Photo: Rachel Maddow
The terrorist Osama bin Laden is dead, NBC correspondent Andrea Mitchell reports. The United States has bin Laden's body, NBC is reporting, and he is dead as the result of an American action in Pakistan Afghanistan (or Pakistan -- this point is not clear) Abbottabad, Pakistan.
"We could be turning to a new phase," Richart Engel is saying on TV. With democracy and the push for democracy taking root across the Middle East, bin Laden had become "despicable" in the region, he says. And now the U.S. seems to have gotten the man sought by two presidents, in Pakistan, where he'd taken shelter. This so happens to be the eighth anniversary of President George W. Bush donning that flight suit and proclaiming "mission accomplished."
The crowd formed in minutes.
President Bush led the nation into war in Afghanistan to get bin Laden and to break up the Afghan government that had given him a base for the 9-11 attacks. Mr. Bush then led the nation into war in Iraq under several discredited rationales. American troops continue to sacrifice their lives in both countries. After failing to catch bin Laden in Afghanistan, the U.S. expanded into what amounts to a third, undeclared war in Pakistan, run by the CIA. NBC reports that bin Laden was not killed by a drone strike, but rather a Special Ops action that had been months in the making. NBC reports that bin Laden was shot in the head during a firefight at a specially built compound. The ground fighting lasted less than 40 minutes. Details remain scant -- one helicopter was reportedly lost and a woman used as a human shield was killed.
A small crowd of 50 or so people has gathered outside the White House, singing the national anthem and cheering. President Obama is expected to speak momentarily.
Rachel Maddow, tweeting from outside the White House.
Singing the national anthem on my right -- and na na na na hey hey hey goodbye on my left. Now chanting: "Yes We Did!". People climbing lampposts. Beach ball bouncing around the crowd. People and flags in the trees over the White House fence.
"Nearly 3,000 citizens taken from us, leaving a gaping hole in our hearts," President Obama said, opening with a remembrance of 9-11. He says that since then, we've removed the Taliban government that supported bin Laden and captured scores of terrorists. He says he directed CIA chief Leon Panetta to make capturing or killing bin Laden the top priority. Last August, Mr. Obama says, he was briefed on a lead that bin Laden was hiding in Pakistan. Last week, he believed the United States had enough information to act. Today, the U.S. struck the compound, and killed bin Ladin. "Over the years, I have repeatedly made clear that we would take action within Pakistan if we knew where he was," Mr. Obama said. He added, "On nights like this one, we can say to families who have lost loved ones to Al Qaeda's terror: Justice has been done."
Among the many official statements to come tonight from elected leaders is one from former President Bush. He writes in part, "No matter how long it takes, justice will be done."
Photo: Rachel Maddow
And this from New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, whose primary election was scheduled for 9-11 and interrupted by the attacks: "The killing of Osama bin Laden does not lessen the suffering that New Yorkers and Americans experienced at his hands, but it is a critically important victory for our nation -- and a tribute to the millions of men and women in our armed forces and elsewhere who have fought so hard for our nation."
Photo: Rachel Maddow
Happiest crowd on earth.
Rachel just tweeted, "In DC. People streaming on foot toward the WH. Car horns honking and much shouting. People hopping out of cabs in the middle of traffic. Guy on a bike just passed me with a US flag cape. Happy scrum in front of the White House -- USA! USA! Chants. One adorable very drunk guy yelling '10 Years!!'" In New York, the twitters are showing signs of people heading out for Ground Zero and Times Square.
Rachel Maddow reports live from in front of the White House where a rapidly growing throng of people are celebrating the news of the death of Osama bin Laden.
Photo: Rachel Maddow
Rachel tweets in explanation, "Streets in immediate vicinity of WH blocked off now."
Leave a Comment:
Mission Accomplished?
So it would seem...
Ok, he's dead.
NOW...Stop the wars, and bring home our troops!!!
Remember when 9/11 happened and people 'overseas' were dancing in the street and a lot of Americans complained about it?...
I see Americans in the street celebrating this too...same thing...and just as disgusting...
This is not a reason to celebrate people, the time to celebrate is when the wars are OVER and our people have come home...
This death is a good thing, yes, but to dance in the street is totally bad karma...
dcstone01, well said, it's making me feel a little sick to my stomach. A woman was killed because she was being used a human shield, people will continue to die, I just can't bring myself to celebrate.
dcstone01 I get it. But I too feel like grabbing a flag and singing in front of the White House. Like the President said, like when the towers went down we were united, it's been kinda dicey in the "united" dept lately and blue and red alike tonight feel down right AMERICAN!
Considering Americans have had nothing to celebrate pretty much since this SOB attacked our country I see nothing wrong with it. He killed innocent people who were unaware of what was about to happen to them. Now he has died with the blood of those innocent people on his hands being very aware this could happen. We thought we may have lost a family member in those towers that day putting my family through hours of hell. I'm glad they got him and I celebrate with the rest of the nation knowing evil has once again been removed from this earth.
Major update on Bin Laden raid and shooting here
More on how US tracked bin Laden via a courier to a house in Abbatabad, Pakistan - msnbc.com
"I don't know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and really don't care. It's not that important. It's not our priority."
- G.W. Bush, 3/13/02
"I am truly not that concerned about him."
- G.W. Bush, repsonding to a question about bin Laden's whereabouts,
3/13/02 (The New American, 4/8/02)
dcstone01: Oh Debbie Downer, please have a big steaming cup of STFU. You are the kind of uptight liberal that gives the rest of us a bad name. Take the stick out for just one night and enjoy the fact that we finally got this SOB.
justice was done to all that pastaway on 9/11 to think this is over is to be nieve there are plenty of tarist out there that hate us .but a chapter is closed.ty obama
Major update on Bin Laden raid and shooting here: http://t.co/SMAjuFk
I'm sorry; the link got cut off earlier when I edited it for the second link.
can haz civil rights back nao?
Possibly you've put your finger on the Bush Administration's motivation for not going after bin Laden all that fiercely. I don't believe there was ever a conscious decision about it--none would be needed--but it's far easier to rally people against a living enemy than a dead one.
Hold on people! This is a great day for our nation but should we really celebrating death? even though it is that of that used to be human turned scum bag evil SOB terrorist who took so many lives and as a result destroyed so many families. He (it) will meet with his fate.
I don't know that death is ever a reason to "celebrate", but there is no denying that this is bringing up all sorts of mixed and powerful emotions in people, and we all express/release emotions in different ways. for the next few days i think we'll be seeing a mix of "celebratory" and somber.
Andre, apparently your opinion isn't 'shared' by as many 'others'...So, paractice what you preach and STFU...
Meddling...I agree. The only reason we went to war as far as I am concerned is to profit certain 'companies', using 'propganda' of patriotism was the way they accomplished this...Because, as you can see, it was a simple matter of 'intelligence gathering' and 'special ops' doing this to get this done...we didn't need to spend 'billions' of dollars, nor the lives of our people and innocent cillivians in those war torn areas to get the job done...
The operation last night was proof enough without stating the obvious (well at least for those of us not caught up in 'war mongering'...)
Actually I think Osama Ben Laden was wanted by 3 presidents, Clinton, Bush, and Obama.
Richard Engel on NBC right now. I dunno, shouldn't we wait for the actual announcement from President Obama for all the news commentary and... uh, post mortems?
Still, it is an amazing piece of news. Not sure how the death of one man, a weak figurehead in a radically decentralized organization is a turning point for the so-called "global war on terror." Not that I like taking issue with something Richard Engel says, since I really like him.
Good perspective from Andrea Mitchell, about how taking out Osama doesn't really disable al Qaeda.
(How odd, I can't remember how to spell al Qaeda tonight, yet this event--9/11-- has defined much of my life since starting work at CNN one month before it happened. Qeada? Qaeda? All spellings look funny to me.)
You're right, it doesn't disable AL Qaeda, but the fact is, HE HAD IT COMING! Nuff said.
They should recognize the magnitude of the risky mission and allow people to feel satisfaction killing of the man that formed "The Base" AQ.
We are aware this isn't the end of this, but it puts a new chapter toward a new definition of the terrorist catching by all those affected, which is quite a large number of places.
I heard it was in Afghanistan...anxious to hear how it was done..
It took a great President to get this done.
Doves...I totally agree!
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said Wednesday (June, 2008) he would bring Osama bin Laden to justice in a way that wouldn't allow the terrorist mastermind to become a martyr, but he may be killed if the U.S. government finds him.
Promised Kept!
Touche! Promise kept... Mission A C C O M P L I S H E D !!!!
Mission Accomplished. Obama got it done.
Another check mark in President Obama's column!!! Great Work Mr. President!!!!
sorry but obama doesn't really deserve any credit for this... our soldiers overseas do.
...let's remember that obama wanted to pull out troops...had he actually kept his word, we may not have gotten osama.
.....Actually bri you're wrong. Not about the troops part- they did the work and nobody is contesting that they don't deserve all the credit- but about the pulling out thing. Obama has never been hypocritical about pulling the soldiers out. We have already started our w/drawl out of Iraq and will this year w/ Afghanistan in accordance w/ what Obama has always advocated. I know people want to cry hypocrisy over everything, but there isn't one in this case (which I know is especially shocking considering he's a politician). Obama is getting his way w/ troop pullout. The way we're going about it is exactly what Obama advocated when he ran. He never said he wanted an immediate pullout- I think people are confusing Obama w/ Kerry or Bush on that one. He has always maintained that he wants a steady drawdown and an end to the wars. And that's exactly what's happening right now. In fact by the very same logic you're using I could argue that it's because of the drawdown that this was able to happen and that w/o a drawdown we would've never caught Osama. And even so, us being at war in Iraq and Afghanistan would not have affected this capture. I know conservatives are having a hard time w/ this, but let's not go into the land of silly. Also please remember that President Bush was the first to advocate pulling our troops out. So by your logic had Bush gotten what he wanted we would've never gotten Osama. See why you can't go down that road?
everyone wants the troops to pull out. and please don't assume i think bush deserves any credit for this either...i don't. i am not a fan of bush, nor do i like obama and i think they both did things to screw up our country.
however, obama did plan on pulling out the troops much quicker than he is currently doing.
but it doesn't even matter. let's just agree that the soldiers deserve all the credit and leave obama, and bush for that matter, out of it.
In order to do what they (Seals, Special Ops, JOSC) did, they needed an order from POTUS. They went into Pakistan...
They were in meetings regarding the intel for weeks. Prior to this operation...all information re: ops were given to the Pakistanis for a heads up or whatever and they all failed to yield anything. They didn't inform the Pakistan government of this op per order by the POTUS and it worked. Gee...
No Obama didn't. He has always said he wanted the troops out by 2011 in Iraq and out of Afghanistan by 2012. He then extended Afghanistan to 2014 when his security team advised him it wouldn't be possible. I don't understand why that's hard for people to understand. I'll apologize for the Bushie assumption, but you aren't the first person to make this argument and I was speaking not just to you. Everyone needs to realize that the wars didn't directly impact Osama's whereabouts except for in the most modest of ways (talking about after 2002 here, I should clarify). In all reality I believe we will find out that we could've done these wars using Special Forces, Special Ops, JSOC, the CIA, and the FBI w/ the same result. In all reality our wars hampered our ability to get the job done sooner and at the cost of thousands of lives and over a trillion dollars. I will give you that if you aren't accrediting any President for the wars then that's fine- then by that conjecture neither Clinton, nor Bush, nor Obama deserve credit. And, again, I will give you it's the intelligence community, the law enforcement community, and the military all working in synchronization that wins wars. Rachel had on her show a while back a former Naval intelligence analyst who proposed a counter doctrine to the counterinsurgency doctrine in which he strongly advocated against full on war, but rather highly specialized, highly intelligent missions. More than likely if we had gone his route it would've worked better. Although I will certainly meet you half way and say that this is all a hypothetical and one can make the argument that everything is as it should be and had to be. That certainly would be a fair argument. However on the issue of Obama we would not have been pulled out by now under his direction. We've been under his direction and we still haven't pulled out (also does anyone else hear the inuendo?) Bush wanted to pull out earlier too. He wanted to end the wars in 2008. So I'm trying to make sure people are looking at this from a factual and fair perspective.
Mouser, after this are you still planning on joining the military? I mean after open serve becomes policy and they include your girl in spousal benefits.
I've actually been looking into joining NCIS. I didn't actually know that was a RL thing, I thought it was just the TV show. Turns out they are federal police officers who work as special agents for the US Navy. They gather intelligence, data, and perform counter insurgency operations all around the world. Partner still not gravy on the idea of me enlisting so trying to find alternatives that will make her happy. I totally would love to do the FBI, CIA, or State Dept., but she's not down on those either (she's so picky) =p
they needed an order from POTUS.
Sorry Maggie but this was a military operation planed by the CIA and JSOC ..There is nothing ever given that is an order by POTUS... The planners submit an Operational Plan and Operational Order and request AUTHORITY to execute.
The President AUTHORIZES an operation. Its terminology but its important to those of us that are or were Military!
Jim: Duly noted.
As smart and tough as you are I know you'll find something that suits you. And I don't fault you for wanting to serve, I just like the thought of you doing something that will allow you a long happy meaningful life. I was just thinking about how the death of bin Laden changes things for your generation. Between 9/11 and now, I doubt there was a recruit who didn't go into it thinking they'd personally get a chance to have a go at bin Laden. Now that he's gone, I wonder will recruitment will fall off some.
What a weekend...first a birth certificate...now a death certificate!!
I'm sure the repugs will want to see the long form death certificate before grudgingly admitting that a democratic president did in 2 years what their guy couldn't do in 8 yrs
Heck they can see his body if they want too.
I figured that Fox would try to spin this in some way that denied Obama credit. Sure enough, just after the first announcement, there was a banner running along the bottom of the screen telling people that OBL was killed a week ago and that it had nothing to do with any U. S. military action.
Geesh, these people are so predictable.
obama doesn't deserve credit...he didn't do anything!
please...if he did...someone inform me of it.
bri....they needed the special order from him to go into Pakistan...we are not at war with them...you can't just waltz into any country you want and do military ops that includes killing folks. You think the troops decided to just go in all by themselves?
Our people were telling their people what we were doing prior to this. Obama, with help from his people, decided to go in without telling them. It was Obama's final decision...without that...no one goes in anywhere.
I call BULL@!$%#... every network as this was unfolding thought the raid had happened last week... How about a source and screen shot that says that Fox said ...
I would wait ...but I know you can never provide it so why bother ....
ding dong osamas dead!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Is it over? Is there the War(s) on Terror over now? Can we quit hemorrhaging treasure and lives in the Middle East and Asia yet?
It is not over until his followers follow him to death. I bet it is related to the prison break a few days ago.
I certainly hope that we can end these wars and rebuild our country--somehow, however, I doubt that will happen.
@Quixokie - Has our government stolen everything it can from those countries yet? Somehow I doubt it, so I'm sure they'll find more reasons to stay while they do.
When I first heard the news, my first thought was that this all seemed a little too convenient. I'm not saying they didn't get him, my thought was just that with everything going on, what a nice distraction this would be for the republicans...
I just hope people don't let this distract them too much from the other issues facing our country right now; that's what really worries me.
Don, short answer is no.
the long answer is still no, but the reasons depends on your ideological starting point.
there is a long answer that involves a "yes, but" that requires a change in United States strategic vision, for which I fear there is no political, economic, or public will.
My fear as well.
Is it over? Not by a long shot! We just killed the old Lion that was respected and revered...but had lost its teeth... He well be replaced with younger and more ambitious future want to be leaders...
We have I fear made him a martyr and until people see that he is in fact DEAD! Many followers will never believe he is dead ..but many would....He becomes a propaganda GHOST ....From which they can release audio to the followers that are not very sophisticated and they will believe it is him and then they can tell them to do ANYTHING THEY WANT!
Remember how many of Saddam's followers did not believe he was dead..Until they saw the pictures of him DEAD!
It took a President who actually wanted to do it to get it done.
You are so right.....Bush started going after the enemy - Obama never would have :)
Rufusdog
You are so right.....Bush started going after the enemy - Obama never would have :) ---------- bin laden was in Iraq? May I try one of your idiotic statements? how about gwbush made sure his lifelong family friend stayed alive while he was in office. dirtbag
Pretty sure Obama would've went into Afghanistan. Dunno what this statement was supposed to mean
YES!!!!!
Is this a good thing? Sure, we took down a major terrorist figurehead but will someone even worse take his place, and what will the talliban's(sp.) response be?
I agree as well as with ghadafis grandchildren and son being killed we are just making horrible people more angry not making us safer!
so what let him live free & kill more?
Maybe be a little more tasteful than partying in the street and letting everyone know! There was a number two guy behind osama who is probably pretty pissed off right now im just thinking hes more of a threat now than two days ago!
When the Twin Towers went down and Muslims were dancing in the street, I was so frustrated and angry.
Last night those who danced in the street looked just the same. I am glad we killed him. But I don't dance in the street when people are killed.
Indepvoter, I agree with you. I am also glad Bin Laden is dead, but I'm not going into the streets to celebrate and dance about someone's death. Just ain't fittin'.
I expressed similar sentiments in the first thread of this article...
My fear is some how this has become a President Obama wins Political thing and not a America wins that a murder is dead, after years of long and hard intelligence work.
I Commend President Obama for one having the guts to call for this operation to allow us to HAVE OBL's body (go get him..not bomb him) so we could prove beyond a doubt that we had killed him.. And that he had followed/allowed many of the Intelligence gathering means to remain in effect from the Bush administration, which allowed years of research to find this bastard.
But most of all I Commend our President for having the guts to "pull the trigger" and AUTHORIZE the operation.
I was in the NSA NSOC the night President Carter... flinched when we lost a helo...and it cost the mission and many lives...
President Obama gained more of my respect for not doing a Carter and allowing the Sec Ops guys to do what they DO! And not worry about the political possible problems... He didn't FLINCH... He had a possible Black Hawk down/Desert one situation and he held ... Congratulations Mr President!
I will not vote for him, but I have much more respect for him... He asked the Military to do something and trusted them to do it...
Yet as I said ... so many that hate the war and the military for that matter are reveling in this success and seem to think its the current President that did this... And fail to acknowledge that this is the accumulation of years of very dedicated men and women's work and people are giving credit to our President! When he in fact just allowed them to keep doing what they were all ready doing and would have done with or with out him...
The brave men and women that work for the Intelligent services and the Military deserve all the credit... Our President just (as it should be ) gave the authority to execute the mission THEY (Int/Mil) had planned! And then Supported them in their execution of that plan! Even when it hit a road bump!
For that Mr President I Commend you! Now release the pictures and walk away..you did your JOB... Nothing more and nothing less...
He authorized a mission that had been planed by the best minds ...and said OK!
He was not on the bird that landed with a bump, or he was not the operator that popped the historic cap...
He did what any American President should have done...
President Obama did not find OBL.. The Intelligence community did.. They spent years and countless hours ... But they found him!
President Obama did not kill OBL ... Members of all branches of our military working together with authority of our civilian controlled government acted on that authority and eliminated this ANIMAL and removed it from the face of the earth!
President Obama gets credit for OBL being DEAD He authorized pulling the TRIGGER and didn't Flinch like Cater.....
Finding OBL he shares with GWB and so many other Intell folks...
That's MHO!
And the President did not Kill him...
While I am glad you now respect our president a little more, and give him more credit, I had to say:
PBO ordered the completely Constitutional killing of the pirates.
There were people like me that are against preemptive war that see how it made complete sense to go after OBL, AQ, Taliban turned our opinion toward Bush in a more positive light BEFORE the decision to attack Iraq and SH. I was OK with what was happening until the plan became attack Iraq, get SH, the big switch.
I am one whose male family members all served in the military. I have always supported the people that serve their country. ALL of them, even Vietnam soldiers, contrary to the mischaracterization of liberals. Apparently rumors reign over truth. I feel so frustrated that people put labels on others based on what someone told them that all those people are like this or that. Democrats can be brave and use good judgement when the chips are down. Democrats love our troops as much as Republicans do.
I just want to clear that up, Jim. Thanks for crediting PBO for making the call that is the right call, whether pirates or some person that uses their religion as a weapon to kill Americans that they determined in their sick mind was some self-aggrandizing thing to justify killing innocent people they put into some hand of God delusion. There is a person in office that will order the trigger to be pulled when the situation calls for it.
The American people supported the effort to get OBL, that support changed when the target changed. Not anti military, just do not support that particular policy of preemptive attacks and nation building, which Pres. Bush said he was against.
I can see winning the hearts and minds of people as a tactic, but not so supportive of doing it at gunpoint or bombing them those did not attack us.
Mission accomplished.
I can only pray that this means that the "War on Terror" will FINALLY come to an end, and we can bring our servicemen and women home.
That's not going to happen...they just managed to get the unemployment rate down a little...you bring all the troops home, and where are the jobs that they left? Filled by someone else.
Say a prayer for our troops, especially in Afghanistan. Who knows what kind of retaliation is going to happen now that Bin Laden is dead.
Not to sound too mercenary, but what lucky s.o.b. got to blow this
scum away? May 9/11 survivors sleep a little easier tonight.
I honestly can't say I'm thrilled. I wanted bin Laden brought in alive to stand trial instead of the risk of making him into a martyr.
But I'll take it.
So you are saying parading him on tv & in court would NOT make him more a martyr?
'bout time. Now strike while the iron is hot.
You know the Repubs will find a way to spin this into a negative for Obama.
Are we sure it is Bin Laden? Maybe we should wait until Donald Trump checks his birth certificate...
Orly is on the case.
Good f ing riddance MF. And take the rest of the enemies of the USA with you!!!!
Can we start concentrating on our energy issues now?
Yeah! It took our great President Obama get rid of Osama! Score another one for the (so called) lefty pacifists. The Dem's know how to get stuff done - we don't say NO We say YES WE CAN!!!!!
Obama wouldn't have had a clue about any of this if Bush hadn't taken the first big leaps dumbsquat!
Clinton took the first steps.
If anyone is interested in a more detailed look at the operation you can read an interview with senior administration officials on deep background with reporters here: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/05/02/press-briefing-senior-administration-officials-kiling-osama-bin-laden
Apparently this operation began in September of 2010 with the initially acquired intel and escalated in late March, culminating in the attack on the compound this weekend.
Bush. of course, took the first steps...backwards!
Of course, Bush also took the first step by allowing the attacks to happen on his watch in the first place.
http://indepvoter.newsvine.com/_news/2011/05/02/6568425-why-bury-osoma-at-sea-so-quickly-poll
Because Islamic law requires burial within 24 hours, and no country really wanted him.
And in other news, 30,000 dolphins stage protest . . .
Bush. of course, took the first steps...backwards! Of course, Bush also took the first step by allowing the attacks to happen on his watch in the first place.
Really?
You just demonsrated that you have ZERO knowledge of what OBL had done to attack this country before GWB had ever taken office...
President Clinton was the first to ATTACK OBL...
Never mind your knowledge of the subject tells me that its a waste of time to tell you of all the things OBL did while Clinton was President...
No Knowledge now debate...
Randy..
You have a personal problem with Sharks? Sharks need love (food) too!
Happy Birthday.
Ding Dong Osamas dead......I only wish our sacrifice for the last ten years had not been so great. I dream of peace.
Good news, and thanks for getting it done, finally.
(turns page)
Now, let's get out of Afghanistan!
Hey, just-john. I'm for that, too. BTW, thanks for the FR. It has been accepted.
...wonder who the next boogyman will be