Lik

My understanding is:

1) One of the US helicopters crashed due to technical difficulties. Official statement and media releases did not suggest that it was shot down or otherwise damaged due to battle. The chopper was subsequently destroyed by US forces themselves as a national security measure.

2) It is unclear who actually shot and killed Bin Laden. From the various media releases, it appears to me that during the firefight, the two sides just kept duking it out until the US Navy SEALs overpowered Bin Laden's forces.

3) The US only appeared to have known about this compound since Jan/Feb. Investigation took time, and at first, intelligence only knew that a VIP was housed in there. It took more investigation time to gather enough evidence to suggest that Bin Laden himself had a high probability of being there.

A lot of facts will never be known until they are of little interest to the whole world when they can be de-classified.

-Lik

Lik

My personal take is that the 40 min figure is not the duration of the entire firefight. Instead, it includes the start of the Navy SEALs operation until the conclusion when they have entered the compound, scanned through and secured the entire site.

But there is probably no way for us to know how long this operation will take until XBox/PlayStation release the mission in a US Navy SEALs game...

-Lik

Lik

Hmm... new info again:

http://www.vancouversun.com/news ... /4719715/story.html

Bin Laden wasn't armed when he was shot, White House says
By Sheldon Alberts, Postmedia News May 3, 2011 12:49 PM

WASHINGTON — The White House on Tuesday substantially revised its version of Osama bin Laden's death, revealing the al-Qaida leader was not armed when he was shot in the head by U.S. Commandoes.

A spokesman for President Barack Obama also backtracked on earlier White House claims that bin Laden used his wife as a human shield to protect himself.

Now, officials say a woman who was not bin Laden's wife rushed U.S. assaulters and was injured, not killed.

One woman did die in the raid, but she was caught in the "crossfire" of a firefight on a separate floor of the large compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

The new details contradict on-the-record and off-the-record versions offered by senior U.S. officials about how the operation went down, including statements that bin Laden had a weapon.

The White House is still weighing whether to release photos of bin Laden's body out of concerns over their "gruesome" nature.

More to come...

Lik

A lot more detail here:

http://www.thestar.com/news/worl ... ck-white-house?bn=1

Lik

Aircraft experts in the media and aviation field are saying this is a highly modified H60 Blackhawk, most likely equipped with stealth capabilities (low radar visibility). And because there is stealth technology involved, the SEALs had to take precious time to ensure that the aircraft is destroyed. In particular, Pakistan and China have been establishing closer ties, and have, in fact, co-developed aircrafts for military use in the past. So the implications of leaving any traces of technology behind is simply unacceptable from the US' point of view.

-Lik

Lik

回復  Lik

This tail left over seems like it deserves quite a bit of money from China...  ...
lo_pak 發表於 2011-5-4 22:24

At this point, I doubt there is anything of value in both the tail and the burnt up wreckage of the helicopter. Tthe SEALs would surely have done a thorough job of ensuring that all national technological secrets are destroyed.

-Lik