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The author teaches the law of armed conflict. The views expressed here are his personal views and do not necessarily reflect those of the Department of Defense, US Army, US Military Academy, or any other department or agency of the US government. The analysis presented here stems from his academic research of publicly available sources, not from protected operational information from, or actual involvement in, aspects of this or any other military operation.
As to America, I say to it and its people a few words: I swear to God that America will not live in peace before peace reigns in Palestine, and before all the army of infidels depart the land of Muhammad, peace be upon him. 1
Osama bin Laden, in a videotaped statement first aired on 7 October 2001
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Introduction
In addressing the nation from the East Room of the White House at 11:30 pm on 1 May 2011, President Barak Obama reported to the American people, and to the world, that the United States had conducted a successful operation resulting in the death of Osama bin Laden, the infamous leader of Al Qaeda, the militant jihadist organisation responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and multiple other lethal attacks against civilian and military targets. 2 Using direct and eloquent language, President Obama told the families who had lost love ones to Al Qaeda's terror that 'justice has been done'. 3
For over a decade, the United States has aggressively searched for bin Laden after he disappeared from Tora Bora in December 2001. 4 The US armed forces and intelligence agencies searched exhaustively for him. For many years, bin Laden was thought to be hiding, possibly in a cave, in the remote tribal region between Pakistan and Afghanistan. 5 Instead, he was living in a massive walled compound about an hour's drive north of Islamabad. 6 He was hiding in Abbottabad, a city known as the home to the Pakistani Military Academy, the country's version of West Point, 7 as well as another military base. 8
The daring raid, code-named Operation Neptune's Spear, was a combined, US multiservice effort, executed by the Joint Special Operations Command, SEAL Team Six and the...