“The American team engaged in a firefight. Osama bin Laden did resist.”
These words, uttered by a senior Pentagon official, summed up the now-historic raid on May 2, 2011, during which SEAL Team Six secretly descended upon a compound in Pakistan, blew down doors and engaged enemy combatants. The goal: kill or capture terrorist leader Osama bin Laden.
Gunfire was exchanged as SEALs made their way through the compound, up to the second and third floors, where bin Laden and his family were hiding. Four combatants and one woman used as a human shield were killed in the raid, according to Pentagon statements.
“The sole focus of the operation was to kill or capture Osama bin Laden,” a Defense Department official told reporters after the raid, during a background briefing.
As we recognize the anniversary of the raid, it would likely be an understatement to call it a “defining moment” in U.S. military history. With its successful completion, the operation ended the life of the man regarded as the mastermind behind the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, which claimed thousands of lives.
