Pete Souza / White House 
 
 The people who gathered Sunday in the Situation Room know all about high-pressure situations. But this was something else. For 40 minutes, the President and his senior aides could do nothing but watch the video screens and listen to the operation and ensuing firefight on the other side of the world. At Barack Obama’s orders, special operations teams were invading the airspace of a foreign country, targeting a compound with unknown occupants, and hoping to get out unscathed. The target was America’s No. 1 enemy, Osama bin Laden. But no one knew for sure if he was even there. 
 
 The President sat stone-faced through much of the events. Several of his aides, however, were pacing. For long periods of time, nobody said a thing, as everyone waited for the next update. In the modern age, Presidents can experience their own military actions like a video game, except that they have no control over the events. They cannot, and would not, intervene to contact the commanders running the operation. So when word came that a helicopter had been grounded, a sign that the plan was already off course, the tension increased. 
 
 Minutes later, more word came over the transom. “Visual on Geronimo,” said a disembodied voice, using the agreed-upon code name for America’s most wanted enemy, Osama bin Laden. Word then came that Geronimo had been killed. Only when the last helicopter lifted off some minutes later did the President know that his forces had sustained no casualties. 
 
 The decision to attack had been made days earlier by the President. He gathered his senior intelligence, military and diplomatic team together in the Situation Room on Thursday afternoon to hear his options. There were already concerns about operational security. At that point, hundreds of people had already been read into the potential whereabouts of bin Laden. Any leak would have ruined the entire mission. 
 
 The intelligence professionals said they did not know for sure that bin Laden was in the compound. The case was good, but circumstantial. The likelihood, officials told the President, was between 50% and 80%. No slam dunk. Obama went around the table asking everyone to state their opinion. He quizzed his staff about worst case scenarios–the possibility of civilian casualties, a hostage situation, a diplomatic blow-up with Pakistan, a downed helicopter. He was presented with three options: Wait to gather more intelligence, attack with targeted bombs from the air, or go in on the ground with troops. The room was divided about 50-50, said a person in the room. John Brennan, the President’s senior counter-terrorism adviser, supported a ground strike, as did the operational people, including Leon Panetta at the CIA. Others called for more time. In the end, about half of the senior aides supported a helicopter assault. The other half said either wait, or strike from above. 
 
 Obama left the meeting without signaling his intent. He wanted to sleep on it. At about 8:00 a.m. on Friday, just before he boarded a helicopter that would take him to tour tornado damage in Alabama, Obama called his senior aides into the Diplomatic Room. He told them his decision: A helicopter assault. At that point, the operation was taken out of his hands. He was trusting the fate of his presidency to luck. 
 
 Correction: The original version of this story quoted the announcement in the Situation Room that Osama bin Laden had been sighted as “We’ve IDed Geronimo.” The source of that quote, who was in the room at the time, has since clarified that the exact words used were “Visual on Geronimo.” The story has been changed. 
 
 Photos: Obama Watches bin Laden Mission Unfold from the Situation Room 
 
 Official: Bin Laden Mission Was Kill Or Capture, Not Just Kill 
 
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– It was a daring gambit: Invade another nation's airspace, raid a compound, bag the world's most notorious terrorist, and get your troops out alive—all on the 50% to 80% chance Osama bin Laden was even there to begin with. Once President Obama ordered the raid on the Pakistan compound, all he could do was sit helplessly and literally watch as US soldiers a half a world away tried to carry out his orders. It was a vein-popping 40 minutes as the national security team monitored the mission from the Situation Room. "So when word came that a helicopter had been grounded," Michael Scherer writes in Time, "a sign that the plan was already off course, the tension increased." But minutes later the radio crackled: "We've ID'd Geronimo," bin Laden's code name. Next came "For God and country, Geronimo, Geronimo, Geronimo," reports MSNBC, confirming bin Laden's death. But "Only when the last helicopter lifted off some minutes later did the president know that his forces had sustained no casualties," writes Scherer. Click through the gallery for official White House photos.