Wednesday, August 10, 2011

How did they find bin Laden?

We know there are always going to be conspiracy theories out there, but this one is more interesting than most.
It has a few things going for it in my mind:
·         There is some independent corroboration (see below)
·         It somewhat explains the confusion of stories that came in the night of the event.  Of course incompetence could also explain that.
·         It makes more sense of why Bin Laden was where he was at then the official story
Peter Gelling, Global Post, 9 August 2011
The whole story of how Osama bin Laden [OBL] was found to be hiding out in Abottabad, Pakistan — recreated in incredible detail in The New Yorker — was made up, according to R.J. Hillhouse, a prominent security analyst and author.
According to Hillhouse, who attributes the news to her sources inside the intelligence comunity, a Pakistan intelligence officer came forward with the information of bin Laden's whereabouts in exchange for the $25 million reward and U.S. citizenship for his family. The informant, Hillhouse says, claimed that the Saudis had been paying the Pakistani military and intelligence agency, ISI, to shelter bin Laden under house arrest.
"The C.I.A. and friends then set about proving that OBL was indeed there," Hillhouse writes. "And they did."...
The only independent evidence we do have is from the reporting that that came from the ground in Abottabad after the raid. Interviews done with local security officials and residents indicated that the Pakistani military did know about the raid beforehand. But that line was buried by the line coming from Washington. And, of course, a villager in Pakistan — unfortunately — always loses when contradicted by a U.S. official.
Am I convinced?  Of course not.  But we can try and keep an eye out for solid evidence to disapprove it.  Further evidence in favor of the story would be interesting, but it is in trying to disprove your thesis, and your thesis withstanding the attack, that you strengthen it.

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