I'll never forget the day Osama Bin Laden was killed.
It was May 1, 2011. Coincidentally, it was also my 24th birthday.
I remember sitting on the train, heading back to my Allston apartment after a long night of working in a restaurant by Fenway Park. I was listening to my iPod, as I always did, when rumors began to swirl online that President Obama was set to make a major announcement to the nation.
I got off at my customary stop- Harvard Ave- and raced back to my apartment, not sure what to expect.
Another war? A terrorist attack? A plane crash? An airborne toxic event? Aliens?
My friends, roommates and I gathered around the television, a big Sony flat screen that was usually reserved for sports and movies. Then, right on cue, Barack Obama made the long walk toward the camera and said "The United States has conducted an operation that has killed Osama Bin Laden."
For a few seconds, the room was silent. Everyone was shocked, their jaws hanging from their faces, their eyes staring blankly at the television screen as if to say, is this really happening?
A moment or so later, we all erupted in applause. But it wasn't just us. The entire city exploded at the exact same time, as if the Red Sox had just won the World Series. Soon, the streets of Boston were flooded with people holding American flags and climbing light posts. Everyone was hugging each other. People were singing "God Bless America" at the top of their lungs.
We got him! It's finally over!
I had never experienced such a powerful, collective sense of patriotism in my life. It wasn't like singing the national anthem in unison at a crowded sporting event. Or watching fireworks amidst a sea of red, white and blue American flags on the 4th of July.
It was different in a way I can't fully describe. I'd like to think it felt something like V-Day in Times Square, 1945, when the US had just defeated Japan in WWII.
I felt more American in that moment than I ever had in my entire life.
WHAT REALLY HAPPENED
Some four years later, the legend of the Abbottabad raid and the killing of Osama Bin Laden has become almost a mythical tale.
Popularized by the movie Zero Dark Thirty, the story goes something like this...
After years and years of tireless intelligence gathering (combined with information secured by torture), the CIA was able to track down Bin Laden's courier, who led them to his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
However, despite the information from the courier, it still wasn't 100% certain that it really was Bin Laden. And if it was him, doubts existed that he would actually be there. Nevertheless, President Obama made the gutsy call to go through with the mission.
After flying in on a set of helicopters, SEAL Team 6 evaded detection from the Pakistani military, broke into Bin Laden's Abbottabad complex, and, after an exchange of gunfire, shot and killed the most wanted man on the planet. Bin Laden's body was then flown to the USS Carl Vinson and buried at sea.
But according to a recent bombshell report by Seymour Hersh, much of the story is a lie.
According to Hersh, Bin Laden wasn't hiding out in the Abbottabad complex, he was being held prisoner there by the ISI, the Pakistani version of the CIA, and had been for years, possibly since 2006. Bin Laden was under house arrest, unable to leave the premises. He was being monitored and surveilled 24/7.
And it wasn't a courier who led the US to Bin Laden, instead it was a former senior Pakistani intelligence officer. According to Hersh, he walked into the US Embassy in Islamabad in 2010 and told the US where Bin Laden was.
"He betrayed the secret in return for much of the $25 million reward offered by the US... The informant and his family were smuggled out of Pakistan and relocated in the Washington area. He is now a consultant to the CIA."
So the "gutsy" decision by Obama wasn't really gutsy at all. Bin Laden was a sitting duck. He was handed to the US on a silver platter. It wasn't a result of years of intensive work, it was a stroke of luck. If not for the informant, who knows if Bin Laden isn't still alive today, safely hidden in that same Abbottabad complex.
Also, according to Hersh, there was no firefight. Bin Laden didn't have a suicide vest. He didn't even have an AK-47, as previously reported. He was an "old, sick man, who was going to be murdered."
THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE
Since Hersh's report surfaced, a major debate has erupted over what really happened in the Abbottabad raid.
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said the story was "riddled with inaccuracies and outright falsehoods." Others have attacked Hersh's character, calling his journalistic integrity into question.
However, despite the blowback, Hersh is sticking to his story.
In the end, we are left with the ultimate postmodern conundrum. There is no black and white, only gray. We must come to our own conclusions about the Abbottabad raid.
If you ask me, I tend to believe Hersh over the Obama Administration.
Hersh has won a Pulitzer. He has been a well-known, well-respected investigative reporter for 50 years. He exposed the My Lai Massacre during the Vietnam War. He sounded the alarm on abuse at Abu Ghraib in 2004.
Why would he publish a false or fake story, knowing that if it was proven wrong his entire career would be diminished? No sane person would take such a gigantic risk unless they were supremely confident in the story they were reporting.
As for the government, they have a vested interest in making sure the narrative doesn't change.
The killing of Bin Laden is one of the signature achievements of Obama's presidency. To admit that the CIA had little to do with finding Bin Laden diminishes the story. So does the fact that there was no firefight and Bin Laden was a sitting duck, gifted to the US by a stroke of luck thanks to a Pakistani informant. Also, it doesn't help Obama's legacy if it turns out his decision to carry out the mission was a relatively safe, no-brainer, not a gutsy call worthy of being mythologized.
In the end, the killing of Bin Laden will live on forever. It was a seminal moment in American history. But was the story that the government fed to us real? Or was it a dramatic embellishment used to elevate President Obama's status and help him get re-elected?
At this point, my money is on the latter.
No comments:
Post a Comment