All this has happened before...
May 2, 2011: The headlines this morning read "Osama bin Laden is Dead!" There were celebrations in the streets marking the end of an era. Intriguingly, 66 years ago to the day there was a strikingly similar headline that also provoked celebration...
May 2, 1945: The morning headlines read "Hitler Dead!"
My wife pointed out to me the anniversary, but through course of the day I realized more and more just how intriguing the coincidence is. Understand that I'm not a conspiracy theorist. I don't think this is anything other than random happenstance, but it's just too amazing to ignore.
Both men died in the location at which they were hiding from their enemies (Hitler in a bunker in Berlin, the capital of Germany, bin Laden in a mansion a stone's throw from the capital of Pakistan).
Both men died of gunshot wounds to the head (Hitler suicided with a Walther PPK, US Navy SEALs killed bin Laden).
Both men died at the side of their wives (Hitler and Eva Braun were married two days before their deaths, bin Laden died using his wife as a human shield).
The bodies of both men were secretly whisked out of the cities in which they died (Hitler by the Russian army, bin Laden by the U.S. Navy).
Both men were interred in secret ceremonies (Hitler was buried in a secret location near Rathenow, bin Laden was buried at sea most likely somewhere in the Indian Ocean).
Parts of the bodies of both men were taken and retained after their funerals (a fragment of skull claimed to be that of Hitler was kept in the archives of the Soviet RSS, and tissue from the body of bin Laden was kept for DNA tests to confirm his identity).
The similarities of the atrocities committed by these two monsters are also intriguing, but they are fodder for a different discussion entirely.
A parting thought: The death of Adolph Hitler marked the end of World War II and the Third Reich and the beginning of the Cold War. In the eyes of history what will Osama bin Laden's death herald?