After bin Laden’s death, what’s next for the U.S. and al-Qaida?

The killing of Osama bin Laden in a daring surgical operation conducted by a small team of U.S. Navy SEALs brought the arduous, decade-long search for the 9-11 mastermind to a close.  But even as the country celebrated, many new questions are emerging about what comes next for the U.S., for al-Qaida, and for the fight against extremism. Here are some answers.

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Following the death of Osama bin Laden, does the U.S. now face a greater risk of a terrorist retaliation from al-Qaida?

Bin Laden's death could trigger a backlash against Americans and other Westerners by those who had strong feelings of affinity for the al-Qaida leader. He remained hugely popular in much of the Middle East. This does not mean that everyone who favored him will rush to violence. But to some of his followers, a symbol of Islamic extremist strength has been vanquished. Individuals or networks who saw themselves as bin Laden fellow travelers could look to take revenge.

Still, al-Qaida as an institution is unlikely to be in a position to organize a sophisticated counter-response to bin Laden's death, at least for the time being. Al Qaida's style is to run well-organized operations that involve complex moving parts which simultaneously converge on a high profile target.  In recent years, as the U.S. and its allies have disrupted al-Qaida's networks, it has had an increasingly difficult time organizing sophisticated attack outside the South Asia/Middle East region. It's unlikely that al-Qaida could organize something large scale in the short term.

What does this mean for al-Qaida's future? Will it fade away?

Osama bin Laden and his second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, had become symbolic rather than command and control leaders over al-Qaida assets in recent years. Killing bin Laden removes the symbol, but he could become a rallying martyr in the eyes of some extremists. There are well-organized, potent operations that have affiliated with al-Qaida in Yemen, in North Africa, and elsewhere in the region. They will no doubt continue their operations, at least for the near term. But this is a blow for them.

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What is known about the Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaida's No. 2?

Al-Zawahiri, the Egyptian cleric who remains at large, was an operational and strategic force in building and animating al Qaeda alongside bin Laden. He now becomes the most wanted terrorist in the world. There have been many attempted strikes and near misses against al-Zawahiri, some killing close family members of his. Emboldened by the success against bin Laden, the US will undoubtedly try to maintain momentum. Enormous intelligence efforts will be focused on tracking and either capturing or killing al-Zawahiri.

What does this mean to the image of the U.S. in the world? Where does the U.S. gain? Where does it lose?

The killing of bin Laden removes one of the elements that made America look impotent in the eyes of much of the world. Bin Laden killed thousands of Americans on US soil. The US has responded by spending trillions on its security and various wars since, but has not been able to bring to justice the top perpetrators of 9/11. This is a huge gain, symbolically, for the US, but challenges remain.

The downside risk really rests with Pakistan.  Did Pakistan really not know that Osama bin Laden was residing 35 miles north of its capital?  What is the future of joint operations with Pakistan, if we learn that military or government officials were complicit in hiding bin Laden? Pakistan, a nuclear-armed fragile Islamic nation, is of near unparalleled strategic importance to the US in this region. The downside of killing bin Laden is that it will compel all parties to ask very tough, hard questions of who knew what, when—and then deal with what are likely extremely uncomfortable realities.

Anti-Americanism had already been rising in Pakistan. Will this help or hurt the willingness of Pakistan to cooperate in the fight against extremism?

In the near term, the killing of bin Laden will shake a fragile Pakistan. The U.S. will win some support, but also a lot of condemnation.  In much of Pakistan, Osama bin Laden was a rock star, a pop culture symbol of what many in this region considered to be "righteous terrorism".  Those who believed strongly in bin Laden will feel a loss for some time and will be angry at the U.S. and the West.

How about the broader war on terrorism? How significant is bin Laden's death?

Killing bin Laden is huge symbolically—but of questionable impact when it comes to ending the broad trend of well-organized transnational terrorism. To some degree, the various al-Qaida affiliated networks learned to organize operations without the instruction and support of bin Laden and al-Zawahiri long ago. They will continue to function, and there is always the chance that others will attempt to assert themselves as "the next bin Laden."

But knocking out the top symbol of al-Qaida gives the US a chance to declare success and potentially begin to draw down some forces in Afghanistan.

What will it mean for the war in Afghanistan?

Bin Laden's death will affect the war in Afghanistan in the sense that the hunt for him was one of the primary rationales for the invasion.  There was no narrative available to the U.S. and international forces deployed in Afghanistan to leave unless they had dealt definitively in some way with bin Laden and al-Zawahiri. Now that task is half done. Bin Laden's death does not mean that the US will now draw down forces—but at least the option exists to redeploy some units there while declaring some success.

What are the political implications for President Obama?

This is the prize George W. Bush wanted and couldn't achieve before the end of his term.  The killing of bin Laden shores up Barack Obama's hard power credentials and will force political opponents like Donald Trump and Sarah Palin to change their talking points.  President Obama approached the bin Laden challenge seriously, cautiously, and showed a focused earnestness in bringing him to justice. This will boost President Obama for some time and puts much more solid ground beneath his 2012 presidential run.

Steve Clemons is founder and senior fellow of the American Strategy Program at the New America Foundation. He has consulted with the White House on Middle Eastern issues and is the publisher of The Washington Note.

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Insider tip leads US to Osama Bin Laden

The tip that landed Osama bin Laden came to light in August. It was a "great lead," a federal law enforcement source told Fox News. Officials wouldn't know how good it was until months later. After an exhaustive streak of intelligence gathering and high-level meetings that tip resulted on Sunday in the death of the world's most wanted terrorist at US hands.

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Though President Obama gave only sparse details of the operation in his surprise address to the nation on Sunday night, officials filled in the blanks where they could about the mission that brought to justice the man responsible for the September 11, 2001, terror attacks and countless acts of violence around the world.

Though bin Laden was pursued throughout the George W Bush administration, President Obama renewed the effort on June 2, 2009, when he signed a memo to CIA director Leon Panetta ordering a "detailed operation plan" for finding and capturing bin Laden. More than a year later, what Obama described as a "possible lead" came in. Senior administration officials said they had been tracking an Al-Qaeda courier in bin Laden's inner circle. Two years ago, the US determined the areas in Pakistan where he operated. By August, they had determined the exact location in Abbottabad, Pakistan -- where bin Laden was apparently hiding out in a sprawling compound on the outskirts of town

One US official said the compound was built over a six-year period. The intelligence community, led by the CIA, concluded it was custom-built to house someone of bin Laden's stature. It was enclosed by a high wall topped with barbed wire, and protected by two security gates. Officials said that by February, they determined they would pursue the compound. This touched off a series of high-level meetings to develop a course of action.

According to one senior administration official, the president convened at least nine meetings with his top national security leaders. Those advisers met formally another five times, in addition to countless briefings among the National Security Council, CIA, Pentagon and Joint Chiefs of Staff. The president was actively involved at all levels, the official said. The federal law enforcement source said that by last week, it seemed "this might be the real deal."

The president must have felt the same way. At 8:20 am on April 29, before he left for Alabama to survey storm damage, Obama authorised the operation to target bin Laden. By Sunday, a "small team" of special operations forces was in Pakistan for the final mission. That mission was the all-day focus of national security staff.

According to one official, national security leaders were in the Situation Room since 1 pm on Sunday. The rest of the afternoon went as follows:

At 2 pm, Obama met with the team to review final preparations.

At 3:32 pm, he returned to the Situation Room for an additional briefing.

At 3:50 pm, he learned that bin Laden had been tentatively identified.

At 7:01 pm, the president learned there was a "high probability" the target was bin Laden.

At 8:30 pm, Obama received more briefings.

In Abbottabad, a senior US defence official said the actual operation took place at 3:30 pm ET.

Officials said three adult men other than bin Laden were killed – one was believed to be bin Laden's son, the others couriers. Two women were also injured, the officials said. No Americans were killed, though the US did lose a helicopter that went down due to mechanical failure. An official said the Pakistanis were not involved in the raid but helped provide information that led to it. Intelligence was also provided by detainees.

Osama's six children, two wives held in Pakistan
Islamabad: Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden's six children and two wives have been arrested in Pakistan, a media report said.

Osama bin Laden was killed on Monday in a security operation in Pakistan's Abbotabad city, less than 100 km from the Pakistan capital.

Sources said Osama's six children, two wives and four close friends were arrested during a search operation launched early Monday morning by the Pakistani forces in a mountainous area located some 60 km north of Pakistan's capital Islamabad, Xinhua qouted Dunya TV as saying.

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Bin Laden's son shot down a U.S. helicopter

It said Pakistan's army headquarters, when the U.S. military in Pakistan last week hunt No. 1 leader of al-Qaeda Osama bin Laden, the staff met with bin Laden's residence in the desperate resistance. It was witnessed by U.S. military helicopter gunship shot down bin Laden's son.

It said Pakistan's army headquarters, the U.S. military has dispatched a four armed helicopters launched the attack on the residence of bin Laden •. With bin Laden and his son and shelter in exchange of fire with other officers, including a helicopter was shot down. After the U.S. media have reported that the U.S. military operations in the "no casualties. " The Pakistani military said the claim into question.


Osama bin Laden was holed up in a two-story house 100 yards from a Pakistani military academy when four helicopters carrying U.S. forces swooped early Monday, killing the world's most wanted man and leaving his final hiding place in flames, Pakistani officials and a witness said.

They said bin Laden's guards opened fire from the roof of the compound in the small northwestern town of Abbottabad, and one of the choppers crashed. However U.S. officials said no Americans were hurt in the operation. The sound of at least two explosions rocked Abbottabad as the fighting raged.

Abbottabad is home to three Pakistan army regiments and thousands of military personnel and is dotted with military buildings. The discovery that bin Laden's was living in an army town in Pakistan raises pointed questions about how he managed to evade capture and even whether Pakistan's military and intelligence leadership knew of his whereabouts and sheltered him.

Critics have long accused elements of Pakistan's security establishment of protecting bin Laden, though Islamabad has always denied this. Army and government officials gave no formal comment Monday.

Most intelligence assessments believed bin Laden was holed up somewhere along the lawless border area between Pakistan and Afghanistan, possibly in a cave and sheltered by loyal tribesmen. That region is remote, homes to soaring mountains and the Pakistan state has little or no presence in much of it.

It was not known how long bin Laden had been in Abbottabad, which is surrounded by hills and is less than half a days drive from the border region with Afghanistan and two hours from the capital, Islamabad.

It was also unclear how much of a role - if any - Pakistani security forces played in the operation. A Pakistani official said the choppers took off from Ghazi air base in northwest Pakistan, where the U.S. army was based to help out in the aftermath of the floods in 2010.

Pakistani officials said a son of bin Laden and three other people were killed.

Other unidentified males were taken by helicopter away from the scene, while four children and two woman left in an ambulance, the official said.

Abbottabad resident Mohammad Haroon Rasheed said the raid happened about 1:15 a.m. local time.

"I heard a thundering sound, followed by heavy firing. Then firing suddenly stopped. Then more thundering, then a big blast," he said. "In the morning when we went out to see what happened, some helicopter wreckage was lying in an open field."

He said the house was 100 meters (yards) away from the gate of the Kakul Military Academy, an army run institution where top officers train. A Pakistan intelligence official said the property where bin Laden was staying was 3,000 square feet.

A Pakistani official in the town said fighters on the roof opened fire on the choppers as they came close to the building with rocket propelled grenades. Another official said four helicopters took off from the Ghazi air base in northwest Pakistan.

Last summer, the U.S. army was based in Ghazi to help out in the aftermath of the floods.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information.

Pakistan has in the past cooperated with the CIA in arresting al-Qaida suspects on its soil, but relations between its main intelligence agency and the CIA had been very strained in recent months amid tensions over the future of Afghanistan.

In late January, a senior Indonesian al-Qaida operative, Umar Patek, was arrested at another location in Abbottabad.

News of his arrest only broke in late March. A Pakistani intelligence official said its officers were led to the house where Patek was staying after they arrested an al-Qaida facilitator, Faisal Shahzad, who worked at the post office there.

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Bin laden killed: Dramatic reconstruction of how hit squad finally took out Bin Laden

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Almost ten years after the horror of 9/11, Osama bin Laden must have thought he was safe.
He had moved from the remote, barren mountains on Afghanistan's inhospitable border to a comfortable $1million mansion in one of Pakistan's most picturesque and affluent cities.
Abbottabad - named after James Abbott, the British major who founded the town in 1853 - has such a pleasant climate that it is a major hub for tourists visiting the region.
And the former home of the Gurkhas is still a major military base so locals have no reason to feel threatened.
Behind the walls of his sprawling compound about 60 miles north of the Pakistani capital of Islamabad, Bin Laden had every reason to believe he was way beyond the searching eyes of the Americans he had taunted for so long.
His family was with him and a parade of couriers would bring him everything he needed from the city outside of more than a million people.
So confident was he that the huge three-storey house he was living in was eight times larger than most other homes in the area, hardly a low-profile hideaway for the most wanted man in the world.
But, according to U.S. intelligence sources, Bin Laden was taken completely by surprise by the special forces who had spent the best part of a decade stalking him.

He had, after all, survived two wars launched with the aim of capturing him and his followers.
The last time the Americans and the British got as close - a few months after the attacks on New York and Washington - Bin Laden managed to elude them on horseback through the caves and gullies in the White Mountains of eastern Afghanistan.
For most of the past ten years, Bin Laden lived up to the nickname of 'Elvis' he had been given by the CIA because there had been so many bogus and fanciful sightings.
But as long ago as last August, President Obama was told in an intelligence briefing that there was a possible lead that Bin Laden was hiding in plain sight in Abbottabad.

It took eight months for U.S. and Pakistani agents to confirm for certain that the information was accurate.

Meticulous: Initial intelligence about bin Laden's location in Abottabad first emerged in August

Mr Obama and his national security chiefs wanted to be absolutely sure because the tip seemed so implausible.

After so many dead end enquiries, it was hard to believe that the elusive Al Qaeda chief would be so brazen as to live in a town favoured as a retirement spot for Pakistan's military and society elite.
The ten-foot walls and heavy security surrounding the compound made verification all the more difficult.

But a week ago, Mr Obama was given concrete photographic proof that Bin Laden was there.
After several run-throughs and the diplomatic blessing of the Pakistani government, a small special forces team of U.S. Navy Seals landed in the compound grounds yesterday with the explicit instruction - get Osama bin Laden, dead or alive.
The raid on the compound, which was just 100 yards from a Pakistani military academy, was launched at about 1.15am in the morning, according to witnesses. Four U.S. helicopters took off from the Ghazi air base in northwest Pakistan.
Bin Laden's guards opened fire from the roof and one of the helicopters crashed.

During an operation that took just 40 minutes from start to finish, Bin Laden was shot in the head in a firefight as he tried to evade capture. Three of his men were also killed along with a woman they tried to use as a human shield. One of Bin Laden's eleven sons was said to be among the dead.

Stormed: An image from Geo TV shows flames from the compound where terror mastermind Bin Laden was shot

No Americans were hurt in the mission, but it didn't go without a hitch.

The helicopter they used to breach the mansion walls suffered a mechanical breakdown and couldn't fly the soldiers out.
The Seals burned the helicopter and had to carry Bin Laden's body out on foot, an ignominious ending for the terrorist chief after one of history's biggest manhunts.
It was also a major triumph for a special CIA and special forces team of up to 100 whose mission since September 11 has been to find and kill Bin Laden.

For years, they have had to brave the jibes aimed at both the Bush and Obama administrations over the failure to track down the mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks.
They worked closely with the ISI, the Pakistani intelligence service for whom many CIA officials have a deep mistrust because of the agency's traditional ties with the Pashtuns of Waziristan, who were believed to have harboured Bin Laden for some of his years on the run.
After he evaded capture in mid-December 1991, there were precious few credible leads of his wherebouts.
But about four years ago, CIA agents managed to identify one of his most trusted couriers after a detainee at Guantanamo Bay gave them his nickname.
It took another two years for them to discover the area where the courier and his brother were operating.
By January this year, they found out that the courier and his brother were living in a mansion that appeared to be much larger than anything they could afford.
Suspicions were raised further by the thick walls around the compound.

Mission: U.S. President Barack Obama announces that America's most wanted man is dead

While other homes in the area put rubbish out to be collected, the trash was burned in the ground of the mansion, which did not have a telephone or internet service.
By February, U.S. intelligence officials were confident that Bin Laden and his family were living there and by March, Mr Obama was convening top secret meeting with his senior security staff.
The CIA believe that for many years before settling in Abbottabad, Bin Laden moved from village to village in Waziristan. He communicated only about once a month and never used a telephone.
When he reached a village with his bodyguards he would request a meeting with the local tribal leader and a substantial bribe would be paid.
Bin Laden would then be the guest of the village, where under Pashtun custom, he must be protected.
The main obstacle in finding him was that even if someone wanted to betray him and collect the $25 million reward - there was no one to turn to.

The local police would know Bin Laden was there and if anyone tried to report his presence they would quite likely be killed.

One local mullah from Waziristan agreed to send information about Bin Laden's movements and his beheaded body was found several weeks later with a message that his was the fate of spies.
While Operation Enduring Freedom was successful in liberating Afghanistan from Taliban control after 9/11, there was no doubt that the real prize was Bin Laden himself.
But the Al Qaeda chief had chosen his first redoubt with care. For several years before 2001, he had developed an intricate network of caves and dwellings 14,000ft up in the settlement known as Tora Bora.

The impenetrable mountains not only made it difficult for anybody to track him, they were also just a few miles from Pakistan, allowing him to escape easily as western troops moved in.
The commander of one U.S. military force told the '60 Minutes' news show how soldiers under his command found Bin Laden - but let him slip through their fingers.
The commander, calling himself Dalton Fury, expressed his frustration at having known where Bin Laden was, but feeling he was powerless to do anything.
At one point, he said, his forces were closing in on Bin Laden's men - but he decided to abort the mission because he did not have support from Afghan troops.
And in another incident Delta soldiers actually saw a tall man dressed in camouflage that they believed was Bin Laden - only to have the Al Qaeda leader escape their bombing campaign in the mountains.
Fury talked about a book he has written entitled 'Kill Bin Laden', detailing his memories of the campaign in Tora Bora in 2001.
'Our job was to go find him, capture or kill him, and we knew the writing on the wall was to kill him because nobody wanted to bring Osama bin Laden back to stand trial in the United States somewhere,' the mission commander told his interviewer.
He said the administration's strategy was to let Afghans do most of the fighting, however.
Using radio intercepts and other intelligence, he said, the CIA pinpointed Bin Laden's location in the Tora Bora mountains near Pakistan.
Fury's Delta team joined the CIA and Afghan fighters and piled into pick-up trucks. He claimed their orders were to kill Bin Laden and leave the body with the Afghans, keeping an Afghan face on the war.
However an audacious plan to come at Bin Laden from the back door was vetoed higher-up - Fury claimed he was never sure who.
And a second plan to drop hundreds of landmines over any escape route into Pakistan was also vetoed, with Fury claiming he had no idea why.
The only option left was a frontal assault. Fury said he had 50 men in Delta force up against Bin Laden's 1,000 - support from the Afghan forces was needed.

But, he claimed, many of the Afghan soldiers were not on board - seeing Bin Laden as a hero.

One night - alone without his Afghan allies - Fury said he was told Bin Laden was two kilometres away. Faced with overwhelming odds, he elected to stay away.

But the decision always nagged him. He wrote in his book: 'My decision to abort that effort to kill or capture Bin Laden when we might have been within 2,000 metres of him, about 2,000 yards, still bothers me.
'It leaves me with a feeling of somehow letting down our nation at a critical time.' But, he added, it wasn't worth the risk.
Fury had a second chance: Later, a Delta force named Jackal radioed they had Bin Laden in sight.

He wrote: 'The operation Jackal team observed 50 men moving into a cave that they hadn't seen before. The mujahideen said they saw an individual, a taller fellow, wearing a camouflage jacket. Everybody put two and two together, "okay, that's got to be Osama bin Laden egressing from the battlefield".
'They called up every available bomb in the air, took control of the airspace. And they dropped several hours of bombs on the cave he went into.

'We believe, it was our opinion at the time, that he died inside that cave.'
Later, however, he was proven wrong, when American forces were unable to find Bin Laden's body and the Al Qaeda leader began releasing radio and video footage again.

Fury told 60 Minutes he believes he knows what happened.
He said Bin Laden was wounded in the shoulder by shrapnel from an American bomb, and was then hidden a town next to the Al Qaeda cemetery.

'We believe a gentleman brought him in - a gentleman, him and his family were supporting Al Qaeda during the battle. They were providing food, ammo, water.

'We think he went to that house, received medical attention for a few days then, and then we believe they put him in a vehicle and moved him back across the pass,' he was quoted as saying.

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Bin Laden Dead: How They Got Him -- And What Happens to al Qaeda Now

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The reports started coming in more than a month ago: Osama bin Laden was on the move, and the U.S. had its eye on him. Stressed by the turmoil sweeping his part of the world - tumult he had no roll in sparking - bin Laden was trying to bolster al Qaeda's credibility as young people Tweeted and Facebooked about a future that didn't involve him, or al Qaeda.

Surprisingly, he didn't die a standoff death from an unseen Predator drone, as most would have expected. Instead, a team of U.S. special-operations forces helicoptered into a high-walled compound deep inside Pakistan and killed him and four others in a firefight, including a son of bin Laden and a woman allegedly being used as a human shield. (Is Pakistan Losing Patience in the War on Terror?)

Dispatching a special-forces team into Pakistan makes two things crystal clear: the U.S. believed its intelligence was solid, and it wanted proof he was dead; they wanted his corpse. One of the choppers involved in the raid malfunction and was destroyed; no U.S. personnel were injured in the operation, which lasted about 40 minutes.

The whereabouts and fate of Ayman al-Zawahiri, bin Laden's deputy, remain unknown. Whether bin Laden's death sparks a spasm of violence - or marks the end of al Qaeda as a potent terror force - also remains unclear. Al-Zawahri, an Egyptian-born doctor, recently encouraged Muslims to fight the U.S. and its allies in Libya. "I want to direct the attention of our Muslim brothers in Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, and the rest of the Muslim countries, that if the Americans and the NATO forces enter Libya then their neighbors in Egypt and Tunisia and Algeria and the rest of the Muslim countries should rise up and fight both the mercenaries of Gaddafi and the rest of NATO," Zawahri said, according to the SITE Intelligence Group.

There was a quiet giddiness among U.S. military personnel late Sunday as word began to spread that Osama bin Laden had been killed. This is scant consolation to the survivors of the 3,000 killed that late summer day, but it represents sweet vindication nonetheless.

U.S. intelligence had learned that bin Laden might be holed up in a high-walled compound in Abbottabad, some 50 miles northeast of Islamabad, last August. Basically a suburb of the capital, the well-to-do city is home to many retired Pakistani military officers. That may explain the extraordinary secrecy surround the operation: few top officials in the U.S. government knew such an operation was afoot, and news of it wasn't shared with any allies, including Pakistan. How bin Laden was able to reside in a posh compound for months, if not years, surrounded by former Pakistani military officers remains unknown. (Pakistan-U.S. Border Spat: Crippling the Afghanistan Campaign?)

A U.S. official said a key clue to tracking bin Laden down was learning the name of a trusted courier, which led U.S. intelligence to the compound raided on Sunday. After noting the compound had few electronic links to the outside world - and incinerated its trash, rather than putting it out to be picked up - Obama gave the go-ahead last week for a helicopter raid into the compound. Bin Laden "did resist the assault force," the U.S. official said, but was shot in the head and killed "as our operators came into the compound."

It would be churlish, but accurate, to point out that he had eluded a worldwide manhunt for close to a decade after eluding a tightening, but fraying, U.S.-Afghan net at Tora Bora on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border in December 2001. As hundreds crowded around the White House to celebrate bin Laden's demise, it's also relevant to note that bin Laden's impact peaked on 9/11, and has dwindled ever since. Nonetheless, the symbolic impact of his death cannot be under-estimated, either in the war on terror or on Obama's re-election prospects.

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The Pakistani firefight only codified what a younger generation, where women are playing a major role, has made clear: OBL was a force in a region ruled by autocrats in the 20th Century; he had much less resonance among the younger cohort now taking over.

Pentagon officials have said that al Qaeda has played only a minor role in Afghanistan in recent years. The Americans and their allies there are primarily fighting the Taliban, an indigenous force of Pashtuns whose homeland straddles the Af-Pak frontier.

Bin Laden's death only excises a tumor. The cancer that he represented remains in wide swaths of the world where local populations have been forced into have-not-dom while their leaders have lived well. Whether his demise marks the end of a particularly virulent strain, or will trigger a violent recurrence, remains unknown.

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Bin Laden’s Dead, America Celebrates and Ignorance Reigns Supreme Continue reading at NowPublic.com: Bin Laden’s Dead, America Celebrates and Ignorance Reigns Supreme

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Osama bin Laden, Who the Associated Press calls "the glowering mastermind behind the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks that killed thousands of Americans", was killed in an operation led by the United States, This stated by President Barack Obama on Sunday.

The Fact is that Osama Bin Laden Never claimed responsibly for, and has NEVER been charged with the attacks that took place on September 11th 2001.
The grainy video that was used by the whole of American Media to claim the guilt rested on his shoulders, in fact shows Osama Bin Laden saying he was pleased with the attacks but not that he had any involvement in them.

Robert Muller the then head of the FBI, stated precisely that the reason Osama Bin Laden has never been charged in the World Trade Center attack was because; "We have no evidence to support the accusation (by George Bush and his cabinet members) that Osama Bin Laden had any involvement with the events that took place on September 11th 2001, at the World Trade Center." On the wanted poster for Osama Bin Laden posted by the FBI there is no mention of the World Trade Center Attacks.

According to the Associated Press (AP)

"A small team of Americans carried out the attack and took custody of bin Laden's remains, the president said in a dramatic late-night statement at the White House."

The president has been quoted as stating: "Justice has been done"

September 11th and the events on that day have been the staging point for a great deal of change in the American intelligence community; because of it we changed our entire information gathering structure. It was the catalyst for the creation of Home Land Security which is now the largest and broadest such entity of its kind. It has enormous sums of money at its disposal. In fact, just how much money is involved in this endeavor is not quite known.

What has been abundantly clear is the profit that has been made from the escalation of America's involvement in no less than four (4) wars since September 11th. This allowed for the defense industry known as "The Military Industrial Complex" to in effect, write their own check with the tax payers money. Congress, stirred by the FEAR (emphasis needed) that was reiterated by virtually every media outlet, and vote seeking politician in the country, gave every single corporation with a brand new gadget that kills people a literal 'ton' of money.

The wars that have been fought by young American soldiers, some British, and a dozen or so enlisted men from Turkey; have been based on speculation, bad intelligence, and outright lies.

-Iraq, which has been proven to be a war that has taken on the characteristics of Viet Nam. Both Iraq and Viet Nam were initiated on the premise of a lie, by those very high in our governmental power structure. It was the Weapons of Mass Destruction fairy tale that was told by Bush, Cheney, Rice and Powell.

(Viet Nam, for those who are not old enough to remember, it was the Gulf of Tonkin incident where it was claimed by high ranking government officials (which may have included President Lyndon B. Johnson) That a North Vietnamese Navy vessel fired upon the USS Maddax. This, in turn lead congress to pass a bill that allowed then President Lyndon B. Johnson, to engage North Vietnam in war. In 2005 Documents were declassified that proved the incident never actually happened.)
The war in Afghanistan which has been defined by American soldiers hunting civilians, killing them and mutilating their bodies.

-Pakistan where drones have tallied up a kill ratio of 50 dead civilians to 1 dead insurgent.

-Libya is the new manner of aggression for the American war machine which is continually being defined as reports of civilian deaths from American bombs are dropped with "precision" targeting.

Al-Qaida organization was not wanted for the September 11th attacks, but they have been sought for the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa that killed 231 people and the 2000 attack on the USS Cole that killed 17 American sailors in Yemen, as well as countless other plots, some successful and some foiled.

Even today the media that caters to the President and any politician with influence is blatantly passing over the facts. CBS, NBC, Associated Press, Reuters, MSNBC, Fox News, ABC, CNN, And every major newspaper in the country has printed Osama Bin Laden was "the mastermind behind the September 11th Attacks." The fact is that that there was never enough evidence to even charge him with the crime.

Now America is in celebration of the death of what they have seen, and been shown, by a manipulative government, and corporate owned media, as to be their greatest threat to security.
In the name of security Americans have allowed their civil liberty to be cast aside in the name of false senses of safety. The Patriot act took any semblance of privacy and with its extension that has been granted by congress we have another nine months of illegal wire tapping, warrant less searches, and illegal detention to look forward to.

America is celebrating because they are under the impression that Osama Bin Laden was their sworn enemy and he is dead and defeated. They fail to see that their real enemy is alive and well in the halls of Congress catering to lobbyists while they pander to corporations for the crumbs that are left over devouring their country and all that it entails from within.

 

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osama bin laden dead body pictures

A crowd of perhaps 1,000 has gathered in lower Manhattan at the site of the 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.

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Special Report: Death of Osama Bin Laden

With chants of "USA, USA," revelers celebrating the death of Osama Bin Laden, the man behind the attacks, have spilled into the street, bringing traffic to a standstill.

"It's like the World Series down here," CBS News chief national correspondent Byron Pitts reported from the celebration.

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Osama Bin Laden is dead

Osama Bin Laden Dead Picture

For Ashley Smith, the news of Bin Laden's death brings a bit of closure. She worked two blocks from Ground Zero on the day of the attacks and was forced to run from her office for safety when the buildings collapsed. She joined the impromptu rally in lower Manhattan.

Key dates in the hunt for Osama bin Laden

She was skeptical of the U.S.'s response initially but now says it was all worth it. "I felt like we had all of our money fighting this endless war over there, now it totally validates it," said Smith.

Diane Massaroli lost her husband, Michael, nearly 10 years ago on 9/11. She only comes to Ground Zero once a year on the anniversary of the attacks but felt compelled to come tonight.

"We can never celebrate ever since this happened. [Tonight] is sad also but it's a celebration," Massaroli said.

President Barack Obama said in an address from the White House late Sunday night that a small team of Americans carried out the operation to kill bin Laden in Pakistan, and that cooperation from Pakistani authorities was crucial.

"Shortly after taking office, I directed Leon Panetta, the director of the CIA, to make the killing or capture of bin Laden the top priority of our war against al Qaeda," Mr. Obama said. "Tonight, we can say to those who have lost loved ones to al Qaeda's terror, justice has been done."

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Obama tells nation bin Laden is dead

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Osama bin Laden is shown in Afghanistan, In this April 1998 file photo

Osama bin Laden, the glowering mastermind behind the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks that killed thousands of Americans, was killed in an operation led by the United States, President Barack Obama said Sunday

A small team of Americans carried out the attack and took custody of bin Laden's remains, the president said in a dramatic late-night statement at the White House.

A jubilant crowd gathered outside the White House as word spread of bin Laden's death after a global manhunt that lasted nearly a decade.

"Justice has been done," the president said.

The development comes just months before the tenth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Centers and Pentagon, orchestrated by bin Laden's al-Qaida organization, that killed more than 3,000 people.

The attacks set off a chain of events that led the United States into wars in Afghanistan, and then Iraq, and America's entire intelligence apparatus was overhauled to counter the threat of more terror attacks at home.

Al-Qaida organization was also blamed for the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa that killed 231 people and the 2000 attack on the USS Cole that killed 17 American sailors in Yemen, as well as countless other plots, some successful and some foiled.

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