President Obama: “Justice has been served.”

By Art Harris, The Bald Truth, (c) www.artharris.com, all rights reserved

Osama Bin Laden, the architect of the 9-11 hijackings that killed almost 3,000 New Yorkers, was gunned down in a firefight with a U.S. Navy SEAL team, crack commandos that swooped in via helicopters after a tip from a “U.S” asset had apparently pinpointed his hiding place in a mansion outside Islamabad, Pakistan, according to President Barack Obama and our military sources.

“Justice has been done,” declared President Obama who detailed a secret CIA-lead operation he ordered to kill or capture Bin Laden once his hiding place could be confirmed. He said after the gunfight, the U.S. team transported Bin Laden’s body back to Aghanistan for forensic identification.

This is the kind of dangerous, risky operation U.S. Navy SEALS are trained to do, sweet revenge after the savage ambush of a SEAL team in the mountains of Afghanistan several years ago, and almost 10 years of frustration in the hunt for Bin Laden, a world wide symbol of anti-U.S. terrorism.

Before Obama made the announcement, U.S. forces had to confirm they had actually killed the FBI’s most wanted terrorist with a $25 million reward on his head. According to CNN sources, Obama had several meetings in recent months to learn of tips U.S. intelligence had gathered and presented to the President.

U.S. Navy SEALS, created by President John F. Kennedy, and stand for Sea, Air and Land, are perhaps the military’s olympians of counter-terrorism, rennaisance warriors, American ninjas who are creative thinkers in top physical shape and trained to jump out of planes at 10,000 feet and free-fall to avoid detection, then snap open parachutes at the last minute, in a high risk maneuver called a HALO jump, for high altitude, low open. They are equally adept at fighting on land, like U.S Special Forces, or infiltrate targets from the sea. SEALS are trained to swim for miles, and in this case, trained extensively on a mock up of the target, as they often do, then swooped in via helicopters.

One report said one helicopter crashed, without injuries, and was destroyed to deprive Al Queda of any useful intelligence. The remaining helicopters carried out the mission, a dramatic turnabout from the disastrous military operation to rescue U.S. hostages in Iran in 1980 that saw U.S. helicopters crash and he operation scuttled.

As speculation bubbled up about what Obama would announce in a surprise Sunday night press conference, CNN reported Obama had been meeting about the possible operation with his National Security team over the last six weeks, and finally pinpointed the hideout and confirmed Bin Laden living there. The mansion was described as highly secure, with 18 foot walls topped with barbed wire, a home far bigger than any other home in the upscale suburb known for the plush homes of retired Pakistani military.

U.S. intelligence noted trash from the house was not tossed out like others in the area, but burned, and possible satellite photos showed a tall man matching Bin Laden’s size, six feet four, in the compound, according to news accounts, suspicious evidence that lead them to confirm it was indeed the terrorist.

Earlier CNN correspondent John King was the first to report the President had been telling members of congress that terrorist Osama Bin Laden was dead, that the administration had confirmed the body was indeed the architect of the 9-11 attacks and had been recovered. King later reported he was killed based on “actionable U.S. intelligence,” which lead to a military action resulting in his death, and with the cooperation of Pakistan.

Stunning news that the mastermind of international terror President George Bush vowed to bring in dead or alive, is dead, the spiritual leader of Al Queda who sent agents to hijack U.S. airliners and destroy the twin towers.

CNN’s Ed Henry said correspondents were told Obama was done working for the day, then suddenly called in Sunday night for what is said to be an extrarordinary anouncement. He reported the terrorist was killed in a mansion outside Islamabad with several family members, that he had emerged from cave dwelling in the mountains. The tip came from a “U.S. asset.”

As part of the CNN investigative unit that won a first place National Headliner award for investigating 9-11, I tracked a cell of Al Queda that was living in Atlanta motels, taking flight lessons at a private airport, joining gyms and chilling to fit in before Bin Laden gave the order to hijack airliners and kill as many Americans as possible. One plane was headed for the White House before heroic passengers attacked hijackers and the plane crashed in a Pensylvania field.

Later, when I was embedded with a U.S. Marine unit in Iraq during the 2003 invasion, I interviewed dozens of young men who had enlisted after 9-11 with the single purpose of defending the country against Bin Laden and taking the fight to terrorists everywhere. Some didn’t make it back, so the announcement tonight honors their ultimate sacrifice, as well as all members of the U.S. military and intelligence community that have rallied in recent years.

In my memory, no President has ever called a press conference on Sunday night at the spur of the moment to discuss an unknown subject on national security…With two wars going on, the U.S. involved in Libya, North Korea fomenting and rattling its nuclear prowess, Iran trying to keep its people under wraps, Syrian protestors under seige and Obama Bin Laden on the run…anchors were speculating it could be anything.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 2nd, 2011 at 1:00 am and is filed under Barack Obama, Iraq, LAW & ORDER, Osama Bin Laden, POLITICS, terrorism, U.S. Marines, WAR. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.