US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Thursday said Osama bin Laden's death would not diminish US efforts to combat international terrorism, including in Afghanistan. "Bin Laden's death sent an unmistakable message about the strength of the resolve of the international community to stand against extremism and those who perpetuate it," Clinton said.
"But the battle against al Qaeda and its affiliates does not end with one death," she added, speaking in Rome. She said the US needed to "redouble" it efforts not only in Pakistan and Afghanistan, but "around the world, so that there would be no doubt that those who pursue a terrorist agenda, the criminals who indiscriminately murder innocent people would be brought to justice."
Clinton was addressing a news conference in the Italian capital where she was attending an international meeting to discuss the conflict in Libya and on ways to assist rebels fighting Muammar Qadhafi's regime. Asked if the US and its allies would consider carrying out an attack against Qadhafi similar to the one against bin Laden, Clinton did not answer the question directly.
Instead she said that the military mission in Libya was being carried out in accordance with March's United Nations' Security Council Resolution 1973 to protect Libyan civilians. In one question, Clinton was asked about the "stressed expression" on her face in the widely published photo, purportedly taken while she and President Barak Obama together with other Washington officials were watching on video the attack by US special forces on the compound where bin Laden allegedly was hiding. "Those were 38 of the most intense minutes," Clinton said, before adding, jokingly, that her expression as portrayed on the photograph was probably while she was attempting to "prevent one of my spring allergy coughs."
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