Osama bin Laden is Dead

[Jim Wright]

NBC News and msnbc.com

BREAKING NEWS
Washington— Osama bin Laden, the Saudi
extremist whose al-Qaida terrorist
organization killed more than 3,000 people in
coordinated attacks on the U.S. on Sept. 11,
2001, is dead following a military operation in
Pakistan and the U.S. has recovered his body,
U.S. President Barack Obama announced
Sunday night.

"Justice has been done," the president
declared as crowds formed outside the White
House to celebrate, singing "The Star-Spangled
Banner" and "We Are the Champions," NBC
News reported.

Obama said bin Laden, whom he called a
terrorist "responsible for the murder of
thousands of American men, women and
children," was killed in Pakistan earlier in the
day after a firefight in an operation that was
based on U.S. intelligence.

Charles Wolf of New York, whose wife,
Katherine, died on Sept, 11, 2001, rejoiced at
the news, which he called "wonderful."

"I am really glad that man's evil is off this earth
forever," Wolf said. "I am just very glad that
they got him."

Former President George W. Bush said in a
statement that he had personally been
informed by Obama of the death of the
terrorist leader whose attacks forever defined
his eight years in office.

"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
former president said.

"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 echoed his predecessor, declaring that
"the death of bin Laden marks the most significant
achievement to date in our nation's struggle to defeat al-Qaida."

But he stressed that the effort against the
organization continues.

"We must and we will remain vigilant at home
and abroad," he said, while emphasizing that
"the United States is not and never will be at
war with Islam."

Bin Laden shot in the head, U.S. says
Officials had long believed that bin Laden was
hiding a mountainous region along the
Pakistan-Afghanistan border. In August, U.S.
intelligence officials got a tip on his
whereabouts, which led to the operation that
culminated Sunday, Obama said.

U.S. officials told NBC News that U.S. Special
Operations forces carried out the attack on
the al-Qaida compound, killing bin Laden
when they shot him in the head during a
firefight.

The special operations forces returned with
the body to Afghanistan, the sources said.

Reaction to the news was swift.

Bonnie McEneaney, 57, whose husband,
Eamon, died in the 9/11 attacks, said the
death of bin Laden was "long overdue."

"It doesn't bring back all the wonderful people
who were killed 10 years ago," McEneaney told
msnbc.com by phone from her home in New
Canaan, Conn.

"I'm completely numb. I'm stunned," she said.

"The first thought I had in my mind was that it
didn't bring my son back," Jack Lynch, who
lost his son, New York City firefighter Michael
Francis Lynch, on Sept. 11, 2001, told msnbc.
com.

"You cut the head off a snake, you'd think it
would kill the snake. But someone will take his
place," Lynch said. "But people like him still
exist. The fact that he's gone is not going to
stop terrorism."

Lynch, 75, is a retired transit worker. His
family's charity, the Michael Lynch Memorial
Foundation, has made grants to send dozens
of students to college. He said he would not
celebrate bin Laden's death.

"I understand that bin Laden was an evil
person. He may have believed in what he was
doing. I'm not going to judge him," Lynch said.