Report: U.S., Pakistan had bin Laden deal

WASHINGTON, May 9 (UPI) -- The United States and Pakistan have had a deal about al-Qaida founder Osama bin Laden for nearly a decade, Britain's Guardian reported Monday.

The newspaper said former U.S. President George Bush struck a deal permitting a U.S. operation like last week's raid with Pakistan's leader at the time, Gen. Pervez Musharraf.

U.S. Navy SEALs descended on bin Laden's Abbottabad, Pakistan, compound and killed him. Al-Qaida acknowledged bin Laden's death Friday and vowed revenge. U.S. President Barack Obama said in a CBS "60 Minutes" interview aired Sunday plans for the raid were a closely held secret and no one in the Pakistani government was informed beforehand.

The U.S.-Pakistan deal permitted not only operations against bin Laden, but against his two top aides in the terrorist chain of command,The Guardian said.

"There was an agreement between Bush and Musharraf that if we knew where Osama was, we were going to come and get him," a former senior U.S. official told the newspaper. "The Pakistanis would put up a hue and cry, but they wouldn't stop us."

The official said the agreement was renewed with the military as the civilian government was installed.

The Guardian said efforts to contact Musharraf for comment were unsuccessful.