Seymour Hersh on what actually happened to Bin Laden... do you believe his story?

2015-05-11T19:10:36-04:00

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.

LRB · Seymour M. Hersh · The Killing of Osama bin Laden

It’s been four years since a group of US Navy Seals assassinated Osama bin Laden in a night raid on a high-walled compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. The killing was the high point of Obama’s first term, and a major factor in his re-election. The White House still maintains that the...

Response by LTC David S. Chang, ChFC®, CLU® made May 11 at 2015 7:13 PM

2015-05-11T19:13:31-04:00

I think there will always be conspiracy theories! I think in the end it doesn't matter in the long-run as much if he is gone or not, someone else will take his spot and be just as dangerous

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made May 11 at 2015 7:15 PM

2015-05-11T19:15:40-04:00

More About Seymour Hersh
Seymour Hersh is a crackpot
Jonn Lilyea | May 11, 2015

Everyone has been sending me these links to articles about Seymour Hersh charging that Obama lied about the assassination of bin laden. Seriously, people? Seymour Hersh? Hersh is the fellow who charged that Darth Cheney had a secret assassination team that was taking out the Bush Administration’s political enemies. His sources? Well they were anonymous – in other words he was using the voices in his head.

The latest Hersh “scandal”?

The principal claims that Hersh’s article makes, which largely rely on the assertions of a single, unnamed, retired senior U.S. intelligence official [voices in his head], are:

• That the 2011 U.S. Navy SEAL raid on the Abbottabad compound where bin Laden was hiding in northern Pakistan was not a firefight in which SEALs went into a dangerous and unknown situation, but a setup in which Pakistan’s military had been holding bin Laden prisoner in Abbottabad for five years and simply made him available to the SEALs who flew in helicopters to the compound on the night of the raid.

• An officer from Pakistan’s powerful military intelligence agency ISI accompanied the SEALs on the raid and showed them around the Abbottabad compound, and the only shots fired that night were the ones that the SEALs fired to kill bin Laden.

• A “walk in” to the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad tipped off the CIA that bin Laden was living in the Abbottabad compound, and it was not true — despite the statements of multiple U.S. officials after the raid — that the CIA had traced back one of bin Laden’s couriers to the Abbottabad compound and built a circumstantial case that bin Laden was living there.

• Saudi Arabia was financing bin Laden’s upkeep in his Abbottabad compound.

• A Pakistani army doctor obtained DNA from bin Laden that proved he was in Abbottabad, proof that was provided to the States so that all the supposed uncertainty — cited by Obama administration officials after the raid — about whether bin Laden was actually living in the compound was a lie.

• The “most blatant lie,” according to Hersh, was that “Pakistan’s two most senior military leaders — General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, chief of the army staff, and General Ahmed Shuja Pasha, director general of the ISI — were never informed” in advance of the U.S. raid on the bin Laden compound.

Yeah, well, if you thought that Hersh was the king of the black helicopter theorists during the Bush Administration, what would make you think that he has been rehabilitated? Yes, I want to believe all of the crazy shit in regards to Obama, but I’m not ready to climb aboard the Hersh Crazy-Train to Blackhelicoptertown. He wrote one decent expose` forty years ago and he thinks that it gives him the credibility to write whatever he wants these days.

Response by SGT Scott Bailey made May 11 at 2015 7:46 PM

2015-05-11T19:46:30-04:00

I heard this guy talk about that subject on TV last night. I can say only this. He is full of crap. He said everything about the raid was true except he can't "believe" (not one fact to back him) that our Seals flew that far into Pakistan without being noticed. He said that could not have happened. Well we did use a stealth helicopter, which crashed on the compound with many pictures showing this. So, they evidently did make it there. There is no reason to tell the story any other way, because the mission was accomplished. By our Seals. To think America doesn't possess the capability to accomplish that mission is ridiculous! This so called reporter, doesn't know all the fact of that mission. How does he know that the Pakistan Military wasn't in on this plan? Pakistan wanted him out of there because of all the problems he brought with him. None of us knows all the intelligence involved. But, the President ordered the military to get him, and they got him. End of story. Mission accomplished. I could care less how they did it. It's irrelevant. Bin Laden is Dead! The President promised that would be his first priority in office, and he kept that promise. It really puzzles me how some question or somehow want to make the President look bad for how he did it, but the former President, who was attacked by Bin Laden, decommissioned the task force that was to find him, was never held to account for WHY he didn't or couldn't get our number one enemy at the time. But, nor does it surprise me people won't give credit where credit is due. This reporter just about came right out and disrespected our Navy SEALS capabilities. I can't have any faith in someones words when they don't have faith in our Country. BIN LADEN IS DEAD AND THIS PRESIDENT IS TO BE COMMENDED FOR GOING AFTER HIM, NOT CRITICIZED. Just my opinion.

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made May 11 at 2015 7:51 PM

2015-05-11T19:51:46-04:00

You mean they sold UBL to the useful idiots the same way they sold Bowe Bergdahl? A gremlin with ferrari badges As-Is no warranty.

Response by SFC Charles S. made May 11 at 2015 7:58 PM

2015-05-11T19:58:42-04:00

SGT Private RallyPoint Member I trust that as Long as our Seals, Sealed Osama's Fate and Put him under the Ocean. Who Cares... History is written by the Victor... Unless Seymour Hersh is a Seal or a US Service member involved in the operation...which I'm certain he isn't; then he doesn't get to retell the tale. With the amount of muck raking that he has done in his time as an investigative reporter, that has only dug up crap that makes our Soldiers look bad; including our Vietnam veterans back in the 70's, I wouldn't trust him as far as I could throw him. Even if his story makes the POTUS look like a liar, which he has proven time after time on his own that he is...I don't' trust Seymour Hersh. Just a last note... The two photos are not relevant... The second one is a photoshop fake it's been around the internet for years now.

It was a Long read but and had interesting twists on the facts. Thank you for sharing this.

Response by MAJ Robert (Bob) Petrarca made May 11 at 2015 8:49 PM

2015-05-11T20:49:27-04:00

Doesn't surprise me one bit that some nitwit would come out of the woodwork years later with a claim like this,

As much as I don't trust Oval Office Guy, a lie of that magnitude including the military would be the ultimate coup d'état and he doesn't have the stones or the backing to pull that one off. Then John McCain comes to his defense...

Response by MAJ Robert (Bob) Petrarca made May 11 at 2015 8:53 PM

2015-05-11T20:53:45-04:00

What took Obama so long to find Osama?

The Pakistanis told Obama that Osama was hiding in a corner in the oval office.

ba-dum, dum!

Response by SSG (ret) William Martin made May 11 at 2015 9:47 PM

2015-05-11T21:47:13-04:00

I don't care. Binnny is dead. That is all that matters to me.

Response by SGT Rick Ash made May 11 at 2015 9:57 PM

2015-05-11T21:57:46-04:00

He is such a one hit wonder. So much B.S. I didn't even read the article.

Response by 1SG Private RallyPoint Member made May 11 at 2015 10:34 PM

2015-05-11T22:34:22-04:00

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.

Response by COL Vincent Stoneking made May 12 at 2015 10:16 AM

2015-05-12T10:16:21-04:00

While I greatly dislike Hersh for a lot of reasons, as your article points out, he has DECADES of being proven correct. He also broke the Abu Ghraib story. When he says a story is ready, it is generally right.

Response by LT Garth Young (Ret) made May 12 at 2015 10:33 AM

2015-05-12T10:33:48-04:00

As long as he isn't planning a raid on U.S. entity.....I really don't care. Keep taking 'em out, cuz they sure are trying to do the same!

Response by Lt Col Timothy Parker, DBA made May 12 at 2015 10:40 AM

2015-05-12T10:40:44-04:00

At this point what does it matter. Bin Laden is no longer a threat.

Response by SGT Ben Keen made May 12 at 2015 10:47 AM

2015-05-12T10:47:48-04:00

The death of bin Laden is going to be one of those things that will go down in history as a "he said, she said, they said" discussion. Much like the death of Hitler in Berlin, questions will always be there. If you notice, the people with the "answers" heard it from someone that hear it from someone that read it in a report written by someone that took notes from an interview of someone that was there.

What matters is that the guy is dead but as we have seen, you can cut the head of the snake by two more grow back to take it's place.