Wake superintendant commenting on bin Laden's death | ABC11 Raleigh-Durham

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By ABC11

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

WAKE COUNTY "I was the deputy commanding general of US forces in Afghanistan from 2006 to 2007," Tata said. "A lot of friends have been buried, a lot of blood has been shed. There's been a lot of miles in between 9/11 and Sunday night and so it was some elation, some sadness, some reflection, and all of that coming together and so I spent nine years of my life dedicated to trying to marshall the effort at whatever level I was serving to bring this guy to justice, and so it's a good feeling."

Tata's says his line of duty gives him a unique perspective on the raid that ended Osama bin Laden's life.

"When they got the intelligence in August, that they may have the compound, I'm sure that they constructed a compound and Afghanistan and a compound in the United States, maybe not too far from Wake County and conducted several 'mission rehearsals,' as they are called," Tata said.

Tata says he is proud of all the U.S. Forces that were involved in the operation, as well as all the other men and women in uniform who have dedicated their lives to bringing bin Laden to justice.

"I'm very proud of the Navy SEALs, the Army Special Operations pilots, the Air Force that was flying cover and all the other Joint Special Operations Command folks and all the conventional folks that were involved in that," he said. "That one person who was able to pull that trigger, he was pulling the trigger with millions of Americans behind him, because you think about all the suffering that happened on 9/11."

Tata also says he believes the public should see photos of bin Laden's body.

"I'm quite certain that if our President stood up and said, 'We've got this guy' that he did that with 100 percent confirmation," Tata said. "And I'm quite proud of the troops we have on the ground there. They're very skilled and quite competent, so I'm pretty sure that we got the right guy."