It certainly wouldn’t surprise me. But then, consider the source:
Osama bin Laden’s teenage daughter witnessed her father’s death in the compound in Abbottabad according to an ISI official. The girl is now in Pakistani custody together with Bin Laden’s wife. The wife, who speaks only Arabic and who was injured in the attack, said on regaining consciousness that she was Yemeni and that she had been in the compound for a few months.
The official said there were 17 or 18 people in the compound at the time of the attack and that as well as taking Osama bin Laden’s body away the Americans took one person alive — possibly one of his sons.
Four dead bodies were left in the compound. It is believed they are of another son, 2 brothers and a guard.
Those who survived the attack included the wife, the daughter and 8 to 9 other children — not apparently Bin Laden’s but possibly those of his brothers. All those being held in Pakistan will be returned to their countries of origin.
When the Pakistan authorities found the surviving women and children in the compound their hands were bound with plastic tags and it is believed that had one of the American helicopters not malfunctioned then they too would have been taken away.
There were four helicopters involved in the attack: two remained in the air and two landed. The Pakistani authorities recovered some documents from the compound apparently missed by the Americans.
Local officials in Abbottabad said that the ownership of the compound remains unclear as the relevant documentation is in the name of someone with a false identity.
The ISI said that they had no advance warning of the American operation. Between 25 and 40 American personnel were involved in the raid on the compound.
It is believed the American helicopters, possibly fitted with stealth technology, were in the air for about 30 minutes as they moved from Jalalabad to Abbottabad. They were on the ground for 40 minutes before making the return journey.
Listening to former Special Forces guys yesterday, I come away with the distinct feeling that all the “confusion” over the official narrative is in some ways intentional — our intelligence agencies throwing up false flags — and in some ways not, owing to a desire by political types to fashion a politically advantageous frame that subsequent revelations problematized.
Not for one second do I believe that a video blackout occurred — at least, I don’t believe that video doesn’t exist, and that the key players in the intelligence community and the administration haven’t seen it and can’t speak directly to what transpired during the raid by this point.
What remains troubling to me is the circumstances surrounding bin Laden’s death: if he wasn’t armed, the SEAL team would have apprehended him if at all possible, unless they were given an entirely new kind of order, one that I’m nearly certain Holder and Obama would have never given (even as this “kill order” story continues to be floated). If reports can be believed, others in the compound were flex cuffed and left alive, suggesting that the stealth raid gave them little time to mount any kind of defensive action, despite their having a cache of weapons hidden in the compound. That we’re not being shown evidence of bin Laden’s death will only fuel speculation that he is either still alive, or else he was killed by someone other than the SEAL team.
Personally, I would like to believe his death has been staged, and that we shuttled him off to some hole somewhere, where we’ll very politely interrogate him using standard, non-invasive, completely un-enhanced methods.
But that’s just me being very very un-Glenwaldian. Thank Christ.
Personally, I would like to believe his death has been staged, and that we shuttled him off to some hole somewhere, where we’ll very politely interrogate him using standard, non-invasive, completely un-enhanced methods.
You are going to make Andrew Sullivan cry if you keep saying things like that.
It would seem that Pakistan has an evolving story problem too.
From the Telegraph article linked in the post “Super”
Bunker post?
“Welcome back, Weasel1. Good job.”
“Don’t call me that, you know I hate that name.”
“Sorry. I kind of like it, myself.”
“Bite me, Colonel. Just call me Mahmoud. That’s my name.”
Klingon bastards killed my son!
Pure speculation, but I strongly suspect the original mission plan was to swoop into the compound, snatch bin Laden and any intelligence data (computers, papers, etc.), kill everyone else and fly out without leaving a trace. After the first helicopter was downed, which would result in evidence being left behind, the mission plan was changed accordingly.
Tragic, really. I was hoping Mr. bin Laden would wind up spending some quality time with an Israeli interrogation team. After that, maybe we could have handed him off to the Russians to let settle some old scores and ensure he left this world the same way he came into it:
Naked, covered in blood, and screaming.
I honestly think the narrative, and changes therein, coming out of the White House has more to do with inept political jockying than any kind of covert ‘false flag’ ops on the part of the intel community.
“But that’s just me being very very un-Glenwaldian. Thank Christ.”
If he screams for twenty years straight because of our methods of questioning it will be fine by me. If he took a round straight to the brain pan because of a direct order to kill-do-not-capture that is fine by me.
After the past decade I really do not care what the Muslim world thinks nor what the Leftist anti-Americans think. Their concerns mean nothing. F*@% ’em all.
Has anyone considered doing a cartoon of OBL?
Osama bin Rotten?
I’m so ronery since they took bin Rotten away.
So now they had a naked no kill order? http://althouse.blogspot.com/2011/05/they-had-to-shoot-osama-bin-laden.html
Jabba the Filmmaker is pushing the meme that OBL was kept by Pakistanis under ‘house arrest’, in a ‘garrison city’, at a compound ‘attached to their version of West Point’. Because there were so few bodyguards, and no internet connection.
More likely OBL was scared shitless, and got careless. Getting smoked was his destiny. I hope he had time to shit his pants.
Moore is showing his usual grasp of the subject matter on which he expounds. In other words, he hasn’t a clue.
Someone should do a horned Mohammed buggering him.
[…] What was remarkable about the military operation to me, troubles Jeff Goldstein: What remains troubling to me is the circumstances surrounding bin Laden’s death: if he wasn’t armed, the SEAL team would have apprehended him if at all possible, unless they were given an entirely new kind of order, one that I’m nearly certain Holder and Obama would have never given (even as this “kill order” story continues to be floated). [Goldstein] […]