White House categorically denies
Barack Obama lied over how the
The White House has strongly
denied an article by a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist that
claims Barack Obama lied to the public about the killing of Osama bin Laden.
Seymour Hersh’s article, published
in the London Review of Books, alleged that the government of Pakistan played a key role in helping the US assassinate
the former al-Qaeda leader and that he was in fact an unarmed “invalid” when he
was shot by US Navy Seals in 2011.
These, among other claims
attributed to an unnamed retired official from the Pakistani intelligence
services, directly contradict the story President Obama told of how bin Laden
died in a fire-fight after a secret incursion by a small American team.
During a press conference at the
White House, Obama spokesman Josh Earnest dismissed Mr Hersh’s article as
“riddled with inaccuracies and outright falsehoods”.
White House press secretary Josh
Earnest speaks during the daily news briefing at the White House in Washington,
Monday, 11 May (AP) White House press secretary Josh Earnest speaks during the
daily news briefing at the White House in Washington, Monday, 11 May (AP) He
quoted a CNN security analyst who said of the 10,000 word article: “What’s true
in the story isn’t new, and what’s new in the story isn’t true.”
Ned Price, a spokesman for the
White House’s National Security Council, also issued a strong denial late on
Monday.
“The notion that the operation
that killed Osama Bin Ladin was anything but a unilateral U.S. mission is
patently false,” he said. “The president decided early on not to inform any
other government, including the Pakistani Government, which was not notified
until after the raid had occurred. This was a US operation through and through.”
Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton
took personal responsibility, and praise, for the US finding and killing Osama
bin Laden Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton took personal responsibility, and
praise, for the US finding and killing Osama bin Laden Price declined to comment
on any of the other assertions in the article, including that Navy Seals were
given rules of engagement implying they should shoot bin Laden on sight
regardless of whether he tried to defend himself and that he was “unarmed” and
“an invalid” at the time.
“There are too many inaccuracies
and baseless assertions in this piece to fact check each one,” he said.
A Central Intelligence Agency
spokesman has also commented on the report, telling the Wall Street Journal it
was “utter nonsense”. Pakistani officials are yet to comment on the article.
Locals and media gather outside
the compound, pictured in May 2011, where Osama Bin Laden was reportedly killed
in an operation by US Navy Seals Locals and media gather outside the compound,
pictured in May 2011, where Osama Bin Laden was reportedly killed in an
operation by US Navy Seals Among the other claims made in Hersh’s article were
that rather than hiding out in a compound in Abbottabad, bin Laden had been
held captive by the Pakistan military for years as “leverage” against al-Qaeda
and the Taliban.
Mr Hersh also reported that White
House claims Bin Laden was still receiving information from and giving orders
to al-Qaeda, and that a cache of secret details from terror activities was
found in the compound, were “lies, misstatements and betrayal”.
“The White House had to give the
impression that bin Laden was still operationally important,” he quoted the
official as saying. “Otherwise, why kill him?”
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