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Osama bin Laden is dead!

Isatis

Isatis

If specified, this will repl[0x00000000]ce the
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WASHINGTON — Osama bin Laden, the Saudi extremist whose al-Qaida terrorist organization killed more than 3,000 people in coordinated attacks on the U.S. on Sept. 11, 2001, is dead following a military operation in Pakistan and the U.S. has recovered his body, U.S. President Barack Obama announced Sunday night.

"Justice has been done," the president declared as crowds formed outside the White House to celebrate, singing "The Star-Spangled Banner" and "We Are the Champions," NBC News reported.

Obama said the 54-year-old bin Laden, whom he called a terrorist "responsible for the murder of thousands of American men, women and children," was killed in Pakistan earlier in the day after a firefight in a military operation that was based on U.S. intelligence. Other U.S. officials said one of bin Laden's sons and two of his most trusted couriers also were killed, as was an unidentified woman who was used as a human shield.

Charles Wolf of New York, whose wife, Katherine, died on Sept, 11, 2001, rejoiced at the news, which he called "wonderful."

"I am really glad that man's evil is off this earth forever," Wolf said. "I am just very glad that they got him."

Former President George W. Bush said in a statement that he had personally been informed by Obama of the death of the terrorist leader whose attacks forever defined his eight years in office.

"This momentous achievement marks a victory for America, for people who seek peace around the world, and for all those who lost loved ones on September 11, 2001," the former president 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."

Obama echoed his predecessor, declaring that "the death of bin Laden marks the most significant achievement to date in our nation's struggle to defeat al-Qaida."

But he stressed that the effort against the organization continues. Al-Qaida remains in existence as an organization, presumably under the leadership of Ayman al-Zawahiri, 59, an Egyptian physician who is widely believed to have been bin Laden's No. 2.

"We must and we will remain vigilant at home and abroad," he said, while emphasizing that "the United States is not and never will be at war with Islam."

Bin Laden shot in the head, U.S. says
Officials had long believed that bin Laden was hiding a mountainous region along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. In August, U.S. intelligence officials got a tip on his whereabouts, which led to the operation that culminated Sunday, Obama said.

U.S. officials told NBC News that U.S. Special Operations forces carried out the attack on the al-Qaida compound, killing bin Laden when they shot him in the head during a firefight.

The special operations forces returned with the body to Afghanistan, U.S. officials said. They said they were ensuring that it was being handled in accordance with Islamic practice and tradition.

"We take this very seriously. This is being handled in an appropriate manner," one said.

Senior administration officials said U.S. officials believed they had known where bin Laden was since September. By mid-February, information developed that made them confident that the information was sound.

In mid-March, Obama headed five National Security Council meetings on the subject. Friday morning, he gave the final order to carry out the attack on a compound in what was described as an "affluent suburb" of Islamabad.

"The bottom line of our collection and analysis was that we had high confidence that the compound held a high-value terrorist target," a senior official said, with a "strong probability" that it was bin Laden.

Bin Laden's compound was huge and "extraordinarily unique," about eight times larger than other homes in the area, U.S. officials said.

They said the compound was isolated by 12-foot walls, with access restricted to two security gates. It had no telephone or Internet service and had clearly been custom built to hide "someone of significance."

'I'm completely numb'
Reaction to the news of bin Laden's death was swift.

Bonnie McEneaney, 57, whose husband, Eamon, died in the 9/11 attacks, said the death of bin Laden was "long overdue."

"It doesn't bring back all the wonderful people who were killed 10 years ago," McEneaney told msnbc.com by phone from her home in New Canaan, Conn.

"I'm completely numb. I'm stunned," she said.

"The first thought I had in my mind was that it didn't bring my son back," Jack Lynch, who lost his son, New York City firefighter Michael Francis Lynch, on Sept. 11, 2001, told msnbc.com.

"You cut the head off a snake, you'd think it would kill the snake. But someone will take his place," Lynch said. "But people like him still exist. The fact that he's gone is not going to stop terrorism."

Lynch, 75, is a retired transit worker. His family's charity, the Michael Lynch Memorial Foundation, has made grants to send dozens of students to college. He said he would not celebrate bin Laden's death.

"I understand that bin Laden was an evil person. He may have believed in what he was doing. I'm not going to judge him," Lynch said. "I'm sure some people will look at this and they'll be gratified that he's dead, but me personally, I'm going to leave his fate in God's hands."

Reaction from U.S. officials who have been entrenched in the battle against al-Qaida for years were more jubilant.

'The world is a better place'
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., Obama's opponent in the 2008 election, said he was "overjoyed that we finally got the world's top terrorist."

"The world is a better and more just place now that Osama bin Laden is no longer in it," McCain said in a statement. "I hope the families of the victims of the September 11th attacks will sleep easier tonight and every night hence knowing that justice has been done."

Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, said that "today, the American people have seen justice."

"In 2001, President Bush said 'we will not tire, we will not falter, and we will not fail.' President Bush deserves great credit for putting action behind those words," King said in a statement. "President Obama deserves equal credit for his resolve in this long war against al-Qaida."

But the development also raised concerns that reprisal attacks from al-Qaida and other Islamist extremist groups could follow soon.

"In the wake of this operation, there may be a heightened threat to the U.S. homeland," a U.S. official said. "The U.S. is taking every possible precaution, (while the) State Department has sent advisories to embassies worldwide and has issued a travel ban for Pakistan."

Police in New York, site of the deadliest attack on Sept. 11, said they had already begun "ramp up" their security on their own, strictly as a precaution.
Click to expand...
Obama speech:

[yt]ZNYmK19-d0U[/yt]
 
Mic_128

Mic_128

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Yeah, he just told me too. Honestly, I would have expected natural causes before the US getting him, but hey, him being gone is him being gone.
 
GoldShadow

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Werekill said:
Woah, that's cool news!

How did he die, exactly?

:phone:
Click to expand...
Some kind of strike that, I believe, was originally intended to kill a number of mid-level targets.

But they got him, too. More a symbolic victory than anything at this point, but a victory nonetheless.
 
M.K

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It's true that, while he may have been on his last legs anyways in terms of health, this is a symbolic "victory" that will more or less boost the morale of the United States.
 
P

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While this seems fantastic... and really it is, but... someone in the Taliban or whatever crazy ***-backwards organization Osama led will just move up and take his spot. We'll see what happens...

Nukes would help. :p
 
T

tera twin

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Yeah, unfortunately this isn't a situation where the "queen" dies so to speak and all the workers die because of the queen's death. I'm sure another al-qaeda member will step up.

Good to boost up the morale of people, though.
 
Dooms

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Wait for the next attack so we go after another terrorist... That's probably what will happen anyways.

LOL @ The picture above.

:172:
 
D

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Aww, I've always been interested in the guy, and how long he would evade capture/death by the United States. I give him credit, he lasted a decade against the most powerful military force in the history of man.

Guy also had an epic beard.
 
El Nino

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Luigitoilet said:
This event isn't as monumental and game-changing as people are claiming.
Click to expand...
I think it might be, maybe not for the entire world, but at least for Al Qaeda. That organization has had a rough year. The protests and revolutions which are ongoing right now in the Middle East and Africa have tested the relevance of jihadist ideology. They needed the people to stay oppressed and angry. If the Middle East and Africa move towards democracy, there may no longer be much attraction to the jihadist ideology. This new development is a symbolic development, but people respond heavily to symbols, especially in a war in which propaganda is one of the primary tools. And I mean propaganda on both sides.

Poitical leaders are hawks engaged in a dangerous game. Bin Laden was neither crazy nor evil, just ruthless and power-seeking. He chose to play the game, and he lost.
 
Mota

Mota

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It's been so long that the impact isn't as significant to me.

Someone else will take his place if they haven't already, I mean the guys been in hiding for a decade and not in the best condition.
 
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