Did Obama Lie About Bin Laden?

[ClydeR]

The Killing of Osama Bin Laden
Seymour M. Hersh

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 mission was an all-American affair, and that the senior generals of Pakistan’s army and Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI) were not told of the raid in advance. This is false, as are many other elements of the Obama administration’s account.

More... (http://www.lrb.co.uk/v37/n10/seymour-m-hersh/the-killing-of-osama-bin-laden)

Hersh says Obama is lying about three important things. First, Pakistan's government knew and cooperated. Second, we didn't find out about Bin Laden's location through a "courier." It was somebody Obama is refusing to name to walked in to collect the reward. Third, there was no gun fight. They just went in there and "obliterated" him with a lot more than two bullets.

Hmm. If that's all true, then I'm fine with it.

But I'm not fine with this..


A worrying factor at this early point, according to the retired official, was Saudi Arabia, which had been financing bin Laden’s upkeep since his seizure by the Pakistanis. ‘The Saudis didn’t want bin Laden’s presence revealed to us because he was a Saudi, and so they told the Pakistanis to keep him out of the picture. The Saudis feared if we knew we would pressure the Pakistanis to let bin Laden start talking to us about what the Saudis had been doing with al-Qaida. And they were dropping money – lots of it. The Pakistanis, in turn, were concerned that the Saudis might spill the beans about their control of bin Laden. The fear was that if the US found out about bin Laden from Riyadh, all hell would break out. The Americans learning about bin Laden’s imprisonment from a walk-in was not the worst thing.’

I read that paragraph several times. Several more times. I'm having trouble processing it.

[Androidpk]

Let me guess, he has an anonymous source.. :jerkit:

[Androidpk]

Turns out The New Yorker declined running Hersh's article years ago because the two sources weren't reliable and the story was full of holes and contradictory information. Shocker.

[Latrinsorm]

The "M" stands for "butts".

[ClydeR]

In journalism, this is what's called "confirmation."


R.J. Hillhouse, a former professor, Fulbright fellow and novelist whose writing on intelligence and military outsourcing has appeared in the Washington Post and New York Times, made the same main assertions in 2011 about the death of Osama bin Laden as Seymour Hersh’s new story in the London Review of Books — apparently based on different sources than those used by Hersh.

Bin Laden was killed by Navy SEALs on May 2, 2011. Three months later, on August 7, Hillhouse posted a story on her blog “The Spy Who Billed Me” stating that (1) the U.S. did not learn about bin Laden’s location from tracking an al Qaeda courier, but from a member of the Pakistani intelligence service who wanted to collect the $25 million reward the U.S. had offered for bin Laden; (2) Saudi Arabia was paying Pakistan to keep bin Laden under the equivalent of house arrest; (3) Pakistan was pressured by the U.S. to stand down its military to allow the U.S. raid to proceed unhindered; and (4) the U.S. had planned to claim that bin Laden had been killed in a drone strike in the border regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan, but was forced to abandon this when one of the Navy SEAL helicopters crashed.

Hersh’s article makes the same key claims about the bin Laden raid.....

More... (https://firstlook.org/theintercept/2015/05/11/former-professor-reported-basics-hershs-bin-laden-story-2011-seemingly-different-sources/)

[Androidpk]

In journalism, this is what's called "confirmation."

That isn't confirmation..

[Gelston]

I'd like to see ClydeR go from his tired fake conservative approach to being a full blown conspiracy nut. Make it so.

[Fallen]

I'd like to see ClydeR go from his tired fake conservative approach to being a full blown conspiracy nut. Make it so.

He has a ways to go, unless I missed a thread of his about the invasion of Texas.

[ClydeR]

That isn't confirmation..

Says one of the sheeple.

[Androidpk]

Says one of the sheeple.

Okay, Latrin..

[Seran]

In interviews today via telephone and email, she explained that the passage by Hersh “suggests that we did not share sources” because “to the best of my knowledge, my sources were not privy to aspects of the SEAL’s training raid … and they also did not consult for SOC.” In addition, Hillhouse said, “I would be shocked if … my sources would talk to [Hersh], given their politics and given the sensitivity that the administration had toward this story.”

This should be read; "To the best of my knowledge, I am suggesting that this is not the same source, though I have no real way of proving this due to the nature of anonymous, unverified sources."

[Lady Sylvan]

Our beloved government holds many secrets from us and tells us many lies to cover up the truth. It is not like they are mean. I think of our government as a loving parent: they tell us what they want us to hear to protect us from ourselves. And because we are not yet ready to learn the truth.

The US People are very good sheep and the US Government is like a very strict sheepdog. They have mastered their role well with two hundred years of experience to back them.

[Parkbandit]

Our beloved government holds many secrets from us and tells us many lies to cover up the truth. It is not like they are mean. I think of our government as a loving parent: they tell us what they want us to hear to protect us from ourselves. And because we are not yet ready to learn the truth.

The US People are very good sheep and the US Government is like a very strict sheepdog. They have mastered their role well with two hundred years of experience to back them.

Most of us are adults and no longer require a "loving parent" to coddle us.

[Lady Sylvan]

To the US Government even the adults are considered children. That stops after our deaths.

[Parkbandit]

To the US Government even the adults are considered children. That stops after our deaths.

It's like an over protective parent that doesn't know when to stop dictating what their "children" should do.. even when they are well into adulthood.

I've never met an adult that had parents like that who wasn't a loser.

[Archigeek]

It's as if you guys expect our government to reveal confidential sources. The vaccine doc might very well hang for his involvement, guess they should have kept him secret too. Oh wait, we have a right to know!

[Parkbandit]

It's as if you guys expect our government to reveal confidential sources. The vaccine doc might very well hang for his involvement, guess they should have kept him secret too. Oh wait, we have a right to know!

http://memestorage.com/_nw/58/98514998.jpg

[Androidpk]

It's as if you guys expect our government to reveal confidential sources. The vaccine doc might very well hang for his involvement, guess they should have kept him secret too. Oh wait, we have a right to know!

I don't believe the US gave him up. Pakistani Intelligence Services uncovered his role in their investigation and he is currently in prison I believe.

[Archigeek]

It was known that we checked out the residence with someone offering vaccinations. That was likely enough information for someone to figure out who he was. That information should have never been made public if it put the person who went to the door in danger, and it looks like it did.

This whole story is kind of surreal. It's just as plausible as the original version, but who knows? We know that Saudi organizations have been funding conservative madrasas in Pakistan for years, and I'm not that surprised that they would have an agreement with the Pakistani's to hold OBL under some sort of house arrest rather than turn him over to the US.

[Androidpk]

It could be true, yes, but I don't really buy it. If we went into Pakistan and had an agreement with their government, IS, and military, then why the hasty escape where we left behind valuable stealth helicopter technology that the Chinese were able to get their hands on?

[ForWhatItsWorth]

I would think a hasty exfil is pretty much SOP.

In regard to the "agreement". If there was one, I dont think the rank and file Pakistan Military would be privy. I doubt any SOF is interested in hanging out behind enemy lines after a raid any longer than they have to. Tech < ST6 bodies.

[Lady Sylvan]

We will never know the truth. Obama said we would get Bin Ladin and hes dead.

[Androidpk]

So I'm guessing the SEALs that spoke/wrote books on said raid were lying and even all that was part of the cover up.

[ClydeR]

I would think a hasty exfil is pretty much SOP.

In regard to the "agreement". If there was one, I dont think the rank and file Pakistan Military would be privy. I doubt any SOF is interested in hanging out behind enemy lines after a raid any longer than they have to. Tech < ST6 bodies.

I had to Google!

Please keep posting, ForWhatItsWorth. It's obvious that you know what you're talking about, unlike Certain People.

[ClydeR]

So I'm guessing the SEALs that spoke/wrote books on said raid were lying and even all that was part of the cover up.



http://i372.photobucket.com/albums/oo166/rmi08a/zdt_script_zpsrz3py0bx.jpg (https://twitter.com/AdrianChen/status/597897207535251456)

[Androidpk]

I would think a hasty exfil is pretty much SOP.

In regard to the "agreement". If there was one, I dont think the rank and file Pakistan Military would be privy. I doubt any SOF is interested in hanging out behind enemy lines after a raid any longer than they have to. Tech < ST6 bodies.

Rank and file wouldn't need to know details, just that they were to stand down if there was an intrusion in Abbottabad.