His staff describe Bin Laden as an irreplaceable leader, his death a crippling blow to Al Khaida. But that wasn't always the case. Before the word ‘deceased’ was stamped on his wanted poster the President often tried to downplay the significance of finding Osama bin Laden, dead or alive.
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Patty: For President Barack Obama this was a day to celebrate; to rally the country, to revel in a long sought after success.
Obama: Today, we are reminded that as a nation there's nothing we can't do.
Patty: His staff describe Bin Laden as an irreplaceable leader, his death a crippling blow to Al Khaida. But that wasn't always the case. Before the word ‘deceased’ was stamped on his wanted poster the President often tried to downplay the significance of finding Osama bin Laden, dead or alive.
Obama: If we have so tightened the noose that he’s in a cave somewhere and can't even communicate with his operatives then er… we will meet our goal.
Patty: Now that it turns out he wasn't hiding in a cave but a million dollar mansion not far from Islamabad; the administration says it wants to know who helped hide him.
John: We are looking right now at er… how he was able to hold out there for so long and whether or not there was any type of support system within Pakistan that allowed him to er… stay there.
Patty: But they aren't pushing the point too publicly, pointing out that the Pakistanis have killed many key al-Qaeda operatives but that might not be enough for some in Congress who are questioning the billions of dollars given to Pakistan to encourage cooperation.
Carl: Well, I think that the Pakistani army and intelligence er… have a lot of questions to answer.
Patty: The big question now: what's next?
Jon: What we learned about Pakistani official involvement could certainly cover… colour US-Pakistani relations for many, many years into the future.
Brian: I hope this is used as an opportunity for US and Pakistani officials to sit down and have a tough conversation to say we need got to get an alignment on our common threat and our common enemy.
Patty: The lack of trust evident in the fact that the US says it didn't tell the Pakistanis they were sending Navy Seals into their sovereign territory, an act the administration says it won't apologise for. Patty Culhanen, Al Jazeera, Washington.
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