Wil Longbottom / The Daily Mail – 2011-05-06 02:14:02
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1383934/Osama-Bin-Laden-shoved-wife-gunman-Obama-didnt-die.html
• Bin Laden acted ‘scared’ and ‘completely confused’ in the moments before he was shot
• Live feed from Navy Seals helmet cameras was cut off as they entered compound
• Cowering Osama ‘shoved his wife towards SEALS’ during attack as raiders’ first shot missed!
• Iconic image of President Obama and national security aides may not have been them watching mission unfold
• Navy Seal gave codeword ‘Geronimo KIA’ to reveal Bin Laden was dead
• Blow-by-blow account of mission reveals steps commando team took as they went through compound
WASHINGTON (May 6, 2011) — The director of the CIA has today revealed there was a 25-minute video blackout during the raid on Osama Bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan.
Meanwhile a source claims Bin Laden acted “scared” and “completely confused” in the moments before he was shot, “shoving his wife” towards the Navy SEAL who shot him.
The source, who Fox News says was party to the raid, also claimed Bin Laden was in reach of an AK-47 and a Makarov handgun when he was killed. And a Senator on the Senate Intelligence Committee has revealed that the first shot fired at bin Laden missed.
CIA director Leon Panetta said the live feed from helmet-mounted cameras worn by the Navy Seal team was cut off as they stormed the buildings in Abottabad.
A photograph of US President Barack Obama, defence staff and aides in the situation room was released by the White House, appearing to show them anxiously watching as the mission unfolded.
But in reality, they knew little of what was taking place in the fortified compound during the 38 minutes it took the Navy Seals to complete Operation Geronimo.
In an interview with PBS, Mr Panetta said: “Once those teams went into the compound I can tell you that there was a time period of almost 20 or 25 minutes where we really didn’t know just exactly what was going on.
“And there were some very tense moments as we were waiting for information.
“We had some observation of the approach there, but we did not have direct flow of information as to the actual conduct of the operation itself as they were going through the compound.”
Mr Panetta also revealed it was the Navy Seals themselves who made the final decision to kill the Al Qaeda leader, rather than Mr Obama.
Senator Saxby Chambliss, the ranking Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the first sight troops had of their target was Bin Laden poking his head around a door on the third floor of his fortress.
After one shot at the Al Qaeda leader missed, bin Laden ducked back in, but the Navy SEALS quickly followed and finished the job.
Mr Chambliss told the Atlanta Journal Constitution: “This was pitch dark. When they got into the room with bin Laden, they already had to go through some other folks downstairs, two of which they killed. And they were having to use explosives to blow doors open. By the time they got to him, they didn’t know what they would find.
“They blew the door open, and they looked down the hallway and he stuck his head out of the room that he was in, and saw them, and ducked back in. They fired a shot, and missed him the first time — and then went to the room. And that’s when they killed him.”
Osama bin Laden Dead:
Blackout During Raid on Compound
Steven Swinford / The Telegraph
(May 4, 2011) — Leon Panetta, director of the CIA, revealed there was a 25 minute blackout during which the live feed from cameras mounted on the helmets of the US special forces was cut off.
A photograph released by the White House appeared to show the President and his aides in the situation room watching the action as it unfolded. In fact they had little knowledge of what was happening in the compound.
In an interview with PBS, Mr Panetta said: “Once those teams went into the compound I can tell you that there was a time period of almost 20 or 25 minutes where we really didn’t know just exactly what was going on. And there were some very tense moments as we were waiting for information.
“We had some observation of the approach there, but we did not have direct flow of information as to the actual conduct of the operation itself as they were going through the compound.”
Mr Panetta also told the network that the US Navy Seals made the final decision to kill bin Laden rather than the president.
He said: “The authority here was to kill bin Laden. And obviously, under the rules of engagement, if he had in fact thrown up his hands, surrendered and didn’t appear to be representing any kind of threat, then they were to capture him. But they had full authority to kill him.
“To be frank, I don’t think he had a lot of time to say anything. It was a firefight going up that compound. And by the time they got to the third floor and found bin Laden, I think it — this was all split-second action on the part of the Seals.”
The President only knew the mission was successful after the Navy Seals commander heard the word “Geronimo†on the radio, a code word from commandos reporting that they had killed bin Laden.
The absence of footage of the raid has led to conflicting reports about what happened in the compound. According to Pakistani authorities one of bin Laden’s daughter’s, who was present during the raid, claimed that her father was captured alive before he was killed.
There was also growing doubt about the US claims that Pakistan’s intelligence agencies involved in the raid.
Lieutenant General Asad Durrani, former head of the ISI, Pakistan’s intelligence service, said it was “inconceivable” that his government was unaware of the US raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound.
He claimed his country was forced to deny any knowledge of the raid to avoid a domestic backlash. The ISI’s official line has been that bin Laden’s compound had “slipped off our radar” after it raided the building in 2003 while hunting for another senior al-Qaeda operative. The agency claims it was unaware that bin Laden was hiding there.
Lieutenant General Durrani, however, said that the denial was a “political” maneuver by the intelligence services to avoid claims that they were working too closely with the US.
He said: “It is more likely that they did know [about the raid]. It is not conceivable that it was done without the involvement of Pakistani security forces at some stage. They were involved and they were told they were in position.
“The army chief was in his office, the cordons had been thrown around that particular place. The Pakistani helicopters were also in the air so that indicates that it was involved.
“[There are] political implications back home. If you say that you are involved there is a large, vocal faction of Pakistani society that will get very upset because we are carrying out repeatedly these operations with the Americans.”
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