Washington, Sept 8 (ANI): US President Barack Obama has admitted for the first time that he took a "gamble" to go ahead with the risky operation that killed former al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, despite being advised not to proceed over uncertainty whether or not he was present in the Abbottabad compound in Pakistan.
In a new documentary, Obama has revealed that the Osama mission was almost called off at the last minute because of the uncertainty. He said that just days before the May 1 attack, the CIA had advised there was a 60-70 per cent certainty that bin Laden was holed up with his family in a fortified compound in a military suburb of Abbottabad, Pakistan, the Herald Sun reports.
On April 28, a special "red team" of security analysts had reportedly advised Obama that they were only about 30-40 per cent certain the world's most wanted man was present in the hideout, as they did not have enough evidence to prove their point.
A "tense" White House meeting followed where a number of Obama's highest advisers told him the "stakes were too damn high", but the president went ahead with the plan. Even though I thought it was only 50/50 that bin Laden was there I thought it was worth us taking a shot," Obama said in 'Bin Laden: Shoot to Kill' documentary.
If the mission was unsuccessful, the President admitted he faced "huge geopolitical ramifications".
In the one-hour documentary that screened on the UK's Channel 4 on Wednesday night, America's top security advisers and the President were seen speaking for the first time about the plan to kill bin Laden.
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