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The narrative of the raid on Osama bin Laden's compound is getting another revamp, and this time, bin Laden's youngest wife doesn't get shot in the leg. On Tuesday, the CIA's top lawyer Stephen Preston gave a new account of the May 2011 mission in Pakistan in an address at Harvard Law School. It doesn't appear that the account was intended to shed new light on the raid, however, as Politico's Josh Gerstein points out, Preston "omitted a relevant part of that narrative."
Previously, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney stated that bin Laden's youngest wife, Yemeni-born Amal al-Sadah, "rushed the U.S. assaulter and was shot in the leg but not killed," in those exact words. But in this week's account by Preston, it sounds as if al-Sadah came away unscathed by bullets.
“The operation itself was a great triumph for our military,” said Preston, according to his prepared remarks. “There’s the guy first in the room with bin Laden. Charged by two young women. Trained to expect suicide bombers in these circumstances. He grabbed them, shoved them into a corner and threw himself on top of them, shielding them from the shooting [emphasis added] and shielding the guys behind him from the blast if they detonated. His quick thinking, and raw bravery, saved two lives that did not have to end that night."