Friday, May 20, 2011
Obama thanks CIA for helping track down Bin Laden
President Barack Obama applauds as CIA Director Leon Panetta at the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia.
President Barack Obama thanked the country's top spy agency for helping track down and kill former al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and warned remaining members of al Qaeda to watch their backs.
"Make no mistake. This is not over ...," Obama told members of the intelligence community gathered at Central Intelligence Agency headquarters. "We walked off with his files - the largest treasure trove ever seized from a terrorist leader."
Standing before a memorial wall covered in stars to honor members of the CIA killed in the line of duty, Obama said every al Qaeda leader should be "watching his back."
The CIA shared a significant part of the blame for the intelligence failures that allowed bin Laden to plot the Sept. 11 attacks against the United States, which dealt its reputation and morale a severe blow.
But Obama said the work the CIA had done to track down bin Laden had made a critical difference to the success of the May 2 mission of US Navy SEAL commandos to kill him in Pakistan. He said the agency's secret and generally thankless contribution had been recognized.
"You're often the first ones to get the blame when things go wrong and you're always the last ones to get the credit when things go right," Obama said.
"Make no mistake. This is not over ...," Obama told members of the intelligence community gathered at Central Intelligence Agency headquarters. "We walked off with his files - the largest treasure trove ever seized from a terrorist leader."
Standing before a memorial wall covered in stars to honor members of the CIA killed in the line of duty, Obama said every al Qaeda leader should be "watching his back."
The CIA shared a significant part of the blame for the intelligence failures that allowed bin Laden to plot the Sept. 11 attacks against the United States, which dealt its reputation and morale a severe blow.
But Obama said the work the CIA had done to track down bin Laden had made a critical difference to the success of the May 2 mission of US Navy SEAL commandos to kill him in Pakistan. He said the agency's secret and generally thankless contribution had been recognized.
"You're often the first ones to get the blame when things go wrong and you're always the last ones to get the credit when things go right," Obama said.
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