Monday, 02 May 2011
US President Barack Obama and Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. (File photo)
Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was killed on Sunday in a firefight with US forces in Pakistan and his body was recovered, President Barack Obama of the United States announced on early Monday, declaring “justice has been done” a decade after the September 11 attacks.
The news electrified the world community, and brought jubilation in countries that have suffered from terrorism perpetuated by Mr. bin Laden’s organization, Al-Qaeda.
“Justice has been done,” President Obama said in a dramatic White House speech announcing the death of the elusive mastermind of the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington.
The news electrified the world community, and brought jubilation in countries that have suffered from terrorism perpetuated by Mr. bin Laden’s organization, Al-Qaeda.
“Justice has been done,” President Obama said in a dramatic White House speech announcing the death of the elusive mastermind of the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington.
President Obama said US forces led the operation that killed Mr. bin Laden. No Americans were killed in the operation and they took care to avoid civilian casualties, he said.
“The United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of Al-Qaeda and a terrorist who is responsible for the murder of thousands of men, women and children,” President Obama said.
It is a major accomplishment for Mr. Obama and his national security team, after many Americans had given up hope of ever finding Mr. bin Laden.
A crowd gathered outside the White House to celebrate, chanting, “USA, USA,” according to Reuters.
Former president George W. Bush, who was in office at the time of the September 11 attacks and famously said he wanted Mr. bin Laden dead or alive, said the death of the Al-Qaeda leader was a “momentous achievement.”
“The fight against terror goes on, but tonight America has sent an unmistakable message: No matter how long it takes, justice will be done,” Mr. Bush said in a statement.
Mr. Bush, had repeatedly vowed to bring bin Laden to justice “dead or alive” for the 2001 attacks on New York and Washington that killed nearly 3,000 people, but never did before leaving office in early 2009.
US officials said that after searching in vain for the Al-Qaeda leader since he disappeared in Afghanistan in late 2001, the Saudi-born extremist was killed in the Pakistani town of Abbotabad, which is 50 kilometers from Islamabad, and his body recovered.
Having the body may help convince any doubters that Mr. bin Laden is really dead.
He had been the subject of a search since he eluded US soldiers and Afghan militia forces in a large-scale assault on the Tora Bora mountains of Afghanistan in 2001.
The trail quickly went cold after he disappeared and many intelligence officials believed he had been hiding in Pakistan.
While in hiding, Mr. bin Laden had taunted the West and advocated his militant Islamist views in videotapes spirited from his hideaway.
Besides September 11, Washington has also linked Mr. bin Laden to a string of attacks—including the 1998 bombings of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania and the 2000 bombing of the warship USS Cole in Yemen.
It was unclear who would now take over the terrorist organization, although some observers said Monday that it had developed a broad network of self-sustaining cells around the world. Perhaps some cells might be motivated to carry out new terrorist activities in order to underscore Mr. bin Laden’s objective of destroying Western civilization.
Nevertheless, there was general agreement that Mr. bin Laden’s death represents a huge setback for Al-Qaeda because he was such a mythical figure.
The death of bin Laden will also cast a new complexion on the increasingly unpopular war in Afghanistan, where 100,000 troops are still in the country battling the Taliban and Al-Qaeda after a decade of war.
As for President Obama, the news would seem to go a long way toward bolstering his prospects for a second term as president of the United States. Presidential elections will be held in November 2012.
(Abeer Tayel of Al Arabiya can be reached at: abeer.tayel@mbc.net. Nadia Idriss Mayen, also of Al Arabiya, can be reached at: Nadia.mayen@mbc.net)
“The United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of Al-Qaeda and a terrorist who is responsible for the murder of thousands of men, women and children,” President Obama said.
It is a major accomplishment for Mr. Obama and his national security team, after many Americans had given up hope of ever finding Mr. bin Laden.
A crowd gathered outside the White House to celebrate, chanting, “USA, USA,” according to Reuters.
Former president George W. Bush, who was in office at the time of the September 11 attacks and famously said he wanted Mr. bin Laden dead or alive, said the death of the Al-Qaeda leader was a “momentous achievement.”
“The fight against terror goes on, but tonight America has sent an unmistakable message: No matter how long it takes, justice will be done,” Mr. Bush said in a statement.
Mr. Bush, had repeatedly vowed to bring bin Laden to justice “dead or alive” for the 2001 attacks on New York and Washington that killed nearly 3,000 people, but never did before leaving office in early 2009.
US officials said that after searching in vain for the Al-Qaeda leader since he disappeared in Afghanistan in late 2001, the Saudi-born extremist was killed in the Pakistani town of Abbotabad, which is 50 kilometers from Islamabad, and his body recovered.
Having the body may help convince any doubters that Mr. bin Laden is really dead.
He had been the subject of a search since he eluded US soldiers and Afghan militia forces in a large-scale assault on the Tora Bora mountains of Afghanistan in 2001.
The trail quickly went cold after he disappeared and many intelligence officials believed he had been hiding in Pakistan.
While in hiding, Mr. bin Laden had taunted the West and advocated his militant Islamist views in videotapes spirited from his hideaway.
Besides September 11, Washington has also linked Mr. bin Laden to a string of attacks—including the 1998 bombings of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania and the 2000 bombing of the warship USS Cole in Yemen.
It was unclear who would now take over the terrorist organization, although some observers said Monday that it had developed a broad network of self-sustaining cells around the world. Perhaps some cells might be motivated to carry out new terrorist activities in order to underscore Mr. bin Laden’s objective of destroying Western civilization.
Nevertheless, there was general agreement that Mr. bin Laden’s death represents a huge setback for Al-Qaeda because he was such a mythical figure.
The death of bin Laden will also cast a new complexion on the increasingly unpopular war in Afghanistan, where 100,000 troops are still in the country battling the Taliban and Al-Qaeda after a decade of war.
As for President Obama, the news would seem to go a long way toward bolstering his prospects for a second term as president of the United States. Presidential elections will be held in November 2012.
(Abeer Tayel of Al Arabiya can be reached at: abeer.tayel@mbc.net. Nadia Idriss Mayen, also of Al Arabiya, can be reached at: Nadia.mayen@mbc.net)
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