from where the north tower stood, i'm jon scott, for jenna lee, thank you for joining us, "america live" starts right now. martha: this fox news alert on a triumphant day in america and for the war on terror, the world's most wanted man the leader of al-qaida is dead. we are awaiting new details from the white house as we get word on a bunch of material is the way it's being described that was grabbed from the compound where osama bin laden was killed. welcome to "america live," i'm martha maccallum in for megyn kelly. almost ten years later u.s. navy seals found osama bin laden yesterday, following orders to kill not capture the notorious terrorists. we are hearing reports that osama bin laden's wife identified him by name during that raid inside the remote home in pakistan.

dna tests are also now confirming, according to the white house that the body that was buried in the northern arabian ocean today is indeed the body of osama bin laden. now there are new questions about what is next in the war on terror. lawmakers looking for answers from pakistan about what they knew, amid new concerns that al-qaida will try to retaliate. mike emanuel is with me live from the white house with the very latest on this. when a day this has been, mike. >> reporter: no question about that. we expect to hear from members of president obama's national team as they come into the brady room. there are questions at this hour, though, about the pakistanis because all indications are osama bin laden was living a pretty comfortable life not far from the pakistani capitol of islamabad.

a senate arm's service chairman carl levin says the pack san he's have explaining to do. >> i think the pakistani army and intelligence have a lot of questions to answer. , given the location, the length of time and the apparent fact that this was -- this facility was actually built for osama bin laden, and it's closeness to the central location of the pakistani army. >> reporter: we are hearing from senior u.s. officials that our counterterrorism partners, namely the pakistanis were not notified that this raid was going down. so there are a lot of questions about how much trust the u.s. can put in pakistan after he was living in this compound for up to five years, and seemed to be having a pretty good life, martha. martha: yes, indeed. what else do we look for out of the brief, what else do we expect? >> reporter: we did get

information about dna testing. we did get information about one of his wives identifying him by name. we got information about disposal of his remains and the way they were carefully laid to rest at sea. so a lot of indications are, just more of the talk we expect to get from the national security team. a lot of it we've got even over the past few hours, so expect a lot of questions about pakistan. martha: thank you so much. we'll go back that as soon as that goes underway. we are learning some incredible new details about this operation that led to osama bin laden's final moments alive. according to administration officials cia interrogators working overseas gathered the first piece of intelligence on this while inside the secret prisons that we heard so much about. that information led to a four-year chase, and friday's authorization from president obama to kill osama bin laden is what was the culmination of all

of this. the navy seals carried out an intense and bloody 40-minute battle. they were on the ground for 40 minutes which is a very longtime under these kind of circumstances, but they got in and out of there without any americans being injured, just a remarkable success story, and they got the intended target, osama bin laden as you just heard from mike emanuel was verbally identified by names according to those who carried this out by a woman thaout to be his wife. navy seals come taeurd photos of him on the scene, as catherine herridge moments ago they identified the different parts of his face, ear, nose, aoeurbgs his height was the telling thing as well in the identification of him. a lot of stuff coming in here. let's take a moment here and get to this. we are learning this a possible pipe bomb has been found at an off-ramp at the coronado bridge

in san diego, california. we go to trace gallagher who is looking into this for us. >> reporter: we believe this pipe bomb was found on the online ramp of the coronado bridge. what makes this significance is the coronado bridge leads over to north island, which is home to the west coast navy seals. the highway patrol down there has shut down the southbound lanes of interstate 5 because interstate 5 goes up and the off-ramp goes onto the coronado bridge. it's about a mile long, which goes onto the island and into the area where the naval air station is located. there are conflicting reports. some of the locals are reporting in fact there was a pipe bomb found there, and others are saying that this may not be a harmful device at all. we have got even no clarification from the authorities on scene. we do know that a network news service affiliate is now about to get a helicopter in the air.

we should be getting live pictures at some point in time in the next few minutes. when that happens and the information comes in we'll bring that to you about a potential pipe bomb now placed on the onramp going onto the coronado bridge in san diego. martha. martha: we'll get more on that in a bit, trace thank you very much. we are getting some fascinating new details about the american seal team that recognized osama bin laden in pakistan and shot him dead. our next guest says he is certain that some of the special forces in this photo that you see were part of this secretive mission that caught the al-qaida leader. glad to be joined this afternoon by this special guest fox news military oliver nor. good to see you. >> reporter: great news, i was on my way back from the annual rifle association's meeting in bits purchasing. my photo you just showed, mine is the only face you can actually see and there is a reason for that.

the naval welfare development group former known as seal team six are guys that really don't want their faces up on television or in the newspapers for lots of good reasons. they are the ones that prove what ronald reagan said back when i worked in the white house, when he captured the terrorist who hijacked the acill e lauro, you can run but you can't hide, that is certainly what happened to obama, excuse me osama. martha: when you hear this story, and they could have gone another way. you know the the president could have done this with b-2 bombers, and he according to all the reports we're hearing real lighteis that wemay not have hao identify him. tell me about the president's

decision to send in this team. >> reporter: it's a courageous decision, he made it the day before yesterday. they increased embassy security around the world in anticipation of what we are now seeing. these kinds of units, the special open races groups that we've been out there with, covered for fox news, these are remarkable young americans, the best of the mess, they are double volunteers. they go on these kinds of raids conducting them in the middle of the night. the ones that we've been on out there by helicopter going into the zone, blasting away into a compound, and getting in and getting out is all dependent on how good the intelligence is and how good the training is in preparation. they've got uac's up over top of them and very good ideas of what is on the ground, but ultimately it comes down to the decision points of each individual soldier, sailor, airman in this case navy seal. martha: i'm so fascinated by how they pulled this off. explain to us what you know about, you know, there was a low

illumination of the moon. they wanted to time everything perfectly so they could get low enough to land in this compound. how did it go from there, do you think? >> reporter: the operational details, i just got an email from a very senior u.s. commander saying we are not going to have the operational details out because we'll have to do this again and again and again. heress one of the things we've got, an enormous advantage. the night vision equipment is thermal, they can see hot spots to include human beings, even dogs on the ground. the unmanned predator vehicles up top over the battle sight gives you a perfect picture of what might be coming towards you, or as they say squirters trying to get out. everyone of these young persons has practiced this several times. the practice kill mission, the one we saw taken down with osama bin laden means these operators have done this dozens of times.

this is the finest operation you could ever expect primarily because of the prescription with which was all carried out. i know 40 minutes sounds like a lot of time to some folks but in fact it's a very brief period of time to conduct an operation of this magnitude. martha: it's credible. i can imagine how much your heart is pounding in this situation and i wonder if we'll ever hear the story of this young person that looked osama bin laden in the eye and pulled that trigger. everyone is hailing these young americans who pulled this off. our credit goes to them, they h-r an astonishing group of individuals. thank you so much for shedding some more light on this. this is an extraordinary story that we are finding out more and more about minute by minute. there is new evidence today that osama bin laden's death is direct result of enhanced interrogation. this is one of the real questions, everybody is asking

about the background. you heard director clap era little while ago he gave credit to the prior three administrations for all of this. is this vindication for former vice president dick cheney and others who said this was the only way to keep america safe? we'll talk about that. we are also learning that the cia is analyzing a whole large cashe of material that they found in there. we'll go to the pentagon and get new details of what they got out of this and new video of what they saw in osama bin laden's mansion as it has been described. his death is a bittersweet moment for the families of 9/11 victims. up next the father of a man who was killed inside the world trade center, on what all of this means to him, next. >> if i could ever shake the man's hand who put a bullet in that man's head i would love to shake his hand, give him a hug. if he sees this. nothing but love, love and

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martha: coming back with this fox news alert. we are awaiting the daily white house briefing. press secretary jay carney will be joined by members of obama's national security team. we should get new information on the operation to kill osama bin laden and more details on that. also in the next 20 minutes a fox news exclusive, vice president dick cheney will join me live with his thoughts and reaction to all of this. we'll find out how he first learned about this operation in pakistan. stay tuned, dick cheney, former vice president coming up right here on "america live." you don't want to miss that. also the news cameras have been trained on ground zero all throughout today. crowds gathering at the very sight where thousands of people lost their lives on september 11th. here is what it looks like when that news started to hit this part of new york last night.

[hoorah ] hoorah ] martha: a lot of enthusiasm. bill hammer has been down there all morning, and he joins me once again, hey, bill. >> reporter: it's an extraordinary day, martha. everybody in new york city has a story as it relates to 9/11. you're about to hear two of them again. this is ryan w-rbs yker. ryan works on the big tower, okay, when he was 13-years-old he took a job down here to clear out a lot of the debris that was down here at ground zero. he's been working here for ten years. what does today feel like, ryan? >> a lot of emotions. real high emotions, good to see the people, and the city really needed it. >> reporter: how did you feel when you herd the news.

>> i felt great. it just feels good, just, you know. >> reporter: what is it like to climb on this steel in lower manhattan, knowing how sacred the 16 acres are and to have a hand in rebuilding america. >> there is a lot of pride that goes into it, a whole lot. it's good for the city, just trying to build it up. >> reporter: amen to that. i know you've got to get back to work. thank you, good luck to you. ryan works way up in that tower right there. eventually the 1,776 feet tall. they built it now know 62 stories. here is another american i want you to meet. your name. >> victor shortrand. >> reporter: he is a marine, retired. i saw huh walking across the street behind me. what does this day feel like to you? >> it feels like retribution. it's a long siege, a longtime getting there but we finally did

get him. thank goodness we finally got the son of a bitch. i'm a little disappointed, all the casualties that the marine corps took in the past ten years, i wish the marine corps was involved in the assault. we should have given the marine core that privilege. >> reporter: shouldn't we give the navy seals the opportunity and spread the wealth? why did you come down to ground zero? >> i came down because it was the end of a long mission and siege. thank god we ended it. it was a compulsion. i felt i had to be here. >> reporter: one hell of a sack ra fist for this country, ten years running. >> absolutely. what has happened that day and what happened after that and the conflicts we've been involved in. these young men who now are in

the service and doing all the suffering, it's a shame, because i think the military represents only like 1% of our entire population, and what was it winston churchill said, we oh so much to so few, we really do, and they volunteer, so god bless them. >> reporter: thank you very much. thanks for coming biokay. >> the name is victor. >> reporter: i thought you said richard earlier. nice to see you. you can talk to different people across the sidewalk and you will get different reactions. there was one reaction martha that is universal. that was this. today with us a victory for america. amen to that. martha back to you. and welcome home from the beautiful gardens of london, it's great to have you back. martha: thank you, bill, it is great to be back, what a day to cover this story, bill hemmer, thank you so much at ground zero talking to the folks down there doing a great job this morning

for us and we appreciate him being with us as well. as we all know on a morning nearly ten years ago the white house chief of sthaf andy card walked into a classroom in florida to pwraeupbg the news in george w. bush that america was unattack. we will speak with mr. card later this hour about how that day changed the course of history. and people in celebration today over the death of bin laden. how the pentagon is remembering that store tpeuf i ca horrific p next. >> i knew a few people in the pentagon. i'm a little nervous. i get a little emotional to talk about it, so it's a touchy subject. i can't get rid of these weeds, or these nasal allergies.

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martha: a lot of breaking news right now. fox news alert. we are waiting details from the white house. the cia is analyzing a huge cashe of materials that they found inside the compound. they are trying to get more intelligence. meanwhile many u.s. cities are now on high alert. new yorkers are seeing extra police presence at the airports, the bridges, the subways in our city. the new york police department says it is just a precaution. we are seeing extra security at ground zero today, the site where thousands of people lost their lives on 9/11. i'm very honored to be joined by earnestess estrada, his ton is tom estrada. he was a wonderful family man

and so many of these personal stories, it's been so nice to have you here as we talk about all of this. for the families i'm wondering what your reaction was when you heard after ten years almost that osama bin laden was dead. >> it's hard to describe the reaction. in my mind at times he was dead and at times was alive. so it's with mixed feelings today. sort of bittersweet if you will. i'm a christian, a devout christian. i've turned my cheek the other way my whole life. this incident, and the loss in my family hardened me to some degree, to a large degree it hardened me. i was ready to pick up a gun and go hunt him myself. i'm forever even debted and so is this country to the brave men and women of the armed forces that fight for our liberty. for the team that went in and

did what they did over the weekend or over the last couple of days is phenomenal. the reaction in this country is one that i would have never expected because after ten years so many people tend to forget, except for the many, many families who had the huge loss that they've had. some people tend to forget. i think this has brought a renewed energy with regard to who we are, what we are, why we are as a nation, and for that i'm happy. this won't bring tommy back to us, but to some degree it gives us some satisfaction with regard to having the world rid of this monster. it's really ironic, i thought it of that a little while ago, within a space of a couple of days we see the birth of almost a saint or an angel in pope john, and now the death of a devil, so life works in strange

ways, doesn't it. martha: it sure does. i'm wondering how significant it its for you. president obama had a decision to make, they could either take a b-2 stealth bomber and obliterate the whole place. they chose to do it the hard way and put men on the ground and to make sure that osama bin laden saw that it was american soldiers who came to take his life. how important and how satisfying, i know it's kind of a sick way in some ways to look at it. how much does that mean to you. >> no it's not a sick way to think about it. i've thought about what we have to do, why we have to do it an awful lot. i'm a staunch advocate of enhanced interrogation. i believe firmly in the patriot act and in gitmo, and what the media does and some of these elements of this country do it pleases me, it angers me at times. this is proof that you have to continue to pursue what is right

in this world, and in your life. and making the decision, i don't know that it was a difficult decision. the president, who served this at the time of the incident sort of made a pledge. he was unable to fulfill that pledge. as a nation we have a responsibility to fulfill the pledge. and the men and women who achieved the goal and have satisfied the hearts and minds of a lot of people, not all of them, there will be people who are skeptics because nobody has seen that body. he was given a burial within 24 hours of his death, which may please some people but anger a lot of people. martha: how do you feel about that? >> it's really hard for me to feel a closure, you know, a real closure. is it morbid to say you want to see someone dead or see some

dead body? yeah it's hard for me. martha: you want to see the picture, some evidence. >> i want to be absolutely sure, absolutely sure. and then you have to think that we still have khalid sheikh mohammed running around, free and easy as a bird, enjoying the life that he's enjoying ten years later, and this country, the people who have suffered the loss have to bear the sorry. they say they buried this monster at sea. they could have buried him in the tires of the people who shared all these tears for ten years. there would have been enough tears. tommy lives with his family, his wife and his children every day of the week i'm sure. maybe it's a little easier to carry the loss that you know that he's gone, or that the person that is responsible, the

man responsible for tommy's death and so many other men and women has met his own. i'm really not sure. i'll still search for what i want to find. i don't know if i'll ever find it before i'm gone. martha: i know you said there is a tremendous void that stays in your life. when i sit here with you i can feel that and i know that this could have happened yesterday probably for all that your family has been through. and we are so grateful for you being here today, it is so important that anybody out there who may have forgotten any of this remembers this. >> terry wanted to be here today with me. she got caught in the lincoln tunnel. we'll embrace some time today. today is a special day for a lot, a lot of people. i don't know if it's that special for me, personally. martha: we wish you peace at some point and we thank you so much for being here with me.

>> i appreciate it. thank you so much. martha: coming up here as we move along in about 15 minutes from now members of the president's national security team give us brand-new details about what happened here. we are getting pictures and photographs that we're going to share with you as well. about who knew what, about his whereabouts. you can expect a lot of hard questions about pakistan and what they did or did not know is going to come up in this as well. we'll get a look at a video from inside the compound. this is our first look at the place where the terror leader was said to be leading what looks like a very comfortable life. we will talk to the former cia planner about what we're seeing in these pictures and we'll explain them to you moments from now. stay with us on a very important day in american history. we'll be right back with more "america live."

martha: right now we are getting brand-new background information from our sources at the pentagon who know more about the osama bin laden take down. let's go to jennifer griffin. she is at the pentagon has she has been throughout the night. jennifer, what are we learning about the details of osama bin laden's burial at sea. >> reporter: what we learned is that it took place on board the u.s. s. carl vincent, that is the u.s. aircraft carrier in the north arabian sea. at 1:10 eastern time the body

was prepared in an islamic fashion according to islamic right tule and was prepared for burial. certain rights were read over the body and translated into arabic by a u.s. service member. then we are told at 2:00am the body was completely plea paired, it was washed, wrapped in a white sheet as is tradition, it was then placed upon a board that had been prepared and it was eased into the sea, we are told. all of that happened just hours after the really -- lens 12 hours after the railess than 12e compound. that took place at about 3:30 eastern. osama bin laden was killed at the end of that 40-minute raid. there were a number of ways in which they tried to identify the body, identified him visually before he was killed, including asking his wife who was standing next to him, and she did identify him, a u.s. official

told us. martha: what an incredible story this is. the more we learn about it. jennifer, do you have any idea if that was always the plan, when they started this operation, that if indeed they killed him that he would be immediately taken to the aircraft carrier and buried at sea in this fashion. >> reporter: that's certainly what we were told, that was the plan all along. if he were killed, this was a capture or kill operation we're told, a presidential, it was an intelligence operation. a u.s. seal team was basically on loan to the cia for the operation, about 24 u.s. seals came out of the four helicopters that were launched from afghanistan, they were blackhawks, and chanook helicopters. one blackhawk had to be destroyed at the scene. i think we have a drawing of

what the compound looks like. osama bin laden was living on the second and third floor with his family of a third floor house. across from it within the compound, and this compound has huge, high recalls were these two couriers and their families, and we're told that the seal teams made their way slowly through the compound and they got to osama bin laden last. he was with his wife. but back to that -- the blackhawk that initially landed with the 24 seals, there was not enough air lift for the helicopter to liftoff, and it actually hit the compound ground, and it was grounded. they had to leave it behind and they blew it up before they left. that's why you saw the fiery pictures of the compound. we have another graphic released by the passenger today and that shows that five years ago there was no compound at this site. this was built up in the last five years, martha. martha: remarkable. and those graphics really help to understand where he was.

yen for thank you very much. jennifer griffin working through the night on this story for us from the pentagon. we are now getting our first video look inside the room where osama bin laden was hiding. this is the only known videotape inside that home in a well to do pakistani town, less than two hours from the capitol of islamabad. joining us is chad sweet, cofounder and manager of the chertoff group. your reaction to the new details that we're getting about how this all went down and the intelligence that led to it. >> it will go down in the annals of counterterrorism history as one of the most impressive covert operations in u.s. history. i think the interesting things, if you reflect upon this. going all the way back to desert one and our failed hostage rescue in iran to this operation you'll notice just a dramatic evolution in our capabilities, and in frankly the ability of

the cia, my former agency to work effectively with the military, and the military among themselves to conduct joint operations. you'll remember in desert one, just like there this case they used helicopters as the insertion flat forms. once went down as well. in this case they built in redunn danceee in the remaining platform to get out. there are a lot of lessons to be learned here, a lot of cooperation and everyone deserves a lot of gratitude from the american people. martha: it could have gone the other way. thank god it did not. what are the lessons that we have learned, aside from the personnel and everybody who has been around these people attest to their amazing for the feud and just the best of the best that we've seen in the american

military. >> what it does show is the importance of our continued and relentless pursuit of al-qaida. and you mentioned before intelligence-led operations is what is critical to do this. it cannot be the brute force of the military. in order to do that we have to learn the lessons of the past. when i was in the cia back in the early 90s you'll remember when the soviet union collapsed there were calls for the propeace dividend and the mission was accomplished and president bush and others, including myself learned hard lessons you don't want to take your foot off the gas, you have to remain vigilant. these type of capabilities you can't invent overnight. if you eviscerate the cie and these operations which was done in the clinton administration, it takes decades to build everything back up right.

martha: we heard so many things about the break down in communications, especially after 9/11. now we learn the coordination on this seemed to be seamless and to perfection. chad sweet thank you for being with us today to give us an incite into the background that went into all of this. we'll take a quick break as we continue this incredible story, we're getting more detaeults, video inside the osama bin laden compound which is what we're starting to get as well. we will bring you all of that, and my discussion with former vice president dick cheney. i will ask him about the intelligence that was known about this entire program that came to fruition over the course of this weekend and we'll get former vice president dick cheney's reaction to the capture and kill of osama bin laden right after this on "america live." stay with us. ] psst. constated? phillips' caplet use gnesium, an ingredient that works more naturally wityour colon than stimulant xatives, for fective reli of constipation without cramps. thanks.

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martha: we are back and awaiting a white house press briefing at this moment. you can see everybody gathering there. this is going to be a big one. the anchor of special reports bret bair joins us live from washington. a lot of questions to be asked at the press briefing today. what do you expect we'll get to first? >> reporter: i think, martha we'll see a lot of questions about the burial at sea. there are people asking all kinds of questions about why this had to happen the way it happened, getting word from administration officials that his body was prepared on the u.s. s. carl vincent, osama bin laden's body in accordance with islamic practice, he was washed and wrapped in a white sheet before being buried at sea at 2:00am this morning. his body, according to them was prepared on a tphrad board then eased into the sea. there are a lot of people out there who say, okay, we have the dna test from administration officials saying it's near

perfect match, near a hundred percent that it was in fact him. we had the facial recognition according to administration officials by the operators on the ground, matching what the cia had as far as his face, and an identification by one of his wives, apparently during the 40-minute raid, a verbal recognition that that in fact was osama bin laden. there are still even lawmakers like sendses lieberman, collins, graham and others who are saying we might need to see some pictures and fast so that the rest of the world can be assured that this was osama bin laden, and that everyone is on the same page here. martha: yeah, that was one of my first thoughts when i heard about this this morning, that there will be, you know, a clambering to see those photographs. i remember when saddam hussein's sons were killed we saw gruesome photographs of them on the cover of the newspaper. indeed there is some confirmation in that, especially

since the body was disposed of at sea it seems we will get a lot of pressure on that question and that may begin moments from now in this press briefing, bret. >> reporter: definitely. there was a picture floating out there that was said to be osama bin laden after he was killed. that is fake. we are waiting on the official photos. there are photos, and there is video of all of the raid, but how much the administration chooses to put out, we'll see. the reason for the burial at sea we are told is because, one, no country would take him, his body, and two, they didn't want to create a situation where there was a site, a martyred site somewhere in the world that people would make a pilgrimage two. martha: there has to be some element in the very descriptive nature that has been put out there now that you referred to about the way the body was treated, how it was eased into the water as described, clearly

this is an effort to apiece these who would be inflamed to hear that the body was mistreated in any way. >> reporter: there are those out here in our country who say, listen this guy is responsible for thousands of u.s. deaths and more than that across the world, why do we care? the reason is, is that there have been spikes in attacks after big events like this. and if you can somehow, according to administration officials damp eveen down some f the uproar perhaps that is a good thing. but on the other side is the evidence. as you know in the middle east many conspiracy theories are about everything and there will be a lot of people out there who say he's still alive, or this wasn't him, or he was already dead. so we may see in this press briefing some of that detail. also i want to point out that some great reporting by jennifer griffin and justin fishel, catherine her rage saying a volume of materials were taken from the come bound and

computers, or hard drives were taken as well. this is significant, because it could lead to another take down very soon. we've seen that numerous times, where one big fish leads to another one, and you wonder whether ayman al-zawahiri is somewhere in pakistan. martha: he has to be a nervous person watching what happened last night. we heard oliver north moments ago say to me the reason we won't get a lot of detail about exactly how this was conducted is that they may want to preserve that plan to use again, and hopefully again and again. the computers and the hard drives and all of this that has been now transferred into cia hands according to these reports, you know, you look back, bret alternate the beginnings of the seeds of this whole operation years ago that led to a war name for this courier, there could be a lot of

information in that trove. >> reporter: that goes back to guantanamo bay. they had this courier, didn't know his name. they finally pinpointed this compound and it led to this place. it is the human successes. they should be patted on the back. a lot of what they do we don't seat. when they screw up we do see it on the front page of the paper. it looks like they've really nailed this one. martha: so true with general pa petraeus about to take over in the cia a lot of questions will be asked about why that decision was made. we'll bring you any news on the press briefing. it has not begun as of yet. we expect we'll get information from the national security team in the course of that. it is important to remember, though, how osama bin laden's

evil deeds spanned more than a decade. let's get over to james rosen who is reporting on this from washington for us. james, you know, the mind goes back to the cole, the embassy bombings, a huge, tragic litany of work by this horrible man. >> reporter: there is a lot history here martha. those images of the crowds of young americans whooping and hollering out on the streets last night served as a kind of poetic book end to the images we saw ten years ago right after 9/11 when some palestinians could be taken to the streets in celebration. >> i can hear you, the rest of the world hears you,. [yelling] >> and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon. [cheering] >> reporter: that u.s. led coalition drove the taliban from power in afghanistan and scattered the al-qaida network.

the world's number one terrorist was nearly captured that december in the hills of tora bora but escaped. allies came to power in kabul and islamabad. but they regrouped and remain a potent even knee today. >> the gravity of this moment is matched by the gravity of the threat that weapons of mass destruction posed to the world. >> reporter: they made a plea for a regime change. baghdad fell and saddam was captured but that was mere prelude with a sunni shiite civil war with americans caught in the crossfire. >> the new strategy i outlined tonight will change america's course 4 iraq. >> reporter: additional troops helped turn the tied and free elections govern the oil rich countries. american abuses at the abu ghraib prison, and harsh

interrogations at secret sights labeled are labeled by torture as some inflamed the muslim world. khalid sheikh mohammed provided information invaluable to us. radical change did come to the middle east of course but hardly as osama bin laden would have envision edit. that and more from my look back at the first decade on the war on terror on special report with bret bair at 6:00pm. martha. martha: when you think of this unfolding in the middle east it's quite a tale. we look forward to that on special report. you have a growing number of congressman asking very tough new yes, sir about our relationship with pakistan. and whether or not its government knew about osama bin laden's whereabouts and if so for how long. former u.s. ambassador to the u.n. john bolton joins us moments from now about what this means for our country.

supposedly is pakistan an ally in the war on terror. he has an interesting take on that. arlene howard lost his son when the towers fell but gained a very special connection to president burn. she will join us in the next hour with her powerful story for the long search for the leader. >> i can hear you, and the rest of the world can here you -- [yelling] >> and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon. [cheering] [chanting] usa, usa [usa. usa. @=h

martha: we are back on "america live." we are inside a two-minute warning. we expect there will be tough questions about our relationship with pakistan and what they knew when. considering this military facility. this mansion as it was described was just 100 yards away from a military facility that is considered to be the equivalent of the west point of pakistan. it's where the highest elements of their military are trained. there are a lot of questions about what they knew, when they knew it, why they may not have disclosed that and we are getting more information on the fact that we did not give them information in terms of this mission we were carrying out. so there is a frosty relationship developing between the two countries, and pakistan of course is a nuclear power. a troublesome situation. here comes jay carney at the podium. let's see how this goes for a

bit, then we'll move on. >> i wanted to make one point before we get started. i have with me today john brennan, assistant to the president for homeland security and counter terrorism. and he will take questions from you about the events of last night. and yesterday afternoon. and what preceded those events. and if you have any questions on other subjects i'll do about 10 minutes after mr. brennan is finished to take those questions. i just want to make a point before john comes up that as many of you know, the president even before he was president when he was a candidate has a clear idea about the approach he would take as president towards usama bin laden. in august of 2011 he said if we

have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets and president musharraf won't act, we will. in july of 2008, he said we must make it clear if pakistan cannot and will not act, we'll take out high-level terrorist targets like bin laden if we have number our sights. this is an approach he felt he would take when he was president and then as john will elaborate, once he took office, he made sure that we would revitalize our focus on usama bin laden and the hunt for him. so with that i would like to invite john up to take your questions. and i will be standing here if you have questions on other topics. thank you.

>> i wanted to ask about the specific goal of the raid. were they trying to taken by * alive or was eight mission to kill him on site. >> it was to prepare for all continue general is. if we had the opportunities to taken by latden alive and it didn't present any thoughts and the individuals were able to do that. we discussed that at meetings with the president. the concern was bin laden would oppose any type of capture operation. indeed he did with a firefight. he therefore was killed in that firefight. and that's when the remains were removed. but we certainly were planning for the possibility which we thought wasn't going to be remote, given that he would

likely resist arrest, that we would be able to capture him. >> you went into this operation with the most likely outcome to kill him on site? >> we tried to make sure we were able to accomplish the mission safely and securely for the people involved. we were not going to put our people at risk. the president put a premium and making sure our personnel were protected, and we were not going to give bin laden or any of his cohorts the opportunity to carry out lethal fire on our forces. he was engaged an was killed in the process. but if we had the opportunity to take him alive we would have done that. >> have you been able to determine how bin laden was able to hide in this prominent location and the pakistan yet is had no idea he was there. >> hiding in plain sight. this is something that was considered as a possibility. pakistan is a large country.

we are look right now at how he was able to hold out there for so long, and whether there was any type of support system within pakistan that allows him to stay there. we know that the people at come found were work on his behalf and that's how we ultimately found our way to that come pointp pound. but we are less than 24 hours after operation we are talking with the pakistanis on a regular basis and we'll pursue all leads to find out what type of support system and benefactors bin laden may have had. we are pursuing all leads in this issue. >> is it credible that pakistani authorities had no idea this compound was build, it was such an elaborate compound? >> it's inconceivable that bin laden did not have a support system in the country that aloud him to remain there for an

extended period time. i'm not going to speculate what type of support he may have had on an official basis. we are talking to the pakistanis right now and leaving open opportunities to continue to pursue whatever leads might be out there. >> also, one of the things people think about when they hear this news is what does this mean for the wars in afghanistan. does it make it easier to wind down there? >> i think the accomplishment that very brave personnel from the united states government were able to realize yesterday is a defining moment in the war against al qaeda, the war on terrorism by decap tag it the -y decapitating the head of the snake known as al qaeda. it will have an effect on the operations in the network in that area. this is something we have been after for 15 years that goes

back before 9/11. we are going to try to take advantage of this opportunity we have to demonstrate to the people in the area that al qaeda is something in the past and we are hoping to bury the rest of al qaeda along with bin laden. >> in the situation today can you describe how you were monitoring the goings on? it has been described as very tense scene. were you watchinged the operation? were you listening to it? how were you getting your information? >> the principals convened yesterday midday. there were others here early yesterday morning. the president joined us early afternoon before the operation got underway. when the operation got underway the president rejoined the group, we were able to monitor on a realtime basis the progress of the operation from its commencement to its time on target to the extraction of the

remains and he grels of -- and e target. it was one of the most anxiety-filled periods of time. the minutes passed like days. the president was very concerned about the security of our personnel. that was what was on his mind throughout. and we wanted to make sure we were able to get through this and accomplish the mission. but it was clearly very tense, a lot of people holding their breath. and there was a fair degree of silence as we would get the updates. and when we finally were informed that those individuals who were able to go on that compounds and found an individual they believe was bin laden, it was a tremendous sigh of relief what we believed and who we believed was in that compounds was in that compounds and was found. and the president was relieved once we had our people and those

remains off target. >> was it visual or just radio reports or phone reports? >> we are were able to monitor the situation in realtime and were able to have ru -- to haver updates and realtime visibility into the progress of the operation. i don't go into details about what type of feeds that were there. about it gave the ability to traicts on an ongoing basis. >> i understand there was a moment of real tension, one with the helicopters, and when the navy seals were leaving, and the pakistani government started scrambling their jets and there was a concern that they were coming to where the u.s. troops were, where the navy seals were. was there an actual concern because they were not informed

about this military operation. was there a concern they might take military action against the navy seals? >> we didn't contact the pakistanis until all of our aircraft were out of pakistani air space. at the time the pakistanis were reacting to an action that was taking place in islamabad. we were concerned the pakistanis scrambled jets. they had no idea who was on there, whether it was the u.s. or somebody else. we were watching and making sure our people and aircraft were able to get out of the pakistani air space. thankfully there was no engagement of pakistani forces. this operation was designed to minimize engagement with pakistani forces. no pakistani forces were engaged and there were no other individuals killed aside from

those on the compounds. >> can you talk about what couple takes you mate have found there? was it a bank vault in were you able to potentially get some additional leads out of the information? >> the people on the compounds took advantage of their time there to make sure we were able to acquire whatever material we thought was appropriate. and what was needed. and we are in the process right now of looking as the whatever might have been picked up. but i'm not going to go into details about what might have been acquired. we feel this is an important time to prosecute this effort, take advantage of the success today and continue to work to break the back of al qaeda. >> was it a lot of information? how would you describe the volume? >> we are trying to determine what information we have picked up. it's not necessarily quantities as a quality. >> can you tell us how close the u.s. has gotten to him in the

past grand tora bora. any other close calls that we have not been informed about? >> tora bora was the last time we felt we had credible information about where he was located. i think what this operation demonstrates is there are somewhere very, very good people who have been following bin laden for many years. they have been persistent and as a result of that diligence and an littic capabilities -- and analytic capabilities, they were able to determine bin laden was at that compound. it. was more confidence in this body of information since tora bora. but still there was nothing to confirm bin laden was at that compound. when he was faced with the opportunity to act upon this. the president has to evaluate

the strengths of this mission and made one of the i believe the gutsiest calls of any president in modern history. >> talk to us about the anxiety of not being able to track or even gets the name initially of the gentleman who led you to the compound. >> counter terrorism does targeting analysis. it's exceptionally tedium and painstaking as far as taking a little bit of data and piece its together and correlating it with something else. as a result of the information we mad in a generic way about these carriers and individuals who were cutouts with bin laden. we were able to piece together information. get the name he was known by. associate that with his real name. associate that with other things, that that real name was associated with and traicts.

over the past 6 months with insuring we had the best visibility in terms of understanding what was happening at that compound, that body of evidence accumulating to the point when the president said i want to have operations against this compounds, i want to know what the pros and cons are. i want some to have options and i want the make sure we are taking into the account the safety and the security of the americans conduct this operation. that we look at it from the standpoint of limiting that. ultimately we got to that point where we could bring that together. the president made the decision and the results i think speak for themselves. >> you said that usama bin laden was actually involved in the firefight. it's reported that he reached for a weapon. did he get his hand on a gun and

did fire himself? >> he was engaged in a firefight with those who entered the house and whether he got off any rounds, i don't know. from a visual perspective. here is bin laden calling for these attacks living in this million dollar plus compound, living in an area far removed from the front. hiding behind women who were put in front of him as a shield. i think it really just speaks to just how false his narrative has been over the years. so again, looking at what usama bin laden was doing there while he's putting people out there to carry on attacks, i think speaks to the nature of the individual he was. >> what was the most anxiety-filled moment. was it when the hept appeared to be inoperable. or when you heard shots fired and when you monitored in realtime could you hear the

shots fired? >> when you plan these things out you know what is the first step and second step. if there is a deviation from that it causes anxiety. but the individuals who carried out this assault planned for the various contingencies. when that helicopter was seen to be unable to move, you had to go into plan b. they did it flawlessly. they were able to conduct the operation as they were preparing to do. but seeing that helicopter in a place and condition that it wasn't suppose to be i think that was for me and the other people in the room was the concern we had that now we are having to go to the contingency plan and thankfully they were as able to carry out that contingency plan as the initial plan. >> did you hear shots fired. >> we were able to monitor the situation in realtime. >> when he actually -- can you

describe any reaction by the president specifically when it became clear that this was usama bin laden an had been killed? do you remember the president's words or reaction? >> when it became clear. that's one of the things that we had to do throughout the course of this operation. when we heard that the individuals to carried out this assault felt as though they had an individual who appeared to be bin laden, that is one data point. then there was facial recognition, height, preliminary dna analysis. the confidence was building, but at what point do you feel confident you have the person you are after? it was more of a growing sense of confidence and a growing sense of accomplishment. it wasn't one aha when people say, okay the dna results came in. this was something building over time and we made a decision last night because we felt as though we were confident enough to go out to the american people and the world to say we got him.

>> the president's reaction at my time? >> we got him. >> bin laden used women as human shields when american personnel went in? >> there was family at that compound, and there was a female who was in fact in the line of fire that reportedly was used as a shield to shield bin laden from the incoming fire. >> i'm wondering where you are at this point on the idea of releasing photos of bin laden to show the world that he is dead. >> we are less than 24 hours from the arrival on target of those individuals. we have released a tremendous amount of information to date. we are going to continue to look at the information that we have, and make sure we are able to share what we can because we

want to make sure that not only the american people, but world understand what happened, and the confidence we have that it was conducted in accordance with the mission design. at the same time we don't want to do anything that's going to compromise our ability to be as success fult next time we get one of these guys and take them off the battlefield. >> is there some shot releasing a photo or two might avoid conspiracy theories throughout muslim world? >> we are going to do everything we can to make sure nobody has any basis to try to deny that we got usama bin laden. so therefore the releasing of information and whether that includes photographs, this is something to be determined. >> the debate about whether to release something or what to release? >> i think it's both. first of all, what falls into the cat gorive things you can potentially release to the

public, whether it be the dna results, whether it be comments about the conduct of the operation, what happened, the intelligence base. and then you have to take a look at it from the standpoint of what are the up sides and down sides. sometimes when you conduct an operation based on intelligence and based on the very sensitive and capable forces that we have available to us in the u.s. government, you want to make sure you are not doing anything to expose something that will limit your ability to use those same intelligence source and capabilities in the future. >> has anybody secured this compound? has the pakistani army gone in to secure this compound? >> i was look at js rsh. i think the -- look at al-jazeera, the pakistani police have the compound under control it, the site after major incident yesterday, therefore it would not be my presumption that the pakistani authorities would be in control of that compound.

>> who owned the land. >> it was two of the individuals who were killed, the al qaeda facilitators, the individual who was identified as the gatekeeper courier. the residence was in his name. >> you called it just now the president, one of the gutsy evident decision he made. that implies there was disagreement around the table. this was not a unanimous. >> absolutely. he goes around the room. he wants to hear people's view. you have a circumstantial intelligence case. people will see thattiter either there is in -- people will see there is either insufficient information to go after somebody you believe is usama bin laden, and there were differences of views that were discussed. that's what the president wanted

to know. as well as courses of action which are the types of things you can do that involve an assault on the compound as well as from a standoff position. what are the benefits of doing that from a remote location. like we have done in the past in certain areas. as well as what are the risks associated with security forces going into the compound. this was debated across the board. the president wanted to make sure at the end that he had the views of all the principals. >> was it a close call. >> i have been following bin laden for 15 years, and i have the utmost confidence in the people, particularly at cia who have been tracking him. they were confident and their confidence was growing. this is different. this intelligence case is different. what we snow this compound is different than anything we had seen before. i was confident we had the basis to take action. i also had the confidence that

the u.s. team that went in there has exceptional skill to do this very capably. so i was a supporter and i know a number of other people were supporters to do this. but the president had to look at all the contingencies. what would have happened it wasn't bin laden. what would have happened in the helicopter went down. he decided this was so important to the security of the american people that he was going to go forward with this. >> can you tell us the role of how the u.s. is interacting with pakistan and actively investigating what they knew or didn't know about usama bin laden being there. >> the president mentioned yesterday that he spoke to the pakistani president. we are continuing to engage with him. as we learn more about the compound, and whatever type of support system. i will point out we had differences of view with the

pakistani government. and what we think they should and shouldn't be doing. at the same time i'll say pakistan has been responsible for capturing and killing more terrorists inside of pakistan than any country it's by a wide margin. there have been many brave pakistani soldiers stan security official and citizens that have given their lives because of the terrorism scurge in that country. though there are some differences of view with pakistan, we believer that partnership is important to breaking the back of al qaeda. >> john, can you tell us about the burial at sea? where did it happen? when did it happen? >> the disposal of the burial of bin laden's reese mains was done in strict conform answer with islamic preaccepts and practices. it was repaired in accordance

with islamic requirements. we made provisions for that type of burial. and we wanted to make sure that it was going to be done in strict conform answer. some of it was taken care of in the appropriate way. i'm not going into details about where. but that burial has taken place. it took place earlier today our time. >> when was that decision made that he would be buried at sea if killed. >> can you explain why? >> was this part of the plans all along? >> the coas, the course of action and the subsequent decision have been developed the last several months. the senior officials -- it was a working group working this on a regular daily basis the last several weeks, look at every decision, based on what type of scenario would unfold, what actions and decisions would be

made. it was looked at from the standpoint if we captured him where would he go. if he was killed what would we do with him and where would he go. it was determined it was in the best interests of all involved that this burial take place according to islamic requirements at sea. it was determined -- there is a requirement in islamic law that an individual be buried within 24 hours. when inside of pakistan, carried out the operation. he was removed from pakistan. there were certain steps that had to be taken because of the operation. we wanted to make sure we were able to do that in a time period allotted for it. going to another country making those arrangements requirements would have exceeded that time period in our view. so therefore we thought that the best way to insure that his body

was given appropriate islamic burial was to take those actions that would allow us to do that burial at sea. >> did you consult a muslim expert? >> we consulted the appropriate specialist and experts and there was unanimity this would be the best way to handle it. >> do you know if detainees at gitmo have been informed of what happened. >> i don't know. >> there were reports he was wrapped in a weighted white sheet. how secure is that? are you confident the body -- >> burralls at sea take place on a regular basis. the u.s. military has the ability to insure that that burial is done in a manner that is consistent with islamic law as well as consistent with the requirements for a burial at sea. so that burial was done appropriately. >> today lawmakers are urging

possibly reconsidering or reevaluating aid to pakistan. maybe attaching strings. >> i think people are raising a number of questions and understandably so. we are in the first day after the operation. and he was found outside of islamabad. i'm sure a number of people have questions about whether there was support provided by the pakistani government. >> is there a visual recording of this burial? >> a quick question about the burial. was there an iman there? >> it was done appropriately with the appropriate people there. >> i don't know if this for you or jay. the president is going to speak to the bipartisan liter shipped tonight at the dish. what is he going to say about this that's different than what we heard before. can you give us a preview? >> you are going to have another 20 hours of information that

will be acquired. he will try to give the congressional visitors here an update on that. last night we didn't have some of the analysis that was done. now we can say with 99.9% confidence this was bin laden. so it's those times of things as well as to explain to the congress in many respects some of the unique features of this mission which are the extreme compartmentation of it. why it was done in a unilateral fashion. things along those lines. >> after we had a con if i dints was bin laden and he was dodd we took the stesms we agreed to that were necessary to insure that that burriate a -- that tht

sea was the most appropriate to do. i won't go into details about who we consulted with in the jafort math of his death. >> can you give us dough tails whether there were previous operations that were called off or perhaps the ability to identify bin laden's body differently? >> against this target? there were different course of action about the options available to the president. whether there would be an assault on the ground or a different option. through that process of discussion, the options were narrowed down until the president decided that this was the best option because it gave us the ability to minimize collateral damage. insure that we knew who it was that was on that compound as opposed to taking some type of strike there.

also as a way to do what we could to respect the sovereignty of pakistan and allow us to engage with them immediately after the fact. >> you mentioned that questions will be raised about pakistan and the role of pakistan. for you in your counter-terrorism job. given the history of the davis episode and the fact that this was done without consultation. are you concerned it will be difficult to reestablish a good working relationship with the isi or the intelligence authorities there? >> there is dialogue going on with our counter-terrorism counter parts in the aftermath of this. they are expressing understanding about the reasons why we did this. they are appreciative that it was done without having pakistani casualties outside of that compound. the u.s.-pakistani relationship which is a strategic

relationship goes on a number of different areas and levels. counter-terrorism is one of them. it can be a complicated matter. we don't always agree on some of the things we want to do. but through that continued dialogue and communication i think we get where we need to be. this is one more incident we'll have to deal with and we look forward to continuing to work with our pakistani colleagues because they are as much if not more on the battle on the front lines against terrorism. >> how certain are you there will be some kind of retaliation? if you still had the color coded alerts, would this be a time when you would raise that alert? >> januar>> janet napolitano sae don't have the specific threat reporting.

any incident like this what we do is take the prudent steps to make sure we have our vigilence up, that we are taking the appropriate measures so our security posture is strong overseas and here. but i think there is always the potential for terrorist groups to strike out and avenge an operation like this. some are asking themselves, usama bin laden is dead, the al qaeda narrative is becoming increasingly bankrupt. there is a new wave sweeping through the middle east that puts a premium on individual rights, freedom and dignity. al qaeda, bin laden, old news. now is the time to move forward. we are hoping this will send a message to those individuals out there that terrorism and militantsy is not the way of the future. >> this is a strategic blow to al qaeda. it is a necessary, but not

necessarily sufficient blow to lead to its demise. we have a better opportunity now that bin laden is out of there to create fractures within it. number two, al-zawahiri is not charismatic. he was not involved in the fight early on in afghanistan. i think he has a lot of detractors within the organization. i think you will see them eating themselves from within more and more. >> there are reports there was a replica of the come pond. can you tell us where and how that was put together? >> for something as important as this and something as risky as this. every effort would be made to do the practice runs, understand the complexities and at layout of the compound. there were multiple opportunities to do that in terms of going through the exercises to repair for it so once they hit the compound they already simulated that a number

of times. so this was done -- i'm not going into details about where or when. but when they hit that compound, they had already trained against it numerous times. >> the come pond was so big, how did the seals know where to find bin laden and can you say whether it was a bedroom or dining area or open area or something like that? >> the outer features of the compound were studied intensively. and there were certain assessments made about where individual were living and where usama bin laden and his family were. they operate according to that. and they didn't know when they got there what some of the internal fee tiewrts of it would be. but they had planned based on certain observable features of the compound. however it was that did assault on that -- >> was the bin laden family part of the compound?

>> absolutely. >> given the unity you have seen messaging from both sides. both parties in the last 24 hours. is the president going to make any appeal that this sense of unity -- >> i'll address that. it goes to mara's question. i want to give john a few more. he has other things he needs to do. let me go to april. maybe two or three more. >> how many civilian casualties were there? >> two al qaeda facilitators, brothers who were the courier and his brother, bin laden's son and the woman presumed to be his wife who was shielding bin laden. >> did he take her as a shield or did someone put her there. >> i don't know about it was an

effort to shield bin laden. >> the mindset with intelligence in this administration and the administration prior is the attack is not fit would happen, when it would happen. because you are saying it was a strategic blow, the head of the snake was lopped off. are we changing that mindset? >> i haven't had the mindset it's not if, it's when. that's say something is going to happen. every day counter-terrorism professionals are trying to stop whatever attack might be out there. trying to uncover a plot that might be out there. they go into each day believing they can have another day without a terrorist attack against u.s. interests abroad or here. this does not mean we are putting down our guard as far as al qaeda is concerned. it may be a mortally wounded tiger that still has some life tonight. it's dangerous. we cannot relent.

there are individuals in that organization who will carry out attacks and murder innocent men and women. >> what is the thought of this administration? do you believe the pakistani government is transparent and being honest and forthcoming giving you information on usama bin laden, what they knew or going to find out more about this situation. >> there are a lot of people within the pakistani government. i'm not going to speculate about who or if any of them had for knowledge. but his location outside of the capital raises questions. we are talking to the pakistanis about this. they seemed as surprised that bin laden was holding out in that area. >> you talked about using this as a pivot point to demonstrate to the people of pakistan that there is a different future. is the president firmly committed to visit pakistan this

year? >> i'm not going address the president's schedule. there is a commitment the president made that he's going to visit pakistan. the president feels strongly the people of pakistan need to be able to realized their potential to have a life that is full of security as well as prosperity. and because of the al qaeda menace as well as other militant organizations in that country. too many pakistanis have suffered and have died because of that. and what the president is wants to go do and what we are doing with the pakistani government is to see what we can do to help the pakistani government provide the type of lifestyle for the populace in the future. >> given that bin laden was found in apparently comfortable conditions in pakistan. and there are big threats to the u.s. in yemen in terms of yemen,

undercut the strategic rationale to have 100,000 troops in afghanistan? >> the basis for the presence in afghanistan is to bring that country the security that it can have and to not allow al qaeda to ever again use afghanistan as a launching point. this is something we are in ongoing discussions with the afghan government. we need to make sure that part of the world which has given rise to a number of groups, al qaeda, others, that they cannot use that area with impugnity to carry out attacks. we are as determined as we ever have been to bring the security that these countries and these people need and deserve because of what we can in fact help them with. >> i note we didn't let any other countries know before the strike. has the president has any contact with the leaders of nato

countries? >> the president has had many conversations with foreign leaders. i won't go into the individual discussion he has had. but this is something of international significance in that he has and will continue to have in the coming days those discussions. >> but you can't say necessity has spoken to the german chancellor or sarkozy. >> is it likely the neighbors knew anything about this who lived there? >> when you look at 12, 16, 18 foot walls with barbed wire on the top. this was a family, a compound that had limited interaction with the surrounding houses. but it clearly was different than any other house out there. it had the appearance of sort of a fortress. so it does raise questions about -- i think there was -- we

have had indications that they -- family that was there tried to remain anonymous and tried not to have that interaction. but it does raise questions about a compound of that size in this area not raising suspicions previously. >> i just want to clear something up. the woman that was killed was bin laden's wife? >> that was my understanding. >> an was using her as a shield. >> she served as a shield. we are still getting the reports what happened at the particular moments. that when that -- when she fought back, when there was the opportunity to get to bin laden, she was positioned in a way that indicated that she was being used as a shield. whether bin laden or the son or she put herself there, it's my understanding she met my demise and it is my understanding she

was one of bin laden's wives. >> was there a reason you said 99.9% it's bin laden? why not say 100%. >> i believe that's based on dna. if i could just start by addressing a question cary and mara had. tonight the president will make some remarks related to the successful mission against usama bin laden. i think one of the these you will likely hear him sound is will echo what he said last night which is that this is a good day or good days for america and for americans. the fact that we were able to accomplish this says a lot about our country and our perseverance. i think you can fairly say that the victims in this country on 9/11, the americans who were

victims were not republicans or democrats. they were americans. those who launched -- those who have been working on this diligently for 9 1/2 years are not republicans or democrats, they are americans. those who carried out the mission yesterday, same company be said about them. i think that one thing you would likely hear from the president on tonight is about the capacity for americans to come together and achieve very difficult goals when we work together. we can follow up one logistics. there are are some slow jis cal issues we'll get towel afterwards. let me just do 10 minutes our so so we can all file other things. i'll move around and take the associated press, then move around a little bit. >> this is in line with what we were talking about. if the president gave this order

friday morning, then went on this long trip friday. the correspondents dinner saturday. golfing sunday. can you talk about his mood, he was trying to keep this poker face knowing the actions that were going to be taken. >> i think one thing that's important to note, the compartmentalization. there was obviously a success here at a different level which waltz ability to keep the mission secret. and having spent a great deal of time with him friday i can say he was focused on the tef station in tuscaloosa. and talked a lot about it in the wake of that visit. and the experience that i think was unique about that once you discover when folks get an

opportunity to meet the president, there are different ways that they do that. in town hall meeting or rope lines. but there is something unique about even a president being able to meet individuals who have suffered such terrible things as those residents in tuscaloosa did. in their moment despair, it's very powerful and i think he felt that. he was focused on that and the cape canaveral and on to the commencement address at miami-dade college. having said that he was obviously taking calls and updated regularly. the same goes with saturday and sunday which sunday he spent a great deal of his day in the west wing in the situation room. let me -- george. >> back to the meeting tonight. other than bin laden, what is his objective as far as budget and debt limit. >> this is a continuation of his

effort to bring leaders of congress here to in a social setting with spouses to improve communication in general. there is no agenda. there is no goal in terms of budget or any other issue except to have that kind of conversation which i think finds to be a useful thing to do in terms of in some ways creating a better environment for the kind of work that the white house and the congress need to do together. so nothing beyond that, george. hold on one second. martha: we got a lot of details from john brennan, the president's top counter-terrorism advisor. and more information from jay carney at the press briefing. we are pleased to have on the phone joining me now is former

vice president dick cheney. welcome. good to have you with us today. your first all -- your reaction to this unbelievable news this morning when we all woke up that bin laden had been captured and killed. >> well, i first heard about it last night when it was announced. i think it's obviously a very good day for the united states of america. i think we all are delighted to see that after all this time and effort 10 years, that it's produced a result, and bin laden is dead. martha: there was a lot of discussion in this about the links of intelligence and how far back they go. what were you aware of in this story? can you piece together that you knew about that you know about back during your administration with president bush. >> we obviously worked aggressively over the course of the time we were in office.

i don't have the kind of detailed insight now that it would have had two or three years ago. basically what i have seen to date about this operation is what has been in the newspapers. >> there has been a lot of discussion about how some of this intelligence was garnered through programs enhanced interrogation techniques. the links of this go back to gitmo. your thoughts on that? >> i had seen some of those press comments, but i just don't know enough at this point. just to be able to speak aauthoritatively. i would assume that the enhanced interrogation program that we put in place produced some of the results that led to bin laden's ultimate capture. but i'm still -- i need to know more and i'm sure we'll all

learn more over the course of the next few days about exactly what happened and how hit was accomplished. we need to keep in place those policies that made it possible for us to succeed in this case. martha: when you hear about this burial at sea and the wrapping of the wash and the wrapping of bin laden's body and being put on a board eased into the water according to islamic burial principles. what are your thoughts on that. >> i don't know anything about it. i'm unaware of the details of the burial at sea. i heard they buried him at sea. but you are asking for a level of comment on it. a level of detail i'm reluctant to get into since i don't have any particular knowledge of it. martha: understood. one last question for you. when you look ahead in terms of the threat the nation still faces, what would be your advice to the administration in terms of how to look at that going

forward? >> it's southern that we not let down our vigilence. everybody i'm sure feels good about having succeeded in the hunt for bin laden. but we must not forget that al qaeda is still out there, it's still a big organization. there will be members of al qaeda hole want of of -- who want to use bin laden's death to launch more deaths. we have to be on our are guard. we are still at war. martha: i appreciate you being with us. a lot of people including james clapper pointing to previous administrations and the ground work that was laid by them as country bite together success today. as we hear more details about this. it's a stunning operation. i know you are proud of our military as are we all. and we thank you very much for being here today. >> thank you, martha. martha: former vice president dick cheney.

we are grateful to have him here with us. you hear lots of questions in the briefing in particular about what the pakistanis knew about this operation. particularly stunning was the concern that they were afraid tremendous might start taking attack from the pakistani military during this whole thing. this is the inside photos of where usama bin laden was living. that is believed to be blood on the floor in the come pond. we'll continue to show you those pictures and get more of that. u.s. navy seals raided the compound in the city killing usama bin laden under the cover of darkness. he was found in a fortified komed pound guard by high wawlds and bashed -- high walls and barbed wire. general petraeus visited that installation 14 months ago and last week pakistan's highest

ranking military sister addressed a class of cadets there. all of this has bin laden was 100 yard away from that facility. it's shocking in its scope. the question is about the pakistani government and whether they knew he was there. ambassador john bolton joins me now. it's good to have you with us. unbelievable day. we are getting more and more information about what this operation was like. john brennan shedding a lot of light on the president listening to this as it all went down. one of the fears they have they said was they might take fire from the pakistani military. they didn't nope what was going on over there. once they started to hear the gunfire that they might be under fire from our supposed allies in the pakistani military. what is your take on this? >> the pakistani government was thought informed of the raid beforehand or while it was taking place.

so all they knew was that something was happening nearby the military academy. it's not surprising they would have scrambled. had it gotten more difficult, whether we would have done anything, i don't know. but that goes to show how little confidence there was that even the top levels of the pakistani government could have been told in advance. it was a huge risk, no doubt about it. martha: what do you make of feeling 100 yard away from this military installation is this huge compound, 8 times bigger than any house around there. walls 12-18 feet high, covered in barbed wire. the pakistani military doesn't say who is in there? who deserves that protection? >> some elements of the pakistani elements probably did know month was in there. the interservices intelligence division. long a sponsor of the taliban in

afghanistan might well have bent organization that provided this facility for bin laden and his family. so it was a question of them keeping it secret. this is part of the difficulty of dealing with the government which is divide even within itself between radical islamists and others who want to more secular government on the other. martha: we are going to press forward for another minute. i want to ask you this. the president is scheduled to visit pakistan in the near future. what would you advise him to say to the government. his frustrations with this situation have been well documented. you had the pakistani government, elements of it advising karzai he should turn his back on us in our relationship with them. where do you go from here? >> it's incredibly frustrating dealing with the pakistani government. they have a substantial arsenal of nuclear weapons.

however frustrated you are cutting off foreign aid carries with it the risk that once out there in the outer darkness they will take their nuclear weapons and go over to the other side. this as good an example as any to use, to say dealing with a cancer like usama bin laden risks the stability of the pakistani state self and to try to bring them more into line with what we tbheed to do. they contributed already. they just need to do more. martha: we'll see as we move forward we'll learn a lot more. thank you as always for being here today. what a day. and what about what we are learning here. joining me now is a gentleman who broke the news to then president george w. bush on that morning of september 11. who can forget this image of andy card and the look on the president's face upon learning that america was under attack.

he joins me now to talk about the day that changed the world and now another day that we'll all remember for every day to come. andy card, good to have you here. >>it is a great day for america. martha: it's martha today. mr. card, talk to me about your reaction when you heard this news, the headline that every single one of us has been waiting for for 10 years. >> we have been waiting for a long time for this one. i was in washington, d.c. last evening for an event -- actually centered around the first president bush. is a was leaving the event my block berry started to go off with questions. and then i got a blackberry message that said usa! usa! so while struggles to find out the confirmation. thin learned the president was going address the nation and they did get usama bin laden. i was thrilled. this is testament to the resolve george w. bush had and president

obama exercised ease fought to bring usama bin laden to justice. followed up on the promised made by two presidents. great testament to the intelligence community and the navy seals. they did a fabulous getting ready for this. and everybody keeping a secret. i am pleased we were able to accomplish this mission and no americans were killed or hurt in the process. martha: rinsing to john brennan talk about the situation room, he said they got information in realtime. he said we newt course of events as they were supposed to take place and they were holding their breath watching all that. can you imagine having been in those situations yourself? >> i have been in those information situations it is remarkable. the american technology and the servicemen and women in both military and the cia deserve an

awful lot of credit. they are true heros. but it's the resolve of presidents that makes the difference. president george w. bush brought great resolve to office and i'm so glad president obama had resolve to follow through. martha: there are reports and pictures of people leaving flowers and messages at president bush's house in texas on this day. he came out and gave president obama a lot of credit for this courageous mission that was carried out. your thoughts on president bush on this day. >> president bush and i exchanged emails late last night and early this morning. and they were very brief emails. by said it's a great day. so an awful lot of credit goes to the men and women who made the sacrifices. this has been a long time coming. but it could not have been accomplished without the diligence and hard work of the american intelligence community and the men and women in the armed forces. but let am not forget the

victims of 9/11. president bush promised those victims he would never forget and he would follow through. i'm so glad america has kept it promise to bring usama bin laden to justice. but we do have to be on our toes. the bad guys want to hit us again. everybody should be vigilant. we have to make sure we giver the support to the intelligence community and the military and the law enforcement community to keep us safe. martha: president bush mentioned in this book he carries the police badge from one of the fallen officers. >> george howard. badge number 1012. martha: we thank you so much for being with us and sharing your thoughts with us on this historic day. all right. i'm martha maccallum. we thank you for being with us today. our coverage of the death of usama bin laden continues now. bill hemmer is at ground zero:the latest. from there.