Osama bin Laden, the longtime leader of al-Qaeda behind the 9/11 attacks, was killed in a firefight during an operation inside Pakistan, President Barack Obama announced in a press conference late Sunday. Obama said U.S. officials were in possession of bin Laden’s body.

A small team of U.S. operatives launched a ‘targeted operation’ Sunday under Obama’s direction, on a compound in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad, where bin Laden was hiding, Obama said. Bin Laden was killed after the firefight, and the troops then took custody of his body, Obama said.

Bin Laden’s death comes nearly a decade after al-Qaeda coordinated attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, which killed almost 3,000 U.S. citizens. Sunday’s news would ‘bring justice’ to bin Laden, Obama said.

‘The American people did not choose this fight,’ he said. ‘It came to our shores and started with the senseless slaughter of our citizens.’

The death brings closure to what the military has fought for, said Sean Galloway, president of the Student Veterans Club at Syracuse University. Galloway fought in Iraq for eight months in 2005.

‘We put our lives on the line to defend this country, to defend what happened in New York City, and the bad guy’s gone,’ said Galloway, a junior management major.

Galloway woke up right before Obama’s announcement and described the news as ‘awesome.’ He said bin Laden’s death was the whole point of going to war.

‘It’s not going to stop now, but we got him,’ he said.

Sara Bittar, a master’s student studying public administration from Lebanon, said U.S. citizens needed the news of bin Laden’s death because he was behind the 9/11 attacks.

‘But I hope, on the other hand, that people will not view this as a victory because you don’t really fight terrorism just by killing the head of the gang,’ Bittar said. ‘You fight it by killing the roots that cause people to engage in terrorist movements.’

Shortly after taking office, Obama said he told the director of the CIA, Leon Panetta, that the top priority of the war against al-Qaeda was to capture or kill bin Laden.

P.J. Davidson, a sophomore sport management major, said he wishes troops had captured bin Laden alive so he could be put on trial.

‘I don’t think you can achieve true justice through one person compared to how many lives were affected,’ Davidson said. ‘It’s a step in the right direction, but it would have been nice to get him alive.’

The president said he was first briefed about a possible lead to bin Laden last August.

‘And finally, last week, I determined that we had enough intelligence to take action, and authorized an operation to get Osama bin Laden and bring him to justice,’ Obama said.

Obama said no Americans were harmed during the operation and that U.S. military forces ‘took care to avoid civilian casualties.’ Obama made his televised address from 11:35 p.m. to 11:44 p.m. in the White House’s East Room, after it was originally announced he would speak at 10:30 p.m.

Taylor Visoski, a sophomore public relations major, watched Obama’s address in one of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications labs. She said the news of bin Laden’s death made her recall the emotions she felt as a fifth-grader when 9/11 occurred.

Visoski said her father was en route to New York on 9/11, but was not onboard one of the hijacked planes. When she learned of bin Laden’s death on Sunday, she immediately text messaged her father.

‘It was a very scary moment, and I guess it brought a lot of those emotions back,’ Visoski said. ‘It’s relieving to hear all the hard work of our troops and our intelligence agencies has paid off.’

Songs such as ‘Miss American Pie’ blared from the porch of the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity house, where David Okin, a sophomore philosophy major, celebrated the news with fellow fraternity members.

Okin said he immediately called loved ones — including his parents, brother, sister, cousin, uncle and two best friends from home — and notified them of the news. Many of Okin’s loved ones have been personally affected by 9/11, so the news of bin Laden’s death hit home, he said.

‘I have a lot of friends that have lost people,’ Okin said. ‘It’s an amazing day here.’

Obama said bin Laden had planned attacks against the United States and its allies for more than two decades.

‘The death of bin Laden marks the most significant achievement to date in our nation’s effort to defeat al-Qaeda,’ Obama said. ‘Yet his death does not mark the end of our effort. There’s no doubt that al-Qaeda will continue to pursue attacks against us. We must — and we will — remain vigilant at home and abroad.’

jdharr04@syr.edu

— Asst. News Editor Michael Boren and staff writers Liz Sawyer and Debbie Truong contributed reporting to this article.

Published on May 1, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Jon: jdharr04@syr.edu