Yet another version of the story of the Osama bin Laden raid that ended in the Al Qadea leaders death. A third member of the elite special forces unit that raided bin Laden’s Pakistan compound has come forward to tell his story.The previous account, given by a Navy SEAL identified as The Shooter in Esquire magazine, claimed he had confronted Bin Laden in the terror chief’s bedroom and shot him twice in the forehead when he saw him reach for a gun.
However the third member of the SEAL Team 6 has stated that he came face to face with bin Laden in his final moments as well. He claims the details of Esquire’s original scoop “are B.S.”.
The Shooter told Esquire that on the fateful night he had confronted Bin Laden in the terror chief’s bedroom and shot him twice in the forehead when he saw him reach for a gun, which completely contradicted the account given by Matt Bissonnette, author of the best seller No Easy Day, written under the pen name Mark Owen.
The third member to come forward disagrees with Bissonnette in the following points: The Shooter told Esquire that what happened next was that Bin Laden peered through his bedroom door and the point man shot at and either missed or lightly wounded him, before peeling off to tackle two women nearby. The Shooter then claims he then ran alone into the room where he found Bin Laden hiding behind one of his wives, perhaps using her as a human shield. Seeing a gun ‘within reach’ he shot him twice in the head.
CNN Security Analyst Peter Bergen reports that what actually happened, according to his source, known as “the point man” is that the point man shot and gravely wounded Bin Laden.The point man then leapt on the two nearby women – to absorb any explosion in case they were wearing suicide vests as two more SEALs went into Bin Laden’s bedroom and, seeing he was mortally wounded, finished him off.
The source who spoke to Bergen told him there was no way The Shooter could have seen a gun in Bin Laden’s possession because the guns found in the room were only discovered on a high shelf after a thorough search. The source also told CNN that The Shooter was actually sacked from the SEAL unit in question after bragging about his role in the raid in bars.
Identities of Officers Who Spoke to 'Zero Dark Thirty' Filmmakers About Bin Laden Raid Are Not Public, Judge Rules http://t.co/DQy0Oq4ReS
— ABC News (@ABC) September 1, 2013
However, Esquire says it stands by it’s story, which is closet to the official account given after the raid. In a statement release by Esquire’s editor-in-chief David Granger, he states It reads:
“Esquire and Phil Bronstein, the veteran journalist and writer of the story, object to CNN’s report in the strongest possible terms.By stark contrast with Bronstein’s thoroughgoing 15,000 word report, the CNN story constitutes a mere act of assertion.As far as can be gleaned from the report, it is based on the opinion of one current SEAL who was not on the bin Laden mission and who therefore could not have first-hand knowledge of it. It is little more than gossip.Esquire’s story remains the most thoroughly reported account of the raid and of the death of Osama bin Laden.”
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