Washington : Five years after the raid in which Osama bin Laden was killed, President Barack Obama said he hopes that in Bin Laden’s last moment, the founder of al-Qaeda understood that the U.S. had come for him to avenge the deaths of 3,000 people on September 11, 2001. Obama, who leaves office in January 2017, describes the killing of Osama bin Laden as the “most important single day” of his presidency.
In an interview with CNN aired on Monday, Obama said: “hopefully at that moment, he understood that the American people hadn’t forgotten the some 3,000 people who he had killed.”
Obama’s administration has pointed to the raid as evidence that despite the President’s caution about foreign engagement, he isn’t loathe to act forcefully on behalf of American interests and pursue aggressive action against terrorists.
President Obama said opportunities to strike Osama bin Laden were so rare that he was willing to risk failure and international embarrassment in May 2011 rather than wait for another chance to send Navy SEALs after the world’s most wanted man.
“After the discussions with the principals, it was clear to me that this was going to be our best chance to get bin Laden,” he said.—AB/IINA