Seymour Hersh is a big name among American investigative journalists and one whom I have always liked reading. His most recent story seeks to answer many questions about Osama bin Laden’s killing. The real question is how satisfactorily he answers them in his recent piece for the London Review of Books. The one indisputable truth is that the US government has constantly lied about Osama bin Laden’s death.
Early on, Hersh mentions one major American source and a couple of secondary ones. However, his narrative is based primarily on a single source.
Pakistani sources are quoted only for rumours and speculation. “A (Pakistani) with close ties to the senior leadership of the ISI told me that there was a deal with your top guys”, he writes, implying that senior officials at Pakistan’s intelligence agency were in the habit of sharing secrets.
Gen Asad Durrani, who Hersh references extensively, is undoubtedly a credible source. However, not only is he long retired and not in touch with current intelligence operations, his quotes were mere “intelligent” speculations on what he thought, not knew.
Some of Hersh’s peripheral assertions are questionable. He emphasises that there was no resistance during the raid to kill Osama. I was the only non-serving Pakistani permitted to see the compound after his killing and can assert that there was enough evidence by way of bullet marks on walls to conclude that there was resistance.
Hersh also asserts that Osama lived in a cell with barred windows and barbed wire on the roof. I saw neither. Admittedly, the barbed wire could have been removed but removing the bars from windows? Firstly, why should they and, if they did, even my jaded eyes would have picked up some signs of that.
Hersh picks up his narrative from the fact that Abbottabad is an unlikely place for Osama to seek refuge in – especially given its proximity to the military academy.
He uses this contention to back up his claim that it could only have been if he was in custody. He omits to mention that, in 2004, Abu Faraj Al Libbi was (almost) captured a few miles from where Osama lived, or that Umar Patek, another senior Al Qaeda operative, was captured in that town in 2011.
Now, let’s take the mysterious ISI “former senior intelligence officer” who allegedly walked in to see US officials in August 2010.
Presumably, there were numerous meetings and a polygraph before he convinced Jonathan Banks, the CIA chief in Pakistan.
What is more, if this person knew about Osama’s ailing health and that a doctor had been deployed close by, that meant he could only recently have become an ex-official.
Without any intelligence background, I can only speculate. And I can only wonder how this person could visit Banks numerous times undetected. I must admit that that is as hard to swallow as the news that the CIA was reportedly able to set up a forward headquarters close to where Osama lived and remain in occupation of it without the ISI finding out.
Hersh’s version is that a confidante of senior ISI officials knew about the fact that the US had the Pakistan military over a barrel and, on the other hand, that hundreds of soldiers who must have guarded Osama during his years in ISI custody have remained silent.
But the most amazing part is how gullible the Pakistan army and intelligence personnel can be, in Hersh’s opinion.
If all he says is true, the military leadership only needed a word from the CIA to give up investigating Dr Amer Aziz, who supplied the incriminating DNA of Osama, and shift their focus to Shakeel Afridi? Highly gullible or very stupid.
The same Dr Aziz who received a portion of the $25 million reward on Osama and still resides in Pakistan. For all we know, he is still in uniform, has been saved due to a tip from the CIA. The US agency could not allow him to be compromised or he would have identified the “walk-in”, despite the fact that person has been rehabilitated in the US.
And, apart from the reward on Osama, the walk-in is now a consultant with the CIA. Amazing. I would have thought that the only thing any worthwhile intelligence agency might need to consult him for is how to successfully walk in and betray your country. I don’t think Hersh intended to imply that.
Brig Shaukat Qadir is a retired Pakistani infantry officer. His book Operation Geronimo: the Betrayal and Execution of Osama bin Laden and its Aftermath was published in 2012
