[177][178][179][180] Any mention of this decision was expunged from the final version of the inspector general's report. When confronted with Ghul's account, Mohammed maintained his original story. [35] Local residents called the building the Waziristan Haveli, because they believed the owner was from Waziristan. She was blinded by a strobe light and pushed to the floor as the SEALs went past her. Bin Laden's young adult son is said to have encountered the SEALs on the staircase of the main house, and to have been shot and killed by the second team. The CIA has special authority to prevent the release of operational files in ways that cannot be challenged in federal court. At the same time, he suggested that the burial could have been handled with more cultural sensitivity. Bin Laden stumbled into his bedroom, where the SEALs found him crumpled and twitching on the floor in a pool of body matter, with two women crying over his body. The lead SEAL then pushed Bin Laden's wives aside, attempting to shield the SEALs behind him in the case that either woman had an explosive device. Stealth technology was already operational on several fixed-wing aircraft and the cancelled RAH-66 Comanche helicopter; the modified Black Hawk was the first confirmed operational "stealth helicopter". The desk was "led by an officer who made his own decisions and did not report to a superior [...] but the top military bosses knew about it, I was told". Getty Images file [74], Time in the compound was spent killing defenders,[87] "moving carefully through the compound, room to room, floor to floor" securing the women and children, clearing "weapons stashes and barricades"[84] including a false door,[112] and searching the compound for information. [79], The raid was scheduled for a time with little moonlight so the helicopters could enter Pakistan "low to the ground and undetected". Worried that the plan for dealing with the Pakistanis was too uncertain, Obama asked Admiral McRaven to equip the team to fight its way out if necessary. [287] The U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs heard testimony on the issue from tribal leaders, while the Defense Department had no comment except to say that no disrespect was intended. [319][326] Local children were seen picking up pieces of the wreckage and selling them as souvenirs. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! [151] In August 2011, Fox News reported that Pakistan had allowed Chinese scientists to examine the helicopter's tail section and were especially interested in its radar-absorbing paint. [222] In 2012, Judge James E. Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued a ruling denying release of the photographs. [128][266][267] Critics cited the proximity of bin Laden's heavily fortified compound to the Pakistan Military Academy, that the U.S. chose to not notify Pakistani authorities before the operation, and the double standards of Pakistan regarding the perpetrators of the 2008 Mumbai attacks. The time between the team's entry in and exit from the compound was 38 minutes. The safe house was abandoned immediately after bin Laden's death. Directed by Kathryn Bigelow. [57], McRaven and the SEALs left for Afghanistan to practice at a one-acre, full-scale replica of the compound built on a restricted area of Bagram known as Camp Alpha. Whether those techniques were the 'only timely and effective way' to obtain such information is a matter of debate and cannot be established definitively. [116] Another member of SEAL Team Six said the story as presented in Esquire was false and "complete BS". "Shooter" then claimed bin Laden stood up and had a gun "within reach" and it was only then that he fired two shots into bin Laden's forehead, killing him. The Associated Press reported at the time two U.S. officials as stating the operation was "a kill-or-capture mission, since the U.S. doesn't kill unarmed people trying to surrender", but that "it was clear from the beginning that whoever was behind those walls had no intention of surrendering". Those in opposition expressed concern that the photos would inflame anti-American sentiment in the Middle East. The U.S. intelligence community also studied an option of hitting bin Laden with a drone-fired small tactical munition as he paced in his compound's vegetable garden. Robert O’Neill killed the most murderous terrorist of all time: Osama bin Laden, the sick mastermind who was responsible for almost 3,000 deaths on Sept. 11, 2001, alone. "[181] Golson said it is absolutely false that records were moved to the CIA to avoid the legal requirements of the Freedom of Information Act. "That's one of the reasons why, possibly, he came in there. [174] Numerous organizations filed FOIA requests seeking at least a partial release of photographs, videos, and/or DNA test results, including The Associated Press, Reuters, CBS News, Judicial Watch, Politico, Fox News, Citizens United, and NPR. Operational chief Abu Faraj al-Libi reportedly moved his family to Abbottabad in mid-2003. He and the rest of SEAL Team 6 are immortalized as American heroes. [313] The documents were part of the trial against Abid Naseer, who was convicted of plotting to bomb a Manchester shopping mall in 2009. [270], CIA chief Leon Panetta said the CIA had ruled out involving Pakistan in the operation, because it feared that "any effort to work with the Pakistanis could jeopardize the mission. [84][98] Bin Laden was unarmed, "wearing the local loose-fitting tunic and pants known as a kurta paijama", which were later found to have €500 and two phone numbers sewn into the fabric. On May 2, 2011, U.S. Special Forces raided an al-Qaeda compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, and killed the world’s most wanted terrorist: Osama bin Laden. In addition to SEAL Team Six, participating units under JSOC included the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne)—also known as "Night Stalkers"—and operators from the CIA's Special Activities Division, which recruits heavily from former JSOC Special Mission Units. He said: "People have been referring to this as hiding in plain sight. [137], Beginning at 12:58 a.m. local time (19:58 UTC), Abbottabad resident Sohaib Athar sent a series of tweets starting with "Helicopter hovering above Abbottabad at 1AM (is a rare event)." [235], Unlike the official account, Bissonnette's version alleges that bin Laden's wife Mariam was uninjured in the raid. By 1:44 a.m. all was quiet until a plane flew over the city at 3:39 a.m.[138] Neighbors took to their roofs and watched as U.S. special operations forces stormed the compound. As a result, Osama bin Laden was killed several minutes into the operation. "There was a lot of blood on the floor and one could easily see the marks like a dead body had been dragged out of the compound." Four bin Laden grandchildren from an unidentified daughter who had been killed in an airstrike in Waziristan. A chronicle of the decade-long hunt for al-Qaeda terrorist leader Osama bin Laden after the September 2001 attacks, and his death at the hands of the Navy S.E.A.L.s Team 6 in May 2011. Rob O’Neill, the U.S. Navy SEAL who has claimed credit for killing Osama Bin Laden, took to Twitter on Tuesday to push back on a theory shared by President Donald Trump, that the raid to kill Osama Bin Laden was staged and that a Bin Laden body double was killed in the raid. This was aggravated by higher than expected air temperature[55][73] and the high compound walls, which stopped the rotor downwash from diffusing. [4][109][110], While bin Laden's body was taken by U.S. forces, the bodies of the four others killed in the raid were left behind at the compound and later taken into Pakistani custody. 31 January 2019 In a January 25th op-ed posted on Bloomberg, Yale Law professor Stephen Carter raised issues about the lawfulness of the raid by U.S. Navy SEALS that killed Osama Bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan in 2011. [93][94] The courier's male relative Abrar was then said to have been shot and killed by the SEALs' second team on the first floor of the main house as shots had already been fired and the SEALs thought that he was armed with a loaded AK-47 (this was later confirmed to be true in the official report). [178], The United States Defense Department can prevent the release of its own military files citing risks to national security, but that can be contested in court, and a judge can compel the Pentagon to turn over non-sensitive portions of records. [245], In May 2015, a detailed article in the London Review of Books by journalist Seymour Hersh said that the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) had kept bin Laden under house arrest at Abbottabad since 2006, and that Pakistani Army chief Pervez Kayani and ISI director Ahmad Shuja Pasha aided the U.S. mission to kill, not capture bin Laden. May 1 (EDT)1:25 p.m. – President Obama, along with other top officials, formally approve the execution of Operation Neptune Spear.1:51 p.m. – Stealth Black Hawk helicopters take off from Afghanistan, carrying a group of 25 Navy SEALs.3:30 p.m. – The choppers land on the compound in Abbottabad. [224] Judicial Watch filed a petition for a writ of certiorari in August 2013, seeking U.S. Supreme Court review, but in January 2014 the Supreme Court declined to hear the case. Osama bin Laden stuck his head out of a bedroom door, saw the SEALs, and slammed the door closed. Conflicting reports of an initial firefight exist. Pakistan was "in the know of certain things" and "what happened, happened with our consent. [4] Located on a plot of land eight times larger than those of nearby houses, the compound was surrounded by a 3.7-to-5.5-metre (12 to 18 ft)[34] concrete wall topped with barbed wire. [72][73] According to one report, the dog was tasked with tracking "anyone who tried to escape and to alert SEALs to any approaching Pakistani security forces". [230][231], Twenty minutes into the operation, Razor 1 took off from the roof of the main house to reposition to a landing spot outside the compound. O'Neill states that bin Laden was standing behind a woman with his hands on her shoulders, pushing her forward. [189], In testimony before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, Attorney General Eric Holder said, "The operation against bin Laden was justified as an act of national self-defense. [169], The 14th Dalai Lama was quoted by the Los Angeles Times as saying, "Forgiveness doesn't mean forget what happened. Obama said that he was concerned with ensuring that "very graphic photos of somebody who was shot in the head are not floating around as an incitement to additional violence, or as a propaganda tool. At some point during this period, al-Qahtani told interrogators about a man known as Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti who was part of the inner circle of al-Qaeda. Conspiracy theories abound", "Osama bin Laden killed: conspiracy theories proliferate in wake of raid", "Pakistan says had no knowledge of U.S. bin Laden raid", "The Detail in Seymour Hersh's Bin Laden Story That Rings True", "Panetta: U.S. According to The New York Times, a total of "79 commandos and a dog" were involved in the raid. "Geronimo" indicated the raiders had reached step "G", the capture or killing of bin Laden. The helicopter settled slowly, bounced off the ground, and then broke apart as it hit the ground a second time. Osama bin Laden's pornography stash to remain under wraps, US decides, "Bin Laden Raid Leaves Stealth Helicopter Clues", "Osama bin Laden Was My Neighbor in Abbottabad", "Big Compound Stood Out, but Not Its Occupants, Neighbors Say", "Bin Laden Raid Copters Effective, But Not New", Origins of Stealth Black Hawks Date Back Over Three Decades Before the Bin Laden Raid, "Pakistan to return U.S. helicopter tail, Kerry says", "Obama nominates John Kerry as secretary of state", "The Bin Laden Raid Could Transform Asia's 21st Century Arms Race", "Report: Pakistan Granted China Access to U.S.'s Top-Secret Bin Laden Raid Chopper", "US helicopter wreckage: Pakistan denies giving China access", "CIA Trained Pakistanis to Nab Terrorist But Military Coup Put an End to 1999 Plot", "Exclusive Investigation: The Truth Behind the Official Story of Finding Bin Laden", Reuters Photo Gallery: Inside bin Laden's Compound, photos by Pak security official, Inside the Situation Room: Obama on making OBL raid decision, "Osama bin Laden collected news and commentary", Intelligence, Operations Team Up for bin Laden Kill, Office of the Spokesperson Press Release Death of Osama bin Ladin, Osama Bin Laden: The long hunt for the al-Qaeda leader, Allegations of CIA assistance to Osama bin Laden, Joint session of Congress (health care reform), Illinois State Senate election, 1996, 1998, 2002, 2000 Illinois's 1st congressional district election, Republican and conservative support (2008), Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial, American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, By the People: The Election of Barack Obama, Videos and audio recordings of Osama bin Laden, Videos and audio recordings of Ayman al-Zawahiri, North Korea and weapons of mass destruction, Targeted Killings: Law and Morality in an Asymmetrical World, Withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, Ambassadors of Pakistan to the United States, Ambassadors of the United States to Pakistan, U.S.-Pakistan support for Afghan resistance, 2010 CIA Station Chief removal from Pakistan, Pakistani immigration to the United States, Anti-Pakistan sentiment in the United States, Liaquat Ali Khan's state visit to the United States, Major League Baseball on cable television, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Killing_of_Osama_bin_Laden&oldid=1007590053, Operations involving American special forces, United States Naval Special Warfare Command, Articles with dead external links from November 2018, Wikipedia indefinitely move-protected pages, Wikipedia pages semi-protected against vandalism, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles with unsourced statements from November 2019, Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from November 2019, Articles tagged with the inline citation overkill template from January 2021, Pages using Sister project links with wikidata namespace mismatch, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, 1 helicopter crash-landed (no casualties), Measurement of the body: Both the corpse and bin Laden were 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in); SEALs on the scene did not have a, Facial recognition software: A photograph transmitted by the SEALs to CIA headquarters in. Obama laughed, despite his knowledge of the operation to come. The Defense Department rejected the request, and the AP administratively appealed. [74] None of the SEALs, crew, or pilots on the helicopter were seriously injured in the soft crash landing, which ended with it pitched at a 45-degree angle resting against the wall. [74] According to journalist Matthew Cole, the guns were not loaded and only found later during a search of the third floor. Panetta had written a letter to McCain on the issue, saying: "Some of the detainees who provided useful information about the facilitator/courier's role had been subjected to enhanced interrogation techniques. In the earlier versions, Al-Kuwaiti is said to have opened fire on the first team of SEALs with an AK-47 from behind the guesthouse door, lightly injuring a SEAL with bullet fragments. [229], A book published in November 2011, Seal Target Geronimo, by Chuck Pfarrer, a former SEAL, contradicted the account as given by U.S. government sources. [citation needed] Because of a lack of accurate information, some of what follows cannot be verified as true. [25] Abu Faraj al-Libbi was captured in 2005 and transferred to Guantánamo in September 2006. [8] The swift burial of bin Laden's body at sea, the speed of the DNA results, and the decision not to release pictures of the dead body have led to the rise of conspiracy theories that bin Laden had not died in the raid. It's also about US relations with Vladimir Putin's Russia. Since the SEAL team was reduced to one operational helicopter, one of the two Chinooks held in reserve was dispatched to carry part of the team and bin Laden's body out of Pakistan. [38] Following the American raid and killing of bin Laden, the Pakistani government demolished the compound in February 2012. The raid would take place the following day. Panetta said, "We have a visual on Geronimo", and later, "Geronimo EKIA"—enemy killed in action. [107][108] According to the Associated Press, the guns were on a shelf next to the door and the SEALs did not see them until they were photographing the body. Hamza bin Laden, the son and potential successor of the late al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, was killed in a U.S. counterterrorism operation, President Donald Trump confirmed Saturday. He praised the nearly ten-year-old war against al-Qaeda, which he said had disrupted terrorist plots, strengthened homeland defenses, removed the Taliban government, and captured or killed scores of al-Qaeda operatives. [184] The Obama administration justified its use of force by relying on that resolution, as well as international law set forth in treaties and customary laws of war.[185]. © 2021 A&E Television Networks, LLC. [228][229] The AP also requested "contingency plans for bin Laden's capture, reports on the performance of equipment during the mission and copies of DNA tests" confirming bin Laden's identity. On May 2, 2011, U.S. Special Forces raided an al-Qaeda compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, and killed the world’s most wanted terrorist: Osama bin Laden. Pakistani officials have found no record of an Arshad Khan in that area and suspect the men were living under false identities. [58][99][85][92], Bin Laden peered through his bedroom door at the Americans advancing up the stairs, and the lead SEAL fired at him. The SEALs fired four shots at bin Laden; the first missed, the second grazed Amal in the calf also missing bin Laden, and the final two hit bin Laden in the chest and head, killing him instantly. [63], When the National Security Council (NSC) met again on April 19, Obama gave provisional approval for the helicopter raid. 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