If Bush had claimed that bin Ladin was dead, without irrefutable proof, the press would have absolutely clobbered him, just as they did with the claim that Saddam Hussein had WMDs. He did, in fact, certainly have chemical weapons, which he used on some of his own people--and probably other weapons as well, which were removed from the country. But nearly everyone thinks that it was not true.
Is this story of Ann Barnhard's true? I have no idea. But it is, indeed, all too plausible. And it is certainly true that the long-form COLB posted on the White House website is a crude fake.
Please see my #30