The War on Terror — Five Years Later
Bin Laden is Dead, but al Qaeda Still Eyeing America.
May 2, 2016 marks the fifth anniversary of the death of Osama bin Laden, former leader of al Qaeda and mastermind of the 9/11 attacks. It took the U.S. nearly a decade to bring the world’s most-wanted man to justice. In the end, we won a long, hard battle. Five years later, the terrain looks different. The enemy has a new name. After all is said and done…where are we on the war on terror?
Robert J. O’Neill, the man who shot and killed Osama bin Laden offers his perspective, appearing on FOX News with Bill Hemmer.
Highlights of their exchange:
Hemmer: “You brought this up over the weekend...bin Laden did not have a kidney issue?”
O’Neill: “I simply brought it up because of the Twitter feeds. You know, bin Laden died of kidney failure in 2001…conspiracy theory. That was something just made up by our intelligence.”
Hemmer: “We all had the impression that he’s walking through mountains in eastern Afghanistan carrying a dialysis machine.”
O’Neill: “If you’ve seen these mountains, it’s difficult enough to carry the water that’s going to keep you hydrated, let alone your weapons and your entourage. It’s one of those things…if a source comes in and he wants to get paid he’s going to say, yeah I found him and it’s definitely him. I saw the dialysis machine. That right there is an indicator…you didn’t find him.”
Hemmer: “Where are we five years later?”
O’Neill: “Five years later, the death of Osama bin Laden was good. It got rid of the leader of al Qaeda but also provided a vacuum. Even pulling out of Iraq…our eyes were on the prize there but once we thought al Qaeda was kind of done, ISIS was able to come up through Syria. Now we have our eyes on ISIS, but we have to be careful of al Qaeda because they’re still big. They haven’t forgotten about us. And they kind of have to do something for more street cred. They’re still dangerous.”
Hemmer: “When this date comes up every year, what do you say to yourself?”
O’Neill: “I’m amazed it’s been five years. It doesn’t seem that long ago. I can close my eyes and picture what it looked like going up that final set of stairs to the curtain that was there, turning right and seeing bin Laden. Time flies. This was just one of the many missions that great team was able to do. I was lucky to be a part of the greatest team I think ever assembled.”