Remarks by the President Barack Obama on Osama Bin Laden (Part II)
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Then, last August, after years of painstaking work by our intelligence community, I was on a possible lead to bin Laden. It was from certain, and it took many months to run this thread to ground. And finally, last week, I determined that we had enough intelligence to take action, and authorized operation to get Osama bin Laden and him to justice.
Today, at my direction, the United States launched a targeted operation against that compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. A small team of Americans carried out the operation with extraordinary courage and capability. No Americans were harmed. They took care to avoid civilian casualties. After a firefight, they killed Osama bin Laden and took custody of his body.
For over two decades, bin Laden has been al Qaeda’s leader and symbol, and has continued to plot attacks against our country and our friends and allies. The death of bin Laden marks the most significant achievement to date in our nation’s effort to defeat al Qaeda.
Yet his death does not mark the end of our effort. There’s no doubt that al Qaeda will continue to pursue attacks against us. We must and we will remain vigilant at home and abroad.
As we do, we must also reaffirm that the United States is not and never will be at war with Islam. I’ve made clear, just as President Bush did shortly after 9/11, that our war is not against Islam. Bin Laden was not a Muslim leader; he was a mass murderer
of Muslims. Indeed, al Qaeda has slaughtered scores of Muslims in many countries, including our own. So his demise should be welcomed by all who believe in peace and human dignity.
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 Extracted from:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/05/02/osama
binladendead

 

The sentence “They took care to avoid civilian casualties.” means that: