Osama Bin Laden was an unarmed
elderly 'invalid' when Navy Seals killed him and Barack Obama lied about the
mission, report claims
ADAM WITHNALL Author Biography Monday 11 May 2015
A Pulitzer Prize-winning
investigative journalist has claimed that Barack Obama lied about the killing
of Osama bin Laden for his own political advantage, and that the former
al-Qaeda leader was in fact an unarmed “invalid” when he was shot by US Navy
Seals in 2011.
President Obama was accused of
making up a number of key details that were fed to the public in the wake of
the assassination, including that Bin Laden died in a fire-fight and that the
Pakistani government had no role to play in the mission.
Seymour Hersh, whose previous
investigations have included the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian
government, cited unnamed intelligence officials as part of what he called his
“alternative history of the war on terror”.
Writing in the London Review of
Books, Mr Hersh claimed that rather than hiding out in a compound in
Abbottabad, Bin Laden was in fact being held prisoner by the Pakistani
intelligence services when he was killed.
The article quotes “a retired
senior intelligence official who was knowledgeable about the initial
intelligence about Bin Laden’s presence in Abbottabad”, who said Pakistan
had secretly detained the wanted terrorist for years to use “as leverage
against Taliban and al-Qaeda activities”.
In the immediate aftermath of the
killing, Obama told the media the mission had been a secret incursion into Pakistan and
that a small team of Seals fought a dramatic gun battle with men inside Bin Laden’s
compound.
But according to Mr Hersh’s
source, senior Pakistani officials willingly gave up Bin Laden’s location to
maintain good relations with the US and in exchange for a slice of a
$25 million reward fund.
Former US Navy Seal Rob O'Neill
has been revealed as the man from Team Six who shot Osama Bin Laden in the 2011
Pakistan raid They also facilitated the Navy Seals mission by cutting power to
the compound and diverting the local military, it was alleged, and had even
agreed with the White House upon an elaborate back story where it would be
claimed that Bin Laden was killed in a drone strike in mountains on the
Pakistan-Afghan border.
The White House has repeatedly
insisted that Bin Laden would have been taken alive if he surrendered – but according
to the retired official quoted by Hersh, “it was clearly and absolutely a
premeditated murder”.
The Seals were given “absolute
authority to kill the guy”, the official was quoted as saying, even if they
only “suspected he might have some means of opposition, like an explosive vest
under his robe”.
Locals and media gather outside
the compound, pictured in May 2011, where Osama Bin Laden was reportedly killed
in an operation by US Navy Seals Locals and media gather outside the compound,
pictured in May 2011, where Osama Bin Laden was reportedly killed in an
operation by US Navy Seals “The truth is that bin Laden was an invalid, but we
cannot say that,” the retired official reportedly said.
Mr Hersh also reports that White
House claims Bin Laden was still receiving information from and giving orders
to al-Qaeda were “lies, misstatements and betrayal”.
“The White House had to give the
impression that bin Laden was still operationally important,” he quoted the
official as saying. “Otherwise, why kill him?”
The White House is yet to comment
on Hersh’s claims. On Monday, Mr Hersh appeared on CNN to defend his article.
"I am waiting for the White
House to deny it," he said.
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