It involved surveillance, analysis of many bits of information, interceptions, and the extraordinary skills of our Special Operations Forces. The CIA and the military worked together seamlessly. The raid was a culmination of intense and tireless efforts on the part of many dedicated national security personnel over a period of many years.
It was a highly complex, innovative, and clandestine operation that led us to Osama bin Laden. We would get a bit of intelligence from one source, carefully analyze it, and then use it to drive further efforts and operations. At the end, the President was given accurate, relevant, and timely intelligence.
He made the decision among the options of 1 a raid as was conducted , 2 destroying the compound from the air, or 3 simply further delay. But I always thought that we would eventually get him. His capture came about as a result of reforms that have recently been enacted in the federal government. In short, there is much closer collaboration and sharing of information among intelligence and military components of the federal government.
And we now have a major source of new information that the intelligence community will analyze in very great detail. The trove of information — the captured hard drive and documents — recovered from his compound may eventually be even more important than his death.
As we examine this information we will, first, seek information about imminent threats, then the information will be parceled out among experts to do a very deep dive. To get this vast quantity of digital material is really good news. The capture and removal of Osama bin Laden raises many urgent questions.
Among them are the following:. For years, the U. While Pakistan has cooperated with U. Some U. The questions abound: For example, would he have chosen to live in Abbottabad unless he had some assurance of protection from Pakistan military and intelligence officials? Our suspicions are growing. We need to know more about what officials in the Pakistani government knew — if anything — and whether the Pakistani government will be a better partner in identifying and apprehending terrorists in the future.
Having said that, this difficult and complex relationship with Pakistan must be managed, not dissolved, in order to advance our shared interests in countering terrorism and ending the war in Afghanistan.
My guess is that Pakistan will continue to demand that the U. The death of Osama bin Laden may very well, in the short run, strengthen the extremists. Pakistan has been less than a full partner, in our counterterrorism efforts and in Afghanistan.
It has long been an internally divided government. Parts of its government are sympathetic to terrorism, parts are unwilling to act aggressively against it, parts wanting to contain and restrict al-Qaeda. Other parts are either incompetent or playing a double game with and against terrorism.
The United States needs cooperation with Pakistan in its fight against terrorism in Afghanistan. It provides a vital transit link for goods destined for U. It is already one of the most difficult bilateral relationships in the world.
We can only manage it, we cannot resolve all the tensions. After many demands to cut aid to Pakistan, extensive efforts are now underway to ease tensions between the two countries. In the end, the U. Of this we can be sure: More tense times lie ahead in the U. Our focus must be on long-term interests, not short-term frustration.
We need a healthy Pakistan that fights extremism and terror, and that means we should help democratic forces within Pakistan. Most importantly, it showed bin Laden and his associates that it was possible to put pan-Islamism into practice.
After the Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan in , bin Laden returned to Saudi Arabia to step up fundraising for this new and more complicated mission. After one more year of preparation, al Qaeda struck for the first time: A bomb exploded in a hotel in Aden, Yemen, that had housed American troops on their way to a peacekeeping mission in Somalia. No Americans died in the blast, but two Austrian tourists did. Emboldened, bin Laden and his associates embraced violent jihad in earnest.
For example, they trained and armed the Somali rebels who killed 18 American servicemen in Mogadishu in National Guard training center in Riyadh that same year; and the truck bomb that destroyed the Khobar Towers, an American military residence in Dharan, in On August 7, , bombs exploded simultaneously at the U. Embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, where people were killed and 4, were injured, and Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, where 11 people were killed and 85 were injured.
Al Qaeda took credit for the bombings. Then, on October 12, , a small boat loaded with explosives plowed into the hull of the U. Cole, an American naval destroyer docked off the coast of Yemen.
Bin Laden took credit for that incident as well. Lifetime 0 Expired 0 Redeemed 0. Total redeemable TimesPoints 0. Mon, Nov 15, Updated Notification Center. News » osama bin laden.
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It's almost certain Afghanistan's Taliban won't speak at UN. US promise for reality check on Pakistan--long history of failure. Al-Qaida could strike US from Afghanistan base next year, spies say. June 12, - A Russian newspaper publishes what it claims is an interview with Mullah Mohammed Omar. Omar states bin Laden is alive in Afghanistan. The fire from this war will reach America, and it will burn the capital that launched an unjust attack on Muslims.
March 10, - Muslim clerics in Spain issue what they call the world's first fatwa, or Islamic edict, against bin Laden. They call him an apostate and urge others of their faith to denounce him. The ruling is issued by the Islamic Commission of Spain, the main body representing the country's Muslim community.
December - The US government admits a "lack of intelligence" on bin Laden's whereabouts, noting he could be in Afghanistan or Pakistan. May 2, - In the early morning hours, a small group of US Forces, including Navy Seals, raid a walled and fortified compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
In the ensuing firefight, bin Laden and three other men die. A woman also dies. Bin Laden reportedly dies of a gunshot wound to the head. DNA samples are taken before his body is buried at sea. Photos: The death of Osama bin Laden. Click through to see reactions from around the world following the death of the al Qaeda leader. Hide Caption. President Obama edits his remarks in the Oval Office prior to making a televised statement announcing bin Laden's death.
Revelers gather at the fence on the north side of the White House.
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