Osama bin Laden’s killing key part of Obama’s legacy

With the emergence of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and the bloody campaign to create a caliphate in the Middle East, it’s easy to forget what occurred on May 1, 2011, deep inside Pakistan.

“Justice has been done.” So said President Barack Obama as he revealed to the nation that U.S. Navy SEALS had killed the world’s leading terrorist, Osama bin Laden.

Bin Laden, whose al-Qaida terror organization was responsible for the slaughter of thousands of innocent people around the world, masterminded the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack on American soil. Almost 3,000 people were killed when al-Qaida operatives commandeered commercial jetliners and flew them into the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington. A fourth aircraft crashed into a field in Pennsylvania after passengers overwhelmed the hijackers.

Following the attack, then President George W. Bush declared war on al- Qaida and its host country, Afghanistan. The U.S. also placed a $5 million bounty on bin Laden.

The terrorist leader was in Afghanistan when U.S.-led coalition forces invaded the Taliban-run country, but he escaped with some of his advisers into the mountains along the border with Pakistan.

As American troops were closing in on bin Laden, who was holed up in Tora Bora, President Bush redeployed the military to participate in the invasion of Iraq and the overthrow of dictator Saddam Hussein.

As a result, bin Laden was able to escape over the border into Pakistan, where tribal leaders protected him and members of his family.

He finally established a home in Abbottabad, a military town 35 miles from the Pakistani capital of Islamabad. And that’s where he lived with family and close associates for more than six years.

Special forces

After the CIA and other intelligence agencies confirmed that bin Laden was living in Pakistan, President Obama decided to send in the special forces – without notifying the Pakistani government or involving Pakistan’s discredited intelligence service. High ranking members of the service have been accused of having close ties with al-Qaida and other Islamic extremist groups.

The SEALS flew in helicopters into Abbottabad in the middle of the night, breached defenses at bin Laden’s compound and entered the house. They shot the world’s leading terrorist in his bedroom.

President Obama gave voice to most Americans when he said of the killing, “Justice has been done.”

Although it came a decade after the terrorist attack that has changed America forever, it was a defining moment for this country.

The message it sent around the world was clear: If you harm us, we will hunt you down, and justice will be served.

But while he was reveling in the success of the secret operation, Obama warned that the war on terror was far from over.

“ … his [bin Laden’s] death does not mark the end of our effort. There’s no doubt that al-Qaida will continue to pursue attacks against us. We must – and we will – remain vigilant at home and abroad,” the president told the nation five years ago.

In light of what’s taking place today following the largely failed experiment in democracy in North Africa and the Middle East – remember the Arab Spring? – and the rise of Islamic State and other extremist groups, Obama’s note of caution in 2011 was prescient.

Although Republicans in Congress and on the presidential campaign trail have harshly criticized the Democratic president for not doing enough to rein in the Islamic extremist groups, the fact remains that the fight is taking place over there – not on American soil.

The Obama administration and the nation’s intelligence and law-enforcement agencies have done a commendable job of preventing another Sept. 11-type terrorist attack. To be sure, there will be lone-wolf operations, such as the one in California carried out by a husband a wife, but with the killing of bin Laden, no one has emerged as the worldwide leaders of Islamic terrorism.

President Obama is serving his last year in office and while his legacy is still being defined, there’s no argument that the elimination of the world’s No. 1 terrorist will go down as a crowning achievement of his presidency.

Obama is deserving of the nation’s appreciation.