i'm martha raddatz for "nightline" in washington. >> and former president george w. bush has for the first time described the moment he discovered bin laden was dead, telling a las vegas congress, quote, i was eating souffle at a restaurant with laura and two buddies when the call came. obama said simply, osama bin laden is dead. the mission, bush refers to, as a good call. thanks to martha raddatz. >>> coming up, alarmingly close to some big cats along with a real life tarzan. here kitty, kitty, indeed. [ male announcer ] the magnificent veatrice henson is turning 100 soon, an achievement worthy of celebration. and thanks to sprint's unlimited plan, you can call or text her number or e-mail her address for no extra cost. so congratulate her. sing to her. and together, we can give a complete stranger the best birthday ever. go ahead, world. unlimit yourself. sprint. america's favorite 4g network. trouble hearing on the phone? visit sprintrelay.com. a fiber that dissolves completely, is cly different. benefiber. it's the easy way to get more fiber everyday. that's the

you'll see a lot of drone strikes, a lot of raids wherever they can find people. >> as always, martha raddatz on top of the news. thank you, martha. have a good weekend. >>> just ahead, seems very few humans have witnessed first hand, but now, you can witness them, too. we two on a arctic expedition to see polar bear cubs, just days old, in the wild. host: could switching to geico really save you 15% or more on car insurance? host: would foghorn leghorn make a really bad book narrator? foghorn (stammering): it was the best of times, it was the wor - i say worst of times. and by worst i'm talkin' as bad, i say, as bad as my aunt ginny's corn puddin'. that stuff'll sink you like a stne. engineer: ok that was a little... foghorn: you gettin' all this in there son? i just added that last part it's called "adlibbin..."anyway...it was, isay it was... vo: geico. 15 minutes could save you 15% or more on car insurance. imagine a day free of worry, a day when we can eat what we want, drink what we want, and sleep soundly through the night. finally that day has arrived with prevacid®24hr. just one pill

as we wait for president obama to address the nation, i want to go quickly to martha raddatz. i think martha might have gone away for a moment. richard clark, are you with us? >> yes, george, i am. >> if i could just talk about the -- what had gone into the effort. you're the head of counterterrorism at the white house for so many years, to target bin laden. >> well, there were attempts to kill him beginning in 1998 when president clinton put his name on a hit list and the cia was ordered to do that inside afghanistan. that didn't work. there was an attempt to get him by u.s. forces when we invaded under president bush in october of 2001. that didn't work. and he was able to escape into pakistan. and it appears from where he was captured, where he was killed, that he may have been in pakistan all of these last ten years in that wild outback area where american forces had a very, very difficult time going. that's why the predators were so key in flushing him out. but it sounds like, perhaps, the u.s. forces went across the border to get him. clearly the u.s. force hs to go acros

as we wait for president obama to address the nation, i want to go quickly to martha raddatz. i think martha might have gone away for a moment. richard clark, are you with us? >> yes, george, i am. >> if i could just talk about the -- what had gone into the effort. you're the head of counterterrorism at the white house for so many years, to target bin laden. >> well, there were attempts to kill him beginning in 1998 when president clinton put his name on a hit list and the cia was ordered to do that inside afghanistan. that didn't work. there was an attempt to get him by u.s. forces when we invaded under president bush in october of 2001. that didn't work. and he was able to escape into pakistan. and it appears from where he was captured, where he was killed, that he may have been in pakistan all of these last ten years in that wild outback area where american forces had a very, very difficult time going. that's why the predators were so key in flushing him out. but it sounds like, perhaps, the u.s. forces went across the border to get him. clearly the u.s. force hs to go acros

martha raddatz, part of our team coverage tonight. martha, good evening to you. >> reporter: good evening, diane. imagine being part of that navy s.e.a.l. team on the hunt to kill or capture bin laden that end come face-to-face with him. on a near moonless night packed into two specially outfitted blackhawk helicopters, the most elite navy special operations team, s.e.a.l. team 6, hand picked and experienced, headed for the mission of their lives. the target, this sprawling compound surrounded by walls reaching nearly 20 feet high at points. the s.e.a.l. team, 30 to 40 men, flew low beneath the radar and undetected in the darkness, descending on the compound. the plan was to repel from the helicopters. but one of the blackhawks stalled. forcing a white knuckle hard landing outside the compound. >> we're very good at making it up on our feet because something will always go wrong. >> reporter: the s.e.a.l.s moving toward the compound. they began a room by room search. next, the larger compound, where gunfire erupted. two men were shot

martha raddatz, abc news, paktika province, afghanistan. >>> and now, queen elizabeth, a bomb scare and the intense security across dublin tonight, where she is making history with a four-day visit. the first british monarch to visit the irish city in a century. and she spent her first day there quietly remembering irishmen who died fighting against britain. here's miguel marquez. >> reporter: today, queen elizabeth stepped onto irish soil wearing green. emerald green. the first visit by a british monarch here since ireland won its independence from britain in 1922. there was no bowing. underscoring she is not their queen. but the majority of irish happy she finally made the historic hour-long trip. >> long overdue. >> i agree. >> we need to move on. >> reporter: the queen received here with full honors. "god save the queen" playing -- ♪ irish soldiers standing at attention. a pipe bomb was found and diffused on a dublin-bound bus. and there were three bomb threats today that turned out to be hoaxes. still, security was everywhere. elizabeth ii laid a wreath in the garden of remembrance

and martha raddatz travels to the front lines with a field general who says our work in afghanistan is far from over. >>> homeward bound. commander mark kelly steers the space shuttle "endeavour" back to earth. his journey home made easier by a gift from his wife, congresswoman gabby giffords. >>> short supply. a dangerous shortage of more than 200 medications, life-saving drugs. what hospitals are doing about it tonight. >>> and war dogs. they fight side by side with our soldiers. now, americans are lining up to give these dogs loving homes when their service is done. >>> good evening. it has been said that america will remain the land of the free as long as it's also the home of the brave. and on this 133rd memorial day, we honor the brave. including the more than 4,000 u.s. soldiers who died in iraq. over 1,400 in afghanistan. and our soldiers in afghanistan marked this solemn day at camp leatherneck. here at home, the president laid a wreath on the tomb of the unknown soldier at arlington national cemetery. >> our nation owes a debt to its fallen heroes that we can never fully repa

chief foreign correspondent martha raddatz and justice correspondent pierre thomas. you all, what a week it has been. i want to go to you first. everybody is worried about the so-called treasure trove and what it might be telling us. we tried to get from donilon and haqqani what is out there. is there anything out there that we should be worried about right now. >> there is no specific imminent threat they found but i can tell you what they're most concerned about. right now the most immediate threat are so-called lone wolves, typically radicalized on the internet sympathizing with al qaeda, those are the people who might show up at a mall and start shooting. the first level. the second level of level is al qaeda in the arabian peninsula and in yemen, if you will. they're led by the radical clear irk anwar al aawlaki and tried to have the christmas underwear bombing and followed it up nine months later with the parcel bomb attack out of yemen, as well so the concern is they will try to do something very quickly. the third level of threat is al qaeda central but right

that was one of five videos released by the pentagon, and now abc's martha raddatz here who's followed the story every step of the way. >> reporter: of the five videos released by the pentagon, this one is surely the most compelling. there sits the most wanted terrorist in the world covered in an old blanket with a very gray beard watching news clips of himself on television. he switches his satellite tv from channel to channel when an image pops up showing him wi weapons, he motions to his camera operator to zoom in. what he is watching on the television matches a press conference we found in late january 2010. the other four tapes are all outtakes or messages to his followers. the audio has been removed by the u.s. because officials say it is jihadist propaganda. but notice the color of his beard. he clearly has been dying it. this is 2004. similar clothes and background. this is the more recent tape. >> this is someone who realized that the image that he conveyed was the main value he had to his movement. it was part of his brand. >> reporter: but last sunday, the dye had faded. whe

here now with more is martha raddatz. has details of what ended up being a ten-year and very painstaking pursuit of this mass murderer. >> reporter: in the three years before september 11th, the u.s. tried repeatedly to kill bin laden. august 1998, the clinton administration sent cruise missiles to attack afghan terrorist training camps days after two u.s. embassies were in bombed in africa. but it took the ship-fired missiles hours to strike the training camps. and by the time they did, bin laden had already left. the attack had an unintended side effect. escaping the u.s. onslaught only enhanced bin laden's reputation among terrorists. february 1999, bin laden is sighted at a desert training camp in helmand province, afghanistan. he remained there for more than a week. but there was a hunting camp nearby used by officials of united arab emirates, a u.s. ally. >> policymakers were concerned about the danger that a strike might kill an emirati prince or other senior officials who might be with bin laden or close by. >> re

for more, let's bring back in martha raddatz, jake tapper, at the pentagon and the white house. o start with you. tell us more details that you can give us. the s.e.a.l.s go in, recognize him, what happens at that moment? what do we know? >> they don't know what room he's in. they go room to room. he's face to face, eye to eye. they ordered him to surrender. they kept looking in other parts of the compound as well. they had s.e.a.l.s on the roof. they fast-roped down from the helicopters to get on that roof to surround that compound and get inside. when they killed him, shot him if the head, they quickly took the body way. he's now buried at sea. >> and jake, this was an operation a long time coming. the first tip coming in last august. better information in the last week. the president ordered the mission on friday. >> that's right, george. originally, the mission was planned for saturday night. this is a time in that country of low loom, which is a li luminescence from the moon. it was scheduled for saturday night. it was pushed to sunday because of the weather. on saturday nig

we want to go straight to martha raddatz, at the 9/11 memorial at the pentagon. long. about this ib incredible navy s.e.a.l. operation. martha? >> it happened in the middle of night, in darkness, this absolutely momentous, historic raid. on pakistani television, images of osama bin laden's compound still burning after that deadly confrontation. nearly ten years in the making. a senior intelligence official says it began with a tip from a detainee at guantanamo and culminated just after midnight, when 30 to 40 navy s.e.a.l.s arrived in two helicopters. flying in from afghanistan, on a low-level fight undetected by the pakistanis, who were never told about the operation. one of the helicopters was no longer able to fly after possibly hitting its rotor on one of the 12-foot compound walls during a brown-out caused by dust. the s.e.a.l.s fast-roped down on to the building's roof in a group large enough to secure it. then the fire fight. bin laden was ordered to surrender but refused. the s.e.a.l.s shot him in the head, likely a double tap, two shots to ensure a kill.

brand-new details from martha raddatz, about what was found on osama bin laden's body. run. >> reporter: he sure was, george. i just spoke to an official. and the official revealed to me that osama bin laden had some 500 euros, into his clothing. and also, two phone numbers were found. this was the clothing he was wearing when he was killed. that is an indication that he was ready to run at any time. they have also found in that compound t10 cell phones, 10 computers and 100 thumb drives. they think the thumb drives wut put it in his compute and take it to someone else. they are tracking that all right now. >> and you said he had phone numbers, as well. as they track through all of this, what are they looking for? what are the key words they're looking for? >> reporter: they put the key words through computers, on any of the data they've got. words like explosive. words like wedding. wedding, because that was a sign they were going to blow something up in the past. they go to words they used in the past and put them in there now. what they want to do more than anything

home and in pakistan is standing by with all that they have been learning today, beginning with martha raddatz, uncovering fresh detail tonight about what happened inside that compound. martha? >> reporter: diane, for all the planning that went into this, all the gear, there was one minor glitch in the identification process. the s.e.a.l.s forget a tape measure to size up the famously tall bin laden. so, they improvised. one of the s.e.a.l.s laid down next to the corpse and surprised that the dead man was about 6'4". he was the most feared man in the world but there he was, huddled in a third floor room of the compound with his youngest wife, listening to the bursts of gunfire and the approaching navy s.e.a.l.s for nearly 40 minutes. he was trapped. abc news has learned that sewn into his traditional clothing was an emergency stash of money -- 500 euros -- about $800 -- and two emergency phone numbers. not much but maybe he thought he could bribe his way out if he escaped. but the plan did him little good. >> it's not that surprising that he went down without firing a shot in his own defense.

it's a question we put to martha raddatz who is on this story for us tonight. good evening, martha. >> reporter: good evening, diane. this was one of those discoveries that stunned everyone. in fact, it was so stunning, officials are worried that some people won't believe it. amid the massive treasure trove of intelligence pulled from bin laden's compound, officials never thought they would find pornography. a u.s. official tells abc news that a "huge stash" of po pornography. was discovers. there is no way to tell if bin laden looked at it, but it was found right in his bedroom. >> it is surprising that pornography was found, because he was known to be a rather austere man, a rather religious man, a man who gave up the world. >> reporter: the u.s. did not want to officially release the information, feeling that there would be suspicions it was planted. it was not, said the official. we are also learning more about bin laden's final moments, from the navy s.e.a.l.s tiny helmet cameras. which abc news first reported. the images are said to be dark, the scene chao

martha raddatz leading the way all week starts off tonight. >> reporter: of the five videos confiscated by the bin laden compound, this one by far, the most compelling. there he sits, the terrorist master independent mind, his beard nearly all gray. huddled in a blanket, a wool cap on his head, watching news of himself on television. he switches his satellite tv from channel to channel, starting with al jazeera arabic. when an image pops up, he motions to the camera operator to zoom in. what he is watching on the television matches a press conference we found in late january, 2010. the same period bin laden released a tape claiming credit for the failed christmas day bombing. the tape released today gives another window into bin laden's surrounding. there is a computer screen to his right, a calculator and a second tv. this, say officials, was the command in control center for al qaeda. >> what u.s. authorities are trying to do by releasing this kind of video is make the point that we have a lot of stuff that we took possession of on sunday, and that makes the other bad guys, other peop

here is martha raddatz with the details of this successful operation. >> reporter: on a near moonless two specially outfitted blackhawk helicopters, the most elite navy special operations team, s.e.a.l. team 6, handpicked and experienced headed for the mission of their lives. the target, this sprawling compound surrounded by walls reaching nearly 20 feet high at points. the s.e.a.l. team 30 to 40 men flew low beneath the radar and undetected in the darkness descending on the compound. the plan was to repel from the helicopters but one of the blackhawks stalled forcing a white-knuckle hard landing outside the compound. >> we're very good on making it up on our feet because something will always go wrong. >> reporter: the s.e.a.l.s then moving quickly and quietly toward the compound. they began a room-by-room search in a smaller building first where they found the wives and children of two of bin laden's trusted couriers. next, the larger complex where gunfire erupted. two men, bin laden's couriers, were shot dead. on the ground, now nearly 40 minutes. the s.e.a.l.s climbed the stairs t

. >>> and all day long, martha raddatz has been gathering details on the 40 minutes that changed history, and tells us some of those key moments are different than we first thought. >> reporter: the operation was called "neptune spear." the mission, to capture or kill bin laden. but we learned today that the mission didn't quite go down as initially described. as the 25-man assault team landed in stealth configured helicopters and spread throughout the darkened compound, gun fire quickly erupted and was sustained through the 40-minute operation. even as the s.e.a.l.s climbed the stairs to the third floor. but when they came to face with bin laden? we learned for the first time today that the resistance that the white house had said bin laden put up did not include a weapon. >> he was not armed is what i understand to be true. >> reporter: officials said today, the resistance came from bin laden's wife. first, they said, she had been used as a human shield. today, they said, she made a threatening move. she was not armed, either, but was shot in the leg. bin laden was hit above the left e

with more now on bin laden's last moments, here is abc's martha raddatz. >> reporter: he was the mostterrorist in the world, but there he was huddled in a third floor room with his youngest wife listening to the bursts of gunfire in the approaching navy s.e.a.l.s for nearly 40 minutes. he was trapped. abc news has learned that sewn into his traditional clothing was an emergency stash of money 500 euros. that's about $800. and two emergency phone numbers. not much but maybe he thought he could bribe his way out if he escaped, but the plan did him little good. >> it's not that surprising that he went down without firing a shot in his own defense. he was a strategist and a thinker, not really a warrior. >> reporter: abc news has also learned that bin laden's 13-year-old daughter saw her father killed in front of her eyes and that she is now, according to security officials, cooperating with pakistani investigators. so is her 29-year-old mother ahmed amal, who was shot in the leg trying to protect bin laden. she was a gift to the al qaeda leader when she was only 15 years old. there was l

. >>> let's bring in martha raddatz right now. jake just mentioned the details coming in from the navy s.e.a.l.s. you have more. we know they landed at andrews air force base. but beyond that, we don't know much more. they're secret again. >> reporter: they sure are. the s.e.a.l.s giving the most detailed account yet, george. and clearly, they were doing almost all of the shooting. there is no question, it was a dangerous and uncertain mission. but not as first described by u.s. officials. >> there was a firefight. it was a highly-volatile firefight. >> it was a firefight, going up that compound. >> reporter: we now know from the s.e.a.l.s themselves, the firefight ended on the first floor. while the s.e.a.l.s were working their way through the house, after sporadic gunfire, they were connected to one another through a network of radios, monitored in afghanistan, by admiral william mcraven. as the team moved floor-to-floor, mcraven could hear them shout clear, clear, when each room was deemed safe. when the helicopter lifted off w

as martha raddatz my colleague reports it was two taps to the head. that's trade craft for two shots to the head for fear that he might be wearing some kind of a suicide bomb vest. >> rose: so once he didn't respond to the drop his weapons, that's when they shot him? >> that's when they shot him. there was no more consideration. >> rose: it was not, then, a cross fire of any kind? >> as far as we know it was not. there was a fire fight, described by the president, and after that fire fight they... the president said they killed him. and we're told that's because he refused to surrender. >> rose: and the burial at sea? first there was islamic ritual and practice? i'm hold that saudi arabia refused to accept him even though he was born as a saud economy? >> that's the report we had and they did not want to create a place that would be become a shrine for the martyr bin laden and the decision was made even before the assault began the decision had been made that he was killed, he would be buried at sea in a place we don't know specifically but you have a

two steps forward, one step back. >> reporter: martha raddatz, abc news, afghanistan. >> great reminderter memorial day to think of the soldiers. a very, very long war for the men and women that are there and many have served many different terms. >> absolutely. for some folks that withdrawal can't begin soon enough. >> right. absolutely true. the current team there right now don't retire for several months. the president does want a new team in place there when he begins to pull back troops here during the summertime. so people will be watching this closely to see how it goes. all right, coming up, the summer of sequels at the cinema. >> banking on new chapters of the "x-men" story and "harry potter" finale to make more movie money. that's next. the "x men" story and "harry potter" to make more movie money. that's next. potter" to make more movie money. that's next. h@ >>> sleepy times square, kind of hot times square too. memorial day does mark unofficial start of summer. also now you can wear white pants. wasn't sure you knew that. the ones you have been keeping now you can wear whit

martha raddatz was with the american general in command there after the battle. >> reporter: just hourse of gunfire between the americans and pakistanis -- >> there's engagement with apaches. >> we were flying along the same border with the commander in charge of eastern afghanistan, major general john campbell. what happened? >> we know for sure a helicopter was fired upon. we got rounds inside of the helicopter. nobody was hurt. the helicopter returned fire. >> reporter: while it is still being investigated, officials believe two u.s. apache helicopters were patrolling this afghan-pakistan border across from an al qaeda safe haven, that's when one of the u.s. helicopters accidentally crossed into pakistani territory. the pakistanis opened fire. the u.s. helicopter fired back injuring two pakistanis. >> they're taking effective fire then by all means, they have to take all measures to make sure that they are safeguarding themselves. >> reporter: tensions are already extremely high between the u.s. and pakistan after the unannounced raid into pakistan that killed osama bin laden. this c

martha raddatz, abc news, washington. >>> in other news this morning, workers have now entered unit one of that damaged nuclear plant in japan for the first time since right after the quake. they're installing six ventilation machines. it's all in an attempt to absorb radiation from air inside that building. that's a first step towards replacing cooling systems that were knocked now the that devastating quake and tsunami. >>> and across the pacific in oregon, a massive fire at the scene train derailment. jumped the tracks. the flames were so fierce that firefighter his to battle them from across a highway. everyone within half a mile radius was evacuated for a time but nobody in that area or on the train was hurt. pretty incredible pictures though. >> thank goodness for that, no injuries. >>> from fire to flood and a disaster facing a lot of folks along the mississippi river late last night, president obama declared an emergency for parts of tennessee, mississippi, and kentucky. >> so now that will trigger some federal help for what looks to be the worst flooding since the 1920s. t.j. w

and martha raddatz has new details on the special forces team. how they did it. the elite of the elite. right, martha? >> reporter: that's right, robin. it all happened so fast. 40 minutes. but it was all so carefully planned. this morning, we're learning new details of the daring raid, including more on osama bin laden's final moments. shot twice by navy s.e.a.l.s. once in the chest. once in the head. the still-secret photos show a precision kill shot, right above the left eye. and we've learned, the mission was caught on tape. helmet cams worn by the s.e.a.l.s. it started on a moonlit night, from jalalabad toward the sprawling compound. when one of them stalled, it was forced to land nearby, grazing a rotor on the 18-foot walls. so, the s.e.a.l.s switched to plan "b." we learned the assault was carried out by 2 elite teams of 12 s.e.a.l.s each. a firefight erupted with bin laden's two trusted curriers, which woke up neighbors nearby. >> i heard gunfire. >> reporter: the s.e.a.l.s moved to an upper floor. there, they found the man the u.s. has been after for over