U.S. was prepared to fight Pakistani forces, officials say

(CNN) -- The Obama administration had "very detailed contingency plans" for military action against Pakistani forces if they had tried to stop the U.S. attack on Osama bin Laden's compound, according to two U.S. officials familiar with the plan.
Their names are not disclosed because of the sensitive intelligence information involved.
"No firepower option was off the table" during the Navy SEALs' 38-minute mission on the ground, or during the time U.S. helicopters were in the air, one official told CNN. "We would have done whatever we had to in order to get our men out."
The two U.S. officials also told CNN about the plan if bin Laden had been captured alive, which included taking him to Afghanistan and then out to the USS Carl Vinson in the Arabian Sea.
All of the senior U.S. officials in the White House Situation Room during the assault were prepared to call their Pakistani counterparts if fighting between U.S. and Pakistani forces appeared imminent, one of the officials told CNN. The SEALs at all times retained the right of self-defense, and they could have fired at the Pakistanis to defend themselves.
During the time the SEALs were on the ground, while some were inside the compound, others were covertly placed just outside the compound walls to provide perimeter security and keep people away. Some of those SEALs would have been able to speak enough of the local language to communicate with townspeople if they had come across them, one source told CNN.
As the assault on bin Laden's compound commenced, the United States had a number of aircraft flying protective missions. None of the aircraft entered Pakistani airspace, but they were prepared to do so if needed. These included fixed wing fighter jets that would have provided firepower if the team came under opposition fire it could not handle.
Additionally, the Air Force had a full team of combat search and rescue helicopters including MH-53 Pave Low and HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopters flying.
The helicopter that came in to replace the crashed stealth helicopter was carrying a battlefield medical team that was flying overhead and ready to land if SEALs were wounded, one of the CNN sources said. That helicopter landed at the compound within about thirty minutes of being called.
U.S. military and intelligence assets were conducting continuous reconnaissance of Pakistani military installations to watch for any indication of movements, but the Pakistani military never responded while the U.S. forces were there, one U.S. official indicated.
On Monday, Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani praised the Pakistani military's response to the sudden arrival of U.S. forces. "The air force was ordered to scramble," he said. "Ground units arrived at the scene quickly. Our response demonstrates that our armed forces reacted, as was expected of them." Still, he added, "There is no denying the U.S. technological ability to evade our radars."
Even though it was anticipated that bin Laden would resist the Navy SEALs that assaulted his compound, and therefore be killed, the Obama administration had a plan in place for dealing with bin Laden if he was captured alive, according to both U.S. officials.
The plan was for bin Laden to be flown back to Afghanistan aboard U.S. military helicopters and then flown out to the USS Carl Vinson in the north Arabian Sea. There was a team of lawyers, medical personnel, interrogators and translators standing by to deal with bin Laden if that was the scenario that unfolded. A major concern was to immediately "preserve evidence" and put bin Laden into a legal framework that would ensure he could be charged and tried some day, the official said. "We didn't want to have some case thrown out on a technicality."
The official indicated the standby teams included the type of expertise normally within U.S. units in Afghanistan, so it's likely personnel did not even know who their potential target would have been. The official noted that bin Laden would have undergone the same type of medical checks and photographing that surrounded Saddam Hussein when he was captured.

After bin Laden was killed by the Navy SEALs at the compound, his body was flown back to Afghanistan, and then to the Carl Vinson where he was buried at sea. Admiral Michael Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, placed a phone call to his counterpart General Ashfaq Kiyani asking for U.S. aircraft to re-enter Pakistani airspace -- several hours after the raid -- so the body could be flown out to the Vinson.

Party Lines: How does Bin Laden’s death affect the world?

The death of Osama bin Laden will make the world -- including America -- a safer place. It tells terrorists there is no safe harbor. We will take the time, make the expenditures, invent the technology, and have the courage to make sure that such acts are punished.

Surely, this fight is not over. We cannot allow a safe harbor to territories that permit terror to be planned and provide succor to these villains. There are still people at-large who have harmed us. The fight goes on. Every American must continue to do their part.

Now is the time for us as American citizens to reflect and remember the unity that was recognized after the initial 9/11 attack in 2001 – to remember that we are all in this together -- to understand that although we can never bring complete justice to those who lost their lives on 9/11, their loved ones and to the first responders, soldiers and military personnel that died and served our nation because of the horrific events of that day, we honor their sacrifice and do what we can to alleviate their suffering. It is now a time for New Yorkers and Americans to gain a sense of closure regarding the death of Osama bin Laden.

President Obama went to New York City to say, “We did what we said we were going to do. Americans – even in the midst of tragedy – will come together, across the years, across politics, across party, across administrations, to make sure that justice is done.”

In New York, President Obama took part in a wreath laying ceremony at the 9/11 Memorial. After that, he met privately with 9/11 families, firefighters, and police officers. Former New York City Mayor and Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani joined President Obama. As I write, President Obama is planning to go to Ft. Campbell, Kentucky, where he will talk to service members who have recently come home from deployment. Several units, including the 101st Airborne Division, which has several Brigade Combat Teams that have recently come back from Afghanistan as a large part of the division remains deployed, call Ft. Campbell home.

This is the time to recapture the sense of unity we all felt in the days immediately following September 11, 2001, particularly with regard to our security. It took a long time to find bin Laden, but we as a country never gave up and we have showed the evildoers that our country can do big things – difficult things – when we put our minds to it.

Is it over? I don’t think so. As long as human beings look towards and revel in our differences we will be at war with ourselves and those we see as different or whom we disagree with. But with that said, I also believe that we should not live in fear and continue to promote democracy and freedom throughout the world.

Today we are a bit safer not only in the United States but in places like Madrid and London – places that have also been changed forever by attacks put forth by Osama bin Laden – but we can stand proud that our nation has taken a big step in the fight against terrorism and for that we should all share our gratitude, together.

Read more: Davis County Clipper - Party Lines How does Bin Laden’s death affect the world

Barack Obama's REAL Speech On Bin Laden

Al Qaeda threats, terror plans surface

(CNN) -- Al Qaeda warnings against the United States emerged Friday as the materials taken from Osama bin Laden's compound continued to yield a trove of intelligence, including details about a possible attack on the 10th anniversary of 9/11.
Al Qaeda, the bin Laden terrorist network that carried out the deadly attack in 2001, confirmed its leader's death on Friday in a Web statement and used that opportunity to taunt and threaten the United States.
"Sheikh Osama didn't build an organization that will vanish with his death or fades away with his departure," according to the statement, which CNN could not independently authenticate.
The statement, which congratulates the "Islamic Nation on the martyrdom of their devoted son Osama," repeated themes and threats made over the years in prior al Qaeda statements.
"The blood of the mujahid sheikh, Osama bin Laden, may God have mercy on him, is very dear to us and more precious to us and to every Muslim from being shed in vain," the statement said. A mujahid is defined as a Muslim engaged in what he considers to be jihad.
"This blood will be a curse that will chase the Americans and their agents, a curse that will pursue them inside and outside their country, and soon -- with God's help -- we pray that their happiness turns into sorrow and may their blood mix with their tears and let Sheikh Osama's resonate again."
In its pronouncements, al Qaeda frequently cites the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, and it did so again, saying Friday that America "will neither enjoy nor live in security until our people in Palestine live it and enjoy it."
"The soldiers of Islam in groups and as individuals will continue to plan and plot without any fatigue, boredom, despair, surrender or indifference until you receive from them a cunning misfortune that will gray the hair of the child even before he gets old," the statement said.
Pakistanis were urged to "rise up" and cleanse the "disgrace that was brought upon them by a handful of traitors and thieves" and "their country from the filth of the Americans who have wreaked havoc in the land."
The statement surfaced as protesters packed the streets of Abbottabad -- where bin Laden was shot and killed -- in a rally organized by Jamaat-e-Islami, Pakistan's largest Islamist party. The demonstrators denounced the U.S. and Pakistani governments.
Also, the statement expressed disdain for the United States, both its efforts and its motives, saying that the Americans managed to kill bin Laden "by disgrace and betrayal." Bin Laden was killed in a U.S. Navy SEAL raid on his compound early Monday in Abbottabad, a military garrison town north of the capital of Islamabad.
"Men and heroes only should be confronted in the battlefields but at the end, that's God's fate. Still we ask, will the Americans be able -- through their media outlets, their agents, their instruments, soldiers, intelligence services and their might -- be able to kill what Sheikh Osama lived for and was killed for? How far! How impossible!"
Bin Laden was buried at sea in what U.S. officials have described as a proper Islamic burial.
But the statement said if Americans treat the bodies of bin Laden or his family members improperly, either dead or alive, or do not hand over the bodies to families, there will be retribution.
"Any offense will open unto your doors of multitudes of evil for which you will only have yourselves to blame."
According to the statement, bin Laden recorded an audio message a week prior to his death regarding the revolutions sweeping the Muslim world and offering advice and guidance. Al Qaeda indicated that the release of this message is forthcoming.
Meanwhile, investigators poring over material seized in the Monday raid found details about a possible attack on the 10th anniversary of 9/11, and the intelligence led Thursday to a nationwide alert regarding rail security.
As early as February 2010, al Qaeda members discussed a plan to derail trains in the United States by placing obstructions on tracks over bridges and valleys, the alert said, according to one law enforcement official.
The plan was to be executed later this year, coinciding with the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, though no specific rail system was identified, the official said.
The Department of Homeland Security confirmed a notice was sent to federal, state, local and tribal authorities.
"We have no information of any imminent terrorist threat to the U.S. rail sector, but wanted to make sure our partners are aware of the alleged plotting. It is unclear if any further planning has been conducted since February of last year," spokesman Matt Chandler said.
Rail agencies across the United States heightened security.
The Chicago Transit Authority reissued security bulletins, "reminding employees of what activities to look for and what steps to take should they encounter any suspicious or criminal activity during the course of their duties," said Wanda Taylor, a CTA spokeswoman.
Amtrak employees also were on a heightened "state of vigilance," spokesman Marc Magliari said.
At Fort Campbell, Kentucky, President Obama thanked the troops for their efforts and vowed to achieve more. "We are going to ultimately defeat al Qaeda," he said to applause. "We have cut off their head and we will ultimately defeat them."
He said the U.S. strategy is working, "and there is no greater evidence of that than justice finally being delivered to Osama bin Laden."
A U.S. official said that "valuable information has been gleaned already" from the information gathered at bin Laden's compound, though no specific plots or terrorist suspects were identified.
But the material suggests that al Qaeda was particularly interested in striking Washington, New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, according to the law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
U.S. authorities have found that al Qaeda appeared especially interested in striking on significant dates like July 4, Christmas and the opening day of the United Nations.
The material seized from the compound included audio and video equipment, suggesting bin Laden may have taped messages there, a U.S. official said.
Ten hard drives, five computers and more than 100 storage devices, such as disks and thumb drives, were also found, a senior U.S. official told CNN.
The Washington Post reported on Thursday that the CIA had a safe house in Abbottabad "for a small team of spies" who performed surveillance on the compound.
Citing U.S. officials, the effort "relied on Pakistani informants and other sources to help assemble a 'pattern of life' portrait of the occupants and daily activities at the fortified compound where bin Laden was found."
It was "mobilized after the discovery of the suspicious complex last August that involved virtually every category of collection in the U.S. arsenal, ranging from satellite imagery to eavesdropping efforts aimed at recording voices inside the compound," the Post reported.
Dozens of people in Abbottabad have been arrested because of their suspected connections to the compound where Osama bin Laden was shot and killed, a Pakistani intelligence official said Friday. Investigators want to know whether any of the people are al Qaeda members or sympathizers.
The United States and Pakistan have been allies for years in the anti-terrorism effort, but U.S. concerns that Pakistanis haven't been robust enough in the fight against Islamic militants and suspected U.S. drone attacks that killed innocent civilians have heightened tensions. Another suspected drone strike killed 12 suspected militants on Friday in the Pakistani tribal region.
Questions remain over why and how Pakistani intelligence officials could not have known bin Laden was hiding out in the city, which is home to a military academy and has a strong military presence.
Pakistani armed forces chiefs issued a statement Thursday admitting "shortcomings in developing intelligence" on the terrorist leader's presence in the country.
The army chief of staff, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, "made it very clear that any similar action, violating the sovereignty of Pakistan, will warrant a review on the level of military/intelligence cooperation with the United States," the statement said.

Since the raid, Pakistan has ordered U.S. military personnel on its territory drawn down to the "minimum essential" level, the statement said.

Trove of data found at bin Laden hideout provides first specific alert

Washington (CNN) -- With the architect of the September 11, 2001, attacks dead, U.S. commandos in Osama bin Laden's Pakistan compound quickly came upon another prize: A trove of hard drives, DVDs and thumb drives that might provide evidence of other al Qaeda operations.
Those materials, seized after bin Laden and four others were killed, have provided the first specific alert to come out of Monday's raid.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security released a notice tied to rail security Thursday.
The unclassified notice to "federal, state, local and tribal partners" says that, in February 2010, al Qaeda members discussed a plan to derail trains in the United States by placing obstructions on tracks, according to a law enforcement source who received the notice.
Pakistan reacts angrily to tone of U.S. questions

The plan was to be executed this fall to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks. But no specific city or rail system was identified in the notice, the source told CNN.
Although a U.S. official cautioned that the information doesn't appear to suggest an imminent plot against U.S rail systems, the discovery may be the tip of the iceberg of potential plots.
The haul included "lots" of paper documents, 10 hard drives, five computers and more than 100 storage devices, such as disks, DVDs and thumb drives, a senior U.S. official said Wednesday.
Since Monday, intelligence experts and others have pored over the find.
A task force was set up at the CIA to comb through the evidence seized in the raid, according to a senior intelligence official who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity.
More details emerge about the raid
At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing Wednesday, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said of evidence taken from the residence, "As we glean information from that material, we will make appropriate decisions with regard to who might we add to the terrorist watch list, the no-fly list, all those things."
The U.S. official who spoke Thursday of the data said, "We take every possible threat seriously, so we are running all of this to ground."
When asked if there were any indications that bin Laden had signed off on the rail operation, the official said, "There is no information to suggest that there was some kind of 'blessed operation' attached to U.S transportation systems."
The same U.S. official says the al Qaeda scheme, which included derailing trains over bridges and valleys, "doesn't appear to be anything more than an idea on paper at this point."
Material also indicated that al Qaeda was particularly interested in targeting cities -- Washington, New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, the official said. Authorities sifting through the material learned al Qaeda has considered striking on significant dates such as July 4, Christmas and the opening day of the United Nations, according to the official.
Osama's wife: We lived there 5 years

Department of Homeland Security spokesman Matt Chandler echoed the belief that there was no imminent threat to the rail system. But officials "wanted to make our partners aware of the alleged plotting," he said. "We want to stress that this alleged al Qaeda plotting is based on initial reporting, which is often misleading or inaccurate and subject to change."
Since Sunday, Chandler said, the department and other agencies have reviewed potential terror targets and deployed additional officers to nonsecured areas at U.S. airports.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told federal lawmakers Wednesday a "number of actions" have been taken in response to the killing of bin Laden, among them "surging some resources" to U.S. ports, airports and borders.
"These include issuing advisories to fusion center directors, Homeland Security advisers, major city chief intelligence commanders, private sector critical infrastructure owners and operators and other law enforcement entities," she said at a Senate hearing.
"We are and have been reviewing all open cases of potential al Qaeda core, AQAP (al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula) and AQIM (al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb) operatives possibly in the U.S. in conjunction with the FBI," she added.
Sen. Joe Lieberman, the Connecticut independent who is chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, asked Napolitano about the data removed by the Navy SEALs from the bin Laden compound. "I assume that as this material is gone over, anything related to Homeland Security will be shared immediately with your department?" he asked.
Napolitano responded, "It is being shared (already)."
Earlier this week, former CIA Director Michael Hayden told CNN's "The Situation Room" that the "diffuse" nature of al Qaeda is among its strengths.

"Keep in mind this is a network, not a hierarchy," Hayden said. "So you've got still very active, very talented cells around the world."

Courier who led U.S. to Osama bin Laden's hideout identified

(CNN) -- A diplomatic source told CNN that the courier who was in close contact with Osama bin Laden and who eventually led the United States to him was a Kuwaiti named Abu Ahmad.
U.S. officials have said that when the identity of the courier -- who they have not named -- was established in 2007 the U.S. began a path to the house in Abbottabad, Pakistan, where the al Qaeda leader was living.
Analysis of assessments of detainees held at the U.S. Navy's detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, include several mentions of a man by the name of Abu Ahmad al Kuwaiti, who was reportedly close to Khalid Sheikh Mohammed -- also a Kuwaiti.
The information on the detainee assessments came from U.S. Defense Department documents published by WikiLeaks.
Since the operation that killed bin Laden, U.S. officials have described the courier they were tracking as a protege of Mohammed and another senior member of al Qaeda, Abu Faraj al Libi, a Libyan detainee who was named as al Qaeda's third most senior leader when he was captured in May 2005.
Bin Laden killing caps decade-long manhunt
One assessment -- compiled in October 2008 -- concerns a Saudi citizen called Maad al Qathani, the man who was intended to be the "20th hijacker" on 9/11 but who failed to gain entry to the United States.
It said: "Detainee is associated with other key al-Qaida members including senior operations planners Khalid Shaykh Muhammad."
The document later said that al Qathani "received computer training from al-Qaida member Abu Ahmad al-Kuwaiti in preparation for his mission to the U.S."
Al Kuwaiti was then "a senior al Qaeda facilitator and subordinate" of Mohammed. The assessment added: "Al-Kuwaiti worked in the al-Qaida media house operated by KU-10024 (Mohammed) in Kandahar and served as a courier."
No obvious replacement to succeed bin Laden as al Qaeda's leader
Al Qathani reportedly spent about three months in basic training with al Qaeda from December 2000 to February 2001 when he was introduced to bin Laden.
Establishing al Qathani's association with Mohammed, the assessment continued: "Detainee stated UBL told him that since he (detainee) loved to serve his religion, he must go to KU-10024, who will ask him to "do things." It was the first of several encounters with the al Qaeda leader, to whom al Qathani swore a personal oath of allegiance.
The document established that al Kuwaiti was close to bin Laden and traveled with him.
"Al-Kuwaiti was seen in Tora Bora and it is possible al-Kuwaiti was one of the individuals detainee reported accompanying UBL in Tora Bora prior to UBL's disappearance," it says.
In an assessment of al Qathani's intelligence value, the document noted that he "had access to the inner circles of al-Qaida through his interactions with senior al-Qaida members including UBL, (Ayman al-) Zawahiri, KU-10024 (Mohammed) and others."
Al-Zawahiri was al Qaeda's No. 2 man under bin Laden.
Another detainee assessment also mentioned al Kuwaiti. It was of an Indonesian member of al Qaeda called Riduan Isomuddin, who had spent nearly two years in the 1980s fighting jihad in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
He also knew Mohammed, according to the assessment, which said that "in November 2001, detainee and his wife left Kandahar for Karachi. They stayed at the Abu Ahmad al Kuwaiti guest house for two weeks."
Al Qaeda operated a network of guest houses (or safe houses) in Afghanistan and Pakistan before and immediately after the 9/11 attacks.
Isomuddin was captured in August 2003 in Thailand by a joint Thai-U.S. operation and is described in the assessment as a "high-value detainee."
CNN has been unable to confirm with U.S. officials the identity of the courier, but several factors point to al Kuwaiti as the courier who inadvertently led the United States to bin Laden's hiding place: al Kuwaiti's reported history with the organization, his access to senior leaders, his description in the Guantanamo assessment as a courier, and the fact that he was never captured.

CNN has been unable to establish whether he was at the compound when U.S. forces staged their raid or whether he was killed in the operation.

Bin Laden’s Death ‘Defining Moment’ as U.S. Says Risk Remains

President Barack Obama declared the world a “better place” one day after announcing the death of Osama bin Laden, even as the U.S. and its allies were on guard against possible retaliation by al-Qaeda sympathizers.
Obama’s counterterrorism adviser, John Brennan, called the death of the world’s most hunted terrorist a “defining moment” in the struggle against terrorism. Still, the administration warned that al-Qaeda continues to pose a threat and the U.S. issued travel alerts for Americans abroad, while potential U.S. targets were placed on alert.
“We’re hoping to bury the rest of al-Qaeda along with bin Laden,” Brennan said at a briefing yesterday. “This does not mean that we are putting down our guard as far as al-Qaeda is concerned. It may be a mortally wounded tiger that still has some life in it, and it’s dangerous, and we need to keep up the pressure.”
Bin Laden was killed May 1 by U.S. commandos in a raid in Pakistan almost 10 years after orchestrating the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in which terrorists hijacked four commercial airlines, flying two of them into the World Trade Center towers in New York and one into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, just across the Potomac River from the nation’s capital. The fourth plane crashed in a field in rural Pennsylvania after the passengers attempted to overpower the hijackers. Almost 3,000 people were killed.

‘Good Day’

“I think we can all agree this is a good day for America,” Obama said yesterday. “Our country has kept its commitment to see that justice is done. The world is safer, it is a better place because of the death of Osama bin Laden.”
Cheering crowds gathered spontaneously outside the White House in Washington and at the World Trade Center site in New York when word of bin Laden’s death was announced. Obama plans to go to New York on May 5 to meet with families of those who died in the Sept. 11 attacks, an administration official said.
Obama also spoke yesterday with seven world leaders about the killing of bin Laden and the continued fight against terrorism, including U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Mexican President Felipe Calderon, according to a White House statement.
The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index slipped 0.2 percent to 1,361.22 at 4 p.m. in New York, reversing an early advance. Oil for June delivery fell 41 cents to settle at $113.52 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Next In Line

With bin Laden dead, U.S. counterterrorism officials will turn their attention to potential successors, such as Ayman al- Zawahiri, al-Qaeda’s’s No. 2 leader. Another possible candidate is Anwar al-Awlaki, who has been tied to several terrorist attacks, including the incident in which a Nigerian is suspected of trying to blow up a Detroit-bound plane in 2009.
Zawahiri, who teamed with bin Laden in the 1980s in the fight against the Soviet Union’s occupation of Afghanistan, may be even more difficult to find, since he is known for blending in with the masses in Pakistan. The U.S. is offering a $25 million reward for information leading to his apprehension or conviction.
U.S. and other Western officials emphasized that the danger from terrorism hasn’t diminished -- and it may increase as extremists are prodded to action by bin Laden’s death.
“Though bin Laden is dead, al-Qaeda is not,” CIA director Leon Panetta, who oversaw the mission to kill bin Laden, said yesterday in a statement sent to agency employees. “The terrorists almost certainly will attempt to avenge him, and we must -- and will -- remain vigilant and resolute.”

Direct Threat

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, while calling the killing of bin Laden “a significant success,” said in a statement from alliance headquarters in Brussels that “terrorism continues to pose a direct threat to our security.”
The State Department issued an alert to U.S. citizens traveling or living abroad about potential anti-American violence as a result of the raid.
Security was heightened across the U.S. and at government installations worldwide. Protection around the U.S. consulate in Karachi, Pakistan, was increased, with police and paramilitary forces taking positions and setting up check posts outside the building.
In the nation’s capital, riders on the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, or Metro, saw more uniformed officers yesterday. Transit police, along with other law enforcement in the area, have increased security “as a precautionary measure related to the death of bin Laden,” Metro spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein said in a recorded voice message.

Police Presence

New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly ordered increased police presence in the subway system during the morning rush hour and directed all officers to “remain alert,” said Paul Browne, a spokesman for the department.
Brennan and other administration officials yesterday drew a more complete picture of the 40-minute raid on bin Laden’s Pakistan compound by a U.S. special forces team. They described an almost 10-year hunt for bin Laden that broke when they tracked a trusted al-Qaeda courier to a compound in Abbottabad, a small city that is about 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the capital, Islamabad, and is home to a number of retired Pakistani military officers as well as the country’s military academy.

Planning the Raid

Once additional intelligence indicated a high likelihood that bin Laden might be at the compound, Obama and his national security team met repeatedly to plan the U.S. action.
And even though he lacked specific and definitive intelligence placing the al-Qaeda leader in the house, the president gave the final go-ahead the morning of April 29.
The president monitored the operation in real time with his advisers from the White House Situation Room on May 1. Brennan described it as an “anxiety-filled” period, where the “minutes passed like days.” Obama was told of the initial identification just after 7 p.m. Sunday night and later was shown a photograph of the scene, an administration official said.
“We got him,” Obama said, according to Brennan.
To contact the reporter on this story: Julianna Goldman in Washington at jgoldman6@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Silva at msilva34@bloomberg.net