A Momentous Turning Point
May 2, 2011
Osama bin Laden was killed in a U.S. assault in Pakistan on Monday. President Obama said “the world is safer.” Sen. Bernie Sanders hailed the end of a decade-long manhunt for the militant mastermind behind the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that killed more than 3,000 Americans. A middle-of-the-night announcement by the president drew flag-waving crowds into the park across from the White House and to the Ground Zero site of the New York attacks. “Justice was done,” Sanders told Vermont Public Radio. "I applaud the extraordinary bravery of those American military personnel who participated in this highly-effective operation, the intelligence operation that made it possible and the leadership of President Obama,” Sanders said in a statement. The senator also paid tribute to all the “men and women from Vermont and around the country whose service and sacrifice in the struggle to defend our country has made us safer.” He expressed hope that the death of bin Laden and the growth of democratic movements in the Muslim world “marks a momentous turning point, which leads the region toward peace and prosperity and away from terrorism, death and destruction."
