Report: U.S. was ready to fight Pakistanis

The Navy SEAL team that killed Osama bin Laden was small and fast, but President Barack Obama wanted a plan in place in case they had to fight their way out of Pakistan, The New York Times reports.

The president's plan reportedly involved making sure the overall team involved in the operation was large enough for a variety of contingencies: If bin Laden was captured alive, if bin Laden needed to be buried quickly, and if the Pakistani military engaged the allegedly uninvited team during the operation.

The stunning revelation that the president and his team were prepared to go after bin Laden even if it meant engaging an ally in combat is sure to do little to improve already strained relations between the two sides. Although the Pakistanis finally decided on Monday to allow U.S. intelligence operatives the opportunity to interview the bin Laden widows left behind, the bin Laden operation has elevated tensions between the two sides.

The New York Times report on the operation quotes a senior Obama administration official as saying the bin Laden team's "instructions were to avoid any confrontation if at all possible. But if they had to return fire to get out, they were authorized to do it."

The decision to prepare for a possible engagement with the Pakistanis allegedly was what led to two more helicopters carrying additional troops joining the operation, the Times reports. One of those helicopters ended up being used when the initial assault caused a lead helicopter to be scuttled inside bin Laden's compound.