home

= **__Operation Neptune Spear__** =

media type="youtube" key="bz4TlvPPkbE" height="349" width="425" align="center"



__Background__:
Osama Bin Laden was born in 1957 to a rich Saudi family, the son of a powerful construction magnate, and inherited between $25 - 30 million upon his father's death in 1967. Bin Laden would use much of this wealth to help fund the illegitimate activities of his future Al-Qaeda. While in college, Bin Laden enrolled in courses taught by a radical Muslim cleric. Under the

[[image:http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/09/20/us/21giuliani-600.jpg width="348" height="193" align="right"]]
tutelage of this cleric, he developed a strong resentment of the United States and the Western ("Correct") values it stood for he believed these values to be detrimental to the Islamic people. Osama then founded a grassroots, covert militant organization called al-Qaeda ("The Base" in Arabic; called The International Islamic Front for Jihad Against the Crusaders and the Jews by its members), in an effort to combat the then occupation of Afghanistan and the surrounding territories by the Soviets. After these Soviets were driven out, Bin-Laden turned al-Qaeda against the US. This terrorist prganization was responsible for the bombins of U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, the assault on the U.S.S. Cole in 2000, and the cowardly and despicable attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center on September 11, 2011, where 3,000 Americans were murdered. The forever-respected President George W. Bush represented the angry vibe of the American people well when he proclaimed to the nation that we would hunt down and destroy the terrorists who had committed such an atrocity against American civilians on American soil. Bush announced this resolve to the world by saying, "We will not tire, we will not falter, and we will not fail", thus beginning a decade long manhunt, which the whole world, except evil do-ers who were frightened by American vengence, has respected.

media type="youtube" key="ZMj9g6WRLfQ" height="349" width="425" align="center"

**__The Courier__:** media type="youtube" key="cpP7b2lUxVE" height="291" width="349" align="right" US intelligence services found their first major lead in the hunt for Bin Laden in 2002. Interrogators began receiving information from detainees about a courier working for al Qaeda using the alias Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti. When interrogated about this subject, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (the highest ranking member of al Qaeda in US custody) claimed that he knew al-Kuwaiti but that the man was not a member of al-Qaeda. In 2004, interrogators learned from a detainee named Hassan Ghul that al-Kuwaiti was actually involved with the highest ranking members of al-Qaeda including bin Laden himself. In 2007, investigators discovered the true identity of al-Kuwaiti through unknown means. Following the raid, the Pakistani government announced that the man's real name was Ibrahim Saeed Ahmed. By following this courier, US intelligence agents were able to discover the location of bin Laden's home in Abottabad, Pakistan. Through satellite and drone surveillance of the compound, agents concluded that bin Laden was one of the men living there.

__**The Soldiers:**__ As a result of the operation, the group of soldiers that executed the plan have gained national recognition for their actions. The soldiers used for operation Neptune Spear are part of the United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group or more commonly know as SEAL Team Six (ST6). ST6 was first developed after a failed rescue attempt in 1980. That failed mission lead to a full-time counter terrorist unit. Richard Marcinko commanded the first unit to which he named SEAL Team Six.Originally there were only two SEAL teams but the number 6 was chosen to confuse Soviet intelligence. Members of ST6 are handpicked Navy SEALs and once selected, the unit went through further training to become the most prepared and unstoppable soldiers in the world. ST6 has seen plenty of combat since their formation in 1980. ST6 was in Grenada in 1983, Somalia in 1992-1993, Bosnia between 1992-1995, and Afghanistan starting in 2001. DEVGRU has been a part of 12 major operations since its formation. ST6 demonstrated success throughout the years application so it was an obvious choice to have them carry out operation Neptune Spear.

Operation Neptune Spear, representing the trident which symbolizes the Navy SEALs, was carried out under executive order by 79 Navy SEALs and a military dog. There were 24 additional SEALs, along with a group of Army Rangers, on standby to provide backup if something went wrong. The plan had called for half of the SEALs to land on the roof of the compound while another group landed in the courtyard. Unfortunately, one of the helicopters transporting the SEALs crashed due to a mechanical error without any casualties. This meant that only one team was involved in the actual assault. This group scaled the walls around the compound and blasted holes in the walls of the house to gain entrance. The SEALs proceeded to search the house room by room. During the search, a firefight erupted which resulted in the deaths of bin Laden's courier, al-Kuwaiti, as well as al-Kuwaiti's wife and brother. One of bin Laden's adult sons was also killed in the raid. The SEALs found bin Laden in a room with one of his wives. The wife was shot in the leg when she attempted to charge the SEALs. US forces then shot bin Laden in the chest and again in the left eye before he could reach an AK-47 stashed nearby. The SEALs then secured a substantial amount of intelligence including computer hard drives, over 100 USB's, and paper documents, and took these and bin Laden's corpse with them as they were evacuated from the compound. The prisoners captured at the house were subdued and later detained by the Pakistani authorities.
 * __The Operation__:**

__Aftermath__:[[image:http://lisawallerrogers.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/osama_bin_laden_deceased_dm_110502_ssv.jpg?w=308&h=411 width="248" height="329" align="right"]]
At around 9:45 PM, following the confirmed killing of bin-Laden, the White house announced that the President would be addressing the nation later that evening. Anonymous government officials leaked details to the media, and by 11 p.m. numerous major news sources were reporting that bin Laden was dead. At 11:35 p.m., President Obama appeared on major television networks. In this address, Obama remembered the victims of the 9/11 Attacks. He praised the war against al-Qaeda for its substantial progress. He said that when he took office he made finding bin Laden the top priority of the war, and that Bin Laden's death was the most significant blow to al-Qaeda so far but the war would continue. He reaffirmed that the United States was not at war against Islam, and defended his decision to conduct an operation within Pakistan. He said Americans understood the cost of war but would not stand by while their security was threatened. "To those families who have lost loved ones to al-Qaeda’s terror," he said, "justice has been done."

Shortly following the President's midnight address, large crowds gathered in front of the white house and around the Pentagon and Ground Zero memorial. Within 12-24 hours, there were mass demonstrations at urban centers across the US, including pro sports games and college campuses. Spontaneous outburst of "U-S-A" and other patriotic slogans dominated these gatherings, with much more interesting feats also present.

Following Obama's address and the related celebrations, various prominent social figures voiced their support for the valiant actions of US operatives, including WWE Champion John Cena, the Dalai Lama, and the Prime Minister of India. The conservative Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, along with the governments of Iran, Iraq, and Afghanistan called for the removal of US troops following the killing. Hamas, along with other ultra-radical Islamic sects, condemned the killing as the murder of an "Arab Holy Warrior".

media type="youtube" key="PsxRl2oeV5k" height="288" width="459" align="center"

media type="youtube" key="FQKtGAPvA9c" height="295" width="470" align="center"

__Hammer Falls: Pakistan's Involvement__
Pakistan came under intense international scrutiny after the raid and execution of bin Laden. The Pakistani government denied that it had sheltered bin Laden. It claimed it had been sharing information about the compound with the CIA and other intelligence agencies since 2009.

The site of bin Laden's compound in Abbotabad drew substantial suspicion. The heavily fortified, imposing 3-story fortress was located in a fairly wealthy, affluent district and was within a half mile of Pakistan's most renowned military academy, in a region favored by retired military brass. Also, the Abbotabad mansion was the former residence of al-Qaeda's operational chief, who managed to evade a Pakistani raid on the compound in 2003.

Further dirt on Pakistan's shady dealings with bin Laden and al-Qaeda soon came to light. For one, the US High Command chose not to inform the Pakistani authorities about the SEALs raid, and for good reason: US government documents leaked by Wikileaks disclosed that American diplomats had been informed that Pakistan's Inter-Security Services (ISI - comparable to FBI, KGB, etc.) knew precisely bin Laden's location and were tipping the terrorist leader off every time US forces approached.

The final nail in the coffin for Pakistan came with this embattled nation's response to the US raid. Pakistan, in an unusual show of aggression, scrambled F-16 fighter jets and several battalions of ground troops in a failed attempt to apprehend the elite US strike force. Within days, the Pakistani government issued a scathing denunciation of the US tactics, calling it an unwarranted act of aggression and even threatening to turn the Pakistani military on US and NATO troops stationed there. Despite all this, the killing of bin Laden without a criminal trial is still argued by most legal experts to have been justified, since it was directed at an enemy combatant in a time of declared war.

media type="youtube" key="1uwOL4rB-go" height="349" width="560" align="left" media type="youtube" key="GwtDrRWHgr0" height="349" width="425" align="right"