The administration is so very amateurish in how they are dealing with this. The story keeps changing. Seems like they had time to get a reliable after action report before going into any specifics. I don't think it's nefarious, when in doubt, assume incompetence.
They are now basically saying it was a kill mission unless OBL raised his arms to surrender. I say release everything. I had to watch people deciding that jumping from the towers was the better option live that morning. Watching some jihadis get whacked is nothing compared to that.
I think it's clear that they could have had him alive had they wanted. He would have been far more useful interrogated (using any means demonstrated to be effective). Since the administration is very on record being against any form of interrogation past the dreaded "comfy chair," and, he was unlikely to be Mirandized by Seals, killing him was the best option.
The biggest surprise, IMHO, was going public so fast. Seems like having grabbed up computers, etc, they should have tried to roll up some other high value targets before they knew the boss was compromised.
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"Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one." — Thomas Paine
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