Post by Spidey 1923 on May 3, 2011 6:36:34 GMT -5
Summary of the operation:
Navy SEAL Team Six locked in on the compound in Abbottabad aboard two modified Chinook helicopters, along with Black Hawks, and at least two others (possibly more) in support, overseen by anxious overseers watching in real-time from Washington. In all 79 commandos and one dog took part.
The walls, one of which soared six metres high, were scaled. And as the SEAL team, augmented by CIA specialists, bore down on the residential belly of the sprawling triangular complex, a firefight ensued.
The first floor of the three-storey compound proved the zone of greatest resistance, officials in Washington said in background briefing Tuesday. That is where most of the 40-minute battle ensued.
Throughout it all, President Barack Obama and his national security team sat in the White House situation room, monitoring the blow-by-blow. At 2 p.m. Sunday Obama conducted a last review of the preparations. The point of no return had passed.
That Sunday session at the White House was “probably one of the most anxiety-filled periods of times in the lives of the people assembled here,” John Brennan, Obama’s counterterrorism adviser said Tuesday. The worst was when one helicopter landed too close to a brick wall, shattering a rotor. Its occupants were safe, but the machine had to be blown up.
And the minutes passed with all hands on deck. Among those in the room — Vice-President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Defence Secretary Robert Gates, Joints Chiefs Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen and James Clapper, the White House director of national intelligence.
When the ghost team in Abbottabad pushed through to the second and third floors of the compound, it found Bin Laden armed and shielded behind an unarmed woman. The Americans opened fire, and reported in. “Geronimo, EKIA (enemy killed in action),” came over the radio.
At 3:50 p.m. Sunday, Obama was told the body was that of Osama bin Laden. Other intelligence sources in Washington say the woman’s dying words identified bin Laden by name.
The operation ended minutes after bin Laden’s death, with CIA operatives teamed with the SEALs moving quickly to “vacuum” what U.S. officials described Tuesday as a “robust trove” of intelligence data from electronic devices within the compound.
Bin Laden’s body was secured aboard one of the helicopters. Casualty count: 22 dead or captured foreign nationals; zero U.S. dead or injured.
Three hours later, Obama was informed the identity of bin Laden now was definitive, based on a combination of DNA analysis (comparing samples belonging to the body and several bin Laden relatives), together with photographic evidence.
Obama was nearly ready to tell the world. But as White House officials began giving journalists a subtle heads-up to prepare for an unexpectedly hectic Sunday night, Obama, Biden and Gates divided a list of senior congressional leaders and began making calls.
“The president was very somber,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Tuesday, describing the call from Obama. A triumphant mood would soon be taking hold among everyday Americans, with crowds gathering outside the White House and Ground Zero in New York. But Obama, though the risk of calamity now had passed, showed no apparent excitement. No Drama Obama, as he was nicknamed during the 2008 presidential campaign, appeared to be wearing the name well.
The public announcement, measuring nine minutes, was almost anticlimactic, with Twitter and 24/7 cable news already having fed the headline of the milestone far and wide.
But even as the Twitterverse parsed Obama’s words, the last piece of the operation was unfolding in a quiet ceremony aboard the USS Carl Vinson, where Osama bin Laden’s body now lay, somewhere in the Arabian Sea.
His naked body was washed and wrapped in white cotton in accordance with Islamic law, bin Laden’s remains were placed on a broad plank mounted to the deck of the aircraft carrier. A brief religious text was spoken in English by an army chaplain, and then translated aloud in Arabic.
At 1 a.m. Monday, Washington time, the plank was tilted, a grim milestone 10 years in the making, done and dusted.
Navy SEAL Team Six locked in on the compound in Abbottabad aboard two modified Chinook helicopters, along with Black Hawks, and at least two others (possibly more) in support, overseen by anxious overseers watching in real-time from Washington. In all 79 commandos and one dog took part.
The walls, one of which soared six metres high, were scaled. And as the SEAL team, augmented by CIA specialists, bore down on the residential belly of the sprawling triangular complex, a firefight ensued.
The first floor of the three-storey compound proved the zone of greatest resistance, officials in Washington said in background briefing Tuesday. That is where most of the 40-minute battle ensued.
Throughout it all, President Barack Obama and his national security team sat in the White House situation room, monitoring the blow-by-blow. At 2 p.m. Sunday Obama conducted a last review of the preparations. The point of no return had passed.
That Sunday session at the White House was “probably one of the most anxiety-filled periods of times in the lives of the people assembled here,” John Brennan, Obama’s counterterrorism adviser said Tuesday. The worst was when one helicopter landed too close to a brick wall, shattering a rotor. Its occupants were safe, but the machine had to be blown up.
And the minutes passed with all hands on deck. Among those in the room — Vice-President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Defence Secretary Robert Gates, Joints Chiefs Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen and James Clapper, the White House director of national intelligence.
When the ghost team in Abbottabad pushed through to the second and third floors of the compound, it found Bin Laden armed and shielded behind an unarmed woman. The Americans opened fire, and reported in. “Geronimo, EKIA (enemy killed in action),” came over the radio.
At 3:50 p.m. Sunday, Obama was told the body was that of Osama bin Laden. Other intelligence sources in Washington say the woman’s dying words identified bin Laden by name.
The operation ended minutes after bin Laden’s death, with CIA operatives teamed with the SEALs moving quickly to “vacuum” what U.S. officials described Tuesday as a “robust trove” of intelligence data from electronic devices within the compound.
Bin Laden’s body was secured aboard one of the helicopters. Casualty count: 22 dead or captured foreign nationals; zero U.S. dead or injured.
Three hours later, Obama was informed the identity of bin Laden now was definitive, based on a combination of DNA analysis (comparing samples belonging to the body and several bin Laden relatives), together with photographic evidence.
Obama was nearly ready to tell the world. But as White House officials began giving journalists a subtle heads-up to prepare for an unexpectedly hectic Sunday night, Obama, Biden and Gates divided a list of senior congressional leaders and began making calls.
“The president was very somber,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Tuesday, describing the call from Obama. A triumphant mood would soon be taking hold among everyday Americans, with crowds gathering outside the White House and Ground Zero in New York. But Obama, though the risk of calamity now had passed, showed no apparent excitement. No Drama Obama, as he was nicknamed during the 2008 presidential campaign, appeared to be wearing the name well.
The public announcement, measuring nine minutes, was almost anticlimactic, with Twitter and 24/7 cable news already having fed the headline of the milestone far and wide.
But even as the Twitterverse parsed Obama’s words, the last piece of the operation was unfolding in a quiet ceremony aboard the USS Carl Vinson, where Osama bin Laden’s body now lay, somewhere in the Arabian Sea.
His naked body was washed and wrapped in white cotton in accordance with Islamic law, bin Laden’s remains were placed on a broad plank mounted to the deck of the aircraft carrier. A brief religious text was spoken in English by an army chaplain, and then translated aloud in Arabic.
At 1 a.m. Monday, Washington time, the plank was tilted, a grim milestone 10 years in the making, done and dusted.
