Former US president George W Bush, whose presidency was shaped by the September 11 terror attacks, has declined an invitation to join his successor Barack Obama in New York, officials say.
Obama is scheduled to visit Ground Zero, the site of the felled World Trade Center, in New York on Thursday, just days after a US special forces raid on Osama bin Laden's compound in Pakistan that killed the al-Qaeda leader and planner of the attacks.
Though Bush was asked to go to New York for the events, he decided against it, his spokesman said.
"President Bush will not be in attendance on Thursday. He appreciated the invite, but has chosen in his post-presidency to remain largely out of the spotlight," said spokesman David Sherzer.
"He continues to celebrate with all Americans this important victory in the war on terror.
A White House official said Obama would meet families of those killed on September 11, 2001 when al-Qaeda flew hijacked airliners into the city's famed twin towers.
Biden pleased with lack of leaks
The news emerged as Vice President Joe Biden hailed the lack of leaks in the lead-up to the commando raid that killed Bin Laden, though several lawmakers had been in the loop for months, AFP reported.
"There were as many as 16 members of the Congress who were briefed on it; not a single, solitary leak," Biden glowed in an address to the Atlantic Council think-tank.
"There was such of an overwhelming desire to accomplish this mission.
"The world is a safer place today not only for the American people but for all people," he told a crowd on the heels of the daring weekend raid in Pakistan announced by President Barack Obama.
Bin Laden was killed by US forces in Abbottabad, a leafy town about 30 miles (50 kilometres) from the Pakistani capital Islamabad.
In the latest developments, the debate over whether to release a photo of the body of Bin Laden intensified, while the US conceded that Bin Laden was not armed when shot.
It also conceded that initial claims that Bin Laden used his wife as a shield were incorrect.
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