CNN news 2011-05-04
This is CNN breaking news.
We're being told by White House official that the President will make a statement at 10:30.
I'm told by sources it is a national security issue.
CNN is told by several sources now that the President of the United States will announce in just moments that the United States has the body of Usama Bin Laden.
And now, the President will tell us officially Bin Laden is dead.
That was the breaking news late Sunday night after we recorded yesterday's show. In today's special edition of CNN Student news, we're going in depth into the death of Usama Bin Laden.
He was a terrorist, one of the FBI's most wanted criminals and the mastermind behind the worst terrorist attack on US soil.Now,Usama Bin Laden is dead.
Sunday, a US military operation involving Navy Seals assaulted the compound,this mansion where Bin Laden was hiding out in Pakistan.He and four other people were killed. US officials say they used DNA testing to confirm that the body is that of Bin Laden.One of his wives also identified the body for US forces. Obviously, a very significant moment for the United States and for people around the world.
To understand just how big this news is, take a look back. Usama Bin Laden had been a terrorist for decades. In 1988,he founded Al-Qaeda which became a terrorist network 3 years later.In 1992,Bin Laden was accused of sending some of his followers to fight US forces, they were in the African nation of Somalia.A year later , a bomb exploded at New York's World Trade Center. Bin Laden was one of the several people suspected of being involved. 1996, Usama Bin Laden declared a jihad, a holy war against US forces.Two years after that, he was charged with the murders of 224 people.They died in the bombings at US embassies in African countries of Kenya and Tanzania.He appeared on the FBI's ten most wanted fugitives list in 1999, and he was linked to the bombing of a US navy ship, the USS Cole, that killed 17 sailors in the year 2000.
September 11th 2001,Usama Bin Laden was behind the attacks that killed nearly 3000 people on US soil.The events and images of that day seared into the memories of so many Americans.Four planes hijacked by Al-Qaeda terrorists, two were flown into the World Trade Centers--Twin Towers in New York. Both of those were later collapsed. Another plane crashed into the Pentagon near Washington D.C., and the fourth crashed in Shanksville Pennsylvania in a field after passengers fought back against the hijackers.It was again the worst terrorist attack ever on American soil. It led to the US-led war on terrorism, the war in Afghanistan, and now the man behind it,Usama Bin Laden is dead. Justice has been done, that's what President Obama said when he announced Bin Laden's death. He also spoke about what this moment means for the United States.