thread in the WSB Forums, headed simply “Bin Laden is DEAD,” has drawn a few comments.
Your editor here was working in Seattle TV news when 9/11 happened, executive-producing a morning newscast, in the control booth as the horrifying pictures from back east came in. Relatively quickly, we handed over most of our airtime to the network, as there was little to say locally, for a while. Feels that way tonight, so we’re going back to writing a few stories still left to tell from the weekend – but if there is a related West Seattle story you think should be told, please leave a comment, or let us know some other way.
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