Bureau Recommends: Getting Bin Laden
The Bureau recommends an article by The New Yorker magazine that provides a definitive account of the US special forces operation to kill Osama Bin Laden.
The article throws doubt upon the claim that the al-Qaeda leader could have surrendered to the team of US Navy SEALs that carried out the operation. According to an unnamed ‘special-operations officer’, there was never any intention to capture Bin Laden. “No-one wanted detainees,” the officer reportedly said.
The Obama administration maintains that Bin Laden could have been taken into custody had he surrendered immediately.
Drawing on both Pakistani and Western sources, the article provides an extraordinary level of detail in its account of the raid. It reveals that Pakistani air defenses are blind to US aircraft, that one of the mission’s helicopters crashed due to discrepancies between rehearsals and the actual operation, and that a dog named Cairo was brought on the team.
For the full article, click here.
To be kept up to date on this and other stories from the Bureau, please subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here.
