1) The initial reports that came out said that SEAL Team Six was engaged in a "firefight from beginning to end" NY Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/05/us/politics/05binladen.html?_r=1&ref=global-home). That account has now been changed to:
Administration officials said that the only shots fired by those in the compound came at the beginning of the operation, when Bin Ladin’s trusted courier, Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti, opened fire from behind the door of the guesthouse adjacent to the house where Bin Laden was hiding.
So the vivid animations shown by news outlet ABCNEWS featuring multiple persons in the compound windows firing on Seal Team Six were absolute fabrications.
2) The claims of the men in the compound using the women as human shields proved to be false:
. The administration’s reticence came after it was forced on Tuesday to correct parts of its initial account of the raid, including assertions that Bin Laden had used his wife as a “human shield.”
3) In examining the reports of the actual killing of OBL we find the following:
When the commandos reached the top floor, they entered a room and saw Osama bin Laden with an AK-47 and a Makarov pistol in arm’s reach. They shot and killed him, as well as wounding a woman with him
Now last night it was reported on ABC World News Tonight via an interview with Leon Panetta that unless OBL was naked he would have been killed. This essentially confirms my assertion that this was not a capture operation but a kill operation. Therefore, the excuses that OBL "may have had" a suicide vest or did anything threatening to the SEAL Team is now severely compromised. If OBL had both an AK and pistol within reach at the time that the team made it up too OBL's bedroom after the shooting, why did he not have the weapon(s) in hand pointing at the ONLY entrance ready to shoot at anything that moved? Does that make ANY SENSE TO YOU?
We're to believe that OBL put the AK and Makarov on the bed (or counter,they haven't gotten that part of the story set yet) in arms reach even while he KNOWS that somebody has broken into his "home" and has heard gunshots? REALLY? Let me ask the gun owners who may be reading this: Would you put your loaded weapon down "in arms reach" if you knew that someone broke into your home?
If OBL did in fact have the AK and Makarov on his bed (or counter or wherever "arms reach" means) rather than in his hands ready to go out like a soldier of the Mujahadeen then isn't it clear that he actually had surrendered and that reports that he "offered resistance" but so much bullshit?
4) Moving away from the raid, I want to ask some questions in regards to the person. Since 2001 we have been told that OBL had kidney problems. It was reported that he had some sort of portable dialysis machine. No one that I know who has knowledge of medicine will say that a person who is need of Kidney is going to be running around the mountains of Tora Bora for too long. So the questions here are
A) if OBL had a bad set of kidneys to the point that he needed a portable dialysis machine, where is the machine in the compound? If there was no machine in the compound where was he getting his dialysis done? Was one brought to the compound? If so by whom and supplied by whom? Wouldn't that be on some sort of watch list?
B) If OBL had kidney problems and had received a transplant then where and when did this happen? Does "the body" have the scars that show that a transplant has been done? If OBL had a transplant I understand that he must take anti-rejection medicine for the rest of his life were any anti-rejection drugs found in the compound?
If neither a portable dialysis machine or anti-rejection drugs were found in the compound then there are two possibilities:
a) The reports of OBL's kidney issues were lies fed to the public for some reason.
b) This person is not OBL.
5)In regards to the location. I already posted yesterday that it was known that OBL (or whomever) was in Abbottabad as of May 2005. Last night ABC World News Tonight reported that the Pakistanis had invaded that compound "prior to OBL moving in". If we know that OBL was in Abbottabad as of 2005, then when did this raid occur? The World News report did not say the date of that raid. Other reports are saying that the ISI informed the CIA of the compound in question in 2009.
So the ISI "told" the CIA in 2009 about a compound that was allegedly raided "prior to OBL moving in" and documents show OBL in Abbottabad in 2005? Anyone else confused here? If OBL was known to be in Abbottabad in 2005, then every US soldier killed or maimed in Afghanistan since then has been for no good reason. All these people talking about "support the troops" ought to be very concerned about this.
[update 1:55 PM EDT] from Counterpunch article "Was Osama Betrayed":
For the record, this property has been under ISI surveillance while it was under construction. It was first raided in 2003, and the ISI just missed capturing Al-Libby (he was later captured by the ISI close to Mardan in K-P Province). It has been raided on numerous occasions since.
So by this "new" information this compound was known by "our allies" Pakistan in 2003. the town was "known" by US military as of May 2005 and raided in May 2011.
OK.
[/update]
I'm sure that more "clarification" statements will be coming out.
