As the fifth anniversary of the death of Osama bin Laden approaches, President Barack Obama has said that he hopes the terror mastermind understood in his final moments that the ‘American people hadn’t forgotten’ and wanted revenge for the atrocities of September 11, 2001.

Obama spoke to CNN’s Peter Bergen about the raid that killed the Al-Qaeda leader on May 2, 2011 – almost 10 years after the terror attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people.

During the interview, Bergen said that ‘the last person bin Laden saw on Earth was an American.’

And Obama replied: ‘And hopefully, at that moment, he understood that the American people hadn’t forgotten the some 3,000 people who he killed.’

President Barack Obama has said that he hopes Osama bin Laden understood in his final moments that the ‘American people hadn’t forgotten’ and wanted revenge for the atrocities of September 11, 2001

Bin Laden died at the hands of NAVY Seals who had stormed the compound in Pakistan where he had been hiding for years.

The Obama administration had used it as a poignant example of the president’s willingness to act aggressively against terror, despite usually maintaining a more cautious foreign policy.

Five years after ordering the raid, Obama spoke about the decision for an Anderson Cooper 360° called ‘We Got Him’ to air on Monday, saying he knew it was risky – but that it was ‘our best chance to get bin Laden.’

‘After discussions with our principals, it was clear to me that this was going to be our best chance to get bin Laden,’ he said.

Bin Laden died at the hands of NAVY Seals who had stormed the compound in Pakistan where he had been hiding for years on May 2, 2011

‘That if, in fact, we did not take the action that he might slip away and might be years before he resurfaced.’

Obama added that he knew the operation would cause ‘significant blowback’ in Pakistan and it would be embarrassing if the target they pursued turned out to not be bin Laden.

‘We knew that it was gonna cause some significant blowback within Pakistan and that if it wasn’t bin Laden that the cost would outweigh the benefits and we would lose face internationally because there was probably going to be a lot of difficult keeping secret.’

Meanwhile, it emerged that as the end of his life approached, bin Laden had become embroiled in a bitter dispute with the two brothers who were looking after him and even went as far as writing them a passive-aggressive letter to try and resolve the situation.

The Al-Qaeda chief had been moved into the Abbottabad compound in Pakistan by the two brothers, who were from northern Pakistan, in 2005.

President Barack Obama receives an update on the mission against Osama bin Laden in the Situation Room of the White House May 1, 2011

A timeline shows how the raid unfolded after Obama ordered NAVY Seals to storm bin Laden's compound

He became completely reliant on the pair, two long-time members of Al-Qaeda, to protect him, shop for him and his family, and crucially, remain his only connection to the outside world – enabling him to command the terror group’s members and affiliates while in hiding.

But by 2011, an isolated bin Laden grew paranoid about being tracked and his relationship with the two brothers had deteriorated, CNN reports.

And in January that year – just months before his death – he had written a formal letter to the brothers, who had grown weary of the pressures of protecting the world’s most wanted terrorist.

In the letter, recently released by the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence after being recovered in the raid on the compound in 2011, bin Laden noted the brothers had been ‘irritated’ in a recent meeting.

Obama said that he hoped bin Laden knew the American people hadn't forgotten the atrocities of September 11, 2001 (pictured above, the first of the World Trade Center towers collapses)   

In order to mend their relationship, he had decided to write to them – even though they lived a stone’s throw away in the same compound.

In another letter, he said: ‘Any suggestion you have to reduce the pressure on you, I am ready to respond to it to the greatest extent possible.’

But he confided to one of wives that the pair had become ‘exhausted’ by their duties and were plotting to quit – so he asked them to give him time to find replacements.

Bin Laden then wrote a letter to one of his confidantes, seeking Pakistanis who could be trusted to replace the brothers.

He said that the demands of the job had affected the ‘health and nerves’ of one of them – and his condition has reflected on his brothers, who bin Laden said was suffering from a ‘dangerous disease.’

The Al-Qaeda chief had been moved into the Abbottabad compound (pictured) in Pakistan by two brothers, who were from northern Pakistan, in 2005

‘What is your opinion?’ he asked. ‘Do you know any Pakistanis that you have complete confidence in, and who are able to endure the burden of accompanying us.’

And when things worsened, bin Laden and the brothers agreed in writing that they would part ways some time in 2011 or early 2012 and he and his family would move out of the Abbottabad compound.

In a letter to his confidante, bin Laden insisted that the latest they could stay with the brothers was the ‘tenth anniversary of the attack on New York and Washington’ – referencing the September 11 terror attacks that targeted the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

But on May 2, 2011, both bin Laden and his two bodyguards were killed when Navy SEALS stormed the compound.

Ironically, it was one of the brothers, while acting as a courier between bin Laden and other senior members of Al Qaeda in Pakistan, who led the CIA to bin Laden’s location. 

Culled from Mail Online