One day after laying a wreath at the site of the World Trade Center in New York City, Barack Obama will head to go to Fort Campbell, Ky., to thank participants in the daring raid on bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan five days ago.
White House officials say that at Fort Campbell Obama will express his gratitude to the raid participants privately.
But the president, joined by Vice President Joe Biden, also will address soldiers who have returned recently from Afghanistan, a public forum where the military triumph will be hard to mask.
Obama so far has tried to avoid rejoicing publicly over bin Laden’s death. But he has maintained a steady stream of events and activities that have kept the success of the remarkable commando operation at the forefront.
On Thursday he visited New York fire and police stations that responded to the Sept. 11, 2001, attack that was carried out by bin Laden’s al-Qaida operatives, and he met privately with victims’ families.
He also has given an interview about the operation to CBS that will air Sunday on 60 Minutes.
In New York, Obama did not mention bin Laden by name. He didn’t have to.
“When we say we will never forget, we mean what we say,” Obama told firefighters.
