Bin Laden Dead, U.S. Official Says
By HELENE COOPER

WASHINGTON —President Obama announced late Sunday that Osama bin Laden, the leader of Al Qaeda responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks, was killed in a firefight during an operation he ordered Sunday inside Pakistan, ending a 10-year manhunt for the world’s most wanted terrorist. American officials were in possession of his body, he said.

“On nights like this one, ‘’ the president said, “we can say that justice has been done.’’

The fate of Ayman al-Zawahiri, the Al Qaeda number two in command, was unclear.

The death of Mr. Bin Laden is a defining moment in the American-led war on terrorism. What remains to be seen is whether the death of the leader of Al Qaeda galvanizes his followers by turning him into a martyr, or whether it serves as a turning of the page in the war in Afghanistan and gives further impetus to the Obama administration to bring American troops home.

President Obama said that on Sunday, a small team of U.S. operatives launched a “targeted assault’’ on a compound in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad where months of intelligence work had established that Mr. Bin Laden was living. Mr. Bin Laden was killed after a firefight, and the troops took custody of his body.

The killing ended a 10-year manhunt in which Mr. Bin Laden repeatedly eluded his pursuers, deeply frustrating the Bush administration and counterterrorism officials.

The news of the death of the leader of Al Qaeda electrified the world — crowds gathered outside the White House, cheering, as they waited for the president to confirm the news. Mr. bin Laden was able to elude capture by hiding out in the mountains of Afghanistan and elsewhere. He initially escaped from Tora Bora in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan after an American invasion routed the Taliban, his protectors.

Since then, he issued some 30 messages, in audio, video or electronic text, sometimes taunting, sometimes gloating, sometimes urging new terrorist attacks. Intelligence officials believe the messages were passed from hand to hand repeatedly to obscure any trail back to his hiding place. Even while in hiding, he remained a potent symbolic figure. And American officials believe, based on intercepted communications from second- and third-tier Qaeda operatives, that he also still helped shape Al Qaeda’s strategy.

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Isn't it sad that I heard about this through Neopets? Man, I need to watch the news more.
My one friend is worried about a counter-attack. Anyone else?

Edited by Sakura on May 1, 2011 at 23:58:53

This event is a huge double-edged sword. While Osama is finally dead, and a lot of dead souls are being laid to rest with his passing, this can and probably will cause a lot of problems for the US and its allies in this War on Terror--by slaying Osama, we've just made him into a martyr, and chances are they're going to step up on their attacks on us and our allies.

In that sense, it'd be better if Osama had died of natural causes, but then, we wouldn't even know if he died or not.

Edited by Teej on May 2, 2011 at 6:32:44

Wow Teej, and I thought I was a nerd.

Good riddance indeed. This certainly doesn't mean the end of terrorism. I doubt that Bin Laden's followers will cease his work, nor renounce their attacks, however, this certainly puts a dent in Al-Qaeda's forces. Little by little, this war will be won.

Neopets, eh? I can relate. I found out from tumblr last night when stuff like this suddenly got reblogged about a million times.

I hate to sound like a pessimist.
But even with Osama bin Laden dead, I'm sure there are a lot of terrorists who'd more than love to sit at his desk and say, "now I'm in charge!". I'm sure he's the most ( or shall I say, "one of" ? ) powerful guy in Al Qaida. We did set a milestone with our anti-terror campaign and showed them we're boss. But that's not going to easily deter further terrorist attacks. Just don't use Osama's death as an excuse to feel safe. Nothing's over yet. Let's just be careful and see what happens in the near future.

Edited by Packard on May 3, 2011 at 22:07:18

I'm not really comfortable celebrating the death of anyone, even Bin Laden. I can't rightly put my finger on why, exactly. But it just doesn't seem appropriate or consistent with my moral code.

I don't even feel the urge to celebrate. I'm just tired. Tired of all this death, and all this killing. Not to say that the US didn't do what needed to be done or anything, but I'm just tired of it all.

I'm with Mega X. I'm not about to rejoice in the death of anyone, whatever they've done and how much I loath everything they are and what they stand for.

Also his death won't mean any difference as far as The West is concerned. As much as Bush may have done to attempt to vilify this man terrorism is bigger than him and will outlive Al-Qaeda itself.

Edited by Samsara on May 7, 2011 at 0:07:27

Side note, I can't believe you're talking about victory music and haven't mentioned:

to Dave: it wasn't victory music.

Just sayin'

To Samsara:



Edited by Teej on May 8, 2011 at 14:10:15

...as much as I like Portal 2 the opening verse to Still Alive was relevant to the conversation at hand

[quote]Originally posted by Teej


Edited by Teej on May 2, 2011 at 6:32:44[/quote]
Guile's theme goes with everything.

No guys, this is our victory music! http://www.youtube.com/v/G2nSEZ6kEuk?version=3

Yea I dunno how everyones posting videos directly so I just have this link

Edited by Tri-Edge on May 24, 2011 at 10:16:29