President Obama Says...

Benjamin Wittes
Sunday, May 1, 2011, 11:43 PM
...that: 1) He directed CIA to make killing or capture of Bin Laden top priority of war against Al Qaeda; 2) Last August, he was briefed on a possible lead on Bin Laden, hiding within a compound deep inside Pakistan. It took months run this lead to ground. 3) Last week, we decided we had enough enough information. 4) A small operation was conducted today by U.S. forces--none of whom were harmed. (Not a drone strike.) 5) Bin Laden was killed in a firefight, and his body was captured. 6) Pakistani leadership agrees that this was a good and essential operation.

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...that: 1) He directed CIA to make killing or capture of Bin Laden top priority of war against Al Qaeda; 2) Last August, he was briefed on a possible lead on Bin Laden, hiding within a compound deep inside Pakistan. It took months run this lead to ground. 3) Last week, we decided we had enough enough information. 4) A small operation was conducted today by U.S. forces--none of whom were harmed. (Not a drone strike.) 5) Bin Laden was killed in a firefight, and his body was captured. 6) Pakistani leadership agrees that this was a good and essential operation.

Benjamin Wittes is editor in chief of Lawfare and a Senior Fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution. He is the author of several books.

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