Osama bin Laden killed in US raid & buried at sea
Monday, May 02, 2011
By: Philip Rucker, Scott Wilson and William Branigin,
Washington Post
Osama bin Laden was buried at sea Monday after U.S. forces
raided his well-appointed hideout in Pakistan, shot him in a
firefight and spirited his body out of the country aboard a
helicopter, U.S. officials said.
The death of the long-hunted al-Qaeda leader, who had eluded
intensive U.S. efforts to capture or kill him after the Sept. 11,
2001, terrorist attacks he ordered, triggered warnings Monday that
his radical Islamist network or sympathizers could try to retaliate
against Americans or U.S. interests.
It also served, U.S. officials said, to send a message to the
extremist Taliban movement fighting to make a comeback in
Afghanistan, where it had harbored bin Laden and al-Qaeda before
being driven from power by U.S.-backed Afghan forces in November
2001. The message: give up hope of defeating U.S. and NATO forces,
renounce al-Qaeda and join the political process.
Bin Laden was killed early Monday in Pakistan (Sunday afternoon
in Washington) in what officials described as a surgical raid by
U.S. Navy SEALs on his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, a garrison
town 72 miles by road north of the capital, Islamabad.
In a rare Sunday night address from the East Room of the White
House, President Obama said a small team of U.S. personnel attacked
the compound, where bin Laden had been hiding since at least last
summer. During a firefight, the U.S. team killed bin Laden, 54, and
took custody of his body in what Obama called "the most significant
achievement to date in our nation's effort to defeat al-Qaeda."
At the White House early Monday afternoon, Obama said: "This is
a good day for America. Our country has kept its commitment to see
that justice is done. The world is safer. It is a better place
because of the death of Osama bin Laden."
Speaking at a ceremony to award Medals of Honor posthumously to
two Korean War veterans, Obama said the raid serves as a reminder
"that, as a nation, there's nothing we can't do."
The discovery that bin Laden had been hiding in a well-populated
part of Pakistan, rather than a remote location, raised new
questions about the extent to which Pakistan is cooperating with
the United States in combating terrorism.
U.S. forces flew to bin Laden's hideout in helicopters about 1
a.m. Monday (4 p.m. Sunday in Washington) from neighboring
Afghanistan. Bin Laden was killed "in a firefight" after he and his
guards resisted the U.S. attackers, a senior Obama administration
official said. U.S. personnel identified him by facial recognition.
Bin Laden was shot in the head, the Associated Press reported.
A U.S. official said the SEAL team quickly flew bin Laden's body
by helicopter back to Afghanistan, where it was positively
identified. Then, the official said, the body was taken out of
Afghanistan and "buried at sea," in part because the U.S.
government did not want an accessible gravesite that could become a
shrine for bin Laden's followers. The body of water where the
burial at sea took place was later identified as the northern
Arabian Sea.
The official said the body was buried "in accordance with
Islamic tradition," meaning within 24 hours of bin Laden's death.
In general, burial at sea means tipping the body overboard -
wrapped, likely, in a shroud - after a brief service.
A senior intelligence official later told reporters at the
Pentagon that bin Laden's body was buried at sea from the aircraft
carrier USS Carl Vinson after traditional Islamic rites including
the washing of the corpse.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity under ground
rules set by the Pentagon, said a woman believed to be bin Laden's
wife identified him by name during the U.S. raid that killed him in
Pakistan, the Associated Press reported.
Obama said neither Americans nor civilians were harmed in the
raid on bin Laden's compound. Three other adult males were killed -
two were bin Laden's couriers and a third was his adult son -
according to a senior administration official. One woman was killed
when she was "used as a shield by a male combatant" and two others
were injured, the official said. There were also children at the
compound.
During the raid, which lasted less than 40 minutes, one U.S.
helicopter broke down. The crew destroyed the helicopter with
explosives, so as not to leave the technology behind, and U.S.
forces exited on the remaining aircraft.
"All non-combatants were moved safely away from the compound
before the detonation" of the helicopter, a U.S. official said.
In Abbottabad, there was conflicting information on who owned
the house and on details of the raid. Two Abbottabad residents who
live near the compound said the people who lived in the house were
Pashtuns from the Swat Valley. One said two brothers lived there,
one of whom was a contractor who built the house in 2005.
A Pakistani security source said bin Laden's wife and daughter
were taken to the Combined Military Hospital in Abbottabad after
the raid, the wife with a bullet wound in the leg. The official
also said that the owners of the house were two Afghans named Tariq
and Arshad.
A Pakistani intelligence official initially claimed early Monday
that the raid was a joint operation carried out "primarily" by the
Inter-Services Intelligence agency, contradicting U.S. officials
who said it was conducted in strict secrecy by Americans without
previously informing Pakistani intelligence, which has long been
viewed as riddled with Taliban sympathizers. The Pakistani official
later said the raid was "based on intelligence input from us" but
that Pakistan did not participate. The discovery that bin Laden was
living close to Pakistani military installations was embarrassing
"to an extent, yes," the official said. "Had we known, we would
have taken him out."
U.S. government facilities around the world were placed on
heightened alert after the raid, while the State Department issued
a worldwide travel alert warning of "enhanced potential for
anti-American violence given recent counter-terrorism activity in
Pakistan."
CIA director Leon Panetta told his agency that terrorist groups
around the world "almost certainly will attempt to avenge" bin
Laden's death.
"We must - and will - remain vigilant and resolute," Panetta
wrote in a congratulatory memo. "But we have struck a heavy blow
against the enemy. The only leader they have ever known, whose
hateful vision gave rise to their atrocities, is no more. The
supposedly uncatchable one has been caught and killed."
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton vowed Monday that the
United States "will continue to take the fight to al-Qaeda and its
Taliban allies." Appearing before reporters at the State
Department, she said: "Even as we mark this milestone, we should
not forget that the battle to stop al-Qaeda and its syndicate of
terror will not end with the death of bin Laden."
She added: "Our message to the Taliban remains the same, but
today it may have even greater resonance. You cannot wait us out.
You cannot defeat us. But you can make the choice to abandon
al-Qaeda and participate in a peaceful political process."
George J. Tenet, director of the CIA at the time of the Sept. 11
attacks, expressed gratitude Monday on behalf of "those of us who
worked against bin Laden and al-Qaeda going back to the mid 1990s,
across three administrations."
"This act of courage and professional discipline, hopefully,
will bring healing to families who lost loved ones on the USS Cole,
at our embassies in East Africa, the World Trade Center, Pentagon
and the fields of Pennsylvania," Tenet said. "We must also never
forget the families of our allies around the world who have also
suffered from heinous acts of terrorism inspired by bin Laden."
But Anthony H. Cordesman, a military and terrorism expert at the
Center for Strategic and International Studies, said bin Laden
could gain some posthumous stature. "Extremists and terrorists are
likely to admire the fact that Osama is reported to have died
fighting, and that the U.S. had to destroy one of the helicopters
used in the raid," he said. "They will take the same comfort if
reports are correct that two bin Laden couriers, and one of Osama
bin Laden's sons, were also killed in fighting the SEALs."
The killing of the terrorism mastermind who had eluded U.S.
forces for nearly a decade drew a spontaneous, cheering crowd late
Sunday outside the White House gates and at New York's Ground Zero,
the site of al-Qaeda's 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center.
"We will be relentless in defense of our citizens and our
friends and allies," a somber Obama said Sunday night in his
nine-minute statement that aired live on television worldwide. "We
will be true to the values that make us who we are. And on nights
like this one, we can say to families who have lost loved ones to
al-Qaeda's terror: Justice has been done."
Bin Laden's killing will provide a clear moment of victory for
Obama at a time of deep political turmoil overseas that is upending
long-standing U.S. policy in much of the Muslim world, particularly
the Middle East.
It also comes nearly 10 years after bin Laden orchestrated the
deadliest terrorist attack on U.S. soil, when al-Qaeda terrorists
hijacked three passenger jets and crashed them into the World Trade
Center and the Pentagon and crashed a fourth jet in rural
Shanksville, Pa.
"Today's achievement is a testament to the greatness of our
country and the determination of the American people," Obama said.
"The cause of securing our country is not complete, but tonight we
are once again reminded that America can do whatever it is we set
our mind to. That is the story of our history."
Years in the making
The secret operation that culminated with bin Laden's death was
years in the making. For most of the past decade, bin Laden was
thought to be hiding in Pakistan, but American intelligence had
lost his trail until picking up fresh intelligence of his possible
whereabouts last August.
After months of studying intelligence and reviewing operational
plans, Obama gave the order on Friday morning for the action that
ended in bin Laden's death. The operation took place in Abbottabad,
a city of about 100,000 in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province,
about a two-hour drive north of Islamabad. Named for a British
military officer who founded it as a military cantonment and summer
retreat, it is the headquarters of a brigade of the Pakistan army's
2nd Division.
A Special Operations team conducted the mission based on CIA
intelligence, some of which was obtained from detainees in U.S.
custody, according to senior U.S. officials who detailed the
operation under the condition of anonymity.
"We've been staring at the compound for months trying to figure
out for sure whether we had enough to go with," one official said.
Operatives have "been working this target for years, years, years.
They finally found the guy who led to the guy who led to the guy
who led to the guy, and this is it."
Beginning in September, the CIA began to work with Obama on a
set of intelligence assessments, which led him to believe that it
was possible that bin Laden might be located at the compound.
By mid-February, Obama determined that there was a sound
intelligence basis for pursuing this theory and developing courses
of action in case it proved correct. He held five National Security
meetings in the second half of March to discuss potential
action.
On Friday, shortly before flying to Alabama to visit
tornado-ravaged communities, Obama gathered senior officials in the
Diplomatic Room. At 8:20 a.m., he made the decision to undertake
the operation.
National security adviser Thomas E. Donilon prepared the formal
orders and convened senior national security officials that
afternoon to plan for the operation. The United States did not
share any intelligence with foreign governments, including
Pakistan's, and only a "very small number" of people within the
U.S. government knew about it, one official said.
Throughout the afternoon Sunday, Obama met with senior officials
in the Situation Room for briefings on the operation. At 3:50 p.m.,
Obama learned that bin Laden was tentatively identified, and the
president remained "actively involved in all facets of the
operation, " a senior administration official said.
The courier
The operation hinged almost entirely on the hunt for a single
man: a courier working out of Pakistan who had been trusted by bin
Laden for years.
U.S. analysts and operatives spent years figuring out the
courier's identity, senior administration officials said,
concluding that he was a former protege of Khalid Sheik Mohammed,
the self-declared mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks who is being
held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The courier "had our constant
attention," one official said.
Detainees "identified this man as one of the few al-Qaeda
couriers trusted by bin Laden, [and] indicated he might be living
with or protecting bin Laden," the official said. But until four
years ago, the United States was unable to track the courier down
or uncover his real name. In 2009, U.S. officials narrowed down the
region in Pakistan where the courier was working, senior
administration officials said.
Then, in August, U.S. officials found the compound that turned
out to be bin Laden's hiding spot. It was described as an
extraordinary place, with 12- to 18-foot security walls, multiple
interior walls dividing the property and massive privacy walls
blocking even a third-story balcony.
"When we saw the compound ... we were shocked by what we saw,"
the official told reporters, describing it as "an extraordinarily
unique compound," built perhaps in 2005 and expressly for bin
Laden. "Everything we saw . . . was perfectly consistent with what
our experts expected bin Laden's hideout to look like."
A senior official said the property, valued at $1 million, had
no Internet or phone service. But photos of the property appeared
to show a satellite dish at the property - a discrepancy that was
not immediately explained.
Bin Laden's capture offered a sense of closure for families of
those lost in the 2001 attacks. Basmattie Bishundat, whose son,
Kris Romeo Bishundat, died at the Pentagon on Sept. 11, was glued
to her television in the Maryland suburb Waldorf in the early hours
of Monday, wishing she could join the revelers at the White
House.
"I cannot believe it, finally," Bishundat murmured as she
watched the pictures from the White House on CNN. "All kinds of
emotions. Finally, a sense of closure. Finally, they've got the
person who started all of this mess."
With the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks approaching
this year, bin Laden's assassination could benefit Obama
domestically even more than the capture of former Iraqi dictator
Saddam Hussein helped propel then-President George W. Bush to
reelection in 2004.
Obama called Bush and former president Bill Clinton, as well as
senior congressional leaders, before announcing bin Laden's death
to the nation.
Although Bush and former officials were quick to declare bin
Laden's killing a victory that transcended party lines, it
represented the culmination of the former president's promise,
never fulfilled during his time in office, to capture the al-Qaeda
leader "dead or alive."
In a statement, Bush congratulated Obama and the military and
intelligence personnel who "devoted their lives to this
mission."
"They have our everlasting gratitude," Bush said. "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 fight against terror goes on, but
tonight America has sent an unmistakable message: No matter how
long it takes, justice will be done."
Obama announced bin Laden's death eight years to the day after
Bush declared the end of major combat operations in Iraq, a war
spawned in large part by the Sept. 11 attacks, in front of a
"Mission Accomplished" banner on the deck of an aircraft
carrier.
Condoleezza Rice, Bush's secretary of state, said in her own
statement: "Nothing can bring back bin Laden's innocent victims,
but perhaps this can help salve the wounds of their loved
ones."
Victory for U.S.
Bin Laden, the son of a billionaire Saudi Arabian contractor,
was wanted by the United States not only for the Sept. 11
hijackings but also for al-Qaeda's bombings of U.S. embassies in
Tanzania and Kenya in 1998, which killed 224 civilians and wounded
more than 5,000 people. The U.S. government had offered a $25
million reward for information leading to his capture or death.
He was one of a handful of Islamist radicals who in 1988 founded
al-Qaeda - which means "the base" in Arabic - to coordinate the
efforts of various groups fighting the Soviet army in Afghanistan.
After the Soviets withdrew from Afghanistan, al-Qaeda eventually
shifted its effort to target another superpower: the United
States.
A senior administration official said the loss of bin Laden puts
al-Qaeda "on a path of decline that will be difficult to
reverse."
"As the only al-Qaeda leader whose authority was universally
respected, he also maintained his cohesion, and his likely
successor, Ayman al-Zawahiri, is far less charismatic and not as
well respected within the organization, according to comments from
several captured al-Qaeda leaders," the official said. "He probably
will have difficulty maintaining the loyalty of bin Laden's largely
Gulf Arab followers."
That bin Laden was killed - rather than captured - was a victory
itself for U.S. officials, who had dreaded the prospect of a long
and complicated legal battle if he was taken into U.S. custody.
With the military brig at Guantanamo Bay no longer being used to
house new detainees, and with the country paralyzed by the politics
of where and how to try other alleged perpetrators of the Sept. 11
attacks, the logistics of trying bin Laden could have turned the
capture into a spectacle. Now, although he might become a martyr to
his supporters, it will be as an invisible hero.
"Every day he was alive was a symbolic victory," said Dan Byman,
director of research at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at
the Brookings Institution and professional staff member on the 9/11
Commission. "This is a man we have hunted with different degrees of
intensity for more than 10 years. ... His successful defiance was
damaging to the United States."
Washington reacts
Obama's announcement on Sunday seemed to electrify Washington
and indeed the country. Hundreds of people streamed toward the
White House with flags, some chanting "U.S.A.! U.S.A.!" In New
York, many more were celebrating at Ground Zero and in Times
Square.
Before Obama announced the killing, top administration officials
divided up the most senior members of Congress and began making
calls in the evening, according to congressional aides in both
parties. Vice President Biden contacted Senate Minority Leader
Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.); Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates called
Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), the top Republican on the Senate Armed
Services Committee; and Secretary of State Clinton called Sen. John
F. Kerry (D-Mass.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee.
Senior congressional leaders issued statements commending the
military for the killing.
"Today, the American people have seen justice," House Homeland
Security Chairman Peter T. King (R-N.Y.), whose Long Island
district lost many in the 2001 attacks, said in a statement. "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. President Obama deserves equal
credit for his resolve in this long war against al-Qaeda."
Kerry urged vigilance, saying: "A single death does not end the
threat from al-Qaeda and its affiliated groups."
"The killing of Osama bin Laden closes an important chapter in
our war against extremists who kill innocent people around the
world," Kerry added. "We are a nation of peace and laws, and people
everywhere should understand that our 10-year manhunt was in search
of justice not revenge. Terrorists everywhere must never
doubt that the United States will hunt them down no matter where
they are, no matter how long it takes."
Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-N.Y.) told CNN: "We've cut the head off of
the worm, but they may grow another head."
Minutes after the news broke on Sunday night, hundreds of people
rushed to the White House to celebrate. Many were George Washington
University students who were cramming for finals when someone
alerted an entire dormitory building after seeing a bulletin on
television.
"I feel like relief," said freshman Molly Nostrand, 19, who was
a fourth-grader in 2001. "After 10 years, it's a sense of closure
in a way."
Those who arrived early to the impromptu street celebration sang
"The Star-Spangled Banner" in roars and chanted "U.S.A.!" Many
brought American flags and some put together signs.
"Ding, Dong, Bin Laden is Dead," one read.
One group of waved a "Bush-Cheney 2000" election poster.
"I think it's an accomplishment for the U S of A," Richard
Indoe, 73, a farmer from Ohio said, shortly after filming a few
seconds of the revelry using a flip cellphone. "Too bad this didn't
happen during George W. Bush's time."