The latest White House story and clarification on how they got Osama bin Laden. Fire the writers!

[Better Believe It]

Bin Laden 'firefight': Only one man was armed
He was killed early on at guest house, and four others — including al-Qaida leader — never fired a shot
By Jim Miklaszewski
Chief Pentagon correspondent
May 4, 2011

According to the officials' account, as the first SEAL team moved into the compound, they took small-arms fire from the guest house in the compound. The SEALs returned fire, killing bin Laden's courier and the courier's wife, who died in the crossfire.

The second SEAL team entered the first floor of the main residence and could see a man standing in the dark with one hand behind his back. Fearing he was hiding a weapon, the SEALs shot and killed the lone man, who turned out to be unarmed.

The SEALs then made their way up a staircase, where they ran into one of bin Laden's sons on the way down. The Americans immediately shot and killed the son, who was also unarmed.

Once on the third floor, the commandos threw open the door to bin Laden's bedroom. One of bin Laden's wives rushed toward the NAVY SEAL in the door, who shot her in the leg. Then, without hesitation, the same commando turned his gun on bin Laden, standing in what appeared to be pajamas, and fire two quick shots, one to the chest and one to the head. Although there were weapons in that bedroom, Bin Laden was also unarmed at the time he was shot.

Read the full article at:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42906279/ns/world_news-death_of_bin_laden

Stay tuned for the latest news and clarification of the clarification which clarified the earlier story told.

White House writers need to compose a new and improved "How we got Osama bin Laden" tale and stick with it!

The more they "clarify" the more they confuse and their new and improved stories are giving me a headache!

First Osama was killed in a firefight, than he was unarmed, than he offered unarmed resistance, tomorrow we'll find out Osama resisted by threatening to slap one of the Navy Seals, later we'll learn Osama almost made an obscene gesture provoking the soldiers and maybe next week we'll find out that Osama
refused to fly an official flag of surrender clearly indicating his intention to surrender, blah, blah, blah.

Maybe in 50 years we'll find out all the facts on what really happened during the special operation, but not now.

Meanwhile, Osama is dead to everyones satisfaction. And the governments code name for Osama in this operation was in fact "Geronimo". But that information won't be "clarified" unless a storm of protest requires a new and improved "Geronimo" story be written by White House writers.

The White House has so far refused to comment in response to the Native American protests.

"The White House referred questions on the matter to the U.S. Defense Department, which said no disrespect was meant to Native Americans.

The department wouldn't elaborate on the use of "Geronimo," but said code names typically are chosen randomly so that those working on a mission can communicate without divulging any information to adversaries."

If they can't get their story on the big "firefight" right, how can we expect any clarification on the Geronimo story?

BBI

[Bonobo]

1. Was Jessica Lynch anywhere there? nt

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

20. The Jessica Lynch narrative/s keeps popping up in my mind when I read varying accounts of this.

[Hamlette]

31. "The Jessica Lynch narrative" doesn't work.

Nor does the Tillman narrative. In both those cases it took ages to get the real story out. In Tillman's case we may NEVER know what happened.

The "story" changes as more information becomes known. The first draft was written while the players (SEALs) were still thousands of miles away.

While I don't celebrate the death of anyone, I'm glad bin Laden is no longer a threat to anyone, including those kids who were brainwashed into killing themselves for his "cause".

[Teaser]

2. OMFG OBAMA IS A MURDERING HITLER WANNABE

.

[Luminous Animal]

4. I hope that inane post is connected to your user name for as long as DU exists.

[Teaser]

16. ZOMG YOU ARE DEFENDING HIM ????????? !!!!!!!!! ?????????!1

.

[Better Believe It]

5. That's a silly response. I expect more from you! Really. I do. Better believe it.

[leftygolfer]

3. or we should quit over-questioning

and trust our President and his team. This is not Bush. This is a man worthy of our support.

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Scurrilous]

6. I'm not confused.

No headaches either.

:thumbsup:

[Arctic Dave]

7. "Guest House" or guard shack?

Think about it.

[Better Believe It]

9. So did all the guards have the day off or where they just out for coffee?

If this latest story is true and accurate, I'm surprised by how few armed guards were present at compound to protect the bastard.

[Arctic Dave]

10. How many armed guards are at a supermax prison?

How many do you think would be appropriate?

[TheMadMonk]

18. Large numbers of armed guards are not an option when hiding in plain sight.

So if we're running the story of a paranoid old recluse, walling off the outside world, such a person would have an absolute minimum of any sort of staff around him.

It would not surprise me if the visible staff were mostly doddering "oldsters", and perhaps a couple of teen "grandchildren" of those oldsters. It's certainly how I'd script it.

[pnwmom]

11. "There were weapons in the bedroom." Yes, indeed there were -- like AK-47's.

I'm glad OBL was shot before he could grab one.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/04/osama-bin-lade...

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama ordered grisly photographs of Osama bin Laden in death sealed from public view on Wednesday, declaring, "We don't need to spike the football" in triumph after this week's daring middle-of-the-night raid. The terrorist leader was killed by American commandos who burst into his room and feared he was reaching for a nearby weapon, U.S. officials said.

Several weapons were found in the room where the terror chief died, including AK-47 assault rifles and side arms, the officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity as they offered the most recent in a series of increasingly detailed and sometimes-shifting accounts of bin Laden's final minutes after a decade on the run.

Obama said releasing the photographs taken by the Navy SEAL raiders was "not who we are" as a country. Though some may deny his death, "the fact of the matter is you will not see bin Laden walking this earth again," the president said in an interview taped for CBS' "60 Minutes."

He said any release of the photos could become a propaganda tool for bin Laden's adherents eager to incite violence.

SNIP

[Name removed]

12. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[pnwmom]

14. You are seeing history in the making. Historians will tell you

that collecting factual details isn't as simple as you seem to think. Journalists will confirm that.

No one needs to STFU.

But how do I know about the weapons? Only through reports. But it makes perfect sense. It's impossible to imagine OBL as NOT keeping weapons handy around him. I can't believe you honestly think he wouldn't. How many photographs of OBL fondling an AK-47 have you seen?

[SidDithers]

13. Unrec...

SSDD.

Sid

[Pirate Smile]

15. Nobody cares. Everybody is glad he is dead and don't give a damn about the particulars re how close

he was to a weapon.

Perhaps I should have included "Almost" before those terms - "Nobody" and " Everybody" but, really, the percentage of people concerned about how we took out OBL is minimal.

If this is the fight some folks want to get hung up on, go for it. Waste as much time as you want.

[bhikkhu]

17. What's done is done...and they did well.

I guess you could start the hand-wringing with - should we have sent a team in to try to kill or capture OBL? Of course, given his history. If we knew and did nothing, his next big thing would be blood on our hands.

Then, should they have fired their weapons? I'm comfortable saying that I haven't a shred of a clue what the immediate circumstances they faced were. They're probably some of the best trained guys in the world at that, and I think they did their best, and it turned out well. If you think of all the ways it could have gone bad versus how smoothly it turned out, they made the right decisions.

I hope the hard drives and intel stuff they took away helps to wind up the whole long mess, and soon. The world is a safer place today.

[drm604]

19. If this was fiction, written by White House writers,

they would have gotten the story straight and set in concrete weeks ago.

The changing story we're seeing is more consistent with the "fog of war" than some attempt to fool us.

If this was fiction they would be telling us that every shot fired was against an armed opponent presenting an immediate threat.

The story we're getting is the one we'd get from someone who is more interested in truth than propaganda.

[JTFrog]

21. This whole thing must be eating you alive.

[Obamanaut]

22. If it is true that the 'buck' stops at the desk of the president, and he is

in fact in charge of everything that goes on down to each little detail including the giving of code names to various operations and some consider the use of the name 'Geronimo' as a code name then by extension, does that make the president racist?

[seabeyond]

23. they were more precise in this story with more info, but went along with what they said yesterday

now if they give more and more info as becomes available, are you going to insist that is another story change?

[Bragi]

24. This has been a communications botch job

The White House communications shop went into overdrive on this story and the President has ended up being poorly served by them.

There was no reason to push this story out the door at a late night Sunday news conference, but they were apparently looking to over-hype the PR coup the President had already earned. They should have not made the announcement or started releasing details of the operation until they knew all the facts.

The President was poorly served by the strategic and tactical errors of his communications shop. If I were him I would want answers and want to hold someone responsible for this incompetence because the unraveling of the official story of the take-down will have consequences.

[Better Believe It]

25. I think you're right. The "official story" communication makers screwed up.

Historians might find out the full story and truth years from now.

I think the unwritten orders were to shoot bin Laden but they can't/won't say that.

They had no desire to bring him back alive to the United States or Gitmo for public jury or military commission trial.

[seabeyond]

26. president said it the first night.... kill mission. nt

[Bragi]

28. If it was a straight-up "kill" mission then it violated int'l law

I think that's probably why communications became so garbled. The communications error was providing too much detail from the get-go when facts were unclear in the hopes of promoting coverage of a story that was already going to soar.

[JoePhilly]

27. More theater criticism.

Our troops went into a dangerous location, took out the target, exploited the location for intelligence, and evacuated safely.

So let's discuss anything BUT those facts.

Since we can't complain about how poorly the operation was carried out, because it was carried out flawlessly, we need to whine about what different unnamed "officials" said about it after.

And the manufactured outrage machine chugs along.

[Bragi]

29. Details matter /nt

[KharmaTrain]

30. It's Their Narrative They're Trying To Fill...

The corporate media loves a good Rambo story. The more stealthy and dangerous and bloody the better. Its what makes them love a Jessica Lynch type story or to jump aboard and even embellish the known facts of what happened. And that's the operative word: known. If I'm not mistaken there were at least 24 different set of eyes that took part in the raid along with the dozens of mucky-mucks watching IRT...all making their own interpretation of events that I am sure have leaked to the media. I saw a ton of speculating by the "security experts" in the minutes leading up to and following the announcement that already were writing a narrative that they first painted and now as the dust settles the real story is emerging.

You're spot on about the outrage machine...and we're seeing it from all sides that want/hope this administration to fail.

[JoePhilly]

32. I agree with you 100%.

And in addition to those 24 sets of eyes, there are hundreds of EARS, many of which belong to people who would love to be an important player, one of the "unnamed sources" ... a person the press goes to, a player in the big game. Get invited to the big parties because you "know things".

So the key details (like the 4 critical things I mentioned) get pushed to the side.

And the same folks sift through the noise created by the "security experts" looking for any discrepancy that can be used to attack the Obama administration, not on the actual outcome or key details, but on side points.

Like "OMG, they used "Geronimo"!!, I'm appalled and must now retire to the fainting couch!!!"

[Johnny2X2X]

34. Steling this

[Sheepshank]

33. "The more they "clarify" the more they confuse ...."

Who is this 'they' of which you speak. "Official" telling of the nights events have been few....the unnamed sources and the media however have been full of it.

Unrec for poor posturing, and made up shit.