Osama bin Laden. Pakistan.

On Sunday, May 1, 2011, based upon new American intelligence, and at the direction of President Obama, an elite American SEAL team succeeded in it's mission to take Osama bin Laden. He was killed in a compound in Pakistan not far from Islamabad, and he had apparently been there for some time.

So it is done, finally. Everything's been said, and said again. There is joy, a shared national, even global joy about it--and also relief, but the kind attended by a shade of unhappiness and resignation that it unavoidably took so long.

We were so close to him in those early days in the Tora Bora mountains of eastern Afghanistan. It's been a long time. And for some time we've heard the coninuing, apparently credible reports that Pakistan was often protecting, even directing and financing the Taliban and its leaders, perhaps even keeping Mullah Omar. We dared not think Osama bin Laden, for there was little al Qaeda presence in Afghanistan or Pakistan--and Pakistan couldn't be that bold.

But then we found him. He was in a high-walled, large and conspicuous compound without any detectable communications connections. It was located in an affluent community some 60 miles from the Pakistan capital, Islamabad, and two miles from their principal military academy. And the residents of that community include many Pakistani military families.

When it was built five years ago, someone might have noticed how unusual it was for that residential area, both in size and configuration. Someone might have noticed how anonymous the occupants, how clandestine, perhaps furtive, their activities--especially given it's location, neighbors, and the reputation of the Pakistani intelligence service (ISI) for knowing all that goes on and who is doing it.

Surely it is apparent why President Obama chose not to inform the Pakistani government or military of our mission to take bin Laden from that compound--and in all likelihood, take him dead.

Congratulations to the intelligence team and the elite SEAL team that made the mission possible and made it a success. Now we must sort out what kind of continuing relationship with Pakistan remains necessary for regional stability and security--and what kind of relationship is still workable, given our history with this unreliable, mendacious "ally," whose interests and agenda have often proved contrary to our own.