Or is America bravely stepping up to face head-on a renewed threat from Mr bin Laden?
Critics of America's actions are arguing that Mr bin Laden was no longer the effective commander of al-Qaeda.
Again, however, prosecutors could not prove that Mr bin Laden ordered the attacks.
His lawyers argued that harsh treatment could render unreliable his confession that he had taken an oath of allegiance to Mr bin Laden.
Mr al-Fadl told the New York court he decided to alert US officials after he was kicked out of Mr Bin Laden's organisation for stealing.
American investigators have long suspected that Mr bin Laden was involved.
He might even use Khartoum's mosques as a rallying-point for Mr bin Laden, in whom the faithful have so far shown a striking lack of interest.
Even if it does, that should not obscure the fact that Mr bin Laden's infamy in the West is losing its power to inspire his own people.
Denying in the Washington Post this week any Pakistani knowledge of Mr bin Laden's whereabouts these past ten years, Pakistan's president, Asif Ali Zardari, resorted to a familiar defence.
These include Iraq, which some people reckon is one of Mr bin Laden's backers, but not (yet) Afghanistan, whose ruling regime has never been officially recognised by the United States.
Then, last week, in an apparent bid to dampen speculation that their security measures were over the top, government officials reportedly suggested that Mr bin Laden himself could be behind the new-found threat.
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Mark Galeotti, a British lecturer on Russia's armed forces, says there is evidence that Mr bin Laden, while not the instigator of the urban bombing campaign, has offered financial help to its perpetrators.
But the commission's report also notes that Mr Clinton received a memo in 1998 suggesting that Mr bin Laden hoped to hijack aircraft in order to free the ringleaders of the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Centre.
The United States, meanwhile, is hoping that Britain's courts will soon agree to extradite a Saudi comrade of Mr bin Laden and fellow-opponent of the Saudi royal family called Khalid al-Fawwaz, as well as two Egyptians suspected of links to al-Qaeda.
Magnus Ranstorp, a terrorism specialist at St Andrew's University, believes western governments may have made a mistake in focusing their rhetoric too much on Mr bin Laden, instead of stressing that he heads a large, intricate network which will not disappear instantly, even if he and his immediate comrades are killed or neutralised.
Pakistani officials are adamant that they weren't hiding Mr. bin Laden, and they acknowledge being embarrassed by the raid.
President Obama stressed in his announcement of Mr. bin Laden's death that the raid was solely a U.S. operation.
Ms. Gillard said the death of Mr. bin Laden only enhances the country's need to be present in the region.
Following the withdrawal of Soviet troops in 1989, most of the Arab fighters in Pakistan, including Mr. bin Laden, returned home.
Saudi officials had taken the lead back in the 1990s of trying to isolate Mr. bin Laden and limiting his ability to launch attacks against their ruling family and nation.
The official said that while the ISI cooperated with elements of the intelligence gathering leading to the targeting of Mr. bin Laden, focusing on a trusted courier, it wasn't aware of the attack.
After Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990, Mr. bin Laden was rebuffed by the Saudi monarchs in his bid to lead an Arab force to drive Saddam's army out of Kuwait.
Meanwhile, India reacted with "grave concern" to news that Mr. bin Laden had been hiding out "deep inside" Pakistan before his death, and called on Islamabad to arrest militants connected to the attacks on Mumbai in 2008 that killed more than 160 people.
An official with the Inter-Services Intelligence said the ISI was concerned that the news could lead to further criticism of Pakistan in the U.S. for not doing more to clamp down on al Qaeda in the heart of Pakistan and overshadow the death of Mr. bin Laden.
Mr Bergen got into bin Laden's last home, a compound in Abbottabad, northern Pakistan, before it was demolished in February.
The White House said Mr Obama would mark Bin Laden's death by meeting the families of some of those who died.
Mr Karzai said if Osama Bin Laden were caught he would be handed over to international justice.
The US Government says its informants have told it that Mr Arnaout also handled money for Bin Laden.
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