Blog Heap of Links for the day 4 May 2011

Osama bin Laden's house, described by the US government as a $1m (£605,000) mansion, is in fact worth no than $250,000 say property professionals in Abbottabad

The White House Tuesday blamed "the fog of war" for conflicting statements in its recounting of the events surrounding the Abbottabad raid that killed Osama bin Laden, but the history of misstatements from U.S. government officials about various combat operations raises questions about whether briefers also were subjecting us to a counterterrorism strategy and not just completely confused in their initial statements.

Senior Pakistani security officials said Osama bin Laden's daughter had confirmed her father was captured alive and shot dead by the US Special Forces during the first few minutes of the operation carried out at the huge compound in Bilal Town, Abbottabad. ... About the slain woman: officials said she could either be Bin Laden's wife or a close family member since she offered to sacrifice her life for him. "As per our information, she shielded Bin Laden during the operation and was killed by American commandos...." a 12-year-old daughter of bin Laden was among the six children rescued from the three-storey compound. The daughter has reportedly told her Pakistani investigators that the US forces captured her father alive but shot him dead in front of family members. ... according to information Pakistani officials collected from detained persons, Osama was neither armed nor did inmates at the compound fire at the US choppers or commandos. "Not a single bullet was fired from the compound at the US forces and their choppers. Their chopper developed some technical fault and crashed and the wreckage was left on the spot" ...

Onondaga Nation Territory -- Leaders of the Onondaga Nation blasted as "reprehensible" the code name used for Osama bin Laden in the commando assault that killed him: "Geronimo." "We've ID'd Geronimo," U.S. forces reported by radio Sunday to the White House. Later, word came that "Geronimo" was dead. Geronimo was an Apache leader in the 19th century who spent many years fighting the Mexican and U.S. armies until his surrender in 1886. "Think of the outcry if they had used any other ethnic group's hero," the Onondaga Council of Chiefs said in a release Tuesday. "Geronimo bravely and heroically defended his homeland and his people, eventually surrendering and living out the rest of his days peacefully, if in captivity." "Geronimo is arguably the most recognized Native American name in the world," the chiefs said, "and this comparison only serves to perpetuate negative stereotypes about our people."