Osama Bin Laden is dead, President Obama announced Sunday night, in a televised address to the nation. His death was the result of a U.S. operation launched today in Abbottabad, Pakistan, against a compound where bin Laden was believed to be hiding, according to U.S. intelligence. After a firefight, a small team of American forces killed bin Laden and took possession of his body, the president said.
?Tonight I can report to the American people and the world that the United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden,? Obama said during brief remarks at the White House.
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?Justice has been done,? he said, in comments that marked a formal end of the manhunt for the most visible and emotionally-charged symbol of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
The president said U.S. intelligence operatives received a tip in August on bin Laden?s whereabouts, which ultimately led to Sunday?s attack. Obama said he determined last week that the U.S. had enough reliable information to take action; by Sunday morning, he had authorized ?a small team of Americans? to conduct an operation targeting bin Laden.
?After a fire fight, they killed Osama bin Laden and took custody of his body,? the president said. ?No Americans were harmed. They took care to avoid civilian casualties.?
Obama said the 9/11 attacks that bin Laden and his lieutenants orchestrated nearly 10 years ago remain ?the worst attack on the American people in our history? and said the images of the crumbling Twin Towers ?are seared into our national memory.?
The president emphasized that Americans ?did not choose this fight? against al Qaeda, but rather, ?it came to our shores.? He praised U.S. military and intelligence professionals for working ?tirelessly to achieve this outcome.? To the families of 9/11 victims, he noted that the U.S. has ?never forgotten your loss.?
?Tonight, let us think back to the sense of unity that prevailed on 9/11,? Obama said. ?I know that it has, at times, frayed. Yet today?s achievement is a testament to the greatness of our country and the determination of the American people.?
Both Bill Clinton and George W. Bush had targeted bin Laden during their presidencies, and both had failed to either capture him or kill him. The failure to snare bin Laden weighed most heavily, perhaps, on the Bush Administration, which occupied the White House during the 9/11 attacks, and the al Qaeda leader?s killing falls exactly eight years to the day when Bush famously declared ?Mission Accomplished? in Iraq.
Bush said in a statement that Obama called him Sunday night to inform him of ?the momentous achievement? of bin Laden?s death.
?I congratulated him and the men and women of our military and intelligence communities who devoted their lives to this mission. They have our everlasting gratitude,? Bush said. ?The fight against terror goes on, but tonight America has sent an unmistakable message: No matter how long it takes, justice will be done.?
Clinton, who was president when the first World Trade Center bombing occurred in 1993, issued a statement calling bin Laden?s death ?a profoundly important moment not just for the families of those who lost their lives on 9/11 and in al-Qaida?s other attacks but for people all over the world who want to build a common future of peace, freedom, and cooperation for our children.?
In a conference call with reporters just after President Obama spoke, senior administration officials provided a detailed sketch of how the intelligence on bin Laden?s whereabouts was gathered.
Intelligence officials had been conducting lengthy reconnaissance work prior to receiving their key tip in August. According to senior administration officials, suspected terrorists in custody since 9/11 -- including the attack?s mastermind, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed -- identified a courier who had a close relationship with bin Laden.
?This man was one of the few al Qaeda couriers trusted by bin Laden,? one senior administration official said. ?They indicated he might be living with and protecting bin Laden. But for years we were unable to identify his true name or his location. Four years ago we uncovered his identity? About two years ago, after months of persistent effort, we identified areas of Pakistan where the courier and his brother operated. Still, we were unable to pinpoint exactly where they lived due to extensive operational security on their part. The fact that they were being so careful reinforced our belief that we were on the right track.?
When the intelligence community finally pinpointed the courier?s location, they were ?shocked by what we saw,? said this official.
The neighborhood in Abbottabad was ?relatively affluent with lots of retired military,? this official continued, and was insulated from urban areas or places susceptible to natural disaster and terrorist attacks. The home was ?roughly eight times larger than the other homes in the area,? and it was surrounded by 12-to-18-foot-high walls, topped with barbed wire. It had two security gates and a value of roughly $1 million, although it lacked telephone and Internet connections.
An even more telling clue for intelligence operatives: The occupants of the house were burning their trash rather than putting it out for collection.
One senior administration official suggested bin Laden had been staying at the compound for at least six months without moving. Bin Laden was known to have regularly shifted locations to evade capture, so it?s unusual that he chose to stay in on spot for such an extended period.
More recently, the Obama administration had reduced the number of drone strikes in the area -- while ramping up surveillance -- in an effort to give the al Qaeda leader a heightened sense of safety in his home.
Prior to the operation, Obama convened nine meetings with his national security team to review intelligence. According to a White House aide, ?Principals met formally an additional five times themselves and their deputies met seven times.?
The president made the decision to undertake the operation at 8:20 a.m. on April 29th in the White House?s Diplomatic Room before he left to survey tornado damage in Alabama. Tom Donilon, his National Security Advisor, prepared the formal orders and convened the principals at 3 p.m. that same day to complete the planning.
The next day, without giving off a hint of the weighty operation being planned, Obama prepared for and delivered his address at the annual White House Correspondent's Association dinner. The next morning he played nine holes of golf.
Final preparations were made on Sunday. At 2 p.m., the president met with top advisers for an hour and half, at which point he returned to the Situation Room for an additional briefing. Twenty minutes after that, he learned that bin Laden had been ?tentatively identified.? By 7 p.m. he was told it was highly probable that bin Laden was at the compound. By 8:30 p.m., he received an additional briefing. He signed off on the attack after that.
No other intelligence operatives in other countries were told of the attack before it occurred -- including Pakistani operatives -- according to administration officials. Vice President Joseph Biden informed congressional leadership of the attack shortly before it took place, aides on the Hill told the Huffington Post.
Details about the fight itself are still difficult to come by. According to local reports in Pakistan, a helicopter involved in the attack had a mechanical problem and crashed.
U.S. forces intentionally destroyed the remainder of the wreckage to reduce signs of their presence in the area , according to NBC and other media reports. Two helicopters remained to provide cover for Joint Special Operations Command forces; in addition, there was a predator drone.
The fight lasted only 40 minutes and was described by a senior administration official as a ?surgical raid? conducted by a Navy Seals unit. Bin Laden's adult son was killed, as were two of his couriers and a woman being used as a human shield. Bin Laden himself ?did resist the assault force,? a senior administration official said. Reports on Sunday night said the terrorist leader was ultimately shot in the head.
Officials warned that in the aftermath of the attack, Americans should be on alert for a reprisal from al Qaeda. However, one official added, there were ?no specific threats" as of Sunday night. ABC News reported that authorities plan to bury bin Laden?s body at sea in order to leave no definitive location for his final resting place. It will be done, an official added, ?in accordance with Islamic practice and tradition." Hours later, CNN reported that the burial had taken place.
"Americans understand the costs of war," Obama said toward the end of his remarks. "Yet as a country, we will never tolerate our security being threatened, nor stand idly by when our people have been killed. We will be relentless in defense of our citizens and our friends and allies."
DEVELOPING...
The Washington Post provides an article about the unidentified SEAL who shot and killed Osama bin Laden, with comments from Former SEALs.
Chances are he?s keeping score. Smith, who served in the SEALs from 1991 to 1999, got together recently with five Navy SEALs, some of whom he?d served with and others whom he?d trained. ?They were responsible for 250 dead terrorists,? Smith says. ?They know their number.?
While revealing the shooter's identity could make him a target, The Washington Post writes:
But among his colleagues, the shooter?s identity will be well-known. And right now, he?s probably in for some locker-room-style ribbing.?They?re gonna hard-ass him,? Marcinko says. ?It?ll be, ?If I?d have been there, it?d have been done in 20 minutes instead of 40 minutes.? ? Smith can envision the shooter?s pals razzing him about the precise location of the shot. But, in the culture of the SEALs, it?s not as if he won?t push back. He?ll come back at them, Marcinko says, with something like: ?Talk is cheap. I did it. I left my mark in the sand.?
Read more here.
The Washington Post is featuring a live Q&A with former SEAL Stew Smith:
Q. ENTRY INTO THE COMPOUNDFor safety's sake wouldn't a noisy helicopter have to approach the compound already firing guns? Afterall, we had to expect the inhabitants to start firing as soon as they saw and heard the helicopter?
A. STEW SMITHThat is assuming they were on guard and ready. It is a quick process from when you hear a helo and when you have boots on the ground.
View the Q&A here.
Reuters reports that Pakistan's foreign ministry issued a statement on Tuesday saying it did not know of the U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden, although it had shared information about the compound with the CIA since 2009.
"Neither any base nor facility inside Pakistan was used by the U.S. forces, nor the Pakistan Army provided any operational or logistic assistance to these operations conducted by the U.S. forces," the foreign ministry said in a lengthy statement.While Islamabad hailed the killing of bin Laden as an important milestone in the fight against terrorism, the statement said Pakistan had expressed "deep concerns" that the operation was carried out without informing it in advance.
"This event of unauthorized unilateral action cannot be taken as a rule," the ministry said.
More here.
CNN reports that, according to a diplomatic source, the courier who led the U.S. to Osama bin Laden was a Kuwaiti named Abu Ahmad.
U.S. officials have said that when the identity of the courier -- who they have not named -- was established in 2007 the U.S. began a path to the house in Abbottabad, Pakistan, where the al Qaeda leader was living.Analysis of assessments of detainees held at the U.S. Navy's detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, include several mentions of a man by the name of Abu Ahmad al Kuwaiti, who was reportedly close to Khalid Sheikh Mohammed -- also a Kuwaiti.
The information on the detainee assessments came from U.S. Defense Department documents published by WikiLeaks.
Read more here.
NPR's Linton Weeks asked yesterday whether or not it is wrong to celebrate the death of Osama bin Laden. Weeks writes, "is it ever a good idea ? from a spiritual or philosophical standpoint ? to celebrate with beer and good cheer over the death of anyone, even a widely acknowledged monster?"
Mike Hayes, a campus minister at the University at Buffalo, said:
"I don't think that the celebrations in the streets were our finest moment as Americans, and reminded me much of the anger I felt at seeing Afghans dancing in the streets at the fall of the Towers on that dreaded day."Hayes says: "We are called to forgiveness. And that is the only way that we can be truly free. Holding onto our hatred keeps us in slavery to bin Laden's madness and gives the terrorists continued power over us."
Read more here.
ABC News Correspondent Jake Tapper reports that, according to a senior administration source, it is possible that the Abbottabad, Pakistan compound was specifically built in 2005 for Osama bin Laden.
That this compound was constructed in the neighborhood of former Pakistani military officials and a local military academy is of course calling into question the participation of the local ? if not national ? government.?It?s inconceivable that bin Laden did not have a support system in the country that allowed him to remain there for an extended period of time,? said White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan on Monday.
Brennan said the Obama administration was ?pursuing all leads in this issue.?
More here.
From Reuters:
Pakistan's president acknowledged for the first time on Tuesday that his security forces were left out of a U.S. operation to kill Osama bin Laden, but he did little to dispel questions over how the al Qaeda leader could live in comfort near Islamabad.The revelation bin Laden had been holed up in a compound in the military garrison town of Abbottabad, possibly for years, has threatened to worsen U.S. ties with nuclear-armed Pakistan.
AP reports:
U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, say units from SEAL Team Six dropped into bin Laden's high-walled compound in Pakistan early Monday morning, sliding down ropes in the pre-dawn dark. The military won't confirm which unit carried out the attack.But the head of the Navy SEALs, Rear Adm. Edward Winters, sent an email congratulating his forces and warning them to keep their mouths shut.
"Be extremely careful about operational security," he added. "The fight is not over."
Another Bin Laden tape could surface soon:
Osama bin Laden may be dead, but U.S. officials expect at least one new bin Laden tape to surface soon, according to multiple reports.According to The New York Daily News, bin Laden may have ordered the tape to be released in the event of his death.
The tape is said to be a recording created not long before his death, though authorities say there is no indication he knew the United States was closing in on him. It's not clear whether it's audio or video.
AP reports:
Three U.S. officials say American forces were led to Osama bin Laden by his most trusted courier, a Kuwaiti-born man named Sheikh Abu Ahmed.Ahmed was a shadowy figure for U.S. intelligence, someone it took many years to identify. For a long time, intelligence officials knew him only by his nom de guerre, Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti. The first indications about his significance came from CIA detainees shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Reuters reports:
A woman killed during the raid of Osama bin Laden's compound in Pakistan was not his wife and was not used as a human shield by the al Qaeda leader before his death, a U.S. official said on Monday, correcting an earlier description.John Brennan, President Barack Obama's top counter- terrorism adviser, told reporters earlier that the slain woman had been one of bin Laden's wives and had been used -- perhaps voluntarily -- as a shield during the firefight.
AP reports:
WASHINGTON -- From halfway around the world, President Barack Obama and his national security team monitored the strike on Osama bin Laden's compound in real time, watching and listening to the firefight that killed the terrorist leader.Gathered in the White House Situation Room, members of the group held their breath and barely spoke as they waited to see whether a carefully crafted yet extremely risky plan would succeed, said White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan. Obama had been playing golf but returned to the White House for the suspenseful watch Sunday.
AP reports:
President Barack Obama plans to visit New York City on Thursday to mark the death of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.The White House says Obama will visit ground zero, the site of al-Qaida's attack on the World Trade Center, and meet with the families of those killed nearly 10 years ago.
From Politico:
The assault force of Navy SEALs snatched a trove of computer drives and disks during their weekend raid on Osama bin Laden?s compound, yielding what a U.S. official called ?the mother lode of intelligence.?The special operations forces grabbed personal computers, thumb drives and electronic equipment during the lightning raid that killed bin Laden, officials told POLITICO.
?They cleaned it out,? one official said. ?Can you imagine what?s on Osama bin Laden?s hard drive??
Newsmax reports:
Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld tells Newsmax the information that led to the killing of Osama bin Laden was obtained through ?normal interrogation approaches? and says the notion that terrorist suspects were waterboarded at Guantanamo Bay is a ?myth.?Rumsfeld also claims that elements of Pakistani intelligence could have been complicit in hiding the terrorist mastermind, asserts that his killing exonerates George W. Bush?s approach to fighting terrorism, and warns that terrorists will likely try to avenge bin Laden's death with new attacks against America or its allies.
Read the full report here.
HuffPost's Matt Sledge and Alex Wagner report:
At the news of Osama bin Laden's death a crowd of joyful New Yorkers gathered for a spontaneous celebration just outside the World Trade Center construction site late Sunday night. They were joined by a troop of smiling but serious New York Police Deparment officers.
Osama bin Laden's death may give some New Yorkers a sense of justice, but it won't necessarily change much about their daily lives. The mood city and state officials are projecting is a mix of satisfaction and post-Sept. 11 business as usual -- the city's security barriers will not be torn down any time soon.
"As of now, I'm happy to say, there are no new immediate threats against our city, but there is no doubt we remain a top target, and the killing of bin Laden will not change that," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said at a Ground Zero press conference Monday.
View the full report and video here.
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