Americas

Home page

Americas

George W. Bush reacts publicly to Osama bin Ladenâ€™s death

14 May 2011 10:27 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. Former US President George W. Bush made his first public comments on the killing of Osama bin Laden during an appearance at a conference of hedge fund managers in Las Vegas.
"I was eating souffle at Rise Restaurant with Laura and two buddies," Bush said when asked what he was doing when he received the call from President Obama, according to an ABC News contributor who attended the event, APA reports.
"I excused myself and went home to take the call," Bush said. "Obama simply said ’Osama Bin Laden is dead.’"
Bush said Obama described in detail the secret mission to raid bin Laden’s Pakistani compound and the decision he made to put the plan into motion. He told Obama, "Good call."
Bush said he was "not overjoyed," explaining that the campaign to track down the 9/11 mastermind was done not "out of hatred but to exact judgment."
"The guy is dead. That is good," Bush said of bin Laden. "Osama’s death is a great victory in the war on terror. He was held up as a leader."
"The intelligence services deserve a lot of credit. They built a mosaic of information, piece by piece," he said, claiming no credit for himself.