Since September 11, 2001, Bin Laden had been mostly an absence. His few video or audio tapes were highly suspect, and speculations about his death had often surfaced. On July 11, 2002, Amir Taheri wrote in the New York Times, “Osama bin Laden is dead. The news first came from sources in Afghanistan and Pakistan almost six months ago: the fugitive died in December and was buried in the mountains of southeast Afghanistan[…]With an ego the size of Mount Everest, Osama bin Laden would not have, could not have, remained silent for so long if he were still alive. He always liked to take credit even for things he had nothing to do with. Would he remain silent for nine months and not trumpet his own survival?”
But save for one doubtful video, Bin Laden never took credit for 9/11. In fact, he repeatedly denied any responsibility for those mass murders. On September 28, 2001, he was interviewed by the Karachi Ummat, an Urdu language newspaper. The US Foreign Broadcast Information Service, a component of the CIA, translated:
[…]I have already said that I am not involved in the 11 September attacks in the United States. As a Muslim, I try my best to avoid telling a lie. Neither I had any knowledge of these attacks nor I consider the killing of innocent women, children, and other humans as an appreciable act. Islam strictly forbids causing harm to innocent women, children, and other people. Such a practice is forbidden ever in the course of a battle. It is the United States, which is perpetrating every maltreatment on women, children, and common people of other faiths, particularly the followers of Islam. All that is going on in Palestine for the last 11 months is sufficient to call the wrath of God upon the United States and Israel. There is also a warning for those Muslim countries, which witnessed all these as a silent spectator. What had earlier been done to the innocent people of Iraq, Chechnya, and Bosnia? Only one conclusion could be derived from the indifference of the United States and the West to these acts of terror and the patronage of the tyrants by these powers that America is an anti-Islamic power and it is patronizing the anti-Islamic forces. Its friendship with the Muslim countries is just a show, rather deceit. By enticing or intimidating these countries, the United States is forcing them to play a role of its choice. Put a glance all around and you will see that the slaves of the United States are either rulers or enemies [of Muslims]. The US has no friends, nor it wants to keep one because the prerequisite of friendship is to come to the level of the friend or consider him at par with you. America does not want to see anyone equal to it. It expects slavery from others. Therefore, other countries are either its slaves or subordinates[…]Whoever committed the act of 11 September are not the friends of the American people. I have already said that we are against the American system, not against its people, whereas in these attacks, the common American people have been killed[…]The United States should try to trace the perpetrators of these attacks within itself; the people who are a part of the US system, but are dissenting against it. Or those who are working for some other system; persons who want to make the present century as a century of conflict between Islam and Christianity so that their own civilization, nation, country, or ideology could survive[…]Then there are intelligence agencies in the US, which require billions of dollars worth of funds from the Congress and the government every year. This [funding issue] was not a big problem till the existence of the former Soviet Union but after that the budget of these agencies has been in danger. They needed an enemy. So, they first started propaganda against Usama and Taliban and then this incident happened. You see, the Bush administration approved a budget of $40 billion. Where will this huge amount go? It will be provided to the same agencies, which need huge funds and want to exert their importance. Now they will spend the money for their expansion and for increasing their importance. I will give you an example. Drug smugglers from all over the world are in contact with the US secret agencies. These agencies do not want to eradicate narcotics cultivation and trafficking because their importance will be diminished. The people in the US Drug Enforcement Department are encouraging drug trade so that they could show performance and get millions of dollars worth of budget. General Noriega was made a drug baron by the CIA and, in need, he was made a scapegoat. In the same way, whether it is President Bush or any other US President, they cannot bring Israel to justice for its human rights abuses or to hold it accountable for such crimes. What is this? Is it not that there exists a government within the government in the United Sates? That secret government must be asked as to who made the attacks[…]
Judge for yourself. Does this sound like the raving of some mad man with an ego the size of Mount Everest? He sounds quite composed, actually, and far more lucid, perceptive and concise than all American politicians and most intellectuals. In any case, this interview was the last substantial utterance from Bin Laden. After this, he more or less disappeared.
Though neither seen nor heard, he was often evoked to justify the crimes America was committing against others, and even her own citizens. Bin Laden vindicated whatever our leaders chose to do. But ten years is a long time to throw this shadow against our walls. This bearded man had become a bit of a joke, frankly. On a cartoon show, the folks of South Park, Colorado even asked Bin Laden to help them kill an invading horde from New Jersey.
On May 2, 2011, our government decided, finally, to kill off the Bin Laden apparition. Since the United States had supposedly been after him since 1998, you would think they’d hang on to their man a bit longer after they got him, if they got him, but within hours of finding her public enemy number one, America got rid of Bin Laden!
Hey, if you can’t show me something, maybe you don’t have it, especially since you are a chronic liar and in the cloak and dagger business. For most English-language trials since the disappearance of William Harrison in 1660, there has been the principle of no corpse, no murder, but here you actually have an open admission of murder, widely broadcast, but no corpse, which is tantamount to destruction of evidence, whatever it was.
So the CIA is basically saying to us, The dog ate my cadaver. Frankly, this farce was so crudely put together, the explanation so ridiculous, that our overlords must think most of us are morons, brainwashed as we are by cradle-to-grave propaganda delivered via print or pixels. I hate to think they might be right.
In a much-mocked photograph, Bush is shown in an Army jacket, his hands holding a tray with a picture-perfect turkey, garlanded by grapes. He is surrounded by American troops, most of whom are not looking at him. This is meant to convey that the photo was spontaneous, casual, and not posed. It is authentic.
In another photograph, this one declared an instant classic, iconic and paradigm shifting by our mainstream media, Obama is shown in the Situation Room of the White House, surrounded by his top security advisors. They are watching something. Of the thirteen faces, none is looking at the camera. Again, this is to convey that the photo was natural and spontaneous. Obama is shown in a casual jacket, Biden in shirt sleeves, details that indicate they are at work, and not posing for a propaganda photo, god forbid. This image is so authentic, in fact, that it borders on the illicit. This was a secret session, after all. That’s why all of the laptop monitors have been blackened out, and the photo in front of Hillary Clinton has been blurred. We should be thankful, then, for this courtesy peep at a scene we shouldn’t even have access to. The spontaneity is also reinforced by an unfamiliar face at the back, peeking in. She is younger and shorter than the rest, truly a little person among heavyweights, nearly all of whom are men, by the way, yet only the most cynical would conclude that this small woman was added to double the female representation in the room. A really tall and large woman would not do. Like that worm in the British royal wedding photo, this tiny woman provides just enough intrigue without distracting.
As we all know, Bush served up a plastic turkey, so the turkey propaganda photo was itself a turkey, but a much bigger turkey is the Situation Room image. Releasing it, the White House explained that Obama and company were watching the raid and execution of Bin Laden in real time, with the snuff film made possible by a camera mounted on the helmet of a Navy Seal. Now, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that any head during a firefight is not likely to be stationary, not long enough, in any case, to broadcast steadily and clearly to the folks back home, not unless it wants to be a dead head, that is.
“Hey, Seal with the camera, run up that stairs and fix your gaze on Geronimo, will you? Remember to stand still and don’t duck, so our Commander in Chief will have a vivid stream of images, OK?”
Soon after, the White House explained that there was no live feed of the crucial moment, after all, that the camera actually didn’t work for 25 of the 38-minute raid, so there was absolutely no video footage of Bin Laden, but why this sudden reversal? Can’t these people work out their lies before they broadcast them to us?
The White House had to backtrack because it had painted itself into a corner. It had already refused to produce photos of a dead Bin Laden. He had been shot above the eye, it said, shattering his skull, so such a gory image would inflame Muslim sentiments. “We don’t want to spike the football,” Obama explained. But if we can’t see a dead Bin Laden, how about a photo of him alive? If a helmet mounted camera could deliver a live feed to the Situation Room, surely it can produce at least one image of Bin Laden with his head still intact, and in that house? But this, too, was out of the question, incredibly enough.
With webcams, surveillance cameras, Google street view and the ubiquitous camera phones, it seems that the entire world is always photographed, or ready to be photographed these days, that anyone at any moment can be captured by that voracious shutter, then uploaded onto a screen. There are cameras hidden inside pens, books, boom boxes, clocks, air purifiers and smoke detectors. You can probably google any name, a grade school chum, your first lover, long lost cat, dead grandma, bless her soul, and find photos of them online, uploaded by the Pentagon, or maybe God himself.
The public has also come to expect a photo, as evidence or trophy, after any political assassination or execution. Just think of the strung up Mussolini, bloody Ngo Dinh Diem inside an armored car, a shirtless Che Guevara or the bandaged head of Leon Trotsky.
We are drowning in photographs, most of which we can do without, yet the one image that everyone wants to see this week, of a Bin Laden dead or alive during the raid, is not available. Instead, we are treated to a wealth of irrelevant information. We are told that there was “a hero dog” involved; that Obama and company had turkey pita wraps, cold shrimp, potato chips and soda, bought from Costco, the cheapo outlet—how nice, this common man touch—in the Situation Room; that Obama has met to congratulate his commandos, all highly intelligent and responsible family men between the ages of 30 and 40. Whatever.
The Bin Laden photos would not matter if there was a corpse, but that too, has gone missing, so without a cadaver or even the flimsy evidence of a photoshopped photograph, what is there to this sensational murder, really? Nothing but words from the CIA and the White House. Though they lied to us about Jessica Lynch’s “rescue” and Pat Tillman’s murder, we are to believe them this time because they have suddenly decided to speak the truth. Honestly.
Though the important questions are not being asked, the official lessons are being pounded into our heads. According to governmental bobbleheads and embedded media pundits, this virtual assassination is a vindication of America and her (evil) ways. The end justifies the means, you see, so waterboarding, extra-rendition and all the rest have been and are necessary.
Ari Fleischer, former Bush mouthpiece, attributed Bin Laden’s supposed assassination to “a strong foundation of anti-terrorist efforts including the predator strikes in northern Pakistan, indefinite detention, Guantanamo where we had interrogation techniques that led to the courier[…]all that is what Barack Obama continued that George Bush started. This is a day for all of us to just be proud of what our country has accomplished.”
Obama also dished up some righteousness, “Tonight, we are once again reminded that America can do whatever we set our mind to. That is the story of our history, whether it’s the pursuit of prosperity for our people, or the struggle for equality for all our citizens; our commitment to stand up for our values abroad, and our sacrifices to make the world a safer place.”
An additional lesson was provided by New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman. With Bin Laden gone, he said to CNN, it was time to eradicate Bin Ladenism, which he defined as using violence to affect political changes. An apologist for the ultra violent state of Israel and America’s invasion of Iraq, Friedman did not seem to care that it is the US that leads the world in violence for political and economic ends. Even before 9/11, the Taliban made repeated overtures to hand Bin Laden over to the US, but America would have none of it. Our intention, then as now, was to bomb, bomb and bomb!
Like a great clean up batter, dead man Bin Laden brought everyone safely home. Bush could round the bases at last, could find closure and high five Obama at home plate. We’re all on the same team, see? Even Colin Powell could be defrosted long enough to gush over our Navy Seals.
Assigned to this phony assignment, our Navy Seals nevertheless messed up and left a huge, mangled chunk of a helicopter on a brick wall. How many Navy Seals died in that crash? From a botched mission that didn’t involve Bin Laden at all, the US has fashioned a chest-thumping fairy tale to celebrate its supposed greatness. Further, if Bin Laden was such a feared leader of a terrorist organization, why was he shot on sight? For intelligence purpose alone, wouldn’t it be imperative to catch the old man alive? Long suffering from kidney failure, Bin Laden couldn’t have survived until 2011 anyway, but to point this out is to incur the blood curling wrath of not just flag-waving, rah-rah Americans, but even progressive commentators, such is the level of brainwashing in this country.
On August 6, 2011, 22 Navy Seals from the Bin Laden hit team were killed when they were shot out of the sky, supposedly by the Taliban. All 38 people onboard that Chinook died, 30 of them Americans. Not before or since had the Taliban killed so many Americans with one shot, and there’s also the question of why so many “heroes” from the Bin Laden fuss were so conveniently packed so as to be silenced like that? Liars and criminals, our grinnning leaders kill their own soldiers then pin medals on the cadavers.
To prove his US birth, Obama showed us an electronic file then, jokingly, a cartoon excerpt, but to prove Bin Laden’s death, Obama’s handlers have given us nothing but a cartoon narrative suitable only for dimwitted children. The bloody crooks hustling us must be incredulous, if not laughing uproariously, at what they can get away with in this nation of suckers.
Linh Dinh is the author of two books of stories, five of poems, and a novel, Love Like Hate. He’s tracking our deteriorating socialscape through his frequently updated photo blog, Postcards from the End of America.
Killing “him” softly at least a half dozen times.
Hedges is nutty but sometimes right.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmieN1SNhcs
Video Link
Most of what the U.S. Government puts out is pure, unadulterated bullshit. It lies about its criminality at home and abroad. It lied about Jessica Lynch and Pat Tillman. And we’re supposed to take the word of O-Bomb-a, the Peace Laureate-in-Chief, that he coolly and decisively took out Bin Laden?
O-Bomb-a’s word–plus 25 cents–might be enough to get me a cup of coffee.
Make that “…using violence to effect [not “affect”] political changes.” To “effect” means “to carry out”. To “affect” means “to have an influence upon”.
Otherwise, a very excellent article.
“…On August 6, 2011, 22 Navy Seals from the Bin Laden hit team were killed when they were shot out of the sky, supposedly by the Taliban. All 38 people onboard that Chinook died, 30 of them Americans. …” From this Mr. Dinh draws the conclusion that this was a planned wipeout of witnesses to the bin Laden assaasination. Unfortunately for Mr. Dinh’s argument, although the men killed in this incident were indeed Seals they had nothing to do with the bin Laden assassination. No one involved in the assassination was on board this particular helicopter when it was shot down. There’s a lot more egregious nonsense in this cranky screed but I have better things on which to waste my time.
And how do you know this? I have not yet seen a single MSM source that can either confirm or disprove that the men aboard the Chinook were the exact same that killed OBL. The most they can say is that they came from the same unit, SEAL Team 6. Beyond that, I have no idea what their individual identities are. Do you?
The photograph of the Obama Staff in the ‘situation room’… Was staged?… Is this what is being alleged?
The thing I recall was the gasping look of Hillary Clinton, as if she had just witnessed the kill shot.
Has the administration admitted that they didn’t witness the actual killing of Bin Laden?
Good stuff, through and through.
Actually, yes.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/al-qaeda/8493391/Osama-bin-Laden-dead-Blackout-during-raid-on-bin-Laden-compound.html
Several reports I read stated that none of the men on the helicopter were involved in the assasination. If Mr. Dinh’s argument were correct all members of the assassination team would have been on board: If there’s a conspiracy to silence a small group of men what’s the point of killing only some of them? And if all members of the team that killed bin Laden had been wiped out in one fell swoop by al Q’aida there would have been quite a brouhaha. That’s a story that would have been mighty hard to hide.
Osama bin Ladin and the U.S. government were indispensable allies. They served each others interest on many occasions. I think Osama sent Bush thank you letters and Christmas cards for invading Iraq, and the military industrial complex and oil tycoons gave him a nod and a wink when the billions were flowing in.
A hand in glove symbiotic relationship; “Scare our people enough, and they will hand over there real security – money – and the fear will seal dogmatic allegiance.”
And why should we believe either you or the “reports” you cite?
Dihn’s argument is watertight.
– The government has a history of publicizing shady and blatantly false stories. It also likes to occasionally fabricate entire incidents for propaganda purposes.
– It is utterly absurd to expect a reasonable person to believe that the US could not capture OBL but had to kill him. The terrorists are a bunch of illiterate towel-heads armed with AK’s, not supermen. The Pakistani intelligence guys are old pals of the CIA’s.
– It is absolutely ludicrous to expect a reasonable person to believe that OBL’s body was disposed of out of hand, and without any photos having been taken. Remember how they hanged Saddam and leaked the video?
– It is extremely suspicious that an entire chopperfull of elite commandos should just blow up the way it did. Yeah, sure, maybe the commandos who died weren’t the ones who killed “Bin Laden.” But unless and until we are assured of that, we are perfectly justified in believing that the chopper was blown up to wipe out and/or intimidate witnesses. Moreover, even if there were no witnesses on that chopper, the case against the official version of the death of Bin Laden remains watertight.
The whole thing is a fraud.
If it is a fairy tail then why would Hillhouse and later Hersh contradict it? What is the point? Also where is Al Qaeda and the Taliban’s eulogy of Osama if he died a decade ago? Is it supposedly one big scam to enrich war profiteers and overthrow remnants of classical liberalism in the US? Also how about his wives? Are they paid actresses? How do you account for his wives? Also he had children. Amal Fateh al-Sadah produced children for Osama Bin Laden after 2002. Did she have some samples stored in a freezer to later use whenever she felt the tick of her biological clock?
It was the Taliban brought the chopper down, not al-Qaida, which is another possible hole in the story. The Afghan Taliban (separate to the Pakistani Taliban) have no great reason to be grateful to Bin Ladin, after all, he was the justification prima facie to take the Taliban out of power. By time of the raid, the al-Qaida network of camps in Afghanistan had been long gone.
Insofar as the brouhaha you demand, that’s not necessarily the case. In highly classified operations, where rigid discipline is kept, family members certainly would not know and not even fellow SEALs would necessarily know who was actually involved with the Bin Ladin raid. You have the Pentagon’s word for who died in the Afghanistan ‘incident’ which, by the way, broke numerous rules of tactical engagement. That operation was so poorly executed, and there are so many questions surrounding the larger picture, it begs hypothesis pointing to those servicemen were intended to die.
I knew something didn’t seem right in this story.
The fact we told the Taliban to piss off when they offered to hand Osama over was what should’ve made it obvious the whole thing was theatre.
The whole operation surrounding Bin Laden stank.
Remember when he made videos for Al-Jeezera and then went to audio recordings and then nothing?
Then factor is Bin Laden was a dialysis patient(this was known even before the Khobar tower bombing) – and needed every other day treatments to function. Along with that come a impaired immune system and general weakness. This means he always had a limited AO(his stays in the field would always be short) plus he needed access to a competent dialysis nurse and doctor to keep him alive. Yes he could extend his stay in the field but it would cost him physically.
The fact he stopped making videos tells me he had become progressively sicker(like many long term dialysis patients) and eventually died many years ago. Take a look at pictures of him in Afghanistan – he looks like shit. The guy was going downhill.
IMO the raid was a Potemkin Village operation, the SEALS basically whacked a Taliban safehouse and a few disposable guards.
Excellent article and about time someone, anyone, in the media should publish an article that destroys the myth that bin Laden was killed in Pakistan. There is no chance his body wouldn’t have been shown, that photographs wouldn’t have been published or that the US wouldn’t have tried to capture him alive, especially if he was trapped inside a small, easily taken compound. Obama used this fake assassination in his re-election campaign, remember “Osama bin Laden is dead and GM is still alive.”? American politics have always been a little crazy, but has now drifted into the absurd.
Bin Ladin’s ‘wives’ have never been made available to media. We have ISI & CIA to depend on for the facts and that’s like asking politicians to tell the facts of whose interests they serve.
Could Bin Ladin have been alive when the raid reported to have killed him went down? Sure, with book makers facing some pretty stark probabilities the odds won’t favor:
From November 2001:
A friend of mine was senior in our SAS in the early days of Afghanistan, and was part of a group of British special forces who got within half an hour of Bin Laden, and would have been on him by nightfall.
(This isn’t a criticism of US SF who were obviously doing a great job of their own – it was just how it worked out that he turned up where the Brits were looking.)
They were told to pull back and let him go, the reason being that U.S. forces wanted to be the ones to capture him, which seemed very reasonable given that it was NYC which he had supposedly targeted.
But I wonder. Maybe ‘they’ didn’t want him caught?
After the events of 11-Sept-2001, I remember several MSM news stories that made me think the official government narrative was absolutely false:
(1) There were several MSM reports circulating at that time that involved the CIA unit tasked to hunting down OBL. During these interviews, it was reported that the CIA had a precise location of OBL days after 11-Sept-2001, based on his satellite phone usage. They lamented that they could no longer locate OBL because he turned off his satellite phone.
Thought #1: Are they for real? They actually knew where he was using satellite phone tracking, yet they didn’t send 1 (of the millions we had stationed in the region) Cruise missiles to kill him? I mean – the narrative was very clear once 11-Sept-2001 happened. It was 100% or certain that OBL orchestrated the attack..
Thought #2: How did they know so quickly to track OBL on his satellite phone? Could it be he was issued this satellite by the CIA to perpetrate this crime?
(2) Several videos purporting to be OBL can be seen with the world-map in the background (with OBL in the foreground.) The map was very suspiciously an US-English based world map. Forgive me for being cynical, but if this OBL was hell-bent of creating an Islamic world government, bent of destroying the American empire – would you think such a hatemonger would refuse to display a map of the world drawn up by the very empire he wished to fall? I often joked at these videos were made in the basement of the NSA or CIA… And OBL was actually a Joe Smith employee of the NSA or CIA..
The more accurate narrative was he had little or nothing to do with it – 9/11 wasn’t even mentioned on his FBI wanted poster.
Speaking of frauds, I said then and still maintain that the film footage showing the arrest of Saddam Hussein from his hideout was bogus. The whole thing was staged.
Recall, just weeks, days before his capture, the media was going on and on about how he–wily as a fox–had been scampering from one hideout to another just ahead of the hounds of justice, doughty American troops who were baying in pursuit.
And then we are shown the footage of this guy, obviously bewildered, staggered by daylight, who, emerging from his hole looked not the least bit the cagey, elusive fox his captors had depicted him as being. If anything, he appeared to have been drugged. Which makes a lot more sense.
They had him all along and produced him at the most politically opportune moment.
Binazir Bhutto in an interview with David Frost in 2007 at 6:15 said: “Osama BinLaden was Killed”.
Video Link
The terrorist USG is also a police state where its actors at the wh, congress, senates and state department ARE war recognized by millions as criminals and baby killers. They have killed MILLIONS of innocent people using FALSE FLAG OPERATION including 9/11.
Due to Zionist propaganda in the Media , the majority of Americans are ignorant. The juries have just convicted an innocent man, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, directed by USG, so they can remove all the evidence for False Flag Operation responsible for Boston bombing performed by USG to frame this innocent man to keep selling “war on terror” HOAX to dumb people to wage MORE wars for geopolitical gains.
There should be a front against the Evil Empire NOW. The world is FED UP and cannot tolerate USG terrorist activities any longer.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-boston-bombing-and-the-tsarnaev-trial/5449732
It manipulates through lies and fakery, controls through threats of violence, and destroys people as if they were objects it owned.
What’s not to love about government and those running it?
You mean Zero Dark Thirty is pure fiction?
It is simply applying a slight twist to G Bush’s color coded terror levels. Any time you need a distraction or a PR boost, tell a lie. Remember the Presidential Mantra: If I ain’t lyin’, I ain’t tryin’.
As far as the Seals that supposedly “did it”, I doubt that any one of them have been harmed. If the Seals really were whacked, it would be kind of hard to recruit any future takers on the next hair brained scheme. The helicopter crash was just a lie upon a lie, so that the Seals no longer have to worry. Even if one of the Seals falls out of line and spills the beans, the MSM will simply pooh-pooh it with, “Oh, you’re just a conspiracy theorist, all those guys died.”
What is amazing is that the Executive branch of the federal govt has decided that it is no longer necessary to earn any respect (especially when it is so easily bought), that all that is necessary is to lie.
Here is more info that I just posted in my blog:
Four years ago G2mil posted:
May 7, 2011 – Killing Osama – The Incredible Story is Not Credible
Control of the American media is so complete that no one expressed doubts about the obvious flaws and lucky timing in the recent tale of killing Osama Bin Laden… You can read the rest here. http://www.g2mil.com/fire.htm
Two years later, G2mil posted:
Sep 21, 2013 – The Fake Osama Raid
G2mil readers may have felt uncomfortable reading my May 7, 2011 blog about why the raid to kill Osama Bin Laden was fake. I just learned that the BBC did a report that concludes the same thing. You may disagree, but there is no doubt that major American media refused to mention the BBC report. At the same link there is an interview with former Pakistani premier Benazir Bhutto, who stated that OBL was killed in 2007, which was later edited out by the BBC, and Bhutto assassinated shortly after that interview.
You may have read news reports that famous reporter Seymour Hersh just published a story that the raid to kill Osama bin Laden was fake, but most reports failed to provide a link to the article. http://www.lrb.co.uk/v37/n10/seymour-m-hersh/the-killing-of-osama-bin-laden
Hersh claims that sickly bin Laden was under house arrest by the Pakistani military and a few Generals accepted reward money to allow an American team to show up and execute him. Hersh’s story makes much more sense than the official story, although I suspect bin Laden has been dead for a decade and the man they killed was someone who resembled bin Laden. While the corporate media attacked Hersh’s “conspiracy theory”, you probably didn’t read that another expert had reported the same things back in 2011. https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/05/11/former-professor-reported-basics-hershs-bin-laden-story-2011-seemingly-different-sources/
Most of our corporate media avoided this huge story, except for NBC news, whose experienced reporters confirmed Hersh’s claims. http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/pakistanis-knew-where-bin-laden-was-say-us-sources-n357306
I agree with Paul Craig Roberts assertion that bin Laden died a decade ago. This is strengthen by Hersh’s claim that the body recovered in the raid was dumped off a helicopter into a remote mountainous region before its identity was verified. This also explains why a former Navy SEAL is profiting by claiming he killed bin Laden without worries that he will be prosecuted for revealing classified material. If what he claims in public never happened, he can’t be prosecuted! This also explains why the CIA disbanded its special “Alec Station” unit in 2005, whose mission was to find bin Laden. Finally, if bin Laden died long ago, this explains President Bush’s odd 2002 press conference where he said Obama may be dead and he isn’t concerned about finding him.
Video Link
Hersh’s story is a new layer of disinformation. It doesn’t make sense for the big reason that the original story didn’t make sense: The most wanted man in the world had no security around him whatsoever. It reminds of the official story of 9/11, that the 19 hijackers and Moussaoui were the only ones involved. They didn’t have any look-outs in the airports. An eleven person team was involved when the Israelis assassinated one Hamas leader in a Dubai hotel room, including a 4 person surveillance team.
But in a way that’s all distraction. That both the Hersh and the official stories claim the SEALs killed “bin Laden” admits that bin Laden had nothing to do with 9/11 nor any “terrorism” before or since 9/11 else they would have captured him alive and made him talk. For one thing, wouldn’t they want to ask him about Zawahiri and Mullah Omar? Like, he might know something about where they are.
I’ve always wondered about the waterboarding. All we have on that is stories, too. What if no one was ever waterboarded because no one ever thought Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Abu Zubaida had anything to do with 9/11 or anything.
I’ve always been under the assumption that her face is a result of the helicopter crashing.
Osama said:
“Islam strictly forbids causing harm to innocent women, children, and other people.”
I’m not a brainless FOX-News Islamophobe, but this assertion is asinine. He’s either lying or incredibly deluded. Perhaps he’s massaging “innocent”– but come on.
I’m not a conspiracy-head, but I do wonder if Bin Laden actually was behind 9/11. Personally I could believe either way.
Powerful piece. Your site instantly made my bookmarks
“Several reports I read stated that none of the men on the helicopter were involved in the assassination”
Really? Thats the substance of your argument? You are a troll. Furthermore, your approach which is to claim implications are facts then question their certainty is complete “straw – man” stuff. At risk of sounding like a “conspiracy theorist” I wonder who you are representing.
I thought this story was incredibly fishy from the get-go, especially when I heard about the burial -at-sea, but I expected to be proven wrong at some point in the weeks and months after the alleged incident. In fact, I figured they’d let the skepticism ramp up just enough before producing the photographs, thereby discrediting “tin-foil hat” wearers like me. It never happened.
Not one photograph. Not one.
Then the CIA or somebody said they had some which were available to members of Congress, etc. I recall one member of Congress saying he had seen them, but that was it.
Nothing from anyone on the ship.
Actually, you do sound exactly like a “conspiracy theorist” but so does just about everyone posting at this particular location, so what the hell. I’ll leave you all in peace to spin out your fantasies.
Who knows if it’s related, but today, two days after Unz publishes this very well written article, the US government chooses to release documents they say came from Osama’s compound, documents that appear to serve very well the need to push the Osama narrative.
People do read this blog, so it is not unreasonable to think this article got noticed. I don’t know anything, of course, so who cares what I say? (And I have no position on this matter. The timing of these things on my screen this week is just curious to me.)
Carl Jung would have called the coincidence of timing “synchronicity”. The article is interesting, and I am glad Ron chose to include it. But I found that, when I tried to explain these ideas to my friends, we all ended up chuckling over what my friends pronounced an over-the-top conspiracy theory. But maybe next time my friends read an article like this, the ideas will seem less contrary-to-reason, and will fetch an adherent or two. Maybe that is the societal value of the Unz Review–familiarize readers with all kinds of views, and make the novel less… novel. And the fact that synchronicity appears–to my mind, it suggests that the Unz Review serves some higher purpose, that it is a tool of something, that it is a bellwether of the… well, zietgeist… Maybe I’m expressing this clumsily. So let me just say: the idea of presenting out-of-the-mainstream views, with ideological neutrality, is brilliant. I often come away with respect for some view I had previously dismissed.
I am trying to tie the loose ends of the modus operandi of Bush regime .
Taliban asked Bush to provide evidence. It was rejected
Powell said that there woulld be a white paper documenting it . None came.
Bin Ledeen denied initially a few times
Then he claimed responsibility
Reports later emerged that the Government has made successful videos of Bin Ledeen and also of Saddam . But eventually was not
marketed since no one would have believed in the main thrust of the script which were homosexual behaviors and practices of Saddam or Bin Ledeen as depicted. ( US gov always find pornography – Noreigia, Saddam , Ghadafi and Bin Ledeen .
But Bin Ledeen was sick on dialysis. )
Bush gov was investigated for planting stories and advertisement as news .
Obama government isn’t different . The records are very similar and proved repeatedly in Syria,Libya,Ukraine and in Honduras ,and Venezuela.
One wonders if Bin Ledeen was killed and dismembered precisely to prevent his burial site from becoming a pilgrimage place .
Al Quida admitted that he was killed.
Al Quida and US government have been working together over many decades and at many projects and continue to do so. This might be another area of agreement to confirm each other narrative . By his death ,Al Quida take it self out of any western awareness that it could be playing any part in Syria or Libya . It is then easy for US gov to confuse people with moderate and al Nusra ( or any al or Free Syrian Army or some brigade ) as something homegrown ,natural,nationalistic local secular resistance.
We don’t hear much from Anwar Aljawari – the Egyptian doctor ,the second in command . His voice and videos have gone silent and invisible .
It was mentioned (in comments) that there were no seals on board that were part of the raid. Michael Strange was. His dad Charlie has spoken far and wide about the absurd handling his sons death received from the government. He spoke with the commander in chief on down. He is certain it stinks to high heaven…wrote a book about it. SO quit speaking nonsense.
There are a lot of holes in the entire 9/11 story. Bin Laden’s death? There was the obit in Pakistan in 2001…..why were theNavy SEALs killed? Maybe because it was clear they were going to reveal too many stories which wouldn’t add up because they didn’t do any of it! Oh, they may have killed someone…the shooter said on 60 minutes, “you know, it didn’t look like him.” Maybe it wasn’t.
Was the whole ruse just political pr fodder? Obama the Bin Ladin slayer? Jessica Lynch emptied her gun on the enemy! Pat Tillman died fighting the enemy! Like your insurance? IRS does not target groups!
Can we give every single government employee a polygraph when ever they say anything? The lying is a little too frequent…
“The document shows that as early as 2012, U.S. intelligence predicted the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS), but instead of clearly delineating the group as an enemy, the report envisions the terror group as a U.S. strategic asset.
“Astoundingly, the newly declassified report states that for “THE WEST, GULF COUNTRIES, AND TURKEY [WHO] SUPPORT THE [SYRIAN] OPPOSITION… THERE IS THE POSSIBILITY OF ESTABLISHING A DECLARED OR UNDECLARED SALAFIST PRINCIPALITY IN EASTERN SYRIA (HASAKA AND DER ZOR), AND THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT THE SUPPORTING POWERS TO THE OPPOSITION WANT, IN ORDER TO ISOLATE THE SYRIAN REGIME…”.
http://levantreport.com/2015/05/19/2012-defense-intelligence-agency-document-west-will-facilitate-rise-of-islamic-state-in-order-to-isolate-the-syrian-regime/
http://www.antiwar.com 05/23/2015
A bizarro world. These marauders fanatics will turn against western interest . Its a matter of time .
A violent reprisal then can follow killing anything Muslim or Middle Eastern in its path including pulverizing Iran and Pakistan.
They are already inside Saudi butchering thir favorite people all in the name of Allah.
This is Al Quida advanced placement .
Have thought this from day one, can’t trust this or any other administration, they’re all shady and play the game “Politics of fear”.
Perhaps you should google the true meaning of the word “conspiracy”.
“I thought this story was incredibly fishy from the get-go, especially when I heard about the burial -at-sea, but I expected to be proven wrong at some point in the weeks and months after the alleged incident. In fact, I figured they’d let the skepticism ramp up just enough before producing the photographs, thereby discrediting “tin-foil hat” wearers like me. It never happened.”
Same thoughts exactly..Thought they’d let us put our foots in our mouth and then show us up but it never happened..This administration puts Machiavelli to shame.
I hope Unz doesn’t become a site dominated by conspiracy nuts.
A measure of scepticism is almost always good, especially when treating with government.
Pathological cynicism however is both toxic and profoundly silly.
Reality is messy, people do stupid things, mistakes are covered up, Bush invades Iraq, etc.. That is no excuse not to examine evidence in the round, not to exercise common sense, not to be lead by one’s own nose for dubious cherry-picked facts.
Hillary is a poor actress. This is absolutely a staged photoshop composite. Leon Panetta, director of the CIA, revealed there was a 25 minute blackout during which the live feed from cameras mounted on the helmets of the US special forces was cut off.
http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2012/05/strange_anomalies_in_the_famous_situation_room_photo.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/al-qaeda/8493391/Osama-bin-Laden-dead-Blackout-during-raid-on-bin-Laden-compound.html
Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
What better things?
Her father, Ahmed Abdel-Fatah al-Sada, said they later learned through a courier that she had given birth to a daughter named Safiya.
Members of the family then went to Afghanistan to visit Amal al-Sada and the baby. Although they said the visit took place before the 9/11 attacks, this would be no easy triip. The telegraph
As reported by Associated Press, his children ranged in age from his 24-year-old son Khaled, who was killed in the raid, to a 3-year-old born during their time in Abbottabad.
Nothing has been heard from them since, though it is believed Amal was sent on to Yemen with her five young children. Khaleej Times
I do believe that Osama’s family was at the compound in Abbottabad. Whether Osama was there and alive is a different question. Hersh’s story is more believable than the official story. It is also the kind of story that a limited hangout would be that insiders might believe. My guess would be that Obama died there and after that the Pakistanis didn’t care. Dark Thirty Zero is well made war porn to make torture defensible.
How could that helicopter crash like that without injuries? There obviously was a raid. there was obvious Pakistani deniable cooperation for the helicopters to fly in and out plus another one for the crash replacement . the dead Seal Team 6 official story is obviously not the real story – whether or not they took part in the raid is above my pay grade.
Osama Bin Laden aka Tim Osman, agent of the CIA. He died in December 2001 of kidney failure.
We have pictures of Che Guevara dead, we have a video of the hanging of Saddam Hussein, we have picture of the dead sons of Saddam Hussein. There was no problem to display them worldwide for the edification of the masses. Where are the pictures of Bin Laden dead? Nowhere. Or only fake ones.
Video Link