Osama's killing a highlight of my tenure: Panetta

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]





WASHINGTON: Outgoing CIA director Leon Panetta said Thursday it had been "one hell of a ride" leading the spy agency and called the killing of al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden a highlight of his tenure.

In a final message to CIA employees titled "arrivederci," the son of Italian immigrants praised "America's silent warriors" at the agency and described what he called the peaks and valleys of his more than two year tenure.

"Emotionally, this job took me to both the depths and heights: from hearing we had lost seven of our own at Khowst (in eastern Afghanistan), to the moment that sealed one of the greatest successes in our agency's history -- ridding the world of Usama Bin Ladin," he wrote.

"We had one hell of a ride together."

Panetta won praise for the May 2 raid that killed the Al-Qaeda mastermind, with the spy agency hauling away a trove of material from bin Laden's Pakistani compound.

Panetta, who is due to be sworn in Friday as the next defense secretary, thanked agency employees and said he had witnessed "personal courage," "technological marvels" and "history in the making."