White House was "breathless" for 35mins during Osama operation: Clinton

WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has reveled how she and the fellow White House officials were so astonished while watching live footage of the operation that killed Osama bin Laden that they "could not breathe for 30-35 minutes."

In a speech to cadets at the US Naval Academy in Maryland, Clinton gave a first-hand account of the incredible tension in the famous 'Situation Room' as the drama unfolded.

When asked to reflect on bin Laden's death and the process leading up to the mission that killed him in his Abbotabad compound, Clinton recalled her time as a New York senator during 9/11, and how the attack had affected so many of her constituents.

Clinton then moved on to recount the night of the raid and told how none of the officials in the room watching the operation, including President Barack Obama 'could breathe for 30-35 minutes,' The Daily Mail reports.

In the picture released by the White House last year, Clinton, Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and members of the national security team were seen watching as Navy Seals stormed the compound in Pakistan to take out the al-Qaida leader.

According to the paper, Clinton, who was giving speech on US Asia-Pacific policy, also discussed North Korea's impending satellite launch programme and described it as a provocation that threatens the security of the region.

She stressed that history shows North Korea may follow a planned long-range rocket launch in violation of a UN ban with 'additional provocations.'