AC361°: Anderson broadcasts from Ground Zero
Editor's note: Anderson Cooper prepares to broadcast from Ground Zero in New York City on May 4, 2011 (Photo credit: Wolfram Ott)
New Photos from Inside Osama bin Laden's Compound: Join the Live Chat
There are new photos from inside Osama bin Laden's compound showing the bloody scene. And there are snapshots from the yard showing pieces of the damaged U.S. Navy helicopter. Could it be our first look at a new kind of military technology – a new kind of Black Hawk? We'll dig into that and more.
Scroll down to join the live chat during the program. It's your chance to share your thoughts on tonight's headlines. Keep in mind, you have a better chance of having your comment get past our moderators if you follow our rules.
Here are some of them:
1) Keep it short (we don't have time to read a "book")
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Remembering the fallen in Afghanistan
Editor's note: Join us tonight on AC360° as we remember the Americans who have been killed in the war in Afghanistan
Related: 'Victory day' for first U.S. victim of war in Afghanistan
More about Afghanistan's fallen: CNN.com's Home and Away
Related video: Obama announces U.S. has killed bin Laden
Earlier: 'I hope it is their names we speak'
From CNN.com's Archives: September 11, A Memorial
Beat 360° 5/4/11
Ready for today's Beat 360°? Everyday we post a picture you provide the caption and our staff will join in too. Tune in tonight at 10pm to see if you are our favorite!
Update: Beat 360° Winners:
Staff
Sam Meyer
“Actually, Mr. President, the common corgi fits into a footlong bun and is excellent with ketchup.”
Viewer
Erich
"I met with Mr. Trump this afternoon. His hair was THIS big!!"
Pakistan reacts angrily to tone of U.S. questions
Washington (CNN) - The United States is pressing Pakistani authorities for answers about how Osama bin Laden could have lived close to a major military base near Pakistan's capital without the government knowing, two senior U.S. officials said Wednesday.
The al Qaeda leader was living in a walled compound in Abbottabad, about 50 km (31 miles) north of Islamabad, when he was gunned down by American commandos in a pre-dawn raid Monday. The killing has left Pakistani officials facing sharp questions from Washington - and in some cases, from their own people - and exacerbated an already rocky relationship between the two nations.
A senior Pakistani intelligence official reacted angrily Wednesday to comments by CIA Director Leon Panetta, who told U.S. lawmakers in a closed-door session Tuesday that Pakistani officials were either "involved or incompetent" in bin Laden's case - and, "Neither is a good place to be."
The official, who did not want to be named, said his country had been generously sharing intelligence with its American counterparts.
"Of all people," the Pakistani official said, Panetta "knows how much we have been doing."
"What worse statement can come than that we heard from Panetta?" the official said. "I am afraid this statement is totally regrettable."
But the discovery of bin Laden, who was living in a three-story, walled home a short distance from a prestigious Pakistani military academy, has fueled calls by American lawmakers to re-examine the U.S.-Pakistani relationship.
FULL STORYBodies, unusual wreckage photographed in bin Laden compound
(CNN) - Pictures taken shortly after the raid that killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden show three men lying dead in pools of blood and the wreckage of a U.S. helicopter abandoned during the assault.
One of the dead men bears a family resemblance to bin Laden, but there was no confirmation of his identity. The al Qaeda leader's adult son was among those killed in Monday's attack by U.S. commandos, according to American officials.
The pictures were published Wednesday by Reuters. The news agency says they were taken by a Pakistani security official about an hour after U.S. forces left bin Laden's compound and that it is confident of the authenticity of the purchased images.
FULL STORYVideo: Daughter witnessed bin Laden's death
Editor's note: One of Osama bin Laden's daughters tells Pakistani interrogators that she saw her father shot and killed by U.S. forces.
Administration's initial misstatements raise questions
Washington (CNN) - Within 24 hours of Osama bin Laden's death in a U.S. assault on his compound in Pakistan, administration and government officials - both cloaked in anonymity and on the record - provided misleading if not erroneous information about what happened in the al Qaeda leader's final moments.
Bin Laden was shielded during the shooting by women, including his wife, they said. He was an active participant in an ongoing firefight, they insisted, implying bin Laden was armed and therefore gave U.S. Navy SEALs little choice but to shoot him down.
Hours later, a senior administration official began to revise that narrative to some White House reporters. Further revisions came Tuesday when White House Press Secretary Jay Carney gave a step-by-step description of the raid provided by the Defense Department that made clear bin Laden was unarmed and had no human shields.
Was it the fog of war, a bid to head off questions about killing bin Laden or perhaps a final propaganda salvo against the face of terrorism to Americans?
FULL STORYLetters to the President: #835 'The weakest links'
Reporter's Note: I’ve been writing too many serious letters to the president lately, but we’ve had some pretty serious news. So there you have it. Here is today’s.
Dear Mr. President,
It’s funny how a small thing can make a huge difference.
Do you remember that old poem? Something like “for want of nail the shoe was lost, for want of a shoe the horse was lost, for want of a horse the soldier was lost,” and on it goes until the war is lost. The point is that a tiny item gone awry may seem inconsequential, but over time can cost you everything. (As a side light, I’ve never been crazy about horses. They are pretty, and I’ve ridden some that I liked, but others seem as cantankerous as cats and just as prone to bite. Of course, I might be too if my shoes were nailed on.)
Anyway, I’ve been thinking about how a small thing brought down Osama bin Laden: A single guy, a trusted courier, who, step-by-incautious-step, accidentally led the SEALs to bin Laden’s door in the middle of the night.
FULL POST
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Post by: Filed under: Letters to the President • Opinion • President Barack Obama |
U.S. revises story on bin Laden's raid, offers more details
Abbottabad, Pakistan (CNN) - U.S. officials issued a revised version of the nighttime raid that killed the world's most-notorious terrorist, including additional details that revealed other options were on the table before settling on the assault.
The 40-minute raid early Monday in Pakistan left Osama bin Laden dead, along with four others in the complex that sits on a mountainous region near the capital.
Bin Laden was not armed during the raid, but he put up resistance when U.S. forces entered the compound, the White House said. Officials had earlier said that bin Laden was an active participant in the firefight, implying that he was armed and gave the U.S. Navy SEALs little choice but to shoot him down.
After the operation, U.S. forces departed with the al Qaeda leader's body, nearly 10 years after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States.
"It was a staggering undertaking and there was no one else, I believe, other than an American group of military warriors who could do it," U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said Tuesday. "And the world is a safer place today, not only for the American people but for all people."
Officials on Tuesday offered new details about the raid and clarified earlier accounts.
FULL STORY
