'Osama Bin Laden was unarmed and ALREADY DEAD when Navy SEALs burst into bedroom': Shocking claim by retired soldier that threatens to debunk official story of raid
NEW YORK -- The much-anticipated firsthand account of the Navy SEALs raid that killed Osama bin Laden reveals the terrorist leader was unarmed and was already dead with a bullet to the brain when the SEALs entered his bedroom in the compound at Abbottabad, Pakistan.
As the SEALS ascended a narrow staircase, the team's point man saw a man poke his head from a doorway, wrote a SEAL using the pseudonym Mark Owen (whose real identity has since been revealed by Fox News) in “No Easy Day,” a copy of which was obtained at a bookstore by The Huffington Post.
"We were less than five steps from getting to the top when I heard suppressed shots. BOP. BOP," writes Owen. "I couldn't tell from my position if the rounds hit the target or not. The man disappeared into the dark room."
Team members took their time entering the room, where they saw the women wailing over Bin Laden, who wore a white sleeveless T-shirt, loose tan pants and a tan tunic, according to the book.
Despite numerous reports that bin Laden had a weapon and resisted when Navy SEALs entered the room, he was unarmed, writes Owen. He had been fatally wounded before they had entered the room.
"Blood and brains spilled out of the side of his skull” and he was still twitching and convulsing, Owen writes. While bin Laden was in his death throes, Owen writes that he and another SEAL "trained our lasers on his chest and fired several rounds. The bullets tore into him, slamming his body into the floor until he was motionless."
Then the SEALS repeatedly examined his face to make sure he was truly bin Laden. They interrogated a young girl and one of the women who had been wailing over Bin Laden’s body, who verified that it was the terror leader.
The shots fired inside the room appear to contradict the mission they were given. During a meeting with top commanders, a lawyer from either the Pentagon or the White House "made it clear that this wasn't an assassination," writes Owen, who recounted the instructions: "I am not going to tell you how to do your job. What we're saying is if he does not pose a threat, you will detain him."
Searching bin Laden’s neatly organized room, Owen found two guns -– an AK-47 and a Makarov pistol -– with empty chambers. “He hadn’t even prepared a defense. He had no intention of fighting. He asked his followers for decades to wear suicide vests or fly planes into buildings, but didn’t even pick up his weapon. In all of my deployments, we routinely saw this phenomenon. The higher up the food chain the targeted individual was, the bigger a ***** he was.”
The book calls out inaccurate accounts of the assault. "The raid was being reported like a bad action movie," Owen writes. "At first, it was funny because it was so wrong."
Contrary to earlier accounts, Owen says SEALs weren't fired upon while they were outside the gate of the compound. There was no 40-minute firefight. And it wasn't true that bin Laden had "time to look into our eyes."
Owen, a 36-year-old SEAL who also took part in a previous 2007 attempt to get Bin Laden and was involved in the heroic 2009 operation to free Captain Richard Phillips from pirates off the coast of Somalia, also had harsh words for President Barack Obama.
Though he praises the president for green-lighting the risky assault, Owen says the SEALS joked that Obama would take credit for their success. On his second night in Afghanistan waiting for final orders, sitting around a fire pit and joking about which Hollywood actors would play them in the bin Laden movie, one SEAL joked, “And we’ll get Obama reelected for sure. I can see him now, talking about how he killed bin Laden,” according to Owen.
Owen writes: “We had seen it before when he took credit for the Captain Phillips rescue. Although we applauded the decision-making in this case, there was no doubt in anybody’s mind that he would take all the political credit for this too.”
Later, while watching Obama’s speech announcing the raid, Owen writes: “None of us were huge fans of Obama. We respected him as the commander in chief of the military and for giving us the green light on the mission.” When one SEAL jokes again that they got Obama reelected, Owen asks, “Well, would you rather not have done this?”
He writes: “We all knew the deal. We were tools in the toolbox, and when things go well they promote it. They inflate their roles. But we should have done it. It was the right call to make. Regardless of the politics that would come along with it, the end result was what we all wanted.”
Later, when they meet Obama at the White House, Owen says he was reluctant to sign the American flag presented to the president because it would disclose his identity. So, at least one SEAL scribbled a random name on the flag. While going through the metal detector to meet the president, Owen’s pocketknife set off the alarm.
After listening to Obama’s speech and enduring Biden’s “lame jokes that no one got (He seemed like a nice guy, but he reminded me of someone’s drunken uncle at Christmas dinner)" the president invited the team to return to his residence later for a beer.
But Owen writes a few weeks later: “We never got the call to have a beer at the White House.” Joking with a fellow SEAL, “Hey, did you ever hear anything about that beer?” Walt cracks: “ You believed that ****. I bet you voted for change too, sucker.”
Tommy Vietor, spokesman for the White House National Security Council, said in an email: "As President Obama said on the night that justice was brought to Osama bin Laden, 'We give thanks for the men who carried out this operation, for they exemplify the professionalism, patriotism, and unparalleled courage of those who serve our country.'"
'No Easy Day,' Bin Laden Raid Book: Osama Was Unarmed
No Easy Day reveals bin Laden was unarmed and already dead when troops rushed into his room in the Abottabad, Pakistan compound
Retired Navy SEAL's photograph and name posted on al Qaeda website last week
Pentagon says release of his name is a security concern
Pentagon, CIA and White House among the agencies who have not seen the book, written anonymously by a SEAL Team Six member
The soldier could face federal charges if classified information is revealed in the book
Will hit bookshelves on September 4
A blow-by-blow account of the Navy SEAL raid that took down Osama bin Laden has revealed that the al-Qaeda chief was unarmed and already dead when soldiers burst into his room in his Pakistan compound.
The book, No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama bin Laden, was written anonymously under the name Mark Owen, who was one of the SEAL Team Six members who saw the terror leader die in May 2011.
A copy of the book, obtained by The Huffington Post, says that the mission was quite unlike the popular version of what went on at the house in Abbottabad.
Owen wrote that a member of the elite squad saw the terror leader as he ducked into his bedroom, and the soldiers, who were climbing stairs to the third floor, followed.
He said: 'We were less than five steps from getting to the top when I heard suppressed shots. BOP. BOP. I couldn't tell from my position if the rounds hit the target or not. The man disappeared into the dark room.'
While various media outlets reported that bin Laden was armed and showed no intention of going quietly, the soldier wrote that the notorious terror boss was already taking his last breaths.
Owen writes that as bin Laden lay dying, he and another commando 'trained our lasers on his chest and fired several rounds. The bullets tore into him, slamming his body into the floor until he was motionless.'
SEAL Team Six veteran says 'special operations community' wants Obama out of the White House
The book described bin Laden as wearing a white t-shirt, loose-fitting tan pants and a tunic.
While photographing the terror leader's body, two guns were found in the room, but neither was loaded.
'Owen' wrote: 'He hadnt even prepared a defense. He had no intention of fighting. He asked his followers for decades to wear suicide vests or fly planes into buildings, but didnt even pick up his weapon.
'In all of my deployments, we routinely saw this phenomenon. The higher up the food chain the targeted individual was, the bigger a p**** he was.'
The book was originally slated to hit book stores on September 11 but will now come out seven days earlier
It has already stirred a considerable amount of controversy as it was revealed that the Pentagon, the CIA, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and even the White House appeared to have no idea that the book was being written.The autobiography may also be heading to the big screen, as it was revealed on Sunday that director Steven Spielberg met with the retired commando to discuss making a movie about his experience.
Commando: A photo purported to be of Matt Bissonnette was published by Business Insider on Thursday. MailOnline has decided to blur the image so as not to show the soldier's face; he is now facing death threats from al Qaeda in addition to possible criminal prosecution
In addition to Spielberg, who directed 'War Horse' and 'Saving Private Ryan,' Dreamworks and HBOs Richard Plepler have met with the author. 'He is still talking to DreamWorks and Spielberg,' a source told the New York Post.This would be the third movie to tell the story of the raid that killed the mastermind of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
'Zero Dark Thirty,' directed by Oscar-winner Kathryn Bigelow will open December 19. Sony pushed back its opening to after the presidential election after it was revealed Bigelow was granted special access to the Pentagon and the CIA to make the movie.
The Weinstein Company has suggested it could release its own film about the May 2011 commando raid in Pakistan, 'Code Name Geronimo' before the election.
But for the retired Navy SEAL-turned-author, the story is giving him some unwanted attention.
An official al-Qaeda website on Friday posted a photograph and the name of the former Navy commando responsible for the book, calling him 'the dog who murdered the martyr Sheikh Osama bin Laden.'
Meanwhile the head of U.S. Special Operations Command told current and former troops that the military would take legal action against anyone found to have exposed sensitive information that could cause harm to fellow forces.
'We will pursue every option available to hold members accountable, including criminal prosecution where appropriate,' Admiral Bill McRaven wrote in an open, unclassified letter emailed to the active-duty special operations community.
Tension: The raid of bin Laden's Abottabad compound was watched by President Obama and his closest advisers in the Situation Room of the White House
'As current or former members of our special operations community, authors have a moral obligation, and a legal duty, to submit their works for pre-publication security review,' the admiral wrote.
Not long after the announcement of the book, FoxNews.com identified the soldier - Matt Bissonnette, 36, who retired from service shortly after the bin Laden raid.
By Friday, the man's name, photograph and age had been posted on the 'the Al-Fidaa Islamic Network' online forum, one of two websites officially endorsed by al-Qaeda, according to Evan Kohlmann, founder of the New York-based security firm Flashpoint Global Partners.
It was followed by comments that called for the man's death, including one response that said, 'O' Allah, kill every one of them,' and another that said, 'O' Allah, make an example of him for the whole world and give him dark days ahead.'
Terror house: Bin Laden's compound has since been torn down
Publisher Dutton, an imprint of Penguin Group, asked news organizations on Thursday to withhold his name.But that didnt stop the Associated Press, which later confirmed the the FoxNews.com report through their own sources, and circulated the information through its subscribers.The revelation had alarm bells ringing in military circles.Pentagon spokesman Lt Col James Gregory told MailOnline that the release of a former special ops soldiers identity can be worrisome.
He said: We protect the names of our special ops personnel for security reasons. Any time names are revealed, its a concern.'
Lt Col Gregory also joined a chorus of U.S. agencies who claim they had no knowledge of the book before Wednesday, a possible violation of regulations that bar current and former troops from spilling military matters and national security issues.
Lt Col Gregory said that since the soldier - who retired shortly after the bin Laden raid - is now a private citizen, the military could refer the investigation to the Department of Justice.
McRaven's open letter to the active-duty special operations community said books and films about special operations teams could be useful educational tools, and the military would work with potential authors, but current and former service members would be held accountable if they endangered the safety of U.S. forces.
Lt Col Gregory said that since the soldier - who retired shortly after the bin Laden raid - is now a private citizen, the military could refer the investigation to the Department of Justice.
McRaven's open letter to the active-duty special operations community said books and films about special operations teams could be useful educational tools, and the military would work with potential authors, but current and former service members would be held accountable if they endangered the safety of U.S. forces.
THE OFFICIAL ACCOUNT OF BIN LADEN'S DEATH IN PAKISTAN
It took approximately 15 minutes to find - and kill - Osama bin Laden in his Abottabad compound.
Involved in the mission in the early morning hours of May 2, 2011 were 79 commandos that arrived in off in military helicopters from Jalalabad, Afghanistan.
The first helicopter foundered above Bin Ladens compound and crash-landed in the outer courtyard.
The other helicopter landed outside the house.
The SEAL team forced their way into the compound by blowing the door with explosives.
The commandos shot three men and a woman - whom U.S. officials said had lunged at them - as they went up floor-by floor.
On the third level, three of the Navy SEALs saw bin Laden standing at the end of a hallway as they reached the top of the steps.
Two women in the room took positions in front of the terror leader to protect him.
One of the soldiers grabbed the women and shoved them away while one of the SEALs behind him fired at bin Laden.
The al-Qaeda boss was shot once in the chest and once in the head.
Code-word Geronimo is sounded to White House Situation Room, a signal that their target is dead.
The SEALs then photograph the body for identification.
On their way out of the compound, the soldiers blow up the broken-down chopper.
The teams fly back to Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan.
Bin Ladens body was then flown to a waiting naval ship, that buried at sea.
He said there was 'a distinct line between recounting a story for the purposes of education or entertainment and telling a story that exposes sensitive activities just to garner greater readership and personal profit.'
Kohlmann said the former Navy SEAL could now be in physical danger from al-Qaeda sympathizers seeking revenge for bin Laden's death, or hoping to gain prestige for themselves.
'They have a photo of the individual, they have his name, his age,' Kohlmann said. 'I wish that all this was bluster, but there are a lot of would-be jihadists out there, including some in North America. This is the ideal opportunity for those kind of people.'
The book's publisher, Dutton, said the author was 'one of the first men through the door on the third floor of the terrorist leader's hideout and was present at his death.'
It is not known whether 'No Easy Day' contains details of commando operations that the U.S. government considers secret, but U.S. government officials said the account had not been submitted for a required pre-publication review.
'Even if there is nothing classified disclosed, it should have been reviewed, and it was not,' said one official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
'He's going to become the poster child for recruitment and assassination,' Carr said, noting that the case underscored the need for anyone in a high-risk profession to take great precautions with any information available on the Internet.Carr said the man's relatives and former Navy SEAL colleagues could also be in danger if they could be traced through the Internet.
No Easy Day is co-authored by journalist Kevin Maurer, has worked on four previous books - including two in the last year and a half about soldiers in Afghanistan.
Maurer spent the last several years embedded with troops in Iraq and Afghanistan as a military correspondent for the Fayetteville Observer.
The book's listing on Amazon.com says that among Owen's hundreds of missions around the world as a SEAL Team Six commando was the rescue of Capt Richard Phillips from Somali pirates in 200
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'Osama Bin Laden was unarmed and ALREADY DEAD when Navy SEALs burst into bedroom' | Mail Online
