THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: The Archbishop of Canterbury has criticised the White House over the killing of Osama bin Laden.
Dr Rowan Williams warned that the shooting dead of the unarmed al-Qaeda leader meant justice was not "seen to be done".
The differing accounts of the American special forces' operation which have emerged from the White House since Monday "have not helped", he said.
At a press conference at Lambeth Palace, The Daily Telegraph asked Dr Williams whether he thought the US had been right to kill bin Laden.
After declining to respond initially, he later replied: “I think the killing of an unarmed man is always going to leave a very uncomfortable feeling, because it doesn’t look as if justice is seen to be done in those circumstances.
“I think it’s also true that the different versions of events that have emerged in recent days have not done a great deal to help here.
“I don’t know full details any more than anyone else does. But I do believe that in such circumstances when we are faced with someone who was manifestly a war criminal, in terms of the atrocities inflicted, it is important that justice is seen to be observed.”
A spokesman for Archbishop Vincent Nichols, the head of the Roman Catholic church in England and Wales, said the church would not be commenting on the killing of the al-Qaeda leader. » | Tim Ross, Religious Affairs Editor | Thursday, May 05, 2011
