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Obama: bin Laden Death is 'Good Day for America'

   VOA News  May 02, 2011
   This video frame grab, obtained from ABC News on May 2, 2011, shows the
   interior bedroom in the mansion where Osama Bin Laden was killed May 1.

Photo: Reuters/Ho New

   This video frame grab, obtained from ABC News on May 2, 2011, shows the
   interior bedroom in the mansion where Osama Bin Laden was killed May 1.

   U.S. President Barack Obama says the world is a safer, better place
   because of the death of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.
   At the White House Monday, Obama said it is a "good day for America"
   and the United States has kept its commitment to see that justice is
   done.
   The president announced late Sunday in Washington that bin Laden was
   killed by U.S. forces at a compound inside Pakistan.
   DNA proof
   Officials are quoted as saying the DNA testing provided a match with
   99.9 percent certainty that bin Laden is dead. Details were not given.
   Obama said Sunday a "small team of Americans" carried out the targeted
   operation against the compound in Abbottabad, an affluent area north of
   Islamabad.
   He said U.S. forces killed bin Laden after a firefight and took custody
   of his body.
   Sea burial
   U.S. defense officials say bin Laden was buried at sea from the deck of
   a U.S. aircraft carrier in the north Arabian Sea. They say the remains
   were handled in accordance with Islamic practice and tradition.
   Obama called the death of bin Laden the "most significant achievement"
   in the mission to defeat al-Qaida, and said it should be welcomed by
   all those who believe in peace and human dignity.
   Well-kept secret
   In a briefing, the Obama administration described the raid as a
   complex, dangerous mission. An official said the United States did not
   share information on the operation with any other country and very few
   people in the U.S. government knew of the plan in advance.
   The killing of bin Laden comes nearly 10 years after the catastrophic
   attacks by al-Qaida operatives on the United States on September 11,
   2001. Nearly 3,000 people were killed in the attacks.
   Obama said bin Laden was not a Muslim leader, but a "mass murderer of
   Muslims." The president said bin Laden was located with the help of
   Pakistani intelligence, and that he authorized the operation after
   months of following an intelligence lead.
   President Obama said there is "no doubt" al-Qaida will continue to
   pursue attacks, and he said the U.S. must remain vigilant at home and
   abroad.

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