Posted on May 11, 2015
Seymour Hersh on what actually happened to Bin Laden... do you believe his story?
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Doesn’t Surprise Me One Bit
Hondo | May 11, 2015
As Jonn’s previously noted, it seems that a guy named Seymour Hersh – a longtime investigative reporter well-known for his work regarding the US military and Intelligence Community – has looked into the bin Laden raid. His conclusion?
Well, Hersh says that the POTUS did order the raid. He also says that US Navy SEALs carried it out.
He also says damn near everything else the current gang of fools and tools running the show in DC Administration has said about the raid is . . . well, pretty much bull. From a very long (approx 10,000 word) article Hersh recently published in the London Review of Books: http://www.lrb.co.uk/v37/n10/seymour-m-hersh/the-killing-of-osama-bin-laden
This spring I contacted Durrani and told him in detail what I had learned about the bin Laden assault from American sources: that bin Laden had been a prisoner of the ISI at the Abbottabad compound since 2006; that Kayani and Pasha knew of the raid in advance and had made sure that the two helicopters delivering the Seals to Abbottabad could cross Pakistani airspace without triggering any alarms; that the CIA did not learn of bin Laden’s whereabouts by tracking his couriers, as the White House has claimed since May 2011, but from a former senior Pakistani intelligence officer who betrayed the secret in return for much of the $25 million reward offered by the US, and that, while Obama did order the raid and the Seal team did carry it out, many other aspects of the administration’s account were false.
“Kayani and Pasha” here were Pakistan’s two most senior military leaders at the time of the bin Laden raid.
Yeah, Hersh is a liberal; I don’t much care for his politics either. But he’s also quite good at what he does. He is the guy in the press who first went bigtime public with the My Lai scandal. He beat Jack Anderson to the Glomar Explorer story (Anderson only gets credit for breaking that one because the CIA Director convinced the New York Times – who Hersh worked for at the time – to sit on Hersh’s story about same that was ready considerably earlier than Anderson’s). He’s also gone public with a number of other stories related to various national intel communities and/or governments blatantly lying to the public.
Jonn’s take on Hersh’s latest is quite different than mine. FWIW: best I can tell Hersh has been far closer to right over the years much more often than he’s been wrong when he’s writing about clandestine and/or intel matters. Believe him or not about this one as you like.
I’d not recommend dismissing out-of-hand his main points here, though. Hersh is one reporter who truly knows how to do his “homework” on this kind of subject – then actually does it before he publishes. Plus, he’s been raising questions about the “official” account of the bin Laden raid for approaching 2 years – and calling out the media for not raising more questions about that account.
Again: I don’t agree with Hersh’s politics, but the man knows his business. And when writing about the intel world, he’s got a pretty good track record.
As I said earlier, the article is quite long (about 10,000 words) – but if you have some time, IMO it’s damn well worth a read.
U.S. Officials Upset About Seymour Hersh Report
http://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/seymour-hersh-bin-laden-raid-officials-criticism-117826.html
Before Raid
After Raid
Yeah, IMO your leg was wet again, courtesy of the current Administration, circa mid-2011. And I’m pretty sure that wasn’t rain.
Hondo | May 11, 2015
As Jonn’s previously noted, it seems that a guy named Seymour Hersh – a longtime investigative reporter well-known for his work regarding the US military and Intelligence Community – has looked into the bin Laden raid. His conclusion?
Well, Hersh says that the POTUS did order the raid. He also says that US Navy SEALs carried it out.
He also says damn near everything else the current gang of fools and tools running the show in DC Administration has said about the raid is . . . well, pretty much bull. From a very long (approx 10,000 word) article Hersh recently published in the London Review of Books: http://www.lrb.co.uk/v37/n10/seymour-m-hersh/the-killing-of-osama-bin-laden
This spring I contacted Durrani and told him in detail what I had learned about the bin Laden assault from American sources: that bin Laden had been a prisoner of the ISI at the Abbottabad compound since 2006; that Kayani and Pasha knew of the raid in advance and had made sure that the two helicopters delivering the Seals to Abbottabad could cross Pakistani airspace without triggering any alarms; that the CIA did not learn of bin Laden’s whereabouts by tracking his couriers, as the White House has claimed since May 2011, but from a former senior Pakistani intelligence officer who betrayed the secret in return for much of the $25 million reward offered by the US, and that, while Obama did order the raid and the Seal team did carry it out, many other aspects of the administration’s account were false.
“Kayani and Pasha” here were Pakistan’s two most senior military leaders at the time of the bin Laden raid.
Yeah, Hersh is a liberal; I don’t much care for his politics either. But he’s also quite good at what he does. He is the guy in the press who first went bigtime public with the My Lai scandal. He beat Jack Anderson to the Glomar Explorer story (Anderson only gets credit for breaking that one because the CIA Director convinced the New York Times – who Hersh worked for at the time – to sit on Hersh’s story about same that was ready considerably earlier than Anderson’s). He’s also gone public with a number of other stories related to various national intel communities and/or governments blatantly lying to the public.
Jonn’s take on Hersh’s latest is quite different than mine. FWIW: best I can tell Hersh has been far closer to right over the years much more often than he’s been wrong when he’s writing about clandestine and/or intel matters. Believe him or not about this one as you like.
I’d not recommend dismissing out-of-hand his main points here, though. Hersh is one reporter who truly knows how to do his “homework” on this kind of subject – then actually does it before he publishes. Plus, he’s been raising questions about the “official” account of the bin Laden raid for approaching 2 years – and calling out the media for not raising more questions about that account.
Again: I don’t agree with Hersh’s politics, but the man knows his business. And when writing about the intel world, he’s got a pretty good track record.
As I said earlier, the article is quite long (about 10,000 words) – but if you have some time, IMO it’s damn well worth a read.
U.S. Officials Upset About Seymour Hersh Report
http://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/seymour-hersh-bin-laden-raid-officials-criticism-117826.html
Before Raid
After Raid
Yeah, IMO your leg was wet again, courtesy of the current Administration, circa mid-2011. And I’m pretty sure that wasn’t rain.
Posted 9 y ago
Responses: 14
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Fascinating piece of work, this article. It paints a picture that is awfully sure of itself, considering the sensitive subject matter. Otherwise known as plausible BS. Not enough sources.
There are a lot of contradictions on the Abottabad Raid. I don't think we really need to know all the particulars.
I do think that it was obviously exploited for political gain. Surprise, surprise.
Some of the conclusions point to the authors biases.
There are a lot of contradictions on the Abottabad Raid. I don't think we really need to know all the particulars.
I do think that it was obviously exploited for political gain. Surprise, surprise.
Some of the conclusions point to the authors biases.
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