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'Justice Has Been Done' in Slaying Bin Laden, Van Hollen Says

Congressman delivers lecture named for GU dean killed on Sept. 11

Rep. Chris Van Hollen said the Sunday raid on Osama bin Laden's compound in Pakistan has been "a long time coming, but justice has been done."

Van Hollen (D-8th District) spoke Monday at Georgetown University.

"We'll never be able to get the lives that were lost, but justice was done," Van Hollen said.

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The fight against Al Qaida will go on, he said, even though the international terrorist organization has lost its founder and leader.

Van Hollen was at the university to deliver the Whittington Lecture at the Georgetown University Public Policy Institute. The lecture is named for Leslie Whittington, a Georgetown dean and professor.

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Whittington, along with her husband and two daughters, were on American Airlines Flight 77, which was flown into the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001.

"Last night when I learned about the death of Osama bin Laden and reflected on the fact that I'd be speaking at the Whittington lecture, I thought about how fitting it was that we'd be gathered here today," said Van Hollen, a Georgetown Law School graduate.

The lecture focused on federal budget issues. Van Hollen, a Kensington resident who serves on the House Budget Committee, criticized the Republican plan for the federal budget for failing to make strategic investments for the future and not adequately supporting entitlement programs.

He also criticized the Republican approach to reducing the national deficit for focusing exclusively on cutting spending rather than also looking for ways to increase revenue.

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