Aide: Obama made gutsy call on bin Laden
WASHINGTON, May 2 (UPI) -- Osama bin Laden was killed in a firefight with a U.S. military team that was prepared to capture him if given the chance, a U.S. official said Monday.
Talking to reporters in Washington, John Brennan, the president's counter-terrorism adviser, said: "If we had the opportunity to take bin Laden alive, if he didn't present any threat, the individuals involved were prepared to do that … He was killed in that firefight. But we were certainly prepared for that possibility" -- that he could be captured.
However, he said, "We were not going to put our people at risk. ... He was engaged and he was killed but if we had the opportunity to take him alive we would have done that."
Bin Laden was killed in Pakistan by a Navy SEAL team Sunday night and later buried at sea.
Asked whether bin Laden could have been hiding in his elaborate compound in a Pakistani city without official Pakistani support, Brennan said, "I think it's inconceivable that bin Laden did not have have a support system that allowed him to remain in that country for a considerable amount of time."
But Brennan said he would not speculate on official involvement at this time.
Though he would not comment on the technology involved, Brennan said, "We were able to monitor [the operation] in a real-time basis. It was probably one of the most anxiety-filled times in the lives of the people gathered [in the White House] yesterday. The minutes seemed like days."
Four people besides bin Laden were killed in the compound, including one of bin Laden's sons and one of his wives who tried to act as a human shield, Brennan said,
He said there wasn't complete agreement among aides that the operation should go forward and U.S. President Barack Obama made the decision himself -- "One of the ... gutsiest calls of any president in recent memory."
The president's reaction to the success of the mission? "We got 'em," Brennan said, quoting the president.
Obama said Monday at a Medal of Honor ceremony for two soldiers: "I think we can all agree this is a good day for America. Our country has kept its commitment to see that justice is done. The world is safer; it is a better place because of the death of Osama bin Laden."
Leaders praise Bin Laden killing
WASHINGTON, May 2 (UPI) -- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and officials around the world Monday praised the operation that killed al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden in Pakistan.
In New York, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said bin Laden's death was a "watershed moment" in the war against terrorism
But Ban said following the news it was "a day to remember the victims and families of victims, here in the United States and everywhere in the world."
Speaking from Washington, Clinton said the mission carried a message for insurgents in Pakistan: "Our message to the Taliban remains the same, but today may have even greater resonance. You cannot wait us out."
She said the Taliban can abandon al-Qaida and join the peacemaking process.
Clinton said al-Qaida's acts of terror "were not just attacks against Americans ... these attacks were against the whole world," and "innocent people, mostly Muslims, were targeted."
The secretary praised Pakistan at length. She said its government's cooperation helped increase the pressure on al-Qaida. But, she added, "We should not forget that the battle to stop al-Qaida and its syndicate of terror will not stop with the death of bin Laden."
Praising the U.S. military, diplomats and law enforcement, Clinton said she hoped victims and their families "can find some comfort in the fact that justice has been served."
"This is America," she said. "We rise to the challenge, we persevere and we get the job done."
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said her department did not intend to issue a national security terrorism alert following the operation, though the United States remains "at a heightened state of vigilance."
CIA director: Al-Qaida still dangerous
WASHINGTON, May 2 (UPI) -- CIA Director Leon Panetta warned Monday that founder Osama bin Laden may be dead but al-Qaida remains dangerous.
Panetta's warning came in a letter sent to the agency's employees, the Armed Forces Press Service reported. "The terrorists almost certainly will attempt to avenge him, and we must -- and will -- remain vigilant and resolute," he said in the letter. "But we have struck a heavy blow against the enemy. The only leader they have ever known, whose hateful vision gave rise to their atrocities, is no more. The supposedly uncatchable one has been caught and killed. And we will not rest until every last one of them has been delivered to justice."
In his letter, he said nothing can compensate those who have lost family and friends to bin Laden and his underlings, but he hoped the fact that bin Laden is dead would be a source of comfort "for the thousands of families, here in America and around the globe, who mourn the victims of al-Qaida's barbarity."
Panetta had words of praise for the agency's counter-terrorism center and the Office of South Asia Analysis for their contribution to the bin Laden operation, and for the SEAL strike team.
Panetta has been nominated as the next U.S. defense secretary.
Osama buried in North Arabian Sea
WASHINGTON, May 2 (UPI) -- Osama bin Laden was buried at sea in a Muslim ceremony, a senior U.S. defense official said Monday.
Bin Laden was killed by a U.S. SEALs team in a firefight Sunday night. His body was taken from a compound in Pakistan.
The Islamic religious rites were carried out aboard the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson in the North Arabian Sea, American Forces Press Service reported the official said.
"Preparations for at-sea [burial] began at 1:10 a.m. Eastern Standard Time (Monday) and were completed at 2 a.m.," the official, who spoke under conditions of anonymity, said.
Bin Laden's body was washed and placed in a white sheet.
"The body was placed in a weighted bag," the official said. "A military officer read prepared religious remarks, which were translated into Arabic by a native speaker."
Then bin Laden's body was placed onto a flat board, elevated upward on one side and slid into the sea, the report said.
No country would accept bin Laden's body, a senior defense official said.
CIA specialists and others in the intelligence community "performed the initial DNA analysis matching a virtually 100 percent DNA match of the body against the DNA of several of bin Laden's family members," the official said.
Tension stays high in Syria
DAMASCUS, Syria, May 2 (UPI) -- The people hunted down and arrested by Syrian army and security forces are armed terrorists, an official army source told the state-run news agency SANA.
The source told SANA scores of armed terrorists blamed for killings and destruction in Daraa have been rounded up so far. The source said large caches of weapons and ammunition have been found buried throughout the city.
But al-Jazeera reports the Syrian military has raided several homes in Daraa and other cities, arresting human-rights activists.
The Los Angeles Times said the military has beefed up its forces around Daraa as its weeklong siege goes on. The newspaper said telephone lines, electricity and water supplies to the city have been cut off.
The unrest that has roiled Syria recently has been stoked by Western media reports, writer Aneesa Abboud said Monday at a symposium organized by the Syrian Satellite Channel, SANA said.
He, along with journalist-writer Ismael Morowa called on educated Syrians to play a greater role in calming the situation.
Paul Khalifa, editor-in-chief of the Lebanese magazine "Magazine," said U.S. interference in the region has come after Washington sustained major defeats in recent years.
