The GuardianOsama bin Laden's final moments: America changes its story | World news

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  Tuesday 3 May 2011 23.36 BST

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The account of what happened in Osama bin Laden's final hideaway was succinct and clear when Barack Obama delivered it on Sunday, but it has become more confused in the days since, with conflicting and inaccurate accounts from the White House.

Bin Laden, according to a briefing on Monday, used his wife as a human shield and she was killed. By Tuesday, the White House reversed that: she had not been used as a human shield and she was not dead. The other point of discrepancy was the initial briefings that stated Bin Laden resisted and was killed in a "firefight", which suggests he had been armed. The White House insisted he had resisted, without saying how, but said he had no gun.

Did the Obama administration deliberately suggest he had hidden behind his wife as part of an attempt to portray him as a cowardly figure? Did it want to suggest he was armed to avoid criticism that US forces shot dead an unarmed man? Was it just part of the fog of war, with a clear account only available when those engaged in the mission are fully debriefed?

The problem for the White House is that damage has already been done, with these discrepancies opening the way for, at the very least, future conspiracy theorists.

Obama, in his late-night statement to the White House, kept it short and simple, telling how a small team launched the operation at the compound. "After a firefight, they killed Osama bin Laden and took custody of his body."

Later on Sunday evening, senior US officials offered more details: "In addition to Osama bin Laden, three adult males were killed in the raid. We believe two were the couriers and the third was Bin Laden's adult son. There were several women and children at the compound. One woman was killed when she was used as a shield by a male combatant. Two other women were injured." No inconsistencies there.

The Pentagon briefed on Monday and one of the officials, who had been speaking on an anonymous basis, suggested for the first time that Bin Laden had used a woman as a human shield. "He and some other male combatants on the target appeared to use – certainly did use – women as shields," the official said.

Contradictions began to surface when John Brennan, the White House counter-terrorism adviser and former senior CIA official, told journalists on Monday that Bin Laden "was engaged in a firefight with those that entered the area of the house he was in. And whether or not he got off any rounds, I quite frankly don't know". The phrase "engaged in firefight" suggests that Bin Laden was armed and firing back, which now turns out not to have been the case.

Brennan said Bin Laden had been "hiding behind women who were put in front of him as a shield". Asked if the human shield had been Bin Laden's wife or his son's wife, Brennan said: "Bin Laden's wife."

But on Tuesday, the White House spokesman, Jay Carney, opened with a statement that ran through events again and explained that Bin Laden's wife, who was in the room with the al-Qaida leader, had rushed one of the US troops and was shot in the leg but not killed.

Carney added a crucial detail. "Bin Laden was then shot and killed. He was not armed," Carney disclosed. Asked how he had resisted if he had no gun, Carney declined to specify but said resistance does not require a gun.