Four years ago US intelligence worked out the identity of a trusted courier of Osama Bin Laden's, after interrogators were given his alias. SEAL Team 6: A Secret History of Quiet Killings and Blurred Lines The parents of Aaron Vaughn, a SEAL Team 6 member killed in the attack but not believed to have been on the mission that killed bin Laden, have criticized Biden's speech at the awards dinner. A group of Navy SEALs comes to learn the identity of their target: Osama bin Laden. Some Arab countries and leaders condemned the actions of the United States. Sadly, on April 2, 2015, Cairo was put down after an inoperable cancer was detected in his body. Unable to see what was going on, all Chesney heard were gunshots. As Cairo was considered a Navy SEAL, the distinction didnt matter. This was a very difficult decision, in part because the evidence we had was not absolutely conclusive, he said. Other sources say that it was a kill operation and that capture wasnt a consideration. "It was like being recruited to an all-star team. To reprint or license this article or any content from Military.com, please submit your request, The Operation That Took Out Osama Bin Laden, By In any case, there was no doubt about the outcome of the mission when the SEAL team leader radioed in, "For God and country -- Geronimo, Geronimo, Geronimo," thus declaring the raid a success. It would be at a seven-week training camp in California that theyd forge a strong bond with one another. Harwood wrote that Biden had disclosed the names of SEAL Team 6 members during a speech to prove he was in the know., The long post explainedhow Bidens words later prompted the Taliban to take down an aircraft killing its 38 passengers, including most ofif not all of Seal Team Six.. Robert J. O'Neill (born 10 April 1976) is a former United States Navy SEAL (1996-2012), TV news contributor, and author. https://www.history.com/news/bin-laden-raid-situation-room-photo, September-11-pentagon-attack-survivors-evacuation, The Bin Laden Raid: Inside the Situation Room Photo. Aug. 19, 2016. Former U.S. Navy SEAL Team 6 member Robert O'Neill discussed Operation Neptune Spear, the mission that resulted in Osama bin Laden's death on May 1, 2011, in a special conversation held in the 9/11 Memorial Museum for members of the 9/11 community yesterday. why released it so generously on 'facebook' and 'twitter'? Daley, who served as Obamas chief of staff for a year until January 2012, is the only man in the room wearing a full suit and tie, thanks to his wifes insistence that he recognize the momentous nature of the day. This 2005 satellite image shows the Abbottabad, Pakistan compound where Osama Bin Laden was hidingand later shot and killed by Navy SEALs in May 2011. After the ceremony to honor SEAL Team 6, President Obama wanted to meet Cairo. This was the first and only time as president that Id watch a military operation unfold in real time, he wrote later. The HASC approved the Major Richard Star Act, which would ensure service members who medically retire before 20 years have VA Secretary Denis McDonough said that the issue rests with him. "God bless the man who took the shot. The compounds unusual and extensive security features, along with further intelligence information, prompted suspicion that the residence was Osama bin Ladens hideout. Practice reels were discovered in the compound. It just was extraordinary,"he continued. We dont see CIA Director Leon Panetta, who brought the first news of bin Laden'sAbbottabad compoundeight months earlier, only days before the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Thank you for supporting our journalism. SEAL Team 6 commando who killed Osama bin Laden describes terrorist's According to the claim, the elite team was able to warn their relatives so that they could erase any evidence of their connection so theextremist group couldn't target them next. The occupants sustained no serious injuries. Derek Johnson is the Veteran that exposes Laws of War! He revealed the names and the unit that killed Bin Laden," Facebook user Tom Harwood posted on July 30. If he had failed that night, I think it would have cost Obama the presidency, Mullen said later, citing the thought that haunted him as he and others watched the raid unfold. Sign in to rate and Watchlist for personalized recommendations. SEAL Team Six: The Raid on Osama Bin Laden is a 2012 television film directed by John Stockwell chronicling the Abbottabad compound raid and killing of Osama bin Laden in 2011 by U.S. Navy SEALs. This was when Chesney realized Cairo was a very special dog. Gates did not specifically name Biden. Gunfire was exchanged as SEALs made their way through the compound, up to the second and third floors, where bin Laden and his family were hiding. until July 1st, when he became the Secretary of Defense. Using known photos and facial recognition software, as well as measuring the corpse, CIA specialists determined with 95% certainty that the body was that of Osama bin Laden. The military team that killed Osama Bin Laden is an elite special forces group unofficially called SEAL Team 6. Cairo was the only non-human to join the raid in 2011, but he was more than just a dog, he was a US Navy SEAL. A New Book Introduces Children to History's Most Heroic Military Animals, Marine Corps Veteran Robert McCall Fights the Entire Sicilian Mafia in 'The Equalizer 3', 'Warhorse One' Is the Latest in the Line of This Year's Afghanistan Withdrawal Movies. On Aug. 6, 2011,insurgent forces in Afghanistan shot down an American aircraft. The noise caused by the downed Black Hawk had caused a lot of commotion, as did the gunfight between the SEALs and the insurgents. At the time, service dogs were unable to receive military decorations, which is the only reason why he didnt receive one. But the woman herselfand her thoughtsremain a mystery, probably because of the clandestine nature of her work for the National Security Council. We have a saying, Dogs have a switch on or off mode, [so when you] put their vest on, they know theyre working, turn it off, theyre playful.. As the helicopter dropped, the tail hit the top of a wall and it began to roll, at which time the pilot put the nose down so that the helicopter would not roll over onto its side. The SEAL team also recovered his 228-page journal, which records thoughts he expressed to family members between February and April of 2011. Facts about Seal Team 6 and the Death of Osama Bin Laden When Wealthy Adventurers Take Huge Risks, who Should Foot the Bill for Rescue Attempts? The Bin Laden Raid: Inside the Situation Room Photo | HISTORY Will Chesney was bracing himself for their separation when he got the order that SEAL Team Six were going after Osama bin Laden. Either they succeed or they don't come home.". This article may not be republished, rebroadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without written permission. Fact-checking the dangerous bin Laden conspiracy theory that - CNN When he realized there was a live aerial view of the compound on offer in a smaller conference room, thats where he headed; thats how the most powerful figure in the room ended up sitting on the side of the image. He also kept the blood-stained harness Cairo was wearing the night he was shot. The Mission: SEAL Team 6 vs. Osama Bin Laden #shorts The Green Berets were also in attendance as well as a few CIA operatives. Navy SEALs retrieved about 100 of these drives, which reveal that bin Laden was involved in critical al Qaeda operations even after world leadership assumed his responsibilities had been handed off to Ayman al-Zawahri. The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency has since made a large portion of these materials available to the public. When Obama walked into the small conference room from the main situation room, Webb tried to give Obama his seat, only to be told by the president to stay where he was. The night that Osama Bin Laden's death was announced, locals at Boneshakers Sports bar in Dam Neck, Va., where Navy SEAL Team Six trains, toasted someone they may never know by name, but who could easily be their neighbor. I was devastated, but we had to continue the mission. Gates had been one of those wary of undertaking the Abbottabad raid, reminding Obama of what had happened in 1980 when U.S. forces tried to use helicopters to rescue 53 Americans held hostage in the embassy in Teheran. The residence, about 40 miles from Pakistan's capital of Islamabad, was just up the road from a garrison that housed Pakistan's premier military academy. Meet the 'Seal Team 6', the Guys Who Killed Osama Bin Laden - CNBC After the March 2002 campaign, most of Osama bin Laden's fighters fled into Pakistan, and Team 6 would rarely fight another sustained, pitched battle against the terrorist network in Afghanistan. CAIRO and the kevlar vest he wore during OP Neptune Spear. The large three-story house was built around 2004 and included surrounding walls that were up to 18 feet high and sported two security gates all of which enclosed a lot eight times larger than the rest of the plots in the area. I felt like he needed me, Chesney wrote, and I sure needed him.. Officially, the team's name is classified and not available to the. In August 2010 the same man was traced to a specially built $1m compound in north-west Pakistan, when he used a mobile phone. subscribe to our print edition, ad-free app or electronic newspaper replica here. McDonough, involved in the planning of the operation from its earliest stages, sweated the details, as Obama recalled. Here are nine unexpected things discovered in Bin Ladens compound and what they reveal about the founder of the international terrorist network al Qaeda. There was only a 55% chance that the 9/11 attack mastermind was in the compound.. From al Qaeda emails to Disney films to pornography, the terrorist leader had a wide array of diversions in his Pakistan hideout. The two spent the next two weeks training. If someone built a big house with a giant wall in your neighborhood, you might wonder whos living there, right? Seal Team Six: The Raid on Osama Bin Laden (TV Movie 2012) cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more. Read about our approach to external linking. It was important for him to understand his enemy and their way of thinking, Roggio says. The two quickly cleared the first and second floors and were making their way up to the third when another US Navy SEAL passed them on his way back down saying, I dont think they need the dog. We strive for accuracy and fairness. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. The following points of interesting info make the events all the more intriguing. He wanted to be paired with another dog in the program named Bronco, who was friendly and more playful, while Cairo was more reserved and all about work. The next day, a DNA test confirmed that the body was indeed that of Osama bin Laden. Ex-SEAL Member Who Wrote Book on Bin Laden Raid Forfeits $6.8 Million Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. In about 40 minutes, the SEAL team accomplished what the whole world has been trying to achieve for over a decade - kill Osama bin Laden. The SEALs quickly made their way up to the third floor, where they found the terrorist leader in his bedroom and killed him. 2023 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Satellite Information Network, LLC. ", Reuters, May 20, 2020, "False claim: Biden revealed identities of Navy SEAL Team Six", Reuters, May 5, 2011, "Al Qaeda confirms bin Laden is dead, vows revenge", Politico, May 19, 2011, "Gates: Raid details are dangerous", The Washington Post, Aug.6, 2011, "22 Navy SEALs among 30 U.S. troops killed in Afghanistan as NATO helicopter is shot down", The Washington Times, June 7, 2013, "KUHNER: The betrayal of the Navy's SEAL Team 6", Politico, July 18, 2016, "Mother of slain Navy SEAL decries 'ludicrous' rules of military engagement", Fox News, Sept. 11, 2012, "EXCLUSIVE: Parents of SEAL Team Six member say unit endangered by Obama administration statements", Congressional Hearing, Feb.27, 2014, "AFGHANISTAN: HONORING THE HEROES OF EXTORTION 17", Associated Press, Aug. 20, 2016, "Ex-SEAL to pay $6.6 million in case over book on Osama bin Laden raid", USA TODAY, Nov. 8, 2014 "Navy SEALs 'frustrated' by bin Laden raid disclosures". Club; Deadspin; Gizmodo; Jalopnik; Jezebel; Kotaku; Quartz; He can tell you more about and understands the incredible, the phenomenal, the just almost unbelievable capacity of his Navy SEALs and what they did last Sunday., As Vice President of the United States, as an American I was in absolute awe, awe of the capacity and dedication of the entire team, both the intelligence community CIA, theSEALs. There were audible gasps, Obama later recalled, when the group received confirmation of bin Ladens death. 2023 BBC. Right up until the last minute, we couldnt confirm he was there, recalled Clapper, a retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant general who served as president Obamas top intelligence official from 2010 until 2017. They came in choppers, armed with the latest ammunition, broke through the ceiling of Osama's palatial mansion and shot dead the world's top most terrorist. Believed to have been recorded for him by one of his daughters, the diary revealed his thoughts on the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings taking place in several majority-Muslim countries and his vision for Al Qaeda's place in world politics: This chaos and the absence of leadership in the revolutions is the best environment to spread al-Qaeda's thoughts and ideas, the journal says. Accounts of how this happened differ, depending on the source. For Daley, the only person to sit in on every meeting during the raids planning stages who wasnt part of the intelligence or national security establishments, it had been the right decision. President Barack Obama and National Security Adviser Tom Donilon during a meeting in the White House Situation Room, discussing the mission to capture or kill Osama bin Laden, May 1, 2011. Will Chesney joined the US Navy in 2002, but it wasnt until 08 that he made the decision to become a dog handler. Fact check:Kamala Harris was part of the second integrated class in elementary school. Biden himself later insisted that his advice had merely been to wait to be sure it was the right decision. Since then, two former SEALs have gone public about their role in bin Laden's death. Osama bin Laden, the subject of thousands of news articles and multiple documentaries, apparently had an avid curiosity about his public image. Three years later, Cairo was just about ready to be retired. READ MORE: Why Did US Forces Bury Osama bin Laden's Body at Sea? I'm proud of him. The medic did their best to reduce the bleeding, and Cairo was swiftly transported to the nearest medical facility to undergo life-saving emergency surgery. After he was killed, authorities found on his computer several films about him, including BiographyOsama bin Laden and the 2008 comedy documentary Where in the World is Osama bin Laden? There is considerable professional rivalry between them. Stepping away from her academic career, Samantha previously worked as a Heritage Researcher and now writes content for multiple sites covering an array of historical topics. All Rights Reserved. May 3, 2011 -- As Navy SEAL Team 6 closed in on its prey -- Osama bin Laden -- it likely entered the battle armed with the best weapons and technology available to soldiers anywhere in the world . pic.twitter.com/O4vUAts81t. Chesney had the dog cremated and keeps his ashes in a canister. Meet 'Seal Team 6' - Business Insider He risked just as much.. Ursula Coyote . Like 1950s spy novel heroes, their objectives are secret missions, classified and hushed. The Navy Special Warfare community is generally (and appropriately) tight lipped about their operations, he wrote. Osama Bin Ladens house was in a normal Pakistani neighborhood that happened to be less than a mile from a military school. Release Calendar Top 250 Movies Most Popular Movies Browse Movies by Genre Top Box Office Showtimes & Tickets Movie News India Movie Spotlight. While everyone else in the neighborhood enjoyed normal trash pick up, the compound burnt all of its refuse. In the early hours of 2 May 2011, a team of 79 American special-operation forces belonging to the Navy's elite SEAL Team 6 flew two helicopters at low altitude across the.