Gates added, "We are looking at what measures can be taken to pump up the 
security." 

Don’t tell ANY politicians ANY details.  Especially a politician campaigning 
for reelection.

 

B

Published on HamptonRoads.com | PilotOnline.com ( <http://hamptonroads.com> 
http://hamptonroads.com) 

U.S. questions Osama bin Laden's widows

WASHINGTON

U.S. authorities are using interviews with Osama bin Laden's wives and video of 
the assault on his Pakistan compound to piece together details of the raid that 
killed the terrorist leader. 

After days of wrangling with Pakistani leaders, U.S. intelligence officials 
were finally given access to bin Laden's three wives and were allowed to 
question them in an effort to gather more information about life in the 
compound, Pentagon officials said. 

U.S. defense officials, meanwhile, are considering measures to ensure the 
security of the Navy SEAL team that stormed the walled fortress in Abbottabad 
on May 2 and killed world's most wanted terrorist. 

The three bin Laden widows who survived the raid were taken into Pakistani 
custody. The White House has said it was important that the U.S. be allowed to 
interview them as they could provide information about bin Laden's life in his 
compound. 

But the Islamic practice of segregating women from men means the wives probably 
would not have been present for meetings or discussions about al-Qaida 
operations. 

Still, with bin Laden's trusted couriers dead, the women could offer rare 
details about bin Laden, particularly his life over the past few years as the 
manhunt for him wore on. 

U.S. intelligence and military analysts have also been examining footage from 
cameras mounted in the helmets of the Navy SEALs, capturing a minute-by-minute 
account of the operation. 

The video will provide a more detailed and accurate picture of the raid, 
compared to early information that relied on the first reports from members of 
the elite team, both during the operation and interviews with them afterward. 

U.S. military officials have cautioned that the initial reports can often be 
wrong, blurred by the fog of battle and conclusions based on split second 
sighting or sounds. 

That proved true in this case as details pouring out in the first 48 hours 
after the raid — including who was in the compound, who was killed, and how 
much resistance the commandos met — were repeatedly refined and corrected. 

Pentagon spokesman Col. Dave Lapan and White House press secretary Jay Carney 
would not discuss what the wives said during the questioning. It was not clear 
whether the interviews will continue. 

The sparse details about those interviews reflect a growing concern by military 
officials about the flood of information that has come out about the raid and 
the secretive Navy SEALs who made it all possible. 

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said during a meeting with Marines at Camp 
Lejeune, N.C., that when he met with the team last week they expressed concerns 
about the security of their families. 

"Frankly, a week ago Sunday, in the Situation Room, we all agreed that we would 
not release any operational details from the effort to take out bin Laden," 
Gates told Marines at Camp Lejeune. "That all fell apart on Monday — the next 
day." 

Gates added, "We are looking at what measures can be taken to pump up the 
security." 

He said there has been a consistent effort to protect the identities of those 
who participated in the raid — which also included elite Army pilots who flew 
the daring mission. They are members of the 160th Special Operations Aviation 
Regiment, known as the Night Stalkers. 

Associated Press writer Matt Apuzzo contributed to this report.

  _____  

Source URL (retrieved on 05/14/2011 - 12:31):  
<http://hamptonroads.com/2011/05/us-questions-osama-bin-ladens-widows> 
http://hamptonroads.com/2011/05/us-questions-osama-bin-ladens-widows 





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