Thursday, May 26, 2011

Defense says toddler Caylee drowned by accident

Casey Anthony trial: Defense says toddler Caylee drowned by accident

The defense drops a series of bombshells in the Casey Anthony trial, saying the murder defendant was sexually abused by her father and brother and lied to hide 'ugly' family secrets.

The murder trial of a Florida woman accused of killing her two-year-old daughter opened with a series of bombshells on Tuesday as her defense lawyer told the jury in an opening statement that the toddler was not murdered, but had accidentally drowned in the family swimming pool.

Defense Attorney Jose Baez called the death of Caylee Anthony a “horrible tragedy, a common tragedy.”

But he said the young mother, Casey Anthony, panicked, and instead of calling for emergency help, participated with her father, a former police detective, in a coverup.

“Casey should have been stronger,” Mr. Baez said. “She should have called 911.”

Baez said Ms. Anthony’s father, George Anthony, was present as the two discovered Caylee’s lifeless body.

The assertions stunned those observing the high-profile trial in Orlando. Many had wondered on the eve of the trial how the defense would answer prosecution charges that Ms. Anthony had waited a month before contacting police about her missing toddler.

But the accidental drowning assertion was only the beginning of an explosive account offered up by Baez. The defense’s version of events took several darker turns.

The defense lawyer said George Anthony had sexually molested his daughter Casey since she was eight years old, and that Casey’s brother, Lee, had also sexually molested her. He also alluded to an FBI theory that Lee might have fathered Caylee.

No father on birth certificate

No father was designated on the child’s birth certificate, and the family had sought to hide her pregnancy.

“This family must keep its secrets quiet,” the lawyer said.

“This is not a murder case. This is not a manslaughter case. This is a tragic accident that happened to some very disturbed people,” Baez said.

In an increasingly strange twist, Baez also told the jury that George Anthony not only sought to cover up the child’s death, but actively worked to implicate Casey in what he described as Caylee’s staged murder by allegedly placing duct tape over the dead toddler’s face and then positioning the remains in a place where they would likely be discovered.

“All you have to do is follow the duct tape and discover who placed Caylee’s remains,” Baez urged the jurors.

Prosecution's opening statement

That version of events differs sharply from the account offered earlier during the two-hour opening statement of Assistant State Attorney Linda Burdick.

She told the jury that Casey Anthony had engaged in a pattern of lies to family members and police about the whereabouts of her daughter.

The child was last seen alive on June 16, 2008, yet police were not notified that Caylee was missing until a month later. Word that she was missing triggered a nationwide alert and massive search. The toddler’s remains were discovered Dec. 11, 2008, a short distance from her home.

The cause of death is undetermined, but prosecutors charged Casey Anthony with first-degree murder. If convicted she could receive a death sentence.

At one point, Casey Anthony made up a story that a nanny had kidnapped the toddler. There was no nanny. In addition, Casey Anthony told members of her family that she worked at Universal Studios. Police discovered that, also, was a lie.

“In a pattern that is repeated throughout this case when Casey Anthony’s lie can no longer stand – when she can no longer get out of the corner she has painted herself into – what does Casey Anthony do – Casey Anthony comes up with a new, a bigger, a better lie,” Ms. Burdick told the jury.

'Three pieces of duct tape'

Prosecutors suggested to the jury that Casey Anthony had grown tired of the burdens of being a mother. She allegedly used chloroform to subdue the child and then wrapped duct tape over the toddler’s mouth and nose.

“The only evidence of cause of death are three pieces of duct tape covering [Caylee’s] nose and mouth,” Burdick said. “There is no other reason for the placement of multiple pieces of duct tape on this child’s nose and mouth other than the specific intent to end that child’s life.”

The prosecutor concluded her opening statement by referring to a possible motive. “As difficult as it may be for anyone to accept that a mother would intentionally kill her own children, from the evidence you will hear in this case there is no other conclusion to be drawn,” she said.

“No one else benefited from the death of Caylee,” Burdick said. “Caylee’s death allowed Casey Anthony to live the good life – at least for 31 days.”

Defense lawyers offered a different view of the evidence, accusing the police of conducting a selective investigation aimed more at winning a murder conviction against Casey Anthony than revealing the truth of what happened to Caylee.

“Everyone wants to know how in the world can a mother wait 30 days before ever reporting her child missing,” Defense Attorney Baez said. “It is insane, bizarre. Something is just not right about that.”

“The answer,” he said, “is that she was never missing. Caylee Anthony died June 16 in her family’s swimming pool.”

The defense tactic raised a second question. Why, if her death was an accident, did Casey Anthony lie so frequently to her family and to police.

'Ugly secrets will come out'

The answer, according to Baez, is tied up with Casey Anthony’s past as an alleged victim of sexual abuse and molestation by both her father and brother.

“What does a sex abuse victim look like,” Baez asked. “These ugly secrets will come out slowly in this trial.”

After the opening statements, prosecutors called their first witness – Casey Anthony’s father, George.

He denied sexually abusing his daughter and he denied the version of events offered by defense lawyers that he discovered his granddaughter’s body in the swimming pool, later placed duct tape over her mouth and nose, and disposed of the body.

The trial is expected to continue on Wednesday.

President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel After Bilateral Meeting

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release

Remarks by President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel After Bilateral Meeting

Oval Office

1:35 P.M. EDT

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, let me, first of all, welcome again Prime Minister Netanyahu, who I think has now been here seven times during the course of my presidency. And I want to indicate that the frequency of these meetings is an indication of the extraordinary bonds between our two countries, as is the opportunity for the Prime Minister to address Congress during his visit here. I know that’s an honor that’s reserved for those who have always shown themselves to be a great friend of the United States and is indicative of the friendship between our countries.

We just completed a prolonged and extremely useful conversation touching on a wide range of issues. We discussed, first of all, the changes that are sweeping the region and what has been happening in places like Egypt and Syria and how they affect the interests and security of the United States and Israel, as well as the opportunity for prosperity, growth and development in the Arab world.

We agreed that there is a moment of opportunity that can be seized as a consequence of the Arab Spring, but also acknowledge that there’s significant perils as well, and that it’s going to be important for the United States and Israel to consult closely as we see developments unfold.

I outlined for the Prime Minister some of the issues that I discussed in my speech yesterday -- how important it was going to be for the United States to support political reform, support human rights, support freedom of speech, religious tolerance and economic development, particularly in Egypt, as the largest Arab country, as well as Tunisia, the country that first started this revolutionary movement that’s taking place throughout the Middle East and North Africa.

We also discussed the situation in Syria, which is obviously of acute concern to Israel, given its shared border. And I gave more details to the Prime Minister about the significant steps that we are taking to try to pressure Syria and the Assad regime to reform, including the sanctions that we placed directly on President Assad.

We continue to share our deep concerns about Iran, not only the threat that it poses to Israel but also the threat that it poses to the region and the world if it were to develop a nuclear weapon. We updated our strategy to continue to apply pressure, both through sanctions and our other diplomatic work. And I reiterated my belief that it is unacceptable for Iran to possess a nuclear weapon.

We also discussed the hypocrisy of Iran suggesting that it somehow supports democratization in the Middle East when, in fact, they first showed the repressive nature of that regime when they responded to the own peaceful protests that took place inside Iran almost two years ago.

Finally, we discussed the issue of a prospective peace between Israelis and Palestinians. And I reiterated and we discussed in depth the principles that I laid out yesterday -- the belief that our ultimate goal has to be a secure Israeli state, a Jewish state, living side by side in peace and security with a contiguous, functioning and effective Palestinian state.

Obviously there are some differences between us in the precise formulations and language, and that’s going to happen between friends. But what we are in complete accord about is that a true peace can only occur if the ultimate resolution allows Israel to defend itself against threats, and that Israel’s security will remain paramount in U.S. evaluations of any prospective peace deal.

I said that yesterday in the speech, and I continue to believe it. And I think that it is possible for us to shape a deal that allows Israel to secure itself, not to be vulnerable, but also allows it to resolve what has obviously been a wrenching issue for both peoples for decades now.

I also pointed out, as I said in the speech yesterday, that it is very difficult for Israel to be expected to negotiate in a serious way with a party that refuses to acknowledge its right to exist. And so for that reason I think the Palestinians are going to have to answer some very difficult questions about this agreement that’s been made between Fatah and Hamas. Hamas has been and is an organization that has resorted to terror; that has refused to acknowledge Israel’s rights to exist. It is not a partner for a significant, realistic peace process.

And so, as I said yesterday during the speech, the Palestinians are going to have to explain how they can credibly engage in serious peace negotiations in the absence of observing the Quartet principles that have been put forward previously.

So, overall, I thought this was an extremely constructive discussion. And coming out of this discussion, I once again can reaffirm that the extraordinarily close relationship between the United States and Israel is sound and will continue, and that together, hopefully we are going to be able to work to usher in a new period of peace and prosperity in a region that is going to be going through some very profound transformations in the coming weeks, months and years.

So, Mr. Prime Minister.

PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: Thank you, Mr. President.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Thank you very much.

PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: Mr. President, first I want to thank you and the First Lady for the gracious hospitality that you’ve shown me, my wife, and our entire delegation. We have an enduring bond of friendship between our two countries, and I appreciate the opportunity to have this meeting with you after your important speech yesterday.

We share your hope and your vision for the spread of democracy in the Middle East. I appreciate the fact that you reaffirmed once again now, and in our conversation, and in actual deed the commitment to Israel’s security. We value your efforts to advance the peace process.

This is something that we want to have accomplished. Israel wants peace. I want peace. What we all want is a peace that will be genuine, that will hold, that will endure. And I think that the -- we both agree that a peace based on illusions will crash eventually on the rocks of Middle Eastern reality, and that the only peace that will endure is one that is based on reality, on unshakeable facts.

I think for there to be peace, the Palestinians will have to accept some basic realities. The first is that while Israel is prepared to make generous compromises for peace, it cannot go back to the 1967 lines -- because these lines are indefensible; because they don’t take into account certain changes that have taken place on the ground, demographic changes that have taken place over the last 44 years.

Remember that, before 1967, Israel was all of nine miles wide. It was half the width of the Washington Beltway. And these were not the boundaries of peace; they were the boundaries of repeated wars, because the attack on Israel was so attractive.

So we can't go back to those indefensible lines, and we're going to have to have a long-term military presence along the Jordan. I discussed this with the President and I think that we understand that Israel has certain security requirements that will have to come into place in any deal that we make.

The second is -- echoes something the President just said, and that is that Israel cannot negotiate with a Palestinian government that is backed by Hamas. Hamas, as the President said, is a terrorist organization committed to Israel’s destruction. It’s fired thousands of rockets on our cities, on our children. It’s recently fired an anti-tank rocket at a yellow school bus, killing a 16-year-old boy. And Hamas has just attacked you, Mr. President, and the United States for ridding the world of bin Laden.

So Israel obviously cannot be asked to negotiate with a government that is backed by the Palestinian version of al Qaeda.

I think President Abbas has a simple choice. He has to decide if he negotiates or keeps his pact with Hamas, or makes peace with Israel. And I can only express what I said to you just now, that I hope he makes the choice, the right choice, in choosing peace with Israel.

The third reality is that the Palestinian refugee problem will have to be resolved in the context of a Palestinian state, but certainly not in the borders of Israel.

The Arab attack in 1948 on Israel resulted in two refugee problems -- Palestinian refugee problem and Jewish refugees, roughly the same number, who were expelled from Arab lands. Now, tiny Israel absorbed the Jewish refugees, but the vast Arab world refused to absorb the Palestinian refugees. Now, 63 years later, the Palestinians come to us and they say to Israel, accept the grandchildren, really, and the great grandchildren of these refugees, thereby wiping out Israel’s future as a Jewish state.

So it’s not going to happen. Everybody knows it’s not going to happen. And I think it’s time to tell the Palestinians forthrightly it’s not going to happen. The Palestinian refugee problem has to be resolved. It can be resolved, and it will be resolved if the Palestinians choose to do so in a Palestinian state. So that's a real possibility. But it’s not going to be resolved within the Jewish state.

The President and I discussed all these issues and I think we may have differences here and there, but I think there’s an overall direction that we wish to work together to pursue a real, genuine peace between Israel and its Palestinian neighbors; a peace that is defensible.

Mr. President, you're the -- you're the leader of a great people, the American people. And I'm the leader of a much smaller people, the --

PRESIDENT OBAMA: A great people.

PRIME MINISTER NETANYAHU: It’s a great people, too. It’s the ancient nation of Israel. And, you know, we've been around for almost 4,000 years. We've experienced struggle and suffering like no other people. We've gone through expulsions and pogroms and massacres and the murder of millions. But I can say that even at the dearth of -- even at the nadir of the valley of death, we never lost hope and we never lost our dream of reestablishing a sovereign state in our ancient homeland, the land of Israel.

And now it falls on my shoulders as the Prime Minister of Israel, at a time of extraordinary instability and uncertainty in the Middle East, to work with you to fashion a peace that will ensure Israel’s security and will not jeopardize its survival. I take this responsibility with pride but with great humility, because, as I told you in our conversation, we don't have a lot of margin for error. And because, Mr. President, history will not give the Jewish people another chance.

So in the coming days and weeks and months, I intend to work with you to seek a peace that will address our security concerns, seek a genuine recognition that we wish from our Palestinian neighbors to give a better future for Israel and for the entire region.

And I thank you for the opportunity to exchange our views and to work together for this common end. Thank you, Mr. President.

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Thank you.

END 1:51 P.M. EDT

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Caylee Anthony killed by accident?

Casey Anthony to stand trial in daughter's death

After nearly 3 years, Casey Anthony to stand trial in daughter's death

(CNN) -- Before the tabloid headlines, before the media crush, before Casey Anthony and her daughter Caylee became instantly recognizable, there were only two phone calls. "I have a possible missing child," Cindy Anthony said in the first of two 911 calls made July 15, 2008. The little girl -- her granddaughter, Caylee -- "has been missing for a month," she said. In another call, she added an ominous statement: "There's something wrong," she said. "I found my daughter's car today, and it smells like there's been a dead body in the damn car." Caylee was actually 2 when she was last seen June 16, 2008. It wasn't until six months later the little girl's skeletal remains were found in woods about a quarter of a mile from the home of her grandparents. The girl's mother and Cindy Anthony's daughter, Casey Anthony, had also lived there, moving out around the time the child was last seen.

On Tuesday, Casey Anthony, now 25, will stand trial, accused of a crime unthinkable to many: Killing her daughter. Besides capital murder, she faces six other charges, including aggravated child abuse, aggravated manslaughter of a child and providing false information to authorities. If she is convicted by jurors -- seven women, five men and five alternates -- she could face the death penalty.

Anthony has pleaded not guilty, and denies harming her daughter or having anything to do with her disappearance. One of her defense attorneys, Jose Baez, has said that once all the facts are known, it will become clear his client is innocent.

The case has generated intense media attention, prompting the court to move jury selection to Clearwater, Florida, in Pinellas County, because of concern about getting an impartial jury in Orlando, in Orange County. Jurors were being transported Monday to Orlando in preparation for opening statements Tuesday.

Both the prosecution and the defense face hurdles, said "In Session" correspondent Jean Casarez, who has followed the case from the beginning.

The cause of Caylee's death was homicide by undetermined means, meaning there is no cause of death, she said.

"One of the elements in the statute for murder is that the defendant caused the death," Casarez said. "This is a circumstantial case, so prosecutors will build their building blocks toward that answer, but they don't have a definitive cause of death, and that can be a problem. I have seen cases where there are acquittals because the prosecution does not have a cause of death."

The fact that the remains were skeletal also prevented authorities from getting definitive answers on toxicology, as well as evidence that Caylee was abused -- something her mother is charged with doing. "How do you prove that when you just have skeletal remains?" Casarez said.

Duct tape was still stuck to the lower facial region of the child's body, authorities have said.

"(Caylee's) killer prepared some substance in advance that would render her physically unable to resist," prosecutor Jeff Ashton said at a December 2009 hearing, "administered the substance, awaited its effect and then methodically applied three pieces of duct tape to completely cut off the flow of air through her mouth or her nose and let nature take its course."

Authorities have said that the amount of decomposition would seem to indicate Caylee died shortly after she went missing.

Anthony initially told police that she had last seen her daughter in the custody of a babysitter named Zenaida Gonzalez. Investigators never tracked down the babysitter; later, a woman named Zenaida Gonzalez filed a defamation suit against Anthony, saying she had never met her and lost her job over the claims. Anthony countersued, accusing Gonzalez of attempting to cash in on the high-profile case.

Prosecutors allege that after killing her daughter, Anthony stashed her body in the trunk of her Pontiac Sunfire before disposing of it. A cadaver dog has alerted to the scent of human decomposition in the trunk, and testing showed the presence of chloroform. Orange County Superior Court Chief Judge Belvin Perry Jr. ruled last month jurors can hear the chloroform testimony. In addition, investigators have said they found Internet searches of websites mentioning chloroform on Anthony's computer.

Anthony's high-powered defense team, fighting to save her life, will likely try to cast doubt on prosecutors' scientific evidence. At pretrial hearings, they have argued that evidence regarding a potential odor of decomposition in the trunk, chloroform and other evidence is not reliable enough for jurors to consider.

Perry has also ruled jurors can hear testimony about a stain in the trunk, as well as the decompositional odor. In March, Baez contended that having jurors look at the stain might have a "prejudicial effect," alleging it could have been caused by a wet bag of garbage or gasoline cans. The stain was negative for DNA, as well as for the presence of blood or other bodily fluids, he said. "There is absolutely no proof whatsoever that this is a biological stain," Baez said.

Perhaps the biggest hurdle for the defense is the fact that Caylee had been missing for 31 days before authorities were aware of it, and her mother failed to report it, Casarez said.

In addition, some have alleged that Anthony didn't behave like the worried mother of a missing child during the search for Caylee. She went to nightclubs and sent hundreds of text messages to friends, according to cell phone and text transcripts and investigative reports released by police. Those records show she rarely mentioned her missing daughter.

"She doesn't report her child missing but she actively parties," Casarez said. Perry has allowed pictures of Anthony taken at nightclubs, both before and after Caylee went missing, to be presented at trial. Why before? "Probably (for prosecutors) to show that this was her lifestyle before and after her child was missing, and it's not a reaction to not knowing how to deal with Caylee suddenly out of her life," said Casarez.

Another potential defense hurdle: During the time Caylee was missing, Anthony also got a tattoo on her shoulder reading "Bella Vita" -- Italian for "beautiful life," Casarez said.

The car also poses a huge obstacle for the defense, with evidence of chloroform found inside along with hair that potentially showed signs of decomposition, she said.

The defense has also objected to the jurors chosen. Baez told Perry as the jurors were seated Friday that "we do not accept the panel as seated." The defense wanted more than the 10 peremptory challenges it was allowed. The challenges let attorneys on both sides reject jurors without having to provide a reason. Perry overruled his objections.

Early in the jury selection process, defense attorneys hinted that mitigating circumstances including "a history of sexual abuse" may have explained Anthony's behavior in the days after her daughter disappeared and her failure to alert authorities sooner. Anthony herself told police she had been trying to find her daughter on her own.

Defense attorney Ann Finnell raised a host of potential mitigating circumstances to gauge what would-be jurors might consider if they had to decide whether to sentence Anthony to death. Those circumstances included a "lack of maturity," "lack of impulse control" and "a history of sexual abuse."

Anthony alleged her father and brother sexually abused her in a letter from jail last year. In an interview with NBC News afterward, her father, George Anthony, denied the claims and criticized Baez's judgment in questioning him about the allegations.

Finnell asked potential members of the jury pool whether the assertion her client came from a "dysfunctional family" might factor into their penalty decision.

Friday, May 20, 2011

Remarks by our President, CIA and DNI Directors to our Intelligence Community

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release

May 20, 2011

Remarks by the President, CIA Director Leon Panetta, and DNI Director James Clapper to the Intelligence Community at CIA Headquarters

CIA Headquarters, Langley, Virginia

2:55 P.M. EDT

DIRECTOR CLAPPER: Mr. President, Director Panetta, and members of the intelligence community, both those who are here and those connected electronically: Recently, I received an email from a former student of mine at Georgetown who lost his wife at the World Trade Center. He wanted to thank those responsible for the takedown of Osama bin Laden. It represented closure for him.

And in a sense, this dramatic event represents a measure of closure as well for the intelligence community. It was an historic milestone in a relentless campaign which continues on.

Those heartfelt thanks of my student deservedly go to many. To the men and women in the intelligence community who contributed directly -- notably, from CIA, NSA, NGA, NRO, and NCTC -- and many others from intelligence organizations who contributed indirectly, taken together a magnificent example of teamwork and intelligence integration.

But most assuredly, thanks must go to the President, our Commander-in-Chief -- (applause) -- for making perhaps the most courageous decision I’ve witnessed in almost 48 years in intelligence. He made this decision based on very compelling, but largely circumstantial intelligence.

And, sir, we are all grateful to you for your faith and trust in us. We’re honored by your visit and by your speaking to the intelligence community. And I think it most appropriate that you do so here at the heart of American intelligence, in the presence of the stars on the wall. We remember as well, across the community, those who sacrificed their lives on and since 9/11.

It’s now my great honor and privilege and pleasure to introduce Leon Panetta, who himself played a crucial role in this operation. (Applause.)

Leon, you’ve been a superb Director of CIA, a great partner and a wonderful friend. My thanks to you and the men and women of this magnificent agency.

Leon. (Applause.)

DIRECTOR PANETTA: Thank you. Thank you, Jim. For all of us here at the CIA, it is a privilege and a pleasure to have our intelligence community family here with us, to have all of our military partners with us, and I also want to thank the White House staff, particularly those involved in the national security element, to be with us today. We welcome all of you.

And I think it’s fair to say that we’ve never had a closer, more effective working relationship, both within our community and across the national security sector of our government. We thank all of you -- all of you -- for the team effort that was involved in the operation to go after bin Laden. It would not have happened without your full cooperation.

Jim Clapper deserves a lot of credit for his leadership in bringing the intelligence community together. And I want to thank you, Jim, for everything you’ve done. (Applause.)

Mr. President, on behalf of everyone here at the CIA, we are truly honored and very proud to have you here. I can’t tell you how much it means to all of us to have you here, to mark one of the greatest intelligence operations in our history. And it’s one that had so many of our officers working day and night for so many years.

Throughout that time, some of our officers made the ultimate sacrifice. Last year we lost seven men and women to a terrorist suicide bomber at Khost Base in Afghanistan. Their stars are now on this wall behind me -- along with those who gave their lives in this fight. Their devotion, their skill, and the inspiration that we take from their sacrifice helped make this day possible.

Tracking down the most infamous terrorist of our time required the very best tradecraft and the very best technology. But it also demanded the very best of our people -- the highest level of creativity, dedication, teamwork, analysis, and just sheer, dogged determination to never give up when the trail went cold. Those are basic American qualities and they are reflected in our country’s intelligence officers and in our war fighters -- the team that really carried out this mission.

But it also required one other essential American quality -- the courage to take risks, the kind of risks that you have to take on if you want to succeed. And Mr. President, joining with Jim, all of us in the intelligence community deeply thank you for the gutsy decision you made to follow the intelligence, to conduct this operation, and to bring bin Laden to justice. (Applause.)

We are grateful to have a Commander-in-Chief who was willing to put great trust in our work. And in return, as we approach the tenth anniversary of 9/11, we commit to you that we will continue to do everything in our power to fulfill your mission of defeating al Qaeda and their militant allies. We will do whatever it takes to protect this country and to keep it safe.

This has been a long and tough fight, and it’s not over. But as we have just proven, it’s a fight that we’re going to win -- for you, Mr. President, and for the American people.

Ladies and gentlemen, it is my great honor to introduce the President of the United States. (Applause.)

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you very much. Thank you all. (Applause.) Thank you so much. Thank you very much, everybody. Well, thank you, Leon, and thank you, Jim.

When I chose Leon Panetta as Director of the CIA, I said he was going to be a strong advocate for this agency and would strengthen your capabilities to meet the threats of our time. And when I chose Jim Clapper as Director of National Intelligence, I charged him with making sure that our intelligence community works as one integrated team. That’s exactly what these two leaders have done, along with all of you.

So, Jim and Leon, thank you for your remarkable leadership, not just in recent weeks, but during the entirety of your tenure. You have done a great job. (Applause.)

This is my third visit here to Langley as President, and each of these visits has marked another milestone in our mission to protect the American people and keep our country safe.

On my first visit, just months after taking office, I stood here and I said that this agency and our entire intelligence community is fundamental to America’s national security. I said that I believed that your best days were still to come and I pledged that you would have my full support to carry out your critical work.

Soon after that visit, I called Leon into the Oval Office and I directed him to make the killing or capture of Osama bin Laden the top priority in our war to defeat al Qaeda. And he came back here, and you guys, who had already been working so hard on this issue, redoubled your efforts. And that was true all across the intelligence community.

My second visit, a year later, came under more somber circumstances. We gathered to pay tribute to seven American patriots who gave their lives in this fight at a remote post in Afghanistan. As has already been mentioned, their stars now grace this memorial wall. And through our grief and our tears, we resolved that their sacrifice would be our summons to carry on their work, to complete this mission, to win this war.

Today I’ve returned just to say thank you, on behalf of all Americans and people around the world, because you carried on. You stayed focused on your mission. You honored the memory of your fallen colleagues. And in helping to locate and take down Osama bin Laden, you made it possible for us to achieve the most significant victory yet in our war to defeat al Qaeda.

I just met with some of the outstanding leaders and teams from across the community who worked so long and so hard to make that raid a success. And I’m pleased today that we’re joined by representatives from all of our intelligence agencies, and that folks are watching this live back at all of those agencies, because this truly was a team effort. That’s not always the case in Washington. (Laughter.) But all of you work together every single day.

This is one of the few times when all these leaders and organizations have the occasion to appear together publicly. And so I thank all of you for coming -- because I think it’s so important for the American people to see all of you here today.

Part of the challenge of intelligence work is, by necessity, your work has to remain secret. I know that carries a heavy burden. You’re often the first ones to get the blame when things go wrong, and you’re always the last ones to get the credit when things go right. So when things do go right -- and they do more often than the world will ever know -- we ought to celebrate your success.

That’s why I came here. I wanted every single one of you to know, whether you work at the CIA or across the community, at every step of our effort to take out bin Laden, the work you did and the quality of the intelligence that you provided made the critical difference -- to me, to our team on those helicopters, to our nation.

After I directed that getting bin Laden be the priority, you hunkered down even more, building on years of painstaking work; pulling together, in some cases, the slenderest of intelligence streams, running those threads to ground until you found that courier and you tracked him to that compound. And when I was briefed last summer, you had built the strongest intelligence case against -- in terms of where bin Laden was since Tora Bora.

In the months that followed, including all those meetings in the Situation Room, we did what sound intelligence demands: We pushed for more collection. We pushed for more evidence. We questioned our assumptions. You strengthened your analysis. You didn’t bite your tongue and try to spin the ball, but you gave it to me straight each and every time.

And we did something really remarkable in Washington -- we kept it a secret. (Laughter and applause.) That’s how it should be.

Of course, when the time came to actually make the decision, we didn’t know for sure that bin Laden was there. The evidence was circumstantial and the risks, especially to the lives of our special operations forces, were huge. And I knew that the consequences of failure could be enormous. But I made the decision that I did because I had absolute confidence in the skill of our military personnel and I had confidence in you. I put my bet on you. And now the whole world knows that that faith in you was justified.

So just as impressive as what you did was how you did it. It was a tribute to your perseverance, your relentless focus and determination over many years. For the fight against al Qaeda did not begin on 9/11. Among you are veterans who’ve been pursuing these murderers for many years, even before they attacked our embassies in Africa and struck the Cole in Yemen. Among you are young men and women for whom 9/11 was a call to service. This fight has defined your generation. And on this wall are stars honoring all your colleagues and friends, more than a dozen who have given their lives in the fight against al Qaeda and its violent allies.

As the years wore on, others began to think that this terrorist might never be brought to justice. But you never quit. You never gave up. You pulled together across this agency and across the community.

No one piece of information and no one agency made this possible. You did it together -- CIA, National Security Agency, National Reconnaissance Office, the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, everyone at ODNI and the National Counterterrorism Center. Folks across the country, civilian and military, so many of you here today.

And that’s exactly how our intelligence community is supposed to work, using every capability -- human, technical -- collecting, analyzing, sharing, integrating intelligence, and then acting on it.

That’s what made this one of the greatest intelligence successes in American history, and that’s why intelligence professionals are going to study and be inspired by your achievement for generations to come.

Now, make no mistake -- this is not over. Because we not only took out the symbol and operational leader of al Qaeda, we walked off with his files -- (laughter) -- the largest treasure trove of intelligence ever seized from a terrorist leader. Many of you now are working around the clock; you didn’t have much time to celebrate. We’ve got to analyze and evaluate and exploit this mountain of intelligence.

So today, every terrorist in the al Qaeda network should be watching their back, because we’re going to review every video, we are going to examine every photo, we’re going to read every one of those millions of pages, we’re going to pursue every lead. We are going to go wherever it takes us. We’re going to finish the job. We are going to defeat al Qaeda.

Even as we stay focused on this mission, we need you to stay nimble and flexible to meet the full range of threats to our security, from plots against our homeland to nations seeking weapons of mass destruction to transnational threats such as cyber criminals and narcotraffickers.

So I’m going to keep relying on you -- for your intelligence, the analysis that comes across my desk every single day. And 300-plus Americans are counting on you to stay a step ahead of our adversaries and to keep our country safe.

I have never been more proud or more confident in you than I am today -- not just because this extraordinary success, but because it reminds us of who we are as a people and as a nation. You reminded us that when we Americans set our mind to something, when we are focused and when we are working together, when we’re not worried about who’s getting the credit and when we stay true to our values, even if it takes years, there is nothing we cannot do.

That’s why I still believe in what I said my first visit here two years ago: Your greatest days are still to come. And if any of you doubt what this means, I wish I could have taken some of you on the trip I made to New York City, where we laid a wreath at Ground Zero, and I had a chance to meet firefighters who had lost an entire shift; police officers who had lost their comrades; a young woman, 14 years old, who had written to me because her last memory of her father was talking to him on the phone while her mother wept beside her, right before they watched the tower go down.

And she and other members of families of 9/11 victims talked about what this meant. It meant that their suffering had not been forgotten, and that the American community stands with them, that we stand with each other.

So most of you will never get headlines for the work that you do. You won’t get ticker-tape parades. But as you go about your work with incredible diligence and dedication every single day, I hope all of you understand how important it is, how grateful I am, and that you have the thanks of a grateful nation.

God bless you. And God bless the United States of America. Thank you. (Applause.)

END 3:14 P.M. EDT

Somebody in Pakistan

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Gates: "Somebody" in Pakistan knew about Osama

Sec. of Defense believes Pakistani leadership was unaware of bin Laden's lair,

but says someone had to know

"Somebody" in Pakistan knew Osama bin Laden was hiding there, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Wednesday. But he said he has seen evidence that the country's senior leadership was unaware the terror leader was in a compound a short distance from a Pakistani military facility. read more,...