President Obamas announcement that Osama bin Laden was slain in his luxury hideout in Pakistan last night sets Washingtons seal of confirmation on the death of a man who, the US believed, had struck at the heart of the American mainland with gruesome effect. Thus, the countless hours the multiple US intelligence agencies used to locate his whereabouts and, as estimated by Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stiglitz and other celebrated American economists, the three trillion dollars the Pentagon spent on the war against Iraq alone, not to talk of the expense on the Afghanistan invasion, have now borne fruit. US officials maintain that the operation was 'so secretive that no foreign officials were informed in advance, and only a small circle inside the administration was aware of what was unfolding half a world away. They also stated that 'the CIA tracked bin Laden to his location, then elite troops from Navy SEAL Team Six, a top military counter-terrorism unit, flew to the hideout in four helicopters. And Osama was shot in the head. There is no mention of Pakistans involvement in the operation that took place at Abbottabad, barely 100 yards from the Kakul military academy, but some sources claim that it was carried out jointly. Interestingly, considering the details being given out of the hideout, there is little doubt that it does not suit a person with a head money as high as $50 million. A large custom-built $1 million mansion, with a surrounding wall tall enough to hide the ground floor and reinforced with barbed wire, and two heavily-guarded security gates would easily attract suspicion from not only intelligence agencies but also the ordinary folks. Besides, it was housing, so the US story goes, Osama bin Laden, his three wives, seven sons and several guards. Al-Qaeda leader was killed along with one of his sons and three guards, and the rest were arrested. Unquestionably, to the Americans all were identifiable objects or did they never step out of their home? But that would set tongues wagging, confirm the suspicion of mystery around the place and prompt serious investigation. Then the released picture of dead Osama does not show the age he must be in at this time The drama, it seems, has been staged to put the blame of hiding him on Pakistan. That would give credibility to the accusation that it provides sanctuaries to other Al-Qaeda operatives who are behind the deaths of US and NATO soldiers. Already, the Indian Home Minister has picked up the hint and said that Pakistan has sanctuaries of terrorists. These tactics would tend to provide justification for more drone attacks and more intense pressure on Islamabad to send its forces to North Waziristan. While the death of Osama, as Marine Colonel Bob Pappas has been saying for years, might have taken places at Tora Bora on December 13, 2001, or any time later, as other media reports suggested, its 'occurrence now would boost the morale of the GIs losing the war in Afghanistan. The public opinion in the US might, perhaps, for a while, forget the economic pressures they are under and Mr Obamas popularity might improve. But, most important, would it affect Al-Qaeda and Taliban, cut off from Osama bin Laden for long and operating on their own, in the execution of their plans? Highly improbable