Photos show three dead men at bin Laden raid house (GRAPHIC IMAGES AT LINK)

Source: Reuters

(Reuters) - Photographs acquired by Reuters and taken about an hour after the U.S. assault on Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad in Pakistan show three dead men lying in pools of blood, but no weapons.

The photos, taken by a Pakistani security official who entered the compound after the early morning raid on Monday, show two men dressed in traditional Pakistani garb and one in a t-shirt, with blood streaming from their ears, noses and mouths.

The official, who wished to remain anonymous, sold the pictures to Reuters.

--snip--

Pakistan faced national embarrassment, a leading Islamabad newspaper said, in explaining how the world's most-wanted man was able to live for years in the military garrison town of Abbottabad, just north of the capital.

Read more: http://ca.news.yahoo.com/photos-show-three-dead-men-bin-laden-raid-194758961.html

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Much more at the link!

ONEDIT: Reuters updated the story which includes GRAPHIC photographs of the dead men described in the article. HERE is a link to the new article (GRAPHIC WARNING)

This doesn't sound like the stronghold of a terrorist mastermind, it sounds more like house arrest right where the ISI can keep an eye on him. Whether or not it is politically convenient to acknowledge it, for bin Laden to be unarmed in this fashion (i.e. especially given his trademark AK-47), it would seem more likely that some kind of deal had been worked out with either the Pakistani government or the ISI or some other higher-up intelligence organ in the country.

The three men would be the two couriers, one of bin Laden's sons and the rest of the dozen or more people there were either children under 12 or wives of the two "couriers" or wives of bin Laden, with the exception of a Yemeni woman who was the "house doctor".

No bodyguards, possibly no guns...Is this the Pakistani version of Club Fed for "useful" terrorists? Because I have little doubt that's how the ISI rolls. There are a lot of people in India, like the Indian government, who believe the ISI had a hand in the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

What is Pakistan/ISI up to and now that bin Laden is dead, do we still want to be aboard their crazy train?

PB

"Security officials said they did not recover any arms and explosives during their detailed search of the compound and the 13-roomed house, during which they removed two buffalos, a cow and around 150 chickens."

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1383106/Osama-Bin-Laden-dead-Wife-watched-die-White-House-reveals-WASNT-armed.html#ixzz1LPD7TYFi

That makes no sense.

Burden now shifts to the Administration to justify the use of deadly force against several apparently unarmed persons inside the house.

Sorry, that's just the way it works.

Because no one can or will do anything about it.

They'll have to release the footage that the national security team watched.

Who's going to make them?

It will avoid the appearance of impropriety. Legitimacy is still important in these things.

And no one can make them do it.

Something about national security and the tactics used by the team, I bets.

the seals shot unarmed people. The burden of proof is not on the accused to prove a negative. The seals you accuse are innocent until proven guilty. In his respect, the UCMJ is subordinate to and follows the constitution.

:rofl:

Do the lengths yo which you go to attack this administration know no bounds?

Just ludicrous.

Very useful propoganda tool, if he can convince people that Americans killed unarmed terrorists, and it's already being spread by the PL.

They would have pulled out women, children, and a few unrecognizable men. Then the story is that the US is bombing kids. You have to wonder if someone placed women and children in places they knew were going to be hit by drone strikes.

on a regular basis with drones in Pakistan. Why would they worry about a few more dead women and children, they have refused to stop killing Pakistani civilians no matter how often they have been asked to do so.

And those civilians are not the wives and children of a wanted terrorist.

I think the reason for the use of special forces rather than bombs, was not a concern for children or women, since when do we care about that, they wanted to get the materials, computers etc. that would have been destroyed had they used bombs.

which are, by definition, potential targets? Are they also being used as "human shields"?

I'm not defending terrorists, here. Just trying to point out how silly the "human shield" meme is. It's just a propaganda tactic, with which to vilify one's enemies.

good point. :thumbsup:

PB

helmet cams. They have to release that, now.

Leaving armaments the someone else could use wouldn't be the smartest thing to do.

This wasn't a duel. Does not having a gun at the moment mean he didn't do what he did?

I HOPE HE WAS UNARMED. I HOPE HE FOUND OUT HOW IT FELT TO BE UTTERLY HELPLESS WHEN SOMEONE ELSE DECIDES YOU SHOULD DIE.

As for the people who died with him, I'm sure they appreciated the privilege.

As for spreading propaganda, that would be you, wouldn't it?

Take a good look at the rest of this thread. :rofl:

Anyone in that house could have had a trigger button on them somewhere, for all they new.

Just a couple of scenarios that must have been going through their heads.

When you sweep thru a compound you pick up the weapons as you go so that someone else can't pick them up and shoot at you!
The photos are not from a 'crime scene investigation' where everything is left in place - they are the aftermath of what was there after the Seals left and also after other Pakistani officials were roaming around the compound and taking whatever they wanted.

You may disable the weapon or pull the magazine. A SEAL is not going to lug around an extra AK when their job is to be quick and deadly.

The Spec Forces wouldn't clean those up, except their own. I want to see those photos.

The guy that sold the photos to Reuters might not have taken photos of shell casings.
If there aren't any photos like that then it's going to be hard for you to see them.

Were people just shooting up the building for fun? :shrug:

That's an important detail that needs to be explained.

The man that sold the photos to Reuters took an outside photo and a couple inside close-ups of the dead men.
If he didn't take a photo of guns or shell casings that does NOT mean that they weren't there.

It's a different point. Now people are saying that the US just went in shooting and the poor innocent unarmed Bin Laden defenders were killed. BS.

about the circumstances of the killings of the people in that room that need to be addressed. Reports already say that there were no guns and explosives found.

If everyone was unarmed, it indicates these people were under a form of house arrest, which completely changes the picture of what happened and raises many, many potentially difficult questions about this operation and the events that preceded it.

No one cares and no one can do anything about it. Also, if it turns out they were under "house arrest" it also means the Pakistani's knew about it. They'll NEVER admit to that.

By all accounts he moved in to the compound in 2005.

that Osama was probably in Abbottabad.

This is all very messy - these things tend to be that way, which is why they should be avoided.

It does makes more sense when you think of it that way.

Big difference.

like the BFEE.

Do you even hear yourself? Appalling this garbage.

When it suits us.

The problem lies in our government not being honest & direct about it with us.

Al-Qaeda had several sponsors over the years, with a lot of overlap.

Extremely tall wall, barbed wire, large yard, cameras, built in a military town,comm. tower and third floor that looks out in all directions. Why build 12' plus wall if you don't want to be seen inside.

Sounds just like a single house prison, not quit as fancy as Pablo Escobar's but nice enough.

people opine on shit that they have no idea about.

Dude you weren't there, you have no idea what was or is in that compound and yet you have no problem at all pretending you are some kind of expert on exactly how the entire raid was planned, carried out and cleaned up. Shit you even know exactly what the ISI was doing with bin Laden for the last what 5 years. Shit why don't you get a job with the DIA?

...few days. Do you think the DOD is lying about the children, wives, etc.? That there were bodyguards there that they shot and killed but didn't report on?

:shrug:

PB

YES!!!

I'm all ears!

PB

The US would have been blamed for that. There is no winning with certain people. Obama is beginning to learn that. Maybe something good did come out of the birther mess.

either through bribery or coercion. Doesn't bother me one way or the other though. Turn the page.

...that the reason those terrorist might have been unarmed was because they were set up comfortably by the Pakistani government?

Which of those is really most important to people here?

PB

It would make them look really bad in the Arab world. However, I have no idea if they were helping us or not.

I love this:

"The photos, taken by a Pakistani security official who entered the compound after the early morning raid"

Taken by *** A *** Pakistani security official.

As in singular? Like only that person entered?

And I'm gonna add, Who The Hell Cares!?!?

They were camped out with the TERRORIST! Damned lucky that only a few were killed, IF, these weren't killed by the Pakistanis and/or their security to shut them up.

Or wait, your last statement was "Who The Hell Cares!?!?", so I presume your post was sort of beatnik stream of consciousness thing?

:shrug:

PB

before rushing to sell a photo to the gullible Rueters?

Let's see, who do I trust . . . President Obama and our Navy Seal team or the Pakistani's who shielded that sonofabitch for years? That's a tough one.

The stories are completely the same, friend. The pentagon put out a "narrative" yesterday which is the latest account of the entire raid. There is nothing in the article I quote which differs from that.

So my question is, what exactly is it you don't trust, again?

PB

You seriously think the SEALs left weapons near people they'd shot? I mean, there isn't the off chance one of them was still alive and would reach for a gun?

:shrug:

PB

this 'Pakistani security official' SOLD the photos to Reuters? Stinks of widespread corruption, imo.

The scene of the guy they were housing?

Looks like Reuters scrubbed it for some reason.

In the OP is a new link and the subject line appropriately explains that GRAPHIC images are at the story now, though honestly you have to click through the slideshow to see them.

PB

Hmmm. I wonder what's going on?

:rofl:

PB

PB

<http://ca.news.yahoo.com/photos-show-three-dead-men-bin-laden-raid-194758961.html>

No photos, though.

...I left disclaimer in.

PB

And keep up the good work. I like this discussion, having had my ass kicked all day on other threads here for suggesting that the failure of the White House to communicate properly around this event, and its changing storyline, were going to cause real problems for the President down the road.

By the reaction I got, you'd have sworn I had burned an effigy of Obama while collecting contributions to the Tea Party.

Page Not Found. They pulled it.

What do you think?

Could it be his son?

At least it sure looks like it.

PB

OBL's son, a courier, and the courier's brother.

If folks over there know what OBL's son looks like then I wonder why there aren't any headlines with his name along with the photo yet.

...it was just them explaining why they believed the pictures were genuine. But who would be depicted in them is anybody's guess with, I think, the DOD making the call about the couriers and OBL's son. I think only they have the intel to make a call like that, AFAIK.

PB

Why the kill order? If he was killed resisting that would be one thing, but it seems now that he was unarmed and capture may not have been too difficult. Why wouldn't it be helpful to try him as a terrorist? Show the world that the USA respects the rule of law? Even Saddam got a trial.
I can think of some reasons why it happened this way, but I am such a cynic...I would like to hear from from some of you. Whadda think?

shooting the "alleged perp?"

Our Seals were on unfamiliar turf without any knowledge of what might or might not be rigged to blow. The imperatives were to stop UBL and prevent US casualties - and they appear to have been successful.

If there's afterlife justice, he'll be painfully butt-fucked by 72 virgins, for eternity. Big, ugly, hairy virgins with an endless supply of viagra.

It wasn't about the Seals. They will do what they are told and they were told to kill. My post was about the order.
Let's not forget that the first casualty of war is the truth. Believe nothing but consider all possibilities.

capture if UBL surrendered, although he had made statements earlier that he would not be taken alive.

The dead men are in photos 7, 8, and 9

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gallery/2011/may/04/osama-bin-laden-compound

I can't find the Reuters link... do you by any chance have a link to the pictures? Looks like Reuters has removed it. Thanks.

I mean to the images, anyway.

PB

All I see is Warning:The following images contain graphic content.

But I don't see the images.

...have any images save the first in the series. There are some pictures of the helicopter's tail which the Reuters story identified as "nonstandard and possibly something new" so...the guvmint may have contacted Reuters to have them pull any militarily-sensitive information out of there.

PB

I got a screen shot, though, and here's a relevant portion of the text and the URL. No mention of shell casings. The page is very "buggy" and my cursor was partially disabled the first time I went in: http://ca.news.yahoo.com/photos-show-three-dead-men-bin-laden-raid-194758961.html

Not particularly impressive.

I'm on iPhone via wi-fi.

There's a lot of blood seen in photos.

the cat slept through it all.

HERE

Hat tip to tx4obama for the link. These are also much higher in quality than either of the previous sources.

PB

Including the unusual tail rotor.

No apparent shell casings, but the photos are closeups of bloody faces and torsos.

All things being what they are I want those guys dead before any American taking part in the
raid. If those guys or others @ the compound had a chance some Navy SEALs would have looked
just the same. This is what war looks like.

BTW If you live in the same house as Osama bin Laden you should know that you are taking a huge
risk and that people are going to kill you to get to bin Laden.

BTW If you live in the same house as Osama bin Laden you should know that you are taking a huge
risk and that people are going to kill you to get to bin Laden.

Help me here. Combatants have a positive responsibility to not knowingly kill innocent standbys when conducting a legitimate act of war against an enemy. Yes?

But you seem to be saying that combatants can knowingly kill people if they are adjacent to a target, even if these people are innocent of any wrongdoing. Or am I misinterpreting?

n/t

Those head shots were very professional. Those guys were dead before they hit the ground (i.e., base of brain trauma).

J

PB

I suspect it's a highly modified tail rotor, made super quiet.

Others wonder, too, what it is: http://cencio4.wordpress.com/2011/05/03/mysterious-helicopter/

This would definitely be the state of the art for what we have in big choppers.

PB

I didn't have the time to read through thoroughly, what with moderating and laundry and working...

:P

J

The second and third photos. Green and yellow.