How Osama bin Laden died: Details of the commando raid that killed the world's most wanted man

So, in the end it was not a cold, dank Afghan cave that sheltered the world's most wanted man, Osama bin Laden.

It was a huge million-dollar enclave in Abbottabad, Pakistan, with far too much security and 18-foot high walls, way taller than necessary to protect the two couriers who allegedly lived there alone. (See raw video footage below.)

That in the end is what brought the sudden end to Bin Laden's life with a U.S. bullet into his head, among other places, after a circuitous 10-year hunt for the spiritual leader of the global Al Qaeda terrorist franchise and the master plotter of the 9/11 attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people.

The hunt began to narrow several years ago when interrogations of Guantanamo Bay detainees produced the nicknames of a pair of highly trusted couriers, used by the captured 9/11 architect Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and Bin Laden, who had learned his electronic communications could be monitored by the U.S.

It took nearly two years of CIA analysis to determine the men's real names and to begin ....

... tracking them, ultimately to and from the housing compound that was built in 2005. The compound, according to senior administration officials, was eight times larger than others in the area.

Its occupants burned their trash, rather than putting it out for collection. And strangely, although apparently wealthy from no visible income sources, the occupants had no telephone or Internet links to the outside world.

According to a variety of sources, the raid on the compound was authorized last Friday by President Obama just before he left for Alabama and Florida.

The carefully rehearsed operation struck about 1:30 a.m. Monday local time.

It involved flights from an Afghanistan base by four Blackhawk and Chinook helicopters, one of which suffered mechanical failure and made a hard landing within the compound.

It was later destroyed by the commandos.

About 40 troops, largely Navy SEALs, were involved, with 24 rappelling into the compound from the hovering Chinooks. Officials said the firefight was fierce and significant.

The armed resistance also reportedly came from Bin Laden himself, who was identified by....

....a resident. The U.S. troops gave Osama what was described as a brief opportunity to surrender before firing several times, at least once into the head. During the operation, a photo of his face was transmitted to analysts, who confirmed the identification.

According to Pentagon officials, photos of Bin Laden's dead face do exist but those widely distributed on the Internet are fake. At some point, if only to convince die-hard Bin Laden followers, officials are expected to release a corpse photo, as has been done in the past when famous villains such as Che Guevara and Iraqi President Saddam Hussein were killed or captured. Additionally, such special ops are typically videotaped by mini-helmet cams to document a sensitive mission and assist in debriefing and future training.

Three other adult males died in the 40-minute raid, believed to be Bin Laden's adult son and the two unidentified couriers. One unidentified woman also died as she was being used as a human shield by one of the dead men.

All Americans left safely, loading Bin Laden's body onto the choppers that had landed outside.

The usual protocol for such raids is to have intelligence experts along to comb through and retrieve whatever information they can find onsite. Pakistani television showed the compound burning Sunday night (see photo above), possibly from the helicopter's destruction.

The next tricky maneuver was disposing of Bin Laden's body, which according to Muslim ritual must be buried by sundown Monday. Sunday, American sources said that tradition would be honored, presumably after obtaining DNA samples to match with his known relatives.

However, where to put the body was problematic. Any burial in the ground or mausoleum could become a pilgrimage site for sympathizers of Bin Laden's 22-year-old Al Qaeda operation. So, a burial at sea reportedly occurred Monday morning local time at an as yet undisclosed location.

An additional upcoming complication is the possible connection between officials of Pakistan, which has nuclear arms, and the terrorist leader.

The city of about 1 million where the immense Bin Laden compound stood is well-known as a favorite retirement spot for Pakistani generals, meaning the world's most wanted man was living among them. Is it possible they would not know of their infamous neighbor?

In his Sunday statement (full text here) Obama said Pakistan was not informed until after the raid, but praised its president as an ally in the war on terror for helping lead the U.S. to Bin Laden.

One Army veteran who was a longtime operative involved in numerous similar aerial black ops across that region was apprised of the Obama administration's account of the mission.

He said two themes struck him: First was the ability of Bin Laden to live in comfort some 60 miles from Pakistan's capital.

The other theme that struck this career soldier, who participated in the hunt for Bin Laden, could perhaps be expected in political Washington the year before a presidential election.

But it was that such an inherently complex military team operation was being framed by Obama aides to steer way too much credit to the spectators in the White House and away from the unidentified operatives and their vast military support network.

Bin Laden's death ignited immediate spontaneous celebrations in front of the White House, in Times Square and at Ground Zero in lower Manhattan. It also prompted warnings of increased possibility of threats against Americans and American targets abroad.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photo: Associated Press via GeoTV; Chip East / Reuters (Times Square celebrants of Bin Laden's death); Peter Parks / AFP / Getty Images (Two U.S. Chinook helicopters over Afghanistan's Kandahar province).

Comments

[Namit Gupta]

Osama bin Laden, a terrorist and a villain? Yes, I'm with you all the way. Saddam Hussein, a terrorist and a villain? Um, well, may be... he didn't have anything to do with 9/11 though. And the WMD, because of which the second Iraq war was fought, were never ever found. And Che Guevara? You need to read your history books again. If there ever was a hero, it was Che. And no, I am no communist.

[Atimad A.]

Great people die like OSAMA, It is an hounou for him to die rather tha surrender in front of US. we relay salute his martyrdom. Long live Osama

[daveinboca]

Inconceivable that OBL could live in a city with many military installations and retired senior officers without somehow being aware of his presence. I wonder how much money monthly was going to whom in ISI & other corrupt Paki state entities to allow this to happen. And Omar Muhammed, OBL's original sponsor in Afghanistan, lives in Quetta in Baluchistan with impunity. Having Pakistan as an ally reminds me of Napoleon's famous dictum: "Italy rarely ends up on the same side of a war it started on, except in instances when it changes sides twice!"

Just saying.

[Steven Gaylord]

~ This is bull.... Bin Laden already buried at sea, Navy official says? So they bury the evidence. This has the bad smell of another CIA/Mossad black ops.

Marine Colonel Bob Pappas has been saying for years that bin Laden died at Tora Bora in 2001. I believe Poppas, not this government.

[Mark]

"One Arny veteran who was a longtime operative"

typo

[infidel]

You can run...but you can't hide (forever). Justice has been done.

[Saint]

Million dollar question ... Why anyone was not shown the body?
body dumped at sea !!! ??? WOW ... what a joke that everyone of us will again believe in without asking any question

[Sprint]

Great job done by the Obama and US Commando Army.

Thanks

[OrangeIII]

Burial at sea? I hope they dropped 911 little pieces of him between Pakistan and ground zero...

[gerrrg]

Looks like Pakistani officials were exercising their own form of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

[Dennis Onsarigo]

The killing of Osam Bin laden is a welcome move in the efforts of stemming the growing ugly head of terrorism in the East Africa Region, in particular Kenya where inspirations to join the Somali based Al-shabab militant gangs continue drawing support from the "spiritual leader".
with Osama out of the way, the international community should now strive hard and fast to contain any likely acts of terrorism and copy-cat terror activities.
just like religion, terrorism is an ideology that should be won with intelligence-based warfare compared to military operations.
Osama Bin Laden is now history but the last nine years, 7 months and 20 days since the 9/11, is a wake up call...that terrorism is really, many young youth, from Kenya( where i work in as a television journalist) are slowing turning into extremists in the name of fighting the "infidels".....the war has just began.

[Michael(UK)]

Did anyone do a DNA test?

[gerrrg]

Osama was neither great nor a martyr. He was a weak-minded coward who had lots of money (inherited by his family's capitalistic ventures), and sent boys off to commit suicide, after they were brain-washed.

Not only is he not a martyr, but he will be forced to answer to God, why a man full of hate, should be reconciled or find comfort amongst those innocent women and children he chose to murder, in His Kingdom.

Hitler has a spot available in his bungalow in Hell.

[Museisluse]

DNA confirmation in less than 24 hours? Wow, science has certainly progressed in the last week or so.

[DS]

@Atimad A

Yes, long live Osama Bin Laden

In HELL

[Regnad Kcin]

@Atimad A: no, he's not a martyr, he's a mass murderer who lived by violence and died the same way.

Osama bin Laden is fish food.

[jo]

"I demand in the name of humanity the destruction of the black stone,
to throw the bits to the wind, the destruction of Mecca, and the
desecration of the tomb of Mohammed. This is the way to demoralise
fanaticism." Flaubert, Correspondance, March 1, 1878.

Je demande, au nom de l'humanité, à ce qu'on broie la Pierre-Noire, pour en jeter les cendres au vent, à ce qu'on détruise La Mecque, et que l'on souille la tombe de Mahomet. Ce serait le moyen de démoraliser le Fanatisme."

(Gustave Flaubert / 1821-1880 / Lettre à Madame Roger des Genettes / 12 ou 19 janvier 1878)

[Russell Hiott]

Why honer a muslim ritual..America deserves to have the corpse of this "Mad Man" brought to our country...be hung up by meat hooks in his shoulder blades for viewing...then loaded aboard an outdated 747 and crashed into a mountain side /////PERIOD

[Cromulent]

I would think there would be some sort of detailed medical examination to determine OBL's health status, if only to match up against intel reports collected over the years. Wouldn't it help in the future to know which sources had panned out?

[TurDuckin]

Spelling error, 23rd 'graph down.

"One Arny veteran"; should say "Army."

[Jeanne]

Ah, Atimad, you're just following in Mohammed's murderous example. Osama was no martyr, and he is in hell today.

Once again, the US shows it will track down its enemies wherever they are.

[J J Sonderman]

Atimad, what's with "long live Osama"? He is DEAD at US military hands, that is the deal. Gone at last. Alleluliah!

[Lisa Merriam]

Show Your Gratitude send the Navy SEALs a postcard:
NAVY Udt-Seal Museum
Place page
3300 North Highway A1a
Fort Pierce, FL 34949-8520
...
Though working in secret & seeking no glory, they richly deserve our thanks—so let’s give it to them. It would be so awesome to build a mountain of thank you cards from their fellow Americans (and people of all nations).

More on SEAL history
http://www.navysealmuseum.com/

[G]

Good job, Atimad. I am of the Christian faith and have many Muslim friends. It is sad that people like you can make such a significant negative stereotype in many American's eyes in regards to the Muslim religion. Feel free to live your life of hatred and never truly be happy. It sounds like a very sad life to me. America was founded on the separation of Church and state so citizens may choose to believe what they would like. I don't understand the radical view of the "West" as many religions live in peace with one another. It would be great if there could be a general understanding of one another and an acceptance as I have found growing up in a melting pot of many different views and beliefs.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1101011001-175987,00.html

[Sy]

Has justice been done?

Unfairly treated people will become hateful of those, US, who put dictators in charge to secure the oil supply. Eventually it creates terrorism. Osama is America's, and the West', bastard-by-product. As long as people get ripped of by their governments or other country's, there will be terrorism.

[Overseer]

My president, Barak Obama, accomplished what bush could not or would not. Osama's days were were numbered once we finally got bush out of office. For all you right wingers, condolences should be sent directly to GWB. The bushes and the Bin Ladens were close family friends.

[JP]

You have a typo: One Arny veteran

[Kristen McFarland]

Previously posted on other blogs and I stand by it; a momentary jump in the polls will ultimately fail because American memories are short...all it will take will be another few trips to the gas station or the supermarket for Obama favorable polls to plummet again...

Like all things Obama, I strongly urge people to be skeptical of all of this uproar concerning the 'death' of Usama (sp) bin Laden...as a US Navy retiree, I spent almost twenty years within the American military intelligence community; this has provided me with a certain perspective unlike most who actually believe everything put out by our illustrious media..I, frankly don't buy any of this...some years ago, I sensed something was up with our media in regard to bin-Laden...I had a feeling and a strong one that bin-Laden had long since departed this earthly existence..I don't know how I knew, it was inexplicable, but I did...and it was perhaps a year or two after Tora Bora...and also in conjunction with photographic evidence that didn't jive with some original footage of already known bin-Laden pictures...it was more instinctive than anything else...needless to say, I do believe this clueless administration and the pandering of the leftist media, are ongoing attempts to get Obama's faltering and plummeting poll numbers back up...it will actually be a wasted effort and fail..it will last, as one poster, I saw recently claimed, until the next trip to the gas station or the grocery store...the American people live from one reality to the next..and I have to wonder..this crowd outside the White House...sure looks a little too orchestrated for my tastes...

[ReleaseTheFuture]

So much flaws in the story...

Abbottabad (named after its founder James Abbott) have a population of around 25,000 (check on Wikipedia). The compound presented in video coverage worth not more than 100,000$, and probably a lot less - apartments in Islamabad (capital of Pakistan) are priced well below 50,000 in comparison. Burial at sea? Nearest sea coast is about 800 miles away, and let's not forget that Afghanistan (where body was moved) have no coast at all. Visual ID as confirmation? Ridiculous. Even the street cops do not use that kind of identification anymore.

Something big is behind this story, probably Obamas support which is -11 in the latest poll.

[Michael Feaster]

All those people screaming for Guantanamo Bay to be shut down, all those people screaming about the rights of terrorists to "due process," the people screaming to "Move On" and screaming against harsh interrogations, the people screaming to "end the wars" against terror: THIS DAY IS A VICTORY OF REASON OVER INSANITY!
We got Osama Bin Laden, the mastermind behind 9/11, and we got him with harsh interrogations of his top leaders, with military action, and disregarding what some screaming lunatics think.
Remember the weak willed, the fringe radicals, the code pink traitors, the Moveon traitors, who screamed to merely forgive and forget, frothing at the mouth with their rabid fanaticism against their country. Remember the vast and fundamental difference between the BRAVE, the FAITHFUL, the first in and first out, the always faithful, the not self but country, the liberators of the oppressed, those who lead the way: and those who would merely forget... Never forget, never surrender, never lie down.
All that is necessary for evil to triumph is that good men do nothing.
Go Moveon with your pink code now, your BETTERS have done something while all you did was scream obscene things like FORGET, MOVE ON, SURRENDER.
God bless the United States of America, God bless our brave and selfless soldiers.

[Brad B. of Tennessee]

Osama bin Ladan undoubtedly was a threat against humanity, but I wonder if he actually believed the fanatical muslim rederick. Perhaps he was just an ignorrant victim of religious extremism like so many others, or perhaps he knew better and his actions served to better his gain. Who knows, maybe he was just trying to fit in or make his father proud. In any case he is a perfect example as to why people should live by tangible facts and not faith. The definition of faith is the belief of something without having factual evidence to support the belief. Surely that sounds stupid to even the most religious o those who may read this. I scrutinize every religion. I wouldn't dare forget the christian crusades. Right down to tribal genocide in Africa. Ignorrance is a plague of humanity that I hope one day we will overcome.

[Barrknee]

Regarding the commenter ("Overseer") who gloats that Obama accomplished what Bush "could not or would not."

Sorry, but this victory was all about the efforts of Pres. Bush and the US Military that Obama, Hillary, and the rest of this administration have so little respect for. Read the article. The information that nailed bin Laden came from those Gitmo detainees who were water boarded. If it had been up to "your President," we would have had niether Gitmo nor persuasive interrogations and thus bin Laden would have been alive and well today and not blinking at Beelzebub through his new third eye socket.

For the likes of you and Obama to be crediting only this administration is like a man who inherits his father's ripening orchard taking credit for the first apple that falls on the ground at his feet, when in reality the land had been painstakingly cleared and the saplings nurtured by his predecessor for years before his arrival on the scene to reap the bounty.

You and the Obama crowd can keep crowing and grandstanding and the military and folks with real leadership qualities (e.g., Bush) will keep doing the silent, dirty, deadly work that needs to be done to preserve us. That's how we, as a country, roll.

[Stogie]

@Namit Gupta: Che Guevara was no hero. He was a mass-murdering despot, having much in common with Osama Bin Laden. Thank God both of them are dead.

[ruby2sday]

Buried at sea, huh? The crabs will be happy. OBL soon to be crab poop.

[javier.a]

how know and other war thanx alot

[Pugs Lee Paine]

Muslims do not believe in cremation but only burial in the ground. They believe that at the end of the world, their body will be resurrected and brought to heaven. Therefore, the claim that authorities were being respectful to Muslim traditions, but fearing that burial on land would create a shrine by islamicists, burial at sea seems like a total joke. The press asked White House officials if an imam was present at the sea burial. The press agent said, "the appropriate people were on hand" or something to that effect says that an imam was not present which means burial at sea is a lie.

[Fluoride is poison]

911 was an inside job and this is bread and circus. Bin Laden has been dead for quite some time. Wake up folks, try some critical thinking, research 911. The US created Al-queada to fight against the Russians 30 years ago. Now we are to believe that the Al-queada in Libya are the good guys. Wak ep it's all I can say. Peace

[willowbe]

I'm with bda616 re "too m uch credit"- I guess ths Army vet didn't listen to the president's address last night. He gave many props. But he can't name the agencies, or the people, or any of that. Doing so makes them targets. it's the irony of covert ops. Noone ever knows these heroes' names. The Army vet was the political one.Esp if he didn't think a Repub admin would be taking the same"credit". If Bin Laden had not been found on Obama's watch, that would have been yet another thing for the Repub pres hopefuls to blast him on.

Or did the Army vet- your brother-n-law or something, make it a condition of speaking to you that you mention his feelings about the current admin taking too much credit??

[Luke]

I thought Obama said Usama 'wasn't a [real] muslim' ... and yet, they wanted to be respectful and give him a muslim burial. (?).

Obviously, the muslim burial thing is probably a total lie - i.e. common sense prevailed. Why anyone would even think of doing such a ridiculous thing is beyond me. Actually, it was probably done to keep muslims quite in some regard, which, again, leaves me completely bemused.

[Tammy]

Would like to know what DNA samples they collected and which relatives of his they will use to match it with??
Burying at sea so fast isn't logical, people will need proof and pictures are too easy to manipulate so people are fueled to create more conspiracy theories. It is too easy to say something, even to collect DNA from someone and show pictures, this is not proof that Osama Bin Laden is dead. There seems to be hidden things.

[Alli]

‎"I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that."
~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

[Airborne Daddy]

Kudos to the spec ops community. Big party at Smoke Bomb Hill today for sure. Wish I were back at Bragg to join in with you guys. And who gives a rip on how OBL was buried. The sucker's dead and that's all that counts.

[lori]

A brilliant exit strategy to get us out of this quagmire we've gotten ourselves it. Now we can just declare a victory and come home (just like we did in Vietnam).

I have no idea if Osama was killed or whether this is another government charade, or if he really had anything to do with 911, but hopefully it ends a black period of our history and brings our troops HOME.

[Jean]

Where are the pictures of his body and the burial at sea?? I don't buy it . I work with a Pharamcist from Lebanon, she says this is a crock . Show me PROOF.

[juice]

Pres Obama got bin laden give him credit were its due. Stop trying to bash the pres. he did what he said he would do.. We all know the man died this weekend not years ago.

[Richard]

Andrew Malcolm you should be ashamed!!!
Che Guevara is a hero to Cuban people, naming him along side Bin Laden or Hussain is an instult.

[Correct]

Both Osama and Sadaam had everything to do with 9/11. They both brewed up hatred for "The West" to their advantage. They made sure the children of Islam were raised with inaccurate and misleading information so they had no choice to hate the superior western world.

Its awesome that both figureheads of this faulty belief have been killed. Its even better that a US bullet put an end to the evil misleading of Osama Bin Laden. May he rot in Hell!

[GR]

American stupidity knows no bounds! :)

[bomthemtodust]

what happen to the good old days of drawing and quartering and your head hung on a spike in the town square til it rotted or the crows pecked it off?

[Gary]

Osama, a villain? Yes, no doubt. But Saddam Hussein and Che Guevera? Hell no. They are 'villains' only because they refused to suck up to the US.

As for Pakistan, how long does the US want to coddle this snake before it strikes again?