tv The Daily Rundown MSNBC May 2, 2011 9:00am-10:00am EDT
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ing 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. >> declaring that justice has been done, president obama delivers the news americans have waited nearly a decade to hear. the world's most wanted terrorist, the chief architect of the 9/11 attacks is dead. massive crowds greeted the news with joy outside of the white house and at ground zero in new york as celebrations break out from coast to coast. good morning, it's monday, may 2nd, 2011. i'm savannah guthrie in new york. >> i'm chuck todd at the white house.
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savannah, you could inside the white house hear the crowds last night. hear the cheers. and then our colleague went out there and heard the singing, sometimes it was the national anthem, sometimes it was "we are the champions," sometimes it was na-na, hey, hey, good-bye. nothing but jubilation. when it came in and they heard and the commanders relayed the news, geronimo killed in action. >> a profound moment for this country. spontaneous celebration outside of the white house. inside the situation room as well. as the president received real live audio and visual updates as this raid was unfolding at 3:55 eastern time. the word came from the ground that the team had killed osama bin laden and i'm told applause rang out inside the situation room. this news being heard around the
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world. we have some newspaper headlines we want to show people. there's the front page of the "new york times", bin laden killed by u.s. forces in pakistan. obama declares justice has been done. "the washington post" with the key line, justice has been done. as we move on, the tabloids have a way to put it. "daily news", rot in hell. one more to show. that's it. so, obviously, we are getting reaction from around the world and president george w. bush was one of those who received a personal telephone call from president obama last night. he then released a statement. president bush said this momentous achievement marks a victory for america for people who seek peace around the world and for all those who lost loved once on september 11, 2011. the fight against terror goes on but tonight america has sent an unmistakable message, no matter
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how long it takes, justice will be done. >> we'll be here for two hours. we'll go from our relationship with pakistan and all of the details and short fallout from this momentous occasion but we'll begin with how this happened. with 9 1/2 year manhunt ended at 3:00 in the afternoon eastern time on sunday when the team of elite troops raided bin laden's compound in pakistan, came face to face with "america's most wanted" man. here here's how it went down. >> reporter: friday morning just minutes before departing the white house on his way to inspect tornado damage in alabama, president obama gave the order to launch the operation to kill osama bin laden. more than two days later u.s. special operations forces attacked bin laden's heavily fortified compound at abbottabad. 1:00 a.m. monday morning pakistan time, and i scene straight out of an action
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thriller u.s. helicopters loaded with american commandos closed in for the kill. on approach one helicopter had mechanical problems and crash landed but no one on board was hurt. within seconds the two special forces teams flooded the compound and immediately came under heavy fire. it was obvious bin laden would not be taken alive. u.s. officials say armed with an automatic rifle the al qaeda leader fired on americans who then shot and killed bin laden. >> then three other consecutive bangs came. then one fifth final bang that made the whole sky orange. that's when we had to duck. >> reporter: in the exchange, the navy seals also killed two al qaeda courser, and one of bin laden's adult sons. one woman who the al qaeda gunman used as a human shield was also shot and killed. when the shooting stopped the americans loaded bin laden's body on a helicopter to be transferred to afghanistan.
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nearly ten years after 9/11, the operation to kill bin laden was over in 40 minutes. >> it's amazing that this plan began to take shape eight months ago. the president held five meetings in the last six weeks to try to get this closer and closer to a decision to do, to make the order that he made on friday for what happened on sunday and then amazing harrowing moments. tell us more. >> actually for years intelligence operatives have been tracking bin laden, thought they got close to him. for months congress has actually been briefed about a potential operation and we're learning a little bit more this morning about how it went down yesterday. as i mention ad couple of moments ago i'm told by a u.s. official that the president and his national security team in the situation room was able to monitor events on the ground in pakistan in real-time with audio and visual updates.
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that's how it was put to me. this official tells me there were two heart stopping moments as this happened. the two helicopters approached the compound. the initial plan was not for the helicopters to land, as i under it, but rather to lower the seals on to the ground. however, for reasons we still don't fully one, one of the choppers stopped working. it was able to land. it didn't crash on the compound, chuck but landed on the ground. the seals went forward with the operation. when they came back, during that time, a third helicopter that had been there for just such an emergency came. the seals came out, they had the corpse of osama bin laden with them, they made a split second decision to detonate that first helicopter that was disabled. it resulted i was told and i massive explosion. i'm told in the situation room as they were hearing and some seeing to the extent they could this unfold it was incredibly tense. the seals were able to get out of the area.
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this is when the second very tense moment happened. as you know, chuck, the u.s. did not inform pakistani officials ahead of time about what was going to transpire. as the u.s. helicopters were still in pakistani airspace, pakistan heard about the explosion, saw the helicopters and scrambled its own f-16 fighter jets, not sure if these helicopters were friendly or if it was a foe. obviously information was conveyed and there was no incident. but two incredibly two intense moments in an operation that went off without a hitch. >> the reason why so tense, so many bad memories, black hawk down, obviously n-f, infamous i somalia and the rescue attempt that didn't work in 1980 for the iran hostages. are there was a lot of finger nail biting going on. the jubilation was amazing to watch last night and around the country word of bin laden's
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death prompted the spontaneous decision. they were right outside of the white house and in times square. like along seattle's freedom bridge. outside of former president bush's home in dallas. the most pointed celebrations were at ground zero in down manhattan and we go there live. i imagine you've been talking to a lot of people coming down there? >> reporter: people gathered here spontaneously. ground zero is a solemn place. for the first time since those attacks almost ten years ago this has become a place of celebration and joy. hundred of people gathered here last night for an impromptu celebration, partying until 4:00 in the morning. they came waving the flags, singing the national anthem. chanting obama got osama. and usa, usa.
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it was a victory ten years in the make. for those who lost someone on 9/11 or the two ensuing warriors this offered some small amount of closure, seasons of justice, echoing the president's statement that justice has been done. you'll remember talking to savannah on september 14th, president bush came down here and stood on top of a pedophile rubble and declared whoever was responsible for knock town the twin towers would be responsible for that. that day has come. among the celebrations, the new york city tabloids are weighing in. this is a "new york post". never one to mince words. got him! >> the new york tabloids, never one to mince words, thank you.
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president obama said bin laden's death marks the most significant milestone yet in the effort to defeat al qaeda. this morning the fbi updated its list of most wanted terrorists marking bin laden as deceased. >> that's just great. grab that a moment. finally. but the threat remains and today cia director leon panetta warns al qaeda will try retaliate. let's talk about this. we're joined by msnbc military analyst and former white house counterterrorism official and specialist and msnbc terror specialist. roger let me start with you. the idea of a retaliation has been something on the front of all of our mind on this side of the camera. i'm sure it's something you've been monitoring and thinking about how serious is this threat in the next couple of weeks? >> yeah, chuck. this is the number one priority of the counterterrorism
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community right now. i don't think al qaeda had a contingency plan for a series of attacks in the event bin laden was killed. i think there are two real possibilitys. the first is individuals who had no direct affiliation took matters into their hands and launch an attack. middle east and southeast asia. pakistan and yemen in particular. what director panetta was guesting at al qaeda's central organization to the extent they have an operational capability will try to put together a plot that will launch to avenge bin laden's death. that's a mid to long term concern. the good news is we won't take our foot off the accelerator against al qaeda. we'll continue to pound them. that's the good news even as we celebrate all we have about bin laden's demise. >> general, i have to ask you as you learn more about how this operation went down from this joint special operation command, i assume you have a target.
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you believe osama bin laden is hiding in this compound. there are array of ways to effect this kill. what can we learn about looking at how this went down? how the united states chose to execute this operation? i mean, it's not a situation where they decided to have a drone drop a bomb. instead, you had an incredibly daring operation by special forces. what do you make of it? >> well, unsurprising but stunning. the human material, these tier one special operations units which include seal team six, u.s. army delta foorks ranger regiment, a specialized air force units, the experience is just unbelievable. many of these units have condubbedconduc conducted hundreds of raids. they are the best in the world. i'm sure there was a full scale mock up of this compound
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somewhere where they walked through this operation. but, again, you know, it's a small number of people out at the end of their tether. this operation came out of pakistan. i would be surprised if it didn't involve air to air refueling of these helicopters and then they had table to respond to emergencies on the ground which they did. by the way, i would assume that helicopter was actually hit by ground fire and that caused it to crash. they needed to land anyway to extract their people at the end of the operation. >> roger, physical evidence, visual evidence of bin laden's death, a lot of people say it is needed for some parts of the middle east, that they need to see this so that conspiracy theorys don't pop up. how do you understand the u.s. government will go about proving death? >> well, chuck, you're absolutely right. we have to have visual evidence. word-of-mouth and the word of the administration is not good
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enough because we're trying to influence part of the islamic world to under that he's truly dead. what you're seeing now is an internal deliberation at the white house and pentagon and elsewhere over what type of photographs do they release. do they release any individual offhis body, anything like that. there will be some video evidence that does come out. we need to see it, not only the american people but the islamic world in general. we want proof of death here. proof of death is to support our narrative of how we'll go forward. >> if they do release the to it will be a gruesome one. bin laden was shot in the left eye. thank you to you both for your expertise. i want to get more on the intelligence that led to bin laden hiding and i military compound an hour's drive from the capital of pakistan. let's go richard engel. tell us more about what you're
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reporting, this incredible tale a year long hunt for bin laden. >> reporter: it seems that it came down to finding a courser that many people expected that osama bin laden would be in pakistan. that he would be and i big city. a lot of people thought perhaps he was in karachi, a very large place, an urban area that's easy to hide. instead he was in this compound, a very large home for lack of a better word, about 35 miles outside of islamabad. a town that is green, leafy, has a golf course nearby. also has a military training facility. several army regiments based there. an elite part of the country, not somewhere where you would expect someone to be hiding. if anything hiding in plain sight. this clearly puts pakistan and i difficult position. people are going to ask how did pakistan not know that osama bin laden was inside this giant
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compound very close to its military bases? evidently the way the u.s. found out, they tracked a courier. it was an old fashion system of a courier carrying messages. when they eventually followed the courier inside the house they sent in field teams. >> all right, richard engel in benghazi, libya. it was a hot military action we're covering there. richard we'll check back within you. this is break being coverage of the death of osama bin laden. we have much morton daily rundown coming up. we'll be right back. n and down . weight watchers online has some great tools. i just love the chinese buffet cheat sheet -- if you like the chicken and vegetables you can put a little serving here and you actually make your plate.
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we've been getting reaction from a lot of former bush administration officials sponsorship far the obama administration not saying publicly but we expect to hear from secretary of state clinton in a few minutes. we heard from former vice president dick cheney this morning who congratulated the president and the special forces involved in the bin laden raid. but he also caused the american people to remain vigilante. >> this really is a great day for an awful lot of people who worked very, very hard. the bravery and courage of the men that carried out the operation. all of the folks, frankly, who obviously sacrificed everything and pursued bin laden, a terrorist, and the people responsible for 9/11. good day for the administration, president obama and his national security team, using the
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intelligence when it came in and they deserve a lot of credit too. >> former vice president dick cheney. msnbc news reacting to the news that bin laden was killed. we're awaiting a statement from secretary of state hillary clinton. we expect to hear from her any moment. to get back, around 9:45 last night, white house officials began to move to members of congress that bin laden was killed starting with house speaker john boehner. >> with us now, david gregory, moderator of "meet the press." one of the reason this didn't leak members of congress weren't told until after the fact. >> that's right. chuck, it to bring more perspective from some of my reporting this morning talking to bush national security officials on key questions being raised. particularly for pakistan and bin laden's whereabouts. the presumption was that he was in what's called the fatah, the tribal area that border area
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between pakistan and afghanistan. there was some speculation bin laden was flushed out of that area because of how closely he was being tracked going back for years. and in a way that was not just continuity with the bush administration but ramped up by the obama administration with drone attacks and special operations going into pakistan, keeping pressure on him. for that reason that perhaps bin laden may have moved to an area where he felt he could be a little bit more secure. the other note here, the couriers, who wering tracked and were a key piece of this. this is couriers that were being tracked for years going back to the previous administration but, again, that intelligence finally coming full circle and president obama acting on it. again, tough questions, i think, for pakistan at this point, given where bin laden was ultimately found and killed in a wealthy suburban area outside of the capital where a lot of retired military from pakistan
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reside as well. so there will be a lot more. . it pick up on that point. but note, david, as you mentioned the intelligence that was gathered all these years and how it was the courier, this trusted courier that osama bin laden used that ultimately led them. a lot of that intelligence actually came from detainees being held at guantanamo bay. fascinating to learn of that development. as for pakistan itself, it is saying this morning they had no knowledge that this is where osama bin laden was, the high commissioner in the uk said had we known we would have done it ourselves. this comes at a time when relations, i don't know if they are the worst they have ever been but certainly a very bad time with pakistan. >> savannah, they have always been tense. former secretary of state powell let general musharraf know after 9/11 in no uncertain times the party is over in terms of your close cooperation between your intelligence service and the
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taliban and al qaeda. they used the taliban and al qaeda as a proxy to force in some way on the border of afghanistan to hedge their concerns about india. they were told after 9/11 that there would be a new day coming. despite that as recently as a couple of months ago secretary of state clinton made headlines going to pakistan, questioning why the government of pakistan couldn't produce osama bin laden, given the fact that it was widely believed he was hiding there. we're monitoring the secretary of state's statement this morning. >> david, one country we haven't brought up in our discussion this morning is afghanistan. the place where we have 100,000 u.s. troops. and i couple of months we're supposed to see the first withdrawal. one thing about the death of bin laden is that it is the closest thing we have to a vj or ve day. how do you think that will change the debate of the speed of the withdrawal in the war in
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that other country? >> you look at polling, chuck. 49% of americans disapprove of the president's handling of the war in afghanistan. you're right. those withdrawals will begin to happen this summer in the debate. it will continue about the purpose of the u.s. in afghanistan. but, have no doubt this president and other national security officials will keep reminding the american people this is a region of the world that cannot be left alone, that we cannot turn our back and think the problem has gone away as was done after the soviet invasion and then once the soviets left afghanistan and we turned our back on the mujahdeen. leon panetta warning there could be attacks, people trying avenge bin laden. remember this. bin laden has been under the gun for a lot of years since 9/11.
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he has lost that ability to direct al qaeda as a central organization, capable of carrying out big attacks. but there are others. franchise operations. individuals. look at the christmas day bomber and others. those who are trying to pull off plots, who considered al qaeda a loosely commit confederation in terms of organization or bin ladenism if you want to call that an idea, the idea of striking the u.s. whether you do it alone or as part of a larger syndicate or as part of a larger plot. what al qaeda was about under osama bin laden was the big event. 9/11, the cole operation and who else what else they were capable of had the pressure not been ratcheted up after 9/11 and continuing through this administration ultimately killing him. >> david gregory, thank you for your perspective. we want to add a piece of reporting we're getting from our pentagon team.
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a little bit more about the helicopter that went down the compound. as i reported this morning the helicopter was never meant to land but suffered some kind of mechanical failure and now we know something more about it. a lack of air is cited as we understand the helicopter was hovering over the compound and u.s. force were so to propel down. the compound walls were too high and as the helicopter hovered, there was a lack of air. it was not a krarks it was a soft landing no, one was hurt. they had to bring in that third helicopter and made the decision in that split second as the head of bin laden's body try to get it out of the compound they decided to detonate that first helicopter. resulting in was described as a massive explosion. we're awaiting secretary of state clinton who will speak momentarily. our breaking news coverage on
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we await april statement from secretary of state hillary clinton. we're looking at a live shot of the state department. when that statement comes we'll bring it to you live. we want to get now to someone who on this day has special significance. we want to get to carrie in boston. her mother was one of the 92 victims killed aboard one of the planes that struck the world trade center and carrie is with us now. she's president of families of september 11th. thank you for being with us this morning. >> thank you for having me. >> well, how did you feel when you heard this news at long last nearly a decade after the day your mother perished with so many others. how did you feel? >> well, yesterday was actually my sister's birthday so i was with my family, her sister, my husband, my father and we were celebrating her birthday when i
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got a call from a friend in government. turn on the tv, the president will make a statement. we were shocked. whether getting a phone call about getting new remains of my mom had been found or any other shocking type of news this is how things seem to go. this time we feel a bit of relief because finally we can rest assured knowing no other family will go through what we go through every day which is living with terrorism because of osama bin laden. >> do you feel you have closure, that this is the beginnings of closure? >> no. no. i don't think you ever get closure when you know someone has been murdered so brutally. my mom still wasn't there yesterday to celebrate my sister's birthday. she's grandmother. she doesn't know that. she hasn't been able to spend time with them. i can't say closure is a feeling we have. but a sense of relief because i actually co-found a group called global survivors network which is a group of terror victims
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from around the globe. we're speaking out against terrorism to make sure no one else has to suffer like we do. when the president mentioned being a terrorism victim it's not just 9/11 it's the 9-1, 9-13, all those days that you don't see us on tv or hear about us. that's what it's like to live with terrorism. that's the difficulty with the pain pap that will continue even though bin laden is gone. >> we await secretary of state hillary clinton who is expected to make a statement. it's been nearly a decade. had you given up? did you believe that osama bin laden would ever be found? and how important is this to you? >> well, i'm from boston. my mom is from boston. we're red sox fans. wreerp optimistic. last night we were proven found he could be found. it's important. that being said his ideology is on. the threat is real. we heard from detainees in gitmo that should bin laden be
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captured or killed a nuclear bomb will go off killing millions of innocent civilians. we need to be vigilance. this fight is not over. we've taken a significant step forward. for that i feel relief. >> all right, one of the surviving families of one of the victims of 9/11. thank you very much for joining us this morning. >> thank. you. >> carrie, thank you. we're showing, chuck, of course this live shot waiting for secretary of state hillary clinton who will come and brief the press. chuck you and i know from our reporting that this was a very tightly held operation, a very small group within the u.s. government and certainly no allies, no member of congress briefed about this. a close hold. as they say in washington. and so for that reason came as a bit of a shock last night while we learned that the president would be making an announcement from the east room. >> did it. listening -- when you listen to secretary of state clinton's statement, the president was careful in how he described the
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relationship with pakistan. when they were notified, when they weren't, it was clear that they weren't notified and it was clear that it may not have been as cooperative as they should have been as the president was gingerly trying to explain how he made this decision to unilaterally act in another country that we're not at war with. and hearing secretary clinton today. >> as president obama said last night, osama bin laden is dead. and justice has been done. and today i want to say a few words about what this means for our efforts going forward. first, i want to offer my thoughts and prayers to the thousands of families whose loved ones were killed in osama bin laden's campaign of terror and violence, from the embassy bombings in africa to the strike on the uss cole, to the attack of september 11th, 2001. and so many more.
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these were not just attacks against americans, although we suffered grievous losses. these were attacks against the whole world. in london and madrid, bali, istanbul and many other place, innocent people, most of them muslims were targeted in markets and mosques, in subway stations and on airplanes. each attack motivated by a violent ideology that holds no value for human life or regard for human dignity. i know that nothing can make up for the loss of the victims or fill the voids they left. but i hope their families can now find some comfort in the fact that justice has been served. second, i want to join the president in honoring the
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courage and commitment of the brave men and women who serve our country. and have worked tirelessly and relentlessly for more than a decade to track down and bring osama bin laden, this terrorist to justice. from our troops and our intelligence experts, to our diplomats and our law enforcement officials. this has been a broad, deep, very impressive effort. here at the state department we have worked to forge a worldwide anti-terror network. we have drawn together the effort and energy of friends, partners and allies on every continent. our partnerships including our close cooperation with pakistan have helped put unprecedented pressure on al qaeda and its leadership.
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continued cooperation will be just as important in the days ahead. because even as we mark this milestone, we should not forget the battle to stop al qaeda and its terror will not end with the death of bin laden. indeed, we must take this opportunity to renew our resolve and redouble our efforts. in afghanistan we will continue taking the fight to al qaeda and their taliban allies while working to support the afghan people as they build a stronger government and begin to take responsibility for their own security. we are implementing the strategy for transition approved by nato at the summit in lisbon. and we are supporting an afghan led political process that seeks to isolate al qaeda and end the insurgency. our message to the taliban
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remains the same. but today it may have even greater resonance. you cannot wait us out. you cannot defeat us. but you can make the choice to abandon al qaeda and participate in a peaceful, political process. in pakistan, we are committed to supporting the people and government as they defend their own democracy from violence extremism. indeed, as the president said, bin laden had also declared war on pakistan. he had ordered the killings of many innocent pakistani men, women and children. in recent years the cooperation between our governments, militaries and law enforcement agencies increased pressure on al qaeda and the taliban.
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and this progress must continue. and we are committed to our partnership. history will record that bin laden's death came as a time of great movement towards freedom and democracy. at a time when the people across the middle east and north africa are rejecting the extremist narrative and charting a path of peaceful progress based on universal rights and aspirations. there is no better rebuke to al qaeda and its heinous ideology. all over the world we'll press forward, bolstering our partnership, strengthening our network, investing and i positive vision of peace and progress and relentlessly pursuing the murderers who target innocent people. the fight continues and we will never wavier. now i know there are some who doubted this day would ever
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come. who questioned our resolve and our reach. but let us remind ourselves this is america. we rise to the challenge. we persevere. and we get the job done. i am reminded especially today of the heroism and humanity that marked the difficult days after 9/11. in new york where i was a senator, our community was devastated. but we pulled through. ten years later that american spirit remained as powerful as ever and it will continue to prevail. so this is a day, not only for americans, but also for people all over the world who look to a more peaceful and secure future. yes, with continued vigilance. but more so with growing hope and renewed faith in what is
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possible. thank you all very much. >> secretary of state hillary clinton at the state department delivering remarks on the occasion of the death of osama bin laden on that day in 2001 she was the senator from new york, spending countless hours with victims who survived that attack. she said you cannot wait us out, can you not defeat us, that was the message to the terrorists. chuck, this was a speech that had certainly a message to america but also to the world. >> it was. and she also talked about justifying what we're doing in afghanistan, reminding americans and the world that we're in afghanistan to defeat al qaeda, their taliban allies and almost that same message she said it was symbolic that bin laden's death comes at a time when we're seeing all of this democratic uprisings in the middle east and in the muslim world and hoping that she clearly wants to tie two together. is a va narcotics let's bring in
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somebody who has been in the room at moments like this, in the hunt for bin laden. william cohen was defense secretary in the second term of the clinton administration and he joins us now. secretary cohen, you were involved, you were in the room the first time an american president tried to kill osama bin laden back in 1997. tell us about that moment and then your observations of what we saw today nearly 15 years later. >> well, it's oddly enough, you know, it also involved pakistan at the time. we had intelligence that bin laden was going to be at a gathering of terrorists in afghanistan. and we had no way to get to afghanistan but over the airspace of pakistan. and that's when we asked general joe ralston to go to pakistan, to be with his counter part, to be with him at the time that long range missiles were going to be flying over the territory of pakistan to make sure that if they detected them that general ralston would be and i position
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to say it's okay, they are ours and not coming from your enemy india. it was a difficult choice because tension between india and pakistan was very high. ran the risk pofly setting off a conflict. we had to conduct this in very high, with very high secrecy and that's why we sent general ralston over to pakistan at that time. so it does bring home those memories. we failed in the mission because bin laden had moved a few hours before the missiles arrived. but that's the difficulty we had. number one locating him, trying to make sure that he would thereabout after hours of flight of the missiles to arrive. it didn't turn out that way but that was the attempt. this is a great moment for the united states. i think it's important that while we celebrate the moment in terms of justice having been done and i gave a speech following the bombings of the embassies at that time, that the arm of justice was long and we were going to reach out and
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would eventually touch bin laden and that today has been realized almost some 12 years later. so we celebrate but not gloat but it's important we keep this focused on bin laden as a terrorist and the symbol of terrorism and not against muslim people the world over and as secretary clinton mentioned he killed more muslims than any other group of people. >> sir, i want to pick up on what you said. there's tremendous symbolic significance, significance in terms of justice, finally being meted out to somebody that that's blood of 3,000 americans on his hands. but in terms of the war on terror and how we go forward what is the significance? bin laden perhaps was not able to operate as freely as he once did but still a source of inspiration to this organization. what happens now in your view? >> well, obviously, it's a blow to al qaeda. but we have to remember and we said this over and over that bin laden himself was certainly --
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he was the symbol of al qaeda and terrorism, but it was more of a movement now, in other words, the cancer cells had metasticized. we still have a very dangerous world out there and there are still cancer cells that exist in various parts of the globe that we have to be very, very vigilante as secretary clinton said. >> former defense secretary william cohen, great sfoeft have this morning as we cover this breaking news right here on msnbc and our coverage continues right after this.
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themselves, selling little american flags. see cars drivin up and down 17th street right next to the eisenhower executive office building waving huge flags outside of their car, and 1:30 and 2:00 in the morning and a stunning scene. it did not take long for the white house and the world to react to the death of osama bin laden. and among the world leaders commenting were england's david cameron. >> i would like to congratulate the u.s. forces who carried out this brave action. i would like to thank president obama for ordering this action, and i think that it is a moment when, too, we should thank all of those who worked day and night, often with no recognition to keep us safe from the threat of terror. >> let's get to nbc's martin fletcher live in london for more on the reaction of the world. martin, how is this playing to the global audience? >> well, hi, savannah. well, the world is echoing what the british prime minister just
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said on your air. britain and kenya and israel are delighted and sending congratulatory messages and france held the tenacity, and nato called the assassination a significant success, but others are playing it down. russia's ambassador said that bin laden is a symbol who had long since been retired and replaced by younger commanders and also there have been warnings of the british prime ministers that while killing osama bin laden is welcomed, it is not the end of the fight of terrorism by a long way, and the britain citizens are warned to stay alert for possible threats and interpol is called for extra care. and london is mixed bag, because congratulations of some who suffer and more than half of bin laden's victims were muslims, but also calls for revenge on the islamic web sites and in afghanistan the government leaders burst into applause when president karzai gave them the news. karzai said that bin laden
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received his due punishment and his hands were quote dipped in the blood of thousands and thousands of youths and elders of afghanistan and congratulations and serious warnings of possible future terrorism in the short term at least. >> all right. martin fletcher in the london bureau for us wrapping that up. thank you very much. our breaking coverage of the death and killing of osama bin laden continues next on msnbc right after this.
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well, reaction on wall street, and it is starting to come in as far as dollar and cents are concerned. we know that the market is up about 43 points, and that is the dow. oil prices, and there was speculation that we could see it go down big, but it has eased off of what it was 2 1/2-year high, and still sitting though and trading at a very high $113 a barrel, savannah. >> and reaction will continue to pour in, and coming up in the next hour of the extended
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edition of "daily rundown" we will hear from kirsten gillibrand coming up. and also much more of our exclusive interview with former vice president dick cheney on his reaction. you are watching the daily rundown special coverage right here on msnbc. osama bin laden killed in pakistan. ♪ it's a new day
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military and intelligence personnel and for the american people. >> the fact that he has been killed and is no longer a factor is an important one. >> i know that nothing can make up for the loss of the victims or fill the voids they left, but i hope their families can now find some comfort in the fact that justice has been served. >> that 15-year manhunt, and u.s. leaders past and present react as the incredible news spreads across to globe. the world's most wanted man, osama bin laden, is dead. good morning, i'm chuck todd here at the white house. >> good morning, i'm savannah guthrie in new york and this is the second hour of the "daily rundown" as we cover the breaking news of a super secret operation to take out the mastermind of 9/11. it took place in
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