This Day in History: 2011-05-02
On this day in 2011 Osama bin Laden was killed by US forces.
On the 11th of September 2001 the world was shocked as news came in of a commercial aircraft hitting one of the twin towers of the world trade centre, a symbol of the United States power.
The plane was American Airlines flight 11 with 92 people on board struck the North tower at 8:46 am local time (US Eastern Daylight Time). At first it was not known if it was an accident and as the world’s media speculated, seventeen minutes later at 9:03 am another plane struck the south tower, proving that the US was under attack. The second plane was United Airlines flight 175 with 65 passengers. All flights were subsequently banned from entering New York’s airspace but this was no longer the target. At 9:37am, just another 34 minutes after the last strike, American Airlines flight 77 hits the western outer wall the pentagon, the heart of US defence, in the capital Washington DC killing all 64 on board. The final plane is crashed into a field in Pennsylvania.
It is believed that the passengers aboard the United Airlines flight 93 were made aware of the horrors on the ground and were aware of their planed fait. They fought the terrorists onboard and the plane was brought down ahead of schedule and on the wrong target. 19 hijackers killed over 3,000 people on that morning and put a nation in panic. The hijackers worked for the terrorist group, al-Qaeda (meaning base in Arabic) which was led by Osama Bin Laden. This was not the first time al-Qaeda had attacked the US but this event triggered a ten year man hunt and a war in Afghanistan to bring Bin laden to justice and destroy his terrorist network.
The first clue was a name Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti which meant the Father of Ahmed from Kuwait". Obviously a pseudonym like many other they came across but whenever high ranking al-Qaeda detainees were asked about him dismissed him as nothing or not important, some said he was close to Bin Laden but had left and one denied his existence. This made him seem important and in 2007 US intelligence discovered his true identity, Ibrahim Saeed Ahmed. They tracked him down to a large house in Abbottabad in Pakistan where he was living in a very large house with his family. He was not from a wealthy background and the high walls, barbed wire, reflective glass and security precautions taken by the residents raised alarm bells. Operatives on the ground reported a third family living on the top floor and they seemed to be very important.
To avoid innocent casualties President Obama chose not to use air strikes but to send in Navy seals to capture or kill Bin Laden. He and senior members of staff sat at the CIA headquarters watching the events unfold as two Black Hawk helicopters made their way into Pakistan and the compound. The black hawks were meant to hover above the complex so that the navy seals enter on ropes but the first helicopter hit the wall and grinded down the house. The second had to land in a near by field. Despite this terrible start the navy seals were unharmed and they proceeded into the complex and the house. They made their way through the house eliminating any armed resistance before finally shooting Bin Laden in the top bedroom.
