- Bin Laden was held prisoner by Pakistan Intelligence in Abbottbad Compound
- Former senior Pakistani intelligence officer gave info for much of $25 million reward
- US Navy seals entered Abbottbad Compound and killed Bin Laden
- The US Navy Seal team that carried out the raid conveniently died in a helicopter crash a couple weeks later.
The US White House National Security spokesman Ned Price says: There are too many inaccuracies and baseless assertions in this piece to fact check each one".
The million dollar question is killing a prisoner Murder or Assassination.
So I am sure we will have an UNHCR investigation and the US will be cooperating fully.
A little back ground on Seymour Hersch. He exposed the My Lai Massacre and its cover-up during the Vietnam War. The The 1974 exposé of the CIA’s massive, illegal domestic spying. Received the 1970 Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting. Reported on the Abu Ghraib prison atrocities.
For an abbreviated version
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-05-10/seymour-hersh-obamas-entire-account-bin-ladens-death-one-big-lie-what-really-happene
Full Story here
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v37/n10/seymour-m-hersh/the-killing-of-osama-bin-laden
Hersh’s report is almost entirely uncorroborated 3rd-hand info from an unnamed "retired official”. And the fourth point above that "US Navy Seal team that carried out the raid conveniently died in a helicopter crash a couple weeks later” is not mentioned at all in the Hersh article. What’s the source of that factoid?
ReplyDeleteThe helicopter was shot down by insurgents in August 2011; many of those killed were part of the same Navy SEAL Team 6 unit that carried out the raid on Usama bin Laden's compound three months earlier.
DeleteTwo months ago, family members held a press conference suggesting the government put the SEALs in danger -- and potentially made them an inadvertent target -- after revealing the unit's role in the bin Laden raid.
Fox News: House panel probing chopper crash that killed SEAL Team 6 members
Steve,
a) Its hard to imagine that Pakistan Govt was unaware that Bin Laden lived in the compound.
b) Chinook helicopters were able to go 200 km each way thru Pakistan air space without being detected. Undetected, jets yes; not helicopters.
So there is smoke, i.e. unanswered questions.
So I think a impartial outside investigation (it is an International Issue) such as the UNHCR maybe able to ferret out the truth.
I will be holding my breath till that happens.
Apparently the basic points of Hersch have been written up in 2011.
ReplyDeleteFact or Fiction there is accusation of plagiarism by Hersch.
Hillhouse: Hersh Did Not Break Bin Laden Cover Up Story
Sic Semper Tyrannis: Osama bin Laden : The real story? - FB Ali
1) Hard to believe NO ONE in the Pakistani military knew he was there - hiding in plain sight?
ReplyDelete2) Chinook is a large double-rotored troop transport and cargo helicopter and only one was used as backup evacuation. The initial penetration to Abbottabad used radar-evading helicopters, possibly Blackhawks modified with stealth technology - one of which crashed and was destroyed on the ground.
Yeah, Hillhouse is somewhat of a nutcase with her purported intel background and thriller novels and self-promotion. She was definitely miffed that her original posts got no traction and now Sy Hersh is stealing the limelight. But to be fair he was a lot more thorough and assertive while she tossed off the story in a breezy post that just sounded like another conspiracy theory.
Just heard a radio interview with Hersh this evening on a show that offers critiques of the media - he is definitely getting skepticism and pushback from other journalists who wouldn’t have gone to print on such thin evidence and - as he admits it - no paper documentation at all.
One thing I haven’t heard mentioned was whether the book “No Easy Day” by SEAL team member Matt Bisonnette was a complete put-up job by the US govt - which Hersh’s account would imply. If his book was just a fabrication to reinforce the govt account then it’s curious they’d take it as far as subsequently revoking his security clearance and garnishing the proceeds from the book. Apparently he’s now suing his lawyers who told him he’d be able to get away with it: http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest-News-Wires/2014/1106/Navy-SEAL-who-wrote-book-about-the-bin-Laden-raid-loses-4.5-million
We’ll see how this story pans out...