In case you haven’t heard, Osama bin Laden is dead. This news came as a major shock Sunday, but few tears are being shed for the terrorist mastermind.
Around 10:50 p.m. EST last night (cutting off the end of shows such as Celebrity Apprentice, amusingly), the story broke that bin Laden had been killed.
At 11:30 p.m., President Obama spoke from the White House, confirming “the most significant achievement to date in our nation’s effort to defeat Al-Qaeda.”
Here’s Obama’s address to the American people:
Obama revealed that the intelligence gathering and planning for the operation had been underway since LAST AUGUST and that no Americans were lost.
He reiterated that American is not at war with Islam, saying “we must also reaffirm that the United States is not – and never will be – at war with Islam.”
Bin Laden was not a Muslim leader, Obama said, but a mass murderer of Muslims, and a man whose demise was both necessary and very long overdue.
As Obama said, the intelligence and armed services personnel who planned and executed this operation deserve our commendation and gratitude.