Osama bin Laden's surrender wasn't a likely outcome in raid, officials say

Part of the wreckage of a U.S. military helicopter that crashed outside the compound where Osama bin Laden was killed. (European Pressphoto Agency / May 3, 2011)

Officials revise their initial account of the raid on Osama bin Laden's compound in Pakistan, saying the rules of engagement all but assured the Al Qaeda leader would be killed.

By Ken Dilanian and Brian Bennett
Los Angeles Times
May 3, 2011, 5:27 p.m.

Reporting from Washington

U.S. commandos who attacked Osama bin Laden's compound were operating under rules of engagement that all but assured the Al Qaeda leader would be killed, officials have acknowledged, backing away from an initial account that Bin Laden was armed and used a woman as a shield.

After saying Monday that the American operatives who raided the Pakistani compound had orders to capture Bin Laden if he gave himself up, U.S. officials Tuesday added an important qualifier: The assault force was told to accept a surrender only if it could be sure he didn't have a bomb hidden under his clothing and posed no other danger.

Bin Laden could have surrendered only "if he did not pose any type of threat whatsoever," White House counter-terrorism chief John Brennan said on Fox television, and if U.S. troops "were confident of that in terms of his not having an IED [improvised explosives device] on his body, his not having some type of hidden weapon or whatever."

(Original here, with photos.)