Hardliners to mourn bin Laden; post-mortem photo release uncertain
By the CNN Wire Staff
May 4, 2011 -- Updated 0819 GMT (1619 HKT)
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
The White House considers releasing a post-mortem photo of bin Laden
Bin Laden was not armed and used no human shields when he was killed,
Carney says
White House spokesman: "We provided a great deal of information with great
haste"
Pakistani official: "We are embarrassed. But that does not mean we are
incompetent"
Abbottabad, Pakistan (CNN) -- Indonesia's hardline Islamic Defenders Front will
hold a prayer service for Osama bin Laden Wednesday, two days after the world's
most wanted terrorist was killed in attack at his compound in Pakistan.
Meanwhile, Americans - and the rest of the world - await the possible release
of a post-mortem photo of bin Laden, which could both silence skeptics and
inflame passions against the United States.
In a text message to the media, the Islamic Defenders Front announced its
service will take place Wednesday morning in Jakarta. The radical Indonesian
Muslim group is known for attacking Jakarta nightclubs and threatening
Westerners, according to Jane's Terrorism & Security Monitor.
But elsewhere, there has been relatively little sympathy for bin Laden this
week. Muslim political leaders, like others, have welcomed the news.
Questioning Afghanistan support
Imam talks bin Laden's death and beyond
Bin Laden's legacy in London
Family's loss in hunt for bin Laden
The overriding question on many minds is whether the United States will offer
photographic proof of the terror leader's death.
Bin Laden killing caps decade-long manhunt
CIA Director Leon Panetta said Tuesday he thinks a photograph of bin Laden's
body will be released at some point, but that it is up to the White House to
make the final call.
"I just think it's important, they know we have it, to release it," Panetta
said.
A senior administration official told CNN that no decision has been made yet as
to whether to release the photo.
What photos could show
Sen. Diane Feinstein, chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said she
saw no need to release an image since there is other evidence to prove bin
Laden is dead.
"I just don't see a need to do it," she said Tuesday. "The DNA has been
dispositive."
Homeland Security Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman said it may be necessary to
release an image to erase any doubts.
"I've said unless al Qaeda acknowledged that bin Laden was dead, it was
important for the United States to release pictures of his body to confirm he
is dead," he said Tuesday.
Officials have said DNA matching shows bin Laden was killed.
But the Taliban questioned the assertion.
"Obama has not got any strong evidence that can prove his claim over killing of
the Sheikh Osama bin Laden," Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mojahed said. "And
secondly, the closest sources for Sheikh Osama bin Laden have not confirmed"
the death.
Sifting through bin Laden's records
Imam talks bin Laden's death and beyond
WH debates release of bin Laden photo
Bin Laden's compound
RELATED TOPICS
Osama bin Laden
Terrorism
Guantanamo Bay
While the White House mulls whether to release photos, officials are poring
over a mother lode of materials gathered from bin Laden's compound, homeland
security advisor John Brennan said.
The haul includes 10 hard drives, five computers and more than 100 storage
devices, such as disks, DVDs and thumb drives, a senior U.S. official told CNN.
The materials might provide clues on al Qaeda members and potential plots for
future attacks.
On Tuesday, officials offered new details about the raid by U.S. Navy SEALs
that deviated from accounts they provided earlier.
Navy SEALs, "the quiet professionals"
Reading a narrative by the Defense Department, White House spokesman Jay Carney
said two al Qaeda couriers were killed and a woman was killed in the crossfire
on the first floor of bin Laden's building.
It was through tracking one of bin Laden's trusted couriers that the United
States was able to identify bin Laden's location, senior administration
officials said.
Continuing their ascent to the second and third floors, the commandos found bin
Laden and his wife in a room, Carney said.
"She rushed one of the U.S. assaulters and was shot in the leg but not killed,"
he said. "Bin Laden was then shot and killed."
A U.S. official who is not authorized to speak on the record and asked not to
be identified said bin Laden was shot when he made a threatening move.
In all, five of the approximately two dozen people in the compound were killed
-- the two couriers, the woman, bin Laden and his son.
Officials have not publicly identified everyone who was in the compound.
Earlier this week, officials said a woman was killed while being used as a
human shield and that bin Laden was armed. Both claims have since been revised.
Asked about the initial erroneous details, Carney shrugged it off as part of
the difficulty in disseminating information quickly on a chaotic situation
taking place halfway around the world.
"What is true is that we provided a great deal of information with great
haste," Carney said, noting that some of the details came in "piece by piece"
with frequent updates and elaboration.
Carney acknowledged the difficulty in getting all the facts right in such a
situation, telling reporters that "to use your phrase -- fog of war, fog of
combat -- that there was a lot of information coming in. It is still unclear."
Questions also linger about how bin Laden managed to live in a sprawling
compound with 10- to 18-foot walls topped with barbed wire in the quiet city of
Abbottabad, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) north of Islamabad. The compound is
about 2 miles from the prestigious Kakul military academy -- the West Point of
Pakistan.
"How did bin Laden stay at that compound for about six years or so and be
undetected?" Brennan asked Tuesday. "What type of support did he have outside
of that compound in the Abbottabad area or more broadly within Pakistan? We're
going to look carefully at this and get to the bottom of it all."
A senior Pakistani intelligence official told CNN, "Yes, we did fail to locate
him. Yes, we are embarrassed. But that does not mean we are incompetent and
straddling the fence."
CNN's Nic Robertson, Ted Barrett, Nick Paton Walsh, Elise Labott, Mary Snow,
Tom Cohen, Jeanne Meserve, Pam Benson, Barbara Starr, Suzanne Kelly, Jessica
Yellin, John King and Dan Gilgoff contributed to this report.
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