Inside The Situation Room with President Obama Rock Center Killing Of Osama Bin Laden

[Music] tonight on Rock Center from the chair the president was sitting in when this photo was taken from this very room television cameras are inside the White House Situation Room for the very first time as we look back on the death of Osama bin lad we had been preparing for months we had seen mockups of the compound we had looked at helicopter flight patterns the president said it's a go and we looked at him he said it's a go you know in that situation you just you do some praying what were you watching we were able to monitor in real time what was taking place the mood was tense we could see the helicopters we could see our guys moving when we saw the helicopter spinning we said that's not the plan we were all holding our breath and everyone went like who we thought about there was a failure here it would have disastrous consequences when we got the message that they had killed Bin Laden it wasn't over the only thing that I was thinking about was I really want to get those guys back home safe this was the longest 40 minutes of my life good evening we are one floor below ground level here in the West wing of the White House and we are about to take television news cameras inside the White House Situation Room for the first time in its history we're here tonight entering this room to talk about this photograph taken in this room a year ago and the decisions and the military action that resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden good evening tonight I can report to the the American people and to the world that the United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama Bin Laden the leader of Al USA USA USA the news came out of nowhere no one in this country was expecting it just as no one inside the bin Laden compound was expecting us Navy Seals to arrive by helicopter one image from that night has come to symbolize the mission the photograph taken at the height of the raid by veteran White House photographer Pete Souza there it is MHM there you are here I am sitting right here that's a that's an intense look on your face and everyone is intently watching that screen this is uh if I'm not mistaken Pete this picture was taken uh right as the helicopter was having some problems but you may not remember I that's what it feels like because I remember Hillary uh putting her her hand over her mouth at that point when you look at it yeah what does it conjure up inside you well that's the way I usually look when my husband drags me to an action movie uh it was uh just an extraordinary uh experience and and a great privilege to be part of when you see it now what comes back we were all just really concentrating our entire Focus was on on listening to the playby playay as you can see the president sitting right behind me I remember turning looking and it was just this noemotion what comes to mind first is it a a a sensation is it a memory it's just tension more than anything else it was just tension and uh there's no other way to describe it the picture was actually years in the making when he was President Bill Clinton spent 75 crw missiles trying to kill Bin Laden then after 9/11 President George W bush vowed to hunt him down and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon and back when he was a candidate Barack Obama pledged to step up the mission we will kill Bin Laden we will crush Al-Qaeda that has to be our biggest National Security priority the focus for this Administration was on getting Bin Laden that was a piece of unfinished business that went to the honor as well as the security of our country Leon Peta was CIA director back in the summer of 2010 when the first Big Break materialized the CIA tracked a man believed to be Bin Laden's Courier to a walled off compound in abadabad Pakistan satellites parked above the compound revealed another figure a tall man taking walks in the courtyard analysts gave him a nickname the Pacer but the imagery was never good enough to know for sure if it was Bin Laden ultimately it was a 50-50 proposition as to whether this was actually Bin Laden and still it was the best intelligence breakthrough since the US came close to Bin Laden but lost him in torab Bora back in 2001 when the Intel Community began to pick up information and when they began to get a more uh of a sense that maybe there was something there at first it was only within the White House I was brought in in January and then we began these intensive meetings a series of top secret meetings started up inside the Situation Room the sit room as it's known in White House parlament at one of those meetings last year Admiral William mccraven the head of joint Special Operations Command outlined a possible raid on the suspected bin Laden compound I had 100% faith in the Navy Seals themselves uh you know Bill mccraven uh the head of Special Forces uh had worked with us for months to think through every possible scenario he's a guy who inspires a lot of confidence and he's a non-nonsense guy I remember the moment in the sit room you know someone said well you know this sounds really dangerous that we're going to expose our guys and and what do we know is going to happen and he said well with all due respect we've done this hundreds of times the planning picked up speed and by April 21st of last year the chairman of The Joint Chiefs of Staff at the time Admiral Mike Mullen attended a dress rehearsal with a team of Navy SEALs at a mock compound they'd set up in the Nevada desert I met that night every single member the night of the rehearsal every single member that was on that mission and I got to look each of them in the eye they showed me in their execution of rehearsal and also in that Steely eyed uh glare that they give you that they were ready to go did they suspect any anything when the chairman of the Joint Chiefs came to watch them practice and drill I I never asked that question I certainly uh suspect that they did when did they learn exactly what their mission was and who their target was uh actually you'd have to ask Bill mccraven that but they're they're not idiots I mean they they knew uh certainly how critical this was they knew who they were and who they were working with one week after the rehearsal the launch window opened up a favorable forecast and a moonless night essential for an attack by air they knew it could be months before the next opportunity on Thursday April 28th the president gathered the small core of planners in The Situation Room to debate the choices one last time you had a couple options do nothing an air raid with no evidence of after action no proof of death or this you were against this Mission as they launched it correct well as I pointed out early on uh there was no consensus the president got us all down in the situation room and he said okay basically roll call what was your vote my recommendation was to go forward and why would you recommend that over others in the in the group I felt the risk was manageable uh the evidence to me was compelling enough uh to take the risk I thought that we could get them in and get them out no matter what happened whether he was there or not Secretary of Defense Robert Gates recommended an air strike with no forces inserted on the ground CIA director Panetta supported a raid by Special Forces so did Secretary of State Clinton Vice President Biden wanted to wait on further proof that Bin Laden was indeed there how contentious did it get among members of your team there was not consensus it was was never con contentious because I think everybody understood both the pros and the cons of action there were doubts that were voiced inside the situation room but they weren't doubts that were going through my own head uh people who are advocating action understood that if this did not work uh if we've proved to be wrong there would be severe geopolitical consequences and obviously most importantly we might be putting our U Brave Navy feels in danger at the meeting the president did not indicate which way he was leaning as we're walking out and we walked up together as we walked out of the room he said you know it's time to make a decision I know it sounds straight the president's all alone all alone the president said he'd have an answer for the team in the morning he walked back to the residence portion of the White House had dinner with his family and then went to his study after after they went to bed how does one spend that night knowing that decision is due in the morning um well there is no doubt that you don't sleep as much that evening as as you do on a on a normal night um you know I stayed up late and I woke up early you know by that point though I felt as if I had examined every aspect of the operation we had been preparing for once now at that point uh you have some Serenity in knowing that you've made the best possible decision that you can and you know in that situation you just you do some praying in a moment the president reaches a decision and then is forced to give the appearance of business as usual you the correspondence dinner was a different story uh you know that that was a little bit of acting going on there because um my mind was elsewhere

Channel: Tom Rise

Views: 2,192,789

Keywords: Barack Obama (US President), Inside, The, Situation, Room, Msnbc, Brian, Williams, Report, Killing, Of, Osama, Bin, Laden, News, Bush, Clinton

Id: ogUDnIuvZdQ

Length: 11min 4sec (664 seconds)

Published: Mon May 07 2012