Bin Laden was unarmed when SEALs stormed room,.,,?

SOURCE BY:MATT APUZZO and ADAM GOLDMAN, Associated Press – Tue May 3, 9:31 pm ET

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WASHINGTON – Osama bin Laden was unarmed when Navy SEALs burst into his room and shot him to death, the White House said Tuesday, a change in the official account that raised questions about whether the U.S. ever planned to capture the terrorist leader alive.

The Obama administration was still debating whether to release gruesome images of bin Laden's corpse, balancing efforts to demonstrate to the world that he was dead against the risk that the images could provoke further anti-U.S. sentiment. But CIA Director Leon Panetta said a photograph would be released.

"I don't think there was any question that ultimately a photograph would be presented to the public," Panetta said in an interview with "NBC Nightly News." Asked again later by The Associated Press, he said, "I think it will."

Asked about the final confrontation with bin Laden, Panetta said: "I don't think he had a lot of time to say anything." The CIA chief told PBS NewsHour, "It was a firefight going up that compound. ... I think it - this was all split-second action on the part of the SEALs."

Panetta said that bin Laden made "some threatening moves that were made that clearly represented a clear threat to our guys. And that's the reason they fired."

The SEALs were back in the U.S. at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington for debriefing on the raid, lawmakers said after meeting with Panetta.

The question of how to present bin Laden's death to the world is a difficult balancing act for the White House. President Barack Obama told Americans that justice had been done, but the White House also declared that bin Laden's body was treated respectfully and sent to rest in a somber ceremony at sea.

Panetta underscored on Tuesday that Obama had given permission to kill the terror leader: "The authority here was to kill bin Laden," he said. "And obviously, under the rules of engagement, if he had in fact thrown up his hands, surrendered and didn't appear to be representing any kind of threat, then they were to capture him. But they had full authority to kill him."

For the long-term legacy of the most successful counterterrorism operation in U.S. history, the fact that bin Laden was unarmed is unlikely to matter much to the Americans he declared war against. President George W. Bush famously said he wanted bin Laden "dead or alive," and the CIA's top counterterrorism official once promised to bring bin Laden's head back on a stake.

Yet just 24 hours before the White House acknowledged that bin Laden had been unarmed, Obama's chief counterterrorism adviser, John Brennan, said: "If we had the opportunity to take bin Laden alive, if he didn't present any threat, the individuals involved were able and prepared to do that."

Will it matter around the world? Some may try to make much of it in Pakistan and elsewhere.

"This country has gone through a lot of trauma in terms of violence, and whether or not he was armed is not going to make a difference to people who were happy to see the back of him," said Mosharraf Zaidi, a political analyst and columnist in Pakistan. "The majority have a mistrust of America and this will reinforce their mistrust of America."

Others may not even believe it.

"I think he was definitely armed and he was firing on U.S. commandos," said Hamid Mir, an anchor for Geo Television. "Osama told me many times that he will not surrender; he claimed that he will fight and I think he was fighting."

In Washington, the issue will become part of the political debate over Obama's terror policies. His national security team had offered differing accounts of what would happen if the U.S. ever had a chance to kill or capture bin Laden. And Republicans have criticized the president for shutting down the CIA's controversial network of overseas prisons and trying to close Guantanamo Bay, moves they say have left the U.S. with few options for interrogating terrorists.

On Monday, the White House said bin Laden was involved in a firefight, which is why the SEALs killed rather than captured him. On Tuesday, however, White House press secretary Jay Carney said bin Laden did not fire on the SEALs. He said bin Laden resisted but offered no specifics. Bin Laden's wife rushed the SEALs when they stormed the room, Carney said, and was shot in the calf

"Bin Laden was then shot and killed," Carney said. "He was not armed."

That was one of many official details that have changed in the two days since bin Laden was killed. A White House transcript misidentified which of bin Laden's sons was killed — it was Khalid, not Hamza. Officials incorrectly said bin Laden's wife died in gunfire while serving as his human shield. That was actually bin Laden's aide's wife, and she was just caught in cross fire, the White House said Tuesday.

Carney attributed those discrepancies to the fog of war, saying the information was coming in bit by bit and was still being reviewed.

"We provided a great deal of information with great haste in order to inform you, and through you the American public, about the operation and how it transpired and the events that took place there in Pakistan," Carney told reporters Tuesday. "And obviously some of the information came in piece by piece and is being reviewed and updated and elaborated on."

Five people were killed in the raid, officials said: Bin Laden; his son; his most trusted courier, Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti, and al-Kuwaiti's wife and brother.

After killing the world's most wanted terrorist, the SEAL team in just minutes quickly swept bin Laden's compound for useful intelligence, making off with a cache of computer equipment and documents. The CIA was hurriedly setting up a task force to review the material from the highest level of al-Qaida's leadership.

The documents provide a rare opportunity for U.S. intelligence. When a mid-level terrorist is captured, his bosses know exactly what information might be compromised and can change plans. When the boss is taken, everything might be compromised but nobody knows for sure.

Al-Kuwaiti inadvertently led intelligence officials to bin Laden when he used a telephone last year to talk with someone the U.S. had wiretapped. The CIA then tracked al-Kuwaiti back to the walled compound in a town near Islamabad.

The home was bigger than those nearby, and there were no phone lines or Internet cables running to it. But other than that, it didn't stand out in the neighborhood, where residents tend to be very religious and jealous of their privacy. The walls are mold-stained, there are trees in the garden and the windows are hidden. Once, when a woman involved in a polio vaccine drive turned up at the driveway, the men at the gate took the vaccine, apparently to administer to the 23 children at the compound, and told her to go away.

The Pakistani government has denied suggestions that its security forces knew anything about bin Laden's hideout or failed to spot suspicious signs. But in the closed-door briefing for lawmakers Tuesday, Panetta said, "Pakistan was involved or incompetent," a U.S. official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the private briefing.

Pakistan formally criticized the raid Tuesday, calling it an "unauthorized unilateral action." While the statement suggested further strain in U.S. relations with an important but at times unreliable counterterrorism ally, Pakistan is unlikely to have much world support for criticizing the successful mission.

Though Monday's pre-dawn raid on that compound was a major counterterrorism victory, there had been no guarantee of success. Government analysts suspected bin Laden was living there but could never prove it. Satellite surveillance provided the military with images to plan its strike but never captured a picture of bin Laden on the property.

With no assurance that bin Laden would be there, sending troops into Pakistan was a risky call. The SEALs could storm a compound and find no terrorists at all, leaving Pakistan furious about a U.S. military incursion. Or the Pakistani military, not realizing what was going on, could send its own air force to attack the SEAL team.

"What if you go down and you're in a firefight and the Pakistanis show up and start firing?" Panetta said in an interview with Time. "How do you fight your way out?"

With officials at the CIA and the White House watching on television monitors, tensions increased when one of the two Black Hawk helicopters lowered into the compound and, beneath a moonless sky, fell heavily to the ground. Officials believe that was due to higher-than-expected air temperature that interfered with the chopper's ability to hover — an aeronautical condition known as "hot and high."

Photos released by the White House show the president and national security team watching tensely as events unfolded. The CIA director said neither he nor Obama saw bin Laden shot.

The SEALs all got out of the downed helicopter and proceeded into the compound. As they swept through the property, they handcuffed those they encountered with plastic zip ties and pressed on in pursuit of their target, code-named Geronimo. Many SEAL team members carry helmet-mounted cameras, but the video beamed back to Washington did not show the fateful showdown with bin Laden, officials said.

That word came from the SEALs on the ground: "Geronimo EKIA" — enemy killed in action.

The CIA's makeshift command center erupted in applause as the SEALs helicoptered to safety.

Now, the agency's attention turns to finding the intelligence in the computer files, flash drives, DVDs and documents hauled out of the compound. All of that is in Washington and the analysis has begun. The SEALs also confiscated phone numbers from bin Laden's body, and those might provide new leads for investigators. If the intelligence provides the kind of insight about al-Qaida operations that officials hope, the U.S. could deliver follow-up strikes against al-Qaida's remaining leaders.

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Whole World:Threat remains after bin Laden killed by U.S. forces

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama warned Americans on Sunday night to remain vigilant even after the killing of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and while there are no known credible threats, the risk of attacks remains.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the FBI have not issued any warning of a credible or imminent threat in the wake of news that bin Laden was killed in Pakistan, but security will likely be ramped up to guard against possible retaliation.

"There is no doubt that al Qaeda will continue to pursue attacks against us. We must and we will remain vigilant at home and abroad," Obama said in a late-night televised statement announcing that U.S. forces had killed bin Laden.

DHS and FBI officials had no immediate comment about the risk of attacks or any new threats.

While bin Laden was seen as the leader of al Qaeda, because he was in hiding from U.S. forces he was reduced more to a figurehead, experts said. Meanwhile affiliates of his militant group have taken the lead in launching attacks.

Most attacks against U.S. interests have been by a Yemeni affiliate, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). The group has claimed responsibility for trying in October to send bombs packed in toner cartridges aboard cargo planes bound for the United States. They were intercepted and failed to detonate.

AQAP also backed an attempt on Christmas Day 2009 by a Nigerian man who tried but failed to detonate a bomb hidden in his underwear while aboard a U.S. commercial flight as it approached Detroit from Amsterdam.

"This doesn't end the terrorist threat to the United States, but it's the end of a key chapter to the War of Terror," said Juan Zarate, who served as deputy national security adviser for combating terrorism during George W. Bush's presidency.

"There may be a spike of threats initially, and there are other elements of the al Qaeda network who remain dangerous," said Zarate, now a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

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The Bin Laden's demise: US rejoices after a decade,,..

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WASHINGTON – After nearly a decade of anger and fear, America rejoiced Monday at the demise of Osama bin Laden, the terror mastermind behind the horrific 9/11 attacks. Navy SEALs who killed the world's most-wanted terrorist seized a trove of al-Qaida documents to pore over, and President Barack Obama laid plans to visit New York's ground zero.

Bin Laden, killed in an intense firefight in a daring raid at his fortified hideout in Pakistan, was hunted down based on information first gleaned years ago from detainees at secret CIA prison sites in Eastern Europe, officials disclosed.

His body was quickly taken away for burial at sea, but not before a DNA match was done to prove his identity. A U.S. official said there also were photos showing bin Laden with the fatal wound above his left eye, a gunshot that tore away part of his skull. The photos were not immediately released.

"The world is safer. It is a better place because of the death of Osama bin Laden," Obama declared, hours after U.S. forces killed the al-Qaida leader in the middle-of-the-night raid on his compound in Abbottabad. Obama was expected to visit New York, the site of al-Qaida's attack on the World Trade Center, and meet with the families of those killed, an administration official said.

The CIA already was poring over confiscated hard drives, DVDs and other documents looking for inside information on al-Qaida, including clues that might lead to his presumed successor, Ayman al-Zawahri.

Bin Laden's death after a decade on the run unloosed a national wave of euphoria mixed with remembrance for the thousands who died in the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. Crowds celebrated throughout the night outside the White House and at ground zero in Lower Manhattan where the Twin Towers once stood. Thousands of students at Penn State University and in other college towns spilled into the streets and set off firecrackers to mark the moment.

Obama reaped accolades from world leaders he'd kept in the dark about the operation as well as plaudits from political opponents at home. Republican and Democratic congressional leaders alike gave him a standing ovation at an evening meeting that was planned before the assault but became a celebration of its success.

"Last night's news unified our country" much as the terrorist attacks of 2001 did, Republican House Speaker John Boehner said earlier in the day. Obama later appealed for that unity to take root as the U.S. presses the fight against a terrorist network that is still lethal — and vowing vengeance.

The SEALs dropped ropes from helicopters at the compound, killed bin Laden aides and made their way to the main building where U.S. officials say the terror leader was slain in a gunfight. Within 40 minutes the Americans were gone, taking bin Laden's body to the USS Carl Vinson where he was slipped into the sea.

"For my family and I, it's good, it's desirable, it's right," said Mike Low of Batesville, Ark., whose daughter Sara was a flight attendant aboard the hijacked plane that was flown into the World Trade Center North Tower. "It certainly brings an ending to a major quest for all of us."

Halfway around the world, a prominent al-Qaida commentator vowed revenge for bin Laden's death. "Woe to his enemies. By God, we will avenge the killing of the Sheik of Islam," he wrote under his online name Assad al-Jihad2. "Those who wish that jihad has ended or weakened, I tell them: Let us wait a little bit."

U.S. officials conceded the risk of renewed attack. The terrorists "almost certainly will attempt to avenge" bin Laden's death, CIA Director Leon Panetta wrote in a memo that congratulated the agency for its role in the operation. "Bin Laden is dead. Al-Qaida is not."

Within a few hours, the Homeland Security Department warned that bin Laden's death was likely to provide motivation for attacks from "homegrown violent extremists" seeking revenge."

FBI spokesman Paul Bresson said, "While there are no specific, bin Laden-related threats at this time, every logical and prudent step is being taken to mitigate any developing threats." There were questions, as well, about Pakistan's role in bin Laden's years in hiding. Both Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said cooperation from the Pakistani government had helped lead U.S. forces to the compound where he died.

But John Brennan, White House counterterrorism adviser, told reporters it was inconceivable that the terrorist fugitive didn't have some support in Pakistan, where his hideout had been custom built six years ago in a city with a heavy military presence. "I am not going to speculate about what type of support he might have had on an official basis," he added.

Others were not as reticent.

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the Pakistani Army and intelligence agency "have a lot of questions to answer, given the location, the length of time and the apparent fact that this was actually — this facility was actually built for bin Laden, and its closeness to the central location of the Pakistani army."

By their condemnations, bin Laden's supporters confirmed his death in what U.S. officials said was an operation years in the making. Even so, officials were weighing the release of at least one photo taken of bin Laden's body as part of what Brennan called an effort to make sure "nobody has any basis to try and deny" the death.

U.S. officials said the information that ultimately led to bin Laden's capture originally came from detainees held in secret CIA prison sites in Eastern Europe. There, agency interrogators were told of an alias used by a courier whom bin Laden particularly trusted.

It took four long years to learn he was a Kuwaiti-born man named Sheikh Abu Ahmed, then years more before investigators got a big break in the case, these officials said. Sometime in mid-2010, Ahmed was overheard using a phone by intelligence officials, who then were able to locate his residence — a specially constructed $1 million compound with walls as high as 18 feet topped with barbed wire.

U.S. counterterrorism officials considered bombing the place, an option that was discarded by the White House as too risky, particularly if it turned out bin Laden was not there.

Instead, Obama signed an order on Friday for a team of SEALs to chopper onto the compound under the cover of darkness. In the ensuing 48 hours, the president toured tornado-damaged Alabama and delivered a joke-filled after-dinner speech to the White House Correspondents' Association. When the operation got under way, though, he slid into his chair in the Situation Room in the White House, where Brennan said the president and his aides "were able to monitor in a real-time basis the progress of the operation" from beginning to end.

Brennan strongly suggested a live video feed was available — SEALs customarily have video cameras attached to their helmets — and the White House released a photo showing the commander in chief, Vice President Joe Biden and top aides staring intently at something outside the picture. The White House did not say what they were looking at.

According to officials who declined to be identified by name, bin Laden was shot in the head during a firefight, and his body was identified to near 100 percent certainty through DNA testing. Photo analysis by the CIA, confirmation by a woman believed to be one of bin Laden's wives, who was also at the compound, and matching physical features added confirmation, they said.

The only information about what occurred inside the compound came from American officials.

In addition to bin Laden, one of his sons, Khalid, was killed in the raid, Brennan said. Bin Laden's wife was shot in the calf but survived, a U.S. official said. Also killed were Ahmed and his brother, both earlier identified as two of bin Laden's al-Qaida facilitators, and an unidentified woman.

Twenty-three children and nine women were in the compound at the time of the assault and were turned over to Pakistani authorities, said a U.S. official who requested anonymity to discuss an intelligence matter. The SEAL team believes Bin Laden had lived at the compound for six years, the official said.

Within 40 minutes, the operation was over, and the SEALs flew out — minus one helicopter, which had malfunctioned and had to be destroyed. Bin Laden's remains were flown to the USS Carl Vinson, then lowered into the North Arabian Sea.

There was one last nerve-wracking moment back inside the White House, Brennan said, when the Pakistanis started scrambling their jets and there was brief concern that the U.S. force might be in danger.

The decision to bury the body at sea drew condemnation from some Muslim clerics despite Obama's statement that the burial was handled in accordance with Islamic tradition.

"They can say they buried him at sea, but they cannot say they did it according to Islam," said Mohammed al-Qubaisi, Dubai's grand mufti. "Sea burials are permissible for Muslims in extraordinary circumstances. This is not one of them."

Bin Laden's death came 15 years after he declared war on the United States. Al-Qaida was also blamed for the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa that killed 224 people and the 2000 attack on the USS Cole that killed 17 American sailors in Yemen, as well as countless other plots, some successful and some foiled.







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