Harry Reid informed ‘in general terms’ about attack on Osama bin Laden

By Karoun Demirjian

Monday, May 2, 2011 | 11:53 a.m.

WASHINGTON - The CIA may not have notified the Pakistanis about its planned strike on Osama bin Laden’s compound before Sunday’s strike that took out terror network al-Qaida’s erstwhile leader, but it did keep congressional leaders in the loop in the days and weeks leading to the attack.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he received regular one-on-one briefings from CIA director Leon Panetta, who has since been named head of the Department of Defense in the weeks leading up to the attack. While Reid was only informed about the operation “in general terms,” he had been made aware of the compound.

He received a call from President Obama at about 9:30 p.m. Sunday Washington time, informing him of what happened during the attack and that Osama bin Laden -- who Reid called “a man who epitomized evil” -- was dead.

Bin Laden apparently went down fighting in the last minutes of a 40-minute firefight and shootout, in which he shot at the U.S. Navy Seals who dropped into the compound from low-flying Chinook helicopters before dawn Sunday.

Many officials and civilians have commended the bravery of the troops who carried out the operation, but Reid made his congratulations exceptionally personal.

“What they do is so courageous,” he said of Navy SEALS, considered the most elite fighting force in the United States. While no Americans were injured during the raid that killed about 20, the event nonetheless made Reid recall the story of one Nevada Navy SEAL who was particularly close to him.

Shane Patton, a Nevada Navy SEAL posted to Afghanistan, died in 2005 after a Chinook helicopter he was flying in was shot down during a rescue mission near the Pakistani border. He was buried in Boulder City's Southern Nevada Veterans Memorial with full military honors.

“These men and women in the military and the intelligence community who put their lives on the line and make this happen is remarkable,” Reid said, "I can't help but think, or get the young Patton boy -- I played ball against his dad and his uncle -- out of my mind."

Patton’s father, James, was also a Navy SEAL, though today he works as a Las Vegas city marshal, is a friend of Reid’s, according to Reid's staff.

The administration also provided briefings to Republican House officials to keep them in the loop during the months leading up to this attack. House Intelligence Committee chairman Mike Rogers, who said he’s been having discussions about smoking out bin Laden with Panetta since Republicans moved into the majority, said he was last told on Saturday that the strike on bin Laden’s compound had been ordered. He was later informed when the operation was concluded.

Bin Laden’s body was positively identified through DNA testing and later buried at sea in accordance with Islamic law, U.S. officials stressed.

“It’s the news we’ve been longing to hear since the worst morning in our history,” Reid said.

“The world community is satisfied,” he said. “I think we should be very cautiously optimistic.”