Hammer of justice falls on bin Laden

The end of a nine-year nightmare has finally come.

After 12 years—and three presidential administrations—of hunting, Osama bin Laden has been removed from the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list by a joint special forces group spearheaded by Navy Seals.

The response was overwhelming, as Americans around the world let loose triumphant cheers that had been over a decade in the making.

No one summarized the American public’s response better than President Barack Obama.

“Justice has been done,” Obama announced to the nation at 11:35 Sunday night from the East Room of the White House.

There is truly no more succinct of a way to summarize the long-awaited fulfilling of our vendetta with the al-Quaeda leader, and the avenging of our brothers and sisters who lost their lives in our unrelenting hunt.

It was originally former president George W. Bush who led us into Afghanistan, beginning a war in the Middle East designed to ensure that no terrorist attack like September 11,2001 would ever befall us again.

“I directed Leon Panetta, the director of the CIA, to make the killing or capture of bin Laden the top priority of our war against al Qaeda, even as we continued our broader efforts to disrupt, dismantle and defeat his network,” Obama said.

While his death came as a surprise to the American people, intelligence officials had been on bin Laden’s trail for months.

Obama was briefed on a possible lead to bin Laden in August.

“It was far from certain, and it took many months to run this thread to ground, “ Obama said.

In his address, Obama told the American people that it took multiple meetings with his national security team as more information came available on bin Laden’s whereabouts in a compound in Pakistan.

The President spoke with both former presidents Bill Clinton and Bush before making his announcement to the American public.

“I congratulated him and the men and women of our military and intelligence communities who devoted their lives to this mission. They have our everlasting gratitude,” former president Bush said in a statement. The fight against terror goes on, but tonight America has sent an unmistakable message: No matter how long it takes, justice will be done.”

Initially, bin Laden got his name on the American Intelligence radar — a dangerous place to be in — in 1998 after his bombing of the U.S. Embassies in Tanzania and Kenya, killing over 200 people and injuring 5000 more. In fact, it was former President Clinton that then declared a “War on Terror,” setting into place Operation Infinite Reach that would hunt for Osama bin Laden until he was found.

That search continued as bin Laden seemed to disappear from the face of the planet.

On Sept. 11, 2001, an al-Qaeda cell unleashed havoc on the U.S. as they flew civilian-filled planes into the heart of the American people.

Whether or not it was bin Laden’s plan, he awakened the beast.

Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto’s unforgettable words after the bombing of Pearl Harbor were no less applicable to the greatest catastrophe of our generation: “I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve.”