To use an old cliché, if you have not heard about the capture and assassination of terrorist and al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden by now, you must be living under a rock. The news is arguably the biggest positive political headline in decades. While it is just the murder of one terrorist, bin Laden was the biggest, most dangerous terrorist of them all and the man responsible for some of the deadliest terrorist attacks of the last two decades.
Obama has a lot to be proud of when it comes to the final extermination of bin Laden.
On the heels of possibly the biggest event of Obama’s first term as President of the United States of America, the Head of State spoke with CBS’ “60 Minutes” for a Sunday interview.
The President described the mission as “55/45.” Obama told CBS, “We could not say definitively that bin Laden was there. Had he not been there, then there would have been some significant consequences.”
Obama went on, “Obviously we’re going into the sovereign territory of another country and landing helicopters and conducting a military operation. And so, if it turns out that it’s a wealthy, you know, prince from Dubai who’s in this compound and, you know, we’ve sent special forces in, we’ve got problems.”
Obama said of the murder of bin Laden, “Justice was done. And I think that anyone who would question that the perpetrator of mass murder on American soil didn’t deserve what he got needs to have their head examined.”
President Obama said that the forty minutes he was in the White House Situation Room keeping track of the raid were the longest of his life. He said that he had not felt that anxious since his daughter was severely sick at a tender three months old.
Obama then explained why he did not tell the government of Pakistan about the mission. He said, “If I’m not revealing to some of my closest aides what we’re doing, then I sure as heck am not going to be revealing it to folks who I don’t know.”
According to the President, even his family had no idea that the mission was underway.
Obama then spoke of how it is very likely that bin Laden was in fact being supported by at least some officials within Pakistan. He said it is not clear if those supporters were a part of the government or not.
Obama concluded the interview by saying, “There’s no doubt that bin Laden is dead. Certainly there’s no doubt among al Qaeda members that he is dead. And so, we don’t think that a photograph in and of itself is going to make any difference. There are going to be some folks who deny it. The fact of the matter is, you will not see bin Laden walking on this Earth again.”
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