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Differing accounts emerge of bin Laden raid

/ Source: msnbc.com staff and news service reports

A U.S. commando's curt message to superiors signaled the end had come for the world's most wanted terrorist: "Geronimo EKIA," meaning enemy killed in action.

The al-Qaida leader who liked to pose with a menacing AK-47 assault rifle in his hand or by his side, was discovered without a gun by the Navy SEALs who barged into his room and shot him dead, according to U.S. officials.

Yet, the story of what happened during the 40-minute raid has taken a few turns over the past few days.

The White House on Tuesday gave a more complete picture of the assault in Abbottabad, Pakistan — and corrected some key details from earlier official accounts — as the team that pulled off the storied raid briefed officials and rested back at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington.

On Wednesday, Pakistani security sources offered alternative details from the raid resulting in bin Laden's death, potentially clouding part of the White House version.

Citing senior Pakistani security officials, that bin Laden's 12-year-old daughter said the U.S. special forces team first captured, then shot her father dead in front of relatives during the first moments of the raid on his compound.

The report did not give the name of the daughter. The family members who were in the compound are currently in the custody of Pakistani forces. The United States has not yet addressed the Al-Arabiya description of what happened.

CIA Director Leon Panetta appeared on "PBS NewsHour" to add further detail on the action of the special forces teams, and explain that had bin Laden surrendered, he likely would not have been shot.

White House officials initially suggested bin Laden had been holding a gun and perhaps firing at U.S. forces. The corrected account raised questions about whether the Americans ever planned to take him alive, or simply were out to kill him.

In latest developments, officials told The Associated Press that the Navy SEALs who stormed bin Laden's compound shot and killed him after they saw him appear to lunge for a weapon.

The officials, who were briefed on the operation, said several weapons were found in the room where the terror chief died, including AK-47s and side arms. The officials, who were not authorized to speak publicly, commented only on condition of anonymity.

Panetta also told "PBS NewsHour" that bin Laden "made some threatening moves" that "represented a clear threat to our guys" but was not more specific about what the unarmed terrorist did as the commandos engaged others at the compound in a firefight and burst into their prey's room.

"I don't think he had a lot of time to say anything," Panetta said. "It was a firefight going up that compound. ... This was all split-second action on the part of the SEALs."

Panetta underscored that President Barack Obama had given permission to kill the terrorist leader: "The authority here was to kill bin Laden," he said. "And obviously, under the rules of engagement, if he had in fact thrown up his hands, surrendered and didn't appear to be representing any kind of threat, then they were to capture him. But they had full authority to kill him."

A senior U.S. official confirmed to NBC News that the assault team had two rehearsals, on April 7 and 13, at locations described only as "on the east and west coasts".

Officials had built mock-ups of the bin Laden compound to scale at both locations, the official said.

Buried at sea Codenamed Geronimo after the Apache Indian fighter of the late 1800s who was ultimately captured by the U.S., bin Laden was buried at sea from a U.S. Navy ship scant hours after his death.

After the special forces team shot him in the head and chest, the SEAL team in just minutes quickly swept bin Laden's compound for useful intelligence, making off with a cache of computer equipment and documents, according to U.S. officials. The CIA was hurriedly setting up a task force to review the material from the highest level of al-Qaida's leadership.

The documents provide a rare opportunity for U.S. intelligence. When a midlevel terrorist is captured, his bosses know exactly what information might be compromised and can change plans. When the boss is taken, everything might be compromised but nobody knows for sure.

The revised account of bin Laden's final moments was one of many official details that have changed since he was killed in the nighttime raid early Monday morning. The White House misidentified which of bin Laden's sons was killed — it was Khalid, not Hamza. Officials incorrectly said bin Laden's wife died in gunfire while serving as his human shield. That actually was the wife of a bin Laden aide, and she was just caught in crossfire, the White House said Tuesday.

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney attributed those discrepancies to the fog of war, saying the information was coming in bit by bit and was still being reviewed. Nevertheless, the contradictory statements may raise suspicions about the White House's version of events.

Five people were killed in the raid, officials said: bin Laden; his son; his most trusted courier, Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti; and al-Kuwaiti's wife and brother. The latest White House account leaves open the question of whether there was any gunfire from bin Laden's defenders in his room before the commandos shot him.

World Trade Center site visitMeanwhile, Obama prepared to visit the site of the destroyed World Trade Center towers in New York City on Thursday to mark the end to one of history's most intense manhunts and to remember anew the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks at the hands of bin Laden's al-Qaida organization.

In Washington, questions flew about whether Pakistan was complicit in protecting the mastermind of those attacks. Several Republicans and Democrats in Congress have raised the possibility of cutting off U.S. aid to Pakistan. The Pakistani government has denied suggestions that its security forces knew anything about bin Laden's hideout in a city with a heavy military presence or failed to spot suspicious signs.

In a closed-door briefing for lawmakers Tuesday, Panetta said, "Pakistan was involved or incompetent," a U.S. official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the private meeting.

Pakistan criticized the American raid in its sovereign territory as "unauthorized unilateral action."

While tensions grew, efforts also were apparent to contain the damage in an important if checkered relationship. The Obama administration pushed back against the talk of punishing Pakistan. So did Republican House Speaker John Boehner, who said, "Having a robust partnership with Pakistan is critical to breaking the back of al-Qaida and the rest of them."

And Sen. John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said that despite difficult relations with Pakistan, "They have allowed us to pursue our drone program. We've taken out over 16 of the top 20 al-Qaida leaders because of that. That's cooperation."

'A lot of trauma'For the long-term legacy of the most successful counterterrorism operation in U.S. history, the fact that bin Laden was unarmed is unlikely to matter much to the Americans he declared war against. President George W. Bush famously said he wanted bin Laden "dead or alive," and the CIA's top counterterrorism official once promised to bring bin Laden's head back on a stake.

Yet just 24 hours before the White House acknowledged that bin Laden had been unarmed, Obama's chief counterterrorism adviser, John Brennan, said, "If we had the opportunity to take bin Laden alive, if he didn't present any threat, the individuals involved were able and prepared to do that."

Will it matter around the world? Some may try to make much of it in Pakistan and elsewhere.

"This country has gone through a lot of trauma in terms of violence, and whether or not he was armed is not going to make a difference to people who were happy to see the back of him," said Mosharraf Zaidi, a political analyst and columnist in Pakistan. Yet, he said, "The majority have a mistrust of America, and this will reinforce their mistrust of America."