We may never know precisely how it all happened.
But after days of confusing and sometimes contradictory reports by U.S. officials and others, some clarity is finally emerging from what even the White House has dubbed “the fog of war” surrounding the death of Osama bin Laden.
We now know, for instance, that what was first described as a 40-minute firefight inside bin Laden’s Pakistan compound was no such thing. Only one of the five people killed by U.S. Navy SEALs was armed and fired a shot. And no, it probably wasn’t the terrorist leader himself, wielding an AK-47 from a third-floor window, as initially reported.
It’s also now generally agreed that the hitherto secret stealth helicopter used by the Americans — the one that crashed into the wall surrounding bin Laden’s compound — was a souped-up version of an MH-60 Black Hawk.
And Al Qaeda confirmed Friday that its former leader is, in fact, dead, which should put a stop to all the conspiracy theorists who claimed the U.S. had faked the whole operation or killed someone other than bin Laden.
Some questions, however, remain unanswered. Which commando shot an unarmed bin Laden, and what prompted him to do so? Was it a so-called kill mission from outset? And why were none of the survivors taken away? Continued at this source:
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