[Costello:] Today marks five years since US Navy SEALS killed Osama Bin Laden at his compound in Pakistan. And in a CNN exclusive, "We Got Him," airing tonight on AC 360, President Obama and key members of his inner circle talk to Peter Bergen about the raid that took down the 9- 11 mastermind.
[Barack Obama, President Of The United States:] On decisions like this you're leaning in a certain direction. I had been inclined to take the shot fairly early on, in the discussions. But you hold back the decision until you have to make it. And in the end, what I very much appreciated was the degree to which we had an honest debate. One of the lessons I drew from that was that good process leads to good results. I could honestly say, by the time that I made the decision, that everybody had had their say. That we had all the information that we were going to be able to get. We had not looked at it through rose colored glasses. We knew the risks involved. We had prepared as well as we could. And it was in that way, emblematic of presidential decision making, you're always working with probabilities. And you make a decision, not based on 100 percent certainty, but with the best information that you've got.
[Costello:] CNN National Security Analyst, Peter Bergen is with me now. The most amazing part is you were in the situation you were in the room where they were watching that video monitor...
[Peter Bergen, Cnn National Security Analyst:] Yes.
[Costello:] ... when the raid going down. What was that like?
[Bergen:] Well President Obama came in the room and said this is the first time that he'd done something like this, sit down with a reporter in the situation room. And it's interesting that the situation room's really complex. So this famous iconic picture is actually not the real situation room, it's a smaller office off the side. But he kind of walked us through it. You know, the main situation room where they have the final meeting about whether to go or not. He got conflicting advice that could redates. Vice President Biden said, you know, urged caution. We learned from the President in this interview that he was leading towards doing the raid early on. Then we went into the smaller room where that iconic photograph was taken and he kind of walked us through what it was like. And obviously, he knew yeah
[Costello:] Just looking at the President's face in that picture...
[Bergen:] Yes.
[Costello:] Did you ask him what was going through his mind at that moment, when he decided to say, "go for it."
[Bergen:] You know, I mean, I think he that's a lonely place to be, right? Because in our system, Commander In Chief is, you know, it's not a group decision. And he, I think he he's a very careful guy. He weighed the pros and cons. He thought this was he was worried that the clock was running. I mean, you know, might the information leak, might Bin Laden leave? These were very real and accurate concerns.
[Costello:] Hillary Clinton, she was also in the room, and since she is running for President, was she on the side of, "go for it?"
[Bergen:] She was on the side for "go for it," as she tells us in the special that will air tonight.
[Costello:] And were her reasons the same as President Obama's, or did they have differing opinions?
[Bergen:] Well I think she would have come to the same conclusion. Don't forget she was Senator in New York, here on 9-11. She visited the World Trade Center the day after. For her, it was a very visceral, emotional thing. And she's tended to take hawkish positions in this administration. And she thought this was the right thing to do.
[Costello:] You say highly emotional. I would think it would be very difficult to put your emotions aside and make this kind of decision when you're not a military person.
[Bergen:] Well they had great faith in Admiral McRaven, who we interview at length in the special. He's a commander of Joint Special Operations Command. He came back to them, said, "look, we've rehearsed for three weeks. We can do this." So there wasn't a concern from a military point of view that this they thought that it would probably work out. The real concern was we're going into a country that we're normally allied with. It's you know, we're not informing them. SEALS could get we could get in a fire fight with the Pakistanis, with the Pakistani army, had a major facility around the corner, pretty much, from where Bin Laden lived. That was the concern.
[Costello:] Well so, just quickly. After it was all over and the raid proved successful, did they all cheer?
[Bergen:] No, there were no high-fives, there were no this is, it was a very serious I mean, they were, they were still worried about getting the guys out, really making sure it was Bin Laden who was dead.
[Costello:] And that helicopter, yes, I know, that backed out. Peter Bergen, thank you so much...
[Bergen:] Thank you, thank you.
[Costello:] ... I can't wait to see the special. Peter's special, by the way, "We Got Him." President Obama, Bin Laden, and the Future of the War on Terror," airs tonight, 8:00 p.m. Eastern, only on CNN. Thank you for joining me today. I'm Carol Costello, AT THIS HOUR with Berman and Bolduan starts after a break.