Myths of the Bin Laden Raid

Nov 6, 2011 The Daily Beast.

There was no running gunfight. And the SEALs did not have a kill order. Richard Miniter on the new book detailing the night al Qaeda’s chief died—and the headaches it could cause Obama.                                     

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Osama bin Laden did not hear the SEALs’ stealthy helicopter until it hovered over the roof of his three-story home and the chopper’s spinning blades smashed his plastic patio chairs against his bedroom window.

In less than 10 seconds, the SEALs had jumped onto the roof, crawled across the rain-stained tiles, and descended onto bin Laden’s patio. The bearded terror leader sleepily opened his bedroom door and then, spotting two armed men with night-vision gear coming down the hall toward him, quickly slammed it.

They were right behind him.

As the SEALs forced open the bedroom door, they heard bin Laden’s youngest wife screaming in Arabic while raising a blanket to block their view. Behind the rising blanket, they saw bin Laden scrambling for an AKSU machine pistol.

As she tried to shield him, bin Laden shoved his wife into the line of fire. It was the last thing he did.

The first round went into the mattress behind bin Laden. The other three rounds found their mark as the two SEALs fired as one.

Navy Seals photographed during a drill at the John C. Stennis Space Center in Mississippi on October 25, 2010., John Scorza / U.S. Navy via Getty Images

Bin Laden’s pistol now hangs on the wall of SEAL Team Six’s Virginia base, beside the photos of comrades killed in action.

These are the kinds of inside details that emerge from Chuck Pfarrer’s new book Seal Target Geronimo.