Osama Bin Laden Dead After 10-Year Wait

COMMENTARY | When news of the death of Osama bin Laden at the hands of U.S. forces reached fans at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia Sunday night, the perplexed Phillies and Mets players continued the game as the crowd chanted "USA! USA!" for over an inning. Shortly after, players in the dugouts joined the cheers. The reaction of teams from Pennsylvania and New York, two states directly affected on 9/11, was poignant and symbolic.

The mastermind behind the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that killed over 3,000 people was killed by Navy SEALS in an early morning raid on a compound in Abbottabad, 90 miles north of Islamabad and a mere thousand feet from a military garrison and academy considered to be Pakistan's West Point.

It is reported by ABC News that the SEALS recognized bin Laden; ordered him to surrender; and, when he refused, shot him twice in the head. Also killed in the raid were an adult son of bin Laden, two couriers and a woman used as a shield by an al-Qaeda member.

Bin Laden's death was confirmed by DNA tests. According to ABC News, when Bin Laden's sister died in the United States several years ago, the government subpoenaed her brain for just this purpose. Late Sunday night, President Obama addressed the nation, proclaiming "Justice has been done."

Bin Laden founded and funded the al Qaeda terror network, which has been a plague on the world for two decades. He is responsible for the 1993 bombing of World Trade Center, the bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa in 1998 and the 2000 attack on the USS Cole. He launched failed plots to kill Pope John Paul and President Clinton. He funded terrorist training camps in the Philippines, Sudan and Afghanistan and has provoked fundamentalist Muslim forces to revolt across North Africa, Chechnya, Tajikistan and Bosnia.

Bin Laden's death comes five months before the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.; on the World Trade Center in New York City; and the crash of Flight 93 in Shanksville, Penn., when passengers revolted against the hijackers.

The fact that bin Laden was found deep inside Pakistan and so close to its main military academy raises the question of just how much of an ally Pakistan is to the United States, despite their cooperation in the operation that killed him. Pakistan has long denied that bin Laden was in Pakistan.

Bin Laden was buried at sea at 2 a.m., according to Islamic law. While this affords him more respect than he deserved, his followers won't be able to make his grave a shrine.

Sources: News Yahoo.com; Tallahassee.com; ABCLocal; NYTimes.com