US feared Pak might 'alert' Osama about raid: CIA

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WASHINGTON: CIA Director Leon Panetta said in an interview 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 a British magazine that "it was decided that any effort to work with the Pakistanis could jeopardize the mission: They might alert the targets."

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. Air strikes were in the end ruled out because of the risk of "too much collateral," said Panetta, a reference to potential civilian casualties.

During White House deliberations, Panetta said he acknowledged there was only "circumstantial evidence" that Bin Laden was in the compound, as there were no spy satellite photos of the Al-Qaeda founder in the large compound.

Although his CIA aides were only 60-80 percent confident that Bin Laden was there, Panetta argued to Obama at a pivotal meeting Thursday that it was worth taking the gamble and that it was the best chance to take out the Al-Qaeda mastermind since a failed attempt in 2001 after the US invasion of Afghanistan.

He said he told the White House meeting, "when you put it all together ... we have the best evidence since (the 2001 battle of) Tora Bora (where bin Laden was last seen), and that then makes it clear that we have an obligation to act." (AFP)