Abbottabad, the site of bin Laden's slaying, is planning to build a $30 million amusement park By Priyanka Boghani, GlobalPost
A
local residents walks near a house, seen at centre, on Wednesday, June
15, 2011, where al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden was caught and killed in
Abbottabad, Pakistan on May 2, 2011. (Credit: AP/Aqeel Ahmed)
Pakistan is planning to build an amusement park in the town of Abbottabad, notorious for being the site of Osama bin Laden’s death.
The
amusement park and outdoor activity center is planned for the edge of
the northwestern town and will begin construction in the next two weeks.
“This
project has nothing to do with Osama bin Laden,” said Syed Aqil Shah,
the provincial minister for tourism and sports, adding that the 50-acre
development would also include restaurants, a heritage center and
manmade waterfalls.
“The amusement city will be built on 50 acres in the first phase but later will be extended to 500 acres,” he told Agence France-Presse.
“We are working to promote tourism and amusement facilities in the whole province and this project is one of those facilities.”
“The project will take five years to complete,” Jamaluddin Khan, the deputy provincial minister for tourism, told Reuters, that it would include a zoo, a mini-golf course, rock climbing and paragliding.
Javed
Abbasi, a provincial member of parliament who supported the park, said,
“It was unfortunate that Osama stayed here but I don’t think it was the
fault of the city, where he had no support,” according to the Guardian. “People are not fanatic, they do not support terrorists – you cannot blame a city if someone hides here.”
Bin
Laden was killed in his compound by US Navy SEALs in a raid on May 2,
2011. The large white villa has since been demolished, Reuters noted.
Bin Laden's demise has made al-Qaeda "a lot more rudderless"Photo: AP
Osama bin Laden bemoaned "disaster after disaster" inflicted by the US onslaught on al-Qaeda before his death a year ago and even mulled changing his terror group's name, a top US official said.
President Barack Obama's top counter-terrorism aide John Brennan on Monday also argued that a US drone campaign had left al-Qaeda seriously weakened, and unable to replace wiped-out leaders.
Mr Brennan said in a speech in Washington that the terror group was losing "badly," was a "shadow" of its former self, and that its core leadership would soon be "no longer relevant."
He said the al-Qaeda leader's frustration at the demise of his group, which was behind the September 11 attacks in 2001, poured out in documents seized from his Pakistan compound by US Navy SEAL commandos who killed him a year ago.
"He confessed to 'disaster after disaster'" for al-Qaeda, Mr Brennan said, noting that some of the captured material would be published online this week by the Combating Terrorism Center at the US Military Academy at West Point.
Mr Brennan also said that subsequent US operations to wipe out senior al-Qaeda leaders in Pakistan had left the group reeling.
"Under intense pressure in the tribal regions of Pakistan, they have fewer places to train and groom the next generation of operatives, they're struggling to attract new recruits.
"Morale is low," Mr Brennan said in a speech at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars, which was briefly interrupted by a Code Pink anti-war demonstrator who was hauled out of the room by a burly policeman.
News of bin Laden's death broke in Washington late on May 1, 2011, and in Pakistan on May 2, owing to the time difference.
Mr Brennan said that the documents gathered at bin Laden's lair in Abbottabad, outside Islamabad, show the late al-Qaeda leader urged subordinates to flee for places "away from aircraft photography and bombardment."
Things got so bad for the group which plotted the 9/11 attacks, the deadliest terror strike in US history, that bin Laden considered changing the group's name in a rebranding effort, he said.
Mr Brennan's speech will likely prompt new claims by Republicans that the Obama campaign is exploiting the anniversary of the bin Laden raid to boost the president's prospects of reelection in November.
Senior Obama aides are clearly using the president's decision to launch the high-risk raid as an implicit comparison to the character of his presumptive Republican rival Mitt Romney.
The president himself implicitly suggested in a news conference on Monday that Romney may not have ordered the high-stakes raid last year.
Mr Brennan also claimed that the administration's tactics against al-Qaeda had made it harder than ever for the terror network to plan and execute large-scale, potentially catastrophic attacks.
"Today, it is increasingly clear that compared to 9/11, the core al-Qaeda leadership is a shadow of its former self," Mr Brennan said.
"al-Qaeda has been left with just a handful of capable leaders and operatives, and with continued pressure is on the path to its destruction.
"And for the first time since this fight began, we can look ahead and envision a world in which the al-Qaeda core is simply no longer relevant."
Mr Brennan's speech amounted to the administration's most comprehensive public survey about the state of the struggle against al-Qaeda.
He spent considerable time defending strikes by unmanned US aerial drones in nations like Pakistan, crediting them with dismantling al-Qaeda's top leadership and causing bin Laden's distress.
Mr Brennan said the strikes were legal, ethical and proportional, and added that Obama had instructed officials to share more details about the secret war.
Despite lauding the administration's achievements in hammering top al-Qaeda leaders and the group's capacity, Mr Brennan also warned that global terror threats were still potent, particularly those emanating from Africa.
"As the al-Qaeda core falters, it continues to look to its affiliates and adherents to carry on its murderous cause," Mr Brennan said, warning that the group's merger with the Shebab group in Somalia was "worrying."
He said that Yemen-based al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) remained a threat, despite the strike that took out radical US-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who directed its external operations.
A Pakistani doctor accused of running
a vaccination programme for the CIA to help track down Osama Bin Laden
should be put on trial for high treason, a government commission in
Pakistan has said. Such
a charge carries the death penalty and is likely to infuriate U.S.
officials, who are pushing for Dr Shakil Afridi's release.
He
has been in the custody of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence
agency since soon after the May 2 American raid that killed bin Laden.
Treason: Dr Shakeel Afridi, left, could hang for helping the U.S. find Osama Bin Laden by setting up a vaccination programme
The agency was humiliated and
outraged by the covert American operation and is aggressively
investigating the circumstances surrounding it.
Dr
Afridi's fate is a complicating issue in relations between the CIA and
the ISI that were strained to the breaking point by the Bin Laden raid.
U.S.
and Pakistani officials have said Dr Arifdi ran a vaccination programme
in the Pakistani town of Abbottabad where the Al Qaeda leader hid in an
effort to obtain a DNA sample from him. Dr Afridi was detained in the days after the U.S. operation. He has no lawyer.
A Pakistani government
commission investigating the raid on bin Laden said in a statement that
it was of the view that: 'a case of conspiracy against the state of
Pakistan and high treason' should be registered against Dr Afridi on the
basis of the evidence it had gathered.
It did not elaborate.
The
commission, which interviewed Dr Afridi and the head of the ISI,
Lieutenant General Ahmed Shuja Pasha this week, has been tasked with
investigating how bin Laden managed to hide in the army town of
Abbottabad for up to five years, and the circumstances surrounding the
U.S. operation.
Death scene: The compound where Bin Laden hid was found with the help of the doctor
Situation Room: President Barack Obama and his
national security team watched events unfold together. They will be
angered by the news
It is headed by a Supreme Court
justice, and its members include a retired general, a former diplomat, a
former police chief and a civil servant.
It
is unclear why the body would make this recommendation public, and
whether it will lead to charges being filed against Dr Afridi.
The
commission was formed amid intense international pressure for answers
over how bin Laden was able to live undetected for so long in
Abbottabad, an army town close to the capital.
Sceptics will say it is unlikely to achieve that goal, given the power of the ISI and the army, and may well end up a whitewash.
The
vaccination ruse has been widely criticised by aid agencies, which have
said it could harm legitimate immunisation programmes in Pakistan.
The
vaccination team was reported to have gained access bin Laden's house
in Abbottabad, but that it did not confirm bin Laden's presence there.
American
authorities are trying to rescue the Pakistani doctor, his wife and
children, and take them to the United States, according to Pakistani and
US officials.
LOS ANGELES, May 26 – US film giant Columbia Pictures said Tuesday it has won the US distribution rights for a film about the killing of Osama bin Laden, to be directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Kathryn Bigelow.
Bigelow (picture) and journalist-turned screenwriter Mark Boal, who won Oscars for Iraq bomb squad movie “The Hurt Locker” in 2010, had already been working on a project about the Al-Qaeda chief’s capture or killing, before his death on May 2.
Immediately afterwards there were reports they were scrambling to decide what to do with the project, but Tuesday’s announcement by Amy Pascal of Columbia’s parent company Sony Pictures Entertainment confirmed the plans.
“Bigelow and Boal have been developing the project since 2008 and plan to incorporate recent events into the film,” said a statement, adding that the film will focus on “the black ops mission to capture or kill” bin Laden.
Pascal added: “With the death of Osama bin Laden, this film could not be more relevant. Kathryn and Mark have an outstanding perspective on the team that was hunting the most wanted man in the world.
“Mark is second to none as an investigative journalist, and Kathryn will bring the same kind of compelling authenticity and urgency that distinguished The Hurt Locker and made that film so memorable and special.”
Boal and Bigelow will produce the as-yet unnamed movie with Annapurna Picture’s Megan Ellison, and executive producer Greg Shapiro. Filming will start in late summer, with the film to be released in the last quarter of 2012.
There is a long history of movies based on real events, from “JFK” to “Titanic,” or more recently “United 93” about the heroism of passengers who prevented a fourth plane from hitting its mark on 9/11.
Bigelow has built her career via movies notable for their macho characters, whether it’s bank-robbing surfers in “Point Break” to adrenaline-addicted bomb squads in “The Hurt Locker.”
She became the first woman to win the best director Oscar last year for “The Hurt Locker,” a nerve-jangling movie about a US Army bomb disposal squad in Baghdad.
The low-budget drama, based on a screenplay by Boal after he was embedded with a bomb squad in 2004, beat sci-fi epic “Avatar,” directed by her ex-husband James Cameron, at the 2010 Academy Awards. – Reuters
After the US killing of Osama bin Laden on May 1, the organization Women for Afghan Women reported an eerie quiet in Kabul, the capital of strife-torn Afghanistan.
"Police are patrolling the streets," Manizha Naderi, executive director of Women for Afghan Women, wrote to her supporters the day after the Al Qaeda terror boss was shot dead following a 40-minute gun battle with the US Navy Seals in the army town of Abbottabad in Pakistan. "But very few people are walking around, and even at the office, people aren't talking about the news that is ricocheting across the world - Osama bin Laden has been killed."
Naderi instructed all staff members "to lie low for the next few days," Offices would remain open, but travel would be avoided, she said. Since bin Laden's death on May 2, little has changed outwardly. Given the society, it is unsure what will happen.
"We simply cannot know whether the death of bin Laden is or is not good for the Afghan people, but we are worried about what will happen next," Naderi wrote. "Will Al Qaeda and the Taliban be weakened? Will negotiations with the Taliban be stepped up? Will this decade-long chapter in Afghanistan's history end with the foreign troops hastening away?"
Naderi advocates for women in a country that recently took the limelight for a reason other than its Taliban sphere of influence. Afghanistan came last on Save the Children's latest annual global rankings of countries on the basis of maternal health. The best place in the world to be a mother, according to these rankings, is Norway, where the average maternity leave is about one year.
The reasons for Afghanistan's last place - 164 out of 164 - are no doubt numerous, but Naderi writes about the group's difficulty of setting up shelters for battered women highlights women's lack of autonomy there. Women continue to be subjected to kidnappings, widow sales, child marriages, forced marriages and sexual assaults in different parts of the country.
Subjected to forced marriages and deprived of their rights, many women seek refuge in suicide, escape from home and divorce, says Fawzia Amini, in charge of the human rights department at the Ministry of Women's Affairs, confirming that girls are banned from going to school and university.
"The government still wants shelter clients to be handed over to any family member who comes to claim them," Naderi said. "WAW will never agree to such a clause because it negates the whole purpose of a safe house. With the continued support of all our allies and supporters, we will prevail in this case as well."
In closing her note to WAW's supporters, Naderi said that bin Laden's death has done little for the girls and women in this country. "They still live in a country that is ravaged by poverty, corruption, violence and terror. They still must cope with a conservative culture that does not uphold their human rights."
The condition of Afghan women is horrific at best. Hundreds of women set themselves afire last year out of despair over their condition despite the Afghan government's alleged commitment to equal rights, according to the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) said on Sunday. Nearly 2,800 cases of violence against women and girls were reported to the rights watchdog from different parts of the country, AIHRC official Latifa Sultani told Pajhwok Afghan News.
The incidents included 144 self-immolations, 261 attempted suicides, 237 forced marriages, 538 beating and 45 murder cases. The self-immolation attempts left 75 dead and 20 others disabled. Twenty-two individuals recovered after treatment, according to the AIHRC. Of the rights violations reported to the commission, 2,269 pertained to violence, including 119 self-immolation, 23 suicide, 134 murder and 909 severe beating cases.
Dr. Arif Jalali, a doctor at the Herat Civil Hospital, said the hospital had received 90 women who committed self-immolation in the western zone. Fifty-one of them succumbed to their injuries.
In the solar year 1388 (AD 2009), 85 women resorted to self-immolation in western Afghanistan. Fifty-nine of them lost their lives. Most of them were aged between 15 and 25 years. As many as 69 women lost their lives to domestic violence and family feuds in 1389, compared to 64 such deaths in 1388, the report said
Sociologists noted high self-immolation rates among women refugees who returned to Herat from Iran, where living conditions were much better, the report said. On coming back to Afghanistan, their husbands failed to meet their expectations and respect their rights. As a consequence of frustration, they tended to end it all, the experts explained.
AIHRC Commissioner Nader Naderi viewed women's inadequate access to judicial redress as a major factor behind the increasing violence. "As long as relevant laws are not implemented, the scourge can't be eliminated." Urging religious scholars to preach respect for women, he said, violence against females had pushed up the overall crime graph.
Fawzia Amini said the human rights department at the Ministry of Women's Affairs registered 6,765 cases of violence against women and girls across the country. During the previous year, such cases stood at 6,692.
But acting Minister of Women's Affairs Husn Bano Ghazanfar believes the violence against women has not risen, according to the report. In fact, Husn said, women have gained greater awareness of their rights and are increasingly reporting their cases to the ministry.
Read more about the AIHRC at http://www.rawa.org/temp/runews/2011/04/17/violence-against-women-on-the-rise-aihrc.html#ixzz1MqnCHBj0
By arrangement with Women's eNews. Corinna Barnard is editor of Women's eNews. http://www.womensenews.org/story/the-world/110506/bin-laden-death-raises-cautious-questions-in-kabul Copyright Women's Feature Service)
In the exclusive footage, obtained by Kamal Hyder, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Islamabad, the group is shown vowing revenge for the al-Qaeda leader's death.
The message, from a man called Umar Khalid, said the group would "take revenge" for Osama's killing, saying that Pakistan and the US's intelligence agencies were now on its "hit list".
He added that bin Laden's influence was still strong despite his death.
"Osama bin Laden has given us the ideology of Islam and Jihad ... by his death we are not scattered ... but it has given us more strength to continue his mission," he said.
"It took the Americans 11 years to kill Osama but for us it is easy, we will take our revenge in less than a few months."
Khalid and his men are now hiding in the mountains, and appear to be well-armed with assault rifles and other weapons. They are also shown with a laptop and a radio.
The group use motorcycles and a station wagon, camouflaged under several inches of mud, to move around.
Meanwhile on Wednesday, dozens of fighters attacked security checkpoint in northwestern Pakistan, killing two policemen and wounding several others.
Up to 100 fighters reportedly stormed the post near the Khyber tribal area, a stronghold for Taliban fighters.
The Taliban have staged a number of attacks in Pakistan since bin Laden was killed in a US raid on May 2 near the Pakistani capital Islamabad.
Last Friday, at least 76 people were killed in a double suicide bombing on a Frontier Constabulary training centre in the northwestern town of Charsadda.
The Pakistani Taliban said they carried out the attack - this year's deadliest on the security forces - to avenge bin Laden's death in a compound in the Pakistani town of Abbottabad.
Al-Qaeda's interim leader
In another development on Wednesday, Al Jazeera learned that al-Qaeda has appointed a temporary leader and a new head of operations.
Saif al-Adel, an Egyptian, was named interim leader, while Mustafa al-Yemeni, would direct operations.
US prosecutors say Adel is one of al-Qaeda's leading military commanders and helped plan the bomb attacks against the American embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam in 1998.
They also say he set up al-Qaeda training camps in Sudan and Afghanistan in the 1990s.
An al-Qaeda expert had said on Tuesday that Adel would likely not act as head of the organisation.
"This role that he has assumed is not as overall leader, but he is in charge in operational and military terms," Noman Benotman, a former bin Laden associate who is now an analyst with Britain's Quilliam Foundation think tank, said.
Adel was believed to have fled to Iran after the US invasion of Afghanistan following the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, and was subsequently held under a form of house arrest there, according to some media reports.
Arab media reports said Iranian authorities released him from custody about a year ago, and he then moved back to the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region. Some analysts say Adel may have returned to Iran or Afghanistan in recent weeks.
A stash of pornographic videotapes was among the "treasure trove" of computer files, video tapes and documents U.S. forces scooped up from the compound where Osama bin Laden resided in Abbottabad, Pakistan early this month, Reuters reports, citing current and former U.S. officials.
"The pornography recovered in bin Laden's compound ... consists of modern, electronically recorded video and is fairly extensive, according to the officials, who discussed the discovery with Reuters on condition of anonymity," Reuters' Mark Hosenball and Tabassum Zakaria write.
The officials told Reuters, however, they did not know who at the compound "had acquired or viewed the materials," and weren't sure where in the three-story compound the material was found.
The reported discovery has provoked more than a little skepticism among chroniclers of the war against terrorism. It's not unusual, after all, for U.S. intelligence officials to float claims such as this to sully the image of jihadist piety maintained by bin Laden and his al Qaeda operation. The idea is to demoralize al Qaeda adherents who might otherwise pledge themselves to acts of vengeance such as today's bombing in Pakistan.
U.S. officials declined to comment, although one source, who insisted on anonymity, said that the report of the porn stash at the compound is true, and not an intelligence-engineered propaganda claim.
But Wired's Spencer Ackerman is not so sure:
If this is a CIA information operation — and how could it not be? — it's the greatest one of all time. In public, bin Laden is the pious, self-proclaimed vanguard of a violent Islamic uprising. Alone in his compound, he's beating it like it owes him cash. ...
Are the reports true? You'll have to be the judge.
The Reuters report cites three U.S. officials saying "the discovery of pornography is not uncommon in such cases."
One regional expert said whether true or not, the report could inflame tensions in Afghanistan and Pakistan, where Muslims may perceive it as an insult against them.
(Undated image from video seized from Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, released by the Defense Department on May 7, 2011: Department of Defense, File/AP Photo)
Washington (CNN) -- A conservative legal watchdog group has filed the first lawsuit seeking public release of video and photographs of the U.S. military raid and aftermath that left al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden dead.
Judicial Watch is asking the Department of Defense to comply with a Freedom of Information request for the material, especially photos of the September 11 mastermind lying dead on the third floor of his Pakistan hideout. The legal complaint to force compliance was made in federal court in Washington on Friday.
The group says it is being "irreparably harmed" by the Obama administration's "unlawful withholding of requested records."
Judicial Watch made its initial request the day after the commando assault by Navy SEALs. A similar request for material was filed against the CIA.
President Barack Obama had announced that the U.S. government would not reveal any photographs of the May 2 military action and bin Laden's subsequent burial at sea. Some members of Congress have been allowed to privately view the materials this week.
Some al Qaeda-affiliated leaders, along with domestic and foreign websites and blogs, have questioned whether bin Laden was really killed and whether the details of his death released by the administration were accurate.
A May 9 letter from the Pentagon to Judicial Watch -- mentioned in the legal complaint -- stated, "At this time, we are unable to make a release determination on your request within the 20-day statutory time period" required by federal law. The legal group had the option of filing an administrative appeal directly with the Defense Department, rather than going for a lawsuit.
"The American people have a right to know, by law, basic information about the killing of Osama bin Laden," Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said. "Incredibly, the Obama administration told us that it has no plans to comply with the Freedom of Information law, so we must now go to court. President Obama's not wanting to 'spike the football' is not a lawful basis for withholding government documents. This historic lawsuit should remind the Obama administration that it is not above the law."
Obama had barred any public release of photos or video, telling CBS News, "It is important to make sure that very graphic photos of somebody who was shot in the head are not floating around as an incitement to additional violence or as a propaganda tool." He added, "We don't trot this stuff out as trophies. We don't need to spike the football."
Judicial Watch calls itself a "a conservative, nonpartisan educational foundation (promoting) transparency, accountability and integrity in government, politics and the law."
Pakistan has denied allegations of complicity or incompetence in the Osama bin Laden case.
Yousuf Raza Gilani, the country's prime minister, said that it was "disingenuous" for anyone to accuse either the Pakistani state or its various institutions, including its intelligence agencies, of "being in cahoots" with al-Qaeda.
Addressing parliament on Monday, Gilani said it was Pakistan's spy agency that had given "key leads" that ultimately led to the US raid on the compound in Pakistan's Abbottabad where bin Laden lived.
He said that his country attached high importance to its relations with the United States, but warned that "unilateral actions" such as the raid on bin Laden's house in Abbottabad ran the risk of serious consequences.
Blaming "all intelligence agencies of the world" for failing to track bin Laden, Gilani said that an inquiry has been ordered, to be led by Pakistani Lieutenant-General Javed Iqbal.
"We will not allow our detractors to succeed in offloading their own shortcomings and errors of omission and commission in a blame game that stigmatises Pakistan," said Gilani, who termed allegations of complicity or incompetence on the part of Pakistan as "absurd".
He said that the country's relations with the United States remained "strong", and that the relationship was based on mutual trust and respect. He said that both sides have agreed a continuing process of dialogue on issues of difference.
"We have a strategic partnership that we believe serves our mutual interests," he said. The prime minister also said that co-operation on intelligence was essential to serve both countries' objectives.
Regarding engagement with the world's major powers, Gilani said that an "ongoing multi-track process" would continue apace, adding that engagement with India would be pursued in a "positive and constructive manner".
Later on Monday, Jay Carney, the White House spokesman, said that the United States wants to have a "cooperative relationship" with Pakistan.
"We believe it is very important to maintain a cooperative relationship with Pakistan, precisely because it's in our national security interests to do so," Carney told a news briefing.
He also said that the US would "not apologise for the action that this president took" in ordering the raid on Abbottabad.
'Justice done'
The Pakistani premier said that al-Qaeda had "declared war" on Pakistan, and that the killing of bin Laden, its leader, was "justice done".
He said the Pakistani people and its government were "united in our resolve to eliminate terrorism", and asserted that there were no divides in the government between the military and intelligence services and the elected government.
He also said that Pakistan was determined not to allow its soil to be used for terrorism.
"Pakistan is not the birthplace of al-Qaeda ... we did not invite Osama bin Laden to Pakistan," he said, while saying that the blame for the creation of radical militant groups after the Afghan War against the Soviets must be shared amongst everyone involved. He placed particular emphasis on the US role in encouraging jihad "in the name of Islam and as a national duty".
Gilani said that Pakistan "has lost some 30,000 men, women and children", and more than 5,000 armed forces personnel in the fight against terrorism, adding that this fight was a "national priority".
"We are not naive to declare 'Mission accomplished'. The myth of Osama bin Laden must be demolished...the anger of ordinary people against injustice, tyranny and oppression must be addressed ... otherwise this rage will find new ways to be expressed," he said.
Gilani said that he "emphatically den[ied] the existence of .. a divide" in Pakistan's state institutions, and also rejected criticism of the armed forces' reaction to the US raid, saying that the armed forces "reacted as was expected of them".
He also warned against any attacks on Pakistan's "strategic assets" - a term often used by the government when referring to its nuclear weapons - by saying that the Pakistani military would respond to such an incursion "with full force".
No other country or security agencies had done as much as Pakistan's armed forces and ISI to kill or capture al-Qaeda fighters and leaders, Gilani said, adding that Pakistan had "cautioned international forces on" the implications of a "flawed military campaign" in Afghanistan.
Regarding the allegations against the ISI of either having actively harboured bin Laden, or incompetent at tracking his whereabouts, the prime minister said such "speculative narratives in the public domain are meant to create despondency".
PM Gilani said that the military and intelligence agencies were to give a joint session of parliament an in-camera briefing on the situation on May 13.
The prime minister also made a reference to Pakistan's "all-weather friend China", saying that its leadership as a regional power in technological and other advances was laudable.
International criticism
Delivered in English, the speech appeared to be directly aimed at the criticisms of the Pakistani government in the wake of the killing of the al-Qaeda leader.
On Sunday, US President Barack Obama appeared on the US television show '60 Minutes', saying that it appeared clear to the United States that "some sort of support network for bin Laden [existed] inside of Pakistan".
Al Jazeera's Kimberly Halkett in Washington DC reported that there have been some "sharp criticisms" of Pakistan emerging from the US capital in recent days.
"Really this is a direct response to what has been taking place in the US for the past week, and that has been some really tough questions about what the Pakistani government knew, what the Pakistani military knew and what the intelligence wing knew," she said.
Mosharraf Zaidi, an Islamabad-based analyst, told Al Jazeera that he did not believe that Gilani's speech would go down well with the Pakistani domestic audience.
"I don't think that at any way, shape or form, the prime minister did anything to assuage Pakistani citizens, Pakistani voters, Pakistanis who are worried about their own security and about the functionality of this country," he said.
"This was a very poor speech - it was basically a cut-and-paste job from the sort of meandering and bungling statements that have come out of foreign ministry, ... the military and ... the ministry for information.
"What the Pakistani people want to hear is some degree of confidence building for the future, how the Pakistani state will respond to this, how it will protect the lives of the Pakistani people and how it will ensure that Pakistan isn't made to look like a pariah and rogue nation."
Wajid Shamsul Hassan, Pakistan's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, however, told Al Jazeera that the speech was "very comprehensive", and lauded Gilani for placing the conflict in Afghanistan and the formation of al-Qaeda within the historic context of US support for Taliban fighters in the 1980s.
Regardless of the denial, some Pakistani analysts suspect that members of Pakistan's intelligence services did know that bin Laden was hiding out in the country.
"Somebody in a position of authority had to know," said Ayesha Siddiqa, a security analyst and author of "Military Inc", a book on Pakistan's military.
Talat Masood, a retired general and defence analyst, said that if there was any official complicity in keeping bin Laden hidden, it was most likely at the local level.
"I feel definitely there were influential people who were protecting him," he said.
In a separate development, sections of the Pakistani press have released what they claim is the name of the CIA station chief in Islamabad. If it is true, this would be the second time the name of the CIA's top operative in Pakistan's name would have been released in six months.
Ibb, Yemen (CNN) -- When 18-year-old Amal al-Sadah became the fifth wife of 43-year-old Osama bin Laden in 2000, she was "a quiet, polite, easygoing and confident teenager" who came from a big, conservative family in Yemen, a relative told CNN in an exclusive interview.
The relative, Ahmed, who knew al-Sadah growing up, said she came from a traditional family in Ibb, Yemen -- established and respectable but certainly with no militant views paralleling the al Qaeda leader's terrorism.
The family had no connection to al Qaeda prior to the arranged marriage, Ahmed told CNN during an interview in Ibb on Friday.
While some accounts say a matchmaker put the couple together, the relative wasn't sure of that report, adding he heard many stories about how the two were betrothed.
"She was a very good overall person," Ahmed told CNN. "The Sadah family is a big family in Ibb. The family of Amal was like most Yemeni families. They were conservative but also lived a modern life when compared to other families.
"The family is a respected family and is well known. The family had no extremist views, even though they came from a conservative background," Ahmed said, referring to al-Sadah's parents and siblings.
The Yemeni government is apparently pressuring the family not to speak publicly about their notorious in-law, bin Laden, Ahmed said.
"From what I know, the government would give the Sadah family an extremely difficult time and always warns them from talking to the media," Ahmed said. "The government tells them that the information or comments they give would be misunderstood or misinterpreted and could hurt the family more than the government."
An al Qaeda figure in Yemen named Sheikh Rashed Mohammed Saeed Ismail said he arranged the marriage and told the Yemen Post in 2008 that he was "the matchmaker" and that al-Sadah was one of his students, describing her as "religious and pious enough."
Ismail, whose brother spent time as a detainee at Guantanamo Bay, accompanied the young bride-to-be to Afghanistan in July 2000, where she and bin Laden were married after he gave her family a $5,000 dowry.
The marriage was apparently a political alliance to shore up bin Laden's support in the land of his ancestors.
"I was told after they got married that Osama did not want to cut his ties with his ancestral home, Yemen," Ahmed said.
Back in Yemen, al-Sadah was barely spoken of again, Ahmed told CNN.
"After her marriage, we heard a little about her, and her direct family knew the dangers of talking about such topics," Ahmed said. "Even if anyone asked them about her, they would avoid talking about the issue."
At first, Yemeni authorities didn't seem aware that they were giving al-Sadah a passport in 2000 for the purpose of marrying bin Laden in Afghanistan, Ahmed said.
"Only a small number of people knew about the story of the marriage in the start, so it wasn't difficult to travel," Ahmed said. "The Yemeni government gave the family a hard time after she left Yemen. The family is still being watched and have been interrogated dozens of times. Her father also went through a lot."
The marriage was immediately fruitful, and al-Sadah and bin Laden gave birth to their first child, a daughter named Safiyah, in Kandahar, Afghanistan, in the weeks after 9/11.
According to Pakistani officials this week, Safiyah was inside the Abbottabad, Pakistan, compound where bin Laden was killed Monday by U.S. Navy SEALs, and she probably saw her father shot dead.
Ahmed asserted that al-Sadah and bin Laden also bore other children, but he couldn't provide details in his brief interview with CNN.
After 9/11, bin Laden told Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir that he had plans for his youngest daughter, Safiyah.
"I became a father of a girl after September 11," he said. "I named her after Safiyah who killed a Jewish spy at the time of the Prophet. (My daughter) will kill enemies of Islam like Safiyah."
In the aftermath of bin Laden's death, al-Sadah has told interrogators that for five years, she didn't venture outside the walled compound, according to a Pakistani military spokesman.
Al-Sadah, now 29, who was wounded in the raid, said she lived in the compound in Abbottabad with eight of bin Laden's children and five others from another family, Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas told CNN this week.
All of them have been in Pakistani custody since the pre-dawn U.S. commando raid Monday that killed bin Laden, and they will eventually be returned to their country of origin, Abbas said.
With five wives, bin Laden had a total of 20 children, and one of his adult sons was also reported killed in the commando assault.
Osama bin Laden is shown holding a remote while watching himself on television in this video frame grab released by the U.S. Pentagon May 7, 2011. REUTERS/Pentagon/HandoutBy David Alexander
WASHINGTON, May 8 (Reuters) - Osama bin Laden was actively engaged in directing his far-flung network in plots against the United States from the compound in Pakistan where he was killed, a senior U.S. intelligence official said as new video images of the al Qaeda leader were released on Saturday.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said information carted away from the compound by U.S. forces after Monday's raid, represented the largest trove of intelligence ever obtained from a single terrorism suspect.
"This compound in Abbottabad was an active command and control center for al Qaeda's top leader and it's clear ... that he was not just a strategic thinker for the group," the official said. "He was active in operational planning and in driving tactical decisions."
President Barack Obama's administration released five video clips of bin Laden taken from the compound, most of them showing the al Qaeda leader, his beard dyed black, evidently rehearsing the videotaped speeches he sometimes distributed to his followers.
None of the videos was released with sound. The intelligence official said it had been removed because the United States did not want to transmit bin Laden's propaganda.
But he said they contained the usual criticism of the United States as well as capitalism.
While several video segments showed him rehearsing, one showed an aging and gray-bearded bin Laden in an austere setting, wrapped in a blanket and wearing a ski cap while watching videotapes of himself.
The official said the personal nature of the videos was further evidence that the man killed in the raid was bin Laden, who carefully managed his public image.
The revelations came as senior Pakistani officials said bin Laden may have lived in Pakistan for more than seven years before he was shot dead by U.S. Navy SEALS, a disclosure that could further strain relations between the two countries.
One of bin Laden's widows told Pakistani investigators that he stayed in a village for nearly two and a half years before moving to the nearby garrison town of Abbottabad, close to the capital of Islamabad, where he was killed.
The wife, Amal Ahmed Abdulfattah, said bin Laden and his family had spent five years in Abbottabad, where one of the most elaborate manhunts in history ended on Monday.
"Amal (bin Laden's wife) told investigators that they lived in a village in Haripur district for nearly two and a half years before moving to Abbottabad at the end of 2005," one of the security officials told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
Abdulfattah, along with two other wives and several children, were among 15 or 16 people detained by Pakistani authorities at the compound after the raid.
The senior U.S. intelligence official said bin Laden's identity had been confirmed after his death in several ways -- by a woman at the compound, by facial recognition methods and by matching against a DNA profile with a likelihood of error of only 1 in 11.8 quadrillion.
An initial review of the information taken from the compound showed bin Laden continued to be interested in attacking the United States and "appeared to show continuing interest in transportation and infrastructure targets," the official said.
NOT "A FIGUREHEAD"
"The materials reviewed over the past several days clearly show that bin Laden remained an active leader in al Qaeda, providing strategic, operational and tactical instructions to the group," the official said. "He was far from a figurehead. He was an active player, making the recent operation even more essential for our nation's security."
Pakistan, heavily dependent on billions of dollars in U.S. aid, is under intense pressure to explain how bin Laden could have spent so many years undetected just a few hours drive from its intelligence headquarters in the capital.
Suspicions have deepened that Pakistan's pervasive Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) spy agency, which has a long history of contacts with militant groups, may have had ties with bin Laden -- or that at least some of its agents did. The agency has been described as a state within a state.
Pakistan has dismissed such suggestions and says it has paid the highest price in human life and money supporting the U.S. war on militancy launched after bin Laden's followers staged the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on America.
Security officials said Pakistan had launched an investigation into bin Laden's presence in the South Asian country seen as critical to stabilizing neighboring Afghanistan.
"It is very serious that bin Laden lived in cities (in Pakistan) ... and we couldn't nail it down fully," said one of the Pakistani officials.
The U.S. intelligence official said Washington assumed Ayman al-Zawahiri, al Qaeda's No. 2 leader, was likely to assume control of the organization following bin Laden's death, but that was uncertain because he was disliked in some quarters.
"To some members of al Qaeda he's extremely controlling, is a micromanager and is not especially charismatic," the official said.
New York (CNN) -- Information taken from Osama bin Laden's compound in Pakistan indicates that al Qaeda was mulling attacks on a handful of U.S. cities, timed to significant dates, a U.S. official said.
One law enforcement source said that an alert issued Thursday and tied to rail security is the first new notice that can be linked to the early Monday raid on the Abbottabad compound where the al Qaeda leader was found and killed.
That notice says that, in February 2010, al Qaeda members discussed a plan to derail trains in the United States by placing obstructions on tracks over bridges and valleys.
The plan was to be executed later this year, coinciding with the 10th anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks. But no specific city or rail system was identified in the notice.
"It is not surprising that we would find this kind of information in the home of the world's most wanted terrorist," said one U.S. official.
The federal department confirmed the notice went out to federal, state, local and tribal authorities, with spokesman Matt Chandler stressing that "this alleged al Qaeda plotting is based on initial reporting, which is often misleading or inaccurate and subject to change."
"We have no information of any imminent terrorist threat to the U.S. rail sector, but wanted to make our partners aware of the alleged plotting; it is unclear if any further planning has been conducted since February of last year," Chandler said.
Material gathered from the same compound also suggests that al Qaeda was particularly interested in striking Washington, New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, according to the official.
U.S. authorities have found that al Qaeda appears especially interested in striking on significant dates like July 4, Christmas and the opening day of the United Nations.
These threats come days after U.S. commandos were helicoptered into a northern Pakistan housing compound, where they killed bin Laden and four others, then took off with his body and numerous materials.
The cache included audio and video equipment, suggesting bin Laden may have taped makeshift messages there, a U.S. official said. Ten hard drives, five computers and more than 100 storage devices, such as disks and thumb drives, were also found, a senior U.S. official told CNN. Commandos also recovered five cell phones, paper documents and five guns, including AK-47s and pistols.
Earlier Thursday, a U.S. official speaking to CNN on condition of anonymity said that "valuable information has been gleaned already," though no specific plots or terrorist suspects were identified.
Members of the U.S. special operations unit involved in that raid will meet with President Barack Obama on Friday, a senior administration official said Thursday.
Obama will travel to Fort Campbell in Kentucky on Friday "to privately thank some of the special operators involved in the operation," according to the official. On Wednesday, the president met at the White House with Adm. William McRaven, the head of the Joint Special Operations Command "to thank him personally."
More details, meanwhile, emerged Thursday about the operation engineered and executed by this team, according to a U.S. official with knowledge of debriefings from Navy SEALs involved.
The raid occurred in a span of 38 minutes early Monday morning, following CIA reports of repeated sightings of a tall man doing "prison yard walks" around the yard of the housing compound in Abbottabad, which was under constant surveillance, this official said. U.S. authorities never definitely determined beforehand that the man was in fact bin Laden, but they eventually concluded that there was enough evidence to go through with the operation.
The first man killed in the mission -- which this official said was code-named "Operation Neptune Spear" -- was the Kuwaiti courier who had worked for bin Laden. He was shot dead after a brief gunfight in a guest house. From that point on, it is now believed no other shots were fired at the U.S. forces, the official said -- which contrasts to earlier U.S. government reports describing the operation as a "firefight."
The troops then moved into the compound's main three-story building, where they shot and killed the courier's brother. As they went upstairs and around barricades, one of bin Laden's sons rushed at them and was subsequently killed, according to this latest account. Neither of these men had weapons either on them or nearby, this official said.
The U.S. official said that the team then entered the third-floor room where bin Laden was, along with his Yemeni wife and several young children. The al Qaeda leader was moving, possibly toward one of the weapons that were in the room, when he was shot, first in the chest and then in the head. He never had a gun in hand but, like the other men, posed an imminent threat, according to the U.S. official.
An unidentified woman also was killed.
Afterward, one SEAL lay down beside the dead bin Laden to measure his height and further determine that he, in fact, was the man who for years has ranked atop the FBI's "Most Wanted Terrorists" list. He had 500 euros (about $745) in cash and two telephone numbers sewn into his clothing when he was killed, a congressional source present at a classified briefing on the operation told CNN Wednesday.
While the Friday meetings will focus on this raid, Thursday was about those personally affected by followers of bin Laden, when they turned hijacked jetliners filled with fuel and passengers into missiles aimed at New York and Washington.
Nearly 3,000 people were killed in the September 11, 2001, attacks. The vast majority of the victims were killed when two hijacked planes crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center, causing them to collapse. A third plane crashed into the Pentagon outside Washington, killing 184 people, plus the five hijackers. The fourth hijacked jetliner was heading for a target in Washington when it crashed in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after passengers rushed to take control of the plane. Forty passengers and crew, not including the four hijackers, died in that crash.
Obama attended a wreath-laying ceremony and took part in a moment of silence at the latter site, which is now being rebuilt. The president also had lunch Thursday at the home of Engine Company 54, which lost 15 members in the towers' collapse.
The U.S. Navy SEAL team that killed bin Laden "were doing it in the name of your brothers that were lost," Obama told the firefighters.
"It's some comfort, I hope, to all of you to know that when those guys took those extraordinary risks going into Pakistan, that they were doing it in part because of the sacrifices that were made in the States," he said on his way into the firehouse.
Obama's meetings with firefighters were private exchanges, during which the president sought to mark the end of the nearly decade-long manhunt.
"Coming by was really a spectacular thing, you know," firefighter Joe Ceravolo told reporters after Obama's visit. "We just wanted to tell him we thank him for what he did on Sunday, and all the troops and all. We want to let them know that we're with them every step of the way, and God bless them. I mean, if it wasn't for them, you know, we'd still be chasing this guy."
Obama decided this week not to release photos of bin Laden himself, saying it would be distasteful and wouldn't satisfy conspiracy theorists. Still, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Thursday in Rome that the al Qaeda leader's killing "sent an unmistakable message about the strength of the resolve of the international community to stand against extremism and those who perpetuate it."
But, she added, "the battle to stop al Qaeda and its affiliates does not end with one death."
Notably, the U.S. continues to devote extensive intelligence and law enforcement resources at home and abroad to rooting out terrorists. And the war continues in Afghanistan, where bin Laden was once hosted and now has 130,000 U.S. and allied troops still battling his followers and his Taliban allies.
Meanwhile, authorities are picking up the pieces from the raid -- not just evidence collected at the compound, but also trying to address fresh wounds and questions pertaining to the relationship between the United States and Pakistan.
U.S. authorities decided to not to alert their counterparts in the southwest Asian nation prior to the operation fearing the word will leak. And this week, CIA Director Leon Panetta told U.S. lawmakers this week that Pakistani officials were either "involved or incompetent" in bin Laden's case, according to two sources in a closed door briefing.
Pakistan backed the Islamic fundamentalist Taliban's rule over most of Afghanistan before 9/11. Even before Panetta's comments, U.S. officials had warned that some elements of Pakistan's powerful Inter-Services Intelligence agency remain supportive of extremists, even as the country battles its own Taliban insurgency.
But Pakistani Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir said Thursday he felt it is a "false charge" to assert that Pakistani authorities purposefully did not go after bin Laden and "are in cahoots with al Qaeda." He claimed that his country's intelligence agency alerted those in the United States about the presence of al Qaeda operatives in Abbottabad as early as 2004.
Yet he downplayed a potential rift with the United States over the raid, insisting that there has been an "excellent exchange of views" in recent days and that U.S.-Pakistani relations are "moving in the right direction."
At the headquarters of Pakistan's military on Thursday, armed forces chiefs issued a statement admitting that there had been "shortcomings in developing intelligence on the presence of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan." The statement said an investigation will be launched "into the circumstances that led to this situation," but the service chiefs defended the intelligence service's efforts in attacking al Qaeda leaders.
The army chief of staff, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, also "made it very clear that any similar action, violating the sovereignty of Pakistan, will warrant a review on the level of military/intelligence cooperation with the United States," the statement said.
Pakistan has ordered U.S. military personnel on its territory drawn down to the "minimum essential" level in the wake of the assault that killed bin Laden, the statement said.
During a Senate Foreign Relations committee hearing Thursday, legislators on both sides of the aisle said a new approach to Pakistan was now needed. Sen. Bob Corker, a Tennessee Republican, said that Pakistan's government is "very irrational."
"How could bin Laden have gone undetected living next door to Pakistan's equivalent of West Point?" said Sen. John Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat and the committee's chair.
But House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said that U.S. ties with Pakistan should be further strengthened, if anything. He said, "It's not a time to back away from Pakistan. It's time for more engagement, not less."
Clinton acknowledged the U.S.-Pakistan relationship is "not always an easy" one, but "it is a productive one for both of our countries."
"We are going to continue to cooperate between our governments, our militaries, our law enforcement agencies -- but most importantly between the American and Pakistani people, where we have made a commitment to helping them meet their needs and trying to establish a firmer foundation for their democracy," she said.
Barack Obama, the US president, has laid a wreath at Ground Zero in New York, where he met families of people killed in the September 11, 2001 attacks on the US.
The attacks are believed to have been ordered by Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaeda, who was killed by US forces earlier this week.
The president first paid a visit to Engine 54, a fire station from where 15 firefighters died attempting to save the nearly 3,000 people who were killed after planes were flown into the World Trade Center.
Addressing the firefighters, Obama said: "What happened on Sunday because of the courage of our military and the outstanding work of our intelligence sent a message around the world but also sent a message here back home."
The president said bin Laden's death sent out the message that "when we say we will never forget, we mean what we say".
"This is a symbolic site of the extraordinary sacrifice that was made on that terrible day,' Obama said.
The president viewed a memorial plaque commemorating the firefighters who were lost and then lunched privately with a dozen firefighters.
Rudy Giuliani, the mayor of New York at the time of the attacks, joined Obama in the visit to the station.
Bush rejection
The White House has stressed that Obama's visit to Ground Zero, his first since becoming president, was not a victory tour following bin Laden's killing, but a form of homage to the victims of the attacks that triggered Washington's "war on terror" against al-Qaeda nearly a decade ago.
Obama invited George Bush, his predecessor who was president at the time of the attacks, to join him at Ground Zero.
However, the former president decided not to attend.
"He appreciated the invite, but has chosen in his post-presidency to remain largely out of the spotlight," said Bush spokesman David Sherzer.
"This is a moment of unity for Americans and a moment to recall the unity that existed in this country in the wake of the attacks on 9/11," Jay Carney, the White House spokesman, said. "The invitation was made in that spirit."
Carney described the death of bin Laden as a "cathartic moment for the American people", adding that Obama wanted to "honour the spirit of unity in America that we all felt in the wake of that terrible attack".
"He wants to meet with them and share with them this important and significant moment, a bitter-sweet moment, I think, for many families of the victims," he said.
Obama ratings surge
The killing of bin Laden during a helicopter-borne commando raid deep inside Abbottabad is undoubtedly one of Obama's chief political triumphs since taking office in 2008, analysts said.
Polls showed an immediate surge in his ratings and even the usually squabbling Washington political establishment has rallied around the president.
The president's actions during the visit have been portrayed as part of the same attempt to retain an atmosphere of dignity in the wake of bin Laden's killing.
Obama has personally ordered that photographs of the al-Qaeda leader's dead body remain secret - despite a clamour from many people for some visual proof of his demise.
The Reuters news agency released several pictures of people killed in the operation that it said were taken by a Pakistani security official about an hour after the assault.
In an interview with 60 Minutes, the CBS news programme, to be aired on Sunday, Obama said: "It is important for us to make sure that very graphic photos of somebody who was shot in the head are not floating around as an incitement to additional violence.
"As a propaganda tool. You know, that's not who we are. We don't trot out this stuff as trophies. The fact of the matter is this was somebody who was deserving of the justice that he received.
"And I think Americans and people around the world are glad that he's gone. But we don't need to spike the football."
(Asia Sentinel) The US tarnished itself by executing bin Laden
It now appears, from “clarifications,” that the President of the United States gave the green light for the murder of another human being, if he didn't actually order it.
It is impossible to believe that Osama bin Laden would have been capable of making enough “threatening gestures” to invite homicidal retaliation from a heavily armed US Navy SEAL, probably wearing night-vision gear in what can be assumed to be total darkness at 2:20 am. It is questionable if Osama even saw the man who killed him, let alone threatened him.
This is a disgraceful and despicable act that has tarnished the image and principles of the United States, no matter Osama's crimes. It is a violation of the principles enshrined in the United States Constitution and the rule of law. It is at one with the attempt to murder Libyan dictator Muammar Ghadaffi in the current struggle for that country.
It may be argued that those principles are often more fiction than fact. Certainly, the United States stood by without interfering in the murder of South Vietnam leader Ngo Dinh Diem by his own troops in 1963. It helped to foment the 1973 coup that ousted Chile's democratically elected President Salvador Allende, who was either murdered or committed suicide. The CIA actively participated, at the request of the British MI6, in the coup that ousted the Iranian leader Mohammad Mosaddegh in 1954 over his nationalization of Iranian oil fields.
But the murder of a defenseless man, no matter what his crimes, when he could easily have been taken captive, is unacceptable. If democratic nations start to emulate the murders committed by jihadis, they are no better than those who flew the airplanes into the World Trade Towers and bombed the nightclubs of Bali.
It may be true that losers are denied both the spoils of war and a fair trial. But in the wake of World War II, Nazi leaders responsible for far worse crimes against humanity were put on trial at Nuremburg for war crimes. Ten of the top 24 Nazi leaders were hanged – and crucially, some were acquitted. In Japan, the Allied powers held trials that resulted in the execution of 920 Japanese combatants – and the acquittal of 1,018.
It may be argued that the evidence against Osama bin Laden would have resulted in his execution and thus there was no need to try him. That is specious nonsense.
As with the Germans at Nuremburg and the Japanese at Tokyo, an important principle has been ignored, and that is the use of a court of law for the purpose of illuminating for the general public the nature of the crimes committed against humanity.
The baying of the crowds in New York and Washington, DC over Osama's death, I am sad to say, represents what the United States has become. It has ceased to be the United States of Washington, Jefferson, Madison and Lincoln and become the United States of Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and George W. Bush. What is sad and astonishing is that Barack H. Obama, a Chicago liberal and Democrat, a so-called transformational figure, has become part of the crowd.
Osama bin Laden should have been in The Hague standing trial for crimes against humanity instead of at the bottom of the Arabian Sea.
If this is American exceptionalism, America is welcome to it. Superman, it is said, has given up his American citizenship.
Washington (CNN) -- Despite mounting pressure from some lawmakers and public opinion, President Barack Obama on Wednesday decided not to release photos of Osama bin Laden's body as evidence of his death, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said.
The decision settles the debate over whether to release the images, though Obama's choice is sure to garner criticism.
A senior Democratic official close to the White House told CNN that the president was "never in favor" of releasing the photos, even as CIA chief Leon Panetta made it sound like their release was imminent.
Obama felt that releasing the photos was unnecessary given the fact that so few credible voices have questioned the death, and that the conspiracy theorists would never be satisfied, the official said.
The decision not to appease critics with the photos came shortly after the president decided to release his long-form birth certificate to quell accusations that he was not born in the United States.
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton supported Obama's inclination to not release the photos, the official said.
House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer said he shares the president's view.
"In my opinion there's no end served by releasing a picture of someone who has been killed, and I think there is absolute proof that Osama Bin Laden was in fact the person that was taken into custody, was killed in the process in the firefight," he said.
But Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-California, who serves on the House Armed Services Committee, said Obama made the wrong choice.
"I want to see them personally," he said. "I did three tours. I'm not talking as a member of the Armed Services Committee -- as a Marine who did three tours because of 9/11. As Americans we deserve to see them."
Earlier, two top senators involved in national security also said the photos of bin Laden's corpse should be released.
Sen. Carl Levin, D-Michigan, who chairs the Armed Services Committee -- and who has not seen the photos -- said the United States should wait to allow the emotions of people around the world who may be sympathetic to bin Laden to cool down.
"I'd let a little time pass so we that we don't play into the hands of people who want to retaliate with what obviously will be a sensational picture. I would not want to feed that sensation, so I'd wait days or weeks," he said.
Sen. Saxby Chambliss, the top Republican on the Intelligence Committee -- who said he has seen the photos -- said they should be made public right away.
"I think the question is, what's the negative that could come from it?" Chambliss asked. "One of these days they're going to be released; it's a question of whether it be now on our terms or (let) somebody else do it."
Chambliss described the photos as "what you would expect from somebody who's been shot in the head. It's not pretty."
The two men answered questions from reporters as they entered a classified briefing in the Capitol on the bin Laden raid with the CIA Director.
Neither lawmaker immediately commented after news of Obama's decision.
Republican House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers said he was against releasing any photos, saying that he didn't want to make the job of U.S. troops abroad "any harder than it already is."
"Imagine how the American people would react if al Qaeda killed one of our troops or military leaders, and put photos of the body on the Internet. Osama bin Laden is not a trophy -- he is dead and let's now focus on continuing the fight until al Qaeda has been eliminated," he said.
The risks of release outweigh the benefits, he said.
Obama's decision comes as a poll shows that a majority of Americans support making the photographs public.
In a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll released Tuesday, 56% of those asked said yes, the government should release a photo of bin Laden's body. Another 39% said no. The poll of 700 adults had a sampling margin of 3.5%.
The government has said it matched DNA to confirm that the body was bin Laden's, and most have accepted that news as evidence of the outcome of the operation.
Some groups, however -- including the Taliban -- have questioned the assertion.
"(President Barack) Obama has not got any strong evidence that can prove his claim over killing of the Sheikh Osama bin Laden," Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mojahed said. "And secondly, the closest sources for Sheikh Osama bin Laden have not confirmed" the death.
Those who support releasing the images say that it will put to rest any critics or conspiracy theories, while others say that the photos will only inflame jihadists.
According to a senior U.S. official, the White House has received three sets of photographs. The first batch, which clearly shows bin Laden's body, was taken at a hangar in Afghanistan, the official said.
The official described one of the images as a clear, but gruesome, picture of the al Qaeda leader's face. Bin Laden is shown with a massive open head wound across both eyes, the official said, adding that the image would not be appropriate for the front pages of newspapers.
The other photos include the raid on the compound and bin Laden's burial at sea, according to the official.
They are not doing this with East- timor delegates but it is just piece of low class mentality that they want to show other. This country will appear as Pakistan , Sudan and Somalia one day.
A
local residents walks near a house, seen at centre, on Wednesday, June
15, 2011, where al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden was caught and killed in
Abbottabad, Pakistan on May 2, 2011. (Credit: AP/Aqeel Ahmed)
This article originally appeared on GlobalPost.
Pakistan is planning to build an amusement park in the town of Abbottabad, notorious for being the site of Osama bin Laden’s death.
LOS ANGELES, May 26 – US film giant Columbia Pictures said Tuesday it has won the US distribution rights for a film about the killing of Osama bin Laden, to be directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Kathryn Bigelow.
Still a horrific situation
