Internal emails among U.S. military officers indicate that no sailors watched Osama bin Laden's burial at sea from the USS Carl Vinson and traditional Islamic procedures were followed during the ceremony.
The
emails, obtained by The Associated Press through the Freedom of
Information Act, are heavily blacked out, but are the first public
disclosure of government information about the al-Qaida leader's death.
The emails were released Wednesday by the Defense Department.
Bin Laden was killed on May 1, 2011, by a Navy SEAL team that assaulted his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
One email stamped secret and sent on May 2 by a senior Navy officer briefly describes how bin Laden's body was washed, wrapped in a white sheet, and then placed in a weighted bag.
According
to another message from the Vinson's public affairs officer, only a
small group of the ship's leadership was informed of the burial.
"Traditional procedures for Islamic burial was followed," the May 2 email from Rear Adm. Charles Gaouette
reads.
"The deceased's body was washed (ablution) then placed in a
white sheet. The body was placed in a weighted bag. A military officer
read prepared religious remarks, which were translated into Arabic by a
native speaker. After the words were complete, the body was placed on a
prepared flat board, tipped up, whereupon the deceased's body slid into
the sea."
The email also
included a cryptic reference to the intense secrecy surrounding the
mission.
"The paucity of documentary evidence in our possession is a
reflection of the emphasis placed on operational security during the
execution of this phase of the operation," Gaouette's message reads.
Recipients of the email included Adm. Mike Mullen, then the chairman of
the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Gen. James Mattis, the top officer at
U.S. Central Command. Mullen retired from the military in September
2011.
Earlier, Gaouette, then
the deputy commander of the Navy's Fifth Fleet, and another officer used
code words to discuss whether the helicopters carrying the SEALs and
bin Laden's body had arrived on the Vinson.
"Any
news on the package for us?" he asked Rear Adm. Samuel Perez, commander
of the carrier strike group that included the Vinson.
"FEDEX delivered the package," Perez responded. "Both trucks are safely enroute home base."
Although
the Obama administration has pledged to be the most transparent in
American history, it is keeping a tight hold on materials related to the
bin Laden raid.
In a response to separate requests from the AP for
information about the mission, the Defense Department said in March that
it could not locate any photographs or video taken during the raid or
showing bin Laden's body.
It also said it could not find any images of
bin Laden's body on the Vinson.
The
Pentagon also said it could not find any death certificate, autopsy
report or results of DNA identification tests for bin Laden, or any
pre-raid materials discussing how the government planned to dispose of
bin Laden's body if he were killed.
The
Defense Department also refused to confirm or deny the existence of
helicopter maintenance logs and reports about the performance of
military gear used in the raid.
One of the stealth helicopters that
carried the SEALs to Abbottabad crashed during the mission and its
wreckage was left behind.
People who lived near bin Laden's compound
took photos of the disabled chopper.
AP
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