Former al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was unarmed and more or less dead with a bullet to the brain when US NAVY Seals entered his bedroom in his Abbottabad residence, a US Navy SEAL has revealed in a soon-to-be-published book.
“No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission that Killed Osama Bin Laden” was written under the pseudonym Mark Owen with co-author Kevin Maurer and was to be released next month on the anniversary of the Sept 11 attacks.
Giving a firsthand account of last May’s raid, the SEAL who also participated in it, has disclosed that Osama had been fatally wounded before they entered the room.
As the SEALS ascended a narrow staircase, the team’s point man saw a man poking his head from a doorway, wrote the SEAL using a pseudonym Mark Owen (whose real identity has since been revealed by Fox News) in “No Easy Day,” a copy of which was obtained 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.”
Contrary to media reports that Osama had a weapon and resisted when Navy SEALs entered the room, he was unarmed, writes Owen.
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.
“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 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, wailing over Bin Laden’s body, who verified that it was Osama.
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. While searching Osama’s neatly organised room, Owen writes, that he found two guns – an AK-47 and a Makarov pistol – with empty chambers.
Pentagon review
Meanwhile, the Pentagon on Wednesday said it has obtained a copy of a soon-to-be-published book and is reviewing it.
The book was not cleared by US defence officials in advance, raising the possibility that the author could face an investigation and possible criminal prosecution.
“We have obtained a copy and are reviewing it,” Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told Reuters.
Its publication has been moved up to Sept. 4, according to reports by some media outlets.
The former SEAL is now facing threats against his life in addition to possible charges. Officials have said the military would take legal action against anyone who exposed sensitive information that could harm fellow forces.
Earlier this month US officials said they were surprised by the book, which was not vetted by government agencies to ensure that no secrets were revealed.
(Additional input from Reuters)
Published in The Express Tribune, August 30th, 2012.
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