But what about a plea bargain?
"We should work with those forces in Pakistan that want us to combat terrorism and extremism and make democracy take hold in that country," he added, in what seemed a plea for continued engagement with Pakistan despite intense speculation that Pakistani officials knew of Bin Laden's whereabouts, close to their capital and just down the road from a major military facility.
Several times he made what verged on a plea for forgiveness.
He ended with what amounted to a plea for political involvement.
Stella Creasy, the Walthamstow MP who has become the target for a deselection campaign by party left-wingers, made what sounded like a plea to be allowed to stay.
[ That same page of Wallace's notebook also contains what looks like a plea regarding the author's own boredom: "God please help me — Pain, captain".
The meeting's host — Mexico — serenaded reporters assembled for the closing news conference with Puccini's operatic Nessun Dorma, in what seemed like a plea to Europe's leaders to try to avoid further catastrophe.
"Afghanistan's fiscal gap is significant," the paper said in what amounted to a plea for continued financial assistance, "and unless it is addressed the good work of the past 10 years will come undone".
In sharp contrast is Winogrand's people-packed "Easter Sunday, Central Park, New York" (1971), in which a nude young man stands before a crowd of onlookers, hands raised, mouth open in what could be a plea or a blessing.
What follows is a plea about a specific, if widespread, series of health problems; but it's also a parable about the short-term nature of our debate on the NHS, and about value for money, investment and austerity economics.
