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American Morning

Osama bin Laden Is Dead; Airports On Alert, Heightened Security Measures; Security Concerns After Bin Laden Death

Aired May 02, 2011 - 07:57   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Christine Romans.

Breaking news this morning. Words millions of Americans have waited a decade to hear -- Osama bin Laden is dead. President Obama declaring late last night, justice has been done.

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Kiran Chetry.

The question this morning, will al Qaeda seek revenge? The State Department already warning Americans overseas, especially in countries like Pakistan, to be on alert.

ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Ali Velshi at New York's Ground Zero. Chants of "USA, USA!" erupting right now and all through the night. We'll bring you the latest from Ground Zero on this AMERICAN MORNING.

ROMANS: Good morning. It's Monday, May 2nd. Welcome to a special edition of AMERICAN MORNING, as the world reacts to the death of Osama bin Laden.

CHETRY: That's right. We're bringing you the latest. We're getting new details by the minute about the operation and worldwide reaction.

And Ali Velshi is joining us from the World Trade Center site in lower Manhattan this morning.

Hi, Ali.

VELSHI: Good morning, Kiran.

There are crowds of people gathered just beyond me, about 20 feet from me now carrying American flags, chanting "USA, USA," something that we've been hearing, by the way, on this site since about 11:00 last night. There were at one point a couple thousand people, nothing else going on, no businesses open, people out here chanting, "USA, USA," jubilant at the news of the death of Osama bin Laden. For most Americans, Ground Zero, the Pentagon, and Shanksville, Pennsylvania, are the place where Osama bin Laden most closely touched Americans.

Here, as business gets underway, people are going to work. Lots of people around here taking videos and photos on their phones of the news media. A stretch of cameras here, must be about two dozen cameras. And the newspapers this morning, the "New York Post" saying, "Got Him, Vengenance at Last, U.S. Nails the Bastard." And the "New York Daily News," nine-page special. All it says is "Rot in Hell," with a picture of Osama bin Laden. That's pretty much the sentiment down here.

This has been a place where for nearly 10 years people have come to work without the Twin Towers next to us here, without the shadow of those Twin Towers, something that was so prominent, such a symbol of America and capitalism in America. They've been gone, the construction has begun again. Just this morning, the cranes are moving, the workers are here.

But today for the first time in nearly a decade, represents a new beginning for people in lower Manhattan. Kiran, Christine.

CHETRY: All right. Ali Velshi for us. Thanks so much.

ROMANS: The details now. Osama bin Laden was shot in the head early Saturday morning by a team of U.S. Navy SEALs. He was hiding in a compound surrounded by seven-foot-high walls in Abbottabad, that's in Pakistan, north of Islamabad.

CHETRY: Yes. And U.S. officials say that after bin Laden's body was taken into custody and positively identified, it was buried at sea. They said they did that there so there would not be able to be a shrine or any type of martyred area for people to come visit or launch attacks. Also, he was buried -- it was said -- in accordance with strict Muslim tradition and law.

The news of bin Laden's demise triggered emotional celebrations here in the United States, places like outside of the White House, at Ground Zero, in Times Square in New York, even in places like Boston, where students -- I mean, in Boston, other places like University of Delaware and Penn State are celebrating the news that Osama bin Laden, public enemy number one, was indeed dead.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

ROMANS: This just coming into CNN now -- you're looking at the first images inside of Osama bin Laden's Pakistan compound, courtesy of ABC News.

CHETRY: This was where CIA operatives, Navy SEALs, and other Special Operation forces took him out in that 40-minute gunfight. The pictures -- there you see blood all over the floor. Some of these pictures may be difficult for some of our viewers to the see.

But, again, they have broken computers, shattered glass on one of the -- what appeared to be a bed there. There also seems to be splatters of blood. Amazing that they were able to get pictures inside of that compound where Osama has been able to elude people for years.

ROMANS: That's right. A U.S. official telling CNN that the CIA has been watching this compound for months. The video also that we've been seeing from Geo News in Pakistan shows that the compound was in flames moments after the raid. There you can see that video there. U.S. helicopters and about two dozen Navy SEALs storming bin Laden's mansion early Sunday morning.

CHETRY: Right. And we're thinking that some of the flames was a helicopter, actually, a U.S. helicopter that experienced, according to officials, mechanical failure and actually crashed.

ROMANS: They left it behind, right.

CHETRY: They left it behind. But they lit it on fire so that no -- there wouldn't be an any type of intelligence breach.

Barbara Starr is live at the Pentagon this morning.

We know that the U.S. spent a long time hunting bin Laden down. And, now, we're getting new details of exactly how Osama bin Laden was taken. Those pictures inside the compound are particularly amazing, to know that that's where they were. That's where eventually this terror mastermind met his end.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, when I look at that video, Kiran and Christine, what comes to mind is when the U.S. military and the CIA went against Osama bin Laden, nobody was interested in a fair fight. They went to win, and whatever destruction they had to achieve to get their target, without hurting civilians in the neighborhood, that's what they went for.

This was not going to be a fair firefight. This was a fight to win.

Osama bin Laden killed. Officials who have seen photographs of his dead body tell us there is evidence of that gunshot wound to the head, but if those pictures are released, the world will recognize the face of Osama bin Laden.

Let me add very quickly another new detail. We have just received a copy of the message that CIA Director Leon Panetta has sent out to his forces -- his people at the CIA. And there's a couple of very interesting hints.

Director Panetta starts by saying to the agency employees, "We have rid the world of the most infamous terrorist of our time." He goes on and thanks the agency employees for their help. But he specifically says that he wants to congratulate, quote, "the officers of our counterterrorism center and office of South Asia analysis for their outstanding expertise, amazing creativity, and excellent trade craft."

That will give you the hint that you need to understand how deeply involved the CIA was in this. Since last August, they were keeping an eye on this compound -- developing intelligence, developing information, watching it very carefully, seeing security increase -- coming to the conclusion, Osama bin Laden was there. And on Friday, President Obama gave the go ahead for this attack.

Back to you.

ROMANS : And is it true that Leon Panetta, director of the CIA, was actually in a conference room, directing this -- I mean, this went to the highest levels of the government, this was so important.

STARR: Oh, this -- from everyone's understanding, Director Panetta, Defense Secretary Robert Gates, key intelligence officials, the White House terrorism adviser John Brennan, the president, I think you can be guaranteed that all of them, as this unfolded, were kept up-to-date, minute-by-minute, deeply involved, watching the progress, as the U.S. Special Forces and the CIA personnel executed this mission on the ground.

This could not have been more risky and more dangerous, because the problem the whole last ten years was, if you knew where Osama bin Laden was, it's not getting in to him, it is getting out of Pakistan in one piece, all the troops going in, getting out safely. This is hostile territory to U.S. troops and it is extraordinary that the entire U.S. military and intelligence team got in and got out safely. That could not be more critical.

CHETRY: You make a good point. That is not something to be taken for granted, given the difficulty and danger of that operation.

ROMANS: If I were -- just quickly, a lot of people have said that they thought, if we got close enough to him, his own bodyguards had some kind of a code where they would take him out. This was an American bullet that killed him out.

STARR: Well, yes, this is quite interesting that it was a firefight. The legend, if you will, had it that he would either have cyanide on his body or orders for his guards to shoot him, that he would never allow himself to be taken alive. This was the conventional wisdom. He would never allow himself to be taken alive. All indications are, it was a U.S. bullet to the head that killed him.

CHETRY: Barbara Starr, a lot of good details coming from you, new information. We'll check in with you shortly.

Meanwhile, more on this battle that took him out: About two dozen Navy SEALs stormed the compound early Sunday morning, trading gunfire, as we've said, for nearly 40 minutes. And we were told, actually, that some of the other interesting elements of this, again the chopper that crashed, no one was -- no one was hurt in that. Also the fact that one of his sons, as well as two couriers, and a woman described as a human shield also killed in that.

But the CIA is the one laying the groundwork for this historic mission.

We're joined now by former CIA commander, Gary Berntsen. He was in charge of the Special Forces invasion in Tora Bora, Afghanistan, that almost killed bin Laden back in 2001.

Gary, good to see you again.

GARY BERNTSEN, FORMER CIA COMMANDER: Good to see you.

CHETRY: I want to ask you a couple of questions. First of all, explain the relationship, I mean, between the CIA, the Navy SEALs, because we keep talking about the Navy SEALs going in there. How does this get coordinated?

BERNTSEN: What would have happened is this: the agency would have done the intelligence collection. The military could have commanded the actual raid. The CIA would not have commanded this raid. It would have been commanded by the military, probably JSOC, Joint Special Operations Command.

CHETRY: Which was made up of what?

BERNTSEN: Well, all these Special Operations forces, you know, Delta Force, you have the U.S. Navy SEALs, you have organizations like that that all function in this body that do special operations.

So, the agency would have been the intelligence. There would have been agency officers involved with them providing intel. And maybe on the ground intel to the last second.

But, you know, the actual people that executed the operation would have been U.S. military. And, you know, we're in close coordination.

Look, if you don't have the intel, you can't go in and raid.

ROMANS: Right.

BERNTSEN: And it took significant, you know, skill to collect the intel, to identify where he was, to run it to ground.

But it never would have been perfect. You never know at the last second, has your target moved, is your target still there, what are the armaments, how many people were inside there.

ROMANS: I mean, they burned the helicopter, that's amazing to me, that they just --

BERNTSEN: Well, of course, you always do that. You don't leave -- you know, you would burn your helicopter with thermite grenades. You don't leave anything behind. When we entered Afghanistan in the beginning, we had helicopter crash, we didn't 16 come in and destroyed it, so you won't leave it behind.

(CROSSTALK)

CHETRY: Right. And they had to leave with all the people they brought in, not all of the equipment, obviously, because of some of the ammunitions were used, and the body of Osama bin Laden minus one helicopter. I mean, are we underestimating just how amazing it is --

BERNTSEN: Very, very complicated to do this. Very complicated to do this. But also, you have the president, you have people at CIA. They turned this over to the military at the final moment. There's a military -- an on-scene commander that's making these final decisions.

The final decisions are not being in the White -- you know, the White House does a handoff to that officer that's leading that, and who's going to lead that and make those decisions, because you can't micromanager this thing from 10,000 miles away. You have to have the courage to go forward politically, which the White House clearly had. You had the confidence at the intelligence, which Panetta clearly had. And you had to have people who can execute it, who were able to pull it all together.

So, we should all be very proud of them.

CHETRY: It is amazing. Just quickly, should they release a photo of Osama bin Laden?

BERNTSEN: Well, just depending on the photo -- if it's a horrific shot, you know, I wouldn't do it.

CHETRY: There are some people who won't ever believe it.

BERNTSEN: Well, you know, they don't have to believe it. You know --

CHETRY: He's gone.

BERNTSEN: He's gone and al Qaeda will probably step up and say he's gone, too. So, I mean, it's a good news story for --

ROMANS: All right. Gary Berntsen, thank you so much.

BERNTSEN: A pleasure.

CHETRY: Ali Velshi joins us now from the World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan.

Hi, Ali.

VELSHI: Kiran, we want to talk a little bit about Pakistan's role in this. Osama bin Laden found living about 100 kilometers, about an hour away from the nation's capital, Islamabad.

Joining me on the phone right now from London is Pakistan's ambassador to the United States, Husain Haqqani.

Ambassador Haqqani, thank you for joining us.

A lot of people have questions about how a country like Pakistan, with a remarkably sophisticated intelligence unit, wouldn't have known that Osama bin Laden was living in this big compound in Abbottabad. Tell me what you know about this.

HUSAIN HAQQANI, PAKISTANI AMBASSADOR TO THE U.S. (via telephone): Really, what's important is that Pakistan and the United States cooperated in making sure that this operation was successful and President Obama has called Pakistan's President Zardari to thank him for Pakistan's cooperation. And I think we should just stop the speculation.

The important thing to understand is Pakistan is nation of 180 million. There are people in Pakistan, unfortunately, who have sympathies with Osama bin Laden and some of them, obviously, who are protecting for him had to (INAUDIBLE) while he was there. We don't know what length of time he was there. We do not know where else he had been during the last several years.

But we're all pleased with the fact that the world has been rid of a major figure in global terrorism. And that has been possible, because Pakistan has worked with the United States. We have both had complaints with one another at different times, but the important thing is we got him, we succeeded.

VELSHI: Sure. And that's going to be the -- a cooperation that's going to be necessary to root out other terrorists. You are definitely one of those people on the record from an article back in 2003 and maybe you believed it more recently than that, that Osama bin Laden, if he was ever found, was going to be found in the mountainous area between Pakistan and Afghanistan, that sort of almost lawless area.

So, I take it you were very surprised that he was found in a military town very close to the Pakistani capital?

HAQQANI: Well, the important thing is that he was found. I think that eliminating him and eliminating other terrorists who are unrepentant is significant and important. And that can only be possible by cooperation between the various governments and countries.

At the same time, we have to understand that there will always be people who have a negative view and a negative attitude about these matters. And so, we should just not get bogged down with that. Understand the cooperation between the Pakistani government, the elected people, the parliament --

VELSHI: Sure. Ambassador, let me ask you this --

(CROSSTALK)

HAQQANI: -- actually people like -- people like bin Laden, all of them to be eliminated.

VELSHI: Sure. Ambassador, let me ask you this. Unfortunately, we at CNN, it's kind of our job to get bogged down in some of these details. So, it is important. People are going to want to know.

Did Pakistan know that Osama bin Laden was living in Pakistan? It was actually -- it looks like he was living something of a high life there. I know you're going to tell me it's not important to get bogged down on these things, but it kind of is.

HAQQANI: Look, Ali, let me just say, that in Pakistan, if you've been to Pakistan, you will know, many people live in huge compounds. Obviously, someone had given him this compound and provided him, given him an opportunity to hide within it.

If the Pakistani government had known that Osama bin Laden was there, we would have got him, like we got Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, like we got Ramzi bin al-Shibh, like we got many others. All the major personnel, al Qaeda personalities currently in Guantanamo were arrested by Pakistani authorities in cooperation with the United States.

So, if we had really known where bin Laden was, we would have got him. We are very glad that our American partners did. They had superior intelligence. They had superior technology, and we are grateful to them and to God for having given us this opportunity to bring this chapter to an end.

So, we did not know, we had no knowledge. And if we had knowledge, we would have acted upon it long ago.

VELSHI: All right. Ambassador Husain Haqqani, thank you very much for joining us this morning, coming to us from London.

A lot of questions remain as to what this does to the al Qaeda network, what this does to terrorist threats against the United States.

I want to bring in Richard Miniter. He is the author of a brand new book on Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who was thought to be the most valuable asset that the United States had captured in the fight against terror.

Richard, give me some sense of to whether taking Osama bin Laden out, the death of Osama bin Laden, actually changes the real threat to the United States and the world, the real threat from terrorists.

RICHARD MINITER, AUTHOR: Well, this is a major game changer for al Qaeda because if you look at the jihadi propaganda on related Web sites around the world, you'll see that they thought that bin Laden was protected by God or by some supernatural force, the United States couldn't touch him. This totally changes that as a propaganda value and it lowers the morale of al Qaeda.

So, there's been a lot of debate about how much operational control bin Laden actually had, and this fails to make a critical distinction. There were fun operations that were always run from headquarters and bin Laden played a big role in those, and the 9/11 attacks and the Bali bombings are classic examples of that.

But there were a lot of other operations that were planned loosely by affiliated organizations in North Africa, or in the Arabian Peninsula, or the Far East. And those operations run more or less independently. And, unfortunately, those abilities with the killing of bin Laden will not be degraded.

So, there's both the headquarters and the branches. The branches will now likely become independent.

VELSHI: All right. And that remains a big concern. What kind of capability do these branches have vis-a-vis the headquarters? In other words, can they carry out large-scale things like happened here at Ground Zero?

MINITER: Well, I think you'll se an immediate shift in funding to al Qaeda in the peninsula, which is run of Yemen by a guy named al- Bashi (ph). They will most likely have the funds and the capability to carry out large attacks. Whether they have people in place like a 9/11-style operation is doubtful. And, obviously, that's something that's concerning national security advisers and the White House right now.

But if they had that capability, we'd be seeing it t next few days. Most likely, they'll attack U.S. embassies, U.S. businesses abroad, or try to take U.S. tourists traveling abroad hostage. That's the kind of thing they'll be able to do quickly. As far as mounting a 9/11-style attack, that takes many months.

VELSHI: All right. We're going to have more reporting on the type of threats that we think are out there right now and the kind of things that Americans are being warned to look out for. Richard Miniter, thanks very much for joining us.

MINITER: Thank you.

VELSHI: Kiran, Christine.

CHETRY: All right. Thanks so much, Ali. Well, we want to now join Omar Waraich. He's a journalist for "Time" magazine just reached Abbottabad. This is the town where Osama Bin Laden was killed. He joins us live now on the phone. Can you just set the scene for us? What is this city like and what is it like this morning?

OMAR WARAICH, JOURNALIST, "TIME" (on the phone): Well, Abbottabad is a three-hour drive through some very beautiful hills from the capital, Islamabad. It's a garrison town named after a British officer. It's got a population of only about half a million. It's a rather quiet and sleepy town. (INAUDIBLE). Right now, it's very quiet. Life seems to be continuing on as normal. (INAUDIBLE). The principal reaction is --

ROMANS: It sounds as though you can hear a television broadcast of the news of Osama Bin Laden's death. We're seeing pictures of the compound last night.

WARAICH: Hello?

ROMANS: Hi. Can you hear me? We're seeing pictures of the compound last night in flames.

WARAICH: I can't hear you. I have voices in my head (ph).

ROMANS: Can you tell me, Omar -- we're hearing some other media from another program, as well, but Omar, can you tell me where you are now? WARAICH: Hell. There are about five different voices -- I can't hear you, I'm sorry.

CHETRY: It's OK. You know, we're going to do -- we're going to get back with you in a few minutes. Again, a difficulty to hear. He's in Abbottabad where all of this went down where Osama Bin Killed was killed. This is a city in Afghanistan -- I mean, in Pakistan about 62 miles outside of Islamabad. We also have some pictures of inside the compound.

ROMANS: That's right.

CHETRY: We're going to take a quick break and bring all of this to you. It's 17 minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Twenty minutes past the hour. We're getting new developments by the second on the news of the killing of Osama Bin Laden. There are some significant and important changes to security at airports worldwide in the wake of this. So, what does the death of Osama Bin Laden mean for millions of travelers? Allan Chernoff is live at Newark Liberty Airport in New Jersey with that aspect of the story. Good morning, Allan.

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Very interesting. The very first international flight of the day was an LL flight arriving from Israel. The passengers heard about the killing of Osama Bin Laden as they touched down here at Newark. A wave of euphoria swept through the plane, and then, some of the passengers started thinking about the possibility of repercussions, of a battle back from the al Qaeda people.

Well, I spoke to one passenger who was actually at the World Trade Center on 9/11. Let's hear what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People are joking about that, that all the travel restrictions are all, you know, the stripping and the shoes and all the rest of it are all Osama Bin Laden's fault, but it's not like you can turn back the clock on that. We carry on. We do what we need to do, and we, you know, hope and pray for the best.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHERNOFF: Carrie Oroda (ph) said you simply cannot turn back the clock. Look, and it's not just Osama Bin Laden, she's quite aware that there are plenty of people out there trying to get Americans, but, she and a dozen other passengers that we spoke with said there is no way that they would ever change their travel plans. We also spoke to other Americans, other Brits this morning. All of them say they have no intention of changing any travel plans.

ROMANS: All right. Allen Chernoff, thanks so much. CHETRY: It is probably going to be a tough couple of days and weeks as they start assessing these threats and figuring out whether or not there are major concerns. Thanks so much, Allan.

ROMANS: And at the moment, we're still digesting the news from eight or nine hours ago that Osama Bin Laden is dead in a 40-minute firefight, an hour away from Islamabad, and it was interesting because Gary Berntsen, who ran the CIA operation trying to get Osama Bin Laden at Tora Bora. He told us a 40-minute firefight. It was probably a very short firefight and 30 some minutes of trying as much as intelligence as they possibly can.

CHETRY: Yes, it is amazing that the amount of -- he also said that the amount of preparation, I mean, this was not a one and done. These troops, you know, probably leaving absolutely nothing to chance. He said that there is a big likelihood that they probably actually went through several dry runs, building even perhaps a compound --

ROMANS: A mock of the compound.

CHETRY: Yes, a mock-up of the compound in Afghanistan to be able to practice what they were going to do. And at the end of the day, he said somebody -- they needed somebody on the inside to tell them what was going on.

ROMANS: He thinks an operation like this definitely is not just an analysis. You have to have intelligence on the ground and probably some very good sources within Pakistan. We're going to have more breaking details of the death of Osama Bin Laden right after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

ROMANS: Top stories. The world's most notorious terrorist is dead. osama Bin Laden killed early yesterday morning in a raid by CIA operatives and U.S. navy S.E.A.L.S. The al Qaeda chief died in a million-dollar mansion in Abbottabad, Pakistan, about 60 miles north of Islamabad. He was shot in the head. His son, two couriers, and a woman described as a human shield were also killed.

CHETRY: What you're looking at right now are the first images inside of Osama Bin Laden's compound in Pakistan. This comes to us courtesy of ABC news. This is where CIA operatives as well as navy S.E.A.L.S and other special ops teams took him out in a firefight and then collection of a lot of intelligence, any items that were left there. You can see blood on the floor in the room, broken computers, and shattered glass.

ROMANS: The death of Osama Bin Laden instantly triggering fears of retaliation from al Qaeda. The state department quickly sending out a very strong warning. Americans around the world should be on high alert. U.S. officials are particularly concerned about security at U.S. embassies abroad. Also, the news of Bin Laden's death sparking emotional celebrations. Crowds chanting USA outside the White House last night. And at ground zero and Times Square in New York, hundreds of students also packed Boston Common armed with noisemakers and waving American flag.

CHETRY: So, we're probably going to get more and more information as it comes out about exactly what was the nature of this operation, more on how it went down, but crossing the wires right now according to Reuters, the U.S. Special Forces team that hunted down Osama Bin Laden was under orders to kill the al Qaeda mastermind, not capture him.

This is according to a U.S. national security official, quote, "It was a kill operation, making clear that there was no desire to capture Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan."

ROMANS: And Barbara Starr will have more on all of this and what the view is from inside the Pentagon, about how the military operation went and what happens next. Whether a DNA match under way, what's that showing, and also whether they will -- the president has the final decision of whether to show pictures of a dead Osama Bin Laden. Ali Velshi joins us now from the World Trade Center site in lower Manhattan. Hi, Ali.

VELSHI: Christine, it's really quite something. All night, this has been changing ever since word of this came out. Late last night, people started gathering here, at one point, a couple of thousand people. That started to peter out through the course of the night, but now, the workers have come in. The people who work in lower Manhattan and on the site next door, they've come in, and it is clear that from this day onward, ground zero will now once again mean something different to Americans.

President Obama did mention that we have to not forget the families of the victims and the victims themselves, 2,750 of whom died right here, others died in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, and at the Pentagon. Here's what he had to say about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Let me say to the families who lost loved ones on 9/11, that we have never forgotten your loss nor wavered in our commitment to see that we do whatever it takes to prevent another attack on our shores. And tonight, let us think back to the sense of unity that prevailed on 9/11. I know that it has, at times, frayed, yet today's achievement is a testament to the greatness of our country, and the determination of the American people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: That is certainly a sentiment that we felt here overnight, talking to people. There was a real sense of jubilation, of unity, of American greatness. People chanting, "USA, USA!" on the streets right where I'm standing right now. A real celebration, a real sense of pride in the fact that Osama Bin Laden had been captured.

Many other people, you see here, were very young. They would have been in elementary school, in some cases, when Osama Bin Laden first perpetrated this attack.

Now, let's think about those victims for a moment. I want to bring in Carie Lemack. Her mother, Judy Larocque, died on 9/11. She was on Flight 11, a Boeing flight from Boston to Los Angeles, which didn't get very far. That was one of the planes that crashed into the World Trade Center which used to stand right next to me.

Carie, welcome to you. What are you feeling right now?

CARIE LEMACK, CO-FOUNDER, GLOBAL SURVIVORS NETWORK: Thank you for having me.

I think we can all feel a sigh of relief that no other family is going to suffer the way my family, the way so many other families have suffered for so many years due to Osama bin Laden, and the pain and misery that he tried to wreak across the world. And I'm just feel relief now that no other family is going to suffer.

VELSHI: You also mentioned that you thought, now we can really concentrate on the victims. For so long, for almost 10 years, the attention has been on the perpetrator, on al Qaeda, and on Osama bin Laden. Does something change for you because of this?

LEMACK: Well, I run an organization called Global Survivors Network, which is a group of terrorism victims from countries all over the globe, so many of whom have suffered at the hands of Osama bin Laden. And we strongly believe that the voices of the victims deserve to be heard much louder, much further than those of the terrorists.

And we have felt, for example, that every time Osama bin Laden had released a video, we should get our chance to have a video and have a say. So, we actually released a video called "Killing in the Name," that got nominated for an Oscar this year.

And I think for all of us, I can expect of behalf of victims around the world who say we need to focus on those who are lost because they deserve our attention. Osama bin Laden does not deserve the attention he's getting today.

VELSHI: Carie, we talk, we in the media and people have been making statements about the closure that this brings us. Does this bring anymore closure to families of victims than before Osama bin Laden was killed?

LEMACK: Well, I can only speak on behalf of my own family, and absolutely not. Closure's not a word you can use when your loved one has been murdered in such a brutal way. But it is a step forward. It does mean -- I hope, that the world is safer and more secure. And we're hopeful that the message of peace, of living together, of working out our differences without using violence is one that's going to sound so much stronger and go further than what bin Laden's message was, which was hatred, which was pain, and misery.

And I think today, I'm honoring my mom, honoring all of those who were lost by saying, we want to create a safer, more secure world for our families, because that's the best way to honor those who were killed on September 11th. It's not a day of celebration. It's a day of remembrance and of honor. And, hopefully, this world will now be a better place without bin Laden in it.

VELSHI: Carie, if you were here at Ground Zero, you'd sense that that's what people are doing today. That they are honoring those almost 3,000 people lost, including your mother, who was lost on September 11th.

Carie Lemack, her mother Judy Larocque, did die in September 11th, 2001 -- Carie, thank you for joining us.

It is 33 minutes after the hour. AMERICAN MORNING will be right back with our special coverage.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Our special coverage of the death of Osama bin Laden continues. I'm Ali Velshi in Lower Manhattan, right at Ground Zero.

The FBI has updated its most wanted poster. Osama bin Laden, the most wanted on that list, is now marked on the poster as deceased. You can see it here. Osama bin Laden being marked as deceased on the FBI's most wanted poster.

This, of course, comes after the announcement made last night by President Obama that the United States had killed Osama bin Laden. His body was buried at sea after what they say was a -- the proper Muslim rituals. And there is DNA testing being undertaken right now on samples of his body.

Right here at Ground Zero, since that announcement had been made, people had been gathering. There were a lot of festivities and jubilation here, as well as outside the White House. I think, like here, there were a lot of young people involved in those demonstrations.

Let's go to Brianna Keilar, who's been covering that for us -- Brianna.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Ali, there were a lot of young people, college students. You know, we have a few schools here in town and there's one not far from the White House.

What happened was we saw President Obama make his address to the nation. Before that, everything was very quiet, very still here in downtown, and within about a half hour, you saw hundreds of people lining the fence here, north of the White House at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

And at about midnight, a little after midnight, as I left the White House and just walked down Pennsylvania Avenue, I was seeing droves of people coming. They were walking, they were running, they were even biking. Some people were cabbing in.

You could hear cars driving by, honking their horns. A lot of celebration, especially for many of these young people, who you can imagine they were 9 or 10 years old when 9/11 happened.

But there were also some veterans -- including one I want you to listen to, Alicia Watkins. She served in the Air Force in Iraq and Afghanistan, where she was injured. And she talks to us about what this means for her.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALICIA WATKINS, VETERAN: I'm feeling, you know what? I don't even want to cry because I cry all the time. I just -- I've never in my life felt, you know, so emotional. And this happened right after the Pentagon.

After the Pentagon, everybody had their flags and everybody loved us and I feel that again. It's like reminiscent of the honor that felt, you know, when September 11th happened, after all the bad stuff comes the resilience of the American public. And I'm just -- I'm excited to be here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: And there were, certainly, a lot of American flags that I saw chants of "USA," people were singing songs. And this morning, Ali, the crowds dissipated by about 5:00 a.m., when I came in at 4:30 a.m. I still heard someone out here playing a trumpet.

Now, we just have a few people kind of coming by -- by the White House, which is a pretty normal amount of traffic.

VELSHI: Brianna, I don't know what people are still doing there, but, again, the crowds continue to gather. A lot of the young people have gone off. The workers are in, tourists are here, but just about 25 feet from me, unfortunately, I can't show it to you on the camera, but about 25 feet from me is the fence for the construction of the Ground Zero site and it is already lined with flowers and with U.S. flags.

So, there's just an outpouring of emotion here from everybody who's coming by, just people gathering. Normally, this is a place where people are moving very quickly, they're getting to work. Bottom line is, today, they're hanging around, they're looking, they're just sort of feeling the moment.

Brianna, we'll be back with you.

Let's send it back to Kiran and Christine in the studio.

ROMANS: Thanks, Ali.

CHETRY: Yes. And we're talking about how markets are reacting to the news of the death of Osama bin Laden.

Carmen Wong Ulrich is minding your business this morning. You think this would be great for the stock market.

CARMEN WONG ULRICH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. You know, the markets are very, very emotional, so the markets around the world got a bit of an emotional boost today. The Nikkei up, closing 1.6 percent. Germany's DAX up 56 points so far. France's CAC up 40 so far.

Now, at home, remember, the U.S. markets closed for four days after September 11th, and after the market reopened, the Dow lost almost 12 percent in a week. Well, today, the Dow futures up 76 points so far. NASDAQ, up 12. And S&P futures, up 6.

Now, it also may give the dollar a much-need confidence boost. And oil has dropped nearly 2 percent in reaction to the news already. But, unfortunately, the rally may be short lived, because, as you know, Friday, the jobs report comes out and the outlook is not so good. It looks like we're going back to 8.9 percent unemployment.

ROMANS: Yes, this reaction I think is the day's reaction -- you take the uncertainty of Osama out, and the success for Obama. And that -- and that is something the markets like for today at least.

ULRICH: Love it for today.

ROMANS: All right. Thanks.

CHETRY: Carmen, thanks so much.

ULRICH: Thank you.

CHETRY: We're going to have new details. We have word on some potential fears about a retaliatory attack. Many embassies around the world are on high alert in the wake of the news of the death of Osama bin Laden. We're going to bring you all the latest when we take a short break. We'll be right back.

It's 42 minutes past the hour.

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CHETRY: Forty-three minutes past the hour.

A lot going on this morning. Here's a look at what you need to start your day:

The world's most wanted terrorist is dead. Osama bin Laden killed by Navy SEALs, as well as other U.S. military special operations forces in north Pakistan. U.S. officials say that his body has been buried at sea. They're also doing DNA testing right now to confirm, for sure, it is, indeed bin Laden.

You're also looking at first images now inside of Osama bin Laden's Pakistan compound. This is coming to us courtesy of ABC News. This is where CIA operatives and SEALs and other ops forces took him out in that 40-minute gunfight and collection of evidence. There's blood on the floor there as well as broken computers and shattered glass.

Libyan forces are stepping up their attacks on rebel-controlled cities. Libyan officials now reporting that a NATO airstrike killed one of Moammar Gadhafi's sons, as well as three of his grandchildren.

And more heavy rain for parts of the U.S. that are already saturated. Right now, the storm system stretches from Texas all the way to Ohio and beyond.

You're caught up on the day's headlines. AMERICAN MORNING will be right back after a quick break.

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CHETRY: Forty-six minutes past the hour right now. And if you're just waking up this morning, the ten-year manhunt is over today. Osama bin Laden is dead.

ROMANS: President Obama called his predecessor, former President George W. Bush, to tell him the news of bin Laden's death. Mr. Bush called it a momentous achievement.

You'll remember when President Bush made this famous statement almost a decade ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Osama bin Laden is just one person. He is representative of -- of networks of people who -- who absolutely have made their cause to defeat the freedoms that we -- that understand, and we will not allow him to do so.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you want bin Laden dead?

BUSH: I want him held -- I want -- I want justice. And there's an old poster out west, as I recall, that said "Wanted: Dead or Alive."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: Well, that was what President Bush said at the time. It seems that this administration wanted him dead. We're getting confirmation that, indeed, this was a kill mission, not a capture mission, for our U.S. military.

Meantime, early this morning, troops stationed in Afghanistan watched and listened as President Obama announced that bin Laden was dead. As you can see, all eyes fixed on the television. No one speaking, no one moving, as they intently listened to their commander- in-chief.

ROMANS: The mood, more somber compared to the scenes we've witnessed in places like the World Trade Center and Times Square, where there was outright jubilation and a party atmosphere over this news, chanting of "USA." (CROSSTALK)

CHETRY: Yes and we -- and actually saw a lot of that with the West Point cadets as well. This was where senior cadets were reacting -- I guess, there you go Chuck Nad shot this video of what happened when that announcement came down. People going wild, jubilation at the academy and everyone heard the news. Nad says curfew is normally at 11:30 and cadets were out in the common areas until about 1:00 a.m. in the morning.

ROMANS: With bin Laden now out of the picture where does this all lead al Qaeda, what's the next step?

CHETRY: Yes, a lot of unanswered questions this morning. The President explained that bin Laden's death is not the end of the fight.

Joining us now to talk more about the future of al Qaeda and the war on terror, we're joined by Fran Townsend, a CNN national security contributor; Paul Cruickshank, CNN terrorism analyst; and former CIA officer, Gary Berntsen. Thanks to all of you for being with us.

And Fran, let me just start with you because we heard from former President Bush talking about wanting Osama dead or alive and this president, making the decision that this was a kill operation. How important is it that he's not, let's say, put on trial at Guantanamo Bay versus being dead?

FRAN TOWNSEND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CONTRIBUTOR: Well, that's right. And I will tell you, I can speak to the prior administration, it was always intended, if there was the opportunity to be a kill mission, because as you can understand, look at all of the controversy around KSM and a potential trial in Lower Manhattan.

You'd give them by a trial, a criminal trial, a platform, even if it was down in Guantanamo, and military commission, you don't have to protect Guantanamo. It becomes a real magnet for every sort of terrorist operation, for -- it's just, no one, no administration would have wanted to have captured him and held him and had to protect him and have a trial.

ROMANS: And now we have photos. What do you think are the ups and downs of showing the photos of a dead bin Laden? You know, this is going to be the President's choice, I guess. The White House's choice.

TOWNSEND: That's right and look, I think it's not as obvious a choice as one might think. I mean, I think they're going to be compelled to do it, but the downside -- because there will be those who won't believe it without the photographs. They will not want them to be terribly gruesome.

But here is the issue. This will inflame public opinion around the world. There are those who revered bin Laden. We disagree that strongly, but there are those and you're likely -- it's likely to inflame additional protests around the world and potentially put Americans and others at risk.

CHETRY: Your opinion, safer today with the death of Osama bin Laden, or perhaps in the short-term, more at risk?

PAUL CRUICKSHANK, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: I think in the short- term, we're entering a period of high risk. Al Qaeda will want to revenge this attack. Also people not connected to al Qaeda, but sympathetic to its ideas may want to launch some sort of operation.

But in the medium term, this is a huge setback for al Qaeda. Bin laden was absolutely the dominant figure within the organization. There's no one that can really fill his shoes, Kiran.

ROMANS: Gary, you've been the sort of the mastermind of -- of CIA operations. When you see these pictures from ABC News of inside this room, where this man met his end, after all of that searching, what, for your -- for your mind, having planned this, what happened in that room?

GARY BERNTSEN, FORMER CIA OFFICER: Well no, the point is, terrorists, horrible terrorists meet their end in very common places, frequently. And you know, it was a ten-year hunt. We've captured people after longer than that, some shorter than that. I would like to state that on the capture or -- or kill mission, trying to kill him actually was safer for our troops. Trying to capture him would have been harder and would have put our men and women at greater risk. So that was a -- that was a very, very good call.

On the issue of additional attacks, there are plenty of groups along that border of Pakistan now will be inflamed. The Tariq e Taliban Pakistan, Lashkar-e-Toiba, other groups may conduct attacks in al Qaeda's name, even though they're not al Qaeda, but they're sort of -- to do some bidding for them at times from time to time.

So, yes, it will -- in the short-term, there will be greater danger. Over the long-term, they're a diminished force. We've been diminishing them year by year. And that's both the Bush administration and the Obama administration have done this. And it's a -- it's a U.S. national effort and this administration deserves kudos for -- for a job well done.

CRUICKSHANK: Well, that's right. There are other groups now who are targeting the United States. As you've mentioned Tariq e Taliban but also another affiliate in Yemen, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.

(CROSSTALK)

BERNTSEN: Right. Yes.

CRUICKSHANK: -- which is maybe the largest threat now to the United States. So there's still a period of concern ahead.

CHETRY: What is the biggest concern for you, if you can think for this administration moving forward, is it our relationship, our deteriorating relationship, as many analysts will say, with Pakistan right now?

TOWNSEND: Well, it's interesting. Because I think, Kiran, this is an opportunity. It depends how both sides handle it but it's an opportunity actually to strengthen it. I think the President went out of his way last night to acknowledge Pakistan's support.

Even if they didn't know anything about it, the President was incredibly gracious. And I think that's the opening he's put his hand out to the Pakistanis, not so much to complain about the operation and about how it was conducted or what we did, but to join us now.

What they ought to be doing, and Gary and I have talked about this, what we ought to be doing now is pushing them to give us Mullah Omar and to -- to now diminish those other groups that we've been talking about, the TTP, and have Pakistan enjoy in the success of it.

CHETRY: Who has Mullah Omar?

BERNTSEN: Pakistanis -- clearly, they have him under control, clearly. For them to say they don't is a lie.

ROMANS: All right. That's a significant statement.

CHETRY: No, I mean -- and we've heard many analysts say, you know, there's a diplomatic answer and then there's Gary's answer. A lot of people say, how could this go under the -- not be noticed by Pakistani security forces or at least some element, this entire compound where he was.

ROMANS: All right. Fran Townsend, thank you so much, Paul Cruickshank and Gary Berntsen. Thank you to all of you.

CHETRY: Thanks.

We're going to take a quick break. It's not 54 minutes past the hour.

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CHETRY: We're getting moment to moment updates, new details about the operation that killed Osama bin Laden. It was a kill mission. That's what sources are now saying about what happened in Pakistan. Barbara Starr with new details on this.

ROMANS: That's right. Hi, Barbara. You know, there's always been this phrase for the past few years, "Wanted: Dead or Alive". It was -- actually that's what President Bush had said, but this was a kill mission from the beginning.

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESONDENT: Absolutely. A U.S. official confirming to CNN a short time ago, this was, in the words of the official, "a kill operation". No one was interested in taking Osama bin Laden alive. Once the fire fight began, it became inevitable.

What we know is CIA director Leon Panetta had a command center during the operation, was monitoring it, minute by minute. The CIA and the Obama administration was in secure radio communications with the team on the ground. They instantly got the word when Osama bin Laden was killed.

A source telling us that the room became jubilant when this happened. It became very clear that when the fire fight broke out, the orders to kill him were going to be carried out. It was a U.S. military team that killed him. They are totally convinced of that. No chance Osama bin Laden committed suicide or one of his colleagues killed him. It was U.S. Military firepower, a shot to the head.

ROMANS: Barbara, how fast did it all happen? We were talking to Gary Berntsen, who had planned CIA operations before. He said the 40-minute mission was probably very quick fire fight and the rest was intelligence gathering.

STARR: It was get in and get out. They were -- they needed to get bin Laden's body back on the helicopter, get him out of there, look around, see what intelligence was there that they wanted to get and take that away, but 40 minutes on the ground is just about right. You want to get out of there before anyone notices that you are actually there.

CHETRY: It is a testament to the hard work of all of those forces that were there, given that no loss of American life. And they lost a chopper and they still were able to complete that mission. Amazing.

Barbara Starr for us, thanks so much.

Let's get over to Ali Velshi now. He's at the World Trade Center site in lower Manhattan. Hi Ali.

VELSHI: Kiran, Christine, our show's nearly over, but I'll be here all day. I want to just give you a sense of the scene down here. This is the closest most Americans ever came to Osama bin Laden and his impact. Look at this, reporters as far as the eye can see, about two dozen cameras here. Right beyond that is a yellow fence; that is the northeast corner of Ground Zero. That is exactly where the Twin Towers were.

And I just want to pan over here and show you. This is the corner of Church and BC Street. It is just unbelievable, the number of people who are here. Police, media -- look at the people across the road, just taking pictures of everything that's going on. So there's a real sense of moment here.

It's been here since 11:00 last night, different crowds, jubilation, a lot of concern, a lot of reflection, I'm sorry, and even some prayers. So it is -- it's going to be a very big day here at Ground Zero. The history of the United States and of lower Manhattan changed last night. Back to you.

ROMANS: All right. Thanks, Ali. CHETRY: Good stuff, Ali. Thanks so much.

So again, DNA testing under way right now just for the official confirmation, although those who have seen -- sources close to that who have seen the body says that it is not hard to distinguish that it is, indeed, Osama bin Laden.

ROMANS: That's right. And learning so much more about the raid and what went on in those crucial minutes inside that room as well.

We'll be getting more details throughout the day as the Pentagon and if the President decides to release any pictures of this.

That's going to wrap it up for us. "CNN NEWSROOM" with Michaels Holmes and Carol Costello picks up this story from here. A historic day -- Osama bin Laden is dead.

CHETRY: Hi, guys.

MICHAEL HOLMES, ANCHOR, CNN INTERNATIONAL: Hi.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR, "CNN NEWSROOM": Hi. Busy news day. Thanks, guys.

HOLMES: Indeed. And welcome.