Bin Laden unarmed when killed, White House says
The White House says it's worried that releasing a photo of the body of slain al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden could be "inflammatory."
"There are sensitivities here in terms of the appropriateness of releasing photos of Osama bin Laden," White House press secretary Jay Carney told a press briefing Tuesday.
"It's fair to say that it's a gruesome photograph."
Officials have told The Associated Press that the Obama administration has pictures that show a killshot directly above bin Laden's left eye. The administration is also weighing whether to release video of his swift burial at sea.
After word of the top-secret mission broke late Sunday night, officials were initially reluctant to inflame Islamic sentiment by showing graphic images of the body. But they were also eager to address the mythology already building in Pakistan and beyond that bin Laden was somehow still alive.
U.S. officials say the photographic evidence shows bin Laden was shot above his left eye, blowing away part of his skull.
He was also shot in the chest, they said. That came near the end of a frenzied firefight in a high-walled Pakistani compound where helicopter-borne U.S. forces found 23 children, nine women, a bin Laden courier who had unwittingly led the U.S. to its target, a son of bin Laden who was also slain and more.
Carney said earlier reports that said one of bin Laden's wives was killed in the firefight were not correct. She was injured when shot in the leg, he said.
Carney also revealed that bin Laden was not armed but was shot and killed when he "resisted." Carney would not be specific about the nature of that resistance.
Comment: In the first video above, note the subtle bias and manipulation of the CBC reporter. After admitting that the "conspiracy theories" that there was no Osama in Abbottabad are well-founded because we have only the US government's word that Osama was killed, he then segues into stating that "the bigger question is about Pakistan" and "how could Osama have been living in an affluent military community in Pakistan without Pakistani authorities knowing he was there". If there is reasonable cause for doubt that Osama was actually there, then the second question is entirely moot. In short, this CBC segment is a despicable piece of nefarious propaganda masquerading as unbiased reporting.