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| India-Pakistan |
| Osama killed with shot to head by Navy SEALs: official |
| 2011-05-03 |
| [Dawn] US Navy SEALs led the commando operation in Pakistain that ended the life of 9/11 criminal mastermind the late Osama bin Laden ... who is no more... with a bullet to the head, a US official told AFP. The SEALs, which stands for Sea, Air, Land, are elite troops used for some of the riskiest anti-terrorism missions, as well as behind-the-lines reconnaissance and unconventional warfare. On loan to the CIA for the mission Sunday night into Monday, the SEAL team launched the assault from helicopters on a heavily fortified villa in a city near Islamabad that US intelligence had identified as bin Laden's hideout. "Responsibility for the raid is Leon Panetta's; It was executed by Navy SEALs," said the official, referring by name to the director of the Central Intelligence Agency. CNN described the operation as a "kill mission" but US officials told AFP bin Laden "resisted as we expected." The Al-Qaeda leader's body was buried at sea, two officials said on condition of anonymity. "We wanted to avoid a situation where it would become a shrine," one of the officials said. And there was no time for negotiations with other countries to arrange for a possible burial, the official told AFP. DNA tests have confirmed that Osama bin Laden is dead, a senior US official said Monday, a day after a daring raid by US special forces on the Al-Qaeda leader's compound in Pakistain. The official confirmed on condition of anonymity that a DNA match had been established with bin Laden's body before it was buried at sea after the raid. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #19 Jeebus, a Chinook? Otherwise know as a Hurri-crane? Otherwise known as a bus with rotors? And the Pak military still didn't do anything with that large of a target? I believe the Chinook is faster than any attack helicopter by a handy margin. If you had to depend on speed alone, the Chinook is probably the way to go in this case. If all goes well, they won't even see the opposing force anyway. Just fly under their radar. |
| Posted by: gorb 2011-05-03 23:56 |
| #18 US CIA + Army DELTA FORCE elements were repor also part of the USN SEAL mission. * ION CHINESE MIL FORUM > SECRET [US] STEALTH HELICOPTER USED IN ABBOTTOBAD ATTACK | [Aviation Week] BIN LADEN RAID MAY HAD EXPOSED STEALTH HELO? Stealth-improved UH-60 Blackhawks, as possib derived from techs ala US Army's canceled COMMANCHE project??? |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2011-05-03 23:51 |
| #17 I know that TW, I wanted to see the different media treatment of thew same team under Bush when under Obama, so I googled Cheney's assassination team and got plenty of result, one of them, for instance, from Fox Nation that says: SEAL Team That Killed Bin Laden was Smeared as Dick Cheney's 'Assassination Ring' |
| Posted by: Willy 2011-05-03 21:22 |
| #16 PIMF. ...instead of the best of our best... |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2011-05-03 19:40 |
| #15 Willy, SEALs aren't paramilitary, it seems to me. Probably better that way. No matter how good, sending paramilitaries instead of the beat of our best would be the final insult. And by openlycancelling the previous program, Mr. Panetta ensured that few would even think of the possibility... |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2011-05-03 16:17 |
| #14 The past NYT July 13, 2009 C.I.A. Had Plan to Assassinate Qaeda Leaders WASHINGTON â Since 2001, the Central Intelligence Agency has developed plans to dispatch small teams overseas to kill senior Qaeda terrorists, according to current and former government officials. Leon E. Panetta, the C.I.A. director, canceled an assassination plan after learning of it. The plans remained vague and were never carried out, the officials said, and Leon E. Panetta, the C.I.A. director, canceled the program last month. Mr. Panetta scuttled the program, which would have relied on paramilitary teams, shortly after the C.I.A.âs counterterrorism center recently informed him of its existence. The next day, June 24, he told Congressional Intelligence Committees that the plan had been hidden from lawmakers, initially at the instruction of former Vice President Dick Cheney. The present NYT May 2, 2011 The code name for Bin Laden was âGeronimo.â The president and his advisers watched Leon E. Panetta, the C.I.A. director, on a video screen, narrating from his agencyâs headquarters across the Potomac River what was happening in faraway Pakistan. âTheyâve reached the target,â he said. Minutes passed. âWe have a visual on Geronimo,â he said. A few minutes later: âGeronimo EKIA.â Enemy Killed In Action. There was silence in the Situation Room. Finally, the president spoke up. âWe got him.â |
| Posted by: Willy 2011-05-03 15:45 |
| #13 "They brought in one of the standby choppers, a Chinook, for the extraction and return flight to Afghanistan." Jeebus, a Chinook? Otherwise know as a Hurri-crane? Otherwise known as a bus with rotors? And the Pak military still didn't do anything with that large of a target? Guess it's hard to fight from under the bed. Everybody on the raid has very large brass ones, but that Chinook pilot has the special size! Thank you all. |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2011-05-03 13:39 |
| #12 Good to know. I hadn't heard that. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2011-05-03 13:39 |
| #11 Wonder what the pucker factor was for the chopper pilot that had to get everybody out and back in one helicopter? They brought in one of the standby choppers, a Chinook, for the extraction and return flight to Afghanistan. |
| Posted by: Chailing Stalin5434 2011-05-03 13:30 |
| #10 Wonder what the pucker factor was for the chopper pilot that had to get everybody out and back in one helicopter? |
| Posted by: tu3031 2011-05-03 13:22 |
| #9 Okay Obama, you're going to give the seals that $50 Million reward, arent'cha, they earned it. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2011-05-03 10:53 |
| #8 Body, body, head. Right from the textbook.... |
| Posted by: 49 Pan 2011-05-03 09:49 |
| #7 LOL Bobby: "Mother of mercy, is this the end of *bam bam* "yep" |
| Posted by: Frank G 2011-05-03 08:24 |
| #6 Looks like the rules of engagement are different when there's a (D) in the White House. I suppose we shoulda stood outside and demanded he come out, with his hands up. Like the gangster movies! "We gotcha surrounded, Baby Face! Cummout widyer hands up!" |
| Posted by: Bobby 2011-05-03 06:44 |
| #5 With the CIA and White House monitoring the situation in real time If it were Bush, there would be calls right now for ICC. |
| Posted by: gr(o)mgoru 2011-05-03 04:21 |
| #4 More, from the news service that can not be named... Shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, detainees in the CIA's secret prison network told interrogators about an important courier with the nom de guerre Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti who was close to bin Laden. After the CIA captured al-Qaida's No. 3 leader, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, he confirmed knowing al-Kuwaiti but denied he had anything to do with al-Qaida. Then in 2004, top al-Qaida operative Hassan Ghul was captured in Iraq. Ghul told the CIA that al-Kuwaiti was a courier, someone crucial to the terrorist organization. In particular, Ghul said, the courier was close to Faraj al-Libi, who replaced Mohammed as al-Qaida's operational commander. It was a key break in the hunt for in bin Laden's personal courier. Finally, in May 2005, al-Libi was captured. Under CIA interrogation, al-Libi admitted that when he was promoted to succeed Mohammed, he received the word through a courier. But he made up a name for the courier and denied knowing al-Kuwaiti, a denial that was so adamant and unbelievable that the CIA took it as confirmation that he and Mohammed were protecting the courier. It only reinforced the idea that al-Kuwaiti was very important to al-Qaida. It took years of work before the CIA identified the courier's real name: Sheikh Abu Ahmed, a Pakistani man born in Kuwait. In August 2010, Ahmed unknowingly led authorities to a compound in the northeast Pakistani town of Abbottabad, where al-Libi had once lived. More mission details... The helicopters lowered into the compound, dropping the SEALs behind the walls. No shots were fired, but shortly after the team hit the ground, one of the helicopters came crashing down and rolled onto its side for reasons the government has yet to explain. None of the SEALs was injured, however, and the mission continued uninterrupted. With the CIA and White House monitoring the situation in real time presumably by live satellite feed or video carried by the SEALs the team stormed the compound. Thanks to sophisticated satellite monitoring, U.S. forces knew they'd likely find bin Laden's family on the second and third floors of one of the buildings on the property, officials said. The SEALs secured the rest of the property first, then proceeded to the room where bin Laden was hiding. A firefight ensued, Brennan said. Ahmed and his brother were killed, officials said. Then, the SEALs killed bin Laden with a bullet just above his left eye, blowing off part his skull, another official said. Using the call sign for his visual identification, one of the soldiers communicated that "Geronimo" had been killed in action, according to a U.S. official. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2011-05-03 02:31 |
| #3 See also TOPIX > US OFFICIAL: BIN LADEN SKULL BLOWN APART, after being shot by USN SEALS. * Also from SAME > BIN LADEN FOUND IN CITY WID THREE PAKISTANI REGIMENTS. IOW, Abbottobad = "Garrison City". |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2011-05-03 01:28 |
| #2 DNA tests have confirmed that Osama bin Laden is dead Wow! They have a DNA test for death now? |
| Posted by: gorb 2011-05-03 00:45 |
| #1 "The spirits of all you have slain are watching you... and they will rest in peace now that your time has come. You must die as you have lived, a coward to the last." -- Luke the Warrior, The Legend of Luke |
| Posted by: Korora 2011-05-03 00:28 |