--- title: Inside the Raid to Kill Osama bin Laden | TIME description: TIME national security correspondent Mark Thompson analyzes the successful U.S. Navy SEAL raid that killed bin Laden and discusses the changes a post-bin Laden world might bring canonical: https://time.com/video/7wgyaJlk/ og:title: Inside the Raid to Kill Osama bin Laden og:description: TIME national security correspondent Mark Thompson analyzes the successful U.S. Navy SEAL raid that killed bin Laden and discusses the changes a post-bin Laden world might bring og:url: https://time.com/video/7wgyaJlk/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/7wgyaJlk/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Inside the Raid to Kill Osama bin Laden twitter:description: TIME national security correspondent Mark Thompson analyzes the successful U.S. Navy SEAL raid that killed bin Laden and discusses the changes a post-bin Laden world might bring twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/7wgyaJlk/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # Inside the Raid to Kill Osama bin Laden > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: Inside the Raid to Kill Osama bin Laden [Watch (HLS stream): Inside the Raid to Kill Osama bin Laden](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/7wgyaJlk.m3u8) (2:41)  _Published 2011-05-03. TIME national security correspondent Mark Thompson analyzes the successful U.S. Navy SEAL raid that killed bin Laden and discusses the changes a post-bin Laden world might bring_ --- Jul 27, 2023 3:13 PM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [10 Days That Define the Obama Presidency: The Death of bin Laden](/video/7HHtoGVJ/) ### 10 Days That Define the Obama Presidency: The Death of bin Laden [Anatomy of a Raid: Osama bin Laden's Final Moments](/video/A8p4cZgq/) ### Anatomy of a Raid: Osama bin Laden's Final Moments [President Obama on the Death of bin Laden](/video/OVfQ8fHg/) ### President Obama on the Death of bin Laden --- ## Transcript 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. The mission was quite complicated. I mean, not only did you have helicopters bringing in the SEALS. Once they got into the compound, you've got all sorts of concerns. Everything from friendly fire to getting whatever intelligence was there. So they had a long laundry list of things to do in a certain order to minimize civilian casualties, be sure they got their target, and they didn't end up killing one another. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] Plainly, the US government was very happy that they didn't get' them alive. I mean, US military rules and regulations don't allow you to shoot someone who is surrendering. So they would have taken him that way. But Osama Bin Laden had made it clear for years. That he would not be taken alive. And I think they went in knowing he'd be coming out deceased. When they were leaving the compound, they had pictures that they were comparing to pictures of alive Osama Bin Laden. And they felt, to a 95 degree level of uncertainty that, hey, it's the same guy. in the same way, they had samples of DNA from some of Bin Laden's relatives. That rose their level of certainty to virtually 100 %. And the Coup de grace, the final thing was, as the SEALS were drawing in close to Osama Bin Laden, his wife called out his name. So when they saw the house in August they realized it was peculiar. Number one it was huge compared to everything else around. Number two, it had very few entry and exit points. They never threw out any trash. There was no internet or telephone going into or coming out of the house that anybody was paying the bills for. But when they went in they did not know. And so everybody in the US government who was involved was holding their breath until they got confirmation. The Obama administration is saying that OBL's death Does not hasten or change the timetable. And basically you're going to see some modest withdrawal beginning this summer. 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