Pres Obama's 'Gutsy Call' "to use the No Nine Iron or not?" - Revealed: Pres was playing golf until 20 minutes before Navy SEALs began mission to take out Bin Laden.

Pres Obama's 'Gutsy Call' "to use the No Nine Iron or not?" - Revealed: Pres was playing golf until 20 minutes before Navy SEALs began mission to take out Bin Laden. (DailyMail).In the official photograph, he looked every inch the commander in chief. Strain etched on his face, Barack Obama watched as the raid to kill Osama bin Laden played out on a television in front of him. According to a new book, however, the President was not nearly that engaged – and was actually playing golf until 20 minutes before the operation began in earnest. Mr Pfarrer paints a very different picture to the official photo released at the time which shows Mr Obama and advisers huddled round a table in the White House situation room as footage was beamed from a drone 15,000ft above the al-Qaeda leader's mansion.

Mr Pfarrer says the President's role was largely inflated and suggests he stayed out on the golf course for so long so he could distance himself in case it went wrong. 

Mr Pfarrer writes: 'If this had completely gone south, he was in a position to disavow.' He says the White House photographs did not show the moment that Bin Laden was killed, but the moment a helicopter went down, which happened after the shooting. Mr Obama is known to be a keen golfer. Just today, as the White House was being encircled by 8,000 environmental protesters, he was on a course in Fort Belvoir, Virginia. The President also played golf four times during his week-long family holiday on Martha's Vineyard. Read the full story here.