Obama said in a televised address to the nation that a "small team of Americans" acting with "extraordinary courage and capability" took out bin Laden at a compound at Abbottabad, about 40 miles from Islamabad, killing the man behind the worst terror assault ever perpetrated on U.S. soil, the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that left "gaping holes in our hearts" and are "seared into our national memory."
"After a firefight they killed Osama bin Laden and took custody of his body," Obama said. "No Americans were harmed."
ABC reported U.S. officials said the strike force that hit the compound between 1:30 and 2 a.m. Sunday consisted of 20-25 U.S. Navy SEALs under the command of the Joint Special Operations Command in cooperation with the CIA. There was a gun battle in which bin Laden fired his weapon before being killed, ABC said.
The dead included two Bin Laden couriers, one of bin Laden's sons and a woman reportedly used as a shield by one of the men, ABC reported. Other women and children in the compound were not injured, Pakistani officials said.
There reportedly were two U.S. and one Pakistani helicopters involved in the raid. ABC reported one U.S. helicopter was damaged during the operation and the U.S. forces decided to destroy it themselves with explosives. The Wall Street Journal reported a Pakistani official said the Pakistan chopper crashed after being struck by insurgent firing.
Pakistani officials said the operation was a joint U.S.-Pakistani operation, but U.S. officials said only U.S. personnel were involved in the raid.
A senior administration official told ABC the United States is "ensuring [bin Laden's body] is handled in accordance with Islamic practice and tradition. It's something we take seriously and therefore it's being handled in an appropriate manner."
The New York Times reported he was buried at sea but provided no details.
The president said the tip about bin Laden's whereabouts came last year but it took "many months to run this thread to ground" and enough intelligence was gathered to order the mission to kill bin Laden.
Residents of the compound burned their trash, ABC said.
Obama cautioned that bin Laden's death doesn't end the war on terror.
"The death of bin Laden marks the most significant achievement to date in our nation's effort to defeat al-Qaida," the president said. "Yet his death does not mark the end of our effort. There's no doubt that al-Qaida will continue to pursue attacks against us. We must -- and we will -- remain vigilant at home and abroad."
Obama also attempted to mute any potential backlash against the United States by telling the world's Muslims they are not the United States' enemy.
".. We must also reaffirm that the United States is not -- and never will be -- at war with Islam," he said. "I've made clear, just as President Bush did shortly after 9/11, that our war is not against Islam. Bin Laden was not a Muslim leader; he was a mass murderer of Muslims. Indeed, al-Qaida has slaughtered scores of Muslims in many countries, including our own. So his demise should be welcomed by all who believe in peace and human dignity."
The news created jubilation across the United States, including a boisterous, flag-waving crowd outside the White House that sang "God Bless America" and other patriotic songs. Fans at a New York Mets-Philadelphia Phillies baseball game in Philadelphia who chanted "U-S-A, U-S-A" to the initial befuddlement of the players on the field.
"It's just a huge gathering of energy. I think for many it's just a huge sigh of relief," one man in the crowd that gathered at Ground Zero in New York told CNN.
Former President George W. Bush, who was in office when al-Qaida terrorists operating at the behest of bin Laden crashed jetliners into New York's World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a Pennsylvania field on Sept. 11, 2001, called Obama after hearing bin Laden was dead, CBS News reported.
"I congratulated him and the men and women of our military and intelligence community," Bush said in a statement.
"The fight against terror goes on but tonight the American people sent a message that no matter how long it takes, justice will be done," said Bush, who had vowed bin Laden would be taken dead or alive.
It took almost 10 years as bin Laden hid among supporters as the United States and its allies hunted him in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
In essence, bin Laden became a casualty of the war he launched against the United States two decades ago.
Bin Laden, the son of a Saudi Arabian construction magnate, inherited a fortune reported to be $25 million when his father died. He became a devout Muslim who joined the fight in Afghanistan during the Soviet occupation.
Greg Barton, an expert on global terrorism at Monash University in Melbourne, called the killing of bin Laden "quite remarkable," but also warned al-Qaida will continue to remain strong without its top leader, the Sydney Morning Herald reported, citing a local radio report.
"Al-Qaida has become several things today," he said. "It's become a series of organizations based in geographically different parts of the world so the loss of bin Laden doesn't change that.
"There will be others moving into his position."
The New York Times reported the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors radicals, said al-Qaid sympathizers were posting messages on an online forum calling bin Laden a martyr and suggesting retaliation.
"America will reap the same if the news is true and false," one message vowed.
Another said: "The lions will remain lions and will continue moving in the footsteps of Usama," using an alternate spelling of bin Laden's name.
Read more:
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2011/05/02/Bin-Laden-killed-buried-at-sea/UPI-60871304312101/#ixzz1LBNRbSv3
Buried at sea? That somehow seems too good for him. Maybe it would hve been more appropriate to have put him in an airplane with nothing more than a cell phone for protection, and (after the pilot ejected) crashed it into the ground. Either way. . . . .I am happy that one less evil monster walks the earth.
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