More accurate version of what happened includes details that bin Laden first emerged on third floor, retreated to bedroom after shot fired.
A new picture emerged Thursday of what really happened
the night the Navy SEALs swooped in on Osama bin Laden's compound in Pakistan.
CBS News national security correspondent David Martin
reports the 40 minutes it took to kill bin Laden and scoop his archives into
garbage bags were all recorded by tiny helmet cameras worn by each of the 25
SEALs.
Officials reviewing those videos are still reconstructing
a more accurate version of what happened. We now know that the only firefight
took place in the guest house, where one of bin Laden's couriers opened fire
and was quickly gunned down. No one in the main building got off a shot or was
even armed, although there were weapons nearby.
The SEALs first saw bin Laden when he came out on the
third floor landing. They fired, but missed. He retreated to his bedroom, and
the first SEAL through the door grabbed bin Laden's daughters and pulled them
aside.
When the second SEAL entered, bin Laden's wife rushed
forward at him -- or perhaps was pushed by bin Laden. The SEAL shoved her aside
and shot bin Laden in the chest. A third seal shot him in the head.
The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee went
to CIA headquarters Thursday to view photos the SEALs took of bin Laden's body.
"There were probably about maybe four, five or six
photos," said Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger, D-Md. "There are just a
couple body shots. He was like, in a white undershirt and a tan robe."
The electronic files the SEALs carted away from bin
Laden's compound contain -- among many things -- the names of terrorist
operatives which until now were unknown to U.S. intelligence. The files also
contain a small, 12-page journal of bin Laden's handwritten notes about
launching a major attack against the United States. He instructed against using
Arabs because they arouse too much suspicion, to go after trains and to time
the attack to coincide with the 10th anniversary of September 11.
There are also messages to his senior lieutenants and to
al Qaeda affiliates, urging them not to waste time on small, local operations
and focus their efforts on the United States.
Ruppersberger said, "He kept all that information
and he kept all of the data, computers, hard drives and this is what we're
analyzing and it shows that his focus was clearly the United States."
U.S. officials cannot understand why bin Laden apparently
left what amounts to the keys to his terrorist kingdom just lying around his
compound in plain sight -- none of it rigged for self destruction.The killing
of Osama bin Laden
Why didn't bin Laden protect his files? The best guess is
he thought the United States would never find him.