CIA Director Leon Panetta said in an interview on Tuesday that officials ruled out informing Islamabad about a planned raid against Osama bin Laden’s compound as they feared their Pakistani counterparts might alert the Al Qaeda chief. Panetta told Time magazine that “it was decided that any effort to work with the Pakistanis could jeopardise the mission: They might alert the targets”. The operation has highlighted tensions between Washington and Islamabad, with the Foreign Ministry on Tuesday criticising the “unauthorised unilateral” raid.
Panetta also told the magazine that the options presented to President Barack Obama included bombing the compound with B-2 bombers or firing a “direct shot” with cruise missiles.Airstrikes were in the end ruled out because of the risk of “too much collateral”, said Panetta, a reference to potential civilian casualties. But the cruise missile option was still under consideration as late as Thursday, a day before Obama approved the helicopter assault.
