'Frankly, my belief was if we had captured him, that I would be in a pretty strong position, politically, here, to argue that displaying due process and rule of law would be our best weapon against al-Qaida, in preventing him from appearing as a martyr,' Obama is quoted saying in an interview with Bowden.
Obama believed that affording terrorists 'the full rights of criminal defendants would showcase America's commitment to justice for even the worst of the worst,' Bowden writes.
Obama had expressed similar views as a presidential candidate.
New York congressman Peter King said he would have been 'totally opposed' to a trial.
'To give him a forum and all the constitutional protections that a U.S. citizen would receive when he was clearly a war criminal is part of the defensive and apologetic attitude' of the Obama administration, the Republican said Wednesday.
U.S. officials have said the Navy team was ordered to capture bin Laden if he surrendered or kill him if he threatened them. Bowden asserts that the SEALs could have taken bin Laden alive but had no intention of doing so.
