Killing of Osama bin Laden
On May 2,[a] 2011, Osama bin Laden, the founder and first leader of the Islamist militant group al-Qaeda, was shot and killed at his compound in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad by United States Navy SEALs of SEAL Team Six (also known as DEVGRU).[1] The operation, code-named Operation Neptune Spear, was carried out in a CIA-led mission, with the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) coordinating the Special Mission Units involved in the raid. In addition to SEAL Team Six, participating units under JSOC included the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (Airborne), also known as the "Night Stalkers," and the CIA's Special Activities Division, which heavily recruits from former JSOC Special Mission Units.[2][3] The success of the operation ended a nearly decade-long manhunt for bin Laden, who was accused of masterminding the September 11 attacks on the United States.
Date
May 2, 2011; 13 years ago
Operation Neptune Spear
Osama bin Laden's body buried in the North Arabian Sea
- Osama bin Laden (54)
- Khalid bin Laden (23)
- Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti (33)
- Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti's brother Abrar (30)
- Bushra, Abrar's wife (age unknown)
The raid, approved by U.S. President Barack Obama and involving two dozen Navy SEALs in two Black Hawk helicopters, was launched from about 120 miles (190 km) away in Afghanistan, where U.S. forces were stationed.[4][5] The raid took 40 minutes, and bin Laden was killed shortly before 1:00 a.m. PKT[6][7] (20:00 UTC, May 1).[8] Three other men, including one of bin Laden's sons, and a woman in the compound were also killed. After the raid, U.S. forces returned to Afghanistan with bin Laden's body for identification and then flew over 850 miles (1,370 km) to the Arabian Sea, where he was buried in accordance with Islamic tradition.[9]
Al-Qaeda confirmed bin Laden's death on May 6 through posts made on militant websites and vowed to avenge his killing.[10] Other Pakistani militant groups, including the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, also vowed retaliation against the U.S.; and against Pakistan, for not preventing the operation.[11] The raid was supported by over 90 percent of the American public,[12][13] was welcomed by the United Nations, NATO, the European Union, and a large number of governments,[14] but was condemned by others, including two-thirds of the Pakistani public.[15] Legal and ethical aspects of the killing, such as the failure to capture him alive despite him being unarmed, were questioned by organizations like Amnesty International.[16] Also controversial was the decision not to publish any photographic or DNA evidence of bin Laden's death.[17] There was also controversy in Pakistan regarding how the country's defences were breached, and how the Air Force failed to detect the American aircraft.[18]
After the killing, Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani formed a commission led by Senior Justice Javed Iqbal to investigate the circumstances of the attack.[19] The resulting Abbottabad Commission Report revealed the "collective failure" of Pakistani state military and intelligence authorities that enabled bin Laden to hide in Pakistan for nine years and was leaked to Al Jazeera on July 8, 2013.[20]
Intelligence postmortem
Evidence seized from the compound is said to include ten cell phones, five to ten computers, twelve hard drives, at least 100 computer disks (including thumb drives and DVDs), handwritten notes, documents, weapons, and an assortment of personal items.[318][319] It was described by a senior Pentagon intelligence official as "the single largest collection of senior terrorist materials ever."[320] On November 1, 2017, the CIA released to the public approximately 470,000 files and a copy of bin Laden's diary.[321][322]
Intelligence analysts also studied call detail records from two phone numbers that were found to be sewn into bin Laden's clothing.[318] They helped over the course of several months to apprehend several al-Qaeda members in several countries and to kill several of bin Laden's closest associates by CIA drone attacks in Pakistan.[319]
The material gathered at the compound was stored at the FBI Laboratory in Quantico, Virginia, where forensic experts analyzed fingerprints, DNA, and other trace evidence left on the material.[318] Copies of the material were provided to other agencies; officials want to preserve a chain of custody in case any of the information is needed as evidence in a future trial.
A special CIA team has been given the responsibility of combing through the digital material and documents removed from the bin Laden compound.[323] The CIA team is working in collaboration with other U.S. government agencies "to triage, catalog and analyze this intelligence."
Bin Laden's youngest wife told Pakistani investigators that the family lived in the feudal village of Chak Shah Muhammad, in the nearby district of Haripur, Pakistan, for two and a half years before moving to Abbottabad in late 2005.[161]
The material seized from the compound contained al-Qaeda's strategy for Afghanistan after America's withdrawal from the country in 2014,[324] as well as thousands of electronic memos and missives that captured conversations between bin Laden and his deputies around the world.[325] It showed that bin Laden stayed in touch with al-Qaeda's established affiliates and sought new alliances with groups such as Boko Haram from Nigeria.[324] According to the material, he sought to reassert control over factions of loosely affiliated jihadists from Yemen to Somalia, as well as independent actors whom he believed had sullied al-Qaeda's reputation and muddied its central message.[325] Bin Laden was worried at times about his personal security and was annoyed that his organization had not utilized the Arab Spring to improve its image.[325] He acted, according to The Washington Post, on the one hand as "chief executive fully engaged in the group's myriad crises, grappling with financial problems, recruitment, rebellious field managers, and sudden staff vacancies resulting from the unrelenting U.S. drone campaign,"[325] and on the other hand as "a hands-on manager who participated in the terrorist group's operational planning and strategic thinking while also giving orders and advice to field operatives scattered worldwide."[325] The material also described Osama bin Laden's relation with Ayman al-Zawahiri and Atiyah Abd al-Rahman.[325]
Seventeen documents seized during the Abbottabad raid, consisting of electronic letters or draft letters dating from September 2006 to April 2011, were released by the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point one year and one day after bin Laden's death.[319] and made available at The Washington Post homepage.[326] The documents covered subjects such as the news media in America, affiliate organization, targets, America, security, and the Arab Spring.[327] In the documents, bin Laden said al-Qaeda's strength was limited and therefore suggested that the best way to attack the U.S., which he compared to a tree, "is to concentrate on sawing the trunk."[319] He refused the promotion of Anwar al-Awlaki when this was requested by Nasir al-Wuhayshi, leader of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. "We here become reassured of the people when they go to the line and get examined there,"[319] bin Laden said. He told al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula to expand operations in the U.S. in the wake of the 2009 Christmas Day bomb plot by writing "We need to extend and develop our operations in America and not keep it limited to blowing up airplanes."[319]
The seized material shed light on al-Qaeda's relationship with Iran, which detained jihadis and their relatives in the wake of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, including members of bin Laden's family. Al-Qaeda's relationship with Iran was, according to the Combating Terrorism Center, an "unpleasant byproduct of necessity, fueled by mutual distrust and antagonism."[319] An explicit reference to any institutional support from Pakistan for al-Qaeda wasn't mentioned in the documents; instead, bin Laden instructed his family members how to avoid detection so that members of Pakistani intelligence couldn't track them to find him.[328] According to the seized material, former commander of the international forces in Afghanistan David Petraeus and US President Barack Obama should be assassinated during any of their visits to Pakistan and Afghanistan, if there was an opportunity to do so. Bin Laden opined that U.S. Vice President Joe Biden should not be a target because "Biden is totally unprepared for that post [of president], which will lead the US into a crisis."[328] Bin Laden was also against one-person suicide attacks and was of the opinion that at least two persons should undertake these attacks instead.[328] He planned to reform in a way so that al-Qaeda's central leadership would have a greater say in the naming of the al-Qaeda branch leaders and their deputies. He expressed his opinion that killing Muslims has weakened his organization and not helped al-Qaeda, writing that it "cost the mujahedeen no small amount of sympathy among Muslims. The enemy has exploited the mistakes of the mujahedeen to mar their image among the masses."[329]
The United States Department of Justice released a further eleven documents in March 2015.[330] The documents were part of the trial against Abid Naseer, who was convicted of plotting to bomb a Manchester shopping mall in 2009.[331] They included letters to and from Osama bin Laden in the year before his death, and showed the extent of the damage the CIA drone program had done to Al-Qaeda.[332]
In addition to information and data recovered that were of intelligence interest, the documents and computer items also contained personal files, including family correspondence and a large stash of pornography. US officials have refused to characterize the type of pornography found other than to say that it was "modern" in nature.[333][334][335] The most likely explanation for the pornography on bin Laden's hard drive is that he bought a poorly refurbished computer since bin Laden did not have internet access and the computer was also infected with viruses.[336]
Helicopter stealth technology revelations
The tail section of the secret helicopter survived demolition and lay just outside the compound wall.[337] Pakistani security forces put up a cloth barrier at first light to hide the wreckage.[338] Later, a tractor hauled it away hidden under a tarp.[339] Journalists obtained photographs that revealed the previously undisclosed stealth technology. Aviation Week said the helicopter appeared to be a significantly modified MH-60 Black Hawk. Serial numbers found at the scene were consistent with an MH-60 built in 2009.[340] Its performance during the operation confirmed that a stealth helicopter could evade detection in a militarily sensitive, densely populated area. Photos showed that the Black Hawk's tail had stealth-configured shapes on the boom and the fairings, swept stabilizers and a "hubcap" over the noise-reducing five- or six-blade tail rotor. It appeared to have a silver-loaded infrared suppression finish similar to some V-22 Ospreys.[337] The crash of the Black Hawk may have been, at least in part, caused by the aerodynamic deficiencies introduced to the airframe by the stealth technology add-ons[341] (an unrelated possible cause of the crash was that the rehearsal mock-ups of the compound had used a chain-link fence rather than a solid wall for the perimeter and thus had not reproduced the airflows that the helicopter would face).[54]
The U.S. requested return of the wreckage and the Chinese government also expressed interest, according to Pakistani officials. Pakistan had custody of the wreckage for over two weeks before its return was secured by U.S. Senator John Kerry.[342][343] Experts disagreed as to how much information could have been gleaned from the tail fragment. Stealth technology was already operational on several fixed-wing aircraft and the cancelled RAH-66 Comanche helicopter; the modified Black Hawk was the first confirmed operational "stealth helicopter." It is likely that the most valuable information obtainable from the wreckage was the composition of the radar-absorbing paint used on the tail section.[337][344] Local children were seen picking up pieces of the wreckage and selling them as souvenirs.[157] In August 2011, Fox News reported that Pakistan had allowed Chinese scientists to examine the helicopter's tail section and were especially interested in its radar-absorbing paint.[345] Pakistan and the PRC denied these claims.[346]