OBL’s death and the mystery around it

The day the twin towers fell on 9/11 in New york the world changed for the worse. From then on started the largest man hunt in history for a man known as “OBL” or Osama bin Ladin, the leader of Alqaeda, a terrorist organization hell bent on destroying life as we knew it .

Two days ago in abottabad when Sohaib Athar, better known as @ReallyVirtual started tweeting about a helicopter hovering overhead at 1 am little did he know that he was actually live reporting on the world changing again.  Long story short, a team of 25 navy seals riding on helicopters stormed the compound housing Osma Bin Ladin in this leafy hilltop town in Pakistan and killed him in the fire fight that ensued, took away his body and then performed a burial at sea because no government was willing to let the body be buried on their soil and the U.S authorities wanted to avoid a future shrine developing. The U.S authorities say that at the time of killing OBL was unarmed but resisting, that he was discovered in a bedroom on the third floor with his wife and that he was killed when he made a sudden and threatening move. The time line for the operation is here.

This story as simple as it may seem is full of holes, holes big enough to cause many a doubt in anyone’s mind as to what actually happened and give rise to conspiracy theories about OBL still being alive.

Hole # 1 The Us claims they have reached this compound through trailing a courier of OBL who lived with him and the compound was under watch since last August, they concluded OBL was there in Feb 011

Implausible that the Us knew he was there since the last two months and did not move, they have been trailing this man for 10 years what were they waiting for? Certainly not a go ahead from the Pakistan government whom they claim was not even informed of this raid until the birds were back in the sky. Perhaps they were waiting for the right moment in Obama’s approval ratings graph?

Hole # 2 :There was an intense firefight before OBL was killed

A 25 member team of  highly trained utterly deadly and professional navy seals storming a compound defended by OBL’s son and two other men (whom it is not clear were couriers or bodyguards) and there was an intense firefight? The windows are busted sure but that could be due to stun grenades not fire fighting. The U.S authorities have now even confirmed OBL was unarmed and was killed in his bedroom..some firefight.

Hole # 3 : The burial at sea was done according to Islamic tradition

In Islamic tradition funerals are often waited on before burial for family members to gather, sometimes for days. There is no window that the burial HAS to take place in. Plus “Burial at sea” takes place in the form of a long voyage where there is no land in sight, it is not used to dispose of a body.

Hole # 4 : The most glaring one of proof of death

The U.S authorities have stated in last nights press briefing that the pictures of the dead OBL’s body are being reviewed for release due to sensitivity of nature and as they can be inflammatory. More inflammatory then dropping into the house of a global terrorist kingpin and shooting him and his family at point blank range? I do not think so, the pictures and the DNA analysis which is claimed has matched MUST be released to put the specter of OBL to rest once and for all, in fact they should have displayed the dead body to a few key witnesses before they got rid of it. As without pictures and the DNA match all we have is their words against the Taliban’s.

Hole # 5 : Materials taken from the compound included 10 hard drives, five computers and more than 100 storage devices, such as disks, DVDs and thumb drives, a senior U.S. official told CNN Tuesday.

Interesting as this compound had no phone or internet connection and Osama has been known by all his past history to loathe the proximity of electronic devices. Yet he was sitting there with a tranche of digital data pointing to him and all his accomplices (supposedly)

Hole # 6 : No casualty or harm befell any of the navy seals in this operation.

Ummm a helicopter involved in this operation went down (supposedly) due to mechanical failure. So if we even agree that this helicopter was empty of marines, it had to have a pilot no? The crash at low altitude didn’t even scratch him?

What actually happened during this operation will not be known for years obviously as we have the past to tell us that the U.S does not divulge classified information easily. However the fact that the entire head of U.S government sat and watched a live video feed of the operation and are still unwilling to release a single picture of the proceedings or the body of OBL is suspicious enough. The secret burial as well as conflicting statements coming out of DC are only leading to  further confuse the situation. Even though classified this moment has wisdom enough to suggest that the truth must be known or else OBL will live on as a ghost.  Something which neither the people of the U.S nor we in Pakistan wish to go through. We in Pakistan have suffered enough due to this war (more than 12000 died in 2010 for it)

Our way of life has been shattered systematically by these militants over the years, bombs explode in our mosques, our families are threatened everytime they walk into a crowded market. So a little clarity here would ensure that at least this death can serve as a beginning of this war’s end. We need hope, not further mystery!