Since the 2011 assassination of Osama Bin Laden, the Obama Administration has forwarded a more or less internally consistent, albeit often dodgy, narrative about what happened and how they came by his whereabouts. This centered on the CIA running a phony vaccination program in Abbottabad, where bin Laden was staying. Pulitzer-winning Investigative journalist Sy Hersh has revealed this to be false.
During the course of revelations that broad swathes of the official story were flat out fabrications by the administration, it became apparent that a lot of the narrative was hastily cobbled together, including the vaccination scheme.
The fake CIA program was real, and was operating around Abbottabad. At no point, however, was it ever even tangentially related to the bin Laden killing, and no one in the program ever attempted to get DNA from anyone in bin Laden’s compound.
The assassination, rather, was the result of a tip from a former Pakistani official, who simply wanted to collect on the $25 million reward. The administration, determined to keep the identity of the official secret, attributed it falsely to the vaccination scheme that they just happened to be running not far from the area.
Hersh cites officials familiar with the situation as saying the CIA’s affiliation with the once legitimate vaccination program began long before they had any hint of bin Laden’s whereabouts, and said the its publicly linking to bin Laden was a “hurriedly put together CIA cover story,” adding that the humanitarian program “has been compromised as a cynical hoax.”
The revelation of the vaccination scheme being a CIA project fueled massive backlash across Pakistan, including a number of violent attacks on vaccination workers from independent aid programs. The humanitarian consequences of the CIA going public with what it had done are yet to be fully realized, but are keeping polio and other vaccination programs too dangerous to run in much of Pakistan, setting the stage for decades of healthcare woes in rural Pakistan.
US officials had defended these humanitarian costs as “worth it” because bin Laden was killed. Now, rather, it’s revealed that it was only brought public as part of a lazy cover-up, and all these consequences are just blowback on the administration’s attempt to manufacture a narrative.
Entangled in web after web of nothing but lies.
"A worrying factor at this early point, according to the retired official, was Saudi Arabia, which had been financing bin Laden’s upkeep since his seizure by the Pakistanis [in 2006]. ‘The Saudis didn’t want bin Laden’s presence revealed to us because he was a Saudi, and so they told the Pakistanis to keep him out of the picture. The Saudis feared if we knew we would pressure the Pakistanis to let bin Laden start talking to us about what the Saudis had been doing with al-Qaida."
What an ally, that House of Saud! And what bloodhound-like man-hunting abilities, those US intelligence agencies!
It's a good piece of journalism altogether. The one element that leads credence to it is I just can't see a military commander worthy of the title having soldiers in the field stay around and collect 15 computers, which I assume were not all on the same table. This while operating surrounded by Pakistani military installations and needing to fly out in Pakistani airspace without their knowledge….after a helicopter had already crashed.
"The assassination, rather, was the result of a tip from a former Pakistani official,
who simply wanted to collect on the $25 million reward…"
I wonder if this (official) got his 30 pieces of silver…
According to the article, he is now living near DC and is a CIA consultant.
If I were that "former Pakistani official" who obviously wanted and needed to remain anonymous, I would be seriously concerned that my identity might not be as secure as I might have been promised. And now that the perfidy of both the Pakistani and Saudi governments has been revealed this person's safety might be in jeopardy. The Saudis have already proven they will do whatever they require to get things their way…kind of like the way the USG operates, eh?
Release the un-edited or redacted 28 pages and let the American people know what kind of "friends" their government has been supporting.
Senator Bob Graham (FL): you've stated that the American people need to know – I know you have a copy of those 28 pages stashed away…be a man instead of a coward – be a REAL Patriot and release them – send them to Sy Hersh. What could they do to you? Fire you? The majority of the American people would be in your corner!!
It's time the American people started putting this stuff right.
9/11 Debunked in Under 5 Minutes James Corbett September 11, 2013
Oct 18, 2013 Interview with Bin Laden Raid Eyewitness Mohammad Bashir
Watch this interview from Saama TV, Pakistan, with eye witness Mohammad Bashir, a resident of Abbottabad and neighbour to the alleged "compound" where the US government claim Osama bin Laden was hiding. Mohammad gives his eyewitness account of what he saw happen on 2 May 2011 (local time) – an account which fundamentally contradicts the official story.
Seems everything they (US administration) do is plainly wrong.
Attacks on vaccination workers – oh, come on, who could have anticipated that? Just some do-gooders, women mostly, getting out that cover story could result in some collateral damage, but heck, it's those Islamists up to no good – THEY did it, not us. Unvaccinated kids who die of communicable diseases? Reduce the surplus population. After all, bin Laden died and the whole thing worked out.