Ground Zero is center of celebration

NEW YORK—Crowds jammed around Ground Zero early Monday to celebrate Osama bin Laden’s death, as residents of the city which bears the worst scars of the Sept. 11 attacks said they could now begin to heal.

The crowd, of mostly young people, New Yorkers and visitors, erupted in jubilation, many chanting “Obama got Osama.”

“Justice has been done,” US President Barack Obama said in a dramatic late-night appearance in the East Room of the White House on Sunday.

“For over two decades, Bin Laden has been al-Qaida’s leader and symbol,” the president said in a statement carried on television around the world.

“The death of Bin Laden marks the most significant achievement to date in our nation’s effort to defeat al-Qaida. But his death does not mark the end of our effort.” He added: “We must and we will remain vigilant at home and abroad.”

Former US President George W. Bush, who was in office on the day of the attacks, issued a written statement hailing Bin Laden’s death as a “momentous achievement.”

“The fight against terror goes on, but tonight America has sent an unmistakable message: No matter how long it takes, justice will be done,” Bush said.

Online, Twitter users flooded the service hailing the news, with more than 4,000 tweets per second recorded during Obama’s TV address, the social networking site said.

In the shadow of the World Trade Center, reduced to rubble on that fateful day on Sept. 11, 2001, and which has remained a place of sadness after 3,000 lives were lost, tears flowed once again, but this time with joy.

“We are ecstatic,” said 20-year-old Garret Lomauro. “This is almost unreal. We are rejuvenating.”

Some hung American flags around the fence which encloses Ground Zero, where a major restoration project is underway which will include a memorial park to the victims of the al-Qaida attack masterminded by Bin Laden.

They drank champagne

Thousands sang the US national anthem, popped champagne, drank from beer bottles and threw rolls of toilet paper into the air.

Another big crowd gathered in New York’s Times Square.

“With all the gloom and doom around us, we all needed this. Evil has been ripped from the world,” said Guy Madsen, 49, a salesman from Clifton, New Jersey, who drove to lower Manhattan with his 14-year-old son.

Among the crowds were relatives of the dead, firemen and police who took part in the dramatic rescue as the twin towers were collapsing about being hit by two hijacked planes.

“There is no greater joy in my life than to know that this man is dead,” said Harry Gomez, a National Guard trooper who was among the first on the scene on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001.

“Nine years. Seven months and 20 days: patience is a virtue,” crowed 20-year-old New Yorker, Anthony Colonna.

Welcome milestone

Police chief Raymond Kelly called the death of Bin Laden a “welcome milestone” for the families of the victims. “New Yorkers have waited nearly 10 years for this news,” said Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Diane Massaroli joined crowds clutching a photograph of her husband, Michael, a worker at the Cantor Fitzgerald brokerage who was killed when he could not escape from his office on the 101st floor. None of his remains were ever found.

“I feel relief, I feel a closure that I thought I would never get,” she told NY1 television. “I just had to come here now. People are taking pictures of me with the photo of my husband. They are all very sweet.”

A fireman in uniform climbed onto a traffic sign to brandish a giant Stars and Stripes flag. The crowd started singing “Born In The USA,” the anthem of American rocker Bruce Springsteen.

Just minutes after midnight, New York Fire Department Ladder No. 4 truck rolled into Times Square to be applauded by crowds.

“Ten years and finally we got him,” Capt. Patrice McLead, from Ladder 4, said. “After all the loses and such a tragedy, we can finally be happy again. I hope this will bring a sense of closure, for all of us, including Muslims.”

Zeshan Hamdani, whose brother Mohammad died rescuing victims in the towers, also found relief in the death of Bin Laden. “I am happy but I feel like crying. It’s great to finally get this guy,” he said.

Cheers for Obama

“I never figured I’d be excited about someone’s death. It’s been a long time coming,” firefighter Michael Carroll, 27, whose firefighter father died in the Sept. 11 attacks. “It’s finally here. … it feels good.”

In Washington, people gathering outside the White House soon after the first reports that Bin Laden had been slain in Pakistan by US forces and even before President Obama announced the news. The boisterous crowd swelled into the thousands and chanted “USA, USA, USA.”

“We had to be there to celebrate with everybody else. I’m very happy with the outcome of today’s news,” said Stephen Kelley, a Gulf War veteran and former US Marine, who said he rushed to the White House after his wife told him the news.

College students, who were just children when the attacks took place, turned out in huge numbers, like Jennifer Raymond, 18, wrapped in a huge US flag outside the White House.

‘Oh my God!’

“We were all in our dorm rooms and everyone’s Facebook was blowing up,” Raymond said. “It’s like ‘Oh my God, Osama bin Laden’s dead.’ Everyone in the dorm was screaming. Everyone decided to come to the White House.”

The celebration may well have been the biggest crowd to gather spontaneously outside the White House since Obama’s election in November 2008.

Across the country in Los Angeles, where the news was confirmed shortly before 9 p.m., a roar of applause could be heard from bars with TV screens on the Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood.

“I’m really happy that this guy is dead because he killed so many people around the world. I’m glad that our nation is safe because of this,” said Cesar Guellory, 25, at the Cabo Cantina bar.

Carol Morrinson, 35, said she voted for Obama. “He’s showing us how strong he can be … Today we can say that we are safe. I’m proud of the United States,” she said.

Agence France-Presse, Reuters, New York Times News Service