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• Osama bin Laden ‘martyr’ tape expected soon • US weighing release of Bin Laden death evidence • White House says Bin Laden used wife as ‘shield’ • Pressure grows on Pakistan over al-Qaida hideout 6.35pm: CNN is now reporting that “administration officials” say Osama bin Laden did not take up or fire a weapon when the US special forces landed – again, in contradiction to earlier reports. The explanation is that more recent debriefing of the Navy Seals involved are providing more details of what actually took place in Abbottabad. 6.33pm ET: The White House is now saying two new pieces of news, via cable news channels: • the woman killed in the compound was not Bin Laden’s wife • Bin Laden was shot twice – not once as previously stated – once, in the chest and once in the head 11.22pm BST / 6.22pm ET: Remember when US evangelical leader Jerry Falwell blamed the 9/11 attacks on America’s gays, lesbians and liberals? Using Falwell’s logic, this tweet makes perfect sense. 6.14pm ET: The Associated Press is reporting comments by two Pentagon officials, who say a video of Osama bin Laden’s burial at sea will likely be made public “soon”, perhaps along with photos of his corpse. Bin Laden’s body was buried in the North Arabian Sea from the deck of the aircraft carrier, the USS Carl Vinson, earlier on Monday morning. 6pm ET: CNN reveals that the US code-name for Osama bin Laden during Sunday’s special operation was “Geranimo”. 5.54pm ET: Here’s a flashback to the 2008 election campaign, as the Republican candidate John McCain attacks his Democratic rival Barack Obama for his remarks about attacking high value targets in Pakistan: Senator John McCain intensified his attacks on Senator Barack Obama, saying he was “naive” for publicly suggesting several months ago he would attack targets in Pakistan. “The best idea is not broadcast what you are going to do. That’s naive,” McCain said at a news conference in Columbus. “You make plans and you work with the other country that is your ally and friend, which Pakistan is,” McCain added. “You don’t broadcast and say you are going bomb the country without their permission or without consulting them. This is the fundamentals of the conduct of national security policy. I believe in working with the other country.” Thank goodness President McCain won that election. 5.43pm ET: What news of the Osama bin Laden ‘martyr’ tape? According to US security briefings, the fear is that the tape could provoke counter-attacks by al-Qaida. In the meantime, there’s much speculation and few details about what might be on the “death tape”. 5.41pm ET: The Los Angeles Times highlights John Brennan’s coded remarks earlier today, putting pressure on Pakistan for its role in appearing to give sanctuary to Osama bin Laden: Brennan said it was “inconceivable” that bin Laden did not have a support system in Pakistan that allowed him to remain there for a long period of time. Asked about reports that some in Congress now want to attach strings to aid to Pakistan, he said: “People are raising a number of questions and understandably so. I’m sure a number of people have questions about whether there was some kind of support provided by the Pakistani government.” 5.36pm ET: I’ve blogged on the curious praise for Barack Obama coming from titans of the US conservative right, including the unlikely figures of Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck. Here’s what Beck said earlier today on his radio talk show: Thank God we have a president who actually authorized the shoot to kill. That is a surprising shock to me. And I think that deserves to be said, that I didn’t think that this president would actually pull the trigger – well, he didn’t, but have somebody pull the trigger – and he did. Congratulations, President Obama. Thank you for doing the right thing on this. As they say: politics makes strange bedfellows. And this is strange as they get. 5.25pm ET: My colleague Ben Quinn has a round up of the latest news: • US intelligence officials believe Osama bin Laden made a propaganda recording shortly before his death and expect that tape to surface soon. It is unclear whether the tape is audio or video, but a US official has said that intelligence indicates it is already working its way through al-Qaida’s media pipeline. The official said the timing was coincidental and there is no indication he knew US forces were bearing down on him. • President Barack Obama has hailed bin Laden’s death as a “good day for America,” and claimed that the world is now a safer and a better place. “Today we are reminded that as a nation there is nothing we can’t do”, the US president said. However, the US has issued security warnings while CIA Director Leon Panetta said al-Qaida would “almost certainly” try to avenge its figurehead’s death. • Pakistan’s government is facing deeply uncomfortable questions in the US and beyond over the presence of bin Laden near a military facility less than two hours from the capital, Islamabad. There have also been angry claims from Afghanistan that its own position has been vindicated. Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, hinted that the Pakistani state itself was complicit in sheltering the terrorist leader, saying Bin Laden had “hidden himself in the military bases of Abbottabad”. • It prevented any grave site emerging as a shrine but muslim clerics have warned that the US decision to bury Bin Laden’s body at sea may lead to reprisals. Some muslim scholars claimed it had breached sharia law and warned that it may provoke calls for revenge attacks against US targets while others used the sea burial question to doubt whether he was, in fact, dead at all, with doubts fuelled by the absence of photographs of his corpse. 5pm ET / 10pm BST: This is continuing live coverage of the fallout from the killing of al-Qaida founder Osama bin Laden. Here is a summary of the latest events: • US intelligence officials believe Osama bin Laden made a propaganda recording shortly before his death and expect that tape to surface soon • John Brennan, the White House homeland security advisor, said President Obama’s decision to hunt down Bin Laden was “one of the most gutsiest calls of any president in recent memory” • Political allies and opponents unite in praise of the operation that finally caught up with Bin Laden , nine years after the 9/11 attacks in New York City and Washington DC • The White House confirmed that one of the four other people killed in the US special forces’s raid on the al-Qaida hideout in Abbottabad is believed to have been one of Bin Laden’s wives , used as a “human shield” • The US is weighing up whether or not to release photographs and other evidence of Bin Laden’s death You can catch up on the earlier news and events over the last 18 hours in our previous live blogs here and here . Osama bin Laden al-Qaida Obama administration US foreign policy Barack Obama Pakistan US military United States Global terrorism Richard Adams guardian.co.uk

Posted by on May 2, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.