The four helicopters chuffed urgently through the Khyber Pass, racing over the lights of Peshawar and down toward the quiet city of Abbottabad and the prosperous neighborhood of Bilal Town. In the dark houses below slept doctors, lawyers, retired military officers — and perhaps Osama bin Laden, the world's most wanted fugitive.

Half a world away, it was Sunday afternoon in the crowded White House Situation Room. President Barack Obama was stone-faced as he followed the unfolding drama on silent video screens — a drama he alone had the power to start but now was powerless to control.
(See pictures from the White House Situation Room.)

At a meeting three days earlier, Obama had heard his options summarized. He could continue to watch the strange compound using spies and satellites in hopes that the prey would reveal himself. He could knock out the building from a safe distance using B-2 bombers and their precision-guided payloads. Or he could unleash the special force of Seals known as Team 6.

How strong was the intelligence? he asked. A 50% to 80% chance, he was told. What could go wrong? Plenty: a hostage situation, a diplomatic crisis — a dozen varieties of the sort of botch that ruins a presidency. In 1980, President Jimmy Carter authorized a daring helicopter raid on Tehran to free American hostages. The ensuing debacle helped bury his re-election hopes.
(Watch "Inside the Raid to Kill Osama bin Laden.")

To wait was to risk a leak, now that more than a hundred people had been briefed on the possible raid. To bomb might mean that the U.S. would never know for sure whether the mission was a success. As for an assault by special forces, U.S. relations with the Pakistani government were tricky enough without staging a raid on sovereign territory.

Sunday morning, the bet was placed: American choppers invaded the airspace of a foreign country without warning, to attack a walled compound housing unknown occupants.

As Obama followed the operation from the Situation Room, chaos addled the satellite feeds . A hole was blown through the side of the house, gunfire erupted. Seals worked their way through the smaller buildings inside the compound. Others swarmed upward in the main building, floor by floor, until they came to the room where they hoped to find their cornered target. Then they were inside the room for a final burst of gunfire.
(See pictures of Osama bin Laden's Pakistan hideaway.)

Osama bin Laden, elusive emir of the al-Qaeda terrorist network, the man who said yes to the 9/11 attacks, the taunting voice and daunting catalyst of thousands of political murders on four continents, was dead. The U.S. had finally found the long-sought needle in a huge and dangerous haystack. Through 15 of the most divisive years of modern American politics, the hunt for bin Laden was one of the few steadily shared endeavors. President Bill Clinton sent a shower of Tomahawk missiles down on bin Laden's suspected hiding place in 1998 after al-Qaeda bombed two U.S. embassies in Africa. President George W. Bush dispatched troops to Afghanistan in 2001 after al-Qaeda destroyed the World Trade Center and damaged the Pentagon. Each time, bin Laden escaped, evaporating into the lawless Afghan borderlands where no spy, drone or satellite could find him. Meanwhile, the slender Saudi changed our lives in ways large and small, touched off a moral reckoning over the use of torture and introduced us to the 3-oz. (90 ml) toothpaste tube.

"Dead or alive," Bush declared in 2001, when the smell of smoke was still acrid, and the cowboy rhetoric struck a chord. It took a long time to make good on that vow — an interval in which the very idea of American power and effectiveness took a beating. Thus, to find this one man on a planet of close to 7 billion, to roar out of the night and strike with the coiled wrath of an unforgotten people, was grimly satisfying. The thousands of Americans across the country whose impulse was to celebrate — banging drums outside the White House, waving flags at Ground Zero — were moved perhaps by more than unrefined delight at the villain's comeuppance. It was a relief to find that America can still fix a bull's-eye on a difficult goal, stick with it year after frustrating year and succeed when almost no one expects it.

Almost 10 years ago, Osama bin Laden ghosted away from the Afghan battlefields. Afterward, it was as if the doomsday sheik had slipped into a twilight zone in which the only proof that he was alive was the chilling voice on a spool of tape, the occasional video image — and the string of terrorist outrages and wars around the globe that claimed inspiration from him and his cause.

At 11:35 p.m. E.T. on May 1, 2011, President Barack Obama made a dramatic television appearance to announce that bin Laden, whose capture or killing was the top priority of CIA chief Leon Panetta, was dead. The leader of al-Qaeda, Obama said, had been tracked by way of intelligence sources in August 2010, and earlier on May 1, a team of U.S. operatives found him at a compound in Pakistan in the town of Abbottabad, 75 miles outside of Islamabad and the home of the Pakistani army's training academy. The location — not in the increasingly militant heartland of Punjab and not too far from the unsettled frontier and tribal areas — was a peaceful, quiet patch, and the perfect place to hide until May 1.

After a brief firefight, the fugitive leader of al-Qaeda was killed and his body retrieved. The long search for the man seen as the embodiment of evil in the U.S. and much of the West was over. Outside the White House, despite the late hour, a group of young people gathered to cheer. George W. Bush, under whose presidency the 9/11 attacks occurred, released a statement saying, "The fight against terror goes on, but tonight America has sent an unmistakable message: No matter how long it takes, justice will be done."

Osama bin laden was not born to the role of terrorist ringleader. He wasn't brilliant. He didn't give great speeches. He lacked force of personality. Before he became notorious, he tended to make almost no impression at all on the people he met. He was not charismatic. He was far too regular for that. You might expect from a supreme mass murderer a volatile temper, an overinflated sense of self. He had neither of those traits. He had a diabolical mind, clearly, but not a diabolical temperament. By the accounts of those who knew him, bin Laden was serene and modest in his manner. "He was gentle and very genuine," says Issam al-Turabi, a former friend of bin Laden's in Sudan. "He was never nervous, never aggressive, always calm." 

Bin Laden's seeming temperance made his manifest bloody-mindedness all the harder to fathom. Here was a man who was attentive to those around him, considerate of their needs and respectful of their views, yet who believed in and facilitated killing wholesale. The gap between demeanor and deed can be explained in part by the distinction bin Laden made in people. Fellow Muslims were the only ones who mattered; infidels were loathsome. Plenty of bigots, of course, get through life without murdering those they hate. So bin Laden's motivation had to go deeper than antipathy — deeper than ideology too, since many Muslims shared his beliefs without resorting to his brutal means.

Were the seeds of evil always present within bin Laden? His early history gives no hint of that. Instead, it would seem that bin Laden's life — and the strong personalities to which the impressionable and fatherless young man was exposed — took him to the outermost extreme, one graduated step at a time. At points in between, he might have returned to the fate to which he was born, that of a prosperous merchant, or perhaps more to his liking, that of a gentleman farmer. That his path led instead to repudiation, exile and, finally, death was his own doing, but he blamed his enemies for his alienation nonetheless. His grudge against Western and Arab powers, in that sense, was personal. How ironic that a man who contained his ego so well in private company would wind up a megalomaniac on the world stage.

How, precisely, bin Laden's Syrian mother and Saudi father got together is a matter of dispute. According to a relative, the two met after Mohammed bin Laden, then a prosperous contractor in Saudi Arabia, visited the Syrian city of Lattakia in the mid-1950s. There, according to this account, Mohammed developed a friendship with Ibrahim Ghanem, whose fetching sister Alia he fell in love with, married and took home to Saudi Arabia. But Ahmad al-Sayed, the elderly mayor of Alia's home village, Jabaryoun, eight miles from Lattakia, says Alia was originally the bride of a Saudi prince; when he died, she wed bin Laden. 

In any case, Mohammed and Alia had at least one thing in common: humble roots. The Ghanem clan was poor in those days — how poor, says al-Sayed, "you cannot imagine." As for Mohammed, once a porter in coastal Aden, he had left his native Yemen as a destitute young man to make his fortune in Saudi Arabia. It was no small fortune. Having befriended the kingdom's founder, King Abdul Aziz ibn Saud, Mohammed won precious government contracts for highways, palaces and, most prestigious of all, renovations of religious sites in Mecca and Medina, the cities holiest to Islam. With his 22 wives — never more than four at a time, in accordance with Muslim law — Mohammed had 54 children. Osama was born — in the capital of Riyadh in 1957 — somewhere in the middle; his sprawling family couldn't identify his ranking precisely.

Even master terrorists start off small and helpless. A woman from Jabaryoun remembers holding bin Laden as an infant: "He cried a little, but he used to smile to anyone who bantered with him." As he grew, she says, he displayed "a distinguished intelligence." Until he was 18, bin Laden, locals say, spent summers with his mother in Jabaryoun, a remote, hardscrabble village of 500 people in a region blanketed with orange and olive trees. Villagers remember bin Laden as a mild-mannered boy who, according to one, "didn't like noise or light." Another neighbor, who like others refuses to be identified, says bin Laden was "quiet, humble and polite. When he spoke, he was convincing, though he spoke little." Even as a boy, bin Laden was particularly devout. A male relative says he liked to discuss religious matters with local clerics. "He carefully listened to and understood his debater before giving any answer. He never gave a swift answer. He used to take his time before uttering his reply."

By various accounts, the relationship between bin Laden and his mother was strong. "She loved Osama very much, as he was her only child," recalls Alia's brother Mohammed Ghanem. Bin Laden, according to friends, was devoted to his mother. During his exile in Afghanistan, he regularly phoned her in Saudi Arabia, calls that were bugged by the National Security Agency. In December 2001, as U.S. forces closed in on what was thought to be bin Laden's redoubt in the Tora Bora mountains of Afghanistan, his half brother Abdullah Mohammed told London's Sunday Telegraph that Alia was "devastated" by the developments. She was prescribed tranquilizers, he said, and had become a recluse in her apartment.

Eventually Mohammed bin Laden settled in Jidda, on the Red Sea coast, a cosmopolitan city by Saudi standards. He kept each of his wives and their children in a separate house within one compound. The boys were put to work early in the family business, the Saudi Binladin Group, today a billion-dollar concern with a global reach. "They don't spoil their sons as other merchant families in Jidda do," says Jamal Khashoggi, a veteran Saudi journalist who knows the family. With great pride, Osama once told Hamid Mir, editor of the Daily Ausaf, an Urdu newspaper in Islamabad, that he was the only child who traveled with his father on business. The young bin Laden was especially interested in the company's renovations of the sacred Prophet's Mosque in Medina.

Bin Laden preferred getting his hands dirty to hanging around the Binladin Group boardroom. "He told me that he used to enjoy riding tractors himself, not as a big boss but as a laborer," says Khashoggi. Bin Laden was always earthy. His relatives in Jabaryoun recall that on his summer sojourns he loved to go hiking and mountain climbing, to hunt and ride horses. In Saudi Arabia, he would go camping with his school chums. "He was the type who likes the desert," says Khashoggi.

When bin Laden was 10, his father, whom he worshipped, died in a plane crash. "He was so sad," recalls a relative in Jabaryoun. "It took him so long to overcome this tragedy." Talking about it to Hamid Mir years later, bin Laden was stoic. "It was very tragic news for me," he told Mir, "but I heard it with a lot of patience."

So close were the bin Ladens to the Saudi royal family that upon Mohammed's death, King Faisal began supervising the rearing of the bin Laden children until the oldest son, Salem, could take over. Osama's mother married another Jidda businessman, with whom she had more children, and she and Osama moved out of the bin Laden compound. While many of his half brothers were educated in the West, Osama, the young traditionalist, stuck close to home, attending high school in Jidda. Some reports have suggested that as a young man he caroused the nightclubs of Beirut. Khashoggi dismisses those rumors: "He was not like that. He was very strict." The cosmopolitan world, it seemed, never interested bin Laden.

On one of his visits to Jabaryoun, "a love story developed" between bin Laden and his first cousin Najwa, according to the girl's brother Naji, now a schoolteacher. The couple wed when bin Laden was 19 and Najwa 13. Young brides and marriage between cousins are not uncommon in the Arab world. "They were so happy at that time," says Naji. The next year, their first child, Abdullah, was born. 

In keeping with his piety, bin Laden kept his life basic, despite the small fortune he had inherited from his father. He bought a modest two-story house in north Jidda and used the bottom floor as an office and the top for family quarters. He had an eccentric attachment to simplicity. Friends recall that he once knocked a rough hole through a wall in order to connect two rooms together, then hung a curtain from two nails for a door. When friends suggested he get someone to smooth out the edges and install a real door, he took them by the hand and walked them from one room to the other to demonstrate that the hole served its purpose. "But it could be nicer," his friends said, to which bin Laden replied, "There is no need for that."

If the seeds of fanaticism were already present, they began to sprout when bin Laden attended college. He enrolled to study business administration at King Abdulaziz University in Jidda but was soon distracted. It was in Jidda where he apparently first encountered the man who would become his second father figure.

Abdullah Azzam, an Islamic scholar at the university who was bin Laden's senior by 16 years, was a Palestinian radical whose interest in the Palestinian cause had shifted because of its narrow, nationalistic focus. Azzam was a pan-Islamist, dedicated to uniting the entire Muslim world in a pure Islamic state through holy war. A follower of the mainstream fundamentalist movement the Muslim Brotherhood, Azzam had a magnetic personality, and his ideas, which were just coming into fashion at the time, inspired bin Laden.

When the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979, Azzam sped to the front to help his fellow Muslims — the rebel Afghans known as the mujahedin — confront the infidel invaders. In the Pakistani border city of Peshawar, Azzam cut a distinctive figure in his flowing robes and checkered kaffiyeh headdress; his addresses at the Lajna Aldawat Mosque drew overflow crowds. Bin Laden dropped out of school and followed Azzam. In Peshawar, they ran an agency called the Maktab al-Khidmat (the Service Office), which provided assistance to the so-called Arab Afghans, Arab volunteers who showed up to help the mujahedin. Bin Laden, using his family connections in Saudi Arabia, was the chief fundraiser.

In those early days, bin Laden divided his time between Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia and kept a hand in the family business. He even made a trip on behalf of the firm to Chicago, according to the Saudi businessman who says he received him there, to seal a contract with an American company. It was bin Laden's only known visit to a Western country.

Eventually, Afghanistan would become a full-time gig for bin Laden. In addition to aiding the war effort, he helped provide relief to Afghan refugees. Haji Dost Mohammed, an Afghan, remembers watching a blue pickup truck enter Peshawar's Jallozai refugee camp in 1982, bearing a load of dried dates, a gift from bin Laden, who was trying to oversee their distribution as hungry residents clawed their way to the cargo. As the clamor rose, the Saudi, as if he were still a boy averse to noise, turned in disgust and walked away. 

Bin Laden did not cut much of a swath back then. "He was too young to grow a full beard," Dost Mohammed recalls. "It lay wispy on his cheeks." Nancy Dupree, an American consultant at the Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief's Resource Information Center in Peshawar, which runs development projects in Afghanistan, says bin Laden once came in asking for help to import 24 bulldozers to reinforce mujahedin positions. "He made no impression, other than bothering me for things I didn't want to do," she says. Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the Saudi ambassador to the U.S., met bin Laden to coordinate Saudi government assistance to the mujahedin and told the New York Times in late 2001, "I thought he couldn't lead eight ducks across the street."

Eventually, bin Laden, who had taken to dressing in the Afghan shalwar kameez, a loose-fitting, long tunic and pants, would join the fighting in Afghanistan. Some war experts have questioned the tales of his heroics; years later he looked unconvincing whenever he handled the Kalashnikov rifle he claimed to have taken off a Soviet soldier in hand-to-hand combat. But comrades-in-arms confirm that bin Laden did fight in the second half of the war.

He first saw action near the border town of Jaji in 1986. There, over 10 days, bin Laden successfully led a unit of Arab Afghans in repelling a Soviet attack. According to Khashoggi, it was out of the Jaji victory that bin Laden evolved the idea of turning the Arab Afghan brigade into his own permanent mujahedin group. "What I heard from Osama was that he established it to guarantee a reserve of Islamists ready to fight if there is a need for jihad anywhere," says Khashoggi. Thus was born al-Qaeda.

Bin Laden fought again in a failed effort to liberate Jalalabad from Soviet-backed government forces. Haji din Mohammed, a former mujahedin commander, recalls defending one side of a ridge about 10 miles (16 km) south of the city while bin Laden and a few others defended a bunker on the other. The government forces turned their heavy weapons on bin Laden's position. "We thought there would be no one left alive," says din Mohammed. But when he and his men crept forward, they found that bin Laden had repelled the advance and survived. "He fought bravely," he said. "He refused to flee."

As bin Laden would later tell it, fighting in Afghanistan was a way to fulfill the dreams of his late father. Osama told Hamid Mir that Mohammed bin Laden once instructed his company's engineers to convert 200 bulldozers into tanks for an attack on Israel. He wanted to liberate Jerusalem's al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam's third holiest shrine, which has been under Israeli control since the 1967 war. The elder bin Laden was disappointed to hear that the conversion was impossible. "My father instructed me," Osama told Mir, "if you get a chance to be a part of the liberation of al-Aqsa Mosque, you must do it."

Bin Laden's adventures in Afghanistan seemed to build his confidence. His supporters began calling him, admiringly, "the Sheik." Despite his privileged background, he had an egalitarian way with people. He slept with his men on floors, shared their simple meals, played soccer with them and looked after their smallest requirements, like new shoes. At the same time, he began to dabble in self-promotion, hiring an Egyptian journalist to join him in Afghanistan to film and write about his exploits. Much later he would prove to be an effective propagandist.

And then the mujahedin won in Afghanistan. The repulsion of a powerful infidel invader was a heady victory for many in the Muslim world. But the Soviet withdrawal in February 1989 produced a tangle of disputes among the winners. As local warlords fought for power in Afghanistan, the Arab Afghans debated what to do next. Azzam, who had opposed the creation of al-Qaeda and the inclusion in it of even the most radical militants, argued that the fighters should go home. But bin Laden was drifting out of Azzam's orbit and into that of the more fanatical Ayman al-Zawahiri, an Egyptian physician and a leader of al-Jihad, the group behind the 1981 assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. Unlike bin Laden, al-Zawahiri came from a family with impeccable Islamic credentials: his grandfather had been the sheik of Cairo's al-Azhar University, the most prestigious center of Muslim learning. Like bin Laden, al-Zawahiri believed Afghanistan should be made the base for holy war elsewhere in the world. In November 1989, Azzam was killed in Peshawar by a car bomb planted by unknown assailants. Al-Zawahiri was now bin Laden's unrivaled new mentor.

Returning to Saudi Arabia, where he was received as a national hero for his exploits in Afghanistan, bin Laden began giving speeches in mosques calling for the continuation of jihad. He was summoned for questioning by the authorities. According to Prince Turki al-Faisal, then the Saudi intelligence chief, bin Laden assured his questioners that he had no intention of opposing the Saudi regime. Instead, according to Prince Turki, bin Laden began organizing Arab veterans of the Afghan war to fight against the Marxist regime of South Yemen next door. This was too close for the Saudi regime's comfort. It yanked his passport so that he could no longer travel abroad. "He felt humiliated," recalls Khashoggi. "He had become a legend in Afghanistan, a leader of Arab mujahedin, a big shot. Now in his own country, he's nobody. Any policeman can stop him from leaving the country. He was very upset. This was the first circumstance that kind of pushed him to the extreme.

"There were more pushes to come. After Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, bin Laden offered to organize for the Saudi government 100,000 Arab volunteers to defend the nation and repel Iraq. He was outraged when his proposal was spurned. Instead, for the first time, the government invited U.S. forces to establish a presence in Saudi Arabia. For bin Laden and many other Muslims, having infidel soldiers on the sacred land of the Prophet Muhammad's birth was heresy.

To escape the strictures his government had imposed on him, bin Laden persuaded the authorities to let him fly to Afghanistan, supposedly to mediate among the country's warlords. From there, he made his way to Sudan to participate in the experiment with Islamic rule that had started there in 1989, when supporters of the Sorbonne-educated cleric Hassan al-Turabi took power in a coup. With al-Turabi calling the shots, Sudan became a beacon for Islamic activists and revolutionaries, including hundreds of Arab Afghans who were no longer welcome in their native lands. Khartoum became to fundamentalism what Moscow had been to communism. The Sudanese capital became a haven for hard-line Palestinian outfits such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad and for Egyptian groups such as al-Jihad and al-Jama'a al-Islamiya.

In Riyad, a wealthy suburb of Khartoum, bin Laden rented a chocolate-colored house of three stories, one for each of the wives he had by then acquired. Despite summer temperatures of more than 100°F (38°C), bin Laden refused to install air conditioning or otherwise use electricity in the house. Khashoggi, who visited him in Khartoum, remembers bin Laden's saying, "We don't need to iron our clothes. Just hang it in fresh air and wear it.

"Having arrived in Sudan in a chartered plane full of secondhand construction equipment, bin Laden quickly won government contracts, including one to build a 250-mile (402 km) highway. He seemed to throw himself into business. He began importing pharmaceuticals and other medical supplies. He bought a tannery and exported leather, as well as sesame, cotton and sorghum. And on land in southeastern Sudan, he cultivated sunflowers.

Not all of bin Laden's ventures were successful. He planted acacia trees, which produce gum arabic, and tried to speed the trees' growth by pumping nitrogen and other fertilizers into the soil. But that made the weeds and grasses bloom out of control, and the project failed. Says a Sudanese intelligence official: "He did not use specialists. He brought people whom he trusted, who had fought with him in the Afghan war. He wanted to repay them with some favors."

Bin Laden kept a low profile in Sudan, but he did become friendly with al-Turabi's son Issam. Bin Laden, Issam recalls, loved watching nature videos. The two men shared a passion for horses. The younger al-Turabi sold his new friend nine thoroughbreds raised by his family. Bin Laden already had a stable of four horses imported from Saudi Arabia, three of them Arabs, the fourth a thoroughbred he claimed was Northern Peace, a descendant of the famous American racehorse Northern Dancer. Bin Laden and al-Turabi would ride twice a week for hours in the greenbelt surrounding Khartoum. "I think he was thinking of settling here," says al-Turabi, adding that bin Laden often wore the Sudanese-style white djellaba, or robe, and the 16-ft. (5 m) Sudanese turban rather than the simpler Saudi one. "He was very generous," al-Turabi recalls. "He would give people money: stable boys, drivers. He ate with them too. No one was below him. We Sudanese, when you are rich and famous and we find you humble, we really like you."

Not everyone fell under bin Laden's spell. In 1993 al-Turabi took him to the Khartoum racetrack, though as a strict Muslim, bin Laden would not gamble. When a military band struck up a marching beat, bin Laden was horrified and asked his friend to have it stop. "He considered music un-Islamic," says al-Turabi. The minister of sports and youth, also in attendance, ordered that the band continue. "Bin Laden was very mad," recalls racing-club member Abdin Mohammed Ali. "He left very quickly, like this," he says, waving his hands in imitation of bin Laden and prompting other club members to join in, shouting and gesticulating. "Why should we stop it?" asks Ali. "He is a guest in our country; he should not insult our sovereignty."

In truth, the Sudanese period was more than an idyll of rural rides and industrial enterprise. Bin Laden also stayed close to the violent groups that were coalescing in Sudan. Beginning with the killing of the speaker of the Egyptian parliament in 1990, Islamic militants indirectly supported by Khartoum began a terrorism spree that included attacks on tourists in Egypt and the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center.

Back home, members of the bin Laden family were becoming increasingly anxious with the company Osama was keeping. With the encouragement of the Saudi government, relatives made visit after visit to Sudan to encourage bin Laden to break his ties to the militants. The family patriarch, Mohammed's brother Abdullah, then in his 80s, told bin Laden, "Son, you are destroying everything I built with your father. Finish it. It's enough." When bin Laden refused to accept the advice, the family in 1994 placed advertisements in Saudi newspapers disowning him, and the Saudi government took the unprecedented step of stripping him of his citizenship. Again, Khashoggi relates, bin Laden, who saw himself as a national hero and a defender of the faith, was outraged.

Retaliation was swift. Bin Laden announced that he and other Saudi dissidents had established an opposition group called the Advice and Reformation Committee. Its first communiqué was a rant against the government for taking away his citizenship. For the first time, bin Laden was making his beef with the Saudi regime personal. He wrote an open letter to King Fahd bin Abdulaziz al Saud saying that he had "lost all legitimacy" and that Saudis were obligated to revolt against him.

If relations with his homeland were complicated, life in Sudan was not always smooth sailing either. In February 1994, for reasons that are unclear, three gunmen, having first mowed down a group of Friday worshippers at a mosque, drove to bin Laden's place in Khartoum and sprayed his guesthouse with bullets. In the ensuing gunfight, according to local residents, two of the radicals, members of the extreme Takfir wa al-Hijrah group, were killed, as were four of bin Laden's men. After the attack, Issam al-Turabi says, bin Laden became more withdrawn. He stopped riding and dug trenches at either end of his street to restrict access.

The next year, bin Laden's exile status cost him the company of his beloved eldest son, Abdullah. Al-Turabi recalls that bin Laden used to call the boy "Sheik" out of adoration. In October 2001, Abdullah told a Saudi newspaper that when he turned 17, his father finally gave him the permission he had repeatedly sought to return to Saudi Arabia to marry a relative. Abdullah swore his allegiance to the Saudi regime, began working in the family company and said he had not been in contact with his father since leaving Sudan.

Bin Laden still seemed to be enjoying life. When Khashoggi saw him on a visit to Khartoum in 1995, he found that the exiled radical had mellowed: "He was involved in farming. He would take you around to see his farms. He began to lose interest in jihad. He started to get gray hair in his beard. I sensed so much change in him. We spent so much time talking about the economy, agriculture; about how Muslims can achieve the goal of a strong state through other means than jihad. That was a new sign for him."

Khashoggi says bin Laden even promised him an interview in which he would renounce the use of violence against the Saudi regime in order to pave his way back home. As they discussed the deal one night over dinner, Khashoggi recalls, a group of bin Laden's Egyptian associates hovered in the shadows. "They wouldn't sit with us," he says. "They wouldn't eat with us." Instead they would summon bin Laden occasionally to consult with them. After putting off the interview for three days in a row, bin Laden reneged.

The time for second chances had run out. In 1995 the U.S. received the first hint that bin Laden might have provided help, including housing, to the ringleader of the 1993 World Trade Center attack. That same year, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak narrowly escaped assassination in Ethiopia at the hands of an Egyptian terrorist group supported by bin Laden. In 1996 four Saudi nationals convicted of killing five Americans and two Indians in a truck bombing of a U.S. military training facility in Riyadh confessed that they had been inspired by bin Laden's ideas. However much he enjoyed his farming, he was now a wanted man. Under pressure from the U.S. and Egypt, Sudan asked bin Laden to go.

According to Sudanese officials, four men arrived at bin Laden's house and told him that he should think about leaving quickly because they could not be responsible for what would happen to him the next day. "He was very bitter when they asked him to go," says Issam al-Turabi. "He had the mentality of someone who was picked on. He became like a cornered cat."

Afghanistan was his corner. Bin Laden flew into Jalalabad by chartered plane with an entourage of lieutenants, wives and children. In Afghanistan he would take a fourth wife and sire his 20th child, a girl born on Sept. 15, 2001. He named his new daughter Safiyah, after the aunt of the Prophet Muhammad, because, he told Hamid Mir, "Safiyah killed Jews."

When bin Laden first arrived back in Afghanistan, Jalalabad's warlord, Younis Khalis, arranged for his family and about 15 other Arab families to stay in a network of caves in Tora Bora. Even for the ascetic bin Ladens, the complex, built by the mujahedin during the war with the Soviets, was too primitive. Bin Laden told Khalis there were "no facilities, only caves," and the warlord offered him a compound in Farm Hada, outside Jalalabad, that had indoor plumbing but no electricity.

Conditions were rougher, of course, when bin Laden was out in the field working, turning Afghanistan into headquarters for a worldwide jihad. Abdul Bari Atwan, editor of the London-based Arab daily al-Quds al-Arabi, recalls visiting bin Laden in November 1996 at a snowbound mountain base called Eagle's Nest. The dinner that was served — fried potatoes and eggs, gritty bread and salty cheese — was "awful, rotten." Bin Laden, Atwan noticed, ate little and drank only water. The men bunked on rough wooden platforms with dirty gray pillows and mattresses. They washed and heeded nature's call outdoors in freezing weather. Still, the camp had a small power generator, computers, modern communications equipment and a large library of clippings from newspapers. Bin Laden received news-service reports from the Persian Gulf and London.

Atwan says bin Laden was filled with grievances. "He was bitter, with the Sudanese, the Egyptians, the Saudis, the Americans — everyone. After he had fought the Soviets, he found himself completely unrewarded. They made his life hell. He was dismissed to go to nowhere."

Afghanistan wasn't quite nowhere. Indeed, by the end of 1996, it had become the best possible base for bin Laden. The Taliban, under the leadership of a scarcely educated cleric, Mullah Mohammed Omar, had taken control of Kabul. Bin Laden and Mullah Omar had a meeting of minds. "The Taliban are religious, anti-modern thinkers, and so was he," says Khashoggi. Bin Laden moved his operations to the southern city of Kandahar, Omar's base.

For once, bin Laden found himself in the position of mentor rather than protégé. "Mullah Omar and the other members of the Taliban are simple men," says retired Lieut. General Javed Ashraf, the former head of Pakistan's powerful security agency, the Directorate of Inter-Services Intelligence. "They have no knowledge of the world outside their corner of Afghanistan. Bin Laden filled this gap. He was a teacher and a companion.

"Bin Laden became more daring. When he began giving interviews in Afghanistan, Khashoggi noted a change in tone. Bin Laden claimed that his forces had taken part in the killing of 18 U.S. service members in Mogadishu in 1993. "I said to myself, 'He knows the consequences of admitting that,' " Khashoggi remembers. "He was saying, 'Come and get me. I'm daring you now.' "

By 1998, bin Laden's rage against the U.S. had turned white-hot. In February, with several other militants, he co-signed a fatwa (though he lacked the religious credentials to do so), saying it was a duty for Muslims to kill Americans, including civilians, wherever possible. Khashoggi believes that until that point, bin Laden had been torn between the traditions of his upbringing, which would have precluded targeting civilians, and the more radical approach favored by al-Zawahiri. The Egyptian won that debate.

Three months later, alongside al-Zawahiri and others, bin Laden held a press conference to announce the formation of the International Islamic Front for Jihad Against Crusaders and Jews. A dozen journalists, including a representative of TIME, were taken to Zhawat camp in Afghanistan. As a convoy of Toyota pickups approached, a group of men on a nearby hilltop began firing their weapons in the air. The show of support was staged. The men, it turned out, were not connected to the camp but were local Afghans hired to bring their own guns to make bin Laden's group seem more powerful.

From then on the action sped up. In August 1998 al-Qaeda operatives bombed U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, killing 224, mostly Africans. Washington retaliated with a cruise-missile attack on Afghanistan that narrowly missed bin Laden. Al-Qaeda struck again in 2000, attacking the U.S.S. Cole in Yemen and killing 17 U.S. service members. Then came Sept. 11 and the start of the war against terrorism.

The Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir may have been one of the last outsiders to be granted an audience with bin Laden. He claims that the Saudi granted him an interview on Nov. 7, 2001, in a secret hideout outside Kabul before the city fell, although a Taliban official later denied that the interview had taken place. Mir says bin Laden's security guards took him to a bathhouse and made him cleanse himself thoroughly once and then again to ensure that his body wasn't dusted with a substance that would tip off the Americans to his location. The interview was conducted over a breakfast of olives, jam, butter, unleavened bread and green tea. Bin Laden, uncharacteristically, had a large appetite and ate voraciously. Mir noticed that he had put on weight. Bin Laden seemed his usual placid self, except when Mir asked about a statement from Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, the grand sheik of al-Azhar University, that the Saudi's view of jihad "doesn't represent Islam." That angered bin Laden.

At one point, Mir says he asked bin Laden whether he would surrender if he became trapped. Bin Laden, the journalist reported, roared with laughter and replied, "I am a person who loves death. The Americans love life. I will engage them and fight. I will not surrender. If I am to die, I would like to be killed by the bullet." On May 1, 2011, in Pakistan, U.S. Special Forces obliged him.

 
Reported by Hannah Bloch, Michael Fathers and Omar Waraich / Islamabad; Matthew Forney / Jalalabad; Helen Gibson / London; Scott MacLeod / Jidda; Simon Robinson / Khartoum; and Jay Newton-Small / Washington

TIME

Rep. Bart Stupak to Retire, putting seat in Play

April 9, 2010

Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) is leaving Congress not because of the health care fight, but because of the exertion that would be required to hold on to his district, friends said. 

Rep. Stupak, who had a central role in the health reform fight as the leader of anti-abortion Democrats, plans to announce Friday that he will not run for reelection, a Democratic official said. Without Stupak on the ballot, the seat becomes an immediate pickup opportunity for Republicans. 

"Now with health care done, he’s retiring," a friend said. "He has thought about retiring for the last three cycles, but was always talked into staying: to elect John Kerry to help end the war, to elect a Democratic majority to get health care done." 

President Barack Obama called Stupak on Wednesday and asked him not to retire. Stupak, 58, also resisted entreaties from Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.), the dean of the Wolverine State delegation. 

Republicans immediately attributed Stupak's decision to step down as a direct consequence of his health care vote. 

“After selling his soul to Nancy Pelosi, it appears that Bart Stupak finally found the courage to tell her no," said Ken Spain, communications director of the National Republican Congressional Committee. "The political fallout over the Democrats’ government takeover of health care has put the political careers of many Democrats in jeopardy thanks in part to Stupak’s decision to abandon his alleged pro-life principles." 

Republicans believe that other pro-life Democrats, such as freshman Reps. Steve Driehaus (D-Ohio) and Kathy Dahlkemper (D-Pa.), will also face serious trouble because of their support for the health care legislation without strict anti-abortion provisions. 

Stupak plans to continue to live in the district, the Democratic official said. He plans to say that as he opens a new chapter, he will continue to serve the people of the 1st District, just not as their congressman. 

Friends said Stupak was not leaving because of the health fight but because of the exertion that would be required to hold his sprawling Upper Peninsula District. He made the final decision during a conversation with his family while in Indianapolis to root for Michigan State in its Final Four basketball game. 

The Upper Peninsula seat gave President Obama just 50 percent of the vote, and supported former President Bush in 2004 with 53 percent. But Stupak never had faced difficulty winning reelection, always prevailing with at least 57 percent of the vote since he was first elected in 1992. 

This year was shaping up to be a different story, with Stupak becoming a leading target on both his left and right flanks. Abortion rights supporters were rallying behind Charlevoix County Commissioner Connie Saltonstall after Stupak insisted on pro-life language being inserted in the health care legislation. 

The Tea Party Express caravan, stopped in Stupak's Upper Peninsula district last night to protest his health care vote as part of a concerted attempt to oust the incumbent. The group had named Stupak as one of its leading targets. 

The friend said he believes he would have won, and added: "More than 95 percent of the opposition from left and right has come from outside of his district." 

And Republicans have rallied around surgeon Dan Benishek, a tea party favorite, who received very little attention until Stupak voted for the health care legislation even without receiving anti-abortion language in the bill itself. Benishek is expected to raise over $100,000 this quarter, according to GOP sources, a large amount for a first-time candidate who had virtually no campaign infrastructure before Stupak received national attention over his health care positioning. 

Democrats who could hold the seat include state senator Jim Barcia (a former congressman), Mike Prusi and Gary McDowell, and state Reps. Joel Sheltrown and Jeff Mayes.

Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich.) is leaving Congress not because of the health care fight, but because of the exertion that would be required to hold on to his district, friends said. 


By MIKE ALLEN & JOSH KRAUSHAAR

Ex-Citigroup leaders Defensive on Crisis 

April 8, 201

Charles Prince and Robert Rubin, who led Citigroup in the run-up to the 2008 banking crisis, voiced regrets on Thursday, but accepted no responsibility for the mega-bank's massive losses.

The two came under heavy fire in a congressional panel hearing for being blind to Citi taking on huge financial risks under their watch, leading ultimately to the bank's near collapse, prevented only by a $45-billion (29 billion pound) taxpayer bailout.

His hands visibly shaking as he answered questions, Rubin, formerly U.S. Treasury secretary during the Clinton administration, told panel members that he was not a key decision-maker at Citigroup during the worst of its troubles.

Former CEO Prince came to the defense of Rubin, saying that as an advisor he was not responsible for Citigroup losses. Prince offered up multiple apologies for his own ignorance.

"I can only say that I am deeply sorry that our management -- starting with me -- was not more prescient and that we did not foresee what lay before us," Prince said.

Some members of the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission -- charged by Congress with explaining the origins of the worst U.S. financial crisis since the Great Depression -- did not buy the two executives' half-hearted mea culpas.

"You either were pulling the levers or asleep at the switch," commission Chairman Phil Angelides said to Rubin.

Citi has been in the crosshairs of the commission for two days now in public hearings occurring just before Congress resumes debate on a raft of financial reform proposals, and as the White House ramps up its push for a regulatory overhaul.

Eight former and current Citi executives have testified. All have basically said that no one, including them, could have foreseen the problems that nearly destroyed the bank.

THOMAS PUSHES FOR ANSWERS

Vice Chairman Bill Thomas pushed the Citi executives for some explanation of how they personally square the bank's financial calamities with their own lavish compensation packages, saying, "Behavior has to have consequences."

Prince left the bank in 2007 with almost $40 million in bonuses, shares and options. Citigroup paid Rubin more than $120 million for his work at the bank over several years.

Bad bets on repackaged debt securities, consumer loans and other assets forced Citi to take three separate government rescue packages totaling $45 billion, more than any other major bank. When the dust settled, taxpayers held about a third of Citigroup's common stock and $27 billion of its debt.

"The overriding lesson of the financial crisis was that the financial system is subject to more severe downside risk than almost anyone had foreseen," Rubin said. "It is imperative that private institutions and the government act on that lesson."

Rubin tried to clear his name on an old score from the late 1990s, defending his opposition to bringing over-the-counter derivatives under stricter regulatory control.

Back then, Rubin joined with former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan in resisting attempts by former Commodity Futures Trading Commission chair Brooksley Born to bring transparency to the unpoliced OTC derivatives market.

On Thursday, Rubin told the commission -- which includes Born -- he was never against more regulation, he simply feared the CFTC's approach would bring dangerous legal uncertainty.

"Financial reform is imperative and should include ... derivatives regulation," said Rubin, a former Citi executive committee chairman and a former Goldman Sachs executive.

BANK BREAK-UP EYED IN CONGRESS

Some members of Congress want to break up banks such as Citi, arguing that they have become not only "too big to fail," as some in the markets see it, but also "too big to manage."

Prince said that that is not the case, saying "I personally do not think that Citi was too big to manage."

Over the past two days, the commission has delved into the breakdown of Wall Street's subprime mortgage securitization business, the complex securities it produced, and the impact those toxic assets had on financial giants, such as Citi.

In explaining their actions, Citi executives have said they relied chiefly on the judgment of others in assessing the risks being taken in loading the bank's balance sheet with subprime mortgage bonds and other complex debt instruments.

Rubin expressed deep regret for not recognizing the approach of the crisis. "Almost all of us ... missed the powerful combination of forces at work and the serious possibility of a massive crisis," he said.

The Obama administration is backing a reform proposal that would limit the growth of mega-banks with a market-share cap.

But Prince said he believes the financial world needs large, diversified banks. "We are past the days of exclusively small, local banks and financial institutions," he said.

PRINCE COMMENTS ON "STILL DANCING" QUIP

Prince's infamous comment that his bank was "still dancing" even as the subprime crisis worsened came back to haunt him at the commission hearing where he was asked about it.

His explanation seemed to boil down to this: it was a race to keep up with competitors who kept loosening lending standards and Citi couldn't afford to drop out.

In July 2007, the Financial Times quoted Prince as saying, "As long as the music is playing, you've got to get up and dance ... We're still dancing." The quip became emblematic of bankers' failure to grasp the gravity of the crisis.

Prince said the quote related to the leveraged lending business. "It had nothing to do with the mortgage business. ... It had nothing to do with the issues that we've been talking about here," he said.

A few months after the Financial Times interview, Prince resigned.

The commission will hold another hearing on Friday to take testimony from former executives of housing finance giant Fannie Mae and former regulators who supervised it. Fannie Mae was seized by the government in September 2008.

Rachelle Younglai and Kevin Drawbaugh

TODAY’S ELECTION IN MASSACHUSETTS

DNC CHAIRMAN TIM KAINE’S STATEMENT ON TODAY’S ELECTION IN MASSACHUSETTS

Washington, D.C. - Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman Tim Kaine issued the following statement on the results of the special election in Massachusetts tonight:

“I want to congratulate Scott Brown on running a strong campaign and Martha Coakley on being a strong voice for progressive values.

"It goes without saying that we are disappointed in tonight's result. There will be plenty of time to dissect this race and to apply the lessons learned from it those to come this fall - but in the meantime we will continue to work tirelessly on behalf of the America people and we will redouble our efforts to lay out a clear choice for voters this November.

"I want to thank our state parties and our DNC and Organizing for America staff and volunteers all across the country who have worked tirelessly on this campaign and who will continue to support President Obama and work for the change we all believe is essential to getting our nation moving in the right direction again."

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine Releases Statement in Honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

Washington – Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman Tim Kaine issued the following statement in recognition of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day:

“Today we celebrate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and honor his legacy of non-violent social change and justice. While there is still work to be done, we take time to acknowledge the tremendous progress we as a country have made in combating racism, bigotry and intolerance. Dr. King’s timeless values of truth, courage, compassion, dignity, justice, service and humility serve as an example for all Americans to strive to better themselves and their community.

“In a speech delivered shortly before his untimely death, Dr. King challenged each and every American to be a ‘Drum Major’ for justice. Dr. King urged Americans to live up to their ideals and strive to serve their neighbors. This year as we honor the life and legacy of Dr. King let us not just honor his memory but also resolve to recommit ourselves to family and community through service.”

DNC Chairman Tim Kaine Calls Senate Vote Historic Step.

DNC Chairman Tim Kaine Calls Senate Vote Historic Step, Praises Democrats for Pressing Forward to Deliver Health Reform to the American People.

Washington - Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine issued the following statement after the Senate voted to suspend debate and move towards a vote on final passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The vote on Monday night was the first of three cloture votes (which must achieve a 60 vote threshold) before the historic health insurance reform legislation can be brought to the floor for a final up or down vote.

“Tonight the Senate took another major step on the road to finally delivering health insurance reform to the American people.

“Thanks to the leadership of Majority Leader Harry Reid (NV), Majority Whip Dick Durbin (IL), Committee Chairmen Max Baucus (MT) and Chris Dodd (CT) and countless others, we are now closer than ever to achieving historic reform that will provide more stability and security to people who have insurance and more quality affordable options to those who don’t, while lowering the high costs of care for families, businesses and entire country.

 
“The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, if it, or health reform legislation passed by the House of Representatives were to become law, would represent the most significant piece of social and economic legislation since Social Security, and would be the largest expansion of health care coverage since Medicare passed in 1965.
“The Senate’s bill will extend coverage to more than 30 million Americans; end abusive insurance industry practices, like denying coverage because of a pre-existing condition or canceling someone’s coverage when they get sick; strengthen Medicare and extend the life of the Medicare trust fund; help small businesses provide their employees affordable insurance; and it will reduce our deficit by 132 billion in the first 10 years, and hundreds of billions more in the years after that.

“Seven presidents have tried and failed to reform our broken health care system. But today, thanks to Democratic senators who worked hard to find common ground and the extraordinary leadership and vision of President Obama, the fundamental change that has eluded this country for decades, is finally within reach.

“Unfortunately, not one Republican senator voted to allow this legislation to come to a vote on the Senate floor. Throughout this debate, Republicans have done everything in their power to delay and obstruct progress. Instead of fighting for the American people, they are advocating passionately for the status quo - a scenario in which 14,000 people lose their insurance every day, small businesses struggle to stay open and families live with the constant worry of being one injury or illness away from financial ruin. While it is shocking enough that not a single Republican Senator supports this important bill, the fact that they have all stood firm to even deny any opportunity for the bill to be voted on at all demonstrates how badly they misread the responsibilities of leadership.

“Democrats will not rest until we deliver health insurance reform to the American people.”

DNC Hails Decision

DNC Hails Decision to Keep in Place Consent Decree Barring Republicans From Voter Intimidation.

Washington, DC—DNC Chairman Tim Kaine and DNC Vice Chair for Voter Registration and Participation Donna Brazile issued the following statement on yesterday’s ruling by the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey keeping in place a consent decree barring the Republican National Committee from voter intimidation and asserting that Republicans still have an incentive to engage in such illegal practices. Late last year the RNC asked that the consent decree, which it agreed to in 1982, be nullified, going so far as to argue that because the President and U.S. Attorney General are African American, there is no longer any reason for Republicans to be subject to limits on efforts to engage in “ballot security measures.” To read the decision, click here: http://my.democrats.org/page/-/pdf/voter_protection/DNCvRNC_Opinion_12.1.09.PDF

“Yesterday's ruling is a victory for all Americans who believe that every eligible citizen should have the right to vote and have their vote counted. It also represents a resounding repudiation of the Republican Party's trumped up claims of voter fraud. Our great nation was founded on the principles of equality and freedom, and our founders envisioned the right to vote as central to our ideals. Yet for years, Republicans have engaged in deplorable practices that intimidate voters and make it more difficult for them to cast their ballot.

“This is wrong, and it is illegal. As the court made clear, these types of actions stand in the way of Americans’ fundamental rights under the Constitution of the United States. Republicans would be better served trying to engage minority and under-represented voters rather than trying to intimidate them. Yet there is overwhelming evidence that these types of practices still occur, that Republicans have engaged in them in recent elections and that without a consent decree barring such actions Republicans will continue to have an incentive to engage in them. That Republicans, who attempted to use foreclosure lists in the 2008 election to deny people the right to vote in Michigan, even asked the court to nullify this decree, shows just how eager they are to continue engaging in practices to suppress the rightful votes of thousands of American citizens.

“These are not the ideals that our country was founded on, and they should not be tolerated. We applaud yesterday’s decision and recommit ourselves to fighting to ensure that the right to vote is fully protected. And we encourage Republicans to work with us to reform our electoral system to remove any impediments to voting and to ensure our voting rights laws are enforced consistent with the law.”

Tim Kaine Releases Statement in Honor of Veterans Day

Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman Tim Kaine issued the following statement in recognition of Veterans Day:

“Today, we honor those Americans who have served throughout our nation's history – from the wars on our own shores to the beachheads of Europe, from the rice fields of Southeast Asia to the deserts of the Middle East, and from across the world's oceans and seas to those who serve stateside - and take the time to thank them for their unflinching courage and service.

“In the wake of the tragedy at Fort Hood, and as we work to wind down our operations in Iraq and determine the way forward in Afghanistan, renewing our promise to America’s veterans is just as important as ever – not just today, but every day.

“Providing for our veterans is critical, not only because we have a moral obligation to recognize those who have sacrificed on our behalf, but because our servicemen and women are a tremendous resource who can help lead the way as we continue our pursuit of a more peaceful and prosperous world.

“President Obama and our Democratic Congress have demonstrated a strong commitment to our country’s veterans, taking several steps in just the last 10 months to expand economic opportunity, strengthen veterans’ health care services, and improve benefits for our troops and military families. Through the post 9/11 G.I. Bill – the most generous education benefit since the original G.I. Bill of 1944 – more than 250,000 veterans will attend college in just the next two years. President Obama and Congress have worked to strengthen the VA health care system by transforming it into a 21st century organization that prioritizes community-based services, promotes prevention and takes on the injuries unique to modern warfare, including post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury. And President Obama requested, and Congressional Democrats approved, a 16 percent increase in the 2010 budget for the Department of Veterans affairs, the largest one-year increase in 30 years.

“Veterans and their families are the only ones who can fully understand the toll of their sacrifice. But we can, through our every day actions, do our best to see that they receive the very best service, care and respect from their country. Today we thank our brave men and women for heeding the call to duty, and we honor their selfless service.”

Organizing for America

Organizing for America Will Hold ‘Thank You’ Activities for the US House’s Support of Health Insurance Reform

OFA and Supporters of Reform Will Hold Thank You Activities Across The Country to Thank Representatives for Support of Health Insurance Reform

Washington – The House of Representatives passed landmark health reform legislation on Saturday, marking a milestone in the effort to pass comprehensive reform this year. As representatives return to their districts, Organizing for America (OFA) volunteers will be hosting “thank you” activities to thank their Representatives for supporting health insurance reform.

“We still have some work to do, but today we are closer to reform than ever before,” said OFA Director Mitch Stewart, “and that is thanks in no-small part to the tireless work and commitment of our Democratic leaders in Congress. Over the next several days, OFA volunteers will be organizing and participating in various thank you activities in an effort to communicate a very simple message: thank you. As we move into this final phase of debate, we want our representatives in Congress to know that they have the wind at their backs.”

The House bill, the Affordable Health Care for America Act, would extend coverage to 36 million Americans and cut the deficit by $104 billion over ten years. It achieves the goals President Obama articulated during his address to a Joint Session of Congress in September. It will provide more security and stability to people who have insurance; provide more quality, affordable options to those who don’t; and lower the costs of care for American families and businesses. It would end some of the insurance industry’s worst practices, like denying coverage because of a pre-existing condition, or canceling someone’s coverage when they get sick.

Organizing for America, a grassroots project of the Democratic National Committee, is committed to supporting President Obama’s agenda for change. Over 2 million people have taken action as part of OFA’s health reform campaign. Since June 6, OFA has held 20,000 events in all 50 states and every congressional district encouraging support for President Obama's health insurance reform plan. On October 20, OFA helped to generate more than 315,000 calls to Congress in a single day, more than three times the initial goal.

Tim Kaine Issues Statement Praising the House

Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine Issues Statement Praising the House of Representative’s Historic Vote to Pass Health Insurance Reform.

WASHINGTON – Tonight the House of Representatives passed the Affordable Health Care for America Act, landmark health reform legislation that will ensure every American has access to quality, affordable, stable and secure health care coverage. The legislation, which cracks down on some of the insurance industry’s worst practices, would extend coverage to 36 million Americans and cut the deficit by $104 billion over ten years. Groups representing doctors and farmers, seniors, consumers, and cancer patients have endorsed the bill. It passed the House with only one Republican vote in support of the measure.

“This day has been a long time coming. Teddy Roosevelt first called for health reform nearly 100 years ago, but today – in the face of furious lobbying by the insurance industry and nearly unanimous opposition from Republicans – House Democrats accomplished something no other Congress has been able to do: pass comprehensive health reform legislation. I want to thank President Obama for his extraordinary leadership on this issue, and extend my congratulations to Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader Hoyer, Chairmen Waxman, Miller and Rangel, Congressman Clyburn and countless others in the U.S. House of Representatives for taking this historic step.

“The Affordable Health Care for America Act will provide more security and stability to people who already have insurance by enacting much needed reforms to the insurance industry. No longer will an insurance company be able to deny someone coverage because of a pre-existing condition, or cancel someone’s coverage when they get sick. The Act will provide more quality, affordable choices for the millions of Americans who are uninsured. And the bill will bring down the high costs of care, for American families and businesses, while lowering our deficit.

“This historic day would not have been possible without the tireless efforts of Organizing for America (OFA) in rallying the public to see through Republican scare-tactics and lies and energizing them behind the cause of our generation – meaningful health insurance reform. In total, more than 2 million people participated in OFA’s grassroots campaign for reform by signing pledges, sharing their personal stories and hosting and attending one of the thousands of local events in all 50 states and all 435 Congressional Districts. In the final week of August and the first week of September alone over 110,000 people attended a pro-reform event providing the necessary momentum that made possible this monumental achievement.

“Americans from all walks of life have endorsed this legislation. The AARP endorsed the bill because they believe it will reduce health care costs and expand coverage for older Americans. The American Medical Association and the American Nurses Association have lent their support because they believe it will help to fix the problems in our broken system and strengthen the doctor-patient relationship. The Consumers Union endorsed the bill because they believe it will create a more secure, affordable health care system, and the National Farmers’ Union has given their support because it will help Americans who live in rural areas access care.

“Despite the overwhelming support this legislation has received and despite a strong mandate from the public for action, the Republicans have held tight to their just-say-no approach, firmly rooting the GOP on the side of the insurance lobby and the status quo that is breaking American families and small businesses. It is evident from their obstructionism that the Republicans are more interested in protecting their own reputations and political fortunes than ensuring that our generation and generations to come have the best possible access to health care. Unfortunately for the Republican Party, their misguided and shameful campaign to kill health reform looks doomed to fail – something all Americans should be thankful for.

“Today, Congressional Democrats put opponents of reform on notice: the status quo is unsustainable and inaction is not an option. This vote doesn’t mark the end of this process – we still have a ways to go – but it is a critical milestone on the road to passing health insurance reform. The American people want reform – they need reform – and Democrats will not rest until we pass comprehensive health reform legislation.”

GOP Insurance Company Protection Act,  Desperate Media Stunt

DNC Vice Chair Wasserman Schultz Calls GOP Plan “Health Insurance Company Protection Act,”
Calls Republican Online Town Hall a Media Stunt,
Desperate Attempt to Distract From Bill That Benefits Insurance Companies
and Fails to Make a Dent in the Uninsured

Washington- DNC Vice Chair and U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) today issued the following statement in advance of House Republicans’ online health care town hall where they plan to discuss their health reform proposal which does more to help insurance companies than it does to help the American people. The bill would not curb unfair insurance industry practices like denying people coverage because of a pre-existing condition. In fact, the House Republican bill would put families at risk by giving insurance companies more power to discriminate against patients while accumulating record profits. And, according to the Congressional Budget Office the Republican bill would only cover three million of the tens of millions who are currently uninsured.

“While Congressional Democrats are preparing to take an historic vote on health reform legislation this weekend, House Republicans are busy organizing a last minute media stunt, where they intend to do nothing but attack and misrepresent the Democrats’ health reform legislation in a desperate attempt to boost their own poor excuse for a bill.

“I’ve seen the Republicans plan, and I can explain it in about 12 seconds: It would barely make a dent in reducing the millions of uninsured Americans, and instead of helping American families and businesses, it would gut consumer protections and give more goodies to the insurance lobby. It won’t stop insurance companies from denying coverage based on a pre-existing condition and it doesn’t provide people help to buy insurance on the private market.

“The Republicans’ ‘Health Insurance Company Protection Act’ is a boon to the insurance companies and their executives. That’s not the reform the American people want and need.

“Instead of participating in this 12-hour online charade and continuing their fight to maintain the status quo, I hope House Republicans will join Democrats in Congress and President Obama to pass historic reform legislation."

GOP Health Care Plan - "Health Insurance Company Protection Act"

DNC Vice Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz Calls House GOP Health Care Plan the "Health Insurance Company Protection Act"

Washington, D.C.—DNC Vice Chair and U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) today issued the following statement in response to the news that Congressional Republicans are planning to introduce what she said amounts to a “Health Insurance Company Protection Act.” Wasserman Schultz said the GOP plan, as it has been characterized in press reports, would allow health insurance companies to continue engaging in unfair and discriminatory practices like denying coverage to people because of a preexisting medical condition and dropping coverage for people who are sick.

“It’s appalling that John Boehner and Republicans in Congress would rather maintain the status quo and allow insurance companies to continue engaging in unfair practices that boost their profits at the expense of consumers than pass the health insurance reform American families and businesses so desperately need. We have said for some time that Republicans are more interested in protecting the health insurance industry than in helping consumers - and the plan Republicans are putting forward is all the proof anyone would need to know we've been telling the truth. The Republican plan amounts to a ‘Health Insurance Company Protection Act’ and shows once and for all that Republicans don’t want real reform and will fight to protect the status quo every step of the way. At a time when health insurance costs are skyrocketing and families fear losing their coverage if someone gets sick, the last thing we need is to give insurance companies another break. Passing the Republicans’ bill would be worse than passing no reform at all.

“It’s time for Republicans to get the message: Americans want real reform. Instead of handing out favors to big insurance companies, Republicans should work with President Obama and Democrats in Congress to pass the health insurance reform our country needs.”

Sarah Palin Lies

DNC Calls Out Sarah Palin for Her Lies on Health Insurance Reform in its Seventh Installment of the Call 'Em Out Campaign

DNC Targets Palin with Video, Website, Email and on Forum Where she has Spread Numerous Lies: Facebook

Washington, D.C. - Today, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) launched the seventh installment of its ongoing “Call 'Em Out” campaign with a multimedia effort targeting Sarah Palin for continuing to spread lies about health insurance reform. The effort uses email, a website, a video, Facebook and Twitter to demonstrate that instead of participating in an honest exchange on health insurance reform, Palin has resorted to spreading misinformation and outlandish lies including everything from invoking "death panels" to "rationing." More than previous Call 'Em Out efforts, the campaign targeting Palin's lies is relying heavily on reaching people on Facebook where Palin has repeatedly peddled misinformation about health insurance reform.

Please see below all the resources of our campaign to call out Sarah Palin including links to our new web video and website, a note posted on Facebook and an email from DNC Executive Director Jen O'Malley Dillon to the full DNC list.

Affordable Health Care For America Act

Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine’s Statement On The Affordable Health Care For America Act

Unveiling of Bill is Another Key Milestone in Passing

Health Insurance Reform this Year

WASHINGTON – DNC Chairman Tim Kaine issued the following statement after Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader Hoyer and other Democratic Congressional leaders unveiled their version of health insurance reform legislation: the Affordable Health Care for America Act. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the bill would cost $894 billion over 10 years and extend insurance coverage to 36 million Americans. It is expected to cut the deficit by $30 billion in the first 10 years.

“Today, thanks to the outstanding work of Speaker Pelosi, Chairmen Waxman, Miller and Rangel and countless others in the U.S. House of Representatives, we have achieved another critical milestone on the road to passing health insurance reform this year.

“The Affordable Health Care for America Act achieves the goals set out by President Obama earlier this year. It will provide Americans with insurance with more security and stability by making critical reforms to the insurance industry -- insurance companies will no longer be able to deny coverage because of a pre-existing condition or cancel someone’s coverage when they get sick. This legislation will provide the uninsured more quality, affordable choices, extending coverage to 96 percent of all Americans. It also includes the choice of a public health insurance option, which is the best way to ensure choice and competition in the market. And it will bring down the skyrocketing costs of care without adding a dime to our deficits. The bill is fully paid for up front and it will actually cut the deficit by $30 billion in its first 10 years.

“There is still much work ahead, but today’s announcement is another testament to President Obama’s extraordinary leadership on this issue. Despite the millions upon millions spent by insurance industry lobbyists in an effort to kill reform and near unanimous opposition to reform by Congressional Republicans, Democrats have been undeterred in their efforts. We will continue to stand for the American people and finally pass health insurance reform this year.”

DNC CALLS OUT INSURANCE LOBBY

DNC LAUNCHES FIFTH IN “CALL EM OUT” SERIES, CALLS OUT INSURANCE LOBBY FOR BOGUS AND MISLEADING ATTACK ON HEALTH INSURANCE REFORM

Insurance Industry’s 11th Hour Effort To Derail Reform With “Bogus” Report Is Widely Panned By Media, Industry Experts.

Washington, D.C. - The Democratic National Committee (DNC) today announced the fifth installment in its “Call ‘Em Out” series targeting individuals and organizations that actively mislead the public on aspects of the President’s agenda. The latest “Call ‘Em Out” effort takes the insurance industry to task for putting profits before patients and lying about reform - most recently by issuing a bogus report on the Senate Finance Committee's bill that the AARP said was not “worth the paper it’s written on” and that numerous nonpartisan sources have debunked.

Please see below for the text of an email sent to the Democratic Party's email list from DNC Executive Director Jen O’Malley Dillon on the insurance lobby’s self serving, desperate attempt to block reform. In the email, O’Malley Dillon asks supporters to send a message to their member of Congress urging them to stand-up to the insurance lobby’s multi-million dollar assault on reform and to share a video via email, twitter and facebook detailing the negative response by nonpartisan sources to the insurance industry’s biased report.

From: Jen O'Malley Dillon
Subject: The insurance lobby's lies

Friend --

After fighting health reform with lies, deceit, and multi-million dollar ad campaigns, the health insurance lobby -- America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) -- just released a report on the "effects of health reform." Surprise! It's full of flawed claims that reform would increase costs

Many journalists and experts called the report "deceptive" and "implausible." Even the firm that wrote it now admits they only looked at parts of the health reform plan -- because that's what the insurance lobby paid them to do. It's exactly what we should expect from an industry that's been fighting tooth and nail to kill reform, and is now preparing an all-out assault.

We're not going to take it sitting down. So this week, we're calling out the health insurance lobby.

The lobby has invested millions trying to convince Congress to oppose reform. So this week, we're not simply debunking lies: The best way to Call 'em Out is to cut through the spin and tell our representatives to say "no" to deceitful lobbyists and "yes" to reform.

Call 'em Out: Health Insurance Lobby. Send a message urging Congress to stand with voters, not lobbyists.

This isn't the first time the health insurance lobby has lied, cheated, or used misleading reports. This false report is just the latest salvo in a multi-million dollar offensive that appears designed to frighten voters and bully Congress into opposing reform.

In fact, just days after releasing the report, the lobby announced they will spend a million dollars on a television ad filled with debunked claims of Medicare cuts that could scare seniors away from supporting health reform.

We need your help to call out the insurance lobby and make sure our representatives understand that we're counting on them to stand strong against their pressure.

Visit Call 'em Out: Health Insurance Lobby, and help fight back. Share a video debunking the health insurance lobby's lies with your friends. Spread the word about their deceit on Facebook and Twitter. And most importantly, tell your members of Congress to say "no" to insurance lobby pressure.

Soon, health reform will be taken up by the entire House and Senate, and the insurance lobby will take their attacks to a new level. Their lies will grow more extreme -- and it will be more important than ever that our voices are louder than those of the Washington lobbyists.

Call out the health insurance lobby today:

http://www.democrats.org/CallOutAHIP

Thanks for helping us set the record straight about reform,

Jen

Jen O'Malley Dillon

Executive Director
Democratic National Committee

Senate Finance Committee’s Vote to Pass

Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine Issues Statement Following Senate Finance Committee’s Vote to Pass

Health Insurance Reform

Washington – DNC Chairman Tim Kaine issued the following statement after the Senate Finance Committee voted out of committee their version of health insurance reform legislation. The vote won bi-partisan support, with Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine voting to pass the bill out of committee.

“Today’s action by the Senate Finance Committee represents a big step forward towards the enactment of comprehensive health insurance reform.

“I want to commend Chairman Baucus for his leadership and thank all the Democrats on the committee for their tireless work to incorporate the best ideas from both sides of the aisle. Last week, we began to see the fruits of that labor as prominent leaders from outside Washington – including former Bush Administration Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, former Senate Majority Leaders Bob Dole and Bill Frist, and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, an independent – came out in favor of reform. Senator Snowe’s decision to support the Finance Committee’s legislation, because “the consequences of inaction dictate the urgency of Congress to demonstrate its capacity to solve the monumental issues of our time,” brings a renewed sense of momentum to the cause.

“We have been debating health reform for generations. Now, after nearly a year of intense study and deliberation, five Congressional committees have given us a strong framework to keep making progress. There is still much work ahead, and we know insurance industry lobbyists and their friends in Congress will do everything within their power to kill reform and maintain the status quo. But we are closer than ever before to enacting reform that achieves President Obama’s goals of providing more security and stability to people who have insurance, more quality, affordable choices for those who don’t and reining in the high costs of health care for American families, businesses and our government.

“Thanks to President Obama’s strong vision and commitment, and the commitment of like-minded Members of Congress, we are going to deliver health insurance reform to the American people this year. Inaction is not an option.”

Tim Kaine Issues Statement Following Senate Finance Committee

Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine Issues Statement Following Senate Finance Committee’s Vote to Pass Health Insurance Reform

Washington – DNC Chairman Tim Kaine issued the following statement after the Senate Finance Committee voted out of committee their version of health insurance reform legislation. The vote won bi-partisan support, with Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine voting to pass the bill out of committee.

“Today’s action by the Senate Finance Committee represents a big step forward towards the enactment of comprehensive health insurance reform.

“I want to commend Chairman Baucus for his leadership and thank all the Democrats on the committee for their tireless work to incorporate the best ideas from both sides of the aisle. Last week, we began to see the fruits of that labor as prominent leaders from outside Washington – including former Bush Administration Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, former Senate Majority Leaders Bob Dole and Bill Frist, and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, an independent – came out in favor of reform. Senator Snowe’s decision to support the Finance Committee’s legislation, because “the consequences of inaction dictate the urgency of Congress to demonstrate its capacity to solve the monumental issues of our time,” brings a renewed sense of momentum to the cause.

“We have been debating health reform for generations. Now, after nearly a year of intense study and deliberation, five Congressional committees have given us a strong framework to keep making progress. There is still much work ahead, and we know insurance industry lobbyists and their friends in Congress will do everything within their power to kill reform and maintain the status quo. But we are closer than ever before to enacting reform that achieves President Obama’s goals of providing more security and stability to people who have insurance, more quality, affordable choices for those who don’t and reining in the high costs of health care for American families, businesses and our government.

“Thanks to President Obama’s strong vision and commitment, and the commitment of like-minded Members of Congress, we are going to deliver health insurance reform to the American people this year. Inaction is not an option.”

TIM KAINE ISSUES STATEMENT ABOUT NOBEL PRIZE COMMITTEE

DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN TIM KAINE ISSUES STATEMENT ABOUT NOBEL PRIZE COMMITTEE’S AWARDING OF 2009 PEACE PRIZE TO PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA

Washington, D.C. - President Obama was awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday morning for his “extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.” Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman Tim Kaine issued the following statement:

“The Nobel Committee’s decision to award this year’s Peace Prize to President Obama is an affirmation of the fact that the United States has returned to its longstanding role as a world leader. The President has made a conscious decision from the beginning of his presidency to reinvigorate diplomacy, by talking to our friends and our rivals. Those efforts to bring world leaders together are helping the people of the world to face monumental challenges like nuclear arms proliferation, conflict resolution and climate change.

“With this prize comes a sense of enormous pride, but also an enormous sense of humility about the work that remains if we are to resolve the global problems facing humanity. Democrats will continue to work with President Obama to keep moving America forward, as we continue in earnest to sow peace, progress and understanding around the world.”

TEXANS RALLY FOR HEALTH INSURANCE REFORM

NEARLY 1,000 TEXANS RALLY FOR HEALTH INSURANCE REFORM AS ORGANIZING FOR AMERICA’S HEALTH INSURANCE REFORM NOW BUS TOUR STOPS IN DALLAS

Follows stops across the country with thousands of supporters as momentum builds to pass health insurance reform this year

Between 800 and 1,000 Texans rallied to support efforts to pass health insurance reform this year at Organizing for America's Health Insurance Reform Now Bus Tour stop in Dallas yesterday. Texas State Senator Royce West, Organizing for America Director Mitch Stewart and local supporters spoke about the importance of reforming America’s health insurance system this year.

The event in Dallas followed stops in 15 other cities where thousands rallied to show their support for passing reform this year. The tour is part of a wider set of events being held throughout the nation highlighting the strong support for reform throughout the country. In the coming days, the Health Insurance Reform Now Bus Tour will make stops in Omaha and Salt Lake City to continue amplifying the urgency of reforming our health insurance system this year.

These strong showings of support offer further evidence of the building momentum behind President Obama’s plan and the on-going efforts to pass health insurance reform this year.

At its core, President Obama’s plan accomplishes two goals: it provides Americans who have insurance with unprecedented stability and security, and provides those who don’t with quality, affordable choices. It also reins in skyrocketing costs that are hurting American families and businesses - without adding a dime to our nation’s deficit.

President Obama’s plan holds insurance companies accountable and makes the system work better for consumers. The plan makes it illegal for insurance companies to deny someone coverage because of a pre-existing condition, limit the amount of coverage someone can receive, or cancel someone’s coverage when they get sick. It will cap out of pocket expenses and stop companies from charging extra for preventive care.

State Senator Royce West

"Our nation is facing one of the greatest moral challenges of this generation," said Senator West. "For thousands of Texans, a job loss, illness or an accident could mean losing health coverage or filing bankruptcy to cover health costs...America needs health care reform and the time is now."

Mitch Stewart, OFA Executive Director

"President Obama’s plan accomplishes three goals -- it gives Americans with insurance more security and stability, it provides those who don’t have insurance with affordable choices and it reins in the high cost of care which is crushing American families, businesses and our government, without adding a dime to our deficits. And that’s what this event is all about. Let’s get it done: let’s pass health insurance reform now."

HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH

DNC COMMEMORATES HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH

Washington, D.C.—DNC Chairman Tim Kaine issued the following statement commemorating Hispanic Heritage Month, which starts today, September 15:

“Hispanic Heritage Month is an opportunity to reflect on the vital role Hispanics play in our country. With a long history of service, Hispanics are an important part of America’s armed forces, economy and local, state and national governments. President Obama has recognized the importance of Hispanics in our national dialogue and nominated more Hispanics to serve in high office than ever before.

“Hispanics voted in overwhelming numbers to elect President Obama last November and, as a result, we have seen transformative change on issues important to Hispanics and our nation as a whole, like the expansion of children’s health insurance, equal pay for equal work, bringing our economy back from the brink and the appointment of Justice Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court.

“This month is also a reminder that there is much more to accomplish. President Obama is working for health insurance reform that will provide more security and stability to people who have health insurance and will provide insurance to those who don’t. For Hispanics, insurance reform is crucial: one out of three Hispanics under 65 is uninsured, and many more lack adequate coverage.

“As we look at the work ahead of us, I know that Hispanics will play an active role in bringing about important and positive changes throughout America. I thank them for their significant contributions to our country and for advancing the American dream.”

PRESIDENT PREPARES TO RALLY MINNESOTANS ON HEALTH REFORM

AS THE PRESIDENT PREPARES TO RALLY MINNESOTANS ON HEALTH REFORM TODAY, DNC RELEASES NEW WEB VIDEO TARGETING MINNESOTA GOVERNOR ENTITLED: “TIM PAWLENTY: IN THE EXTREME”

With His Eyes Set on Run for Higher Office, Tim Pawlenty has Gone off the Deep End With his Extreme Opposition to the President, Lies On Health Care.

Washington, D.C. – With the President set to rally tens of thousands of Minnesotans on health reform today, the Democratic National Committee has taken aim at Minnesota's Governor Tim Pawlenty, releasing a new web video slamming him for his extremist and false rhetoric on health insurance reform, his public support for far-right Virginia gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell who has called working women a detriment to society and his attacks on the President’s speech on personal responsibility to school children. Taken together, Pawlenty’s positions reveal a politician who is way out of the mainstream and desperate in his attempts to garner attention from the farthest right fringe of his Party. DNC Communications Director Brad Woodhouse released the following statement:

“The harder Tim Pawlenty tries to appeal to the far-right wing of the Republican Party, the more ludicrous his arguments get. In the past week alone, he has strengthened his already vocal support for the absurd and debunked claim that health insurance reform could lead to death panels. He’s campaigned in Virginia for a Republican gubernatorial candidate who believes working women are a detriment to society. And, he was one of a handful of those on the extreme right wing who criticized the President’s address to school children – a speech wherein the President urged students to stay in school and work hard.

“The more the voters learn about Tim Pawlenty, the more they will see that he is solely motivated by his desire to win over far right wing extremists and appeal to Republican Party leaders like Rush Limbaugh . His actions as of late beg the question – what won’t Tim Pawlenty say or do to appeal to the Sarah Palin wing of the Republican Party.?”

FLORIDIANS RALLY FOR HEALTH INSURANCE REFORM

MORE THAN 1,100 FLORIDIANS RALLY FOR HEALTH INSURANCE REFORM AT ORGANIZING FOR AMERICA ’S HEALTH INSURANCE REFORM NOW STOPS IN FLORIDA

Follows stops across the country with thousands of supporters as momentum builds to pass health insurance reform this year

More than 1,100 Floridans rallied to support efforts to pass health insurance reform this year at Organizing for America's Health Insurance Reform Now Bus Tour stops in Orlando and Tampa today. Organizing for America Director Mitch Stewart was joined by U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson and OFA Florida State Director Ashley Walker in Orlando and was joined by OFA Florida Field Director John Bivona in Tampa. At both events Floridians shared their personal health care stories and discussed why they support health insurance reform now.

The stops followed stops in 11 other cities where thousands rallied to show their support for passing reform this year. The tour is part of a wider set of events being held throughout the nation highlighting the strong support for reform throughout the country. In the coming days, the Health Insurance Reform Now Bus Tour will make stops in New Orleans and Dallas to continue amplifying the urgency of reforming our health insurance system this year.

These strong showings of support offer further evidence of the building momentum behind President Obama’s plan and the on-going efforts to pass health insurance reform this year.

At its core, President Obama’s plan accomplishes two goals: it provides Americans who have insurance with unprecedented stability and security, and provides those who don’t with quality, affordable choices. It also reins in skyrocketing costs that are hurting American families and businesses - without adding a dime to our nation’s deficit.

President Obama’s plan holds insurance companies accountable and makes the system work better for consumers. The plan makes it illegal for insurance companies to deny someone coverage because of a pre-existing condition, limit the amount of coverage someone can receive, or cancel someone’s coverage when they get sick. It will cap out of pocket expenses and stop companies from charging extra for preventive care.

OFA Director Mitch Stewart
“Right now our system works better for insurance companies than it does for regular people. Right now, defenders of the status quo are putting special interest profits and partisanship above patient care. That’s why it’s so important we pass reform this year that gives all Americans more security and stability by bringing down costs, expanding choice, and guaranteeing everyone basic consumer protections. Let’s pass health insurance reform now.”

U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson
"It's time for people with a conscience to stand up and speak out.”

OFA Florida Director Ashley Walker
“Right here in Florida, OFA has been organizing and empowering volunteers across the state to make a difference in the health insurance reform debate by hosting phone banks, canvasses, house parties, organizational meeting and earned media events aimed at building support for the President’s plan for reform. Floridians need reform. We cannot delay reform for yet another year, another election cycle or another administration. The status quo is unsustainable.”

GEORGIANS RALLY FOR HEALTH INSURANCE REFORM

MORE THAN 700 GEORGIANS RALLY FOR HEALTH INSURANCE REFORM AT ORGANIZING FOR AMERICA’S HEALTH INSURANCE REFORM NOW STOP IN ATALANTA

Follows stops across the country with thousands of supporters as momentum builds to pass health insurance reform this year

More than 700 Georgians rallied to support efforts to pass health insurance reform this year at Organizing for America's Health Insurance Reform Now Bus Tour stop in Atalanta last night. Organizing for America Political Director Addisu Demissie was joined by State Senator Nan Orrock, White House Working Group on Health Reform; Rev. Rapheal Warnock, Ebenezer Baptist Church; Richard Ray, AFL-CIO State President, Dr. Deneta Sells, local physician and OFA volunteer; and Candice Walker, Georgia resident. Attendees also watched the President's address to a special session of Congress live at the event.
.
The stop was the first of the tour's second leg. Thousands rallied during the first 10-city leg to show their support for passing reform this year. The tour is part of a wider set of events being held throughout the nation highlighting the strong support for reform throughout the country. In the coming days, the Health Insurance Reform Now Bus Tour will make stops in Orlando and Tampa to continue amplifying the urgency of reforming our health insurance system this year.

These strong showings of support offer further evidence of the building momentum behind President Obama’s plan and the on-going efforts to pass health insurance reform this year.

At its core, President Obama’s plan accomplishes two goals: it provides Americans who have insurance with unprecedented stability and security, and provides those who don’t with quality, affordable choices. It also reins in skyrocketing costs that are hurting American families and businesses – without adding a dime to our nation’s deficit.

President Obama’s plan holds insurance companies accountable and makes the system work better for consumers. The plan makes it illegal for insurance companies to deny someone coverage because of a pre-existing condition, limit the amount of coverage someone can receive, or cancel someone’s coverage when they get sick. It will cap out of pocket expenses and stop companies from charging extra for preventive care.
OFA Political Director Addisu Demissie
“We are at a crucial time in our nation’s history. Every single one of us has something to lose if we do nothing. Health insurance reform isn't only for people without insurance - it's about anyone who's ever been afraid of losing their coverage because they got sick, changed jobs or lost their job. Reform will protect and promote choice for all Americans. If you have insurance, and you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. If you’re one of the 46 million Americans who don’t have insurance, reform will give you have a menu of quality, affordable plans to choose from.”

Committee and Senior Leaders Call Out Congressional Republicans

Democratic National Committee and Senior Leaders Call Out Congressional Republicans on Their Decades Long Effort to Kill Medicare

Full audio of the call can be found here: http://www.democrats.org/page/-/audio/calls/ConfCall130pm090909.mp3

WATCH the New DNC AD “REPUBLICANS WANT TO END MEDICARE”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59qMNRHupNI

Washington, DC – Today, on a call with reporters, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) along with Richard Fiesta, Government Affairs and Political Director for the Alliance for Retired Americans and Steve Regenstreif, AFSCME Director, Retiree Programs called out Congressional Republicans on their decades long effort to kill Medicare.

As part of their continued attempts to spread lies and misinformation about health insurance reform, Republicans have tried to scare seniors into thinking reform will result in cuts to Medicare benefits. This couldn’t be further from the truth -- the President’s proposed health insurance reforms will not cut benefits, but will strengthen the program by cutting waste, ending special interest subsidies and closing the prescription drug “donut hole.”

The real truth is, Republicans have been no friends to seniors. For decades, Republicans have fought to gut Medicare funding and have made repeated attempts to kill the program altogether. Even earlier this year, 137 Republicans voted for a House budget proposal which would have ended Medicare as we know it.

In response to this misinformation, the DNC released a new television ad which began running yesterday on national and District of Columbia cable stations and in ten Republican congressional districts, blasting the Republican Party for voting earlier this year to abolish Medicare and for its decades long hostility towards the health care program for our nation's seniors. "No Friend to Seniors" is running in the districts of U.S. Reps. Eric Cantor (VA), John Boehner (OH), Lee Terry (NE), Patrick Tiberi (OH), Mary Bono Mack (CA), Don Young (AK), Paul Ryan (WI), Michele Bachmann (MN), Jean Schmidt (OH), and Erik Paulsen (MN).

Brad Woodhouse, DNC Communications Director

“What we have seen out of Republicans for the last six weeks and what we saw out of Sarah Palin today in the Wall Street Journal is nothing short of deplorable. The Republican Party, Sarah Palin included, have opposed programs like Medicare, have opposed programs like Social Security, have wished that they had never been created and have proposed cuts to virtual elimination of both of these programs over time and have supported efforts to undermine programs that are vital to our Nation’s seniors… what Sarah Palin proposed today in her op-ed and the thing that she continues to talk about as it relates to seniors and health insurance reform is scurrilous, it’s risky, it’s scary and it has no place in this debate…Rhetoric has to be replaced with realty. The reality of what Republicans have proposed over and over again is to undermine Medicare, to outright abolish it, to dismantle Social Security and there’s no way that we’re going to listen to the Sarah Palin, John Boehner and Michael Steele’s of the world today telling us that they have the best interests of Seniors at heart… they are so concerned that President Obama is on the cusp of successfully implementing health insurance reform that they will literally say anything, they will take any port in this storm to try and undermine the President, to break him politically, as they have said they want to do, and to kill reform. So now they are trying to scare seniors with discussions of death panels, with erroneous accusations that President Obama and the Democrats would propose to cut Medicare benefits - none of which is true - and we are not going to let them get away with it.”

Steve Regenstreif, AFSCME Director, Retiree Programs

“All across the country, the opponents of health care reform are spreading misinformation about President Obama’s proposals to improve health care coverage for all Americans. We shouldn’t be surprised by that – the insurance companies, the right-wing radio hosts, the K Street lobbyists and the Republican leadership who are spreading the misinformation have a vested interest in keeping the status quo. They are willing to lie to protect industry profits.”

Richard Fiestia, Government Affairs and Political Director, Alliance for Retired Americans

“Again today, and this last month, we’ve seen the gang that wanted to take the ‘security’ out of Social Security with privatization in 2005 is now back in 2009 wanting to take the ‘care’ out of Medicare…right now in health care reform we have an exciting moment before us that could actually do positive change for seniors -- we can close the ‘donut hole’ in the coverage gap in Medicare part D, we can lower prescription drug costs”