Bin Laden Wasn’t Armed, U.S. Says

The official account of the killing of Osama bin Laden has changed. U.S. officials initially claimed that bin Laden went down shooting. Now, they’re saying he wasn’t armed when he was shot:

WASHINGTON — Osama bin Laden was not carrying a weapon when he was killed by American troops in a fortified house in Pakistan, the White House said Tuesday, as it revised its initial account of the nighttime raid.

Members of a Navy Seals team burst in on Bin Laden in the compound where he was hiding and shot him in a room on an upper floor, after a fierce gun battle with other operatives of Al Qaeda on the first floor.

Bin Laden’s wife, who was with him in the room, “rushed the U.S. assaulter and was shot in the leg but not killed,” said the White House spokesman, Jay Carney, reading from the brief account, which was provided by the Defense Department. “Bin Laden was then shot and killed. He was not armed.” [NYT]

Duly noted.

[Photo credit: Phil’s Hat, Creative Commons.]