US lawmakers want to know whether bin Laden had been "hiding in plain sight". — Reuters pic
WASHINGTON, May 3 — Pakistan faced embarrassing questions from the United States yesterday over how al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was able to hide there in plain view before he was killed by a secret US assault team.
The revelation that bin Laden had been holed up in a compound near Islamabad threatened to exacerbate US tensions with nuclear-armed Pakistan, which had not been told of the raid in advance.
The body of the world's most powerful symbol of Islamist militancy was buried at sea after he was shot in the head and chest by US special forces who were dropped inside his luxury compound by Blackhawk helicopters.
Irate US lawmakers wondered how it was possible for bin Laden to live in a populated area without anyone of authority knowing about it or sanctioning his presence, possibly for years. They said it was time to review the billions in aid the United States provides Pakistan.
Obama and his staff followed the raid minute-by-minute via a live video feed in the White House situation room. — Reuters pic
"I think we need to talk about that. Our government is in fiscal distress. To make contributions to a country that isn't going to be fully supportive is a problem for many," said Senate Intelligence Committee chair Dianne Feinstein.
The White House acknowledged there was good reason for US lawmakers, already doubtful of Pakistan's cooperation against al Qaeda, to demand to know whether bin Laden had been "hiding in plain sight" and to raise questions about continued US aid to Islamabad.
Bin Laden's hideaway, built in 2005, was about eight times larger than other homes nearby. With its 12- to 18-foot walls topped with barbed wire, internal walls for extra privacy, and access controlled through two security gates, it looked like a strongman's compound.
White House counterterrorism chief John Brennan said it was "inconceivable that bin Laden did not have a support system in the country that allowed him to remain there for an extended period of time."
President Barack Obama was given a standing ovation by Democratic and Republican lawmakers at a White House dinner.
He told the group the operation was a reminder that "there is pride in what this nation stands for and what we can achieve that runs far deeper than party, far deeper than politics."
But the euphoria that drew flag-waving crowds to "Ground Zero" of the September 11, 2001, attack in New York was tempered by calls for vigilance against retaliation by his followers.
Bin Laden's hideaway was about eight times larger than other homes nearby. — Reuters pic
Obama planned to travel to New York on Thursday to visit Ground Zero and meet families of September 11 victims.
Bin Laden, 54, was given a sea burial after Muslim funeral rites on a US aircraft carrier, the Carl Vinson. His shrouded body was placed in a weighted bag and eased into the north Arabian Sea, the US military said.
The Obama administration was weighing whether to release a photo of bin Laden's body as proof that he had been killed. There is also a video of the sea burial but it was not clear if it would be released, a US official said.
NIGHT RAID NEAR ISLAMABAD
Americans clamoured for details about the secret US military mission.
A small US strike team, dropped by helicopter to bin Laden's hideout near the Pakistani capital Islamabad under the cover of night, shot the al Qaeda leader to death with a bullet to the head. He did not return fire.
Bin Laden's wife, originally thought killed, was only wounded. Another woman was killed in the raid, along with one of bin Laden's sons, in the tense 40 minutes of fighting. She had not been used as a human shield as first thought.
Television pictures from inside the house showed bloodstains smeared across a floor next to a large bed.
Obama and his staff followed the raid minute-by-minute via a live video feed in the White House situation room, and there was relief when the commandos, including members of the Navy's elite Seals unit, stormed the compound.
The September 11 attacks helped bin Laden achieve global infamy. — Reuters file pic
"We got him," the president said, according to Brennan, after the mission was accomplished.
National Journal said US authorities used intelligence about the compound to build a replica of it and use it for trial runs in early April.
Mindful of possible suspicion in the Muslim world, a US official said DNA testing showed a "virtually 100 per cent" match with the al Qaeda leader. His DNA was matched with that of several relatives, a US official said.
Under bin Laden, al Qaeda militants struck targets from Indonesia to the European capitals of Madrid and London.
But it was the September 11 attacks, in which al Qaeda militants used hijacked planes to strike at economic and military symbols of American might and killed nearly 3,000 people, that helped bin Laden achieve global infamy.
Obama, whose popularity has suffered from continuing US economic woes, will likely see a short-term bounce in his approval ratings. At the same time, he may face more pressure from Americans to speed the planned withdrawal this July of some US forces from Afghanistan.
However, bin Laden's death is unlikely to have any impact on the nearly decade-long war in Afghanistan, where US forces are facing record violence by a resurgent Taliban.
Many analysts see bin Laden's death as largely symbolic since he was no longer believed to have been issuing operational orders to the many autonomous al Qaeda affiliates.
"There are a lot of al Qaeda look-alike cells," said Steve Clemons, a Middle East analyst at the New America Foundation. "Bin Laden was an animating force but there are other ways these groups get oxygen and can remain a threat."
US stocks and oil prices closed modestly lower yesterday as investors concluded Osama bin Laden's death will do little to ease global economic and political risks.
The US dollar erased early gains and the euro hit a 17-month high against the greenback on bets euro-zone interest rates will keep rising to fend off inflation.
BURIED AT SEA, WARNINGS OF REVENGE
A video frame grab obtained from ABC News shows a gaping hole in the wall of the mansion where bin Laden was killed. — Reuters pic
Analysts warned that objections from some Muslim clerics to the sea burial could stoke anti-American sentiment. The clerics questioned whether the United States followed proper Islamic tradition, saying Muslims should not be buried at sea unless they died during a voyage.
The United States issued security warnings to Americans worldwide. CIA Director Leon Panetta said al Qaeda would "almost certainly" try to avenge bin Laden's death.
France's President Nicolas Sarkozy hailed the killing as a coup in the fight against terrorism, but he, too, warned it did not spell al Qaeda's demise. British Prime Minister David Cameron said the West should be "particularly vigilant."
Vows to avenge bin Laden's death appeared quickly in Islamist militant forums, a key means by which al Qaeda leaders have passed on information. "God's revenge on you, you Roman dog, God's revenge on you crusaders," one forum member wrote.
It was the biggest national security victory for the president since he took office in early 2009 and will make it difficult for Republicans to portray Democrats as weak on security as he seeks re-election in 2012.
Republicans were eager to express appreciation for the role Obama's predecessor, George W. Bush, played in the search for bin Laden, but Obama supporters saw it another way:
"It took Obama to get Osama," said a tee shirt vendor in Washington selling shirts with that slogan emblazoned on them.
In Saudi Arabia, bin Laden's native land, there was a mood of disbelief and sorrow among many. The Palestinian Islamist group Hamas mourned bin Laden as an "Arab holy warrior."
But many in the Arab world felt his death was long overdue. For many Arabs, inspired by the popular upheavals in Egypt, Libya and elsewhere over the past few months, the news of bin Laden's death had less significance than it once might have. — Reuters
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