NBC's Richard Engel reports that supporters of the al-Qaida mastermind are "trying to create an alternative myth" to the events that unfolded before the death of Osama bin Laden.
By Robert Windrem, NBC News Investigative reporter
For years a mythology has grown around Osama bin Laden. Bob Windrem, NBC News’ chief investigative producer, has been reporting on bin Laden and the al-Qaida terrorist network since the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. Windrem clears up a few of the enduring myths about the world’s most wanted man.
1) He lived in caves.
This goes back to President’s Bush's comment about “smoking him out.” He has not lived in a cave in years.
What we have been told and reported on several occasions is that he was believed to be living in a series of walled compounds, mostly the mud-walled compounds that dot the landscape in Pakistan's tribal areas. He would move only when his security forces, led by his brother-in-law, felt he needed to.
He would spend months at the same location. The most common trigger for a move: a security breach that led to the death or capture of a high ranking al Qaida official. The U.S. learned of this from captured couriers after the fact.
2. He needed dialysis.
He never underwent dialysis, said U.S. officials. He had kidney stones, not kidney failure. The former is treatable, the latter needs dialysis. Bin Laden did have low blood pressure and an enlarged heart.
3. That al-Qaida has a doomsday plan to launch attacks if he was killed.
U.S. intelligence has never believed that. When they are ready, they attack. They don't wait.


Hi. . .
ya that guy must be... oh wait. Hi
Now that the evil one is in Hades with the Butcher of Baghdad - work on getting the bin Laden family $ billions for the victims' families of 9/11 - and previous evil acts. That includes the first WTC bombing - we knew he was involved but it was treated as a criminal act - and Bill Clinton and Sandy BURGlar could have taken him from the Sudan.
wwwDOTinfowarsDOTcom/saved%20pages/Prior_Knowledge/Clinton_let_bin_laden.htm
10 years people. We have the luxury of 10 years of info, Hollywood hype, and fact mixed together. The guy has escaped death since the Afghanistan-USSR conflict....he wasn't stupid. Bush & Blair kept him on the run, I'm sure missed opportunities to get him, close calls. OK. But, the secret teams have been in place for several years for his capture & killing....good. Glad the NYT managed not to reveal their every movement for a headline. Obama deserves credit, Bush & Blair do too, for setting up the policies Obama has largely maintained.... But, the #1 group due credit is our military: 24/7 on the job, in danger all the time, doing the deadly work. Thank you. Now, let's move on to the next target on the list...of which, sadly, there are thousands of names, all over the world. Let's not let up our guard at home and abroad.
OBL was real, and he helped to create a body of terrorists that is now around the world....and still exists. That's not a myth. Nor is the fact the Afghanistan countryside does have thousands of caves and tunnels one can hide in. The fact he was hiding in plain sight today, does not mean he did that 9/12/01. Again, we all have the luxury of hindsight. Just as in 10 years we'll have the luxury of hindsight about Libya and Egypt, and what will happen there today, and years to come. Glad he's dead. I see the conspiracy strains already: buried at sea, we never saw him, no body for us to view, why the Islamic burial, etc. It's coming fast........ Elvis is alive, the moon landing was fake, and OBL is alive and in jail......... No, the guy is dead, thankfully.
It is great that he's dead, although I do find it strange that they dumped him in the ocean! I really want to hear an explanation that makes sense, not just a flimsy remark that we usually get when something this major happens and questions are voiced. By doing this "burial" there will be long lasting doubts, possibly angry retorts from Muslims who feel the body was desecrated, and theories why this was done that will cause many, including myself, to puzzle over why.
I agree that it should not have immediately been dumped at sea but there should have been many other groups also doing the DNA tests to substantiate our governments test. How many people will trust our governments word on that especially people outside the US and very especially from the Middle East. Once independent tests were complete then burial at sea in some unknown location would be fine with me and I believe most Muslims as well.
Then if it is true that bin Laden did not die many years ago then all us "nutters" can admit we were wrong. I don't have a problem with that.
I totally agree with the person who said that it is too late for anything to happen now and that Osama should have been killed a long time ago. They keep saying that osama's people will retalliate but they have a tendency to wait for the right time and then pounce. They won't do anything now as they know they will be watched more aggressively right now.
the man was a @!$%#en joke and its good that he is none existent now!!
This is all a joke so OBAMA will be re-elected. I did not vote the first time for him it wont happen the second time. I hope everyone has had enough. Our country has never been this bad off. I realize he didn't do it all but he sure didn't help. I feel he has made it worse. He talks about helping the low class people and the elderly but i don't see him refusing a pay check to help us out. But he is going on the great family trips and playing golf . Think about it we are paying for all this. And I feel he is not from the USA. How is he our president? He is helping everyone else but USA.
SHIRLEY.......leave the kool aid alone. What rock did you crawl out from under? EVERY president has FUNCTIONS they must attend.....golf, commencements, etc......Why not just say what you really feel...."WAAAAAAAAAAHHH !!! The president is black and I cant take it!"
Stop being so ignorant....That is why we are the state we are in because of people like you! Go back and actually READ your comment. A significant historical moment has happened and your comment wants to discuss back wash theories on stupid gossip? YOU SHOULD BE EMBARRASSED & ASHAMED...Understand what is going on before you comment.
I feel the same way. Many of us were duped into voting for Obama's "Change" mantra, and we were so tired of the criminal BUSH. But he is every bit the puppet minion for the large multi-national corporations as BUSH ever was.
Obama said he wouldn't hire any lobyists - he's hired more lobbyists than anyone in history
He said he'd stop the torture - he intensified it
He said he'd stop the secret arrests - he intensified them
He'd end the wars - No - he expanded them
He'd help jobless blacks - their joblessness is at record levels
He wouldn't hire any Wall St people - he surrounded himself with wall street execs
He wouldn't take Wall Street money
He wouldn't have signing statements
He wouldn't have secret meetings - his White House is more secret than anybody's
He has absolutely NO energy policy
Shirley: You sound like you're hallucinating.
I have been trying hard to get a handle on this most enigmatic of world figures. When I heard he had 100 usb sticks in his possession I finally felt I understood.
It is really difficult to get the right memory stick isn't it? Between us my wife an I have, well not perhaps 100 but almost 10. Different colours, different capacities and so on. In contrast I read that he had, to hand, only one AK47. There is clearly something that munitions are getting right and electronics manufacturers are getting wrong. Someone should organise a video conference.
No one ever trades up their AK47 do they? There is, for example, no AK48. Although one should presume that there were 46 previous AKs before they finally hit on the golden formula of the 47th. I know it is a cliche but as my mother always says, 47th time lucky, referring in this case to my sister's most recent job change.
I do not anticipate an AK 47.2 for example and certainly no sudden upgrades slowing the whole system down just as you are preparing to plug some infidel in the back of the cranium.
I wonder if we are supposed to infer something sinister from Bin Laden's predilection for data? I have always found those with more than one mobile pleasantly gangster. If middle class I assume they have affairs. If a white van driver that they have several dodgy deals on the go.
But imagine the scene, you are led blindfolded to the compound of the world's most wanted man. You look about. Where in the wilds are we? you think. (Actually it's Abbottabad, the Reading of Pakistan). You are led into the inner sanctum and there he sits, arrogantly, surrounded not by armed men and beautiful women but his brother-in-law and 100 usb memory sticks... They leaf through a curling edition of Which? magazine, Peripherals special edition. The fiends.
Perhaps the suggestion is that, shock horror, he's got a lot of data on us, sticks full! Maybe he just downloads a lot of music, illegally I am afraid we have to assume.
The final word must be saved for the nearby elite Pakistan training school. No more can the Sergeant major bark at lazy recruit Musharaf..."You lazy, useless worm. This is an elite training facility. We are looking for the most sophisticated and dangerous terrorists in the world. What do you think, you can just sit here playing with your USB sticks and he will simply turn up on our doorstep?"
You can't make this stuff up. Although in the case of the American administration you can.
Although in the case of the Pakistani administration you can.
Although in the case of...you can fill in the rest.
cocklesniff.blogspot.com
I have been trying hard to get a handle on this most enigmatic of world figures. When I heard he had 100 usb sticks in his possession I finally felt I understood.
It is really difficult to get the right memory stick isn't it? Between us my wife an I have, well not perhaps 100 but almost 10. Different colours, different capacities and so on. In contrast I read that he had, to hand, only one AK47. There is clearly something that munitions are getting right and electronics manufacturers are getting wrong. Someone should organise a video conference.
No one ever trades up their AK47 do they? There is, for example, no AK48. Although one should presume that there were 46 previous AKs before they finally hit on the golden formula of the 47th. I know it is a cliche but as my mother always says, 47th time lucky, referring in this case to my sister's most recent job change.
I do not anticipate an AK 47.2 for example and certainly no sudden upgrades slowing the whole system down just as you are preparing to plug some infidel in the back of the cranium.
I wonder if we are supposed to infer something sinister from Bin Laden's predilection for data? I have always found those with more than one mobile pleasantly gangster. If middle class I assume they have affairs. If a white van driver that they have several dodgy deals on the go.
But imagine the scene, you are led blindfolded to the compound of the world's most wanted man. You look about. Where in the wilds are we? you think. (Actually it's Abbottabad, the Reading of Pakistan). You are led into the inner sanctum and there he sits, arrogantly, surrounded not by armed men and beautiful women but his brother-in-law and 100 usb memory sticks... They leaf through a curling edition of Which? magazine, Peripherals special edition. The fiends.
Perhaps the suggestion is that, shock horror, he's got a lot of data on us, sticks full! Maybe he just downloads a lot of music, illegally I am afraid we have to assume.
The final word must be saved for the nearby elite Pakistan training school. No more can the Sergeant major bark at lazy recruit Musharaf..."You lazy, useless worm. This is an elite training facility. We are looking for the most sophisticated and dangerous terrorists in the world. What do you think, you can just sit here playing with your USB sticks and he will simply turn up on our doorstep?"
You can't make this stuff up. Although in the case of the American administration you can.
Although in the case of the Pakistani administration you can.
Although in the case of...you can fill in the rest.
cocklesniff.blogspot.com
"He never underwent dialysis, said U.S. officials. He had kidney stones, not kidney failure. The former is treatable, the latter needs dialysis. Bin Laden did have low blood pressure and an enlarged heart."
What "officials"? was OBL sending them his X-rays and urine samples? That sounds like a statement of fact, where did these "facts" come from, Pakistan?
Well, in Whoville they say - that the Grinch's small heart grew three sizes that day