Fog of War

Press Secretary Jay Carney blamed the below differing stories on the 'fog of combat.'

THEN: Osama Bin Laden was armed with an AK-47 during the raid.

NOW: The Al Qaeda leader was actually unarmed but did resist before he was shot.

THEN: On Monday, the White House said Bin Laden was involved in a firefight, which is why the SEALs killed rather than captured him.

NOW: On Tuesday, however, White House press secretary Jay Carney said Bin Laden did not fire on the SEALs.

THEN: Counter-terrorism chief, John Brennan said a woman, thought to be one of bin Laden’s wives, was used as a human shield during the raid and was killed.

NOW: Amal Al-Sadah, 27, bin Laden’s youngest wife, is thought to have rushed at the Navy SEALS and was shot in the leg but not killed. The woman who died was said to be the wife of one of his aides, caught in the cross fire. 

THEN: A White House transcript said it was bin Laden’s son Hamza who was killed in the raid.

NOW: They then corrected that to another son Khalid.

THEN: The night of the raid, administration officials held a telephone briefing for reporters. 'During the raid, we lost one helicopter due to mechanical failure,' one of the administration officials said.

NOW: Later in the same call, another official contradicted that: 'We didn't say it was mechanical.'