The Mission To Kill bin Laden was run by Leon Panetta

CBS News) The mission to kill Osama bin Laden was run from CIA headquarters. The man in charge that night was Leon Panetta. It was Panetta who described events as they unfolded to the president at the White House last year. In an interview for "60 Minutes," "Evening News" anchor Scott Pelley interviewed Leon Panetta for an insider's view of the plan to get the man that they code-named "Geronimo." An transcript follows:

Pelley: Was there ever a notion of capturing Osama bin Laden in this mission?

Panetta: Yes. There could be a situation that would allow them to capture him. Then they were to make use of that.

Pelley: Where were you gonna take him?

Panetta: We clearly were gonna move him out and put him into a detained area for a while, while we obviously interrogated him, and then made the decision as to what would happen.

60 Minutes: The Defense Secretary, Leon Panetta

Pelley: The president and several others are in the situation room down at the White House. Are they listening to you? Are you narrating what's happening?

Panetta: I'm basically briefing them on kind of what's going on. They're also following it. But I was basically relaying what I was hearing from those who were conducting the operation.

Pelley: What were the exact words that you heard from the SEAL team?

Panetta: The person who was heading up the operation basically said, "You know, I think we have a Geronimo." And I kind of looked around at everybody at operation center and said, "I think--[it] looks like we may have -- Bin Laden really was there. And then he came back [and said], "We think we have Geronimo K.I.A."

Pelley: Killed in action.

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Panetta: That's correct.

Pelley: What was the scene in the operation center at the CIA at that moment?

Panetta: It wasn't like we were high-fiving. It was more like, frankly, we kind of looked at each other and said all of the work that had been done, all of the questions that had been raised, all of the risks that had been talked about -- that in the end it had all proven right.

Two months after the raid, Panetta moved from the CIA to the Pentagon as defense secretary.

Raptors deployed within throwing distance of Iran

The U.S. military has deployed several F-22s, the nation's most advanced fighter jets, to an allied base less than 200 miles from Iran.

The Air Force strongly denies this deployment is meant as a show of force against Iran or that it is in some way related to a potential strike on Iran's nuclear facilities. Rather, it says this is all part of a routine deployment and "security cooperation with regional partners."

The Air Force won't say how many jets were sent or exactly where they are stationed, but privately, U.S. officials have told Fox News the jets are in hangars at the United Arab Emirates' Al Dafra Air Base, a fact first reported by Aviation Week.

The F-22 has not yet seen combat. The jets were not used in Iraq, Afghanistan or Libya. They are stealth, and they specialize in air-to-air combat, but can also strike air-to-ground if needed. As one Air Force official put it, "this is America's premier fighter jet. It has no rival."

The next round for Iran nuclear negotiations, which many consider to be the country's last diplomatic opportunity, takes place on May 23 in Baghdad.

"The United States Air Force has deployed F-22s to Southwest Asia. Such deployments strengthen military-to-military relationships, promote sovereign and regional security, improve combined tactical air operations, and enhance interoperability of forces, equipment and procedures," Lt.Col. John Dorrian, Air Force public affairs, said in a written statement.  

Read more:HERE 

Helicopter crashes at Rick Huisband/Amarillo International airport

Connect Amarillo/KVII TV

AMARILLO, TEXAS -- No serious injuries were reported Thursday evening as a helicopter reportedly had a hard landing at Amarillo Rick Husband International Airport, officials said.

Two people were on board and one was taken to the hospital with injuries not considered serious, Patt Rhodes, Aviation Director, said.

The chopper, which was a Bell Ranger 3 helicopter, went down unexpectedly just before 5:00 p.m.

According to sources, the helicopter was owned by Chesapeake Bay Helicopters Inc.

ALl photos (C) Steve Douglass/ webbfeat@gmail.com 

Photo of the same helicopter at Rick Husband two weeks before today's crash. 

No nukes for Iran?

By Karin Brulliard and Joby Warrick, Published: April 25 | Updated: Thursday, April 26, 9:21 AM

JERUSALEM — Israel’s military chief said in an interview published Wednesday that he believes Iran will choose not to build a nuclear bomb, an assessment that contrasted with the gloomier statements of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and pointed to differences over the Iran issue at the top levels of Israeli leadership.

The comments by Lt. Gen Benny Gantz, who said international sanctions on Tehran have begun to show results, could relieve pressure on the Obama administration and undercut efforts by Israeli political leaders to urge the United States to get as tough as possible on Iran.

Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak have repeatedly stressed that sanctions and diplomacy will not persuade Iran to halt a nuclear program that they describe as a military one, and they warn that the time to stop it is running out.

But the Israeli security establishment is thought to be far less convinced about the urgency of military action. Gantz made his reservations clear in a handful of rare interviews with Israeli newspapers, offering comments that analysts said seemed intended to inject nuance into a debate that has reached frenzied heights this spring. Speaking to the newspaper Haaretz, he said that the Israeli military would be ready to act if ordered but that he did not think that this year would be “necessarily go, no-go.”

Gantz described Iran’s leaders as “very rational people” who are still mulling whether to “go the extra mile” and produce nuclear weapons.

“I believe he would be making an enormous mistake, and I don’t think he will want to go the extra mile,” Gantz said of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader. Although Gantz cautioned that Khamenei could still change his mind, the supreme leader has said repeatedly that Iran does not intend to build a nuclear weapon and that its uranium enrichment program is for peaceful purposes.

On Thursday, Gantz denied that there is disagreement about Iran’s intentions among Israeli leaders, according to the Associated Press. He also suggested that Israel has enlisted other countries to back a potential pre-emptive strike on Iran’s nuclear sites, saying other nations, which he did not name, have prepared their militaries for such an operation, the AP reported.

Although striking in its bluntness, Gantz’s assessment of Iran’s nuclear intentions did not differ dramatically from comments made publicly and privately by other current and former Israeli officials in recent months. Others also have concluded, for example, that Iran intends to achieve nuclear weapons capability but would stop short of assembling and testing a bomb, steps that would almost certainly incur a military response from Israel and perhaps the United States.

But Gantz’s comments differed starkly in tone from those made recently by Netanyahu about the diplomatic efforts of the United States and other world powers. The Israeli prime minister recently dismissed the five-week break between this month’s nuclear talks in Istanbul and the next round as a “freebie” that awarded Iran more time to work toward making bombs.

READ THE REST OF THE STORY HERE AT THE WASHINGTON POST 

North Korea close to testing nuclear bomb ...

(Reuters) - North Korea has almost completed preparations for a third nuclear test, a senior source with close ties to Pyongyang and Beijing said, an act that would draw further international condemnation following a failed rocket launch.

The isolated and impoverished state sacrificed the chance of closer ties with the United States when it launched the long-range rocket on April 13 and was censured by the U.N. Security Council, which includes the North's sole major ally, China.

Critics say the rocket launch was aimed at honing the North's ability to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of hitting the United States, a move that would dramatically increase its military and diplomatic heft.

Now the North appears to be about to carry out a third nuclear test after two in 2006 and 2009.

"Soon. Preparations are almost complete," the source told Reuters when asked whether North Korea was planning to conduct a nuclear test.

This is the first time a senior official has confirmed the planned test and the source has correctly predicted events in the past, telling Reuters about the 2006 test days before it happened.

Read the rest of the story HERE!