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      WASHINGTON (AP) - No guts, no glory.


      The nail-biting, 40-minute clandestine operation that resulted
in Osama bin Laden's death could have been a calamitous political
and military failure; a bloodbath in Pakistan that left U.S. forces
and scores of civilians dead or captured by America's most
ferocious enemy.


      Or, as it happened, it could unfold largely in textbook fashion
- delivering a stunning success for the often maligned intelligence
community, a political and national security coup for a struggling
president and revenge for Americans still carrying vivid memories
of Sept. 11.


      By secretly sending a team of special operations forces into an
enemy fortress in a suburban neighborhood of a sovereign country,
President Barack Obama chose the path of greatest risk, but also
greatest reward.


      There were so many ways it could have gone wrong.


      As U.S. officials evaluated their options, Obama asked for a gut
check from top members of his national security team.


      The various plans, White House counterterror chief John Brennan
said, were "debated across the board and the president wanted to
make sure, at the end, that he had the views of all."


      The level of risk stretched from moderate to massive.


      "When you go into something like this, there are no
guarantees," said Dick Couch, a Navy SEAL during the Vietnam War
who later worked for the CIA. "There's the fog of war. Things go
wrong that you don't really plan or intend."


      Bin Laden might not have been there, the commandos could have
run into stiff resistance or hidden explosives, or U.S. troops
might have been detected by Pakistani forces who could have taken
action against them, Couch said in a phone interview Tuesday.
"They have to plan ahead and account for as many of these
contingencies as possible," he added. "But you can't take all the
risk out of it."


      An airstrike, like the one that killed al-Qaida in Iraq leader
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in an Iraq safe house in June 2006, could be
done quickly, from a drone or bomber far away, generating little
risk for U.S. troops. In that operation, U.S. special operations
forces went in after the F-16 strike and collected documents,
electronic storage devices and weapons that were hidden under the
floorboards in the building.


      But that safe house was in a war zone where U.S. forces where
already engaged.


      Still, a bombing brings its own shortcomings: a misfire, an
aircraft problem, the potential for widespread civilian casualties
and difficulty in identifying enemy remains.


      Putting troops on the ground in Pakistan was by far the most
dangerous option, both militarily and politically.


      While an ally, Pakistan is a sovereign nation that has
complained bitterly about U.S. drone strikes targeting insurgents
within its borders. And Islamabad officials have strongly resisted
having U.S. combat troops on Pakistani soil.


      Obama knew that anything short of a clean and victorious mission
would have dire consequences, further eroding an already tenuous
relationship with Pakistan during a critical period of the
Afghanistan war. The U.S. needs Pakistan's assistance rooting out
terrorists along the border and helping to prevent militants from
crossing into Afghanistan as they become more active in the warmer
spring weather.


      At the same time, a helicopter assault that dropped elite
commandos into the bin Laden compound forced them into direct
combat, putting American lives in greater danger and presenting a
greater risk of aircraft or equipment failures.


      It also required exhaustive planning and training, which
provided greater chances for information to leak out over the
ensuing months, scuttling the mission and sending bin Laden deeper
into hiding.


      The benefits, however, were too rich to ignore. With a precision
assault, there would be much greater certainty they would
positively identify bin Laden - a linchpin for success. It also
reduced the risk of mass civilian casualties and dramatically
increased the opportunity to gather what officials call a treasure
trove of documents and intelligence.


      As he reviewed the options, Obama had history to consider. As
some of his predecessors can attest, these are the missions that
can define a presidency.


      President Jimmy Carter's failed re-election bid was blamed in
part on the disastrous attempt to rescue American hostages from the
U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1980. Eight American troops were killed
when a special operations aircraft collided with a Navy helicopter
at a rendezvous point in the desert on their way to the embassy.


      And in the 1993 Battle of Mogadishu, made famous in the movie
"Black Hawk Down," two helicopters were shot down and 18 American
soldiers were killed during a U.S. mission to snatch a Somali clan
warlord. The same kind of helicopters were used in the bin Laden
raid.


      The images of gunmen dragging the bodies of U.S. soldiers
through Mogadishu's dusty streets became an icon for those opposed
to U.S. involvement overseas. President Bill Clinton ordered a U.S.
withdrawal and promised to never again deploy troops unless there
was a clear U.S. national interest.


      Associated Press writers Pauline Jelinek and Robert Burns
contributed to this report.
      

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The nail-biting, 40-minute clandestine operation that resulted
in Osama bin Laden's death could have been a calamitous political
and military failure; a bloodbath in Pakistan that left U.S. forces
and scores of civilians dead or captured by America's most
ferocious enemy.

Bin Laden mission was risky business for Obama

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