Officials: Navy SEALs thought bin Laden went for weapon
Separately, officials said the Navy SEALs who stormed bin Laden’s compound shot and killed him after they saw him appear to lunge for a weapon.
The officials, who were briefed on the operation, said several weapons were found in the room where bin Laden died, including AK-47s and side arms.
Obama, in an interview with CBS News, said bin Laden’s death had been well established and people who didn’t believe it wouldn’t be convinced by gruesome photos, either. “It would be of no benefit to gloat, he added. “There’s no need to spike the football.”
“There are going to be some folks who deny it. The fact of the matter is you won’t see bin Laden walking on this earth again,” said Obama.
The new word about the reason bin Laden was shot and killed rather than taken into custody came after changing White House accounts — first that he was armed, then that he wasn’t — that raised questions about the rationale.
Photos taken by the SEAL raiders show bin Laden shot in the head, numerous officials have said. CIA director Leon Panetta said Tuesday he expected at least one photo to be released. Asked about that, White House spokesman Jay Carney said the decision had not been made at that time.
Some family members 9/11 victims thought it important to document bin Laden’s death, as did some skeptics in the Arab world who doubted his demise.
Republican Sen Lindsey Graham, of South Carolina, said in a statement that Obama’s decision was a mistake.
“The whole purpose of sending our soldiers into the compound, rather than an aerial bombardment, was to obtain indisputable proof of bin Laden’s death,” Graham said. “I know bin Laden is dead. But the best way to protect and defend our interests overseas is to prove that fact to the rest of the world.”
But many other lawmakers and others expressed concerns that the photographic images could be seen as a “trophy” that would inflame US critics and make it harder for members of the American military deployed overseas to do their jobs.
Obama’s decision on the photos came a day ahead of his planned visit to ground zero in New York city to lay a wreath and visit with 9/11 families and first responders.
Attorney General Eric Holder, in an appearance on Capitol Hill, sought to underscore the legality of the shooting.
“Let me make something very clear: The operation in which Osama bin Laden was killed was lawful,” Holder told senators yesterday. The raid “was justified as an action of national self-defence” against “a lawful military target,” he said.
Carney said the SEAL team that raided the compound where bin Laden was living in Abbottabad, Pakistan, had the authority to kill him unless he offered to surrender, in which case the team was required to accept the surrender: “Consistent with the laws of war, bin Laden’s surrender would have been accepted if feasible.”
Meanwhile, officials said the two dozen SEALs involved in the operation are back at their home base ni Virginia and their extensive debriefing is complete.
US officials have begun to comb through the intelligence trove of computer files, flash drives, DVDs and documents that the commandos hauled out of the terrorist’s hideaway.
Bin Laden had about €500 sewn into his clothes when he was killed and had phone numbers with him when he was killed, US officials said, a possible indication that the terrorist mastermind was ready to flee his compound on short notice.
Meanwhile, the White House made another backtrack yesterday.
At the beginning of the week the White House led the media to believe President Obama and Hillary Clinton watched the raid as it happened. But the video feed stopped before US special forces stormed bin Laden’s hideaway.
CIA chief Leon Panetta yesterday conceded there was a 25-minute delay in the live feed and the troops’ arrival at the compound was not captured.
Panetta has said Obama came to know bin Laden was killed only after a team used the code “Geronimo,” signifying his capture.
Panetta stressed that officials in the Situation Room “didn’t know just exactly what was going on” for 20 to 25 minutes when the team entered bin Laden’s Pakistani compound.
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