Friday, May 6, 2011

449 White House will not release bin Laden photos



Top story: The White House announced on Wednesday that it would not release pictures of a dead Osama bin Laden that the U.S. commando team took during the raid on his compound. President Barack Obama said that the decision to withhold the photos was in order to prevent from being used "as an incitement to additional violence or as a propaganda tool."
The decision to not release the photographs comes as the administration's account of the raid was called into question on several fronts. In addition to questions over whether bin Laden was killed during a firefight or used his wife as a human shield, the White House's claim that the compound was worth $1 million was challenged by accounts showing that the land was purchased in 2004 and 2005 for $48,000. The administration stood by its estimate of the compound's value.
New details also suggest the U.S. commando team faced less resistance than the White House initially implied. The 20-man Navy Seal team that raided the compound were only fired upon by bin Laden's courier. After shooting and killing him, the Seals were not shot at again during the raid. This account differs from White House spokesman Jay Carney's statement that the commandos "were engaged in a firefight throughout the operation."
The White House said its initial errors were caused due to haste, as it tried to gather the facts from the debriefing of the Seal team that was occurring thousands of miles away.
Presidential visit to Ground Zero: Obama will travel to the site where the World Trade Centers used to stand in downtown Manhattan today, to lay a wreath commemorating the nearly 3,000 people who died in the 9/11 attacks.

Europe
  • Portugal's finance minister predicted that the country's debt will cause it to fall into a recession for the next two years.
  • A Nazi war crimes suspect, now 97 years old, went on trial in Hungary.
  • The archbishop of Canterbury said that he felt "very uncomfortable" about the circumstances of bin Laden's killing.
Americas
  • Mexican President Felipe Calderon appealed to the Mexican people not to abandon his crackdown on the drug cartels.
  • The mayor of Bogota, Colombia, was suspended pending an investigation into alleged irregularities in overseeing public works contracts.
  • Following news of a mine explosion in Mexico, hope faded of finding any of the miners alive.
Asia
  • The last known combat veteran of World War I died in Australia.
  • Workers entered a reactor building in the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant for the first time since an earthquake on March 11 caused a dangerous radiation leak.
  • The body of a top Indian official was found amidst the wreckage of his helicopter in the region of Arunachal Pradesh.
Africa
  • Government troops in the Ivory Coast announced that they were now in control of the entire capital city of Abidjan.
  • Four Nigerian banking executives were re-arrested on charges of financial mismanagement.
  • The trial of two Rwandan leaders accused of leading attacks against civilians in 2008 and 2009 began in Germany.
Middle East
  • Discussions are being held in Rome about providing financial assistance to Libya's rebels.
  • Former Egyptian Interior Minister Habib al-Adly was sentenced to 12 years in prison.
  • Sarah Shourd announced that she will not return to Iran to face espionage charges against her.
-By David Kenner
SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images

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