White House Revises Account Of Bin Laden's Final Moments

WASHINGTON -- White House Press Secretary Jay Carney spent Tuesday correcting misstatements by administration officials on Osama bin Laden’s final moments before he was gunned down Sunday.

“We provided a great deal of information with great haste in order to inform you … about the operation,” Carney said during a briefing, in a concession that administration officials have erred in their details of the raid on bin Laden's compound outside of Islamabad, Pakistan. “Obviously some of the information came in piece by piece and is being reviewed and updated and elaborated on.”

Reading from a script carefully crafted by the Defense Department, Carney clarified that bin Laden was not armed with a gun when he was killed, contrary to some reports that he fired back at U.S. military operatives. In addition, White House counterinsurgency adviser John Brennan was wrong when he suggested Monday that one of bin Laden’s wives was killed serving as a human shield for bin Laden during gunfire.

“In the room with bin Laden, a woman -- bin Laden’s wife -- rushed the U.S. assaulter and was shot in the leg but not killed. Bin Laden was then shot and killed. He was not armed,” Carney said. Separately, another woman on the first floor was killed in crossfire, which may have led to Brennan's misstatement.

The White House spokesman wouldn’t say whether bin Laden had any kind of weapon when he was killed or what kind of resistance he put up. Carney said only, “There was concern that bin Laden would oppose the capture operation and indeed he resisted.”

Carney also retraced the steps by which bin Laden’s body was buried in the North Arabian Sea. The body was washed, placed in a white sheet and in a weighted bag, at which point a military officer “read prepared religious remarks” that were translated into Arabic by a native speaker. The body was then “placed on a prepared flat board, tipped up, and the deceased body eased into the sea,” he said.

The White House is still mulling whether to release a picture of bin Laden killed. While releasing such a photo would confirm once and for all to naysayers that bin Laden is dead, "It's fair to say it's a gruesome photograph," Carney said.

Comments

[RANDMAJESTIC]

12:57 AM on 05/07/2011

SWIM SAID THE MAMA FISHEY, SWIM IF YOU CAN----WE DUMPED HIM IN THE OCEAN FOR SHARK-CHOWDER SPAM___ BOOP-BOOP-DITTAM-DATTAM-WADDAM-CHEW!

[RANDMAJESTIC]

12:54 AM on 05/07/2011

HEY, TRUTH-SEEKERS-IT ALL COMES OUT IN THE WASH-BE COOL! NOTHING GETS THE BLOOD BUBBLING LIKE CHAMPAGNE AFTER A BLOODY-GOOD ASSASSINATION! HERE-I'LL LITE-UP THE CIGARETTE---PUFF-PUFF!

[onebluebrick]

03:30 PM on 05/06/2011

I cannot celebrate the death of any living thing, human or not. I do not find it difficult to accept the natural death of a person who had lived a long life, or the death of one who has been suffering. If the threat of radical and violent actions against our country has ended, then I am very glad of that,
but that is an impossible promise.

[eco124]

03:21 PM on 05/06/2011

Interesting article concerning ben Laden's dialysis and death.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1212851/Has-Osama-Bin-Laden-dead-seven-years--U-S-Britain-covering-continue-war-terror.html#ixzz1LbM3y6QT

[eco124]

02:52 PM on 05/06/2011

So many dramatic variations of dramatic stories from the Obama admin about finite military info coming from a very narrow and precise source.

[rnet11]

02:45 PM on 05/06/2011

Is it always necessary to smooth things over when the present President makes misstatements
or just flat out doesn't do a good job repkorting. To give the slightess glimmer that he would release the photos of Osama was a huge mistake. There should have been no question that would ever happen. If this had been President Bush the media would have been all over him. What horrible one sided reporting and I for one, just tired of it!

[RANDMAJESTIC]

12:37 AM on 05/07/2011

BETWEEN "Y PET GOATII" AND THE SAUCE-WHAT OTHER DIMENSION OF "MR. SKULL-AND-BONES" WAS DYNAMIC AND INTELLECTUALLY SOUND?! SOUNDS LIKE THE PUBLIC OPINION WON THOSE ROUNDS OF ASTUTENESS!

[Rodger leMonde]

02:01 PM on 05/06/2011

Perhaps if the media in their rush to get a story up hadn't asked every one and the pet cat what happened,then raced to post whatever they got without checking the account would be more consistent.

[rnet11]

02:46 PM on 05/06/2011

Totally agree!!!!!!

[RANDMAJESTIC]

12:40 AM on 05/07/2011

Please, dear Roger, wax a wee bit pedantic in your tea-cup at the bloody aftermath-it is so trite and superficial, bloke!

[hellnomo]

01:42 PM on 05/06/2011

Spin,spin lies lies,spin spinney spin spinnnnn.

[RANDMAJESTIC]

12:42 AM on 05/07/2011

"Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when spun of threads we use to deceive---"!!!

[1finetomato]

01:48 AM on 05/07/2011

Wow hellnomo! You said that so well in just a few words. Not confusing at all. I can see that being a book of Obama's biography.
What IS confusing to me is... Obama thinks Osama is evil enough that he gives the order to sneak into another country and kill the enemy which is evidently done in such a brutal disrespectful manner that he can't allow anyone to see a picture of it. Then he turns around and cleans the villian up and gives him what he believes to be a "respectful" burial. ???

[hellnomo]

12:39 PM on 05/07/2011

What's a little confusion when you're chasing a bump in the poles?

[eye never]

01:07 PM on 05/06/2011

uh, so they washed his body before throwing him overboard? how sweet! they should have chummed him for the sharks. to clear up all the BS, let's see the live action video from the helmet cams, duh. obama saved america a lot of time, defense lawyer money, and muslim propaganda by simply taking care of business. a summary execution was still to good for the slime. kudo's to whoever took the initiative! let three thousand souls rest in peace.
http://attorney-labor-lawyer.com/

[Ellen Parsons]

01:02 PM on 05/06/2011

I think some people just like to look at gruesome pictures. I think most do not.

[DianneU]

06:02 PM on 05/06/2011

I agree. Has anyone given thought to this? What if our President was assasinated by al Queda? Would you want to see his bloody body being carried in their streets and the people rejoicing over it? Don't you think about respect at all? It's being respectful to our own people as well as people everywhere NOT to disclose such a gruesome and personal photo as a person's death, no matter who the person might be.

[RANDMAJESTIC]

12:46 AM on 05/07/2011

aaaa- if memory serves me ( AND I DON'T WISH TO DRAG IN DINOSAUR HISTORY, BUT...) correctly-there was a lot of gore and brains falling out of JOHN F. KENNEDY'S SHATTERED SKULL IN DALLAS-- AND PEOPLE SAW THAT-BUT IT WAS SUPPRESSED FOR A LOOOOONG WHILE IN PICTURES.

[tomco727]

12:47 PM on 05/06/2011

give me a break this guy is an joke ,I nobody could be worse than Gibbs

[nicothebaker]

11:43 AM on 05/06/2011

5 days later and they are STILL trying to get their story straight. Honesty is the best policy.

[MacQ]

12:06 PM on 05/06/2011

Keystone Kops at it again.

[irmsjags]

12:33 PM on 05/06/2011

At least they got the most important thing right.

[onebluebrick]

03:24 PM on 05/06/2011

Why assume this is dishonesty? Why not trying to keep up with new information?

[Ogg-the-bear]

11:42 AM on 05/06/2011

Well, I wanna see a photo. That Navy SEAL who got the winning shot took my twenty bucks he got him between the eyes and I'm not paying up until I see proof!

[tomco727]

11:32 AM on 05/06/2011

wouldnt his soon who there is a picture of have the same DNA

[onebluebrick]

03:30 PM on 05/06/2011

WHAT??????

[tomco727]

11:29 AM on 05/06/2011

this guy is dummer than a box of rocks

[Femonanon]

01:48 PM on 05/06/2011

yeah, pretty dum ;-p

[onebluebrick]

03:33 PM on 05/06/2011

I agree. dum dum dum.