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	<title>FrontPage Magazine &#187; Christina Lamb</title>
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		<title>Seals Tell of Killing &#8216;Bert&#8217; Laden</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2011/christina-lamb/seals-tell-of-killing-bert-laden/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=seals-tell-of-killing-bert-laden</link>
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		<pubDate>Wed, 09 Nov 2011 04:30:38 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Christina Lamb]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bin Laden]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[official version]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[raid]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[SEALs]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[US Navy Seals]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=111729</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Upset by the official account, US Navy Seals commandos reveal the truth of the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden. ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/seals.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-111738" title="seals" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/seals.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="225" /></a></p>
<p><strong>Reprinted from <a href="http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/">The Sunday Times</a>.</strong></p>
<p>OSAMA BIN LADEN was killed within 90 seconds of the US Navy  Seals landing in his compound and not after a protracted gun battle,  according to the first account by the men who carried out the raid. The  operation was so clinical that only 12 bullets were fired.</p>
<p>The Seals have spoken out because they were angered at the version  given by politicians, which they see as portraying them as cold-blooded  murderers on a “kill mission”. They were also shocked that President  Barack Obama announced bin Laden&#8217;s death on television the same evening,  rendering useless much of the intelligence they had seized.</p>
<p>Chuck  Pfarrer, a former commander of Seal Team 6, which conducted the  operation, has interviewed many of those who took part for a book, Seal  Target Geronimo, to be published in the US this week.</p>
<p>The Seals&#8217;  own accounts differ from the White House version, which gave the  impression that bin Laden was killed at the end of the operation rather  than in its opening seconds. Pfarrer insists bin Laden would have been  captured had he surrendered.</p>
<p>“There isn&#8217;t a politician in the world who could resist trying to  take credit for getting bin Laden but it devalued the &#8216;intel&#8217; and gave  time for every other al-Qa&#8217;ida leader to scurry to another bolthole,”  said Pfarrer. “The men who did this and their valorous act deserve  better. It&#8217;s a pretty shabby way to treat these guys.”</p>
<p>The first  hint of the mission came in January last year when the team&#8217;s commanding  officer was called to a meeting at the headquarters of joint special  operations command. The meeting was held in a soundproof bunker three  storeys below ground with his boss, Admiral William McRaven, and a CIA  officer.</p>
<p>They told him a walled compound in Pakistan had been  under surveillance for a couple of weeks. They were certain a high-value  individual was inside and needed a plan to present to the president.</p>
<p>It  had to be someone important. “So is this Bert or Ernie?” he asked. The  Seals&#8217; nicknames for bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri are a  reference to two Muppets in Sesame Street, one tall and thin and the  other short and fat. “We have a voice print,” said the CIA officer, “and  we&#8217;re 60 per cent or 70 per cent certain it&#8217;s our guy.” McRaven added  that a reconnaissance satellite had measured the target&#8217;s shadow. “Over  6ft tall.”</p>
<p>When McRaven added they would use Ghost Hawk  helicopters, the team leader had no doubt. “These are the most  classified, sophisticated stealth helicopters ever developed,” said  Pfarrer. “They are kept in locked hangars and fly so quiet we call it  &#8216;whisper mode&#8217;.”</p>
<p>Over the next couple of months a plan was  hatched. A mock-up of the compound was built at Tall Pines, an army  facility in a national forest somewhere in the eastern US.</p>
<p>Four  reconnaissance satellites were placed in orbit over the compound,  sending back video and communications intercepts. A tall figure seen  walking up and down was named “the Pacer”.</p>
<p>Mr Obama gave the  go-ahead and Seal Team 6, known as the Jedi, was deployed to  Afghanistan. The White House cancelled plans to provide air cover using  jet fighters, fearing this might endanger relations with Pakistan.</p>
<p>Sending  in the Ghost Hawks without air cover was considered too risky so the  Seals had to use older Stealth Hawks. A Prowler electronic warfare  aircraft from the carrier USS Carl Vinson was used to jam Pakistan&#8217;s  radar and create decoy targets.</p>
<p>Operation Neptune&#8217;s Spear was  initially planned for April 30 but bad weather delayed it until May 1, a  moonless night. The commandos flew on two Stealth Hawks, codenamed  Razor 1 and 2, followed by two Chinooks five minutes behind, known as  “Command Bird” and the “gun platform”.</p>
<p>On board, each Seal was  clad in body armour and nightvision goggles and equipped with laser  targets, radios and sawn-off M4 rifles. They were expecting up to 30  people in the main house, including Bin Laden and three of his wives,  two sons, Khalid and Hamza, his courier, Abu Ahmed al- Kuwaiti, four  bodyguards and a number of children. At 56 minutes past midnight the  compound came into sight and the code “Palm Beach” signalled three  minutes to landing.</p>
<p>Razor 1 hovered above the main house, a  three-storey building where bin Laden lived on the top floor. Twelve  Seals abseiled the two metres down onto the roof and then jumped to a  third-floor patio, where they kicked in the windows and entered.</p>
<p>The  first person the Seals encountered was a terrified woman, bin Laden&#8217;s  third wife, Khaira, who ran into the hall. Blinded by a searing white  strobe light they shone at her, she stumbled back. A Seal grabbed her by  the arm and threw her to the floor.</p>
<p>Bin Laden&#8217;s bedroom was along  a short hall. The door opened; he popped out and then slammed the door  shut. “Geronimo, Geronimo, Geronimo,” radioed one Seal, meaning “eyes on  target”.</p>
<p>At the same time lights came on from the floor below and  bin Laden&#8217;s son Khalid came running up the stairs towards the Seals. He  was shot dead.</p>
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