Osama unarmed when shot dead - US
The United States revealed Tuesday that Osama bin Laden was unarmed
when US commandos shot him dead and that Pakistani authorities had been
kept in the dark because they might have tipped off the Al-Qaeda leader.
Unusually frank remarks from the CIA chief betrayed the extent of the
distrust between the United States and Pakistan, a nuclear-armed ally
and key partner in the war against the resurgent Taliban in neighboring
Afghanistan.
"It was decided that any effort to work with the Pakistanis could
jeopardize the mission," Leon Panetta told Time magazine. "They might
alert the targets."
US officials, meanwhile, debated whether to scotch conspiracy
theories by releasing a "gruesome" photo of the dead bin Laden,
conscious that such an image would likely inflame strong passions in
some Muslim countries.
The White House gave the fullest account yet of the dramatic and
momentous raid on Sunday night that killed the architect of the
September 11, 2001 attacks and sparked scenes of relief and joy around
the Western world.
But officials did not clearly explain why bin Laden was shot dead and
not captured given that he was unarmed, fueling speculation that the
elite Navy SEAL team had been ordered on a kill mission.
"In the room with bin Laden, a woman - bin Laden's wife - rushed the
US assaulter and was shot in the leg but not killed," White House
spokesman Jay Carney said. "Bin Laden was then shot and killed. He was
not armed."
When pressed further, Carney said there had been significant
resistance, a "volatile firefight," and insisted: "We were prepared to
capture him if that was possible."
The fact that, after a years-long manhunt, bin Laden turned up in an
fortified compound in Abbottabad, home to the Pakistani equivalent of
the West Point and Sandhurst elite military academies just two hours'
drive north of Islamabad, has been greeted with incredulity.
Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari rejected as "baseless" charges
that his country extends safe haven to extremists, but outraged US
lawmakers are calling for billions of dollars in aid to be cut back or
dropped entirely.
US officials say DNA tests have proven conclusively that the man shot
above the eye in Sunday's raid was indeed the Al-Qaeda leader who
boasted about the deaths of nearly 3,000 people in the September 11
attacks.
But they are also mulling whether to release a photo as proof.
"It is fair to say it is a gruesome photograph... it could be
inflammatory," Carney said. "We are reviewing the situation."
In the operation, which lasted less than 40 minutes, Navy SEALs
approached in two helicopters and stormed bin Laden's compound, which
stood out from other properties because of its towering perimeter walls
and heavy security.
In addition to the bin Laden family, two other families resided
there: one on the first floor of the main residence and another in a
second building.
"There was concern that bin Laden would oppose the capture operation
and indeed he resisted," said Carney.
He noted that two Al-Qaeda couriers and a woman were killed on the
first floor of the building, while bin Laden and his family were found
on the second and third floor. The fifth person killed in the raid was
believed to be one of the Al-Qaeda leader's sons.
After the firefight, other residents of the compound were moved to a
safe location as the US team detonated a damaged helicopter before
leaving for the USS Carl Vinson in the North Arabian Sea.
US officials have revealed how the trail for bin Laden had gone cold
for years until August 2010, when the CIA tracked a courier and his
brother to the large compound in Abbottabad, north of Islamabad.
After months of top-secret planning, the operation came down to a
simple command delivered by Obama on Friday - "it's a go."
The president and his top lieutenants gathered in the White House
Situation Room to watch the dramatic operation remotely as it unfolded.
Then came confirmation that bin Laden - code-named "Geronimo" - was now
"EKIA:" Enemy Killed in Action.
The United States says bin Laden received Muslim rites before his
body was "eased" into the Arabian Sea on Monday so no one could turn his
grave into a shrine. Muslim leaders have condemned the sea burial. AFP
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