Scared Monkeys Discussion Forum

I'm listening to the NBC Evening News with David Gregory.  President Obama is preparing to speak concerning what is being said is the death of Osama Bin Laden.

http://www.americablog.com/2011/05/obama-to-make-address-at-1030-pm-et-not.html
BREAKING: Obama to make address nation soon. Rumors that Bin Laden is dead
May 1, 2011

http://twitter.com/#!/markknoller/status/64880629019443200 (http://twitter.com/#!/markknoller/status/64880629019443200)
@markknoller Mark Knoller
CBS Congressional producer Jill Jackson reporting House Intelligence Committee aide says Obama will announce Osama bin Laden is dead.
14 minutes ago via web
Retweeted by TaQuoyaKennedy and others

The United States has Bin Laden's body and they will confirm that it is him.

This is emotional for me.  I lost a lot of friends in the attacks.

I'm so sorry you lost friends in the attacks San.   ::MonkeyAngel::   I didn't know any of the people personally that were killed or wounded in the attacks, but it shook me to my core. 

Thank you Muffy.  I was lucky that day.  If I didn't take my vacation that week I would have been there in the building.

San  :smt056  I'm so sorry you lost friends, but thank heavens you were safe. 

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/05/01/usama-bin-laden-dead-say-sources/
Slideshow
Usama Bin Laden is Dead, Say Sources
May 1, 2011


Usama bin Laden is dead, multiple sources confirm to Fox News.

President Obama is expected to deliver a statement from the White House Sunday night to discuss the major development.

Sources said bin Laden was killed by a U.S. bomb a week ago. The U.S. had been waiting for the results of a DNA test to confirm his identity.


 ::snipping2::

http://washingtonexaminer.com/news/nation/2011/05/osama-bin-laden-dead-us-has-body
Osama Bin Laden is dead, US has the body
May 1, 2011

(http://washingtonexaminer.com/files/imagecache/large_scaled/blog_images/d8a8da6ad1c30a09ec0e6a7067009890.jpg)

Osama Bin Laden is dead, multiple news agencies are now confirming.
 ::snipping2::
President Obama is scheduled to give a very rare Sunday evening press conference shortly.

What wonderful news.  ::MonkeyCheer4:: ::MonkeyCheer4::

They were monitoring him since August.  A small team of Americans went in there and took him down.

God Bless our Troops ::MonkeyAngel::

Happy Day!  God Bless USA!

Great news!   ::MonkeyCool::

It has been a long wait. 

My sincere gratitude to all of the U. S. service men and women who have worked towards and finally achieved this goal, it's a great day for America.

I'm so sorry about the loss of your friends San, I'm thankful that you weren't there.

I didn't know anyone that died or was injured personally, but I will never forget.

http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/WXLQ2RPLO78

Breaking the "snipping" rule for this

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/05/01/usama-bin-laden-dead-say-sources/

Usama Bin Laden Is Dead, Sources Confirm

Published May 01, 2011 | FoxNews.com


Usama bin Laden is dead, putting an end to the worldwide manhunt that began nearly a decade ago on Sept. 11, 2001. The architect of the deadliest terror attack on U.S. soil was killed a week ago inside Pakistan by a U.S. bomb.

President Obama announced the stunning development during an address to the nation late Sunday night from the White House.

“Tonight, I can report to the American people and to the world that the United States has conducted an operation that killed Usama bin Laden, the leader of Al Qaeda.”

The U.S. had been waiting for the results of a DNA test to confirm his identity before going public. Sources said the vice president informed congressional leaders late Sunday night that the world’s most wanted man had indeed been killed.

The announcement comes nearly a decade after the 2001 terror attacks which triggered the Afghanistan war and started a tireless hunt for the terrorist mastermind and Al Qaeda leader.

In recent years, that hunt had increasingly led U.S. intelligence across the border and into Pakistan, where Al Qaeda is thought to be concentrated.

In light of bin Laden’s death, authorities around the world are being urged to take security precautions. One source said officials are concerned bin Laden’s death could incite violence or terrorist acts against U.S. personnel overseas.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/05/01/usama-bin-laden-dead-say-sources/#ixzz1LAFiHYbK

Thanks TM. It's a relief that we got this monster the way we did.  It was very fitting.

Live video

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

I wish I were in DC! I'd love to join the party forming outside of the White House!!

I hope the families of the 9-1-1 victims will sleep a little more peacefully tonight!

People cheering

Absolutely!

Cheering crowds have gathered outside the White House!   ::CowboySmiley::

They kept mentioning this name and I looked it up because I never heard of it.

JSOC (Joint Special Operations Command)

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/agency/dod/jsoc.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint_Special_Operations_Command

Heartfelt Hugs, San.

San that is beautiful...thank you.

No Americans were harmed in the process. He had no more notches in his belt when our Military took him down.

YES! Thank God!

66 years ago on this date, (May 1) it was reported that Hitler was dead.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/1/newsid_3571000/3571497.stm

Interesting.

That is interesting.

Just means if you are a hateful monster May 1st is a bad day for you.  I know of a Sloot that should think twice every May 1.

Very Interesting Brandi   Evil both of them.

My brain keeps re-living the horrible events of 911. America lost it's innocence that day along with almost 3,000 of unsuspecting people just living their lives as Americans.

It was not a military attack on troops in a declared war. It was an attack on our values of freedom executed on innocents.

We have finally assured the world that we may be taken off guard, but there is no place to hide from our determination and commitment for seeking justice. It transcends administrations. We vowed to "Never Forget" and we have not!

God Bless the families of the 911 victims and God Bless the USA!!

 :smt045 ::justice2NJ::

Maybe today will be the day!   ::MonkeyWink::  ::monkeywine2::

San I am so sorry to hear you lost friends on 9/11. May they rest in peace. May all the families rest  easier now this evil man is DEAD.  I was in NY the year after 9/11 and the sorrow overwhelmed me.

Klaas in time the Sloot will get his.  ::justice2NJ::

AMEN

http://scaredmonkeys.com/2011/05/01/osama-bin-laden-is-dead-confirmed/

OSAMA BIN LADEN IS DEAD! … Confirmed! (Update: US raid in Abbottabad, Pakistan)

If you haven't seen it go to Red's front page post and watch Geraldo as he learns Osama Bin Laden is dead.  It really is something to see.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-naw-george-w-bush-osama-statement-20110502,0,4437819.story

Former president George W. Bush calls bin Laden death 'momentous achievement'

From Reuters
Reuters

May 1, 2011, 9:39 p.m.

Former President George W. Bush, who was in office at the time of the Sept. 11 attacks and famously said he wanted Osama bin Laden dead or alive, on Sunday called the death of the al Qaeda leader a "momentous achievement."

President Barack Obama called Bush in Dallas at 9:04 p.m. central time to inform him that bin Laden was dead and they spoke for four minutes, a Bush spokesman said.

The Sept. 11 attacks were a defining moment of Bush's presidency. He launched the war in Afghanistan and the hunt for bin Laden spanned the rest of his presidency.

"This momentous achievement marks a victory for America, for people who seek peace around the world, and for all those who lost loved ones on September 11, 2001," Bush said in a statement.

"The fight against terror goes on, but tonight America has sent an unmistakable message: No matter how long it takes, justice will be done," he said.

Crowd Chants 'USA! USA!' Outside White House

May 1, 2011
- 1:46 -
Spontaneous celebration erupts

http://video.foxnews.com/v/4671787/crowd-chants-usa-usa-outside-white-house/

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2014933392_apwabinladenwashingtonstate.html

Bin Laden's death cheered near Seattle-area base

People on a freeway overpass are celebrating the death of Osama bin Laden with motorists driving past Joint Base Lewis-McChord south of Seattle.



JOINT BASE LEWIS-McCHORD, Wash. —

People on a freeway overpass are celebrating the death of Osama bin Laden with motorists driving past Joint Base Lewis-McChord south of Seattle.

A small group, including at least two soldiers, are waving American flags and cheering atop the Interstate 5 overpass that's known as Freedom Bridge and leads to one of the base's gates.

Drivers are honking their horns as they pass under the bridge that's decorated with yellow ribbons and patriotic slogans. Some are shouting phrases like "Osama is dead" and "We finally got him."

 ::snipping2::

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruNrdmjcNTc

Courtesy Of The Red, White And Blue (The Angry American)
by Toby Keith

 ::MonkeyDance::


Lots of comments on this video tonight!   ::MonkeyCool::

Guess I wasn't the only one who thought of it when I heard the news...   ::MonkeyHaHa::

Thanks, TM. On this, I have no political view, right or left. I'm grateful that Obama set getting Bin Laden as a priority and that he saw the results. I know that Bush did what he could to achieve it and shares in the pride that it was accomplished.

I'm proud of our troops, and hope that the one that put that bullet in Bin Laden's head feels the gratitude of all Americans!

Love it, TM!!   ::MonkeyDance::

I have to add this one!! Woo Hoo!!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtZ5YsvREi4

::MonkeyCool:: ::MonkeyDance::

OSAMA BIN LADEN IS DEAD! … Confirmed! (Update: US raid in Abbottabad, Pakistan)

http://scaredmonkeys.com/2011/05/01/osama-bin-laden-is-dead-confirmed/

when we came together as a nation to defeat a common foe. A prayer goes out to the families of the victims of 9-11 and those that died.

Compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, where Osama bin Laden was Killed by US Navy SEALS (VIDEO) … Celebrations Break Out in DC & NYC

http://scaredmonkeys.com/2011/05/02/compound-in-abbottabad-pakistan-where-osama-bin-laden-was-killed-by-us-navy-seals-video-celebrations-break-out-in-dc-nyc/

It's been reported that perhaps the US will bury his body at sea. It will be done within 24 hours in accordance with Muslim tradition. I hope so. That way no "shrine" can crop up and I sort of like the idea that his remains will soon be fish crap. 

Some of the reporters have seen the pics of his body. He was shot just above and between the eyes.   ::MonkeyCool:: Pictures were taken and sent to US intelligience to confirm his identity as well as one of the residents identifying him to the military before he was killed.

Even though it was said that Pakistan "cooperated" with the operation, it's been reported that the operation was done without their knowledge. The compund was built in 2005, and was 8 times the size of other residents in the area. It had high walls and barbed wire. 2 brothers acting as couriers for Bin Laden owned the million doller mansion with no means of income. Many of the neighbors were top Pakistani Military personnel. Makes me go hmmmmm that Pakistan tried so hard to help us find him.  :roll:

IMO, it's pretty clear that had we spoken with anyone in the Pakistan govm't, he would have suddenly disappeared.

The compound is burning, but it's unclear at this point who set it on fire. He was a coward to the end, using a woman as a shield. He was given an opportunity to surrender, but declined. Apparently we didn't give him a second chance.   ::MonkeyCool::

One of our military helicopters had mechanical problems and landed hard on the compound. That chopper was destroyed on the site (by us). The residents of the compound put up quite a fight.

Oh Good! He's already buried at sea!!  ::MonkeyDance::

"Osama Bin Fish Crap" has a nice ring to it!   ::justice2NJ::

I'm sorry San.
 ::MonkeyTears:: May God rest their souls and all who were lost.   ::MonkeyAngel::

 

I am wondering if this is why William and Kate postponed their honeymoon.

I celebrate the removal of this evil from the world. I mourn the losses of life that have been cause by the search for this evil. I hope his death stops some of the violence of these extreamist but I fear it will not.

I do love this status from Pat Brown's FB page (which I stole!) "Tonight there are 72 virgins in heaven saying, "Oh, hell no!""

Thank you can.

I am just grateful they put an end to this monster.  I know there are others but it puts an end to the name that was responsible for killing all these innocent people.  I heard someone say on the news this morning why give him a proper burial.  Did he give the others a proper burial.

Sometimes we have to look at the big picture.  It was a fight against a madman not a fight against a religion.

It changed the way we think.

Wow! I hadn't thought of that, San! I feel sure heads of State would have been made aware, so they probably knew.

Good question!

It really did. I feel like America came out of childhood on that day. I mean that in a sad way, not a critical one. The faith and optimism of childhood was tainted by it and we emerged more mature but with scars of experience and forced awareness.

For me, it's like life before loosing anyone we love. We just can't comprehend it until it happens.   ::MonkeyNoNo::

Here is a tweet by Kelly Cutrone.  She happened to be in a cab in the United States and the cab driver was crying because Bin Laden was killed.

(http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d118/Sanddrops/Kellicutrone.jpg)

I am listening to the news and it is said that the U.S. did not inform the Pakistani Government of their move.

I feel if they did they would not have gotten Bin Laden.

OK off to work.  Have a good day everyone.

Today is a day where the good people won.  ::justice2NJ::

(http://assets.nydailynews.com/img/2011/05/03/wide_bin-laden.jpg)

GOD Bless our Troops!!   

Interesting fact....Hitler confirmed dead May 1, 1945......Bin Laden confirmed dead May 1, 2011.    Death of evil has a date!

I would say that is probably a pretty good thought. Most likely as the US State Dept has put out a warning to all Americans travling overseas.

 ::MonkeyCheer4:: ::MonkeyCheer4::

 ::rhino::

yes, he has already been buried at sea.

Terrorist 911 Mastermind Osama Bin Laden Dead and Buried at Sea

http://scaredmonkeys.com/2011/05/01/osama-bin-laden-is-dead-confirmed/

GOOD RIDDANCE TO BAD RUBBISH!!!

http://www.abc3340.com/story/14551329/us-official-bin-laden-killed-near-islamabad
Bin Laden killed in fiery raid in Pakistan
Posted: May 01, 2011 10:49 PM CDT Updated: May 02, 2011 7:09 AM CDT
By NAHAL TOOSI and ZARAR KHAN
Associated Press

ABBOTTABAD, Pakistan (AP) - The death of Osama bin Laden in a fortress-like compound on the outskirts of a Pakistani city that is home to three army regiments and thousands of soldiers raises questions over whether Pakistani security forces knew the whereabouts of the world's most wanted man.
 ::snipping2::

(http://www.foxnews.com/images/root_images/050211_BINLADEN2_20110502_073945.jpg)

This is interesting, IMO, and I've heard it on Fox News about 4 times now (so...no link)...but...How Osama came to be found started 4 years ago, after the capture of Kahlid Sheikh Mohammad (mastermind) and he was sent to Gitmo.  One of the pieces of information Kahlid gave up was the "nickname" of Osama's courier.  Our intel started checking it out and found out who the guy with that nickname was....then it was discovered that another courier was around a lot with the nicknamed guy....then it was discovered that the two couriers are brothers....all this over time from 4 years ago....then it was discovered where the couriers lived and that was curious because the couriers have no money but seemed to be owners of a compound with a huge house built on it in 2005, 18' security walls with razorwire on top, security gates, etc.  You got it!!! The nickname guy and his brother are the two couriers that were killed with Osama and his oldest son, along with a woman that they chose to use as a human shield. 

Osama went out like he lived his life - a COWARD!!!

The raid
 The operation Sunday went smoothly except for a helicopter landing that was not part of the original plan. The choppers were only intended to hover over the scene, but due to a technical malfunction, one of them landed or fell — "not a crash," the official said — so the military dispatched a third "emergency" helicopter to the scene.

 "This operation was a surgical raid by a small team designed to minimize collateral damage. Our team was on the compound for under 40 minutes and did not encounter any local authorities."

 Bin Laden himself participated in the ensuing firefight, the officials suggested.

 "Bin laden was killed in a firefight as our operators came onto the compound," an official said.

 Did he fire, a reporter asked.He did resist the assault force, and he was killed in a firefight," an official said. NBC News reported that he was shot in the left eye.

 Four adult males were killed: bin Laden, his son, and the two couriers.

 "One woman killed when used as a shield," and other women were injured, the officials said. The women's names were not given; it's not clear whether bin Laden's wife was among them.


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42853221/ns/world_news-death_of_bin_laden/

photo of Bin Laden, dead, taken from a Pakistani news channel

EDIT: Photo Deleted Per Blonde's request.

Please delete that last photo it may be fake  photoshopped. Sorry I just got too excited

Done, Blonde. I'm excited too!

I've heard it exactly as you posted, Puzzler! Thanks for sharing it here!

Yep..and I want to see the photos!!

San, if I knew that, then I had forgotten. WoW... I am so glad you were not there and so sorry for your losses and the losses of all. I'd been in the towers in the past, but knew no one. The attacks brought me to my knees in grief for all...that day and even still, I'll never forget.

I am so sorry, San and for all those who lost people they love that day.  Many people here were lost, as that is where they go to work each day.  I am thinking of our own Angie911x also today.

 ::MonkeyAngel:: ::MonkeyAngel:: ::MonkeyAngel::

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/willheaven/100085835/why-that-photo-of-a-dead-osama-bin-laden-is-almost-certainly-a-photoshopped-fake/


WARNING  the link within the above link that shows where the original photo of a dead man came from and was photoshopped into binny's features may be gross to some.

Yes, very painstaking process for intelligence agents..starting with small, bits of info and slowly, tediously piecing them together...what a wonderful job they did...and our president made the right call..glad to be an American today.

Interesting that his couriers were seen coming and going over the years..but Osama was not seen.  Makes me wonder if they had a series of underground tunnels running from the house to the outside..I can't imagine this guy remaining inside for 4 years.  And he is such a recognizable figure..6'4"..that is tall and so thin.  They felt they had enough circumstantial evidence to make the decision he was in there ..and they were right.  I've been watching CNN and their coverage has been good.  I wait anxiously to see what else is revealed in the coming days.  The Seals got what intel they could out of the compound before they left and they have not had time to go through it all.  Should be some GITMO individuals very worried right now.

I think there may be some retaliation, but nothing compared to what we have already dealt with terrorist wise.  I am glad they gave him an Islamic burial..and at sea.  He is enough of a martyr already..no need for his fanatical followers having a grave to visit to increase his martyrdom.

San very sorry for the loss of so many of your friends and fellow workers on 9/11.  Thank God you had vacation that day.  I had family members in NYC that day for work related travel.  They were staying in the area of the twin towers and had luckily just left their hotel to attend a meeting ..they were lucky.  I have another cousin who is a pilot and was scheduled to fly that day..his plane was grounded ..luckily.  I just thank God that one more monster is gone who brought so much death and destruction to the world.  We are safer in his death then in his life.
And yes Hitler's death was confirmed on May 1, 1945 ...another coward, another hater, another monster. 

Photos inside the compound where Osama was killed (no bodies - but graphic):

http://abcnews.go.com/International/slideshow/photos-inside-osama-bin-laden-kill-zone-13508190

Based upon this image posted on the FoxNews site, I believe I have found the same compound in Google Maps:

From Fox:
(http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5230/5680814005_ff83569f12_b.jpg)

From Google Maps:
(http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5109/5680809533_d0b9182d16_b.jpg)

http://goo.gl/maps/pjSu

White House: Woman Shielded Bin Laden


A woman shielded Osama bin Laden from gunfire during the assault by U.S. forces,
President Barack Obama's top counterterrorism adviser said Monday. ::snipping2::

MORE DETAILS: <http://www.wfsb.com/tu/5Yo5ioe8M.html>

Blonde - one of the articles I read said that for the most part, all of the men in the compound were using women to shield them.  Loosers.

(http://www.foxnews.com/images/root_images/050211_BURYALQAEDA_20110502_161116.jpg)

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/05/02/cia-analyze-electronic-evidence-seized-bin-laden-compound/ (http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/05/02/cia-analyze-electronic-evidence-seized-bin-laden-compound/)

::MonkeyHaHa::It would be a cold day in hell before I would shield any MAN from getting a bullet in the eye ::MonkeyCool::

(http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b104/Blondeonahd/In%20the%20News/5ketug.jpg)

Picture above from this link

(U.S. Military Photos of bin-Laden's hideout)

 DevGru belongs to the Joint Special Operations Command, an extraordinary and unusual collection of classified standing task forces and special-missions units. They report to the president and operate worldwide based on the legal (or extra-legal) premises of classified presidential directives. Though the general public knows about the special SEALs and their brothers in Delta Force, most JSOC missions never leak. We only hear about JSOC when something goes bad (a British aid worker is accidentally killed) or when something really big happens (a merchant marine captain is rescued at sea), and even then, the military remains especially sensitive about their existence. Several dozen JSOC operatives have died in Pakistan over the past several years. Their names are released by the Defense Department in the usual manner, but with a cover story -- generally, they were killed in training accidents in eastern Afghanistan. That's the code.

 How did the helicopters elude the Pakistani air defense network? Did they spoof transponder codes? Were they painted and tricked out with Pakistan Air Force equipment? If so -- and we may never know -- two other JSOC units, the Technical Application Programs Office and the Aviation Technology Evaluation Group, were responsible. These truly are the silent squirrels -- never getting public credit and not caring one whit. Since 9/11, the JSOC units and their task forces have become the U.S. government's most effective and lethal weapon against terrorists and their networks, drawing plenty of unwanted, and occasionally unflattering, attention to themselves in the process.

 Click image to see photos of Americans reacting to bin Laden's death

 ::snipping2::

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_exclusive/20110502/pl_yblog_exclusive/the-secret-team-that-killed-bin-laden

http://www.tmz.com/2011/05/02/navy-seal-uss-carl-vinsons-san-diego-irish-pub-photo-osama-bin-laden-dead/ (http://www.tmz.com/2011/05/02/navy-seal-uss-carl-vinsons-san-diego-irish-pub-photo-osama-bin-laden-dead/)

Navy SEALs -- The Beer Guzzlin' Celebration

11 minutes ago by TMZ Staff 

A bunch of Navy SEALs based in San Diego celebrated their faces off last night ... toasting the UNBELIEVABLE raid carried out by their fellow SEAL brothers at a S.D. bar ... which happens to be owned by a retired SEAL.

TMZ spoke with American bad ass Greg McPartlin -- owner of McP's pub -- who told us when the news broke, SEALs from the nearby Naval Base Coronado quickly packed the house ... many carrying American flags.

We're told the soldiers went through 8 kegs, 15 cases of beer and TONS of cocktails in just four hours ... while leading the bar in several "USA!" chants.

McPartlin tells us, "It's great -- Osama was expecting his 72 virgins, instead he got 24 Virginians!" (The Navy SEAL team that executed the mission is based in Virginia.)

FYI -- the Naval Base Coronado is the home of the USS Carl Vinson ... the ship from which Osama's body was dumped into the North Arabian Sea.

 ::snipping2::

(http://msnbcmedia1.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/110502-bin-laden-compound-vmed-12p.grid-4x2.jpg)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42865101/ns/world_news-death_of_bin_laden/ (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42865101/ns/world_news-death_of_bin_laden/)

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/05/02/obama-visist-nycs-gound-zero/

Obama to Visist NYC's Ground Zero

Published May 02, 2011

One day after he announced the killing of Usama bin Laden, President Obama said he will travel to Ground Zero in New York City to meet with the families of 9/11 victims.

Ground Zero, the site of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks by Al Qaeda that felled the World Trade Center's Twin Towers, has turned into a rallying site since New Yorkers learned the Al Qaeda leader was killed Sunday during a raid by U.S. Navy SEALs.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/05/02/obama-visist-nycs-gound-zero/#ixzz1LExCAPim

P.S.  If FoxNews needs someone to proof read their site I'd be happy to help.  (for a price  ::MonkeyCool:: )

(http://assets.nydailynews.com/img/2011/05/03/alg_situation_room.jpg)

Osama Bin Laden dead: President Obama, advisors watched raid to kill Al Qaeda leader unfold live

BY Helen Kennedy
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Originally Published:Monday, May 2nd 2011, 3:49 PM
Updated: Monday, May 2nd 2011, 6:16 PM

On Sunday afternoon, President Obama and his commanders sat in the Situation Room, tensely monitoring a handful of SEALs stalking Osama Bin Laden half a world away.

While much of the nation was snickering over birth certificate jokes or enjoying a sunny day, the President was in the White House basement, holding his breath.

The drama of the raid into Pakistan played out in real time on secure video screens and in radio bursts.

"The minutes passed like days," said John Brennan, assistant to the President for Counter Terrorism.

"It was probably one of the most anxiety-filled periods of time in the lives of the people who were assembled here."

Brennan said Obama was extremely concerned about the safety of the men he had sent into Pakistan on a covert mission to take out bin Laden.

"That was what was on his mind throughout," Brennan said.

 ::snipping2::


Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2011/05/02/2011-05-02_osama_bin_laden_dead_president_obama_advisors_watched_raid_to_kill_al_qaeda_lead.html#ixzz1LExjR66a

I normally do not buy into these things except Boo posted it on my FB page and not five minutes later a friend got infected:

WARNING::::::::PLEASE READ AND REPOST!
WARNING: there is a video circulating around Facebook of a BBC video of the killing of Osama Bin Laden, supposedly made by US troops. It is a Virus!!!!! Spread the news because it's circulating fast ( copied)

That's amazing! My God, I would have had all my nails chewed off!!!

Thanks!! I do wish they would release a picture, but I'll wait until it's released in the MSM, if it ever is!

Thank you for posting this CCB.  People need to knock off the stupid criticism of our President.  He is our President.he has accomplished many things..and I believe he has all our best interest at heart.  It took a concerted effort from all the intell and governement agencies involved to bring this together..and it took a man with determination and guts to put it in action and give the go ahead.  Maybe some will think twice before they believe everything they read about him..because he took this job to try to make things better..and by God..slowly but surely they are getting better.  JMO

Guess  The Donalds big mouth and low IQ are showing about now..and Tea Party advocates..Hello..keep your sticky damn fingers off my social security, medicare and medicaid.  If the Republicans feel we need more money lets cut their friends and them a deal..lets close the tax loopholes on major corporations.  Then lets close the tax loopholes for those making over $250K .  And yes I paid my 30% this year, as did the business my husband and I own..just like I expect my friends and neighbors to do and my fellow business owners, if they are lucky enough to be in that bracket during this hard economic time.  I am sick and tired of the rich taking away from what we have all earned and by the way paid into..social securtity, medicare and medicaid.  And for those Republicans worried about Obamas health care plan..get out your frigging history books..the first President to try to pass a health care bill..almost exactly like this one was..none other then President Nixon.  He really wanted that for this country..but because politicians can't and never will agree it never passed.  So 30 years later it comes to fruition..and Republicans want to stop it..where are your heads? 

Thank God Congress was not appraised and did not have to vote on this action...

Gypsy, I am very proud of our President around the events of today. It took bravery, tremendous forethought, and faith in our intelligience and troops to pull off so successfully the operation that finally brought Bin Laden down. It could not have happened without Obama's diligience and nod of approval.

I also give credit to the formation of Gitmo and interrogations that brought the information to light that was an integral piece of today's success.

I believe that the end of Bin Laden is something all Americans can rejoice and take pride in without political considerations and be grateful for the virtues of any Administration that contributed in any way to bringing justice for the loss of almost 3,000 innocent lives.

I take great comfort and pride of country that the process did not falter through at least 2 and perhaps 3 administrations and that different party affiliation did not cause loss of focus. For me, it's appropriate that it's that way and that on this day we can stand together as just Americans without finding fault or blame in each other based in politics. There are so few events anymore that don't divide us. I don't imagine Bin Laden cared about whether the Navy Seal holding the gun pointed at him was a Republican or Democrat or Tea Party member. I rather fancy he just saw an American as his last image. I'm glad about that and it's plenty good enough for me too.

I stole this

(http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b104/Blondeonahd/In%20the%20News/KDssc.jpg)

A lot of my friends don't believe this news like this one:

AM I WRONG TO QUESTION THE VALIDITY THAT OSAMA BIN LADEN IS TRULY DEAD? HIS BODY DUMPED AT SEA TO HONOR MUSLIM TRADITION??? ARE YOU KIDDING ME! LIKE WE SHOULD GIVE A SHIT ABOUT MUSLIM TRADITION? THEY SURE DIDNT CARE ABOUT ANY OF OUR TRADITIONS ON SEPTEMBER 11TH 2001. I PRAY THAT THIS ISNT SOME TYPE OF POLITICAL PROPAGANDA THEY SHOULD HAVE PUT HIS DEAD CORPSE ON DISPLAY AT GROUND ZERO FOR ALL OF US TO SEE.


They need to give us proof they fed him to fish so fast

I was so happy now I'm thinking

 ::MonkeyHaHa::

Taliban express doubt that bin Laden is dead

By RAHIM FAIEZ and HEIDI VOGT, Associated Press Rahim Faiez And Heidi Vogt, Associated Press – 2 hrs 17 mins ago

KABUL, Afghanistan – The Taliban cast suspicion Tuesday on the announcement of Osama bin Laden's death, saying they would not believe the al-Qaida leader was dead until they had seen proof or received confirmation from sources close to him.

Though U.S. officials have said they confirmed bin Laden's identity both with face-mapping software and DNA tests, the lack of photos of the body and its burial at sea have raised doubts in Afghanistan and Pakistan that the man who evaded American detection for so long has actually been killed.

"This news is only coming from one side, from Obama's office, and American has not shown any evidence or proof to support this claim," Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid said in a statement emailed to journalists. "On the other side, our sources close to Osama bin Laden have not confirmed or denied the news." ::snipping2::

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110503/ap_on_re_as/as_afghanistan

it does make one wonder I have to admit...
I feel like I need more proof too...this just seems too" simple" to me..dunno..
I hope that it is true and that we have not been duped...

OH no Am I getting political   ::MonkeyShocked::

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States may release later on Tuesday photos of Osama bin Laden's burial at sea but no final decision has been made, a U.S. official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The Obama administration has been weighing whether to make public photos of bin Laden's corpse as proof that he had been killed during a raid by U.S. forces on his mansion hide-out in Pakistan.

The al Qaeda leader's body was flown out of the country, brought to a U.S. aircraft carrier, given Islamic funeral rites and slipped into the north Arabian Sea in a weighted body bag on Monday.

http://www.courant.com/news/breaking/sns-rt-international-us-bitre7423le-20110503,0,2397124.story


I want to see the video of the US Navy Seals

http://abcnews.go.com/gma/video/osama-bin-laden-dead-condoleezza-rice-weighs-in-13517099&tab=9482931&section=1206828

Cookie..OT but I love the way you added your Monkey to the courtroom.  Was that from the pic of the real you?

I do believe we got him..no doubts in my mind.  But I think releasing the photos may be a double edged sword.  I think if they release them, then the RATIONAL WORLD HAS IT'S ANSWER.  But, it will be seen two ways in the terrorists view..either they will say it is a lie and photo-shopped or they will take it as disrespectful to their dead leader.

Last night on Anderson Cooper's show they were discussing his burial at sea..there are two ways Muslims handle burial..for a regular person they wash the body and shroud the body...for a martyr they do not do this..they send them off in whatever they were wearing.  I had never heard that before...but I did read today that his body was washed, shrouded,  Muslim prayers were said by someone on board the ship and then they weighted his body and placed him into the Arabian Sea.  I am glad we did not give him a martyrs burial.

Gypsy..yes..that is me in the courtroom...lol...my idea and Brandi's talent and expertise..it is to honor Caylee since the trial is coming up...Monkeys are in the courtroom in spirit and love to stand for justice for Caylee...

I am mostly sure that this was Bin Laden who was killed...I only worry that there has not been more of an uprising or whatever from our enemies about this murder if it did happen, know what I mean? but maybe it just hasn't happened yet..I do expect some back lash from this... I am glad that he did not get a martyrs burial either..he did not deserve it in my opinion...

I think they are more worried about the homegrown terroists right now..people that are already here..and I would suppose cells in England, France, Spain..well that is what some talking head said..and I get that because it would take some time for them to come up with a full backlash plan....and after all the unrest in Middle East in the past month..it's hard to predict when or how...but someone acting on their own or small cells acting on their own is what they referenced yesterday.  Jihad..just can't understand that whole concept.

I can't understand how Pakistan says they didn't know he was there..huh..I think dealing with them is going to be difficult at best.  And now different politicians are saying different things should be done..not give them $1.3 billion a year, pull the money back..or to use other sanctions.  That debate could go on forever..I hope that they come up with a plan that does slap their fingers..but we need them in our corner because of the nuclear weapons they have....so that's gonna be a very tough call all the way around.

yep Gypsy..very tough call on how to handle all this.
I too find it difficult to believe that Pakistan did not know he was there..

White House U-turn on bin Laden human shield claim


White House U-turn on bin Laden human shield claim AFP – White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan speaks during the daily press briefing at the White …
– Mon May 2, 9:54 pm ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The White House rowed back on a claim made earlier that a wife of Osama bin Laden acted as a human shield in an unsuccessful bid to save the Al-Qaeda leader's life.

Counter-terrorism official John Brennan had briefed reporters from information that was later updated as more people involved in the operation were interviewed, a senior White House official said.

Bin Laden, who was killed in a raid by US special forces, was with a woman who was wounded, while another woman was also killed in a different part of the house in crossfire, said the official. ::snipping2::


http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110503/pl_afp/usattacksbinladenshield

does anyone know exactly how many people were in this house? were there any children there?

Just a personal opinion but if we didn't actually get OBL, then we'd already have a video of him mocking our claims of his death while holding up a current newspaper. He would have really enjoyed filming it too.

JMO.

I have no doubt that he is dead.  I don't believe any of this what if stuff.  This material is sensitive and our government is taking its time releasing the info as they should.

I'm glad they handled it exactly like they did. It was quick and on our terms, as it should be. Bin Laden gave his azz to America on Sept 11, in my opinion, and we rightfully owned him. There's no point in giving the terrorist's world anything at all to rally around so it's been dutifully reported that he had a "burial" according to Muslim custom, without fuss, and after we had plucked DNA and pictures.

They aren't blind or deaf. They too know OBL would have "come out" to mock us if he were able. They know he's dead. As much as I want to see the pictures, I hope we don't release any. They want us to. They're looking for something to rally around, and I'd give them nothing, zero, zip, nada.

JMO.

I haven't heard officially how many people were in the house but I did come across this article.

http://galvestondailynews.com/ap/64c36e/

I don't know exactly how many people were in the house.  I had read earlier there were children in the house, (don't know how many), ages 2 through 12 I think and they were in Pakistani custody.  I've been looking to find the link where I read that, but haven't found it yet.  I'll keep looking though.

I see San and I were posting at the same time.  Jinx!!  So yes, according to the link San provided there were children in the compound.

Here's a recent article I've just found:

http://www.smh.com.au/world/bin-ladens-young-daughter-saw-father-shot-dead-20110504-1e7jf.html?from=smh_sb
Bin Laden's young daughter 'saw father shot dead'
May 4, 2011

Osama bin Laden's young daughter has told Pakistani officials that she saw her father shot and killed by armed Americans, an official with Pakistan's spy agency said on Tuesday.

The official, who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the subject, said the daughter, whom he described as being 12 or 13-years-old, was one of eight or nine children in the house when a team of US Navy SEALs stormed the complex by helicopter, early on Monday.
 ::snipping2::
*****************************
I don't know if the disparity in the numbers mentioned in San's article and this article are due to reporting or to perhaps there were more children previously.  I don't know.  I'm not sure how good information is forthcoming about the particulars of the raid and what's been released.  I am concerned that sometimes lately it seems some news agencies want to be the first to get news out they tend to just get it right out there without fact checking it first.  Even when it's been found to be wrong, it doesn't seem to get corrected.  JMHO

I'm glad he died the way he did.  I couldn't have asked for a better death.  He got it right in his home.

At first I wanted to see the picture of him dead to rub it the face of his supporters.  But now that I think about it CBB I will agree that let them bust.

Rashard Mendenhall of the Pittsburgh Steelers is an idiot.  Apparently he made some tweets that weren't nice.

Below is an article where Matt Pawlikowski Pittsburgh Sports Examiner answers him.

Tweeted by Mendenhall:


 ::snipping2::

Written by Pawlikowski:


 ::snipping2::
Continue reading on Examiner.com: Steelers Mendenhall disrepects 9/11 with his tweets about Bin Ladin. - Pittsburgh Sports | Examiner.com http://www.examiner.com/sports-in-pittsburgh/steelers-mendenhall-disrespects-9-11-victims-with-his-bin-laden-tweets#ixzz1LLXYkiOs

ITA with you San, "Rashard Mendenhall of the Pittsburgh Steelers is an idiot." 

Muffy that isn't going to sit well with his team management.  Of all places Pittsburgh.

CIA boss Leon Panetta said Tuesday night that the Osama Bin Laden death photos - which the White House labeled "gruesome" - will be released.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2011/05/03/2011-05-03_osama_bin_laden_death_photos_will_be_released_says_cia_boss_as_white_house_weigh.html

http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/sports/pittsburgh-126028-capsules-stir.html
NFL Capsules: RB Mendenhall causes stir with bin Laden tweets
May 3, 2011

 ::snipping2::
The Steelers felt compelled to act. On Tuesday, team president Art Rooney II released a statement.

"I have not spoken with Rashard, so it is hard to explain or even comprehend what he meant with his recent Twitter comments. The entire Steelers organization is very proud of the job our military personnel have done and we can only hope this leads to our troops coming home soon."

Mendenhall, who profiles himself as a "conversationalist and professional athlete" on his Twitter page, turned some heads in March, as well, when he supported a comment by Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson comparing the NFL to "modern-day slavery."

"Anyone with knowledge of the slave trade and the NFL could say that these two parallel eachother," Mendenhall posted at the time.

Mendenhall is coming off a tremendous season, as he led the AFC champions in carries (324), rushing yards (1,273) and rushing touchdowns (13). He has 2,439 yards in three seasons since being drafted in the 2008 first round out of Illinois.

In the 2010 postseason, Mendenhall ran for 230 yards on 61 carries in three games with four touchdowns, as Pittsburgh defeated the Baltimore Ravens (31-24) and New York Jets (24-19), before falling to the Green Bay Packers 31-25 in the Super Bowl.

Among his other bin Laden tweets:

"I believe in God. I believe we're ALL his children. And I believe HE is the ONE and ONLY judge."

"Those who judge others, will also be judged themselves."

"For those of you who said you want to see Bin Laden burn ... I ask how would God feel about your heart?" 

"There is not an ignorant bone in my body. I just encourage you to think."

Mendenhall's string of tweets ended around 6 p.m. Monday. He has not tweeted since.

Sports radio talk shows in Pittsburgh — and around the nation — were fielding calls on Tuesday about his comments.

Mendenhall has 13,631 followers on Twitter, and he personally follows 66. Included in the group he's following is the Dalai Lama, comedian Sarah Silverman and the Park Community Church in Chicago.
 ::snipping2::

I encourage Mendenhall to think before he tweets his crap.

I don't have a problem with god judging me for how I feel in this situation because in the end the Devil lost.

http://www.telegraaf.nl/buitenland/9674709/__GOT_HIM___.html

Like we haven't heard OBL speak --- he openly claimed responsibility for Killing 3000 people on 9/11!!!

I am not a fan of Obama as many are not a fan of George W -- but, I roundly applaud our President for his actions in bringing down Bin Laden and am particularly proud of him for taking Bush with him to Ground Zero on Thursday. They BOTH put in motion new ideas to strenghen or country. This is not a time for politics -- but a time for Americans to come together (just as they did immediately after 9/11).

 ::justice2NJ::

Mendenhall probably vacations in Aruba...idiot   ::MonkeyRoll::

http://www.amigoe.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6965:ook-aruba-verhoogt-veiligheid&catid=108:artikelen-aruba&Itemid=199

Google translation:

::snipping2::

Comments
The death of Osama has, judging by the comments on Facebook, mixed feelings on Aruba. Initially disapproval was especially reading about the overt joys of Americans after the death of al-Quadaleider known. Feasts for the death of a person shows little respect, no matter how evil a person has been thus an Aruban Facebooker. Action leads to reaction, "think more. The latest reports show more and more amazing about all this. Especially the absence of a visible proof of a dead Osama or the rapid burial shows the mistrust in official reports to feed.

AH! San! Post of the Day! I hadn't even thought of it, but you're exactly right and I LOVE it!! His plan on 911 took innocent people off guard as they were going about their day. We too, took him off guard as he was in his own home! I think of those who were trapped in the towers, desperately waiting for the rescue that could not get to them. That SOB had 40 minutes to wait. From the grounds to the first floor, he listened and watched and hoped for silence that could assure him his minions had thwarted the attack. He heard the fight advance to the second floor so he knew his side was giving ground. I'm betting his cajones were stuck in his throat by the time they burst in his room!  ::MonkeyCool::

It's curious to me that he was "unarmed". I'll never know, but I'd like to think that his racing mindset counted on "silly American ethics" that would cause him to desperately hope they wouldn't shoot an unarmed man with women and children about. They always underestimate our intelligience. We are humane to humans, but know what to do with a rattlesnake.

He thought he was being protected which he was by Pakistan. He never assumed we would burst into his home and kill him so why would he need to walk around in his home with a gun.  He probably had weapons but he didn't use them.  Bottom line is that "He got comfortable and let his guard down".

Osama Bin Laden thought he would be tipped off by Pakistan.  He never thought the USA wouldn't inform Pakistan of their raid.  That was the smartest move we did.  Pakistan was caught with their pants down and had no time to scramble.

I hope our next move is to stop funding Pakistan and put the money to use in the United States.  Pakistan has proven they are our enemy.

Absolutely..he'd have a film of himself talking and pointing and saying "The Infidels have not murdered me...I am here, I am still  your leader in Jihad."

Thanks San..great article..loved the comments after..no two were alike..which shows everybody has an opinion on those photos and the fall out if any from showing them.

Like I said yesterday..I don't need to see a photo..and I believe his followers know that their leader is no longer available through courier or otherwise..they know.  Skeptics..well they aren't going to believe what they see anyway. 

I am glad that the President included Bush in one of the first phone calls..and I am glad he asked him to go to NYC with him tomorrow.  Shows a lot of class and I hope will help this bipartisan crap going in in DC.  It also gives credit where credit is due..Clinton's admin was searching for Osama, Bush certainly was, and now we know that Obama also made it a priority. 

I want to know how we are going to handle Pakistan now..what sanctions if any we will take..and since we still have troops in Afghanistan..may be it is time to bring them home too.  They seem to think there are only about 100 Taliban left in Afghanistan anyway..so it appears they have packed up their tents and moved to other areas of the Mid East.  Pakistan supposedly has more terroist captured then other nations..but that means they are a breedging ground too.

The USA gives them our money
ABBOTTABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- Pakistan reacted with dismay Wednesday at CIA Director Leon Panetta's assertion that it had not done enough to bring Osama bin Laden to justice, saying there is now "total mistrust" between the United States and Pakistan.

 A senior Pakistani intelligence official was reacting to reports that Panetta had told House members Tuesday that Pakistan's role in determining bin Laden's whereabouts was troubling.

 According to two sources in a closed door briefing, Panetta told lawmakers "either they were involved or incompetent. Neither place is a good place to be." ::snipping2::

http://www.wfsb.com/osama-bin-laden/news/27769316/detail.html

above bolded by me ... I do not doubt it either.  I just want to see half of his head blown off...not because I need proof, I just want to see it  ::MonkeyHaHa::

I think Lied is a pretty strong word to use in this context.  I really believe that its possible to view something in real time..yet not get all the facts until all the Seals are debriefed.  Some of the women in the compound did shield the men, some of the members living there were armed..it is possible that Osama had a rifle right beside him..and was getting ready to use..ie grabbing for it..when he was taken out..I personally don't think anyone lied..I think if I was in that situation and their was a gun there by him..I would consider him armed and wouldn't wait to shoot him until he had it in his hands...but that's just me.  Especially if I had fought my way to the third floor...and taking him dead is better then alive.  That's all we needed a living martyr in GITMO..there are enough of them there already.

And all compassion to Natalie's family...this is the USA ..not Aruba and to compare the two in my mind is apples and oranges.  Our government is not dependent on tourist to keep us in business....we don't need to distort things to that degree.  I think simply someone misspoke and I think when the dust settles everyone will see no one was lying.

 ::MonkeyHaHa::

Blonde I'm sure you will get your proof.  I don't need to see the video of him being shot.  A picture is good enough.  I don't want to see a video if it means it will jeopardize our troops.

Our government is being careful.  This is all still fresh and I'm sure they don't want to release too much information.

President Obama will not release Osama Bin Laden death photos: report

BY Lukas I. Alpert
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Originally Published:Wednesday, May 4th 2011, 1:35 PM
Updated: Wednesday, May 4th 2011, 1:59 PM

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2011/05/04/2011-05-04_president_obama_will_not_release_osama_bin_laden_death_photos_report.html#ixzz1LPTmsxP8

President Obama decided Wednesday not to release "gruesome" death photos of Osama Bin Laden with a gaping gunshot wound through his forehead.

Obama said he had made the decision not to make the graphic images public in an interview with CBS' "60 Minutes" taped Wednesday.


 ::snipping2::

I think the proof is in the fact that  the whole US government would not lie about one incident involving Osama.  If he were not dead he would have been on Al Jezera  (spelling?)by now showing his face and his gun and saying the Infidels did not get me..he would not miss that opportunity..if he were alive..which he isn't.

Osama Bin Laden Pronounced Dead… For the Ninth Time
                    

When Obama pronounced Osama Bin Laden dead in a televised announcement heard round the world last night, he was at least the ninth major head of state or high-ranking government official to have done so.

Given Bin Laden’s documented kidney problems and consequent need for dialysis, government officials, heads of state and counterterrorism experts have repeatedly opined that Osama Bin Laden has in fact been dead for some time. These assertions are based on Bin Laden’s failing health in late 2001 and visible signs of his deteriorating condition, as well as actual reports of his death from the same time frame.

In July of 2001, Osama Bin Laden was flown to the American Hospital in Dubai for kidney treatment. According to French intelligence sources, he was there met by the local CIA attache. When the agent bragged about his encounter to friends later, he was promptly recalled to Washington.

On the eve of September 11, Osama Bin Laden was staying in a Pakistani military hospital under the watchful eye of Pakistan’s ISI, the Pakistani equivalent of the CIA with deep ties to the American intelligence community.
http://www.infowars.com/osama-bin-laden-pronounced-dead…-for-the-ninth-time/

Osama Bin Laden’s daughter claimed her father was captured alive by US forces and then later executed in front of her.

Al-Arabiya, citing Pakistani security officials, reported that the 12-year-old daughter of Bin Laden saw her father executed after capture and drug aboard a helicopter.

The official allegedly rejected any notion a firefight took place.

“Not a single bullet was fired from the compound at the US forces and their choppers. Their chopper developed some technical fault and crashed and the wreckage was left on the spot,” the official told Al-Arabiya.
 ::snipping2::

Security officials apparently did not recover any arms or explosives following an all-encompassing search of the compound. They did however remove two buffalos, a cow and roughly 150 chickens in addition to computer hard drives, DVDs and an array of documents.

According to the Pentagon it was also in the plan for the US forces to remove and take Bin Laden’s family with them when they left the compound. But, the failure of one of the helicopters forced them to scrub that part of the plan.

The mix of stories and lack of tangible evidence of what actually occurred has left many angry and confused. ::snipping2::

http://rt.com/usa/news/bin-laden-captured-alive-executed/



http://rt.com/usa/news/bin-laden-captured-alive-executed/

(http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b104/Blondeonahd/In%20the%20News/ob.jpg)

FWIW, I don't think providing images to the public would change anything, because it would be said they were photoshopped or somehow altered.  I understand there was facial recognician software used to  identify him after his death and it was reported DNA was taken and confirmed to be OBL's.

Mr President we can't see a picture  of a dead Bin Laden but it was okay to watch our people holding hands and jumping to their deaths on September 11th How Sad ::MonkeyNoNo::

 I heard on Fox News at 6:00 am it was a retina scan. How did they get if from him in the first place to compare it

Sorry I don't want to act like a B*tch but I need more

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/navy-seals-return-united-states-killing-osama-bin/story?id=13525344
Video
Navy SEALs Who Captured, Killed Osama Bin Laden Return to United States
May 4, 2011

The elite Navy SEAL fighters responsible for capturing and killing Osama bin Laden returned to the United States today. Before their return, a trove of information seized by the SEALS arrived at a FBI laboratory.
 ::snipping2::
A trove of information seized in the 40-minute raid that left bin Laden dead arrived at an FBI laboratory in Quantico, Va., between Monday night and Tuesday, sources told ABC News. At least five computers, 10 hard drives and more than 100 digital media items, including disks, DVDs and thumb drives, traveled more than 7,000 miles to the FBI facility.

In addition to the digital media and paper documents, the Navy SEALs also took guns and a number of other items from the Abbottabad, Pakistan, compound. Those guns have been checked for fingerprints, which will be run through a huge intelligence database that culls fingerprints from terrorist safe houses and the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan.
 ::snipping2::
Bin Laden appeared to be ready to run at any time with money and phone numbers stitched into his clothes when the SEALs found him on an upper floor of his compound.

Bin Laden's clothing had 500 euros and two phone numbers sewn into it, sources told ABC News. Analysts are tracing those phone numbers and going through each computer seized, running keyword searches using words like "explosives" or "weddings." Weddings is a word often used by al Qaeda to signify a bombing.
 ::snipping2::
White House spokesman Jay Carney reaffirmed that the murder of an unarmed bin Laden was lawful.

"The team had the authority to kill Osama bin Laden unless he offered to surrender, in which case the team was required to accept his surrender if the team could do so safely. The operation was conducted in a manner fully consistent with the laws of war," said Carney at a press conference today
 ::snipping2::

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/top-secret-stealth-helicopter-program-revealed-osama-bin/story?id=13530693
Top Secret Stealth Helicopter Program Revealed in Osama Bin Laden Raid: Experts
May 4, 2011

Before an elite team of U.S. Navy SEALs executed a daring raid that took down Osama bin Laden, the commandos were able to silently sneak up on their elusive target thanks to what aviation analysts said were top secret, never-before-seen stealth-modified helicopters.

In the course of the operation that cost the al Qaeda leader his life, one of the two Blackhawk helicopters that carried the SEALs into bin Laden's Pakistani compound grazed one of the compound's wall and was forced to make a hard landing. With the chopper inoperable, at the end of the mission the SEALs destroyed it with explosives.
 ::snipping2::

He is dead, they did not remove animals and leave guns..the angry and confused people this article references are the Pakistani's that gave him a "funeral" of sorts toda, as happened in other parts of the Mid East..the terrorist world is angry and confused..not the rest of us.

Retina scans were done, DNA was compared, visual recognition was completed..his daughter and wife saw him die..he's done..stick a fork in him..if you can find him at the bottom of the North Arbian Sea.

A picture says nothing..either you believe your President, the Seals, the CIA, the FBI, the Head of Homeland Security, the Secretary of State, congressional leaders ..or you don't..a photo would not change that..there are already dozens out there that are photshopped.  So..either you take theri word or you don't...and that's about as good as it gets. 

And might I ask why would the whole American government suddenly decide to lie to us..what would be the purpose of that..this is silly..I won't discuss this anylonger.

Apparently the tail section of the compromised helicopter was left intact where much of the stealth technology is located. Pakistan now has control of the tail section along with custody of OBL's wife. I wish we had both! I would think the wife could be a wealth of information and I'm fearful that our enemies might benefit from what they could learn from the chopper section.

  Gezzz CNN said the Navy Seals touch and  destroyed it they even showed a picture of it so that couldn't happen

Retina scans were done, DNA was compared, visual recognition was completed..his daughter and wife saw him die..he's done..stick a fork in him..if you can find him at the bottom of the North Arbian Sea. ::MonkeyHaHa::

Photos from the Bin Laden Compound
(http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b104/Blondeonahd/Fun%20stuff/Braking%20News%20%20etc/1asi042.gif)
graphic
http://www.reuters.com/subjects/bin-laden-compound

Well, we should have gone back and finished blowing the helicopter up. Pakistan is not our friend -- one well placed nuclear bomb woud have sufficed nicely.

I'm not going to try and out guess or speculate on why they didn't make sure everything was destroyed but maybe because they wanted to get the hell out of there.  Sounds like they were able to obtain tons of computer information. 

I trust and applaud the job our Navy Seals did.  They are heroes in my book.

I think these pics were released to assure Al Qaeda that OBL is indeed dead. His followers would know and recognize his son, his right hand couriers and where he was staying. JMO

Klaas ITA about getting out of there quick, especially since they entered without Pakistan's permission and the compound neighbors were all ready tweeting.

I think it was remarkable that this unit of Seals accomplished what they did, in the amount of time and only 5 people killed (specific targets, with the exception of 1 women caught in the crossfire), given there were an estimated 3 dozen living in the house, including 23 children.

Well if FoxNews said it then it must be true, LOL  ::MonkeyHaHa::

Seriously, I watch FoxNews every day but I believe about 30% of what they say.   ::MonkeyCool::

I believe about 30% of what any news station says.

thanks for all the articles..
I feel that Pakistan knew the Bin Laden was there...we need to stop sending them money...

I think they did what they were suppose to do and my hats off to them. It does sound like they got lots of computer information for sure. They are really are true heroes.

I think that's how a lot of people see it Cookie. That money could be well spent here in the US.

My comment in no way was trying denigrate our heroes!!! I totally agree with your assessment!! But, I also agree with the comments that Pakistan totally knew he was there and were protecting him.  ::MonkeyCool::

Right Klaas......... I should have included that US intelligience did not realize that the tail section had not been destroyed until they saw pictures taken the day after by Palestinian sources. They had OBL and a real hoard of info from the house and had accomplished their mission with no harm to any US personnell as they left. I'm sure they intended and expected that the entire chopper was gone. The fires we saw at the compound were supposedly from the chopper and I'm amazed any section survived. The Seals ARE heroes in my book as well!

I'm thinking that Pakistan should hand the tail back over to us and allow us to interrogate the wife.

Me Too, Wreck!!

I want to see the pictures of a dead OBL, but I get why the decision was made not to release them. Actually, I agree with that decision.

What I would like to see happen is a release of pictures just before he was shot. There was a real time video (still amazes me!) so pictures do exist of a live OBL in the house. I'd also like to see a White House invitation made to 911 families to come gather there to view the photos (or even the video!) if they want. Of course no electronic devices that could record anything would be allowed, but it seems appropriate to me that those people should be the keepers of the record for all of us.

JMO.

CBB I said the same thing last night to my nephew when I was talking to him last night. Gather the 911 families in a room and show them a picture from the video or even a picture of him dead.  This way there will be no questions whether or not he is dead.

Our News Media needs to take no for an answer and stop stirring the pot on whether or not his is dead.

They don't run the United States and we shouldn't bow to them just because they want the pictures.

They are causing a lot of trouble.

I agree that it would help the public to see a live OBL in the house before he was shot..that would satisfy me..great idea on that CBB ..never thought of that...
not sure that I agree that the 911 families should be privvy to see the video or the pictures of him dead..what about all the families of soldiers who have also lost their lives fighting this war? what about families of innocent victims over there who have also died because of OBL...so where does it stop of who should or should not view the photo/video or be keepers of the record for all of us? know what I mean? lots and lots of casualties of this ugly war

It's the least we can do for those directly impacted by the actions of this criminal. 

(http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b104/Blondeonahd/In%20the%20News/blackdown.jpg)

Black Hawk, Bin Laden DNA: Hot Trends
Written by: Theresa McCabe 05/05/11 - 7:46 AM EDT

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- "Black Hawk" is a trending search topic after aviation analysts said the aircraft that the team of Navy SEALs, who killed Osama Bin Laden, blew up a stealth Black Hawk helicopter.

The elite military team was forced to blow up its damaged helicopter before it left the Bin Laden compound in Pakistan on Sunday night to make sure no one would be able to collect or examine or reconstruct the secret chopper. ::snipping2::

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan's army ordered a reduction in U.S. military personnel operating inside the country on Thursday in apparent protest at a unilateral American commando raid that killed Osama bin Laden. ::snipping2:: ::MonkeyHaHa::

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2011-05-05-pakistan-us-personnel_n.htm



I hope we stop giving them money

me too..part of me is hoping that we withdraw from the whole middle East and let them fight their own battles..we will not win ...they have their own way of believing and living and they don't want us to be there...not sure what the best thing to do would be..I try to stay out of politics since I don't know all the facts....God bless America!

Sources: Bin Laden Acted 'Cowardly,' Confused in Final Moments
 Sources involved in the operation that took down Usama bin Laden told Fox News the terrorist leader acted "scared" and "completely confused" in his final moments, "shoving his wife" at the Navy SEAL who ultimately shot him.

 The information helps clarify the conflicting details about what exactly happened toward the end of the 40-minute raid on bin Laden's northern Pakistan compound. Sources who were part of the mission said bin Laden acted in a "cowardly manner" when confronted. Fox News has also learned that while bin Laden was unarmed, he was standing near the door within reach of two weapons -- an AK-47 and a Makarov handgun that are now in U.S. custody. The handgun is a 9mm semi-automatic Russian pistol, standard issue in the Russian military until 1991.

 A senior U.S. official also told Fox News that only one of the five people killed in the raid was carrying a weapon and firing. The detail seemed at first to diverge from White House accounts claiming the Navy SEALs encountered resistance throughout the raid and were engaged in a firefight during much of the 40-minute operation. However, the scene was described as chaotic, with U.S. forces encountering barricades and women in the compound screaming and attacking the men.

 Another U.S. official said there were "at least a half-dozen weapons" found at the compound. The first person the SEALs encountered at the guest house "immediately opened fire" before being killed, the official said. As the SEALs moved through the compound, bin Laden's son Khaled rushed down from the third floor to the second floor and confronted the SEALs, who killed him. ::snipping2::

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/05/05/official-1-killed-bin-laden-raid-armed-firing/#ixzz1LWEhLJ1G

 ::MonkeyCool::

CIA spied on bin Laden from safe house

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/cia-spied-on-bin-laden-from-safe-house/2011/05/05/AFXbG31F_story.html?hpid=z1

By Greg Miller, Thursday, May 5, 7:56 PM

The CIA maintained a safe house in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad for a small team of spies who conducted extensive surveillance over a period of months on the compound where Osama bin Laden was killed by U.S. Special Operations forces this week, U.S. officials said.

The secret CIA facility was used as a base of operations for one of the most delicate human intelligence gathering missions in recent CIA history, one that relied on Pakistani informants and other sources to help assemble a “pattern of life” portrait of the occupants and daily activities at the fortified compound where bin Laden was found, the officials said.

 ::snipping2::

No kidding!! I honestly think they're just stirring things because they feel entitled to the pictures!  ::MonkeyNoNo::

I'm sorry, but I do we think we are entitled to the pictures. We (the people of this country) have endured 10 years of fear, a radical change of security, and BILLIONS of dollars spent combatting terrorism. 9/11 was the root cause of our world wide failed economy. The fact that the radical Muslim world still hates us and don't believe or respect us is plenty reason for me to think we need to PROVE to the world we are not to be trifled with. I don't give a damn if people think we are insensitive. I think we need to install FEAR of the USA in all who thinks we will stand-by and let the world walk all over us.

http://www.kvue.com/home/Pakistan-official-Bin-Laden-was-cash-strapped-121376884.html
Pakistan official: Bin Laden was 'cash strapped'
May 6, 2011

ISLAMABAD (AP) -- A senior Pakistani intelligence official says Osama bin Laden was "cash strapped" in his final days and that al-Qaida had split into two factions, with the larger one controlled by the group's No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahri.
 ::snipping2::
The official didn't provide details or elaborate how his agency made the conclusions about bin Laden.
 ::snipping2::
The image of Pakistan's intelligence agency has been battered in the wake of Monday's U.S. commando raid that killed bin Laden. Portraying him as isolated and weak may be aimed at trying to deflect attention from that.

Do I think I need to see the pictures no not really. Do I want to see the pictures you bet I do. For all the reasons you stated Wreck.  Our country has changed because of OBL and not for the better IMO.  You are right they hate us and whether we see the pictures or not they are going to continue to hate us.  So let We The People get some closer and satisfaction and see the pictures.  Why do we care if it upsets them. They had no qualms about showing the world any pictures of our people being killed.  To me it's putting our tails between on legs and cowering in fear that they will get mad. I am with you Wreck I don't give a damn what they think or feel.

Pakistan arrests dozens in connection with bin Laden compound Sure they are
Pakistani Police guard the sealed main gate of the bin Laden compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan on Tuesday, May 3, 2011.
 

Dozens of people in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad have been arrested because of their suspected connections to the compound where Osama bin Laden was shot and killed, a Pakistani intelligence official said Friday.

Some of the individuals were arrested around the compound and investigators still need to determine if any of the people arrested have any connection with al Qaeda.

This story is developing. We'll bring you the latest information as soon as we get it.


http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/05/06/pakistan-arrests-dozens-in-connection-with-bin-laden-compound/

Al-Qaida Confirms Osama bin Laden's Death
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzvo73A6FwE

(http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b104/Blondeonahd/In%20the%20News/050611_REVENGE_20110506_123934.jpg)

Protesters burn tires Friday at a rally organized by the Jamrat-E-Islami party in Abbottabad, Pakistan, to condemn the U.S raid
CNN

I don't need to see the pictures, nor do I want to see the pictures.  I know that he is dead..and that's all I need..not a display of pictures.  Vietnam was the "Heads On Stakes" era..and thank God we have outgrown that kind of mentality.

If those pictures incite an incident in just one country where one of our soldiers is hurt or killed..what will your answer be?  How dare you state we are cowards..just because you cannot have your damned picture.  The world view of the USA is anything but cowardly..believe me they know what we stand for..and stooping to level of the Al Qaeda animals is not what we stand for..we stand for respect and dignity and honor.  There is nothing honorable about inciting fringe groups so you can see a damn picture.  How dare you state we are running away with our tail between our legs.  You really need an education ..maybe you should go to Afghanistan for a month..see what it's like.  Maybe apply to be a Seal..your whining would get you tossed on your ass in a minute.  This isn't some TV drama..damit this is real life and there are real soldiers out there risking their lives so you can have the freedom to sit here and pout over  not having a picture of a dead man .   We are not ghouls...we are supoosed to have some decorum other then acting like the animals that we have to take out inorder to protect our freedoms.

I have a cousin who just retired from the Navy..and yes in VA on Wednesday..after 27 years, 4 months and 4 days of service.  He was due his retirement long before this..but he stayed in to see a mission completed..and by God it was.  Exactly what missions for the free world have you completed lately..other then typing at a damn keyboard and whining like a spoiled brat? He did his part..while you sit here and type your frigging butts off he was in daily battles for his life. For your life..so you could sit here and complain about a picture...I think you need to read what you wrote and then think again about what the military goes through every day in this country..so you have the pleasure of calling us cowards.

Maybe now the people who couldn't beleive their President, The Seals, The US Congress, The President of Pakistan, etc..will believe it because the Al Qaeda scum believe it..

I don't know if you are ranting at me or greeneyes or both -- but, I stand by my opinion (and greeneyes' as well). How dare you question my sincerety, my OWN opinion, my love for this country or respect for our servicemen! Besides, Greeneyes did not call our servicemen "cowards" -- she said we SHOULD NOT act like cowards by caving in to the desires of our enemies. She is begging the President to change his mind before we APPEAR to give in to them................AND I AGREE!

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/06/us-binladen-obama-idUSTRE7455FG20110506?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews
Obama at U.S. base to pay tribute to bin Laden mission
May 6, 2011

 ::snipping2::
Obama's visit, just a day after attending a somber wreath-laying ceremony at Ground Zero of the September 11, 2001, attacks in New York, came as questions continued piling up about initial U.S. accounts of the airborne assault on the compound where bin Laden had been hiding.

 ::snipping2::

But most Americans regard the secretive special unit that killed bin Laden -- the mastermind of the 2001 hijack-plane attacks on the United States -- as national heroes, and Obama came to thank some of them personally.

The strike team included Navy SEAL commandos who underwent weeks of intensive training for the nighttime assault on bin Laden's high-walled compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

Fort Campbell is home to the Army's 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, a unit nicknamed the "Night Stalkers" and whose helicopter pilots were reported to have flown the mission.

Though Obama planned to address soldiers recently returned from combat tours in Afghanistan, his meeting with special forces was to be held privately because of the covert nature of their work.

The president met Vice Admiral William McRaven, thought to be the man in overall command of the raid, at the White House on Wednesday.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/07/world/africa/07egypt.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
Cairo Protesters Decry Bin Laden Killing
May 6, 2011

CAIRO — About 200 demonstrators gathered outside the United States Embassy here Friday to protest the killing and burial at sea of Osama bin Laden as manifestations of what they called American hostility to Muslims.
 ::snipping2::

I do know what I wrote. I am not saying either opinions are right or wrong. I am stating my opinion. I do know what our military goes thru believe or not. My husband served in the military and served his country proudly. Yes I do have experience with the death war brings.  I was not calling our service men and women cowards far from it. I am calling out political leaders cowards. But that's another matter.  Yes I agree I don't need to see the picture of OBL to know he is dead. I knew that when it was announced. I said I wanted to see the slime ball that killed so many of our citizens and service men.  Yes for my own satisfaction I wanted too.  But never said our military men and women were cowards.

All the Pres. had to say was OBL has been taken out by special ops. No details given Simple and to the point we got our man.  This is all my opinion and nothing more just as you have your opinion. It doesn't make either one right or wrong. But I really don't think I need more education on the matter. I have lived it first hand Thank You.

President
Bin Laden Killing: How the White House, Pentagon and CIA Botched the Storyline

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/05/06/bin-laden-killing-white-house-pentagon-cia-botched-storyline/#ixzz1LbjyG4cP
From the very first moment the world learned that American forces had killed Al Qaeda leader Usama bin Laden, even the tiniest details from the momentous event have captivated the nation. Every single nugget of data has been the stuff of breaking news, handheld "alerts" and watercooler discussion, in a way the country has never previously witnessed.

No landmark event of the 20th century, from World Wars I and II to the Cuban missile crisis, from the moon landing to the fall of the Soviet Union – not even the attacks of September 11, 2001 -- have been as widely transmitted, reported on, written about, and talked about by as many people, across so many different platforms of communication, as the killing of bin Laden. Within days, it has become a singular event of the Information Age.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/05/06/bin-laden-killing-white-house-pentagon-cia-botched-storyline/#ixzz1LbkVKHAv
 ::snipping2::


The true irony is: From the first moments, a good number of the details about bin Laden's killing, on points large and small, have been wrong.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/president-obama-tells-seals-killed-osama-bin-laden/story?id=13543148
Video
President Obama Tells SEALs Who Killed Osama Bin Laden 'Job Well Done'
May 6, 201

President Obama flew to Fort Campbell, Ky., today where he privately thanked the Navy SEALs who cornered and killed master terrorist Osama bin Laden and told them "job well done."

The president congratulated the elite Team 6 squad on the same day that bin Laden's terror network al Qaeda admitted that their leader was dead. Al Qaeda vowed that it would try to make America pay for his death.

Obama, who met with 9/11 families and New York City firefighters at Ground Zero Thursday, met privately with the SEALs and members of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, the helicopter pilots known as "Night Stalkers" who flew the mission in Pakistan. One battalion of Night Stalkers is headquartered at Fort Campbell, home to the Army's most deployed continegency forces.

Obama recognized the full assault force with the Presidential Unit Citation, the highest such honor that can be given to a unit. Obama said they represented "the finest small fighting force in the history of the world."
More...

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/05/06/al-qaeda-confirms-bin-ladens-death-islamist-websites/
Video
Al Qaeda Confirms Bin Laden's Death on Islamist Websites
May 6, 2011

CAIRO -- Al Qaeda confirmed the killing of Usama bin Laden and vowed revenge, saying Friday that Americans' "happiness will turn to sadness." The statement was the first by the terror network since its leader was slain in a U.S. commando raid against his Pakistani hideout.

The statement, written in typical Al Qaeda style and in the name of the organization's General Command, seemed mostly intended to reassure followers that the terror group remains vigorous and intact.

The statement was dated Tuesday, the day after bin Laden's death. Its authenticity could not be independently confirmed, but it was posted on militant websites Friday by the al-Fajr Center, Al Qaeda's online media distribution network.
 ::snipping2::

http://www.myfoxhouston.com/dpps/news/navy-seals-used-state-of-the-art-military-technology-dpgonc-km-20110505_13076030?obref=obinsite
Navy SEALs Used State-Of-The-Art Military Technology
May 6, 2011

NewsCore) - The Navy SEALs tasked with killing Usama bin Laden employed state-of-the-art military technology to help them achieve the most important counterterrorism mission in US history, FOXNews.com reported Thursday.

From the custom stealth helicopters used to deliver them to the terror chief's lair at Abbottabad, in Pakistan, to the hyperspectral image processing that allowed them to "see in the dark" once they were inside bin Laden's compound, the elite fighting force had access to the best in high-tech weaponry.
More...

http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2011-05/secret-stealth-helicopters-ferried-troops-obl-kill-operation
The Helicopter That Crashed in the Bin Laden Raid Was a Secret Stealth Helicopter
May 3, 2011

It’s not uncommon for U.S. military forces to destroy an aircraft downed in a foreign land, but U.S. Special Forces had particular cause to blow up the ill-fated helo that participated in Sunday’s raid on Osama Bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan. Apparently, it was a secret stealth helicopter, the design of which U.S. military commanders would not be keen to share with the Pakistanis or anyone else.
 ::snipping2::
The special ops team succeeded in destroying the critical technology, though the tailboom survived (it ended up outside the compound wall). It’s from this that many journalists and defense wonks were trying--with much trouble--to identify the downed aircraft.
 ::snipping2::

Your words stand for themselves..and I can question them..just like you can question MINE. 

I asked only one question..Interestingly enough you never stated how you will feel :
"If those pictures incite an incident in just one country where one of our soldiers is hurt or killed..what will your answer be?  "

"Cowering" ..brings on the picture of a coward...does it not?  "Tail between our legs"..brings on the description of a whipped dog.

How dare you..sitting at your friggin computer try to twist words that are here for anyone to view.  How dare you..hiding behind a screen name say that our government, their agents, our men in the military are cowards..because you can't see a picture of a man with a bullet through his head..you friggin ghoul.

You are worthless to this democracy if all you believe in is your own rights..and not the rights of others.  Men fighting so you can have your friggin opinions in the open don't need anymore firestorms in the Middle East..and this situation if pushed in the wrong direction....will do just that.  Have you ever heard of the expression this isn't just about you..this is about something bigger then just you and your demands for a friggin death picture.  The relatives of 9/11 victims are happy..the relatives of our military are happy..so what the f is your friggin beef? 

So I don't agree with you..you don't agree with me..but you'll yell for a friggin pic of a terrorist a bullet through their head, rather then admit that maybe we got the guy..maybe that's enough..maybe that helped many people in NYC 9/11 and in the military throughout the world say.."yeah..we got him"  It's good enough for them..I need to know why in the f it isn't enough for you?  Why you would want to tip a situation that ain't that great against us..when you have no more to gain then a gander at a picture?

But hell..all you did was rant..you didn't address my issues..you just ranted..rant on my friend..I can see you are not in harms way..nor have never been .nor known anyone who has ever been..good for you.

God bless America!
God bless all our monkey friends who love their country...

I am glad that he is dead too

Thanks Muffy..that 's what I wanted to see here..thank you!

Klaas..your mom is beautiful!

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/05/07/bin-laden-home-videos-released-public/

Bin Laden Home Videos May Be Released to Public

Published May 07, 2011

| Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- Americans are expected to get a glimpse of Usama bin Laden's daily life with the disclosure of home videos that show him strolling around his secret compound, along with propaganda tapes that have never been made public.

The footage shot at the terror leader's hideout in Abbottabad, Pakistan, and the propaganda tapes are expected to be released to the news media Saturday, U.S. officials said.

They are among the wealth of information collected during the U.S. raid that killed bin Laden and four others. The information suggests bin Laden played a strong role in planning and directing attacks by Al Qaeda and its affiliates in Yemen and Somalia, two senior officials said.

 ::snipping2::

Thanks Cookie - she was beautiful and a great mom!

May 6, 2011 1:18 PM

Source: 2.7 terabytes of data recovered from bin Laden compound

A law enforcement source tells CBS News that 2.7 terabytes of data were recovered from the laptops, computers, hard drives and other storage devices seized from the bin Laden compound. It's unclear whether all of the 2.7 terabytes are original files or if there are multiple copies of files. To put the amount of data recovered in perspective, just one terabyte of data could hold about 2,000 hours of audio or 220 million pages of text.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-31727_162-20060493-10391695.html

 ::snipping2::

That's a lot of information  ::MonkeyShocked::

"Natural Viagra" Found at Bin Laden Compound

http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/blogs/us-world/

Blonde - beautiful photo of your mom too!  I love the old photos. 

beautiful Moms!
I guess that I am pretty lucky to still have my mom..and my Mother in law who will be 90 in November...

Will love to read/see the info on Bin Laden who has been such an enigma for all of these years. will be an interesting read I bet...

looking at the photos of Moms...first thing I thought, how beautiful they were..naturally beautiful without all the things that we have today to enhance our looks..
sorry to be o/t but it is almost Mothers Day and these women in the photos are beautiful! my mom is/was too...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/07/osama-bin-laden-compound-videos
Osama bin Laden compound videos released by Pentagon
The home movies of the al-Qaida leader in Abbottabad were among material seized following the US raid
May 7, 2011

Video footage of Osama bin Laden shot at the terror leader's hideout in Abbottabad, Pakistan, along with propaganda tapes, have been released by the Pentagon.

The home videos were among material seized following the raid by US troops last week in which Bin Laden was shot dead.

The material suggests he played a strong role in planning and directing attacks by al-Qaida and its associates in Yemen and Somalia, two senior US officials said.

It also suggests that Bin Laden was much more involved in directing the terror group's personnel and operations over the past decade than some analysts had previously thought.
 ::snipping2::
One of Bin Laden's wives, Amal Ahmed Abdulfattah, has told Pakistani security officials that he may have lived in the country for more than seven years before his discovery.

She told investigators that Bin Laden had stayed in a nearby village before moving to the garrison town of Abbottabad.
 ::snipping2::

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/05/07/pakistan.bin.laden.intelligence/?hpt=T1&eref=rss_politics
Video
May 7, 2011

 ::snipping2::
ntelligence officials on Saturday unveiled five different videos of bin Laden that were confiscated from the raid by U.S. forces at his Pakistan compound, which left the al Qaeda leader and four others dead.

Officials say the new videos collected from the site in Abbottabad are a small slice of the haul considered to be the most significant amount of intelligence ever collected from a senior terrorist.

The video and other intelligence show that the slain al Qaeda leader was very much in control over the network's day-to-day operations, according to Pentagon officials briefing reporters.

The intelligence reveals that bin Laden and al Qaeda had a driving interest in taking on the United States and that the leader was involved in the details of plotting attacks.

The U.S. government edited and selected the snippets, and there is no audio to accompany the images. The lack of sound punctuates the chilling imagery and keeps bin Laden's words from being used as, officials say, militant propaganda.
 ::snipping2::
A senior intelligence official briefing reporters at the Pentagon said last week's raid by U.S. forces yielded a significant amount of intelligence, and that a special federal taskforce -- including members of the CIA and FBI -- is combing through the material.

The official also said the DNA evidence unquestionably shows that the person shot and killed in the Pakistan compound was bin Laden.

The intelligence officials said they are trying to determine what bin Laden's death means to the future of al Qaeda and are combing through intelligence to get clues on where other top al Qaeda leaders are.
 ::snipping2::

Osama bin Laden dead: trusted courier led US special forces to hideout
 The courier who led American special forces to Osama bin Laden’s hideout was an al-Qaeda computer expert who helped train the 9/11 hijack team, according to leaked US government files.
 was a Kuwaiti named Abu Ahmad.

 ::snipping2::

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/al-qaeda/8490886/Osama-bin-Laden-dead-trusted-courier-led-US-special-forces-to-hideout.html

(http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b104/Blondeonahd/In%20the%20News/untitled-7.jpg)
U.S. officials unveil videos of bin Laden
This is Osama Bin Laden watching TV

Showing the picture may indeed get a soldier shot in another country, but it most likey will serve to save thousands of others by discouraging terrorists from messing with us. That's the whole reason we have soldiers in these foreign lands to begin with.

(http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b104/Blondeonahd/In%20the%20News/untitled-8.jpg)

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/05/07/pakistan.bin.laden.intelligence/index.html?eref=rss_topstories&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_topstories+%28RSS%3A+Top+Stories%29&utm_content=My+Yahoo

isn't it creepy how any one of us could be under surveillance  like Bin Laden was and not even know about it?? your every movement that you think is private is really being watched?

I apologize -- I did not see the following posts.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503543_162-20060784-503543.html
Intel on OBL debunks ailing cave-dweller image
May 7, 2011

As the years went by with no capture of Osama bin Laden, a popular image developed of an ailing, out-of-touch eccentric living a harsh, spartan existence in the mountainous Afghan-Pakistan border region.
 ::snipping2::
But data from intelligence gathered in last Sunday's raid on bin Laden's Abbbottabad compound paints a picture of bin Laden as more active and engaged in al Qaeda's terrorist activities than the eccentric cave-dweller image would indicate.
 ::snipping2::
In one video, Bin Laden is seen looking old, draped in a blanket watching himself on TV. In others he is making taped messages to his followers and the U.S. He appears to be concerned about his image, his grey beard inked with black to look younger.

"The administration is trying to start a narrative offensive against al Qaeda," according to Juan Zarate, a CBS News security consultant and former deputy security advisor to President George W. Bush. The videos serve to "deconstruct the mythology" of bin Laden, Zarate said.
 ::snipping2::

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/bin-laden-videos-other-data-released-by-obama-administration/2011/05/07/AFb2qLJG_story.html
Bin Laden videos released by Obama administration
May 7, 2011

The Obama administration released a collection of videos Saturday of Osama bin Laden that were seized at the compound where he was killed, part of a vast collection of data that U.S. intelligence officials said show that bin Laden remained highly active in directing the terrorist group.
 ::snipping2::
The decision to release the footage — and the choice of which segments to share from a broader collection now in the possession of the CIA — appeared designed to provide new evidence that bin Laden was killed in the U.S. operation, and perhaps to present the al-Qaeda leader in settings that might embarrass him or at least minimize his mystique.

The videos are part of a broader library of recordings that “would only have been in his possession,” said the U.S. intelligence official, who described other segments as fumbling “outtakes” from a terrorist leader who was “very interested in his own image.”

The official disclosed few details about the contents of the more than 100 computers, drives and assorted digital storage devices recovered at the compound, except to say that they show a continued focus on planning attacks against the United States and other Western nations.
 ::snipping2::

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/meast/05/07/yemen.bin.laden.wife/
Exclusive: Bin Laden's young Yemeni bride was confident, conservative
May 7, 2011

 ::snipping2::
An al Qaeda figure in Yemen named Sheikh Rashed Mohammed Saeed Ismail said he arranged the marriage and told the Yemen Post in 2008 that he was "the matchmaker" and that al-Sadah was one of his students, describing her as "religious and pious enough."

Ismail, whose brother spent time as a detainee at Guantanamo Bay, accompanied the young bride-to-be to Afghanistan in July 2000, where she and bin Laden were married after he gave her family a $5,000 dowry.

The marriage was apparently a political alliance to shore up bin Laden's support in the land of his ancestors.

"I was told after they got married that Osama did not want to cut his ties with his ancestral home, Yemen," Ahmed said.
 ::snipping2::
The marriage was immediately fruitful, and al-Sadah and bin Laden gave birth to their first child, a daughter named Safiyah, in Kandahar, Afghanistan, in the weeks after 9/11.
 ::snipping2::
Ahmed asserted that al-Sadah and bin Laden also bore other children, but he couldn't provide details in his brief interview with CNN.

After 9/11, bin Laden told Pakistani journalist Hamid Mir that he had plans for his youngest daughter, Safiyah.

"I became a father of a girl after September 11," he said. "I named her after Safiyah who killed a Jewish spy at the time of the Prophet. (My daughter) will kill enemies of Islam like Safiyah."

In the aftermath of bin Laden's death, al-Sadah has told interrogators that for five years, she didn't venture outside the walled compound, according to a Pakistani military spokesman.

Al-Sadah, now 29, who was wounded in the raid, said she lived in the compound in Abbottabad with eight of bin Laden's children and five others from another family, Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas told CNN this week.

All of them have been in Pakistani custody since the pre-dawn U.S. commando raid Monday that killed bin Laden, and they will eventually be returned to their country of origin, Abbas said.

With five wives, bin Laden had a total of 20 children, and one of his adult sons was also reported killed in the commando assault.
 ::snipping2::

I went down a block the other day and saw something on a pole and I didn't know what it was so  I pointed to my nephew and said what is that.  He said that's a camera.  I was surprised to see it there on this particular block because it was a side block and I live in the suburbs .  In today's world we have lost our privacy.

All I can say is if anyone is watching me they must be bored to death.

That said, I'm thinking about getting a security camera to put in our driveway.  You can get a Linksys wireless one now (single camera) for under $120  ::MonkeyCool::

yeah..they would be bored watching me too..lol...

I do not know if this has been said because I have not read every page, but IMO Obama will allow the release the death photo WHEN it is to HIS advantage to do so....... we will eventually see it. ;)

 ::MonkeyCheer4::

Former Presidents reject Obama photo op at Ground Zero
Thursday, May 5, 2011 at 11:56 AM EDT

Why is President Obama headed to Ground Zero today? Is he genuinely trying to pay his respects, or is this just grandstanding and celebrating the death of UBL? Both Presidents Bush and Clinton turned down the invite to join Obama, and Glenn thinks they recognize this visit as a blatant grab at attention.

The topic came up when a caller suggested Bush should attend. The caller said, “I think of this as closure, Mr. Beck.  And George Bush should be there, too, because George Bush deserves a big portion of the credit because he got the planner and Obama got the figure head, okay?  And they should be standing together saying we’re bringing closure to 9/11.”

Glenn responded, “We stood together Sunday and Monday and, you know, we’re still together that killing Osama Bin Laden is a good thing.  He was brought to justice.  He received the ultimate penalty for doing that to the United States.  And I don’t think there’s very many Americans that disagree with that.  You can disagree with how it happened or what the aftermath is or whatever, but bringing him to justice. And you’re right.  This was the result of both George W. Bush and Barack Obama.”

But Glenn did disagree to an extent. “But listen to what you said at the beginning.  He should be there because he deserves the credit.  President Bush isn’t looking for the credit and our president of the United States now shouldn’t be looking for the credit.”
Glenn pointed out that Bill Clinton and George Bush both declined.  “Basically what both of them are saying is, this is a little crass and obscene, and you go ahead and have that there in New York today.  That’s my opinion.  I don’t know if anybody else feels this way but I think it’s crass,” Glenn said.




NOT snipped because I do not think Glenn's site is 'copyrighted....................please fix if I am wrong

http://www.glennbeck.com/2011/05/05/former-presidents-reject-obama-photo-op-at-ground-zero/

I have 4 for all parts of my house they come in handy i have always had them..

 ::snipping2::
Rice's comments come immediately after the New York Times published an article describing the Bush administration's handling of this intelligence in 2007, which is believed to have been the most credible intelligence prior to the mission that killed bin Laden Sunday. In 2007, the U.S. government reportedly obtained information that Osama bin Laden and other high ranking officials of Al Qaeda would be meeting in Tora Bora, the same region where allied forces bombed the mountainous terrain in 2001 in a failed attempt track down bin Laden. ::snipping2::

You can hook it up to your VCR and tape while your gone and know who was over  ::MonkeyCool::

I do that all the time one time, my neighbors house got broken into I had the car on tape snagged ::MonkeyCool::

Yeah we are seriously considering it.  Some friends of ours got a set at Costco for $230, added a couple cameras and now have 6 cameras all around their house.  They showed us on their TV but they can access from the internet as well.  It's gotten so cheap now.

Pakistani Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani is scheduled to "take the nation into confidence" in parliament on Monday, his first statement to the people more than a week after the attack on bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, 30 miles north of Islamabad, embarrassed the country and raised fears of a new rift between Islamabad and Washington.

 Suspicion has deepened that Pakistan's pervasive Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) spy agency, which has a long history of contacts with militant groups, may have had ties with the al Qaeda leader -- or that some of its agents did.

 Pakistan has dismissed such suggestions and says it has paid the highest price in human life and money supporting the U.S. war on militancy launched after bin Laden's followers staged the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

 Pakistan's ambassador to the United States, Husain Haqqani, told ABC's "This Week" his government would act on the results of the investigation.

 "And heads will roll, once the investigation has been completed. Now, if those heads are rolled on account of incompetence, we will share that information with you. And if, God forbid, somebody's complicity is discovered, there will be zero tolerance for that, as well."

 The ambassador said Pakistan had "many jihadi has-beens from the 1980s who are still alive and well and kicking, and some of them could have been helping them, but they are not in the state or government of Pakistan today." ::snipping2::

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/08/us-binladen-idUSTRE7410D320110508?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FtopNews+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Top+News%29



I call this BS he knew, just  took our money JMO  ::MonkeyCool::

friends of ours have this as well..he can see what is going on at his house at any time from his phone! it is amazing..they travel a lot so it gives them peace of mind..they have a camera out at their boat dock as well..in case any one messes with his boat...

Obama on bin Laden: The full "60 Minutes" interview
A riveting 30 minutes with President Barack Obama as he describes the weekend that made history

On Wednesday, May 4, 2011 - three days after he announced that American troops had killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan - President Barack Obama talked with "60 Minutes" correspondent Steve Kroft in the Roosevelt Room of the White House. Below is a transcript of that interview. The video of this interview is also available on this Web site. ::snipping2::

PRESIDENT OBAMA: There was a point before folks had left, before we had gotten everybody back on the helicopter and were flying back to base, where they said Geronimo has been killed. And Geronimo was the code name for bin Laden. And now obviously at that point these guys were operating in the dark with all kinds of stuff going on so everybody was cautious. But at that point cautiously optimistic. ::snipping2::



PRESIDENT OBAMA: As nervous as I was about this whole process, the one thing I didn't lose sleep over was the possibility of taking bin Laden out. Justice was done. And I think that anyone who would question that the perpetrator of mass murder on American soil didn't deserve what he got needs to have their head examined.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504803_162-20060530-10391709.html?tag=watchnow

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20061159-503544.html
White House: No one receiving reward money for finding Osama bin Laden
May 9, 2011

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said on Monday that no one would receive the federal government's $25 million reward money for finding Osama bin Laden because no one intentionally directed U.S. intelligence officials to the al Qaeda leader.

In a press briefing on Monday, Carney said "as far as I'm aware, no one knowledgeably said, 'Oh, Osama bin Laden's over here in Abbottabad at 5703, you know, Green Avenue.'"

Carney said that the reward isn't given if someone "accidentally" provides the necessary information through the intelligence gathering process.
 ::snipping2::
Reps. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) and Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) introduced legislation on Sunday proposing to direct the bounty to those directly affected by the attacks.

"If the bounty isn't paid, Osama bin Laden's victims should get it," Weiner said, according to Politico.

The money, Nadler added, "was allocated for 9/11 victims in effect, and this is simply, saying use it more effectively for the purpose that it was set up in the first place."

I don't think the victims of 911 should get the money.  These families were highly compensated and I know that for a fact.  Some of these families have squandered their money away.

I know it sounds disrespectful but that's how I feel.

I rather see the money go to the troops families.

San - you are closer to the 911 families than anyone I know.  I think going to the military families is a great idea.  It's entirely possible that money can only be used for that one purpose or it goes back into whatever fund it would have come out of.

San..I feel the same way..in fact, hubs and I were just talking about this over the weekend..I read some interesting comments in regards to the families of 911 getting money in the first place..Soldiers widows don't get compensated from the government the way that 911 victims families were..Korean war widows did not get compensated when their husbands were killed in the war..Not sure why the Government felt the need to give this money to the families of 911..the Government was not at fault for their deaths directly which would perhaps make them culpable in some respects..I read that the families of the 911 victims got on average 2.1 million dollars!
not to be disrespectful  either...but I just don't understand the rationale in it all..sorry if this offends others, but it is how I feel about it..

I know a woman whose husband died in 911 and she got a lot more money than 2.1 million dollars, from what she says and she has the homes and vehicles, boats to prove it..talking big bucks...

and in all my blabbing, I am in no way begrudging the families of 911 any of the money that they received..I guess my point is that the families of soldiers killed in battle do not get as big of a settlement as the 911 families got and I think that the soldiers families are also deserving ....that's all..

I agree with the White House in this case, that the federal government's 25 million dollars reward money should go to no one, "because no one intentionally directed U.S. intelligence officials to the al Qaeda leader."  http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20061159-503544.html

I think the money should be held as a reward for finding the terrorist next listed on the most wanted list, and/or possibly OBL's successor.  JMHO

Son says bin Laden sea burial demeans family: report
(http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b104/Blondeonahd/In%20the%20News/r3202448509.jpg)
Reuters – Omar Bin Laden during a January 2008 interview with Reuters in a Cairo suburb. REUTERS/Asmaa Waguih
– Tue May 10, 2:00 pm ET

LONDON (Reuters) – A statement purporting to come from a son of Osama bin Laden denounced the al Qaeda leader's killing as "criminal" and said his burial at sea had humiliated the family, an online monitoring service said.

The statement, attributed to Omar bin Laden, bin Laden's fourth eldest son, said the al Qaeda chief's children reserved the right to take legal action in the United States and internationally to "determine the true fate of our vanished father," the SITE Intelligence Group said.

There was no independent confirmation of the authenticity of the letter, published on the website of Islamist ideologue Abu Walid al-Masri, although several specialists on militant propaganda said the text appeared genuine.

Omar bin Laden, who has been based in the Gulf in recent years, did not immediately respond to emailed and telephoned requests for comment.

 ::snipping2::

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110510/wl_nm/us_binladen_son_statement

so sorry to post off topic. Trying to find help on posting a young girl missing in my area. any help will be greatly appreciated. Thank you, Madibabe

What is her name?

I totally agree!  ::MonkeyCool::

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/05/12/eveningnews/main20062410.shtml
SEAL helmet cams recorded entire bin Laden raid
May 12, 2011

(CBS News)

WASHINGTON - A new picture emerged Thursday of what really happened the night the Navy SEALs swooped in on Osama bin Laden's compound in Pakistan.

CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reports the 40 minutes it took to kill bin Laden and scoop his archives into garbage bags were all recorded by tiny helmet cameras worn by each of the 25 SEALs.
 ::snipping2::
The electronic files the SEALs carted away from bin Laden's compound contain -- among many things -- the names of terrorist operatives which until now were unknown to U.S. intelligence. The files also contain a small, 12-page journal of bin Laden's handwritten notes about launching a major attack against the United States. He instructed against using Arabs because they arouse too much suspicion, to go after trains and to time the attack to coincide with the 10th anniversary of September 11.
 ::snipping2::
U.S. officials cannot understand why bin Laden apparently left what amounts to the keys to his terrorist kingdom just lying around his compound in plain sight -- none of it rigged for self destruction.The killing of Osama bin Laden

Why didn't bin Laden protect his files? The best guess is he thought the United States would never find him.

http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/politics/2011/05/12/pentagon-boost-security-team-killed-bin-laden/
Pentagon to boost security for team that killed Bin Laden
May 12, 2011

Washington –  The elite military personnel who took part in the May 1 raid that resulted in the death of Osama bin Laden are to receive additional protection in light of al Qaeda threats to avenge the terrorist leader's death, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday.

He told Marines during a town hall at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, that members of Navy SEAL Team 6 expressed concerns about security, "and particularly with respect to their families," when he met with them last week.
 ::snipping2::

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/05/13/extensive-porn-stash-reportedly-bin-laden-compound/
Extensive Porn Stash Reportedly Found in Bin Laden Compound
May 13, 2011

A stash of pornography was found in the Pakistani compound of Usama bin Laden raided last week by Navy SEALs, U.S. officials tell Reuters.

The pornography taken from the compound consists of modern, electronically recorded video and is fairly extensive, officials said.
 ::snipping2::

i thought porn was against his beliefs/religion? hypocrite that he was..

Lawsuit Filed Over Bin Laden Death Photos
Group Says It's Being 'Irreparably Harmed' By Withholding Of Material
By Bill MearsCNN Supreme Court Producer

POSTED: 4:54 pm EDT May 13, 2011

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A conservative legal watchdog group has filed the first lawsuit seeking public release of video and photographs of the U.S. military raid and aftermath that left al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden dead. ::snipping2::

http://www.wfsb.com/osama-bin-laden/27888797/detail.html

Bin Laden was so confident he had the protection of the Pakistani Government and Army that he wouldn't need to protect his files.

He never imagined the United States would swoop in there and kill him in his own house.

I guess he guessed wrong.

They will lose.

http://articles.cnn.com/2011-05-13/us/pakistan.bin.laden.message_1_bin-audio-message-qaeda?_s=PM:US
Unreleased bin Laden audio message called 'puzzling'
May 13, 2011

If this article is genuine, then I dare him take "legal action" in this country. I'll buy tickets to that one!

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/pakistan-returns-stealth-us-chopper/story?id=13676083
Pakistan Returns Secret U.S. Helicopter Wreckage
May 24, 2011

The wreckage of the secret stealth helicopter that was abandoned by U.S. Navy SEALs during the mission to kill Osama bin Laden in Pakistan is back in U.S. government hands, a Pentagon official said today.

The Pakistani government, which has held on to the remains of what experts believed to a highly modified Blackhawk helicopter since the May 2 raid, returned "what's left of the whole thing" including a large tail section to U.S. officials over the weekend, said Col. Dave Lapan, a Pentagon spokesman. The helicopter is being held in an undisclosed location.
 ::snipping2::

http://www.myfoxdfw.com/dpps/news/diver-vows-to-find-bin-laden%27s-body-dpgonc-20110612_13648635
Diver Vows To Find bin Laden's Body
June 12, 2011

(NewsCore) - LOS ANGELES -- An eccentric California salvage diver was Sunday preparing a mission to the north Arabian Sea to recover Osama bin Laden's body as proof the al Qaeda leader really is dead.

Bill Warren, 59, has vowed to scour the sea bed to find the corpse and deliver photographic evidence that the terror leader was killed, the New York Post reported.

Warren, who has discovered more than 200 undersea wrecks, told the Post he was taking on the mission to expose the truth.

"I'm doing it because I am a patriotic American who wants to know the truth. I do it for the world," he said.

Bin Laden was killed in his hideout in Abbottabad, Pakistan in the early hours of May 2 in a precision raid by a team of US Navy SEALs who left with his body, which was later buried at sea.

Afterwards the White House said it would not release graphic images of bin Laden's corpse, but the CIA did later show the photographs to select US lawmakers.

Warren said he expected to spend about $400,000 on a two-week jaunt next month. He planned to rent a ship in India for $10,000 a day, and spend another $1,000 a day for a remote-operated submarine.
 ::snipping2::

(http://www.nypost.com/rw/nypost/2011/11/06/news/web_photos/bin_laden050757--480x180.jpg)


Real story of SEAL Team 6’s mission to kill bin Laden

By SUSANNAH CAHALAN
Last Updated: 9:16 AM, November 6, 2011
Posted: 1:01 AM, November 6, 2011

It was 1 a.m. on May 2 in Abbottabad, Pakistan, when Osama bin Laden felt his house shake.

The terror boss -- the man who had killed thousands and proudly masterminded the 9/11 attacks -- jumped from under his comfortable blankets in a panic and struggled through a sleepy haze to figure out what was going on.

He had a $25 million bounty on his head. But this compound -- with its stark, dirty rooms and grandmother’s-house odor -- had been a safe haven for years.

That was all about to end. The Navy SEALS had come for him.

“He had 90 seconds to live,” writes Chuck Pfarrer, a former SEAL Team Six commander in his new book, “Seal Target Geronimo,” which provides a never-before-seen look into the inner workings of the mission to take out Osama bin Laden.

The accounts in the book -- which differ from the official government version in many details -- come from the very SEALS who were on the mission, to whom Pfarrer had special access.

“This book is for the amazing guys who deserve better and the American people who deserve to know better,” the author, who claims he was involved in SEAL preparations leading up to the raid, told The Post.

 ::snipping2::
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/international/real_story_of_team_charge_IHMzMvBw4Q7l6reGL20etJ#ixzz1cwEPLaw9

http://www.khou.com/news/Killing-of-bin-Laden-voted-top-news-story-of-2011-135791848.html
Killing of bin Laden voted top news story of 2011
December 17, 2011

NEW YORK -- The killing of Osama bin Laden during a raid by Navy SEALs on his hideout in Pakistan was the top news story of 2011, followed by Japan’s earthquake/tsunami/meltdown disaster, according to The Associated Press’ annual poll of U.S. editors and news directors.

The death of bin Laden, the al-Qaida leader who masterminded the Sept. 11 terror attacks, received 128 first-place votes out of 247 ballots cast for the top 10 stories. The Japan disaster was next, with 60 first-place votes. Placing third were the Arab Spring uprisings that rocked North Africa and the Middle East, while the European Union’s financial turmoil was No. 4.

The international flavor of these top stories contrasted with last year’s voting - when the Gulf of Mexico oil spill was the top story, President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul was No. 2, and the U.S. midterm elections were No. 3.

Here are 2011’s top 10 stories, in order:
(Voted #1 of the top 10)
OSAMA BIN LADEN’S DEATH: He’d been the world’s most-wanted terrorist for nearly a decade, ever since a team of his al-Qaida followers carried out the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. In May, the long and often-frustrating manhunt ended with a nighttime assault by a helicopter-borne special operations squad on his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Bin Laden was shot dead by one of the raiders, and within hours his body was buried at sea.
More...

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/02/12/report-relative-says-bin-laden-wanted-kids-to-avoid-terrorism-move-to-west/?intcmp=trending
Report: Relative says bin Laden wanted kids to avoid terrorism, move to the West
February 12, 2012

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203960804577245653788951284.html
Bin Laden's House Demolished by Pakistan Authorities
February 25, 2012

Pakistan authorities on Saturday night demolished the three-story house in Abbottabad where Osama bin Laden lived for years and died last May during a raid by U.S. Navy SEALs in an apparent bid to stop it becoming a tourist site or shrine for al Qaeda supporters.

An Abbottabad resident said mechanized backhoes working under floodlight completed the demolition shortly before midnight.
After the raid that killed bin Laden, Pakistan was left with a choice of whether to demolish the house or to manage it as a tourist attraction.

By deciding to demolish it, Pakistan authorities have followed a course taken by Germany, which for years did not mark Adolf Hitler's bunker after his death to avoid it attracting neo-Nazis.
 ::snipping2::
The compound, which was largely hidden behind a large perimeter wall, was an embarrassment for the Pakistan government. It was located in an area of similar houses, bounded by fields of rice and other crops, only a few miles from Pakistan's premier military academy and in a garrison town thick with retired military personnel.

The location of the house raised questions among U.S. officials about how bin Laden was able to live there for five years without raising suspicions. Until now, however, the U.S. has stated it has found no evidence that Pakistan's military or government helped shelter the former al Qaeda leader.

Pakistan's military was humiliated by the unilateral U.S. raid on its territory, of which it was given no forewarning. The army's leaders perhaps also saw the house as an unwanted reminder of an event which hurt its image with many Pakistanis.
 ::snipping2::
In the end, the decision to demolish the house was likely taken by Pakistan's powerful Inter-Services Intelligence directorate military spy agency.

The house legally belonged to a Pakistani man who worked as bin Laden's courier and was killed along with his brother in the raid.

Local land records showed a man believed to be the courier purchased land for the house from four sellers for a total of around $50,000 in 2004 and 2005.

Local property dealers valued the compound, which included a three-story whitewashed house with a garden and a large connected area for grazing animals, at around $300,000.

Perhaps in the future, Pakistan officials will mark the site of the house with a plaque so it is not lost to history.
 ::snipping2::

http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/World/20120226/pakistan-demolishes-osama-bin-laden-abbottabad-compund-120226/
Pakistan halfway done razing Bin Laden compound
February 26, 2012

ABBOTTABAD, Pakistan — Pakistan was more than halfway done Sunday demolishing the three-story compound where Osama bin Laden was killed by U.S. commandos last May, erasing a concrete reminder of a painful and embarrassing chapter in the country's history.

Rings of police kept spectators and journalists away from the compound, which the government began tearing down Saturday night under powerful floodlights without providing prior notice. Three mechanized backhoes ripped into the building, according to an Associated Press reporter who was able to get close enough to see the work.
 ::snipping2::
Photos and Video at Link

http://www.kansascity.com/2012/02/22/3445923/pakistani-health-workers-punished.html
Pakistani health workers punished for helping US find bin Laden
By SAEED SHAH / McClatchy Newspapers
February 22, 2012

ISLAMABAD -- Seventeen local health workers have been fired for their part in a scheme that the CIA orchestrated in an effort to confirm that al-Qaida founder Osama bin Laden was hiding in a walled compound in the Pakistani town of Abbottabad, a health official in that town said Wednesday.

The low-ranking health department employees were punished for helping a Pakistani doctor, Shakil Afridi, undertake what turned out to be a fake vaccination campaign that the CIA hoped would obtain a DNA sample that would prove bin Laden's presence in the compound. The effort apparently failed, but U.S. Navy SEALs raided the compound on May 2 anyway, killing bin Laden.
 ::snipping2::

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/03/30/world/asia/pakistan-bin-laden-widow/?hpt=ias_c1
Widow tells how bin Laden lived on the run
March 31, 2012

slamabad, Pakistan (CNN) -- Osama bin Laden spent years on the run in Pakistan after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, moving from one safe house to another and fathering four children, at least one of whom was born in a government hospital, his youngest widow has told Pakistani investigators.

A deposition taken from the widow, identified by police as Amal Ahmed Abdul Fateh, gives the clearest picture yet of bin Laden's life while international forces hunted him.

"While we may never be able to corroborate every detail, generally speaking, bin Laden's wife's account seems plausible, and it confirms some previously held theories on where the al-Qaeda leader was hiding over the years," a U.S. official said about the widow's account.

The world's most wanted man remained free until U.S. Navy SEALs killed him during a raid on his compound in Abbottabad in May 2011.
 ::snipping2::
Video at Link

http://www.freep.com/article/20120401/NEWS07/120401004/Details-emerge-about-bin-Laden-s-other-children-residences?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|FRONTPAGE|s
Details emerge about bin Laden's other children, residences
April 1, 2012

http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/30/10945834-bin-laden-widow-denies-details-of-leaked-statements
Bin Laden widow denies details of leaked statements

Amal al Sadah, the youngest widow of Osama bin Laden, has denied information included in a confidential Pakistani document, listing details of her life with her late husband. The three-page document, obtained by NBC News, is divided into nine sections -- each one paraphrasing a statement or statements made by Amal to investigators while in Pakistani custody.

The contents of the document were first reported on Thursday by correspondent Azaz Syed of Pakistan's Dawn newspaper.

According to her brother, Zakaria al Sadah -- who spoke with her after the first report was published and asked her about its contents -- Amal denies ever having given any such statements to investigators, adding that most of the information included in the document is factually incorrect. The family's lawyer in Pakistan, Atif Ali Khan, clarified that while Amal might have spoken to various investigators during her time in custody, she denies having provided the level of detail in the document. Neither he nor Zakaria al Sadah would go into detail about which specific pieces of information were incorrect.
More...

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gkpAIuW_ZOH31Y_dxE47kNVjQhuw?docId=0562c9a3109140f7bb5d859d97b324a9
Bin Laden's relatives get short prison sentence
April 2, 2012

ISLAMABAD (AP) — A Pakistani court sentenced Osama bin Laden's three widows and two of his daughters to 45 days in prison on Monday for illegally living in the country, ordering them deported when the sentence ends, their lawyer said.

With credit for time served, the women and several of their other children will leave Pakistan later this month, said lawyer Mohammed Amir Khalil. They have been in detention since American commandos killed bin Laden in a large house in the Pakistani town of Abbottabad on May 2, but they were formally charged with immigration offenses only last month. The Americans left the women and children behind in the house after they flew off with bin Laden's corpse.

The women may have information about how bin Laden managed to remain undetected for close to 10 years after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in the U.S., despite being the subject of a massive international manhunt. The youngest, 30-year-old Yemeni wife Amal Ahmed Abdel-Fatah al-Sada, has told investigators bin Laden lived in five houses while on the run and fathered four children, two of whom were born in Pakistani government hospitals.
More...

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/04/13/world/asia/pakistan-bin-laden-widows/
Bin Laden's widows to be deported from Pakistan
April 13, 2012

Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN) -- Pakistan will deport the widows and children of terrorism mastermind Osama bin Laden to Saudi Arabia next week, their attorney said Friday.

Earlier this month, a Pakistani court sentenced the three widows -- two Saudis and a Yemeni -- and two of bin Laden's daughters to 45 days of house arrest for living illegally in the South Asian nation.

The court ordered that they be deported after their term, which began March 3 when they were formally arrested, was served, said lawyer Aamir Khalil.

The family members will take a special Saudi flight next Wednesday, Khalil said. He was not clear whether the Yemeni woman would remain in Saudi Arabia.

Pakistani authorities and lawmakers had no comment.

Yemen officially announced it would allow the Yemeni widow, Amal Ahmed Abdul Fateh, to return to her homeland. Her brother Zakaria Abdul Fateh told CNN the Yemeni Embassy in Islamabad was processing her paperwork and that she planned to go back to Sanaa next month.

CNN was not immediately able to reach Saudi authorities.

Saudi Arabia had previously been resistant to the return of the other two women -- Khairiah Sabar and Siham Sabar.

The wives and children have been in Pakistani custody since U.S. Navy SEALs raided bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad and killed the al Qaeda leader in May 2011.

The daughters are ages 17 and 21, Khalil said.

Since all five defendants confessed to impersonation, illegal entry into Pakistan and staying illegally in Pakistan, there was no need for a trial, said Khalil, who added that his clients would not appeal the "lenient" sentence.
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http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/04/17/11241273-pakistan-to-free-osama-bin-ladens-wives-children?lite&google_editors_picks=true
Pakistan to free Osama bin Laden's wives, children
April 17, 2012

ISLAMABAD -- Osama Bin Laden's three wives and their children will be released from imprisonment in Pakistan Tuesday, after completing a 45-day sentence for staying illegally in Pakistan.

"They will complete their sentence today and will be deported to Saudi Arabia after midnight," Aamir Khalil, lawyer for bin Laden's youngest wife Amal Ahmed Abdel-Fatah al-Sada, told NBC News in Islamabad Tuesday.

"Their travel documents have been completed by the Yemen and Saudi Embassies in Islamabad," he said.
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Videos at Link

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57416026/bureaucracy-keeps-bin-laden-family-in-pakistan-for-now/?google_editors_picks=true
Bureaucracy keeps bin Laden family in Pakistan for now
April 18, 2012

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/apr/27/images-osama-bin-laden-killing?newsfeed=true
Images of Osama bin Laden killing not to be released, judge orders
A US federal court has backed the Obama administration in refusing to release pictures or video from military operation
April 26, 2012

http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/pakistan-deports-bin-laden-family-20120427-1xoyu.html
Pakistan deports Bin Laden family
Masroor Gilani
April 27, 2012

Osama bin Laden's family have been deported from Pakistan to Saudi Arabia, nearly a year after the al-Qaeda leader was killed in a US raid.

They were flown out of Pakistan early Friday morning, according to officials.

The 9/11 mastermind's three widows and their children were detained by Pakistan after the Saudi citizen was killed on May 2 last year in a secret US Navy SEAL operation in the garrison town of Abbottabad, north of Islamabad.
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Pakistani authorities, who have already demolished the Abbottabad house, hope the deportation is the end of an extremely embarrassing episode.

After 10 months in detention, the widows and two of bin Laden's older daughters were sentenced by a Pakistani court to 45 days' detention on charges of illegal entry and residency in the country and ordered to be deported.

Around midnight on Thursday night a minibus collected the family members from the Islamabad house where they had served the sentence, which was completed 10 days ago.

The family were believed to number 12 - three widows, eight children and one grandchild - though an interior ministry spokesman said the orders covered the deportation of 14 bin Laden relatives.

They were taken to Islamabad airport to board a special flight to the Gulf kingdom. It took off shortly before 2am (0700 AEST) on Friday.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/pakistans-spy-agency-seeks-some-credit-for-bin-ladens-death/2012/04/27/gIQANaU7lT_story.html
Pakistan's spy agency seeks some credit for bin Laden's death
April 27, 2012

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pakistan’s premier spy service, stung by lingering suspicions that it was complicit in sheltering Osama bin Laden, said Friday that it deserves credit for helping U.S. intelligence officials locate the hideout where the al-Qaeda chief was killed by American commandos nearly a year ago.

“The lead and the information actually came from us,” a senior official with Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI) said in an interview, reviving a push for recognition ahead of the anniversary of the stealth raid in a town about 70 miles by road north of the capital, Islamabad.
Washington has cast serious doubt on the ISI claim — and frequently portrays the agency as a sponsor of Islamic extremists — but a renewed official embrace of the operation that eliminated bin Laden is revealing in itself.

Many Pakistani politicians have described the May 2 raid as an assault on Pakistan’s sovereignty and an example of U.S. arrogance. A Pakistani doctor who helped the CIA in the hunt for bin Laden remains in custody on charges of treason, and his associates are barred from working.

After U.S. helicopters swooped in to breach bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan’s army said it knew nothing about his six-year presence in the garrison town, site of Pakistan’s most prestigious military academy.

The ISI continues to maintain that stance. But recent claims by one of bin Laden’s widows that the fugitive al-Qaeda leader spent some nine years in Pakistan, living in several homes and fathering four children, have renewed questions about whether somebody in the powerful spy service knew of his whereabouts.
More...
Photo Gallery at Link

I don't agree with this headline.   Even though years have passed and the death of Osama Bin Laden, I still don't feel "closure" when it comes to 9/11.  Not by a long shot. JMHO


http://edition.cnn.com/2012/04/28/world/bin-laden-death-anniversary/
Bin Laden's death brought 9/11 'closure'
By Kyle Almond, CNN
April 28, 2012

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-17885477
Bin Laden widows welcomed in Saudi Arabia as 'not suspicious'
April 29, 2012

Saudi officials have said they have no suspicions about Osama Bin Laden's widows and children, who arrived in the kingdom late last week.

The three women and reportedly 11 children were deported from Pakistan last week.

A spokesman said the kingdom had acted out of "humanitarian considerations" in offering shelter to the group.

The group spent a year in Pakistani custody after Bin Laden was killed by US special forces in May last year.

"Saudi Arabia acted out of humanitarian considerations... in so far as there are no reports or evidence of any implication in criminal or illegal acts," the official Saudi Press Agency quoted a spokesman as saying, AFP news agency reports.
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http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/pentagon-releases-model-osama-bin-laden-hideout-plan-seal-raid-article-1.1079978
Pentagon unveils model of Osama bin Laden’s Pakistan hideout used to plan SEAL raid (PHOTOS)
Once-classified model on display in Pentagon's halls
By Philip Caulfield / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
May 17, 2012


Photos at Link

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/05/23/pakistani-doctor-who-helped-us-in-bin-laden-raid-sentenced-to-prison/
Pakistani doctor who helped US in bin Laden raid sentenced to prison
May 23, 2012

DEVELOPING -- A Pakistani doctor who helped the U.S. track down Usama bin Laden was convicted of high treason Wednesday and sentenced to 33 years in prison, officials said, a verdict that is likely to further strain the country's relationship with Washington.

Shakil Afridi ran a vaccination program for the CIA to collect DNA and verify bin Laden's presence at the compound in the town of Abbottabad where U.S. commandos killed the Al Qaeda chief last May. The operation outraged Pakistani officials because they were not told about it beforehand.

Senior U.S. officials have called for Afridi to be released, saying his work served Pakistani and American interests. His conviction comes at a sensitive time because the U.S. is already frustrated by Pakistan's refusal to reopen NATO supply routes to Afghanistan. The supply routes were closed six months ago in retaliation for American airstrikes that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.
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http://edition.cnn.com/2012/05/23/us/seals-movie-access/
Administration officials offered access to bin Laden filmmakers, documents show
By Dugald McConnell and Brian Todd, CNN
May 24, 2012

(CNN) -- Newly released documents have reignited the debate in Washington over whether Obama administration officials granted too much access to filmmakers making a movie about the raid that killed Osama bin Laden -- and whether national security was compromised in the process.

The documents show, for example, that a defense official offered the filmmakers access to a planner from SEAL Team Six, the super-secret special ops division that successfully executed the high-stakes raid in Pakistan last year.

It is not clear if any such access eventually took place. But according to a transcript from the meeting, on July 14 of last year, Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence Michael Vickers told screenwriter Mark Boal and director Kathryn Bigelow that the defense department would offer up a plum interview.

"They'll make a guy available who was involved from the beginning as a planner; a SEAL Team 6 Operator and Commander," Vickers said, according to the transcript.

The name of that man is blacked out in the transcript that was released, and Vickers tells the filmmakers not to reveal the man's identity.

"He shouldn't be talking out of school," Vickers says, but "he knows what he can and can't say."
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It was not clear whether the SEAL team commander ever met with the filmmakers. A Pentagon spokesman said the Defense Department gave them no access to classified information about the raid.

But Rep. Peter King, R-New York, chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, says the offer of access looks like a "potentially dangerous collaboration" and raises "very serious questions" about whether the administration is sufficiently protecting operational secrets.

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-18196669
Was 'Bin Laden doctor' Shakil Afridi an unsuspecting pawn?
By M Ilyas Khan
May 24, 2012

The Pakistani doctor who allegedly used a fake hepatitis C vaccination campaign to obtain DNA samples of Osama Bin Laden's family in Abbottabad a year ago may have become an unsuspecting pawn in the intelligence war between the United States and Pakistan.

Dr Shakil Afridi was arrested by Pakistani intelligence agents on 22 May, 20 days after a secret US raid killed Bin Laden.

On Wednesday, an official of the tribal administration in Khyber region sentenced him to jail for 33 years on charges of treason.

Military officials here believe that the DNA samples he obtained may have led the Americans to Bin Laden's lair.

The question being asked is, if he really thought he had brought harm to the Pakistani security establishment, why didn't he leave the country during the 20 days that the Pakistanis took to discover him?

One possible explanation comes from a former Central Intelligence Agency agent, Reuel Marc Gerecht.

"I am under the impression that actually [Dr Afridi] could have chosen to leave Pakistan; that the [CIA] offered him that option; he chose not to because he thought this action would be welcomed [in Pakistan]," he told the BBC.

But there is no way of confirming Mr Gerecht's views on the Pakistani end as there is no one available to explain what went on in Dr Afridi's mind during those 20 days.
More...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/federal_government/senate-panel-slashes-pakistan-aid-over-conviction-of-doctor-who-helped-us-get-osama-bin-laden/2012/05/24/gJQAeheNnU_story.html
Senate panel slashes Pakistan aid over conviction of doctor who helped US get Osama bin Laden
May 24, 2012

WASHINGTON — A Senate panel expressed its outrage Thursday over Pakistan’s conviction of a doctor who helped the United States track down Osama bin Laden, voting to cut aid to Islamabad by $33 million — $1 million for every year of the physician’s 33-year sentence for high treason.

The punitive move came on top of deep reductions the Appropriations Committee already had made to President Barack Obama’s budget request for Pakistan, a reflection of the growing congressional anger over its cooperation in combatting terrorism. The overall foreign aid budget for next year had slashed more than half of the proposed assistance and threatened further reductions if Islamabad failed to open overland supply routes to U.S.-led NATO forces in Afghanistan.
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Photo slide show at link
88 comments at time of this posting

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/24/entertainment-us-binladen-film-idUSBRE84N1NY20120524
Bin Laden film got no Special Ops help: U.S. admiral
By Phil Stewart and Mark Hosenball
May 24, 2012

(Reuters) - The U.S. admiral who oversaw the operation to kill Osama bin Laden denied on Thursday that he or his staff helped advise Hollywood film makers shooting a movie about last year's secret raid to kill the al Qaeda leader.
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http://india.nydailynews.com/newsarticle/813b95ae9885733f16966ef9b865543d/us-senate-body-fumes-over-afridi-sentencing
US Senate body fumes over Afridi sentencing
May 25, 2012

May 25--WASHINGTON (Dawn/ Ann) -- A US Senate panel yesterday voted unanimously to cut aid to Pakistan by US$33 million, or $1 million for every year Dr Shakil Afridi will spend in prison for helping the CIA find Osama bin Laden.

Observers on Capitol Hill say the 30-0 vote aims at sending a powerful signal to Pakistan, "release Dr Afridi or face the consequences".

The proposed $33 million is only a small fraction of the annual US aid to Pakistan but it comes from the Foreign Military Financing fund, which underlines Congress's unhappiness with the Pakistani military.

Lawmakers who participated in the debate made little attempt to hide their indignation.
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I neither trust nor believe anything the Pakistani government has to say. If they wanted information from Bin Laden's wives, they got it.  They just aren't sharing.   JMHO

http://paktribune.com/news/Osama-wives-gave-little-away-Pakistani-interrogator-250124.html
Osama wives gave little away: Pakistani interrogator
May 26, 2012

Oh, I agree with you!

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/kt-article-display-1.asp?xfile=data/international/2012/May/international_May768.xml&section=international
‘US must respect doctor verdict’
May 25, 2012

The United States should respect a Pakistan court’s decision to imprison a doctor accused of helping the CIA find Osama bin Laden, the Pakistan foreign ministry spokesman said.

“I think as far as the case of Mr Afridi is concerned, it was in accordance with Pakistani laws and by the Pakistani courts, and we need to respect each other’s legal processes,” Moazzam Ali Khan told reporters.

Meanwhile, a Senate panel expressed its outrage over the conviction of Afridi by slashing aid by $33 million — $1 million for every year of the doctor’s 33-year sentence.

The Appropriations Committee approved the amendment 30-0 on Thursday as Republicans and Democrats criticised Pakistan’s conviction of Shakil Afridi for high treason a day earlier.

The United States has called for Afridi to be released.

The vote came on a $52 billion foreign aid budget for next year.

Shakeeel Afridi was found guilty of treason, sentenced to 33 years in prison and fined Rs320,000 ($3,500) under an archaic tribal justice system that has governed Pakistan’s semi-autonomous tribal belt since British rule.

His sentencing was announced two days after Barack Obama appeared to snub President Asif Ali Zardari at a Nato summit in Chicago over Islamabad’s refusal to reopen cheaper Nato supply routes into Afghanistan.

Afridi was not entitled to a lawyer but was given a chance to defend himself and has a right to appeal the verdict, officials said.

Critics said he should not have been tried under tribal law for an alleged crime that took place outside the tribal belt, in the town of Abbottabad where he ran a phony  vaccination programme designed to collect Bin Laden family’s DNA. The US government claimed Pakistan had no basis to hold Afridi, whom an official at Peshawar central jail said was in poor health and being kept away from other prisoners to avoid any danger to his life.
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http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/05/29/brother-says-pakistani-doc-tortured-appeals-to-us-for-legal-help/
Brother says Pakistani doc tortured, appeals to US for legal help
By Dominic Di-Natale
May 29, 2012

The Pakistani doctor sentenced last week to 33 years in prison for helping track Usama bin Laden suffered torture, isolation and starvation during his interrogation, his brother told Fox News -- as he made an appeal from the family for the U.S. Embassy to help fight his legal case.

Jamil Afridi told Fox News in an interview that the Embassy so far has not reached out to the family of Dr. Shakil Afridi.

The brother said the family wants the U.S. to provide lawyers as well as pay the legal bills -- as questions surround the dubious legal process used to convict Afridi and hand down what amounted to a life sentence. He also said the broader family of roughly 30 people wants asylum in America.

"The blame has been placed on my brother because of America. We are facing a tough time and they should now support us. We should get justice and protection," he told Fox News. "Me, my brother, my family don't have any protection here. When I leave from this place, I don't know what might happen to me. I don't know in which guise someone might come for us. I am afraid of the government agencies, the Taliban and terrorists."

Jamil Afridi said security forces insiders told him his brother was tortured during the interrogation. Afridi was so emaciated when he arrived at prison after last week's conviction that he has put on five pounds just from being fed properly, his brother said.
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Further, he said authorities are "willfully avoiding and stalling" in providing verdict papers, so the family is unable to lodge an appeal. Shakil Afridi has three children -- two sons and a daughter.

The details provided by Jamil Afridi likely will add to the pressure on Washington to do more to help the jailed doctor, considering the role he played in helping the CIA track bin Laden before the U.S. raid on his Abbottabad compound.

The Obama administration has condemned the Pakistani government's decision to imprison Afridi, and claims to be pressing his case with Islamabad. Members of Congress meanwhile have called on the administration to step up their efforts on Afridi's behalf. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., told FoxNews.com last week that he thinks "the administration hasn't done anything to indicate they are serious about the demand for this man's release."

On the Senate side, a committee last week lodged a protest against the prison sentence by voting to cut Pakistan's aid by $33 million.

In Pakistan, government officials last Friday described the sentence as payback for how the U.S. went about getting the Al Qaeda leader and shrugged off criticism by American officials -- telling the U.S. to stop "over-reacting."
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As for Afridi's current status, a senior security official working inside Peshawar's penal system with close knowledge of the Afridi case said the inmate is "confident about his future and an appeal."

"He has become an American hero," the official said. The official said Afridi is being kept in isolation in his tiny cell, though stressed the conditions were not meant to be a form of solitary confinement punishment.

The official also said the jail is facing a potential riot among its 2,000 inmates because militants among them have gotten word that Afridi is being held there. The wardens have also received death threats from militants, the official said.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/05/30/judgment-claims-pakistani-doctor-sentenced-for-militant-ties-not-cia-assistance/
Judgment claims Pakistani doctor sentenced for militant ties, not CIA assistance
May 30, 2012

The Pakistani doctor sentenced to 33 years in prison for his role in the CIA mission to hunt down Usama bin Laden was formally accused not of aiding U.S. intelligence but assisting a militant Islamic group, according to a judgment provided to Fox News.

The document, which began to circulate to international media overnight, claims Dr. Shakil Afridi was working with the "defunct" militant group Lashkar-e-Islam. It alleged he provided "financial assistance" to the group as well as "medical assistance" to its "militant commanders" while working at a hospital.

The document, though, appears to raise more questions than it answers. U.S. officials consistently have given no indication that Afridi was jailed for anything other than his work with the CIA. Pakistani officials likewise did little to knock that narrative down ever since Afridi was taken into custody last year, and released the document detailing Afridi's alleged militant ties only after U.S. lawmakers threatened retaliation.

But the judgment -- even if it is a tool to mask accusations regarding his CIA work -- could undermine efforts in Washington to press Islamabad for Afridi's release. The judgment was made public just hours after Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., announced a bill to strip Pakistan of all U.S. aid until Afridi is released to the United States.

The judgment itself makes no direct mention of the CIA or the vaccination program he was supposedly running to obtain blood samples from the bin Laden family. The judgment says only, at the end, that Afridi "has been shown acting with other foreign Intelligence Agencies but all this evidence could not be taken into account for the lack of jurisdiction."

Instead, he was found guilty by the tribal justice system of being "in league" with Lashkar-e-Islam, a militant group active in the tribal areas and committed to implementing fundamentalist Shariah law. The Afridi tribe has actually had long-running tensions with Lashkar-e-Islam.

The judgment claims Afridi was given "ample opportunity" to defend himself.

The family, though, denies this -- yet they are largely in the dark about the case.
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In Washington, Paul said he would introduce a pair of bills next week to address Afridi's plight. One would strip Pakistan, which received $2.1 billion from the U.S. for the current fiscal year, of all foreign aid until Afridi's 33-year sentence is overturned and he's allowed to leave the country; the bill other would grant Afridi U.S. citizenship.

The measures would go beyond the vote by a Senate panel last week to strip Pakistan of $33 million in aid.

"Pakistan must understand that they are choosing the wrong side. They accuse Dr. Afridi of working against Pakistan, but he was simply helping the U.S. capture the head of Al Qaeda. Surely Pakistan is not linking their interests with those of an international terrorist organization," Paul said in a statement.

Administration officials have made a similar case, saying repeatedly that Afridi was working against Al Qaeda, not the Pakistani government.
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Video at Link

http://india.nydailynews.com/newsarticle/4fcce19b2f089e3267000000/osama-bin-laden-spent-all-his-money-on-attacks-against-west-and-good-food
Osama bin Laden 'spent all his money on attacks against West... and good food'
June 3, 2012
Al-Qaeda leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri described Osama bin Laden as a frugal man in a recent video posted online. Zawahiri claims bin Laden spent all of his money on jihad, but was a generous host to his guests.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2156129/Ricky-Sekhon-captured-new-movie-role-Osama-Bin-Laden.html?ito=feeds-newsxml
Bin Laden star is captured for new movie role about the most hunted man on the planet
June 7, 2012

The name of the actor portraying Osama bin Laden in a film about how the CIA and U.S. special forces killed the Al Qaeda leader is — or let’s say was — about as Top Secret Classified as real Pentagon data. But this column relished the challenge of hunting down the thespian’s identity.

Oscar-winning director Kathryn Bigelow chose British-based actor Ricky Sekhon to portray bin Laden who, for more than a decade, was the most hunted man on the planet.

The movie, which has the working title Zero Dark Thirty, stars Jessica Chastain, Joel Edgerton, Mark Strong and Jason Clarke as intelligence and national security operatives who, last May, tracked down the 9/11 mastermind to his hideout in a walled compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
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(http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/06/07/article-2156129-137E25EF000005DC-551_306x423.jpg)
(http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/06/07/article-2156129-136DFB91000005DC-282_306x423.jpg)

British-based actor Ricky Sekhon has been picked to portray terrorist Osama bin Laden in a new film

http://www.rferl.org/content/pakistan-bin-laden-doctor-peshawar-afridi/24615478.html
Pakistani Authorities Look For Safer Place To Incarcerate 'Bin Laden Doctor'
June 15, 2012

Just weeks after a doctor who helped uncover Osama bin Laden's hideout was sentenced to a lengthy prison term in Pakistan, local authorities are looking for a more secure facility to house the divisive physician out of concerns for his safety.

Bashir Bilour, a minister for the country's northwestern Khyber-Pakhtunkwa Province, says Dr. Shakil Afridi has received the best possible protection during his incarceration in Peshawar, the provincial capital.

But the doctor's reputation as a traitor among many Pakistanis, the presence of Taliban inmates at the jail, and a recent large-scale prison break elsewhere in the province have raised concerns, according to the minister.
More...

http://gulfnews.com/news/world/pakistan/harassment-of-us-diplomats-rise-1.1040026
Harassment of US diplomats rise
‘Has reached new levels of intensity’ since raid on compound that killed Bin Laden
June 24, 2012

Washington: The Pakistani government’s harassment and obstruction of US diplomats is increasing dramatically, reaching the point where it is “significantly impairing” the work of the American embassy and consulates there, the State Department’s internal watchdog said recently.

The department’s inspector general report said official harassment “has reached new levels of intensity” since the May 2011 US raid on a compound in Pakistan that killed Osama Bin Laden, and it rose further after November Nato airstrikes killed 24 Pakistani soldiers, prompting Islamabad to suspend most military cooperation and look to fundamentally revise its relationship with the United States.
More...

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2012/jun/21/as-pakistan-afridi/
Pakistan court delays bin Laden doctor appeal
June 21, 2012

A lawyer for a Pakistani doctor jailed after he helped the U.S. track down Osama bin Laden says the first hearing in his appeal was delayed.

Samiullah Khan Afridi said the prosecution failed to produce a record of the case filed against his client during the hearing Thursday in the frontier city of Peshawar. He said the hearing was delayed until July 19.
More...

http://tribune.com.pk/story/398782/dr-afridis-relocation-plan-taking-final-shape/
Dr Afridi’s relocation plan taking final shape
June 25, 2012

http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2012/06/27/running-al-qaeda/
Running al Qaeda
By Zachary Tumin
June 28, 2012

We now have the first public release of goodies from Osama bin Laden’s redoubt at Abbottabad: 17 letters to and from bin Laden and his crew that spell out vision, plans and tactics for the global jihad. The letters span a decade and outline the dimensions of a would-be caliphate – a truly global theater of war conceived, plotted and executed by bin Laden. They also reveal bin Laden to be a highly accomplished orchestrator of a global network struggling with the challenges of collaboration. Three issues consume him, and they happen to be the classic political tasks in the management of collaboration.
More...

http://www.npr.org/2012/07/14/156741879/osamas-driver-freed-in-latest-guantanamo-release?ft=3&f=1001&sc=nl&cc=nh-20120714
Osama's Driver Freed In Latest Guantanamo Release
by DINA TEMPLE-RASTON
July 14, 2012

The latest detainee to leave the Guantanamo Bay prison boarded an Air Force jet earlier this week. His destination: Sudan. The man, 52-year-old Ibrahim al-Qosi, had admitted to being Osama bin Laden's bookkeeper, driver and sometime cook, and he was one of the first prisoners to arrive at Guantanamo in 2002.

Now, he is the latest to leave. His departure brings the total detainee population at the U.S. naval base in Cuba down to 168 — from a high of 680 in May 2003.

Qosi, who is from Sudan, is the latest example of the Obama administration's quiet efforts to move prisoners out of Guantanamo.
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Audio at link (3 min. 21 sec)

http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2012/07/21/news/national/government-to-requisition-osama-bin-ladens-plot/
Government to requisition Osama bin Laden’s plot
July 21, 2012

ISLAMABAD - The government has moved to requisition the land on which al Qaeda mastermind Osama bin Laden spent his final years, an official said Friday.
After bin Laden was killed by US troops in May 2011, hundreds of people visited the compound which the authorities destroyed in February, fearing it could become a shrine to al Qaeda acolytes. Authorities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have now published notices in newspapers asking for any objections to the land being declared government property.
It was not immediately clear what the government intends to do with the plot in Abbottabad, where bin Laden was shot dead in a three-storey building by US Navy SEALs. “It has been advertised in newspapers that anyone objecting to the transfer of land should contact the DRO (district revenue officer) within 15 days,” Mohammad Mushtaq, an official in the revenue’s Abbottabad branch, told AFP on Friday.
More...

http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20120721/FEATURES06/307210032/Book-review-Manhunt-
Book review | 'Manhunt: The Ten-Year Search for Bin Laden -- from 9/11 to Abbottabad'
July 20, 2012

http://www.10news.com/news/31319112/detail.html
Report Shows Doctor's Bin Laden Raid Role
Doctor Met With Spies, Report Details
Posted July 30, 2012, Updated July 31, 2012

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/08/01/13063360-us-deaths-of-osama-bin-laden-other-top-figures-put-al-qaida-on-path-of-decline?chromedomain=usnews
US: Deaths of Osama bin Laden, other top figures put al-Qaida on 'path of decline'
August 1, 2012

One year ago, U.S. Navy SEALs launched a nighttime raid on a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, and killed former al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden. NBC's Amna Nawaz reports.
By NBC News staff and wire reports
WASHINGTON -- Osama bin Laden's death sent al-Qaida into a decline that will be hard to reverse, the United States said on Tuesday in a report that found terrorist attacks last year fell to their lowest level since 2005.
Describing 2011 as a "landmark year," the United States said other top al-Qaida members killed last year included Atiyah Abd al-Rahman, reportedly the militant organization's No. 2 figure after bin Laden's death, and Anwar al-Awlaki, who led its lethal affiliate in Yemen.
"The loss of bin Laden and these other key operatives puts the network on a path of decline that will be difficult to reverse," the State Department said in its annual "Country Reports on Terrorism" document, which covers calendar year 2011.
 ::snipping2::
Slide show and video at link.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/former-osama-bin-laden-bodyguard-living-in-germany-a-848668.html
'Dangerous Preacher' Former Bin Laden Bodyguard Living in Bochum
August 7, 2012

A man who was part of Osama bin Laden's team of bodyguards has been living in the western German city of Bochum for years. Authorities say the Tunisian man is a "dangerous preacher," but attempts to expel him from the country have so far failed.

A former bodyguard of Osama bin Laden has been living in the western German city of Bochum for a number of years. Although authorities regard the 36-year-old Tunisian, named only as Sami A., as a security risk, attempts to expel him from the country have failed so far.

"We regard Sami A. as a dangerous preacher," Burkhard Freier, head of the North Rhine-Westphalia branch of Germany's domestic intelligence agency, said on Monday.

The Federal Prosecutor's Office had launched an investigation into Sami A. in March 2006 on suspicion of membership of a foreign terrorist group. But the case had to be closed in 2007 "because the investigation couldn't firm up the suspicion with the necessary certainty required for a prosecution," the agency told SPIEGEL ONLINE.
 ::snipping2::

  Say what?!!


http://www.cbssports.com/nba/blog/eye-on-basketball/19818186/osama-bin-ladens-translator-wanted-lebron-james-to-apologize-to-cleveland
Osama bin Laden's translator wanted LeBron James to apologize to Cleveland
August 17, 2012

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2012/08/23/159905491/seals-book-on-bin-laden-raid-woodward-book-on-obama-due-sept-11
SEAL's Book On Bin Laden Raid, Woodward Book On Obama Due Sept. 11
August 23, 2012

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/seal-author-who-wrote-unauthorized-account-of-bin-laden-raid-could-face-legal-trouble-threats/2012/08/23/661121c2-ed51-11e1-866f-60a00f604425_story.html
SEAL author who wrote unauthorized account of bin Laden raid could face legal trouble, threats
Updated August 23, 2012

WASHINGTON — The Navy SEAL who wrote an account of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden under a pseudonym was identified Thursday as Matt Bissonnette, who retired from the Navy last summer.

Bissonnette was first identified by Fox News. One current and one former U.S. military official confirmed the name, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss military personnel matters.
The book, “No Easy Day,” is scheduled to be released Sept. 11, with the author listed under the pseudonym of Mark Owen. Penguin Group (USA)’s Dutton imprint, the publisher, asked news organizations Thursday to withhold his identity.

“Sharing the true story of his personal experience in ‘No Easy Day’ is a courageous act in the face of obvious risks to his personal security,” Dutton spokeswoman Christine Ball said in a statement. “That personal security is the sole reason the book is being published under a pseudonym.”

Bissonnette also changed the names of the other SEALs in the account, the publisher says.

Special Operations Command spokesman Col. Tim Nye said the retired SEAL could be endangered by being identified, which could also expose those active-duty SEALs the author worked with in the killing of bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan last year.
More...

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/08/24/will-no-easy-day-book-on-bin-laden-raid-break-seals-code-of-silence.html
Will ‘No Easy Day’ Book on Bin Laden Raid Break SEALs Code of Silence?
By Eli Lake
August 24, 2012

The Special Ops community is stunned by the news of an unauthorized account of the al Qaeda takedown by one of their own. Now the Navy brass say they might come after the author.

 ::snipping2::

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sns-rt-usa-securitybinladen-book-update-1l2e8jt45l-20120829,0,7964189.story
UPDATE 1-Navy SEAL's book gives different account of bin Laden death
August 29, 2012

Everyone sees the same situation from different vantage points. Of course there will be differences in the telling. Unfortunately this author has now cooked his own goose. I hope for his safety and that of his family.
joan+20

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/08/30/pentagon-to-consider-legal-action-against-ex-seal-author-bin-laden-raid-book/
Pentagon to consider legal action against ex-SEAL author of bin Laden raid book
August 30, 2012

WASHINGTON –  The Pentagon's top lawyer on Thursday informed the former Navy SEAL who wrote a forthcoming book describing details of the raid that killed Usama bin Laden that he violated agreements to not divulge military secrets and that as a result the Pentagon is considering taking legal action against him.

The general counsel of the Defense Department, Jeh Johnson, wrote in a letter transmitted to the author that he had signed two nondisclosure agreements with the Navy in 2007 that obliged him to "never divulge" classified information.

"This commitment remains in force even after you left the active duty Navy," Johnson wrote. He said the author, Matt Bissonnette, left active duty "on or about April 20, 2012," which was nearly one year after the May 2011 raid.

By signing the agreements, Bissonnette acknowledged his awareness, Johnson wrote, that "disclosure of classified information constitutes a violation of federal criminal law." He said it also obliged the author to submit his manuscript for a security review by the government before it was published. The Pentagon has said the manuscript was not submitted for review, although it obtained a copy last week.

Johnson said that after reviewing a copy of the book, "No Easy Day," the Pentagon concluded that the author is in "material breach and violation" of the agreements.

The book is to be published next week by Penguin Group (USA)'s Dutton imprint. The Associated Press purchased a copy Tuesday.
More...

Video at Link

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/seal-author-violate-agreements-lawyer/story?id=17129281#.UEFAgqDBnIU
Navy SEAL Author of Osama Raid Book Did Not Violate Non-Disclosure Agreements: Lawyer
August 31, 2012


Video at Link

He should have run his book by The Pentagon.  I wonder why he didn't?   He already has had death threats.  Why didn't he think about this happening?  Not a very well thought out move on his part.  Money was the motive here  :(
joan+20

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/pentagon-says-ex-seal-book-on-bin-laden-raid-contains-classified-information/2012/09/04/022120ec-f6b9-11e1-a93b-7185e3f88849_story.html
Pentagon says ex-SEAL book on bin Laden raid contains classified information
September 4, 2012

WASHINGTON — A Pentagon official says a former Navy SEAL’s insider account of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden contains classified information.

Pentagon press secretary George Little told reporters Tuesday that an official review of the book, “No Easy Day,” determined that it reveals what he called “sensitive and classified” information. He was not more specific but said the book should have been submitted to the Pentagon before publication for a formal review of potential disclosures of such information.

A lawyer for the author, Matt Bissonnette, has disputed that he was legally obliged to have the book screened before publication.

Little would not say what damage may result from the book’s revelations.
 ::snipping2::

Comments

http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/chapter-and-verse/2012/0904/Navy-SEAL-wrote-No-Easy-Day-after-being-pushed-out-of-SEAL-Team-6
Navy SEAL wrote 'No Easy Day' after being pushed out of SEAL Team 6

A group of Special Ops veterans released its own e-book, 'No Easy Op,' suggesting 'No Easy Day' author Matt Bissonnette wrote his book in part due to ‘bad blood’ with his former unit.
September 4, 2012

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18560_162-57508646/seals-first-hand-account-of-bin-laden-killing/
SEAL's first-hand account of bin Laden killing
September 9, 2012

(CBS News) His voice and face disguised and using the pseudonym Mark Owen, one of the Navy SEALs who participated in the raid that killed Osama bin Laden gives an exclusive interview to Scott Pelley. Owen, now retired, says the SEALs trained for the mission using a full-size replica of the bin Laden compound, and that a dress rehearsal was held for military top brass. And Owen refutes charges that he's trying to make a political statement with his book, "No Easy Day."

The following is a script of "Killing Bin Laden" which aired on Sept. 9, 2012. Scott Pelley is the correspondent. Henry Schuster, producer.
More...

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/09/11/pol-on-jailed-pakistani-doctor-weve-abandoned-this-hero/?cmpid=GoogleNewsEditorsPicks&google_editors_picks=true
Lawmaker on jailed Pakistani doctor: 'We've abandoned this hero'
September 11, 2012

The House lawmaker who has tried to rally his colleagues to speak up on behalf of the Pakistani doctor imprisoned for his role in helping track Usama bin Laden said Tuesday -- on the 11th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks -- that "we've abandoned this hero."

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., renewed his call Tuesday for the U.S. to do more to bring attention to Shakil Afridi's plight and pressure Pakistan to free him. He addressed the case after Afridi detailed his miserable prison conditions in an exclusive interview with Fox News.

But Rohrabacher expressed grave disappointment with how Washington has handled the case to date.

More...

http://www.firstpost.com/world/pak-seizes-satellite-phone-from-doc-who-helped-cia-find-osama-490245.html
Pak seizes satellite phone from doc who helped CIA find Osama
October 14, 2012

Islamabad: Pakistani authorities have seized a satellite phone from a jailed doctor, who helped CIA trace Osama bin Laden, and also arrested four police commandos guarding his cell, a media report has said.

The law enforcement agencies yesterday evening seized a ’Thoraya’ satellite phone from Shakeel Afridi in Central Jail Peshawar and have arrested four police commandos on guard at his cell in the jail, official sources were quoted by Dawn news as saying.
After interrogation, one of the four arrested commandos, confessed that he had provided satellite phone to Afridi, official intelligence sources said. The sources also said that Afridi had made more than 68 calls from the satellite phone set and most of these calls were long-distance, but the authorities are assessing the satellite phone data to ascertain the country location.

After a controversial interview with Fox News, a US-based news channel, a few weeks back, the authorities had installed special equipment around Central Jail Peshawar to check Afridi’s activities and had traced some calls from his jail
cell, following which the authorities conducted investigation with the four policemen, the sources said.

One of the policemen, admitted of his involvement in providing Afridi the satellite phone. The sources said that it’s likely that the interview might have been conducted through the satellite phone but the authorities are assessing the facts.
More...

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/10/16/us-usa-binladen-driver-idUSBRE89F0YV20121016
Bin Laden driver's conviction reversed by U.S. court
October 16, 2012

Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday overturned the conviction of Osama bin Laden's former driver and bodyguard, Salim Hamdan, on charges of supporting terrorism, in a long-running case emerging from the American military trials at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit concluded that providing support for terrorism was not a war crime at the time of Hamdan's alleged conduct from 1996 to 2001 and therefore could not support a conviction.

Human rights activists hailed the ruling as a blow to the legitimacy of the military commission system.
More...

http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/11/us/esquire-navy-seal/
'Nightmare' at home for SEAL who shot Osama bin Laden
February 11, 2013

Journalist Phil Bronstein, who profiled a former Navy SEAL Team Six member for the March issue of Esquire, will appear on "The Situation Room With Wolf Blitzer" in the 5 p.m. ET hour Monday.
(CNN) -- He's the man who rolled into a bedroom in Abbottabad, Pakistan, raised his gun and shot Osama bin Laden three times in the forehead.
Nearly two years later, the SEAL Team Six member is a secret celebrity with nothing to show for the deed; no job, no pension, no recognition outside a small circle of colleagues.
Journalist Phil Bronstein profiled the man in the March issue of Esquire, calling him only the Shooter -- a husband, father and SEAL Team Six member who happened to pull the trigger on the notorious terrorist. It's a detailed account of how the raid unfolded, and what comes after for those involved. The headline splashed across the cover reads, "The man who killed Osama bin Laden ... is screwed."
"They spent, in the case of the shooter, 16 years doing exactly what they're trained to do, which is going out on these missions, deployment after deployment, killing people on a regular basis, " said Bronstein, executive chairman of the Center for Investigative Reporting. "They finally get to the point where they don't want to do that anymore."
Bronstein reported that the man left SEAL Team Six in September. His family's health care coverage ceased. Because he left before the 20-year mark, he gets no pension.
More...

Comments

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/08/29/cia-osama-bin-laden-doctor/2727489/
Doctor who helped CIA find Osama bin Laden gets retrial
August 29, 2013

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Imprisoned+Pakistani+doctor+helped+find+Osama+Laden+charged/9200887/story.html
Imprisoned Pakistani doctor who helped CIA find Osama bin Laden now charged with murder
November 22, 2013

PESHAWAR, Pakistan - A Pakistani doctor who helped the CIA find Osama bin Laden has been charged with murder over a 2006 surgery he performed, his lawyer said Friday, raising new doubts whether the physician will regain his freedom.

Shakil Afridi already is being held in prison pending retrial on a separate charge, despite U.S. officials demanding he be released. The case has caused friction between Pakistan and the U.S., complicating a relationship that Washington views as vital for fighting the Taliban and al-Qaida, as well as negotiating an end to the war in neighbouring Afghanistan.

The murder charge stems from a complaint over a teenage boy who died after Afridi performed surgery on him for appendicitis in 2006.

The complaint, filed by the deceased teenage boy's mother, Nasib Gula, says Afridi was not authorized to operate on her son because he was a physician, not a surgeon, said the doctor's lawyer, Samiullah Afridi. The boy died from complications following the surgery, which took place in Pakistan's remote Khyber tribal area, the lawyer said.

The lawyer, who is not related to his client, said the case had no merit because too much time had passed since the incident. The trial has been scheduled for mid-December, he said.

The doctor is currently being held in prison. He was convicted of "conspiring against the state" in May 2012 and sentenced to 33 years in prison. His conviction was related to allegations that he gave money and provided medical treatment to Islamic militants in Khyber, not for helping the CIA track down bin Laden. The doctor's family and the militants denied the allegations.

A senior judicial officer overturned the prison sentence and ordered his re-trial in August, saying the person who sentenced the doctor was not authorized to hear the case.
 ::snipping3::
In the U.S. and other Western nations, Afridi was viewed as a hero who had helped eliminate the world's most wanted man. The doctor ran a vaccination program for the CIA to collect DNA in an attempt to verify the al-Qaida leader's presence at the compound in the town of Abbottabad. U.S. commandos later killed bin Laden there in May 2011 in a unilateral raid.

Pakistani officials were outraged by the bin Laden operation, which led to international suspicion that they had been harbouring al-Qaida's founder. In their eyes, Afridi was a traitor who had collaborated with a foreign spy agency in an illegal operation on Pakistani soil.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/11/25/hero-doc-who-helped-get-bin-laden-facing-more-charges-in-pakistan/
Hero doc who helped get Bin Laden facing more charges in Pakistan
November 25, 2013

More charges are being leveled against the hero doctor who helped the CIA pinpoint Usama bin Laden in what appears to be a strategy to ensure he remains behind bars even if the sham case accusing him of colluding with terrorists is overturned.

Afridi was charged with murder last week for a six-year-old case in which he tried to save a young boy stricken with appendicitis. Now, just days before a tribunal hearing at which he could win a retrial in the case that landed him a 33-year prison sentence, his lawyers have learned that a raft of new charges await.

“It seems the prosecution and evidence is so weak, they have to frame him to keep [Afridi] in jail, fearing an acquittal," said Qamar Nadeem, a lawyer and cousin of the jailed doctor.
More...

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-26591470
Bin Laden raid: Doctor's sentence cut by 10 years
March 15, 2014

A jail sentence handed down to the doctor alleged to have helped the US track down Osama Bin Laden in 2011 has been reduced by 10 years by a Pakistani court.

Shakil Afridi is accused by Pakistan of running a fake vaccination programme to help confirm Bin Laden's presence in the northern town of Abbottabad.

His original 33-year term on an unrelated charge was widely seen as punishment for his alleged role.

Bin Laden was killed in a US raid.

 ::snipping3::

The raid was acutely embarrassing for Pakistan, which was not informed in advance, and the episode plunged relations with Washington to a new low.

A tribal areas court convicted Afridi in May 2012 of treason on charges of links to a militant group.

A court in the city of Peshawar cut his sentence on Saturday to 23 years following appeals from his relatives and the US.

Afridi's lawyer, Qamar Nadeem, said the conviction was upheld, but another charge, that of waging war with Pakistan, had been dropped.

Mr Nadeem raised the possibility of a further appeal to a higher tribal court as relatives are demanding a fresh trial, as ordered by officials last August.

Afridi is said to have helped the CIA by setting up a sham hepatitis vaccination programme to pinpoint Bin Laden's compound. Through his lawyers, he has denied assisting the CIA.

The BBC's Ilyas Khan in Islamabad says Afridi's case has carried undertones of realpolitik from the start and few people believed in the credibility of the conviction for collaborating with a banned militant group.

http://gulfnews.com/news/asia/pakistan/five-years-on-bin-laden-doctor-languishes-in-pakistan-jail-1.1817151
Five years on, Bin Laden doctor languishes in Pakistan jail
Afridi’s lawyer believes his client’s best hope for early release is US pressure
May 2, 2016