Osama bin Laden Is Dead

Osama bin Laden is dead. The leader of the al-Qaeda terrorist network, responsible for the deadly September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, was killed today in a fire fight in Pakistan, President Barack Obama confirmed Sunday night.

“Tonight I can report to the American people and to the world, that the United States has conducted an operation that has killed Osama bin Laden — the leader of al-Qaeda and a terrorist who is responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent men, women, and children,” said President Obama in a late-night press conference, which aired live on the official White House website.

Minutes before the official White House news conference was supposed to convene, the word began leaking out over Twitter: Did the U.S. have Osama bin Laden’s dead body—the body of the man considered the mastermind behind al-Qaeda and the September 11th attacks—in possession? For several minutes, CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer danced around the topic, noting that this was probably something that had been in the works for “a very long time,” before Obama offered an official confirmation: Osama bin Laden had been killed by U.S. Special Forces.

On the eighth anniversary of George W. Bush's famous "Mission Accomplished" speech, President Obama was able to definitively say bin Laden was confirmed dead and U.S. forces were in possession of his body.