Just after news leaked about the death of Osama bin Laden, the leader of Al Qaeda and mastermind behind the 9/11 attack, several District residents made their way to the White House late Sunday to celebrate the news. Hundreds of people many of which are students from nearby George Washington University took a break from studying for their finals and gathered at the Pennsylvania Avenue until early Tuesday morning. US forces killed Bin Laden in a gun battle in the city of Abbottabad in Pakistan. Many waved signs, climbed lampposts, carried and dressed in the American flag as they chanted “U-S-A, U-S-A” then sang the American anthem. A fewer crowd assembled at the Pentagon Memorial as a quiet remembrance of the 184 people killed during the Bin Laden-orchestrated attach on the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001.
“Tonight, I can report to the American people and to the world that the United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of al Qaeda, and a terrorist who’s responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent men, women, and children,” Obama said in a rare Sunday night address from the East Room of the White House.
Click here to watch a video of the celebrations at the White House!
Ola Diab 