1 00:00:09,460 --> 00:00:11,780 He was the world's most wanted man 2 00:00:11,780 --> 00:00:16,340 and the CIA operation to track down Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan 3 00:00:16,340 --> 00:00:20,100 was one of America's greatest intelligence coups. 4 00:00:20,100 --> 00:00:22,100 But do we know the real story? 5 00:00:23,300 --> 00:00:26,980 Definitely they managed to hide a lot of the truth. 6 00:00:28,620 --> 00:00:33,300 One day, we will know about it. They can not hide this secret for ever. 7 00:00:34,740 --> 00:00:38,620 Now a new and controversial account alleges Pakistan's 8 00:00:38,620 --> 00:00:42,420 intelligence service was hiding Bin Laden for years. 9 00:00:42,420 --> 00:00:44,500 GUN FIRE 10 00:00:44,500 --> 00:00:46,940 They just handed him over to the Americans. 11 00:00:46,940 --> 00:00:50,180 This was not a tough mission, it was a turkey shoot, as they call it. 12 00:00:50,180 --> 00:00:53,420 They just go in, whack the guy - they were always going to kill him - 13 00:00:53,420 --> 00:00:57,300 carry the body out - the Pakistanis said, don't leave a body... 14 00:00:57,300 --> 00:01:00,140 So, is the American official account a lie? 15 00:01:00,140 --> 00:01:03,540 Was the death of Bin Laden a grand conspiracy? 16 00:01:04,500 --> 00:01:07,260 It's rubbish. 100% of the story that's out there is true - 17 00:01:07,260 --> 00:01:09,660 but not 100% of the story is out there. 18 00:01:19,180 --> 00:01:21,340 Operation Neptune Spear. 19 00:01:21,340 --> 00:01:24,740 US Navy Seals fly under cover of darkness 20 00:01:24,740 --> 00:01:28,940 into the heart of Pakistan to get the man they hope is Bin Laden. 21 00:01:33,460 --> 00:01:37,940 This was a covert action, so it was a CIA operation. 22 00:01:37,940 --> 00:01:43,220 The deputy CIA director was at the heart of the White House team that night. 23 00:01:43,220 --> 00:01:46,220 Michael Morell's given us his inside account. 24 00:01:47,260 --> 00:01:50,900 The Seals on the ground said, "Geronimo, EKIA." 25 00:01:50,900 --> 00:01:55,180 Which, Geronimo was the call sign for, "We think we got Bin Laden." 26 00:01:58,060 --> 00:02:02,540 Tonight, I can report to the American people and to the world 27 00:02:02,540 --> 00:02:05,540 that the United States has conducted an operation 28 00:02:05,540 --> 00:02:08,580 that killed Osama Bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaeda. 29 00:02:08,580 --> 00:02:11,140 CROWDS CHANT: USA. USA. USA. 30 00:02:11,140 --> 00:02:14,300 The American people were told the Pakistanis weren't informed about 31 00:02:14,300 --> 00:02:17,900 the raid, for fear Bin Laden would be tipped off and escape. 32 00:02:19,660 --> 00:02:22,580 This was, you know, extraordinary operational security 33 00:02:22,580 --> 00:02:24,540 on the part of the United States of America. 34 00:02:24,540 --> 00:02:27,300 It's both a testament to the capabilities of the United States 35 00:02:27,300 --> 00:02:28,820 and quite frankly a testament 36 00:02:28,820 --> 00:02:30,860 to the lack of capabilities of the Pakistanis. 37 00:02:34,620 --> 00:02:38,860 But a very different story about the death of Bin Laden's now emerged... 38 00:02:40,780 --> 00:02:43,540 ..from a veteran investigative journalist whose scoops 39 00:02:43,540 --> 00:02:46,340 have embarrassed Administrations in Washington before. 40 00:02:49,620 --> 00:02:53,060 Seymour Hersh says the whole US raid was staged. 41 00:02:53,060 --> 00:02:57,860 Pakistani intelligence was holding Bin Laden and just gave him up. 42 00:02:57,860 --> 00:02:59,980 If you want to believe they can go in and out 43 00:02:59,980 --> 00:03:02,020 and evade any radar, you're in fairyland. 44 00:03:02,020 --> 00:03:05,260 You're in Lewis Carroll-land. Alice in Wonderland, whatever. 45 00:03:05,260 --> 00:03:08,700 The only reason they could even plan the mission with as little force 46 00:03:08,700 --> 00:03:11,300 as they had, is they knew there would be no opposition. 47 00:03:15,460 --> 00:03:19,260 The official American account of the death of Bin Laden is a fiction, 48 00:03:19,260 --> 00:03:21,700 according to Mr Hersh. 49 00:03:21,700 --> 00:03:24,940 But the problem is, his version's largely based on information 50 00:03:24,940 --> 00:03:27,380 from a mystery man he doesn't identify. 51 00:03:29,060 --> 00:03:32,660 Seymour Hersh says he had one major US source 52 00:03:32,660 --> 00:03:36,580 for his account of the tracking and killing of Osama Bin Laden. 53 00:03:36,580 --> 00:03:38,620 That anonymous source, he says, 54 00:03:38,620 --> 00:03:41,380 was a retired senior intelligence official. 55 00:03:43,140 --> 00:03:46,700 Seymour Hersh says that his main source was in the meetings. 56 00:03:46,700 --> 00:03:49,940 This person was never in any of the meetings that I was in. 57 00:03:49,940 --> 00:03:51,380 Because the meetings I were in 58 00:03:51,380 --> 00:03:54,020 were completely different than the Seymour Hersh story. 59 00:03:59,100 --> 00:04:02,260 So, what do we know about the hunt for Bin Laden? 60 00:04:03,180 --> 00:04:06,980 I've been reporting on him for nearly two decades. 61 00:04:06,980 --> 00:04:10,660 I was in the caves at Tora Bora after the 9/11 attacks, 62 00:04:10,660 --> 00:04:14,900 where Bin Laden hid as American airstrikes pounded the country. 63 00:04:14,900 --> 00:04:16,980 There's an old poster out West, 64 00:04:16,980 --> 00:04:20,100 as I recall, that said, "Wanted. Dead or Alive." 65 00:04:22,140 --> 00:04:26,580 For years, the al-Qaeda leader taunted the CIA, releasing videos 66 00:04:26,580 --> 00:04:29,500 suggesting he was still somewhere in the mountains. 67 00:04:31,340 --> 00:04:35,460 We had hundreds of leads on Bin Laden over the years and we'd 68 00:04:35,460 --> 00:04:40,260 literally followed every single one of them until you hit a brick wall. 69 00:04:42,940 --> 00:04:47,020 We now know that all this time Bin Laden was living in a series 70 00:04:47,020 --> 00:04:49,460 of Pakistani cities. 71 00:04:49,460 --> 00:04:52,660 At one point, he was in a car pulled over for speeding. 72 00:04:52,660 --> 00:04:55,820 But he'd shaved off his beard and escaped detection. 73 00:04:55,820 --> 00:04:59,780 His youngest wife gave birth twice in a Pakistani clinic. 74 00:04:59,780 --> 00:05:02,420 Doctors were told she was deaf and dumb. 75 00:05:09,300 --> 00:05:11,980 Amazingly, in 2005, 76 00:05:11,980 --> 00:05:15,180 he and his family moved to a military garrison town. 77 00:05:18,580 --> 00:05:22,540 I went to Abbottabad a day after Bin Laden was killed. 78 00:05:22,540 --> 00:05:26,380 He'd been living just yards from Pakistan's top military academy. 79 00:05:29,940 --> 00:05:32,500 Well, this is the entrance to the actual compound area. 80 00:05:32,500 --> 00:05:34,300 It's sealed off by the police at the moment. 81 00:05:34,300 --> 00:05:35,740 We're having to walk through. 82 00:05:38,780 --> 00:05:43,260 Bin Laden allegedly stayed hidden in this compound for nearly six years, 83 00:05:43,260 --> 00:05:47,300 right under the noses of the Pakistani military elite. 84 00:05:47,300 --> 00:05:52,340 But Seymour Hersh claims that's because he was actually a prisoner here. 85 00:05:52,340 --> 00:05:56,580 Bin Laden had been captured around 2006 by the Pakistanis. 86 00:05:56,580 --> 00:05:59,660 It's not credible that Bin Laden could live in Abbottabad 87 00:05:59,660 --> 00:06:01,740 surrounded by major defence areas. 88 00:06:01,740 --> 00:06:05,580 It's a major area of defence for the Pakistani military. 89 00:06:06,980 --> 00:06:10,900 Bin Laden lived behind high walls in the compound with three wives 90 00:06:10,900 --> 00:06:13,140 and 12 children and grandchildren. 91 00:06:14,340 --> 00:06:17,620 The official American account says he was in hiding. 92 00:06:17,620 --> 00:06:21,420 He remained al-Qaeda's kingpin and was protected by two brothers - 93 00:06:21,420 --> 00:06:24,100 al-Qaeda henchmen. 94 00:06:24,100 --> 00:06:27,540 They lived here with their families too and acted as bodyguards 95 00:06:27,540 --> 00:06:30,260 and couriers, smuggling out his orders. 96 00:06:31,980 --> 00:06:33,980 Journalist Abdel Bari Atwan, 97 00:06:33,980 --> 00:06:36,500 who spent time with Bin Laden in Afghanistan 98 00:06:36,500 --> 00:06:40,740 isn't surprised he managed to hide for so long in Pakistan. 99 00:06:40,740 --> 00:06:42,380 He actually supervised 100 00:06:42,380 --> 00:06:45,300 the security of the house by himself 101 00:06:45,300 --> 00:06:48,860 and he did not let anybody to interfere on that. 102 00:06:48,860 --> 00:06:52,700 He never used a satellite telephone. He never used smartphones. 103 00:06:55,740 --> 00:06:59,740 Bin Laden went to bizarre lengths to hide his identity. 104 00:06:59,740 --> 00:07:02,700 Fearing surveillance from satellites overhead, 105 00:07:02,700 --> 00:07:08,180 his family say he even wore a cowboy hat when outside in the compound. 106 00:07:08,180 --> 00:07:12,860 Nobody will expect Osama bin Laden to wear a cowboy hat. 107 00:07:12,860 --> 00:07:15,540 Maybe, it's just to say to the satellite, you know, 108 00:07:15,540 --> 00:07:19,740 "I'm not Osama bin Laden." It does show he was very clever 109 00:07:19,740 --> 00:07:24,220 and even when he disguised, he knows what kind of hat to wear. 110 00:07:26,660 --> 00:07:30,220 According to the official account, Bin Laden managed to keep 111 00:07:30,220 --> 00:07:33,860 his large family, including a toddler, completely hidden. 112 00:07:36,300 --> 00:07:39,140 He controlled every aspect of his children's lives, 113 00:07:39,140 --> 00:07:42,700 they never went out - not even to school. 114 00:07:42,700 --> 00:07:46,180 There is no picnics. There is no going to the park 115 00:07:46,180 --> 00:07:47,980 or something like this. 116 00:07:47,980 --> 00:07:50,460 No playing in the streets, like other children. 117 00:07:50,460 --> 00:07:53,460 So, definitely, it was an awful way of life. 118 00:07:56,620 --> 00:08:00,180 In a video found in the compound, released by the Americans, 119 00:08:00,180 --> 00:08:03,460 Bin Laden is seen watching his own propaganda. 120 00:08:04,860 --> 00:08:08,300 He also had books on conspiracy theories... 121 00:08:08,300 --> 00:08:13,780 even one suggesting the 9/11 attacks were an American inside job. 122 00:08:13,780 --> 00:08:17,420 He had a lot of conspiracy theories, which isn't terribly surprising, 123 00:08:17,420 --> 00:08:18,940 because in some sense he was 124 00:08:18,940 --> 00:08:22,740 a weaver of conspiracy theories. I mean, that was sort of his art. 125 00:08:24,460 --> 00:08:26,940 Bin Laden's wide range of books even included 126 00:08:26,940 --> 00:08:29,620 Christine Fair's on terrorism in Pakistan. 127 00:08:31,020 --> 00:08:35,100 I think what really struck me was just how well read he was. 128 00:08:35,100 --> 00:08:38,820 But, then, if you think about it - you're Bin Laden in Abbottabad, 129 00:08:38,820 --> 00:08:41,140 what else are you supposed to do? 130 00:08:41,140 --> 00:08:44,060 He was evil, but he wasn't stupid. This we DO know. 131 00:08:46,460 --> 00:08:49,940 There were other, more surprising finds in the compound - 132 00:08:49,940 --> 00:08:53,500 natural Viagra and, according to American intelligence, 133 00:08:53,500 --> 00:08:55,260 even pornography. 134 00:08:55,260 --> 00:08:58,860 I know from the people I talk to that that is the case. 135 00:08:58,860 --> 00:09:01,700 It's been very consistent with these Jihadis. 136 00:09:02,740 --> 00:09:07,860 I don't believe this story about pornography in his computer. 137 00:09:07,860 --> 00:09:12,860 Why? Because this man actually is a very religious man 138 00:09:12,860 --> 00:09:15,100 and he got three wives. 139 00:09:16,580 --> 00:09:19,820 What does he need that pornography for? 140 00:09:19,820 --> 00:09:21,780 I think this is a black propaganda 141 00:09:24,380 --> 00:09:27,460 Throughout Bin Laden's years in the compound, the CIA were 142 00:09:27,460 --> 00:09:30,580 desperately trying to find him. 143 00:09:30,580 --> 00:09:34,140 The key, they say, was to identify and track his courier, 144 00:09:34,140 --> 00:09:37,260 knowing he would lead them to Bin Laden. 145 00:09:37,260 --> 00:09:40,900 We found Bin Laden in the compound by following the courier. 146 00:09:40,900 --> 00:09:43,220 It took us a number of years to learn his real name, 147 00:09:43,220 --> 00:09:47,140 it took us a couple more years to identify his general location 148 00:09:47,140 --> 00:09:50,460 somewhere in Pakistan. Took us another year to identify 149 00:09:50,460 --> 00:09:52,660 his specific location and put eyes on him. 150 00:09:54,780 --> 00:09:59,660 In August 2010, Michael Morell says he was finally able to brief 151 00:09:59,660 --> 00:10:02,540 the President on their breakthrough. 152 00:10:02,540 --> 00:10:06,740 The President essentially said, "I want to know more about what's going 153 00:10:06,740 --> 00:10:10,260 on in that compound and I don't want you to tell anybody else about this. 154 00:10:10,260 --> 00:10:14,180 "Nobody else in our Government knows about this - we keep it in this small circle." 155 00:10:17,660 --> 00:10:20,140 The CIA set up a surveillance post 156 00:10:20,140 --> 00:10:22,780 in a nearby house to watch the compound. 157 00:10:25,900 --> 00:10:29,860 Bin Laden had taken every precaution to keep himself hidden. 158 00:10:29,860 --> 00:10:33,260 No phone and no internet at the compound. 159 00:10:33,260 --> 00:10:36,780 They burned their trash. The brothers didn't turn their phones on 160 00:10:36,780 --> 00:10:39,140 until they were 30 miles away from the compound. 161 00:10:42,220 --> 00:10:46,100 Numerous CIA officials have testified to the tracking of the courier, 162 00:10:46,100 --> 00:10:49,580 but Seymour Hersh rejects all that. 163 00:10:49,580 --> 00:10:53,260 I think the notion that Bin Laden was operational and having couriers 164 00:10:53,260 --> 00:10:56,900 come in and out and in contact is just ludicrous. 165 00:11:00,380 --> 00:11:02,060 Mr Hersh claims instead 166 00:11:02,060 --> 00:11:05,820 that a retired Pakistani military intelligence officer 167 00:11:05,820 --> 00:11:11,020 walked in to the CIA station in the US embassy in Islamabad. 168 00:11:11,020 --> 00:11:13,140 It was this man, not the courier, 169 00:11:13,140 --> 00:11:16,780 who revealed Pakistan was hiding Bin Laden, says Mr Hersh. 170 00:11:18,020 --> 00:11:22,260 We had offered $25 million for information about Bin Laden and he 171 00:11:22,260 --> 00:11:25,540 certainly did learn where Bin Laden was, not directly, through somebody 172 00:11:25,540 --> 00:11:29,380 else and he eventually cashed in what he knew for the money. 173 00:11:31,820 --> 00:11:35,740 But to the veteran American spy who ran Alec Station - 174 00:11:35,740 --> 00:11:38,780 the special CIA Bin Laden unit - 175 00:11:38,780 --> 00:11:42,180 the story of the walk-in doesn't ring true. 176 00:11:42,180 --> 00:11:44,260 If you have a walk-in - 177 00:11:44,260 --> 00:11:47,420 maybe 1 out of 10 or 1 out of 20 178 00:11:47,420 --> 00:11:51,980 that gives you something useful - that's a pretty good average. 179 00:11:51,980 --> 00:11:55,300 For someone to be able to walk in and give you this whole story 180 00:11:55,300 --> 00:11:58,820 at one drop is... 181 00:12:00,260 --> 00:12:03,340 ..certainly would be spectacularly unusual. 182 00:12:03,340 --> 00:12:05,980 I can tell you with absolute certainty that nobody ever 183 00:12:05,980 --> 00:12:08,780 walked in with a significant piece of information 184 00:12:08,780 --> 00:12:10,380 about Bin Laden's whereabouts. 185 00:12:10,380 --> 00:12:12,340 That led to you knowing his whereabouts? 186 00:12:12,340 --> 00:12:14,620 Absolutely, never happened. 187 00:12:18,500 --> 00:12:22,140 But Seymour Hersh goes much further. 188 00:12:22,140 --> 00:12:25,420 He claims the walk in revealed Bin Laden's whereabouts was known 189 00:12:25,420 --> 00:12:28,420 at the highest levels in Pakistan. 190 00:12:28,420 --> 00:12:31,180 Basically, it went to the top of the Pakistani intelligence 191 00:12:31,180 --> 00:12:33,500 and military services. 192 00:12:33,500 --> 00:12:35,980 If you want to believe that he can go and live there 193 00:12:35,980 --> 00:12:38,980 without being known to the intelligence service of Pakistan, 194 00:12:38,980 --> 00:12:41,020 then you are living in a fairy tale. 195 00:12:41,020 --> 00:12:45,780 We couldn't speak to Mr Hersh's crucial, anonymous sources, 196 00:12:45,780 --> 00:12:49,420 but we've talked to some of the other people he quotes in his account. 197 00:12:52,420 --> 00:12:55,420 One of them does provide some support for his theory. 198 00:12:58,300 --> 00:13:02,100 Carlotta Gall spent more than a decade reporting from Pakistan, 199 00:13:02,100 --> 00:13:04,580 from 9/11 till after Bin Laden's death. 200 00:13:06,060 --> 00:13:10,100 I came to understand how the intelligence service runs safe houses. 201 00:13:10,100 --> 00:13:14,180 Very high walls, but non-descript otherwise - 202 00:13:14,180 --> 00:13:17,080 but no obvious guarding on the outside. 203 00:13:18,420 --> 00:13:21,980 It all made sense that the military had to have known 204 00:13:21,980 --> 00:13:25,020 and had to have been watching this place. 205 00:13:25,020 --> 00:13:27,940 So, to me, this looked just like that sort of safe house, you know. 206 00:13:29,500 --> 00:13:34,220 Carlotta Gall says she received an intriguing tip-off that the ISI, 207 00:13:34,220 --> 00:13:38,100 Pakistan's intelligence service, knew all about Bin Laden. 208 00:13:39,260 --> 00:13:44,060 I found out that they were running a special intelligence desk, 209 00:13:44,060 --> 00:13:49,540 which was specifically to handle Bin Laden and it was only run by one man, 210 00:13:49,540 --> 00:13:53,580 he made his own decisions - so it was a very small number of people knew. 211 00:13:53,580 --> 00:13:58,100 But they were hiding him and keeping him in some sort of protective custody. 212 00:13:58,100 --> 00:13:59,780 Do you think that knowledge extended 213 00:13:59,780 --> 00:14:02,820 right to the top of the intelligence service, to the head of the Army? 214 00:14:02,820 --> 00:14:06,300 I think it went right to the top, yes. The head of the army, 215 00:14:06,300 --> 00:14:09,500 Chief of Army Staff, as they call it, and the head of the ISI, 216 00:14:09,500 --> 00:14:11,780 the intelligence service. 217 00:14:11,780 --> 00:14:15,940 I think what I'd learned was that they were in on the whole thing 218 00:14:15,940 --> 00:14:20,020 from the start of hiding Bin Laden in that house. 219 00:14:24,140 --> 00:14:26,220 Pakistan's intelligence service 220 00:14:26,220 --> 00:14:29,820 has always denied they were hiding Bin Laden or knew where he was. 221 00:14:31,060 --> 00:14:34,900 But the general who headed the ISI more than 20 years ago, 222 00:14:34,900 --> 00:14:38,980 gave Seymour Hersh's account some qualified support. 223 00:14:38,980 --> 00:14:43,460 No-one has talked to me about this particular affair... 224 00:14:43,460 --> 00:14:47,140 from the ISI, from the military or from any other quarters. 225 00:14:47,140 --> 00:14:51,460 My assessment has always been that someone did know and ultimately 226 00:14:51,460 --> 00:14:56,060 the whole thing happened with co-operation from the military. 227 00:14:56,060 --> 00:15:01,940 If this assessment is, to some extent, valid, it makes sense, 228 00:15:01,940 --> 00:15:04,940 then, the highest levels had to be involved. 229 00:15:04,940 --> 00:15:08,420 I am 95 to 99% certain that 230 00:15:08,420 --> 00:15:12,140 the Pakistani government, as an institution, did not know - 231 00:15:12,140 --> 00:15:16,540 civilian, military, ISI did not know. 232 00:15:16,540 --> 00:15:19,260 I can't tell you why I believe that, but I do. 233 00:15:19,260 --> 00:15:21,660 I am not at all convinced 234 00:15:21,660 --> 00:15:25,900 that somebody in the ISI Abbottabad detachment 235 00:15:25,900 --> 00:15:30,140 or in the ISI police department weren't working for 236 00:15:30,140 --> 00:15:32,420 al-Qaeda, al-Qaeda sympathisers... 237 00:15:32,420 --> 00:15:34,220 And in some way protecting him there. 238 00:15:34,220 --> 00:15:37,700 Oh, sure, they had Bin Laden and they kept it at a low level. 239 00:15:37,700 --> 00:15:40,300 There you go, you're living in Lewis Carroll fancy land again, 240 00:15:40,300 --> 00:15:42,100 of course it went to the top. 241 00:15:42,100 --> 00:15:45,220 My God, can you imagine having Bin Laden, you'd be - you'd be 242 00:15:45,220 --> 00:15:48,500 strung up and quartered if you didn't tell the boss about it. 243 00:15:51,700 --> 00:15:56,620 But there's another explanation - the murky history of rogue elements 244 00:15:56,620 --> 00:16:00,660 operating inside Pakistan's army and intelligence. 245 00:16:00,660 --> 00:16:04,260 That's what some respected analysts say. 246 00:16:06,740 --> 00:16:09,540 It's called the enemy within, 247 00:16:09,540 --> 00:16:12,660 whether it's in the intelligence apparatus, 248 00:16:12,660 --> 00:16:16,180 security apparatus or even at the level of businesses - 249 00:16:16,180 --> 00:16:20,980 people who simply sympathise with the cause of Osama Bin Laden. 250 00:16:20,980 --> 00:16:25,220 I think that the highest level - that would be the president of Pakistan, 251 00:16:25,220 --> 00:16:27,460 the army chief or the prime minister - 252 00:16:27,460 --> 00:16:30,900 were not aware of the presence of Osama Bin Laden in that 253 00:16:30,900 --> 00:16:35,940 particular compound - this doesn't seem plausible to me. 254 00:16:37,620 --> 00:16:40,180 But Imtiaz Gul was quoted by Seymour Hersh 255 00:16:40,180 --> 00:16:43,220 to bolster his argument that Pakistanis 256 00:16:43,220 --> 00:16:46,820 at the highest level knew about Bin Laden. 257 00:16:46,820 --> 00:16:51,980 I personally think Mr Seymour Hersh has tried to quote me 258 00:16:51,980 --> 00:16:54,660 and many others out of context. 259 00:16:54,660 --> 00:16:57,660 He needed a spin for his story. 260 00:16:57,660 --> 00:16:59,740 I guess I'm sorry if - if I've put him 261 00:16:59,740 --> 00:17:02,820 on the spot by quoting from his book, but I didn't misquote it. 262 00:17:02,820 --> 00:17:05,020 And if he wants to recant what his book says, 263 00:17:05,020 --> 00:17:06,860 that's, that's his problem, not mine. 264 00:17:11,740 --> 00:17:15,220 By the beginning of 2011, according to the official account, 265 00:17:15,220 --> 00:17:17,420 the net was closing round Bin Laden. 266 00:17:21,540 --> 00:17:25,340 Just three months before the raid, there was a new arrival - 267 00:17:25,340 --> 00:17:30,420 Bin Laden's oldest wife, who'd been living in Iran since after 9/11. 268 00:17:31,620 --> 00:17:34,380 She'd been warned even to remove recent fillings 269 00:17:34,380 --> 00:17:37,300 from her teeth in case a bug had been planted in them. 270 00:17:38,740 --> 00:17:40,380 It must have been like mafia wives. 271 00:17:40,380 --> 00:17:43,620 You know, these are women who have children with known killers... 272 00:17:43,620 --> 00:17:46,540 And every day that you're with that person you're putting, 273 00:17:46,540 --> 00:17:48,500 you know, your child in harm's way. 274 00:17:52,780 --> 00:17:55,380 The CIA were focused now on a mysterious man 275 00:17:55,380 --> 00:17:57,460 in the garden of the compound. 276 00:17:59,500 --> 00:18:04,420 We first saw this person who would pace around the compound... 277 00:18:04,420 --> 00:18:07,540 We called him, "The pacer". We could never get a very good look at him. 278 00:18:07,540 --> 00:18:09,260 We never did identify the individual 279 00:18:09,260 --> 00:18:13,220 but we assumed, we assumed it was Bin Laden. 280 00:18:14,740 --> 00:18:17,060 President Obama made the decision 281 00:18:17,060 --> 00:18:20,780 to launch a military mission into the heart of Pakistan, 282 00:18:20,780 --> 00:18:23,380 apparently without telling his ally. 283 00:18:25,060 --> 00:18:28,300 At the end of the day, the President decided that the risks 284 00:18:28,300 --> 00:18:33,380 of bringing the Pakistanis into it in any way, was simply too high. 285 00:18:33,380 --> 00:18:38,500 We weren't concerned that the Pakistani government, 286 00:18:38,500 --> 00:18:41,540 as an institution, would tip off Bin Laden. 287 00:18:41,540 --> 00:18:45,180 We were concerned that somebody in the Pakistani system 288 00:18:45,180 --> 00:18:48,980 would tip off al-Qaeda and therefore Bin Laden would be tipped off, 289 00:18:48,980 --> 00:18:51,140 and he'd be long gone before we ever got there. 290 00:18:54,300 --> 00:18:57,660 But in a radically different account, Seymour Hersh claims the 291 00:18:57,660 --> 00:19:01,980 Americans told the Pakistanis they knew they were hiding Bin Laden. 292 00:19:01,980 --> 00:19:05,660 To avoid that embarrassing revelation, the Pakistanis 293 00:19:05,660 --> 00:19:09,500 were forced to agree on the US plan to assassinate him 294 00:19:09,500 --> 00:19:11,900 and then cover up the truth. 295 00:19:11,900 --> 00:19:15,820 We made an agreement with the Pakistanis that we would go in, 296 00:19:15,820 --> 00:19:19,100 do our business - the SEALS are very good, this was not a tough mission. 297 00:19:19,100 --> 00:19:21,340 It was a, a turkey - a turkey shoot, as they call it, 298 00:19:21,340 --> 00:19:24,420 they just go in, whack the guy, they were always going to kill him, 299 00:19:24,420 --> 00:19:27,420 carry the body out... The Pakistanis said, "Don't leave a body." 300 00:19:31,420 --> 00:19:34,740 On a moonless night in May, US helicopters 301 00:19:34,740 --> 00:19:38,700 flew over the border from Afghanistan into Pakistan. 302 00:19:38,700 --> 00:19:44,500 According to a former Navy SEAL, it looked like a one-way ticket. 303 00:19:44,500 --> 00:19:48,340 Most of the guys did not think they were going to survive the op. 304 00:19:48,340 --> 00:19:50,780 Every one of them willingly went into this 305 00:19:50,780 --> 00:19:53,180 to get the most evil person on the planet. 306 00:19:56,900 --> 00:19:59,300 Then the mission was suddenly in jeopardy. 307 00:19:59,300 --> 00:20:02,500 One of the helicopters crashed as it hovered over the compound. 308 00:20:04,300 --> 00:20:08,060 It was very tense and was particularly tense 309 00:20:08,060 --> 00:20:11,020 when the helicopter went down. 310 00:20:11,020 --> 00:20:14,940 Military operations don't always go as they're planned. 311 00:20:17,620 --> 00:20:20,820 But, incredibly, the US mission was able to continue. 312 00:20:21,860 --> 00:20:25,100 That, says Seymour Hersh, is just more evidence the raid was 313 00:20:25,100 --> 00:20:28,420 staged by the Americans with help from the Pakistanis. 314 00:20:29,740 --> 00:20:32,020 Seymour Hersh says the Pakistanis 315 00:20:32,020 --> 00:20:35,460 were keeping him prisoner there, right, under house arrest. 316 00:20:35,460 --> 00:20:37,700 Not true. Absolutely not true... 317 00:20:37,700 --> 00:20:40,340 that the Pakistanis knew that we were 318 00:20:40,340 --> 00:20:43,180 going to do the raid and we had given them advanced warning 319 00:20:43,180 --> 00:20:46,700 and that they cleared the air space. Not true. None of that is true. 320 00:20:50,100 --> 00:20:54,060 According to the official American account, there was a firefight - 321 00:20:54,060 --> 00:20:56,740 the Seals killed the armed al-Qaeda henchmen 322 00:20:56,740 --> 00:20:57,900 and Bin Laden's son. 323 00:21:00,060 --> 00:21:02,500 When the SEALS reached Bin Laden's bedroom, 324 00:21:02,500 --> 00:21:05,260 they wounded his wife as she tried to protect him. 325 00:21:05,260 --> 00:21:07,180 GUNSHOT 326 00:21:07,180 --> 00:21:09,580 Bin Laden was shot in the head. 327 00:21:09,580 --> 00:21:11,540 GUNSHOTS 328 00:21:11,540 --> 00:21:14,660 He never used the pistol and AK-47 he had in the room. 329 00:21:16,540 --> 00:21:19,980 The fact that he actually was not totally submissive, 330 00:21:19,980 --> 00:21:24,540 with his hands up or making any type of movement at all, sealed his fate. 331 00:21:24,540 --> 00:21:26,460 It was very clear to the SEALS that 332 00:21:26,460 --> 00:21:28,180 if he did not have a suicide vest on, 333 00:21:28,180 --> 00:21:30,500 that he was not going to put their lives at risk, 334 00:21:30,500 --> 00:21:33,180 they would have, they would have captured him, right? 335 00:21:33,180 --> 00:21:36,660 But as long as there was any risk, right, that he was going to 336 00:21:36,660 --> 00:21:40,060 put their lives in harm's way... they were going to kill him. 337 00:21:40,060 --> 00:21:42,860 Oh, my God, of course it was a kill mission, from day one. 338 00:21:42,860 --> 00:21:44,780 I mean, it was absolutely a... 339 00:21:44,780 --> 00:21:48,500 I don't want to break the heart of your British audience, 340 00:21:48,500 --> 00:21:50,420 but we do assassinate people. 341 00:21:52,980 --> 00:21:56,180 There's a picture of me kind of hugging the Director of CIA. 342 00:21:56,180 --> 00:21:57,940 But we weren't really certain 343 00:21:57,940 --> 00:22:00,700 until much later that night that the individual 344 00:22:00,700 --> 00:22:03,100 that was killed at that compound was indeed Bin Laden. 345 00:22:05,460 --> 00:22:08,140 The helicopter crash, the shooting from the compound, 346 00:22:08,140 --> 00:22:11,540 alerted neighbours, who did call the police. 347 00:22:11,540 --> 00:22:16,020 But, curiously, the Abbottabad army command told them not to respond. 348 00:22:17,660 --> 00:22:21,340 It's in a military town, it's right near the military academy. 349 00:22:21,340 --> 00:22:23,900 So, the police were told to stand down 350 00:22:23,900 --> 00:22:26,500 and then we found out that the military didn't get there while the 351 00:22:26,500 --> 00:22:29,620 Americans were still on the ground - and they were there for 40 minutes. 352 00:22:29,620 --> 00:22:30,580 So that was very strange. 353 00:22:32,620 --> 00:22:35,500 The first helicopter lifted off with Bin Laden's body. 354 00:22:38,980 --> 00:22:43,460 In his most shocking allegation, Mr Hersh says the US SEALS threw 355 00:22:43,460 --> 00:22:46,900 parts of the body out on the way back to Afghanistan. 356 00:22:46,900 --> 00:22:50,780 Mr Hersh is being really irresponsible, dangerous... 357 00:22:50,780 --> 00:22:53,980 and I can tell you... every special operative 358 00:22:53,980 --> 00:22:56,860 is looking at this Hersh guy and laughing. 359 00:22:56,860 --> 00:22:58,900 I have not talked to a SEAL on the mission... 360 00:22:58,900 --> 00:23:01,540 I have talked to many SEALS who know the people... 361 00:23:01,540 --> 00:23:04,340 And I did have access to some of the initial debriefs, 362 00:23:04,340 --> 00:23:06,580 and they talked about throwing out parts of the body. 363 00:23:06,580 --> 00:23:10,060 I've been around hundreds of SEALS, hundreds, 364 00:23:10,060 --> 00:23:14,140 and I don't know one with the deviation of character 365 00:23:14,140 --> 00:23:18,380 or the insidious nature that would ever consider dismembering another 366 00:23:18,380 --> 00:23:22,460 human being, even if it were practical, and in this sense 367 00:23:22,460 --> 00:23:26,700 it was absolutely not only impractical but impossible to do. 368 00:23:28,340 --> 00:23:30,260 Facial recognition and DNA tests 369 00:23:30,260 --> 00:23:33,620 proved without doubt it was Osama Bin Laden. 370 00:23:33,620 --> 00:23:37,260 But to this day, no photographic evidence has ever been 371 00:23:37,260 --> 00:23:39,780 produced of his body or his burial. 372 00:23:39,780 --> 00:23:44,180 Bin Laden's body was put on a plane in Jalalabad 373 00:23:44,180 --> 00:23:50,060 and flown from Afghanistan to a US military ship at sea, 374 00:23:50,060 --> 00:23:53,180 where he received a proper Muslim burial at sea. 375 00:23:53,180 --> 00:23:55,620 I know that for a fact because I've seen photographs, 376 00:23:55,620 --> 00:23:57,380 and I've seen the video of the burial. 377 00:23:57,380 --> 00:23:59,420 Do you think we'll ever get to see them? 378 00:23:59,420 --> 00:24:02,420 I don't know, I don't know. That's a call for the White House. 379 00:24:02,420 --> 00:24:05,300 So why not put them up? 380 00:24:05,300 --> 00:24:07,540 I mean, isn't that an obvious question? 381 00:24:07,540 --> 00:24:09,900 That's the way to handle me - put out the photographs. 382 00:24:09,900 --> 00:24:13,580 Show us the... I mean, give me a reason you can't. It's classified? 383 00:24:13,580 --> 00:24:15,260 We've all talked about it. 384 00:24:15,260 --> 00:24:18,340 The mistake they made, and it allows Mr Hersh 385 00:24:18,340 --> 00:24:21,140 and others to come up with counter theories, 386 00:24:21,140 --> 00:24:25,420 was they didn't show the pictures of Osama Bin Laden spread dead. 387 00:24:25,420 --> 00:24:27,860 Why they didn't do that, I don't know. 388 00:24:27,860 --> 00:24:32,660 But, er, secrecy breeds conspiracy theories. 389 00:24:34,380 --> 00:24:38,820 The SEALS seized a haul of documents and computers from the compound. 390 00:24:38,820 --> 00:24:42,780 A decade after 9/11, the CIA say those documents proved 391 00:24:42,780 --> 00:24:46,900 Bin Laden still played a critical role and still was a threat. 392 00:24:48,140 --> 00:24:50,380 It was a treasure trove. 393 00:24:50,380 --> 00:24:53,380 What we found in the documents was that Bin Laden was running 394 00:24:53,380 --> 00:24:55,260 the organisation day-to-day... 395 00:24:55,260 --> 00:24:57,980 He was still very much interested in conducting 396 00:24:57,980 --> 00:25:01,660 attacks against the West and against the United States in particular. 397 00:25:01,660 --> 00:25:03,620 You never talk about a trove 398 00:25:03,620 --> 00:25:05,820 because the last thing you want to do 399 00:25:05,820 --> 00:25:08,500 is let the other side know you have such intelligence. 400 00:25:08,500 --> 00:25:10,660 The only reason to mention a treasure trove 401 00:25:10,660 --> 00:25:12,340 is when you didn't get anything. 402 00:25:15,620 --> 00:25:19,740 Just a few days after Seymour Hersh's article appeared, 403 00:25:19,740 --> 00:25:21,900 the US government released more than 100 404 00:25:21,900 --> 00:25:25,740 of the thousands of documents seized in the compound. 405 00:25:25,740 --> 00:25:28,340 At the US military academy at West Point, 406 00:25:28,340 --> 00:25:30,620 they've tracked al-Qaeda for years. 407 00:25:31,940 --> 00:25:34,820 Now they're analysing the latest haul of papers, 408 00:25:34,820 --> 00:25:37,340 which include instructions to field commanders 409 00:25:37,340 --> 00:25:40,140 and details of the inner workings of al-Qaeda. 410 00:25:41,620 --> 00:25:45,660 Now this one looks like a financial document? Yeah. 411 00:25:45,660 --> 00:25:48,500 This is a financial document that shows different inflows 412 00:25:48,500 --> 00:25:51,540 and outflows of money from an account, that was used to pay... 413 00:25:51,540 --> 00:25:54,540 Make payments to individuals or to otherwise finance the organisation. 414 00:25:54,540 --> 00:25:56,220 Now, what about this one here? 415 00:25:56,220 --> 00:25:59,060 This is a kind of jihadi application form for the organisation. 416 00:25:59,060 --> 00:26:01,900 That's exactly what it is. At the very end it says, you know, 417 00:26:01,900 --> 00:26:04,660 "If you should become a martyr, who should we contact? 418 00:26:04,660 --> 00:26:06,180 "Who should we get in touch with 419 00:26:06,180 --> 00:26:08,980 "if you've actually been successful in this venture?" 420 00:26:08,980 --> 00:26:13,660 So do the documents reveal Bin Laden was still the kingpin of al-Qaeda? 421 00:26:13,660 --> 00:26:16,340 He is both offering advice and trying to pull strings, 422 00:26:16,340 --> 00:26:18,300 but he is also trying to deal with the fact 423 00:26:18,300 --> 00:26:20,940 that he can't directly command and control these organisations 424 00:26:20,940 --> 00:26:22,220 in their daily activities. 425 00:26:22,220 --> 00:26:25,900 The CIA and the American government call this a "treasure trove". 426 00:26:25,900 --> 00:26:28,140 Do you think that's overstating it? 427 00:26:28,140 --> 00:26:30,700 I think that the sum total of the documents 428 00:26:30,700 --> 00:26:32,180 represent a treasure trove 429 00:26:32,180 --> 00:26:35,020 and I think that the documents speak for themselves and give us 430 00:26:35,020 --> 00:26:36,740 a great window into this organisation 431 00:26:36,740 --> 00:26:39,060 and into how we can continue to fight against it. 432 00:26:44,140 --> 00:26:47,420 Bin Laden's compound was quickly demolished. 433 00:26:47,420 --> 00:26:51,460 The American operation caused deep shock and embarrassment in Pakistan. 434 00:26:53,940 --> 00:26:57,140 That shame could be behind the latest conspiracy theory, 435 00:26:57,140 --> 00:27:00,940 says the CIA man at the heart of the operation. 436 00:27:02,460 --> 00:27:05,220 The only way to get out from underneath 437 00:27:05,220 --> 00:27:08,340 the embarrassment of us finding him and them not... 438 00:27:08,340 --> 00:27:12,140 is to have been involved in it all along. 439 00:27:12,140 --> 00:27:14,460 So it's a story they've been trying to peddle. 440 00:27:14,460 --> 00:27:20,020 So I think, finally some American somewhere bought that story 441 00:27:20,020 --> 00:27:23,300 and then sold it to Seymour Hersh - that's what I think happened. 442 00:27:23,300 --> 00:27:24,980 Of course it's possible. 443 00:27:24,980 --> 00:27:28,020 I could... I could... It's possible that right now, in my office, 444 00:27:28,020 --> 00:27:29,460 I've got a cheque for $1 million 445 00:27:29,460 --> 00:27:31,260 from the Pakistani Intelligence Service. 446 00:27:31,260 --> 00:27:32,540 Anything's possible, Jane. 447 00:27:34,540 --> 00:27:38,460 The American government has dismissed Mr Hersh's account outright, 448 00:27:38,460 --> 00:27:40,460 as just a conspiracy theory. 449 00:27:42,060 --> 00:27:47,940 It's rubbish... Almost every sentence is inaccurate. 450 00:27:47,940 --> 00:27:49,860 I can tell you with absolutely certainty 451 00:27:49,860 --> 00:27:52,220 that the story told by the United States Government 452 00:27:52,220 --> 00:27:54,020 is 100% true... 453 00:27:54,020 --> 00:27:56,060 100% of the story that's out there is true, 454 00:27:56,060 --> 00:27:58,060 but not 100% of the story is out there. 455 00:28:03,300 --> 00:28:05,620 Seymour Hersh stands by his story. 456 00:28:05,620 --> 00:28:08,500 He's still convinced there was a grand conspiracy - 457 00:28:08,500 --> 00:28:10,780 involving not just Pakistan, 458 00:28:10,780 --> 00:28:12,900 but the American government and its military. 459 00:28:14,580 --> 00:28:17,180 We keep a lot of secrets, despite the fact that people think 460 00:28:17,180 --> 00:28:19,980 that it's all... Everything leaks. So much stuff 461 00:28:19,980 --> 00:28:23,220 goes on that is secret that isn't kept, so you know, you can say 462 00:28:23,220 --> 00:28:27,660 conspiracy theory all you want but it just doesn't make sense. 463 00:28:27,660 --> 00:28:31,180 Will the world at large ever know 100% of the story? 464 00:28:31,180 --> 00:28:34,300 Probably not, because we have to be able to protect 465 00:28:34,300 --> 00:28:36,220 the way we do our job. 466 00:28:36,220 --> 00:28:41,020 Bringing Bin Laden to justice was a very significant battle 467 00:28:41,020 --> 00:28:44,380 in this war... It was not the end of the war. 468 00:28:44,380 --> 00:28:47,980 It was just a very significant victory in that war. 469 00:28:47,980 --> 00:28:49,260 The war goes on.