I was surprised when I found out. I sort of half assumed he'd been dead for a while. It will be interesting to see what this actually leads to. Funnily enough, I think I read a story a few weeks back about Al Qaida claiming to have a nuclear bomb hidden somewhere in Europe, which would be set off it Bin Laden were killed. Then this happens. Interesting timing. Either way, I'm not sure it will achieve that much in the grand scheme of things. I certainly don't think it will put an end to terrorism. The root causes of it still exist.
I'm not sure about the conspiracy theories, although I generally am pretty cautious in believing anything the US government says. Would they release a picture though? It seems like it would be a red rag to a bull.
I will say that the burial at sea didn't strike me as that suss - other than the 'Muslim tradition' reason. I'd never heard of that.
The burial at sea actually made sense to me as it reminded me of Adolf Eichmann - after he was executed his ashes were scattered in the Mediterranean. This was to ensure that there would be no memorial site, and because no country wanted to serve as his resting place. Symbolic stuff like that happened in Germany quite a lot - old Nazi sites, and all evidence of their existence, are often destroyed so that they don't become pilgrimage sites for followers. Hitler's bunker, Spandau Prison (where Hess, Speer etc. did their time), Hitler's mountain house etc. So that part wasn't suspicious to me. Which state would want to have Bin Laden buried in its soil?