now, somejustice. that's why they're there. breaking news, nearly a decade after the worst attack ever on american soil, the u.s. announces al qaeda founder and 9/11 mastermind, osama bin laden, has been killed. good morning, everyone, i'm lynn berry and welcome to our continuing coverage of the death of osama bin laden. you are waking up this morning to history being made. late sunday night, president obama announced that the most dangerous terrorist in the world, the leader of al qaeda and the september 11th attacks, osama bin laden, has been killed. led by u.s. special operation forces, president obama authorized the mission on a custom-built compound in abbottabad, pakistan. the operation that reportedly last the 40 minutes, ended the most intense manhunt in u.s. history. nbc news learned that in keeping with muslim custom, bin laden's

body has been buried at sea. president obama saying in a rare sunday night press conference, quote, justice has been done. nbc's brian moore is in washington for us, with more details on how bin laden was taken down. brian, good morning. >> some seven months after receiving a very promising tip, u.s. special forces ended one of the most extraordinary manhunts in history. this is where osama bin laden met his end. not in a cave, but a suburban mansion in pakistan. the world's most wanted terrorist and the mastermind of 9/11 taken down by u.s. forces. at the order of president obama. >> the united states has conducted an operation that killed osama bin laden, the leader of al qaeda and a terrorist who is responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent men, women and children. justice has been done.

>> impromptu celebrations erupted outside the white house. >> it's important to bring a wicked, murderous person to justice. >> and at ground zero in new york, in towns large and small across the country, what can best be described as patriot ig victory rallies, but for families who lost loved ones on 9/11, it's a day of closure, wrapped in complex emotions. for nearly a decade, bin laden had taunted the united states, u.s. intelligence received a break last august. >> it was far from certain, and it took many months to run to thread to ground. >> on sunday, the president gave the go-ahead. >> a small team of americans carried out the operation with extraordinary courage and capability. after a firefight, they killed osama bin laden and took custody of his body. >> former presidents bush and clinton, who each tried to end bin laden's reign of terror,

were among the first to receive the news from president obama. >> al qaeda continues to be an inspiration for hatred and terror, but no doubt the death of osama bin laden will cripple the network. retired army colonel, jack jacobs is an msnbc analyst. he joins us for more perspective. you heard brian report this was a special tip. last august we got word we may know where osama bin laden is. experts really speculated for some time that it was going to be a slip-up. somebody was going to turn their back. what do we know about what led to today? >> we thought for a long while that somebody was going to jump at the $25 million that we were offering. nobody did that. ultimately we figured that some information would get out. what had happened was the following, as far as we know. he was communicating with other people through couriers and it was through, it was because of the regular routes of the couriers, the facts that the

couriers were going in and out of this compound that we managed to get a dip that in fact he was there. it's interesting that he was there, for a long time. and in the, probably one of the largest residential compounds anywhere near the capital of pakistan. and it's astonishing that we didn't hear this information from the government. >> this was hardly the cave that many experts sort of thought would have been the end result. what does that say about our relationship with pakistan, that he could have been living there for some five years. >> there are lots of people inside the government, inside the army, inside the intelligence service of pakistan, who are opposed to the united states just generally. and are in favor of osama bin laden, what he represents. as a matter of fact, we had tips before in other areas, up in south waziristan, for example, to conduct attacks on osama bin laden and people inside the government of pakistan spilled the beans and we couldn't make the attack. and so we kept this one secret

as a result. so it's interesting to note that some elements inside the government of pakistan are not on our side. >> but even up until the moment that the press conference happened, it's remarkable, you know, it's word that president obama ordered the mission on friday. and here comes and goes a weekend where, not to mention on saturday, the white house correspondent's dinner, he's joking with the press. it's remarkable, just how secret this was kept. >> there were only about five or six people inside the white house who knew about this at all. and of course on the military side, the special operations forces, who have been training for this for some time, don't forget, this is a practiced exercise and it's a good thing that he was in the area for a long time. because the compound didn't move. >> it is hard not to think about the man that must have been behind the trigger of that gun and the sense of relief throughout the men and women in the military that many of them were inspired after 9/11 to join the military, to seek some

justice. can you give us an idea if it's possible to even to put into words the sense of relief being felt. >> it's difficult to describe. i talked to people who were out in the field. and although you're always focused on what you're doing individually in the field, taking care of your friends and accomplishing the mission, there hasn't been this focus on long, long time. on the cause of the thing in the first place. but it's not over, everybody in the military establishment knows, it's not over. >> the special operations forces were in the compound for 40 minutes. would you imagine this is sort of a treasure trove of intelligence information. do we know anything, other than they got the body, it's since been buried at sea. what else was seized in the compound? >> a lot of it was. but a lot of it will remain classified for a long time. even in world war ii, for example, a lot of the information we received did not become declassified for 40 or 50 years. some of the stuff we retrieved,

the public will never know about. >> what's next? what's your analysis on what this could possibly, ar what this will do to the network of al qaeda? >> it's already fragmented, our attacks in southwest asia has fragmented al qaeda. the bad news is it's much more difficult to defeat once it's chopped up into small pieces and operating as independent cells in other countries. we're going to focus our attention, continuing to focus our attention on the number two guy, al zawarhi and we will be focusing our attention on al qaeda in arabia and al qaeda in east africa, which has got growing cells which is a great danger to our friends there. >> obviously a great step, a great day for our country, jack jacobs, thanks for your perspective on the program. let's get a quick check on the weather from nbc

meteorologist, bill karins. >> we'll continue to watch what's going on, especially with the rivers. this was a picture that came into us this weekend from arkansas. this is a town of pocahontas on the black river. there's a lot of suffering in the middle of the country. not just from the tornado outbreak, that was just incredible, but from river flooding now, too. this is the area of concern. and it's raining hard once again this morning, we have flash flood warnings covering the area. we've got evacuations, we've got water rescues taking place and the ohio river is peaking now between louisville and paducah, the mississippi river will crest, in some areas, record crests, how much additional rain do we expect today? as much as one to three inches right over the heart of the flood area. including areas like little rock, paducah and even thunderstorms this morning around memphis. so as far as the forecast goes, travelwise today around dallas some thunderstorms, same with san antonio. and eventually some of those storms will head towards new orleans, east coast, we're

looking okay today, increasing clouds with chance of showers late today, d.c. and philadelphia. back to you. thanks so much. just ahead, we continue the breaking news, latest details on the u.s. operation that killed osama bin laden. plus, we're going to take you live to new york's ground zero, crowds have been gathering there throughout the night. we'll bring you the latest reaction to his death. that's straight ahead, stay with us. you can turn ordinary chicken into luscious, delicious, and scrumptious. with recipes from campbellskitchen.com,

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welcome back, everyone, i'm lynn berry, let's check the top stories this morning. breaking news, as we reported earlier, osama bin laden has been killed in a firefight with u.s. forces in pakistan. president obama made the announcement around midnight eastern time. local tv in pakistan has been showing these pictures. the place where the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks was thought to have died. an official tells nbc news that in accordance with islamic tradition, he has been buried at

sea. in other news across the south, survivors of last week's devastating tornadoes took part in sunday services a they coped with the disaster. yesterday, homeland security secretary, janet napolitano toured the damage. the space shuttle "endeavour" will not be laujing on its final mission until next sunday because of a technical problem. the news sent mark kelly and his wife, gabrielle giffords, back to houston. and pope john paul ii is one step closer to sainthood after his beatification. 100 million people led the mass, which was led by pope benedict. as we mentioned throughout the night, crowds have spontaneously come together in cities across the country to mark this milestone in u.s. history. president obama took to the air waves just before midnight eastern time to officially

inform the american public. take a listen to what he had to say. >> for over two decades, bin laden has been al qaeda's leader and symbol and has continued to plot attacks against our country and our friends and allies. the death of bin laden marks the most significant achievement to date in our nation's effort to defeat al qaeda. his death does not mark the end of our effort. there's no doubt that al qaeda will continue to pursue attacks against us. we must and we will remain vigilant at home and abroad. and on nights like this one, we can say to those family who is have lost loved ones to al qaeda's terror -- justice has been done. tonight we give thanks to the countless intelligence and counterterrorism professionals who have worked tirelessly to achieve this outcome. the american people do n

addressing the nation last night. well coming up, we'll have the latest political reaction to the news that osama bin laden has been killed in pakistan. plus, cameras are rolling as word of his death spreads at the mets-phillies game. you're watching msnbc. stay with us. [ sneezes ] allergies?

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but in philadelphia last night, baseball fans greeted the news with patriotic fanfare, this was a remarkable sight. the philadelphia phillies and the new york mets were tied at the top of the ninth when word quickly spread by mouth and by text message all throughout the stadium, and that news evoked chant of usa, usa. creating pockets of patriotism all throughout the ballpark. just a few scenes that all throughout the morning you'll be able to expense for yourself. let's check in with bill karins, he has your weather channel forecast. throughout the day, if people were sleeping, they're going to get an idea of just how patriotic this country was, and what an incredible day it was for this country. >> goosebumps. i can't imagine, i can't wait to hear from some of the family members to see ha they have to say. i think it will be pretty incredible, pretty emotional day. let me quickly take you through the forecast in the northeast. in northeast you need your

jacket in boston and hartford, it won't be as beautiful and perfect as it was this weekend. we have chance of showers for pittsburgh, buffalo, d.c. and buffalo, late today, chance for a shower, so you might as well carry the umbrella with you to work. in washington, d.c., as we go throughout the week, we've got stormy weather on tuesday, authors thunderstorms, then nice and beautiful, wednesday, thursday, into friday. the same forecast is true for many areas of the east. the biggest weather story of the day is the flooding in the middle of the country. as we go throughout the week, the pictures from the rivers out there, arkansas, areas of west tennessee, western kentucky, are very impressive. many small towns will be evacuated and the flooding even in the memphis area ing to beear records by the time we day's forecast, travelwise, watch out in dallas, we have lot of thunderstorms, if we're going to get airport delays. the dallas-ft. worth area, san antonio and new orleans are also possibilities. back to our breaking news,

what does the death of bin laden mean for security in this nation? and coming up, we'll hear from former president bush and his reaction to the killing of osama bin laden. you're watching continuing coverage of the death of osama bin laden right here on msnbc. >> announcer: this past year alone there's been a 67% spike in companies embracing the cloud-- big clouds, small ones, public, private, even hybrid. your data and apps must move easily and securely to reach many clouds, not just one. that's why the network that connects, protects, and lets your data move fearlessly through the clouds means more than ever. lexus holds its value

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welcome back, everyone, i'm lynn berry. we turn back now to the story headlining newspapers around the world -- the death of the most wanted man in the world, osama bin laden. u.s. special operation forces have killed him in northwestern pakistan. no americans were harmed in the raid.

making the announcement last night, president obama, who said the operation was carried out with the cooperation of pakistani officials. former president george w. bush congratulated mr. obama and said in a statement, quote, this mow measurementous achievement marks a victory for america, for people who seek peace around the world and all of those who lost loved ones on september 11th, 2001. the new national alert system has not been activated because of this development, although the state department did issue a statement urging u.s. citizens abroad of the potential for anti-american violence. joining us once again, retired army colonel and msnbc jack jacobs. jack, good to see you once again. let's talk about the security here in the u.s. and abroad. what kind of impact will this have? >> probably quite a bit visibly, but not really a great deal. superficially we'll have lots of people in uniform, some of them with submachine guns and all that sort of stuff. but by and large, if the bad

guys wanted to do something, they're not going to do it today in any case. they'll try something much later on. a lot of this is to allay public fears that might exist that there might be some immediate retaliation, which there probably won't be. >> let's talk a little of what we know about this historic raid. jasoc reported last night by richard engel, that's a name we're going to be hearing in the coming days. >> the joint operations, means all services, the army ranger regiment, s.e.a.l.s, the commandos, all combined into one special operations unit. and it's different from special forces, army special forces. it's probably a lot smaller force than people think. they were, they went in most likely in mh 53 j helicopters,

large helicopters and it's interesting that today how large these helicopters are. and how small a force was. the force came in on two helicopters. and went out on one, because one of the helicopters had a problem mechanical problem and had to be destroyed in place by the attacking force. >> destroyed intentionally so that any information in there couldn't be used by opposing forces. >> destroyed in place. so no equipment could be retrieved. and everybody left on one helicopter. you always have backup, so there was yet another argt and support aircraft. but the size of the force involved would be, is much, much smaller than people think. >> it's interesting, this compound is fascinating. worth about $1 million u.s. this sounds like a palatial mansion, about 35 miles outside of islamabad, in pakistan. an affluent neighborhood, a lot of former military in pakistan

live there. it's really, not the cave in the mountains that we may have anticipated. >> no, and he's been there for quite some time, apparently. so how he could be there without everybody knowing it is beyond me. but certainly you would think the pakistani government or elements in it would know he was there. >> apparently the united states got word in august that there's a possibility we know the location of osama bin laden. nearly a year has passed. what has gone on during that timeframe? >> that's an interesting question. we're developing intelligence. getting a little piece of information, a tip at the very beginning is just the gipping. the whole rest of the time we have to develop finished intelligence. it's not enough to get this tip. we have to verify the tip from a number of other independent sources. we use satellites to make sure that we're zooming in and we catch, we see who is coming in and who's going out. we verify that through human intelligence on the ground, other sources that we can independently verify.

until we're finally sure that we know what's going on. then and only then, does an operation get developed and it gets pitched to the president, briefed. we think we know that the guys there, we think we can get him, and the president says go. then and only then does he launch the attack. >> and we know the attack was launched friday. it is remarkable how lock-and-key this information was kept. does it not surprise you? >> yes, you know, in a place like washington, that's like a sieve, information filters out of there, it gushes out of washington, that only about five or six people knew about it at all, and none of them was talking. >> what does that tell you about the achievement. >> if you want to keep a secret in washington, you can keep it, just don't tell anybody about it. >> there you go, colonel jack jacobs, obviously your perspective is so valuable. we appreciate it. >> thanks for having me on the program. >> that's it for this half hour, i'm lynn berry, but don't go anywhere, a special edition of

"morning joe" starts right now. tonight, i can report to the american people and to the world that the united states has conducted an operation that killed osama bin laden, the leader of al qaeda. and a terrorist who is responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent men, women and children. the american people did not choose this fight. it came to our shores. and started with the senseless slaughter of our citizens. after nearly ten years of service, struggle and sacrifice, we know well the costs of war. and on nights like this one, we can say to those family who is have lost loved ones to al qaeda's terror, justice has been done. >> the mastermind behind the september 11th attacks is dead. good morning, welcome to "morning joe," it's monday, may 2 and with us on