Is this the guy who tipped the U.S. to Osama bin Laden's hiding spot?
The fallout from Seymour Hersh's investigative report on the death of Osama bin Laden continues, with many contending that the veteran reporter has wandered into conspiracy theory territory by claiming that the U.S. government and the Pakistani army worked together to kill the Al Qaeda leader, a plot that was covered up with a Hollywood-like narrative of Navy SEALs steeling across the border in stealth helicopters and taking bin Laden out in the dead of night.
But one aspect of Hersh's report is quietly gaining some serious attention: his claim that the U.S. was tipped off to bin Laden's hideout in Abbottabad by a rogue member of Pakistan's powerful military spy agency, Inter-Services Intelligence. The semi-official story is that the Obama administration tracked bin Laden down by following his couriers, but Hersh claims the Americans got the intelligence from a senior ISI officer who was seeking the U.S.'s $25 million award for information on bin Laden's whereabouts.
Carlotta Gall of The New York Times, who previously reported that the ISI brass was aware of bin Laden's presence in Abbottabad, writes that her "own reporting tracks with Hersh's" on this point. And Pakistan's The News, citing "well-informed intelligence circles," reports that the officer in question was one Brigadier Usman Khalid, who was subsequently given American citizenship. (Hersh claims the informant was relocated to the States with his family.)
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Which is all to say that the line from the White House, re-enacted in meticulous detail in the movie Zero Dark Thirty, may not be totally true.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Ryu Spaeth is deputy editor at TheWeek.com. Follow him on Twitter.
-
Unchecked wildfire sears Southern California
Speed Read Firefighting crews continue to battle wildfires that have scorched thousands of acres in Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties amid heat wave
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Maduro rival flees Venezuela for exile in Spain
Speed Read Former Venezuelan presidential candidate Edmundo González fled as part of a negotiated deal with Nicolás Maduro’s government
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
'This broken system leads to unfair competition'
Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
Puffed rice and yoga: inside the collapsed tunnel where Indian workers await rescue
Speed Read Workers trapped in collapsed tunnel are suffering from dysentery and anxiety over their rescue
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
More than 2,000 dead following massive earthquake in Morocco
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Mexico's next president will almost certainly be its 1st female president
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
North Korea's Kim to visit Putin in eastern Russia to discuss arms sales for Ukraine war, U.S. says
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Gabon's military leader sworn in following coup in latest African uprising
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Nobody seems surprised Wagner's Prigozhin died under suspicious circumstances
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Western mountain climbers allegedly left Pakistani porter to die on K2
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
'Circular saw blades' divide controversial Rio Grande buoys installed by Texas governor
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published