Bin Laden Dead, But Jihad Still Thrives

Late on the evening of May 1, al Qaeda's online social networking forums were shaken awake as would-be jihadists from around the globe logged in to discover if reports of the killing of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in a U.S. military raid deep inside Pakistan were true. As rumors of the terrorist mastermind's demise began to spread, stunned forum participants insisted that the White House announcement was part of a new scheme devised by the CIA to trick and demoralize bin Laden's diehard supporters. Ill-tempered forum administrators began threatening to permanently ban anyone who even dared to express sorrow based on "unverified crusader rumors" of bin Laden's demise. Dozens of message threads on the death of bin Laden have since been censored by administrators; many others were simply deleted.