Osama bin Laden was unarmed and dead, when US troops entered his room, reveals book

Washington, Aug 29: A firsthand blow-by-blow story of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden says the al-Qaeda chief was unarmed and already dead when the US special troops burst into his room in Abbottabad, an account which threatens to debunk the official version of the killing.Former Navy SEAL Mark Bissonnette, who used the pseudonym ‘Mark Owen' to write the book ‘No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama bin Laden', says a member of the elite squad saw the terror leader as he ducked into his bedroom, and the soldiers, who were climbing stairs to the third floor, followed.“We were less than five steps from getting to the top when I heard suppressed shots. BOP. BOP. I couldn't tell from my position if the rounds hit the target or not. The man disappeared into the dark room,” he wrote in the book.The book says the mission was quite unlike the popular version of what was given out of momentous events at the house in Abbottabad, where US Navy SEALs killed Osama in May 2011.While various media outlets reported that Osama was armed and showed no intention of going quietly, the special forces man writes that the notorious terror boss was already gasping in his last breath when the soldiers stumbled upon him.Owen said as Osama lay dying, he and another commando “trained our lasers on his chest and fired several rounds. The bullets tore into him, slamming his body into the floor until he was motionless.”The book described Osama as wearing a white t-shirt, loose-fitting tan pants and a tunic. While photographing the terror leader's body, two guns were found in the room, but neither was loaded.In the account given out by the US administration after the raid claimed that the SEALs shot Osama only after he ducked into the bedroom because they assume he may be reaching for a weapon. The book, No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama bin Laden, was written anonymously under the name Mark Owen, who was one of the SEAL Team Six members who saw the terror leader die in May 2011. A copy of the book, obtained by The Huffington Post, says that the mission was quite unlike the popular version of what went on at the house in Abbottabad. 'Owen' wrote: 'He hadn't even prepared a defense. He had no intention of fighting. He asked his followers for decades to wear suicide vests or fly planes into buildings, but didn't even pick up his weapon. 'In all of my deployments, we routinely saw this phenomenon. The higher up the food chain the targeted individual was, the bigger a p**** he was.'The book was originally slated to hit book stores on September 11 but will now come out seven days earlier.It has already stirred a considerable amount of controversy as it was revealed that the Pentagon, the CIA, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and even the White House appeared to have no idea that the book was being written.The autobiography may also be heading to the big screen, as it was revealed on Sunday that director Steven Spielberg met with the retired commando to discuss making a movie about his experience. In addition to Spielberg, who directed 'War Horse' and 'Saving Private Ryan,' Dreamworks and HBO's Richard Plepler have met with the author. 'He is still talking to DreamWorks and Spielberg,' a source told The New York Post, according to Daily Mail, London. This would be the third movie to tell the story of the raid that killed the mastermind of the September 11 terrorist attacks. 'Zero Dark Thirty,' directed by Oscar-winner Kathryn Bigelow will open December 19. Sony pushed back its opening to after the presidential election after it was revealed Bigelow was granted special access to the Pentagon and the CIA to make the movie. The Weinstein Company has suggested it could release its own film about the May 2011 commando raid in Pakistan, 'Code Name Geronimo' before the election. But for the retired Navy SEAL-turned-author, the story is giving him some unwanted attention. An official al-Qaeda website on Friday posted a photograph and the name of the former Navy commando responsible for the book, calling him 'the dog who murdered the martyr Sheikh Osama bin Laden.' Meanwhile the head of U.S. Special Operations Command told current and former troops that the military would take legal action against anyone found to have exposed sensitive information that could cause harm to fellow forces. 'We will pursue every option available to hold members accountable, including criminal prosecution where appropriate,' Admiral Bill McRaven wrote in an open, unclassified letter emailed to the active-duty special operations community.'As current or former members of our special operations community, authors have a moral obligation, and a legal duty, to submit their works for pre-publication security review,' the admiral wrote.Not long after the announcement of the book, Foxnews.com identified the soldier - Matt Bissonnette, 36, who retired from service shortly after the bin Laden raid.By Friday, the man's name, photograph and age had been posted on the 'the Al-Fidaa Islamic Network' online forum, one of two websites officially endorsed by al-Qaeda, according to Evan Kohlmann, founder of the New York-based security firm Flashpoint Global Partners. It was followed by comments that called for the man's death, including one response that said, 'O' Allah, kill every one of them,' and another that said, 'O' Allah, make an example of him for the whole world and give him dark days ahead.'Publisher Dutton, an imprint of Penguin Group, asked news organizations on Thursday to withhold his name. But that didn't stop the Associated Press, which later confirmed the the FoxNews.com report through their own sources, and circulated the information through its subscribers. The revelation had alarm bells ringing in military circles. Pentagon spokesman Lt Col James Gregory told MailOnline that the release of a former special ops soldier's identity can be worrisome. He said: ‘We protect the names of our special ops personnel for security reasons. Any time names are revealed, it's a concern.' Lt Col Gregory also joined a chorus of U.S. agencies who claim they had no knowledge of the book before Wednesday, a possible violation of regulations that bar current and former troops from spilling military matters and national security issues. Lt Col Gregory said that since the soldier - who retired shortly after the bin Laden raid - is now a private citizen, the military could refer the investigation to the Department of Justice. McRaven's open letter to the active-duty special operations community said books and films about special operations teams could be useful educational tools, and the military would work with potential authors, but current and former service members would be held accountable if they endangered the safety of U.S. forces.

Osama bin Laden was unarmed and dead, when US troops entered his room, reveals book

Washington, Aug 29: A firsthand blow-by-blow story of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden says the al-Qaeda chief was unarmed and already dead when the US special troops burst into his room in Abbottabad,

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