good evening 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's responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent men women and children last August after years of painstaking work by our intelligence community I was briefed on a possible lead to bin Laden it was far from certain and it took many months to run this thread to ground I met repeatedly with my national security team as we developed more information about the possibility
that we had located bin Laden hiding within a compound deep inside Pakistan and fine today at my direction the United States launched a targeted operation against that compound in Abbottabad Pakistan a small team of Americans carried out the operation with extraordinary courage and capability no Americans were harmed they took care to avoid civilian casualties after a firefight they killed Osama bin Laden and took custody of his body the death of bin Laden marks the most significant achievement to date in our nation's effort to defeat al-qaeda yet his death does not mark the end of our
effort there is no doubt that al Qaeda will continue to pursue attacks against us we must and we will remain vigilant at home and abroad and tonight let us think back to the sense of unity that prevailed on 9/11 I know that it has at times frayed yet today's achievement is a testament to the greatness of our country and the determination of the American people the cause of securing our country is not complete but tonight we are once again reminded that America can do whatever we set our mind to that is the story of our
history [Applause]
