1.+Introduction

=__**The Central Issue:**__=

====On May 1, 2011, a mission with one of the highest stakes in US military history – Operation Neptune Spear - was carried out with the goal of bringing Osama bin Laden to justice. Before dawn on the same day, 40 minutes after the invasion of a pair of Blackhawk helicopters into Pakistani airspace, Osama bin Laden, the alleged mastermind of the September 11 attacks on the United States, was dead.====

====At 11:35 pm EST on May 2 2011, President Barack Obama made an announcement that the American people had waited almost 10 years to hear: "I can report to the American people and to the world, that the United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaida and a terrorist who is responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent men, women and children," Obama said.==== ====Osama bin Laden has been the world’s most-wanted terrorist since more than 3,000 people were killed in al-Qaida’s attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001. The President said he was briefed last August on a possible lead to bin Laden’s location. He said the terrorist leader had been hiding in a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan which is a relatively affluent area about 50 kilometers north of Islamabad. Obama said he authorized a mission last week to "get Osama bin Laden and bring him to justice." The mission that killed him was known as Operation Neptune Spear, and the elite Navy SEAL team responsible for this absolute success was the Naval Special Warfare Development Group (DevGru, a.k.a. SEAL Team Six). An official said three other men were killed in the raid, including one of bin Laden's sons, and that a woman was killed while being used as a human shield by a male combatant.====

====However, the Pakistani government had been kept in the dark throughout the entire operation. In fact, the U.S.’s decision to strike bin Laden without informing Islamabad deeply embarrassed the Pakistani government. This was only exacerbated on May 9, when U.S. military officials mentioned that President Barack Obama had insisted that the assault team be large enough to muscle its way out of Pakistan in the event of a confrontation from hostile Pakistani troops or police officers.====

====The Pakistani government retaliated by releasing a statement condemning the attack as “an unauthorized unilateral action.” The statement voices Islamabad’s “deep concerns and reservations” over Washington’s decision to conduct the operation “without prior information or authorization from Islamabad.” Moreover, Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani told Washington that Pakistan could react to future U.S. raids on its soil with “full force”.====

====The clandestine mission is deemed by Pakistan as an affront to national indignity, and has sparked a furore over the infringement of Pakistan’s sovereignty. Furthermore, Pakistan is adamant that the U.S. has breached international law, human rights and humanitarian law - contrary to the U.S.’s stalwart claims that whatever efforts against terrorism must be done in on top of these laws.====

====The U.S., on the other hand, holds to an unwavering stance that it was imperative for them to infiltrate bin Laden’s territory undercover, lest the Pakistani government expose the mission. They also contend that the strike was a legitimate military action of national self-defence against terrorists, and served as a form of justified catharsis for the nation of America as well as the kith and kin of the innocent victims who were murdered during the September 11 attacks.====