US hopes to get info from Osama's educated wife

The United States investigators may get some information from one of Osama bin Laden's wives, who is a teacher and "highly educated", according to a close friend of Al Qaeda chief's son who said it would be "hard pressed" to get details from them as they did not know of  his plans.

Jean Sasson, who had helped bin Laden's son Omar write a memoir Growing Up Bin Laden, said wives of the Al Qaeda leader were "confined" and "all business" was kept  away from them.

"If they (wives) even asked him, he would refuse to discuss it," Sasson told CNN.

Sasson said women in the bin Laden household were not allowed to see or meet with any person who came to visit him. "If any man came into the house to meet with them, these women would not have been allowed to see them, know who they were or show their faces. But (living) with him in the house in close quarters, there's an opportunity that they would know more of the comings and goings."

Sasson said the wives, who are in Pakistani custody since the May 2 raid that killed bin Laden, may only be able to share "a few tidbits" with authorities.

When asked if the wives would be willing to share information with US investigators, Sasson said, "Possibly the one who is highly educated... because she was ... a teacher. Quite possible they might be able to reason with her."

As for bin Laden's young Yemeni wife, Sasson said she doubted "seriously" that investigators would be able to get "anything" from her as she was "very uneducated and  so devoted to him."

She added that bin Laden's relatives want proof that he is dead and are calling for an investigation into how he was killed. "The family just really want some answers. And they would just really like to know what exactly happened, why they weren't called."

She said the family had wanted to be able to "see" the body and given a chance to "at least identify the body." Unless the family is given "proof", many people will not believe that bin laden is dead, Sasson said.

Sasson added that Omar had hoped that there either be a truce between his father and the US authorities or that bin Laden would be "put on trial like Saddam".

Omar was "probably the only person around Osama who was brave enough to actually argue with him about the path he had taken... He actually had a couple screaming matches with his father about this kind of negotiation. He said there's a way to talk people and there's a way to do things. You should never kill anyone who is innocent," Sasson recalled.