Thaindian News

Washington, May 5 (IANS) The US would add more names to its terrorist watch lists as law enforcement agencies review the evidence gathered in Pakistan after the raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound, officials said.

“The material that was seized from that residence is being reviewed by an inter-agency team: CIA, Justice, other intelligence agencies, other law enforcement agencies are contributing people and machines to go through that material,” Attorney General Eric Holder said Wednesday.

“As we glean information from that material, we will make appropriate decisions with regard to who might we add to the
terrorist watch list, the No Fly list, all those things,” he told the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Holder also asserted that the killing of bin Laden was legally justified, and would have been even if the Al Qaeda leader had made some sign that he wished to surrender.

“The operation in which Osama bin Laden was killed was lawful,” he said. “He was the head of Al Qaeda, an organization that had conducted the attacks of Sep 11. He admitted his involvement and he indicated that he would not be taken alive.”

“The operation against bin Laden was justified as an act of national self defence,” he said.

Holder said bin Laden was a legitimate military target and he had made no attempt to surrender to the US forces that stormed his fortified compound.

It was lawful to target an enemy commander in the field and the mission was conducted in the way that was consistent with US laws and values, Holder testified, adding that it was a “kill or capture mission.”

“If he had attempted to surrender, I think we should obviously have accepted that, but there was no indication that he wanted to do that. And therefore his killing was appropriate,” Holder said.

Five people were killed in the raid, officials said: bin Laden; his son, Khalid; his most trusted courier, a man who went by the name of Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti; and al-Kuwaiti’s wife and brother.

(Arun Kumar can be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)