Tuesday, November 8, 2011

Former SEAL's Book: Obama Golfed as Forces Moved In on bin Laden


By: Henry J. Reske

While SEAL Team Six was moving in for the kill on Osama bin Laden, President Barack Obama was golfing. The allegation is one of many startling revelations in a new book on the mission that killed the world’s most wanted terrorist.

The book, “SEAL Target Geronimo: The Inside Story of the Mission to Kill Osama bin Laden” by former SEAL Chuck Pfarrer, was excerpted in London’s Sunday Times. Obama was on the golf course until 20 minutes before the operation began in earnest, a move alleged to provide cover for the president if the raid had gone bad, according to accounts in London’s Daily Mail.

The book, based on interviews with some of the men who carried out the raid on the al-Qaida leader's hideout in Abbottabad, Pakistan, on May 2, claims that the official account released to the press was riddled with errors.
Among the books revelations, according to the Daily Mail, are:

  • Obama stayed on the golf course in case the raid went bad. Pfarrer wrote in the book, “If this had completely gone south, he was in a position to disavow.”
  • Bin Laden was not referred to just as “Geronimo” in the raid but also “Bert” as in Bert and Ernie from the Muppets. Bin Laden deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri was Ernie.
  • When the SEALs burst into bin Laden’s room, his wife screamed, “No, no, don't do this . . . it’s not him!”
  • Bin Laden would have been captured if he had surrendered.
  • Bin Laden had a gun next to him when SEALs entered his room.
  • Four shots were fired as bin Laden shoved his wife at the raiders: One missed, one grazed his wife, one struck bin Laden in the chest, and the other hit him in the head.

The SEALs have decided to speak out because they were angered over being portrayed as assassins on a “kill mission,” according to the Daily Mail.

“I’ve been a SEAL for 30 years and I never heard the words ‘kill mission,'” Pfarrer said according to the Mail. The SEAL team members also were upset that Obama announced bin Laden’s death so soon after the killing. They believe the announcement neutralized intelligence gathering.

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