Washington - The Pentagon on Thursday threatened legal action against the former Navy Seal who has written a book recounting his role in the May 2011 raid that killed al-Qaeda chief, Osama bin Laden.
The Pentagon’s top lawyer, Jeh Johnson, told the author he had broken his promise to abide by a strict non-disclosure agreement signed before he retired from the military this year.
The Pentagon is considering “all remedies legally available”, Johnson said in a letter to the author, who writes under the pseudonym of Mark Owen.
The book, “No Easy Day”, is expected to be released next week. The Navy Seal team member’s version of Bin Laden’s death at his Abbottabad, Pakistan, compound differs from previous accounts offered by President Barack Obama’s administration.
The Pentagon made clear that the publisher, Penguin’s Dutton, also faced potential legal jeopardy over the book.
The book describes how Bin Laden was first shot in the head as he peered out of a door and then pumped with bullets as he convulsed on the floor.
Previous official accounts said Bin Laden had appeared in a doorway and ducked back into his bedroom, leading the US commandos to suspect he might be retrieving a weapon.
The al-Qaeda leader was mortally wounded and twitching on the floor as two women cried over his body.
The team pushed aside the women and then fired more shots at him, according to the book.
We “fired several rounds”, the author wrote.
“The bullets tore into him, slamming his body into the floor until he was motionless.”
Obama administration officials suggested the book did not shed any new light on the raid. – Sapa-AFP