The Hill News

Osama bin Laden's death should covey the message to al Qaeda that they cannot wait out the U.S., Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Monday.

Clinton, in brief remarks this morning at the State Department, cheered the end of a "campaign of terror and violence" initiated by bin Laden well before the September 11, 2001 attacks against New York and Washington.

"You cannot wait us out. You cannot defeat us," Clinton said of the message to al Qaeda in bin Laden's slaying. "But you can make the choice to abandon al Qaeda and participate in a peaceful political process."

"Let us remind ourselves: This is America. We rise to the challenge, we persevere, and we get the job done," she added.

Clinton noted that bin Laden's attacks against the U.S. started well before 2001, and continued after the 9/11 attacks, with strikes in London, Madrid and a number of other attacks in majority-Muslim countries.

Bin Laden had been hidin! g out in a fortified mansion in Pakistan, against which U.S. forces launched a strike on Sunday. While some lawmakers have expressed concern that Pakistan has become a safe haven for terrorists, Clinton singled out that government to thank it for its "close cooperation" during yesterday's attack, and she said that relationship was even more important going forward.