Officials: SEALs thought bin Laden went for weapon

[Turborama]

Source: AP

By KIMBERLY DOZIER and ERICA WERNER, Associated Press – 2 hrs 11 mins ago

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama ordered grisly photographs of Osama bin Laden in death sealed from public view on Wednesday, declaring, "We don't need to spike the football" in triumph after this week's daring middle-of-the-night raid. The terrorist leader was killed by American commandos who burst into his room and feared he was reaching for a nearby weapon, U.S. officials said.

Several weapons were found in the room where the terror chief died, including AK-47 assault rifles and side arms, the officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity as they offered the most recent in a series of increasingly detailed and sometimes-shifting accounts of bin Laden's final minutes after a decade on the run.

=snip=

After two days of shifting accounts of the dramatic raid, Carney said he would no longer provide details of the 40-minute operation by the team of elite Navy SEALs. That left unresolved numerous mysteries, prominent among them an exact accounting of bin Laden's demise. Officials have said he was unarmed but resisted when an unknown number of commandos burst into his room inside the high-security compound.

The officials who gave the latest details said a U.S. commando grabbed a woman who charged toward the SEALs inside the room. They said the raiders were concerned that she might be wearing a suicide vest.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110505/ap_on_re_us/us_bin_laden

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

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[Joanie Baloney]

3. Hmmm

I had never heard of the Quds and wondered why you equate U.S. Navy SEALs to them. According to Wikipedia, this is the Quds' mission:

"The Federation of American Scientists, in a document from 1998, says the primary mission of the Quds Force is to organize, train, equip, and finance foreign Islamic revolutionary movements. It further states that the Quds Force maintains and builds contacts with underground Islamic militant organizations throughout the Islamic world."

Doesn't sound much like what the SEALs are known for.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quds_Force

[Joanie Baloney]

4. Darn it...too slow

I guess I can't watch the Lakers AND research Quds at the same time.

:wtf:

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

7. Right, it doesn't sound like a SEAL type group

but it might almost sound like an Army Special Forces type group. Send in a few people, build the locals into a fighting force capable of coordinating with US/NATO/UN support groups. They're generally thought to be a more sociable group than SEALs, who are not known for making friends among the indigenous populations that they encounter.

Distinctions and generalizations like this are often wrong, of course.

:hi:

[FarPoint]

2. I even assumed he had a weapon and I

am sitting at my computer...Shoot to kill at first glance for me with Bin Laden...good call SEALS!

[Turborama]

11. Me too, I also assumed that the house could very likely have been booby trapped with explosives

And he could have had a trigger - or even a suicide vest - hidden on him somewhere.

[aquart]

5. Do. Not. Care.

Wrap it up in all the clean linen you can find, I don't care. HE'S DEAD. My only regret is that he didn't suffer.

[Name removed]

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[Name removed]

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[Name removed]

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[groundloop]

10. In a high tension situation like this raid there are bound to be variances in eyewitness details....

This is the first experience a lot of these people in the administration have with a highly charged high profile raid like this, and in my opinion they jumped the gun in a rush to get information out. The press secretary should have just stated that no information will be released yet, waited 'till the SEALs were all debriefed, and then released the facts. I realize the press secretary was trying to keep us informed, but in such an important matter as this it would seem prudent to wait until all the details are reconciled.

HOWEVER, I see this as only a very minor slip in an otherwise amazingly well run operation.