Four of the five people shot to death in the operation that killed Osama bin Laden, including the al-Qaida leader himself, were unarmed and never fired a shot, U.S. officials told NBC News on Wednesday — an account that differs markedly from the Obama administration's original claims that the Navy SEALs came under heavy small-arms fire in a prolonged firefight. 
 
 According to the officials' account, as the first SEAL team moved into the compound, they took small-arms fire from the guest house in the compound. The SEALs returned fire, killing bin Laden's courier and the courier's wife, who died in the crossfire. It was the only time the SEALs were shot at. 
 
 The second SEAL team entered the first floor of the main residence and could see a man standing in the dark with one hand behind his back. Fearing he was hiding a weapon, the SEALs shot and killed the lone man, who turned out to be unarmed. 
 
 As the U.S. commandos moved through the house, they found several stashes of weapons and barricades, as if the residents were prepared for a violent and lengthy standoff — which never materialized. 
 
 The SEALs then made their way up a staircase, where they ran into one of bin Laden's sons. The Americans immediately shot and killed the 19-year-old son, who was also unarmed, according to the officials. 
 
 Hearing the shots, bin Laden peered over the railing from the floor above. The SEALs fired but missed bin Laden, who ducked back into his bedroom. As the SEALs stormed up the stairs, two young girls ran from the room. 
 
 One SEAL scooped them up and carried them out of harm's way. The other two commandos stormed into bin Laden's bedroom. One of bin Laden's wives rushed toward the Navy SEAL, who shot her in the leg. 
 
 Then, without hesitation, the same commando turned his gun on bin Laden, standing in what appeared to be pajamas, and fired two quick shots, one to the chest and one to the head. Although there were weapons in that bedroom, bin Laden was also unarmed when he was shot. 
 
 Instead of a chaotic firefight, the U.S. officials said, the American commando assault was a precision operation, with SEALs moving carefully through the compound, room to room, floor to floor. 
 
 In fact, most of the operation was spent in what the military calls “exploiting the site,” gathering up the computers, hard drives, cellphones and files that could provide valuable intelligence on al-Qaida operatives and potential operations worldwide. 
 
 The U.S. officials describing the operation said the SEALs carefully gathered up 22 women and children to ensure they were not harmed. Some of the women were put in “flexi-cuffs” the plastic straps used to bind someone’s hands at the wrists, and left them for Pakistani security forces to discover. 
 
 But despite the fact that only one of those killed was armed, everyone was considered a serious threat, the U.S. officials said. 
 
 Accounts of the operation had varied widely in the first few days after it was completed. 
 
 White House officials initially suggested bin Laden had been holding a gun and perhaps firing at U.S. forces. There was a report that he used his wife as a human shield. 
 
 The Associated Press quoted U.S. officials on Tuesday as saying that the SEALs shot him after they saw him appear to lunge for a weapon. 
 
 CIA Director Leon Panetta told "PBS NewsHour" that bin Laden "made some threatening moves" that "represented a clear threat to our guys" but was not more specific about what the he did. ||||| U.S. commandos who attacked Osama bin Laden 's compound were operating under rules of engagement that all but assured the Al Qaeda leader would be killed, officials have acknowledged, backing away from an initial account that Bin Laden was armed and used a woman as a shield.After saying Monday that the American operatives who raided the Pakistani compound had orders to capture Bin Laden if he gave himself up, U.S. officials Tuesday added an important qualifier: The assault force was told to accept a surrender only if it could be sure he didn't have a bomb hidden under his clothing and posed no other danger.Bin Laden could have surrendered only "if he did not pose any type of threat whatsoever," White House counter-terrorism chief John Brennan said on Fox television, and if U.S. troops "were confident of that in terms of his not having an IED [improvised explosives device] on his body, his not having some type of hidden weapon or whatever."Added a senior congressional aide briefed on the rules of engagement: "He would have had to have been naked for them to allow him to surrender."Once troops exchanged fire with Bin Laden allies living in the compound — three men and a woman were killed in addition to the Al Qaeda leader — the chances of a surrender were almost nil, experts say.The surrender issue was one of several on which administration officials shifted ground.At the White House, spokesman Jay Carney read a Pentagon "narrative" of the tense minutes at the compound in the city of Abbottabad that he said was intended to correct information that had been released "in great haste" by Brennan the day before. Brennan had said Bin Laden was armed, "engaged in a firefight" with U.S. forces and shielded himself behind a woman."In the room with Bin Laden, a woman — Bin Laden's wife — rushed the U.S. assaulter and was shot in the leg but not killed," Carney said. "Bin Laden was then shot and killed. He was not armed." CIA Director Leon E. Panetta said in an interview on PBS television Tuesday that he did not believe Bin Laden had a chance to speak before he was shot in the face and killed."To be frank, I don't think he had a lot of time to say anything," Panetta said.Nonetheless, officials strongly defended the decision to shoot. "The right of self-defense is never denied," said a special forces officer interviewed by telephone who was not authorized to speak publicly."If anyone feels in any way that there is a hostile threat in a case like this — it can be a movement, or a failure to follow commands — deadly force will be authorized. It's a judgment call," the officer said. "And these assaulters are some of the finest, most highly trained in discriminate shooting. They train for hostage rescue."The CIA has had grim experience with concealed suicide vests: In December 2009, a Jordanian doctor who the CIA believed was its agent blew himself up with a vest, killing seven CIA employees and contractors who had come to greet him at a base in Khowst, Afghanistan Yet if Bin Laden had been taken alive, it would have posed myriad complications.The U.S. probably would have faced questions about the legality of having snatched a prisoner from a sovereign country without that country's permission, and whether to treat him as an enemy combatant or pursue a criminal prosecution.Panetta told Congress last month that Bin Laden probably would have been taken first to Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan and then the prison at Guantanamo Bay , Cuba, an uncomfortable chain of events for an administration that promised to close Guantanamo. And any legal proceeding, whether criminal or military, would have afforded the world's most famous terrorist leader a global platform.Carney also said officials were still mulling over the release of a gruesome photograph of a dead Bin Laden. Officials understand that some people will not believe the Al Qaeda leader is dead without seeing the photograph, but they are concerned about the "sensitivity" of the image, which could offend or inflame parts of the Muslim world.He added that the White House stood by its claim Monday that Bin Laden had resisted capture, but said that "resistance does not require a firearm." ||||| White House Press Secretary Jay Carney on Tuesday publicly revised the administration’s account of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden, telling reporters that the Al Qaeda leader wasn’t armed during the assault and didn’t use one of his wives as a shield. 
 
 On Monday evening, the White House had backed away from key details in its narrative about the raid, including claims by senior U.S. officials that bin Laden had a weapon and may have fired it during a gun battle with U.S. forces. 
 
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 reset Carney offers more on bin Laden Carney: Even I’m confused Brennan’s Monday briefing POLITICO 44 
 
 Officials also retreated from claims that one of bin Laden’s wives was killed in the raid. 
 
 Carney read a statement to reporters Tuesday seeking to clarify discrepancies. He said bin Laden “was not armed.” When a U.S. “assaulter” approached bin Laden, the Al Qaeda leader’s “wife” rushed the assaulter. That woman was shot but not killed, Carney said. 
 
 “What is true,” Carney said, is that “we provided a great deal of information with great haste.” 
 
 “Obviously, some of the information was — came in piece by piece and is being reviewed and updated and elaborated upon,” he said. 
 
 Carney told reporters that “resistance does not require a firearm” but directed questions about how bin Laden “resisted” to the Pentagon. 
 
 Carney’s clarification came after a day when the administration’s account had appeared to change but had not been publicly corrected. 
 
 At a televised White House briefing Monday afternoon, Deputy National Security Adviser John Brennan had said bin Laden joined in the fight that several residents of the Abbottabad, Pakistan, compound put up against the Navy SEALs during the 40-minute operation. 
 
 “He [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,” Brennan said. 
 
 At a Pentagon briefing earlier Monday, a senior defense official said bin Laden used a woman as a human shield so he could fire shots. “He was firing behind her,” the official said. 
 
 In another background briefing early Monday morning, a senior administration official also said bin Laden put up a fight. “He did resist the assault force. And he was killed in a firefight,” the official said. 
 
 However, during a background, off-camera briefing for television reporters later Monday, a senior White House official said bin Laden was not armed when he was killed, apparently by the U.S. raid team. 
 
 Another White House official familiar with the TV briefing confirmed the change to POLITICO on Monday night, adding, “I’m not aware of him having a weapon.” 
 
 “The bottom line is the team that entered that room was met with resistance and took appropriate action,” said a third American official. 
 
 The White House on Monday night declined to elaborate on the nature of the resistance bin Laden allegedly put up. However, an official confirmed that the Al Qaeda founder was shot twice, once in the head and once in the chest.
– There was fire, but no real firefight. That's the latest revision in the White House's version of events during the raid on Osama bin Laden's compound. The fire came from some 20 Navy Seals who shot dead bin Laden and three other men and a woman, only one of whom was armed, officials say now. Bin Laden's courier, Ahmed al-Kuwaiti, fired on the Seals as they launched the raid. After he and his wife were shot dead, the Americans weren't fired on again, reports AP. The others were killed because US forces believed they all posed a "serious threat," said a federal source. Initially, White House officials said the special forces came under heavy, prolonged small-arms fire as they moved into bin Laden's hideout. Instead of chaos amidst a hail of gunfire, the team moved methodically from room to room in what the New York Times characterizes as a "one-sided" 40-minute operation, confronting bin Laden aides and gathering some 22 children and women, some of whom were placed in plastic handcuffs. The US forces ended up in bin Laden's bedroom, shooting his wife in the leg and the apparently pajama-clad al-Qaeda leader in the head and chest, reports MSNBC. Bin Laden was shot as he appeared to be reaching for a nearby weapon, said a spokesman. CIA Chief Leon Panetta had reported that the men were "engaged in a firefight throughout the operation." White House officials said all details of the raid were not initially clear. "They were in a threatening and hostile environment the entire time," one official told the Times.