Washington - Democratic Sen. John Kerry said it is time to stop questioning the exact occurrences in Osama bin Laden's house before his death in Abbottabad, Pakistan, at the hand of U.S. Navy SEALs.
"I thinks those SEALs did exactly what they should have done," the senator from Massachusetts and 2004 presidential nominee said Sunday on CBS' "Face the Nation." "And we need to shut up and move on about, you know, the realities of what happened in that building."
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NBC News' Stephanie Gosk has been reporting all week from Abbottabad, Pakistan, the city where Osama bin Laden was killed by U.S. forces in a secret raid. In a phone interview Friday, she responded to questions about the town and the local reaction to bin Laden's death and the revelation that he lived there for years.
What is the reaction to bin Laden's death in Abbottabad?
We've been here all week and have been able to get quite close to bin Laden's former compound - right outside the walls. And it's not just the media who are interested, but also the people who live in this town.
What is most interesting is how few people actually believe bin Laden was killed in that house or that he even lived there at all.
It will be interesting over the next few days to see what their reaction is to the news that al-Qaida has put a statement online confirming that bin Laden was killed and calling on Muslims around the world to rise up and avenge his death.
What is the reaction to bin Laden's death in Abbottabad?
We've been here all week and have been able to get quite close to bin Laden's former compound - right outside the walls. And it's not just the media who are interested, but also the people who live in this town.
What is most interesting is how few people actually believe bin Laden was killed in that house or that he even lived there at all.
It will be interesting over the next few days to see what their reaction is to the news that al-Qaida has put a statement online confirming that bin Laden was killed and calling on Muslims around the world to rise up and avenge his death.
Former US Vice-President Dick Cheney has said it is an "outrage" that the Obama administration continues to investigate CIA agents who interrogated terror suspects, claiming they did nothing.
Several Republicans and ex-officials have asked the Justice Department to drop the investigation, launched nearly two years ago by Attorney General Eric Holder.
"It's unfortunate. These men deserve to be decorated. They don't deserve to be prosecuted," Fox News quoted Cheney, as saying.
He said Holder's decision to reopen the case against CIA agents sets a "terrible precedent."
"These are government employees. They did nothing wrong, as best as any of us knows. It is an outrage that we would go after the people who deserve the credit for keeping us safe for seven and a half years," Cheney said.
Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld also said the Obama administration should set the CIA probe "aside" and move on, calling it a "most unfortunate thing."
Several Republicans and ex-officials have asked the Justice Department to drop the investigation, launched nearly two years ago by Attorney General Eric Holder.
"It's unfortunate. These men deserve to be decorated. They don't deserve to be prosecuted," Fox News quoted Cheney, as saying.
He said Holder's decision to reopen the case against CIA agents sets a "terrible precedent."
"These are government employees. They did nothing wrong, as best as any of us knows. It is an outrage that we would go after the people who deserve the credit for keeping us safe for seven and a half years," Cheney said.
Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld also said the Obama administration should set the CIA probe "aside" and move on, calling it a "most unfortunate thing."
© AFP
Forrmer US Vice-President Dick Cheney said harsh interrogation methods such as waterboarding should be reinstated due to their playing a key role in tracking down Osama bin Laden.
Forrmer US Vice-President Dick Cheney said harsh interrogation methods such as waterboarding should be reinstated due to their playing a key role in tracking down Osama bin Laden.
Another top member of the Bush administration, former defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld, credited the use of so-called 'enhanced interrogation techniques' with yielding 'a major fraction' of US intelligence on Al-Qaeda and called ending them a 'mistake.'
In one of the first acts after entering the White House in 2009, President Barack Obama suspended such methods, equating them with torture and saying they represented all that was wrong with the Bush-era 'war on terror.'
But the killing of Osama, or more exactly the way the intelligence was gathered that led the CIA to track him down, has reopened a raging controversy in the United States over their use.
Mr Cheney, speaking on the Fox News Sunday program, said top intelligence officials had stated that 'some of the early leads' that helped agents find bin Laden had come thanks to the harsh interrogation techniques used on terror suspects.
A parade of former Bush administration officials went on the Sunday political shows to talk up waterboarding and claim a measure of credit for bagging Osama Bin Laden.
Former Vice President Dick Cheney said waterboarding - which the Obama administration nixed as torture - "probably" played a role in tracking down Bin Laden and should be brought back.
"It was a good program. It was legal program. It was not torture," Cheney told Fox News Sunday. "I would strongly recommend we continue it."
Former Defense Secretary Don Rumsfeld called it "a mistake" to rule out waterboarding. "It's clear that those techniques that the CIA used worked," he said on CBS.
Officials have said the key to finding Bin Laden was locating his courier. Captured terrorist Khalid Sheikh Mohammed gave the courier's nickname in 2003 after being waterboarded 183 times.
Former Vice President Dick Cheney said waterboarding - which the Obama administration nixed as torture - "probably" played a role in tracking down Bin Laden and should be brought back.
"It was a good program. It was legal program. It was not torture," Cheney told Fox News Sunday. "I would strongly recommend we continue it."
Former Defense Secretary Don Rumsfeld called it "a mistake" to rule out waterboarding. "It's clear that those techniques that the CIA used worked," he said on CBS.
Officials have said the key to finding Bin Laden was locating his courier. Captured terrorist Khalid Sheikh Mohammed gave the courier's nickname in 2003 after being waterboarded 183 times.
© Native Tech.
Osama Bin Laden’s Compound On Google Maps
Osama Bin Laden’s Compound On Google Maps
A loud explosion has been heard in the town where Osama bin Laden was killed in Pakistan.
There has been speculation that authorities may demolish the house in Abbottabad to try and stop the intense media attention in the town.
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Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his chief of staff, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, who is described as 'the actual president of Iran' by allies of the country's supreme leader.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his chief of staff, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, who is described as 'the actual president of Iran' by allies of the country's supreme leader.
Close allies of Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, have been accused of using supernatural powers to further his policies amid an increasingly bitter power struggle between him and the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Several people said to be close to the president and his chief of staff, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, have been arrested in recent days and charged with being "magicians" and invoking djinns (spirits).
Ayandeh, an Iranian news website, described one of the arrested men, Abbas Ghaffari, as "a man with special skills in metaphysics and connections with the unknown worlds".
The arrests come amid a growing rift between Ahmadinejad and Khamenei which has prompted several MPs to call for the president to be impeached.
On Sunday, Ahmadinejad returned to his office after an 11-day walkout in an apparent protest over Khamenei's reinstatement of the intelligence minister, who the president had initiallyasked to resign.
© Reuters
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a live television program in Tehran, March 21, 2011.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a live television program in Tehran, March 21, 2011.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has given President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad an ultimatum over the reinstatement of the country's intelligence chief, a local website reported Friday.
Khamenei, who, according to the constitution, has the final say on all state affairs, vetoed Ahmadinejad's decision last month to dismiss Heydar Moslehi.
© EPA
Khamenei, seated, reinstated the country's intelligence minister, who had been sacked by Ahmadinejad
Khamenei, seated, reinstated the country's intelligence minister, who had been sacked by Ahmadinejad
A political dispute between Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country's supreme leader is reported to have intensified.
Ahmadinejad is said to be contemplating resigning after Heidar Moslehi, the intelligence minister he had sacked, was reinstated by Khamenei.
The president is understood to have shirked some of his duties and skipped cabinet meetings ten days last month in anger over the decision.
Mehrdad Khonsari, an analyst with the Centre for Arab and Iranian Studies in London, told Al Jazeera on Friday that the dispute, which began last month, had become "serious".
"It shows the level of disunity at the very top of the Iranian [political] hierarchy [with] Ahmadinejad having already polarised the internal political scene as a result of fraudulent election results that were announced more than 20 months ago," Khonsari said.
"He is now beginning to encroach on the powers and privileges vested in the supreme leader, and he and his constituency - mainly among the Revolutionary Guards - have tried to do this.
© Reuters
A protest against austerity measures in Athens. Greece is considering leaving the euro zone, according to sources in the German government.
A protest against austerity measures in Athens. Greece is considering leaving the euro zone, according to sources in the German government.
Greece's economic problems are massive, with protests against the government being held almost daily. Now Prime Minister George Papandreou apparently feels he has no other option: Spiegel Online has obtained information from German government sources knowledgeable of the situation in Athens indicating that Papandreou's government is considering abandoning the euro and reintroducing its own currency.
Alarmed by Athens' intentions, the European Commission has called a crisis meeting in Luxembourg on Friday night. The meeting is taking place at Château de Senningen, a site used by the Luxembourg government for official meetings. In addition to Greece's possible exit from the currency union, a speedy restructuring of the country's debt also features on the agenda. One year after the Greek crisis broke out, the development represents a potentially existential turning point for the European monetary union -- regardless which variant is ultimately decided upon for dealing with Greece's massive troubles.
Given the tense situation, the meeting in Luxembourg has been declared highly confidential, with only the euro-zone finance ministers and senior staff members permitted to attend. Finance Minister Wolfgang Schäuble of Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and Jörg Asmussen, an influential state secretary in the Finance Ministry, are attending on Germany's behalf.
Comment: Mr. Kerry seems to be rather upset about the idea that people are actually paying enough attention to notice that the "realities of what happened in that building" can't, under any circumstances, match the 'story' of the assassination of Osama bin Laden. Those paying attention are rather unlikely to "shut up and move on" any time soon.