Sunday, May 8, 2011

Obama: Bin Laden had support in Pakistan, but we don't know who - 8th May 2011

In his first public comments on Pakistan since the death of Osama bin Laden, President Obama says the al Qaeda leader must have had "some sort of support network" in that country, but he doesn't know whether it included government officials.

"We don't know whether there might have been some people inside of (Pakistan's) government, people outside of government, and that's something that we have to investigate and, more importantly, the Pakistani government has to investigate," Obama told CBS' 60 Minutes.

Face The Nation broadcast the clip Sunday morning from the 60 Minutes interview that airs tonight on CBS; the interview was conducted Wednesday.

Obama also said: "It's going to take some time for us to be able to exploit the intelligence that we were able to gather on site."

Some lawmakers have called for reduced aid to Pakistan in light of the fact that bin Laden lived there for years in apparent security.

Others have urged caution, warning that Pakistan's government -- and its nuclear weapons -- could fall into the hands of Islamic radicals. Read More