Osama Bin Laden was killed in a night time raid in Abbottabad in Pakistan over two years ago. PHOTO: FILE
The independent commission's report, which had been formally handed over to the government earlier in the year, had not been released to the public.
It bore a scathing assessment of the Pakistani government and the security structures.
Perhaps aware of the implications of its findings, the Commission notes that it had "apprehensions that the Commission’s report would be ignored, or even suppressed", and urged the government to release it to the public.
The government, however, did not do so. The report was buried by the government and never made public, until Al Jazeera got hold of it and released it online.
Findings of the Report
The Commission's 336 page report is scathing, holding both the government and the military responsible for ‘gross incompetence’, leading to ‘collective failures’ that allowed Bin Laden to escape detection, and the United States to perpetrate ‘an act of war’.
The Commission was charged with establishing whether the failures of the Pakistani government and military were due to incompetence, or complicity. It was given overarching investigative powers, and, in the course of its inquiry, interviewed more than 201 witnesses - including members of Bin Laden's own family, the chief of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence, and other senior provincial, federal and military officials.
It also notes that the government's intention in conducting the inquiry was likely aimed at ‘regime continuance, when the regime is desperate to distance itself from any responsibility for the national disaster that occurred on its watch’ and was likely to be ‘a reluctant response to an overwhelming public and parliamentary demand’.
The Commission found that there had been a complete collapse of governance and law enforcement - a situation it termed ‘Government Implosion Syndrome’, both in the lack of intelligence on Bin Laden's nine-year residence in Pakistan, and in the response to the US raid that killed him. It finds that ‘culpable negligence and incompetence at almost all levels of government can more or less be conclusively established’.
On the presence of a CIA network in Pakistan tracking down Bin Laden, without the Pakistani establishment's knowledge, the Commission finds "this [was] a case of nothing less than a collective and sustained dereliction of duty by the political, military and intelligence leadership of the country".
It also states that the US violation of Pakistani sovereignty, in carrying out the raid unilaterally, had been allowed to happen due to inaccurate and outdated threat assessments within the country's defence and strategic policy establishments.
"It is official or unofficial defence policy not to attempt to defend the country if threatened, or even attacked by a military superpower like the US?" the Commission asks of several top military officers.
"From a Pakistani strategic doctrine point of view," the report notes, while issuing findings on how the military had wholly focused its "peacetime deployment" of defence capabilities on the border with India, "the world stood still for almost a decade."
The report states that “the inability to spot the low flying helicopters over Abbottabad cantonment was a major failure.”
The report reads that "no apparent attempt to take him alive was made. Four Pakistani citizens were also killed without any attempt to disarm or detain them. None apparently put up any resistance or fired at the raiders. The US raid was not a capture or kill mission. It was a kill mission."
Finally, through testimony from Bin Laden’s family and intelligence officials, it provides a fascinating, and richly detailed, account of Bin Laden's time in Pakistan: his movements, his habits and his pattern of life.
In concluding its report, the Commission finds that the country's "political, military intelligence and bureaucratic leadership cannot be absolved of their responsibility for the state of governance, policy planning and policy implementation that eventually rendered this national failure almost inevitable", and calls on the country's leadership to formally apologise to the people of Pakistan for "their dereliction of duty".
2011 Raid
US special forces launched a raid deep into Pakistani territory on May 1, 2011 to capture or kill al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden. US soldiers flew via helicopter to the Pakistani army garrison town of Abbottabad on US President Barack Obama, where he was hiding according to their intelligence. In the subsequent raid, Bin Laden and four others were killed, whilst several were wounded.
Following the operation, that had been deliberately conducted without the knowledge of the Pakistani government or its military, a commission was set up in Pakistan to examine "how the US was able to execute a hostile military mission, which lasted around three hours, deep inside Pakistan", and how Pakistan's "intelligence establishment apparently had no idea that an international fugitive of the renown or notoriety of [Osama bin Laden] was residing in [Abbottabad]," the report says.
Page 197 of the report, which contains part of the testimony of Lieutenant General Ahmed Shuja Pasha, then director of the ISI, was missing from all copies of the report that Al Jazeera obtained from multiple sources, the news channel stated.
It is unclear what was contained on that page, but the contextual implication is that, among other things, it contains a list of seven demands made by the United States to Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks in 2001.
Al Jazeera Blocked in Pakistan?
Some reports, especially on social media website Twitter, suggested that the Al Jazeera website was inaccessible for some shortly after the report was released. However, the report and the website could easily be accessed by The Express Tribune.
OK I can access the @AJEnglish website now. Weird I couldnt a minute ago. #BinLadenFiles #OBL #Pakistan
— Sheharyar Rizwan (@sheharyarizwan) July 8, 2013
Al Jazeera website blocked in #Pakistan, hours after it Published the Abottabad commission report on OBL's killing #Osama #US #PTA #Censor
— Crypto Bible (@Karachi_Post) July 8, 2013
Al Jazeera correspondent Asad Hashim confirmed some blocking was taking place.
Just got confirmation from AJE IT team that we are being actively blocked in Pakistan after #BinLadenFiles release. Stand by for updates.
— Asad Hashim (@AsadHashim) July 8, 2013
COMMENTS (59)
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i hate this portal they always delete my comments ... coz i am direct ...now what the use of crying over the spilt milk when i tried to slap both the sides to shut up and keep quite as we all know how the system is ... it where the westerners let us fight , it was, it is and it will be if we don't understand the things logically and with depth according to our common third world sociology. this is not fair pakistan tribune ...hahaha lol
@numbersnumbers: Dear numbers, Where you in the Abbottabad compound during the fictional killing of OBL?
@Ozman: you seem to be lving in fools paradise....people should have resigned ? has that ever taken place in our country ? do we have such word as " resign " in our dictionary...nor in our culture ? such act is only expected from morally upright people....we have proved ourselves as morally corrupt people....we do not pay taxes, we lie at every step, we cheat etc; etc; these are bitter pills we must swallow....like it or not but fact is fact.
and the ex interior minister RM claimed to be mr. know all! on the other hand, the president/supreme commander when asked about pertinent issues replies he wasn't aware!! or feigns ignorance! what were they aware or unaware of during the 5 years? and why hold such posts?
Forget about past don't repeat such mistakes in future.
@Sexton Blake: So you were in "The Compound" in Abbottabad during the American helicopter assault and can testify that only "Santa Claus" was there!!!! By the way, interesting reading the Abbottabad Commission Report about that "fictional" night you refer to, with OBLs "fictional family" providing details about his "fictional" life there!!!
7th largest "Islamic" army. What a joke. lol
@sajjad: Dear sajjad, I was personally present when OBL died, several years ago, in a US Yemeny based military hospital, due to the fatal Marfan's Syndrome. He was taken there by his CIA buddies who he worked with under his CIA pseudonym of Tim Osman. After he died I was elevated to heaven by angels and noted how well he was received. On a lesser note I was also acquainted with Alice who invited me to visit Wonderland with her, and we both enjoyed the Mad Hatters Tea Party very much. Oh, and I was also present at the birthplace of President Obama at his birth in Kenya, and in case you ask the question, I am OBL's uncle, distantly related to President Obama, and we are both very very distant cousins of the UK Queen. PS: I hope you can see that anybody can relate miss-truths just as well as Washington that are just as unbelievable, or should I say believable, because so many people appear to believe the utter nonsense emanating from the Oval Office. PS2: Logic would indicate that I am reasonably accurate about OBL's demise. Anybody who believes the Abbottabad fiction probably believes in Santa Claus.
@estmsm: and who told you that....are you his real son???
@ Pakistani bloggers
It is the afroam. President who has exposed the defence weakness of Pakistan!! All his advisers opposed independent military operations in Pakistan. The duration of the entire operation without any PAF response is known to the Indian military , the declared enemy of Pakistan, and since this episode they have been sending their fighter planes into Pakistan unopposed. PAF pilots have since ontinued to practice ground bombing instead of air battles. The fact that both Osama and CIA were residing as neighbours in a garrison town is apparently not covered in the report. The Talibans opposition to the Polio vaccine campaigns is explained with this report. Are they the only source for providing coordinates for Drone attacks?
Rex Minor
Rubbish! Blatant lies! OBL had died in 2001 due to kidney failure as he was undergoing kidney dialysis.
The truth is that Pakistan is failed state, incapable of defending its citizens from jahadi and various other thugs, nor protect its borders from hostile forces, they have a ceremonial army and corrupt police and intelligence service. Pakistanis shouldn't blame others for their problem, they love to elect same corrupt leaders again and again.
You cannot spare any one on this, Civil government is to be blamed for having eyes closed from every side except looking for donations with no integrity, military is to be blamed for not being vigilant, because if this type of situation comes, if they were awake and saw the American terrorists entering into Pakistan, or attempting to attack any premises in Pakistan, this should have been stopped by the army immediately, no permissions required. Any way we must not beat the bush, but this shouldn't become a practice as we noticed in the drones attacks, this drones attacks are illegal and an act of terrorism from America, which should be dealt in manner that no country remains in doubts of walking out safe after an illegal attempt.
The report should bring home to Pakistanis about the CIA net work in Pakistan as well as the competence of their army and PAF!!
Rex Minor
@Drones?: I said NO..NO..NO...it will continue until Pakistan is terror free.
Leakage of report is another failure:)
The real author of this report is Zaid Hamid!
The Americans did what they had to do. The Pakistani establishment would have probably done the same thing if the positions were reversed. But I do believe that the civilian, military and bureaucratic elite of Pakistan should have stepped down and resigned from their posts... or at the very least given some explanation to the Pakistani taxpayers.
Can't help seeing how people are falling for this story!! Once a thief was caught robbing a house at the middle of the night. When the house owner turned on the light, he quickly pulled down his pants and acted as if he was slightly mad and had just lost his way. Better to be incompetent than complicit. Heh, Heh!!!
Out of curiosity, can ET now publish the complete report that it could copy from Al Jazeera???
All are crying about who did what. No one talks about OBL's presence in Abbotabad. In a cantonment area in Pakistan every rental or construction is approved by the cantonment. How did he build such mention and no one noticed. I think people of authority knew everything stayed quit because he was a blank check. Worry about the country and the killing in the name of religion and forget OBL'S that's history
@king: "just one incident doesnt mean we are losers not to forget 9 11 was also an incident,a matter of pure impotence if us armed forces,its intelligence,its politicals.."
Just one incident? What about attack on GHQ, Mehreeen base attack? Salala where your soldiers were bombarded for 2 hours wihout any airforce flying to protect them? Attack on Sri Lanka cricket team? The almost daily bomb blasts that occur in markets, schools buses, hospitals, mosques and playgrounds?
Also, after 9/11 they made significant changes to their intelligence gathering, co-ordination and other processes. What changes were made in Pakistan as a result of this incident? What about 1965, 1971 and Kargill - were there any lessons learnt from any of those episodes? India learnt a lesson from its 1962 defeat to China and the subsequent changes led to a different result in 1965 (even though you are taught something different)
Please remember that this report is the result of much work, BUT the resulting FINAL DRAFT is the result of significant shaping and editing due to the inputs of the various "powerful" players!!! What you can read online (minus certain key pages) is courtesy of "Multiple Sources" that provided copies to AlJazeera, but how these copies escaped is another mystery.
Try this link:
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/spotlight/binladenfiles/2013/07/201378143927822246.html
@It Is (still) Economy Stupid: independent Commission of inquiry
A commission can only find out what people tell them. A Pakistan commission will never tell Pakistan government's involvement. Pakistanis made money from Bin Laden as well as people who were looking for him.
Musharaf wrote in his book "Pakistan had captured 689 Al Qaeda members and handed over 369 of them to the US, the president notes on page 237 of the first edition: "We have earned bounties totaling millions of dollars. Those who habitually accuse us of 'not doing enough' in the war on terror should simply ask the CIA how much prize money it has paid to the government of Pakistan."
@Parvez:
"Two choices available 1) incompetence 2) complicity…………….obviously it had to be # 1."
Astute observation. You are right that the Deep State had only these two choices. Obviously, the second one would be a lot more damaging internationally than the first one, so the "independent" report chose the first one.
Of course, there was the third option of totally denying that Bin Laden was ever in Pakistan and that the person that the Americans killed was not bin Laden. The Establishment propagandist tried that initially. But, they had to drop that because there was too much evidence already known to the rest of the world and even the Pakistanis.
Starting with 9/11 the greatest ongoing casualty so far appears to have been the truth, and that goes for the US, Pakistan, and Al Jazeera. I am still waiting to hear some reasonable proof that OBL was killed, and the fact that his body was dropped into the sea has ensured we will never be able to establish the truth for certain.. In other words the Americans have a bad habit of creating the groundwork for conspiracy theories to start up. We only have the Americans word for it, and we know they tell lies. In any event, Pakistan should not feel too bad about it. On 9/11 17 Saudis supposedly hijacked multiple American planes and flew around US skies in broad daylight for several hours in complete safety, but then again we only have America's word for it. Some other aspects to consider is that Pakistanis must be unique in that they are always bad mouthing themselves, and they also have a Mr. Snowden type, or should we say Dr. Afridi, who is releasing information to foreign interests.
This should make for some entertaining reading in the 'land of the namaloom afraad'. Should be good fiction.
Oh Mi Goodness! And I thought it were the na maloom afraad who killed OBL. What a finding!
Two choices available 1) incompetence 2) complicity................obviously it had to be # 1.
Where can i get this report now that Aljazeera is blocked?
It finds that ‘culpable negligence and incompetence at almost all levels of government can more or less be conclusively established’. that's enough for me to know that our internal system is totally collapsed from top to bottom.Every person in power of ex regime was busy filling pockets. no one cared for the country or its people.
"The Commission’s 336 page report is scathing, holding both the government and the military responsible for ‘gross incompetence’, leading to ‘collective failures’ that allowed Bin Laden to escape detection, "Pakistan’s “intelligence establishment apparently had no idea that an international fugitive of the renown or notoriety of [Osama bin Laden] was residing in [Abbottabad],” the report says."
There you go! Does anyone believe that Osama bin Laden was living in Pakistan for nine long years, the last five right next to a military base without any support from Pakistani intelligence and military leadership? If that is what this report says, then it is very obvious this report was controlled and edited in Aabpara.
Till yesterday, pakistan was denying that OBL was dead, even Munawar Hassan lead his ghayebaana Namaz e Janaza prayer was denying his death, what a foolish nation we are ....
Para 21: Accordingly, the Commission respectfully insists that in the national interest the Government of Pakistan discharge its obligations to make this report and its findings and recommendations published in English and Urdu languages without delay. This is especially so because the Commission was established as a result of a unanimously adopted resolution of a joint parliamentary session.
What about the Drones attacks? is this not US violation of Pakistani sovereignty? Is this not culpable negligence and incompetence at almost all levels of government, security establishment and agencies? Are this is not their responsibility to protect and safeguard their country and nation? Is it still official or unofficial defence policy not to attempt to defend the country if threatened, or even attacked by a military US or drones? Are drones attacks not on killing mission? Is it not killing innocent Pakistani? Is this not country political, military intelligence and bureaucratic leadership failure to protect their citizen from killer drones?
just one incident doesnt mean we are losers not to forget 9 11 was also an incident,a matter of pure impotence if us armed forces,its intelligence,its politicals..
Pra 34: Her Sister Maryam was asked the same Question and she replied” Abdullah bin Muhammad. The soldier did not understand her reference to the last part of her father’s full name (which was Osama bin Muhammad bin Awad bin Laden). Summaya then told Maryam “tell them the truth. They are not Pakistani!”. Finally they told the Americans the body was that of their father, Osama bin Laden. They were told then to stand in the corner. When they were later led out of the room Sumayya looked back and saw her father’s body was gone. According to her it was less than ten minutes from the time they were first awoken by the noise of the helicopter’s and killing of her father.
Para 10: Subsequently, some party leaders who had supported the joint parliamentary resolution of May 14 to establish an independent Commission of inquiry changed their minds and oppose the establishment of an independent Commission. Initially, concerns were expressed that government appointed Commission would not be sufficiently independent to be credible. Later, it appeared that there were fears that it might be too independent. There appeared to be a transition among some political leaders and legislators from bitter criticism against the authorities and institutions held responsible in the aftermath of the May 2 incident, to a more conciliatory concern for the “morale” of the military. The military also warned against any “army bashing”
OBL chapter has been closed. We have failed, but lets not loose the lesson. Look for others who are still killing innocent people in Pakistan.
Interior Minister.......
para 46: By the time the wives, children and grandchildren were taken away from the Compound by Pakistani security forces and Amal was taken to the hospital for her wounds to be treated, the Azaan for the Fajr prayer could be heard. They were able to take only a few possessions with them. Of their valuables they could find nothing except for two or three gold “biscuit” of ten tola each. The Americans had taken away a jewel box with twenty gold biscuits and two gold lockets emeralds. They also took a purse that contained the will of Osama bin Laden.
Wait for another commission to investigate, how the report reached Al Jazeera.
When no heads will roll on national tragedies , such incidents will keep popping up every now and then..
its western social scientific system of democracy let every body either shout and scream at each oither with blame games or even being violent on the live telecasts and that is justified or also according to the same system lets adhere to civilized , locigal and justified dialogue to sort of the issues social scientifically its not a tribal jihadi era anymore it a rocket science era...
Thanks for foreign media otherwise the facts would never come out and the poor Pakistanis would always remain in the dark. How about all those rumor mongers who have been denying the whole incident let alone feel ashamed about it?
Pra 34: Her Sister Maryam was asked the same Question and she replied” Abdullah bin Muhammad. The soldier did not understand her reference to the last part of her father’s full name (which was Osama bin Muhammad bin Awad bin Laden). Summaya then told Maryam “tell them the truth. They are not Pakistani!**”. Finally they told the Americans the body was that of their father, Osama bin Laden. They were told then to stand in the corner. When they were later led out of the room Sumayya looked back and saw her father’s body was gone. According to her it was less than ten minutes from the time they were first awoken by the noise of the helicopter’s and killing of her father. [Emphasis added by me] http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia/2013/07/20137813412615531.html
What a shame that our independent commission’s report is being blocked in Pakistan while the foreign media is publishing it! The shameful history of H. Rehman Commission Report is repeated again and again that was first published in India and never in Pakistan. While the poor citizens spend lots of money to find out the facts these reports never see the light of the day and are kept secret from those who are paying for it. How long would we continue to keep a lid on the crimes and conspiracies by the rich and powerful establishment?
This report is lying through its teeth.
There was no negligence or dereliction of duty.
There was a clear complicity.
This report is as rubbish as the Hamadoor Rehman report, where it puts a lot of blame on India and some blame of Yahya. But almost acquits ZA Bhutto, the main architect of Bangladesh.
Thanks AJ......
After looking at this damning report I want to know what action Military has taken to stop a similar things from happening in the future? Also, how many generals been punished for their negligence? From the government, I would like to know why those who were responsible for their gross negligence have not been prosecuted yet?
I agree that twitter is not blocked, the rumor is the real face of social media, where, how people are spreading false news with malafide intentions.
There is no doubt in it that it was a total failure of our intelligence agencies, while the then President General Pervez Musharraf was keep on saying from time to time that OBL is hiding on Tora Bora mountains.
Some time OBL use to come one side of the mountain, and some times OBL use to go on the other side of the Tora Bora mountain.
When a President of Pakistan will give such an absurd statement, what else could we would have expected from the US government?
Unfortunately, our intelligence agencies do not know that US never discuss with any one about its secret operation(s), while people dealing with the OBL matter in Pakistan was never told what was the truth.
US was following the leads through its own resources and never took any information as correct that may have been volenteered by the people who were sitting at the helm of affairs until the OBL operation was over.
Only very few people in the White House was informed as what would be happening in the next few hours on the night when the operation was conducted.
President Obama as usual went on his walk and there was nothing serious noted until few people when into the operation room and looked through the cameras when US Seal's raided OBL compound in Abbotabad.
Finally...something we had been waiting for a while...kudos to whoever was able to get it to Al-Jazeera
Let us hop that Pak Army is not blamed, and civilians take blame.