Tonight, on May 1st, 2011 at around 10:45pm, President Barack Obama announced the killing of Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden. Here are some highlights of the President’s speech:

 

“Tonight I can report to the American people and the world that the United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama Bin Laden.”

 

“We quickly learned that the 9/11 attacks were carried out by Al Qaeda, an organization headed by Osama Bin Laden which had openly declared war on the United States and was committed to killing innocents in our own country and around the globe. So we went to war against Al Qaeda.”

 

“Shortly after taking office 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.”

 

“Then, last August, after years of painstaking work by our intelligence community, I was briefed on a possible lead to Bin Laden. It was far from certain, and it took many months to run this thread to ground. I met repeatedly met with my national security team as we developed more information on the possibility that we had located Bin Laden hiding within a compound deep inside Pakistan.”

 

“Finally, last week, I determined that we had enough intelligence to take action, and authorized an operation to get Osama Bin Laden, and bring him to justice. Today, at my direction, the United States launched a targeted operation against that compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. A small team of Americans carried out the operation with extraordinary courage and capability. No American were harmed. They took care to avoid civilian casualties. After a firefight, they killed Osama Bin Laden, and took custody of his body.”

 

“The death of Bin Laden marks the most significant achievement to date in our nation’s effort to defeat Al Qaeda. Yet his death does not mark the end of our effort.”

 

“We must and we will remain vigilant at home and abroad. As we do, we must re-affirm that the United States is not and never will be at war with Islam. I have made clear, just as President Bush did after 9/11, that our war is not against Islam. Bin Laden was not a Muslim leader. He was a mass murderer of Muslims.”

 

“His demise should be welcomed by all who believe in peace and human dignity.”