With 9/11 terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden dead, New York Firefighter Tim Brown is elated, and told The Daily Caller, “We finally got him.”
Brown was one of the firefighters on scene at the World Trade Center towers during the 2001 terrorist attacks bin Laden orchestrated against the United States and saw several of his friends and colleagues die trying to save innocent lives. “This is a major victory against the War on Terror, against those who do harm to the United States,” Brown said of bin Laden’s death. “It is a relief to the families and the survivors of that day. We are truly grateful, especially, to the men who carried out this operation.”
Tim Sumner, who lost his brother-in-law Lieutenant Joseph G. Leavey of the New York Fire Department’s Ladder Company 15 in the 9/11 attacks, told TheDC “this is a victory for our nation” and finally brings “justice to what has been a terrorist for more than 15 years.”
“That day, we knew within minutes that my wife’s brother had responded to the World Trade Center, we knew he was there,” Sumner said. “All of the nation was in shock but especially so when you had someone there. It was 2:30 the following morning that we knew Joe was among the missing.”
When Sumner and his wife found out Leavey had died during rescue efforts, he said, “obviously it was a shock to us.”
“Firefighters and police officers put their lives on the line every day, but that day we lost more firefighters and police officers in one day than we usually lose in a couple of years,” Sumner said. “It was tremendous shock. It’s been, obviously, a real difficult thing for our nation – it wasn’t just us.”
Debbie Lee, America’s Mighty Warriors founder and mother of Marc Alan Lee, the first Navy SEAL killed in the Iraq war, told TheDC she’s “still shaking” since she found out bin Laden is dead. “Oh my gosh,” she said. “Some justice has been served. He [bin Laden] found out he didn’t get his 72 virgins and I hope they stoke the fire hotter than normal down there because that son-of-a-gun definitely deserves it. Justice has been served on that man.”
Though bin Laden’s dead, Lee said, “nothing will ever balance the sacrifice that young man [her son Marc] made for this country. It’s good to know, though, that he isn’t terrorizing anyone anymore.”