President Obama tonight announced that U.S. special forces killed Osama Bin Laden earlier today.
Obama, who spoke from the East Room, said the operation included a firefight at a compound in Pakistan where Bin Laden was hiding out.
Obama said he authorized the mission last week after months in which intelligence pointing to Bin Laden’s whereabouts was developed.
Obama, who held no less than five national security meetings on the operation since March, gave the final order to proceed with the operation on on April 29, according to a senior administration official who, along with others, breifed reporters early this morning. The raid was held in the early morning hours.
Osama was found in a large home on a secure compound in an affluent suburb of Islamabad.
Bin Laden, thought to be moving around constantly, appears to have been in the compound for years.
The president appeared to try to take maximum credit for the killing of Bin Laden, noting that he had instructed CIA Director Leon Panetta to make bringing Bin Laden to justice the highest priority in the anti-terrorism fight.
While the hunt for Bin Laden is certainly a priority that predates Obama, the president likely does deserve great credit for authorizing what must have been an extraordinarily dangerous operation that would have involved the infiltration of U.S. forces into Pakistan and the execution of what was likely a highly risky small forces strike.
Obama sought to give credit to Pakistan, saying finding Bin Laden was the result of Pakistan’s assistance in “counterterrorism.” But I’d be very surprised if anyone in the Pakistani leadership, famous for playing a double game of helping us while supporting our enemies, was alerted.
The killing of Bin Laden presents a direct contrast with Jimmy Carter’s failed mission to liberate U.S. hostages in Iran, a debacle which in part led to the failure of his reelection bid.
6 thoughts on “Obama: “Justice Has Been Done””
Such a wonderful victory for all the servicemen and woman, families of 9.11 victims, and America in general. So much sacrifice over the last almost 10 years to bring this guy, so many lives lost – a true testament to the tenacity of our military.
I also noted that Obama seemed to take total credit with little to no acknowledgment of the previous adminstration – despite the fact that this win would have never happened without Bush. But from the looks of the comements on Twitter and FB, I’m a bit surprised at how short people’s memory seem to be on who exactly it was that so openly against this war to begin with – despite his claim of “unified resolve.”
I am just glad that we still have wet teams working, and that the military’s ROE has not been forced down everyone’s throat.
Personal curiosity asks: Was this an intelligence team or military special ops team? Either way, they did good!
One man’s death will not deter the hatred our enemy has for us. The war against the US and other non-Muslim nations will continue.
If MrO wishes to take the credit for the death of BinLaden, then he must accept responsibility for the consequences sure to come.
I agree, SrDem. And I am not sure this ensures re-election of the president… Someone said his slogan could be YES WE DID! Think about that–did send a team of professionals to shoot someone in the head–everyone feel better now? Wow, this is our guy! Oh, well, I get more cynical by the moment.
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