[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. We don't need to spike the football."
[220][221] On May 9, the Department of Defense declined to process Judicial Watch's FOIA request, prompting Judicial Watch to file a federal lawsuit. [1] The U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency helped the Joint Special Operations Command create mission simulators for the pilots, and analyzed data from an RQ-170[43] drone before, during and after the raid on the compound. The body was washed, wrapped in a white sheet and placed in a weighted plastic bag. Rarely have I been prouder to serve by his side as I was that day. [101][102], In 2011 American intelligence analyst Raelynn Hillhouse wrote that according to U.S. intelligence sources, the U.S. had been tipped-off to bin Laden's location by an unnamed Pakistani intelligence insider collecting the $25 million reward. They had superior intelligence, superior technology, and we are grateful to them. "[284] Officials subsequently explained that each step of the mission was labelled alphabetically in an "Execution Checklist", which is used to ensure all participants in a large operation are kept synchronized with a minimum of radio traffic. As Razor 1 was crossing over the courtyard, both "green unit" flight deck control systems went off line.
[59], Planners believed the SEALs could get to Abbottabad and back without being challenged by the Pakistani military.
[323], The U.S. requested return of the wreckage and the Chinese government also expressed interest, according to Pakistani officials. "There were four dead bodies, three male and one female and one female was injured", he said. [66] He subscribed to the Athari (literalist) school of Islamic theology.[67]. He was interested in earth-moving machinery and genetic engineering of plants on the one hand, but rejected chilled water on the other. [264][265] Government officials said that the country's limited resources had been committed to its war against the Pakistan Taliban, and other insurgents who posed an active threat to it, rather than to finding or sheltering bin Laden. [25], In 2007, officials learned al-Kuwaiti's real name,[28] though they said they would disclose neither the name nor how they learned it.
[136] Despite the assurance of President George H. W. Bush to King Fahd in 1990, that all U.S. forces based in Saudi Arabia would be withdrawn once the Iraqi threat had been dealt with, by 1996 the Americans were still there. After that he periodically released audio messages, including in 2008, when he threatened retaliation for the deaths of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, and in 2009, when he challenged the nerve of the new U.S. president, Barack Obama, to continue the fight against al-Qaeda. Pakistani officials have found no record of an Arshad Khan in that area and suspect the men were living under false identities. But, they had full authority to kill him. The compound had no Internet or landline telephone service. A former U.S. State Department official in October 2001 described Bosnia and Herzegovina as a safe haven for terrorists, and asserted that militant elements of the former Sarajevo government were protecting extremists, some with ties to Osama bin Laden. According to Middle East intelligence reports, bin Laden financed small convoys of recruits from the Arab world through his businesses in Sudan. In 1992 or 1993, bin Laden sent an emissary, Qari el-Said, with $40,000 to Algeria to aid the Islamists and urge war rather than negotiation with the government.
Pakistan came under intense international scrutiny after the raid.
", "Bin Laden Raid Revives Debate on Value of Torture", "Documents reveal NSA's extensive involvement in targeted killing program", "Tip to bin Laden may have come from Guantánamo", "Osama Bin Laden: Navy SEALS Operation Details of Raid That Killed 9/11 Al Qaeda Leader", Bin Laden's trusted confidante identified, "Pakistani Military Investigates How Bin Laden Was Able to Hide in Plain View", "Detective Work on Courier Led to Breakthrough on Bin Laden", "How the U.S. tracked couriers to elaborate bin Laden compound", "Bin Laden was found at luxurious Pakistan compound", "Obama Calls World 'Safer' After Pakistan Raid", "Video: Inside bin Laden's Drone-Proof Compound", "Osama mansion was called Waziristan Haveli", "Osama Bin Laden's Pakistani Compound Demolished", "CIA tactics to trap Bin Laden linked with polio crisis, say aid groups", "Bin Laden raid harms Pakistan polio fight", "CIA flew stealth drones into Pakistan to monitor bin Laden house", "The Little-Known Agency That Helped Kill Bin Laden", "The NSA has its own team of elite hackers", "To hunt Osama bin Laden, satellites watched over Abbottabad, Pakistan, and Navy SEALs", "Bin Laden data not had by torture, Feinstein says", "Osama Bin Laden Death: Obama Ran Serious Risks With Mission To Kill Terrorist Leader", "Bin Laden was unarmed when SEALs stormed room", "CIA Chief Panetta: Obama Made 'Gutsy' Decision on Bin Laden Raid", "U.S. commandos knew bin Laden likely would die", "Osama bin Laden raid yields trove of computer data", "Decision Making in Using Assassinations in International Relations", "Planning & Executing the Mission to Get Bin Laden", "Before Osama bin Laden Raid, Obama Administration's Secret Legal Deliberations", "Spy, Military Ties Aided bin Laden Raid", "Sources: Bragg helped plan bin Laden raid", "Obama's Poker Face: President Reacts to Bin Laden Joke at Correspondents' Dinner", "Raid raises question: Who's soldier, who's spy? CIA Director Thinks It Will Happen", "Concerned About Potential Backlash, President Obama Won't Release Photo of Bin Laden Corpse", "Obama on bin Laden: The full '60 Minutes' interview", S.C. Sen. Graham wants bin Laden photos released, Key Republicans say don't release bin Laden photo, "Watchdog group is prepared to sue for photos of bin Laden", "Experts predict difficulties for news orgs' FOIA requests to release bin Laden photos", "First Lawsuit Filed for Bin Laden Death Photos", "Federal judge blocks release of bin Laden death photos", D.C. [214], Obama decided not to release the photos. In Somalia, he called attention to the extreme poverty caused by constant warfare, and he advised al-Shabab to pursue economic development. [113], Following the Soviet Union's withdrawal from Afghanistan in February 1989, Osama bin Laden returned to Saudi Arabia as a hero of jihad.
", "Exclusive: Bin Laden 'Shooter' Under Investigation for Leaking Secrets", "Crowds gather in NYC, DC after bin Laden killed", "Bin Laden Announcement Twitter Traffic Spikes Higher Than The Super Bowl", "Phillies crowd erupts in 'U-S-A' cheers", "Video: Phillies fans chant 'U-S-A!' [94], Bin Laden also believed climate change to be a serious threat and penned a letter urging Americans to work with President Barack Obama to make a rational decision to "save humanity from the harmful gases that threaten its destiny". Jailan Halawi, "bin Laden behind Luxor Massacre?". It is also important to note that some detainees who were subjected to enhanced interrogation techniques attempted to provide false or misleading information about the facilitator/courier. [22] Under his leadership, the al-Qaeda organization was responsible for, in addition to the September 11 attacks in the United States, many other mass-casualty attacks worldwide.[23][24][25].
[65], The SEALs flew into Pakistan from a staging base in the city of Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan after originating at Bagram Air Base in northeastern Afghanistan. "[194] Two United Nations Special Rapporteurs issued a joint statement seeking more information regarding the circumstances in which bin Laden was killed and cautioning that "actions taken by States in combating terrorism, especially in high profile cases, set precedents for the way in which the right to life will be treated in future instances. A computer database he created in 1988 listing the names of volunteers for the Afghan War led to the formation that year of a new militant network named al-Qaeda (Arabic: “the Base”), although the group remained without clear objectives or an operational agenda for several years. Also Bin Laden may have no longer felt safe in Sudan, where he had already escaped at least one assassination attempt that he believed to have been the work of the Egyptian or Saudi regimes, and paid for by the CIA. Numerous witnesses reported that power, and possibly cellphone service,[141] went out around the time of the raid and apparently included the military academy. [104] It was during this time that he became idolised by many Arabs. Instead he directed Admiral McRaven to develop the plan for a helicopter raid. [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.
: Chronology", "Letter From Jedda: Young Osama- How he learned radicalism, and may have seen America", "The Mysterious Death of Osama Bin Laden", Messages to the World: The Statements of Osama bin Laden, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1595205.stm, "This article is more than 2 years old Bin Laden's disdain for the west grew in Shakespeare's birthplace, journal shows", "Osama bin Laden's bodyguard: I had orders to kill him if the Americans tried to take him alive", "Bin Laden's wives – and daughter who would 'kill enemies of Islam, "Osama bin Laden's family 'stranded' in Iran, son says", "Blood Brothers: Could Osama Have Been Tamed? The SEAL team fired a total of 16 shots, killing Osama bin Laden, Khalid bin Laden, Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti, and al-Kuwaiti's wife, Arshad Khan, and wounding Osama bin Laden's wife Amal al-Sadah. [11] His mother, Alia Ghanem, was from a secular middle-class family in Latakia, Syria. If the Navy SEALs were instructed to kill bin Laden without trying first to capture him, it "may have violated American ideals if not international law.
As I watched the destroyed towers in Lebanon, it occurred to me punish the unjust the same way: to destroy towers in America so it could taste some of what we are tasting and to stop killing our children and women. "[262], Others argued that bin Laden lived in the compound with a local family, and never used the internet or a mobile phone, which would have made him much easier to locate. A list of requirements for membership itemized the following: listening ability, good manners, obedience, and making a pledge (bayat) to follow one's superiors.