Some White Knuckle Moments for Elite Navy SEALs Team
EmailThe Navy SEALs team that conducted this operation was the legendary Team Six, aka DevGru, or the “Naval Special Warfare Development Group,” flown into Pakistan by helicopter teams from the 160th Special Operations Air Regiment, part of the Joint Special Operations Command.
The original plan was for the Navy SEALs to rappel down into the compound, and that’s how they practiced it in April on a replica of the compound the military constructed in the U.S. on which SEALs Team Six conducted two practice runs.
But Sunday, one of the helicopters had an issue – they’re not sure what as of now – and conducted a soft crash landing. The chopper hit the deck – “it was a real white-knuckle moment,” a US official tells ABC News.
Another white-knuckle moment – at the end of the operation, Pakistan’s military scrambled fighter jets looking for the US helicopters. Who knows what could have happened if the Pakistani planes had reached the US helicopters — but they didn’t.
The US team got back to Afghanistan by around 5:45 pm ET.
This operation happened, an official said, because of dogged, relentless intelligence work. For years, from detainees at Gitmo, the CIA had the nom de guerre of the courier, but they didn’t have his true name until 2007.
Intel spotted him in early 2009 – it took a while to follow him . Last August when intel found the compound the reaction was along the lines of “Oh my God who are they hiding here?” a official said, recalling definite recognition this was a significant find. Congressional leaders were briefed about the compound in December.
One possible complication: While CIA contractor Ray Davis was in the Pakistani prison there were concerns about his safety were this mission to be conducted.
Davis’s March 16 release cleared that possible obstacle to the operation — a kill mission, with the clear objective to kill bin Laden.
-Jake Tapper
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Don’t forget the party planners as well as the set up crews…This was a joint effort from top to bottom……..
Posted by: Parallex View | May 2, 2011, 11:10 am 11:10 am
Bless the Seals. What amazing men.
Posted by: MayBee | May 2, 2011, 11:36 am 11:36 am
So, it appears waterboarding helped us locate bin laden. Where are the cries of unjust torture from the left?
Posted by: spoutinghorn | May 2, 2011, 11:36 am 11:36 am
I hope prez has all 24 of those SEALs in the oval office ASAP. This thing was flawlessly done, despite innumerable things that might have gone wrong. Those guys are good.
Posted by: Fascist Hyena | May 2, 2011, 11:43 am 11:43 am
leave it to Obama and he will claim that HE was the one to plan to whole operation -
his speech last night was class-less
Posted by: frieda | May 2, 2011, 11:50 am 11:50 am
Spoutinghorn, it couldn’t have been torture, because that NEVER works. People will just lie to get out of the pain of the moment. So either it was gotten from some non-torturous technique or waterboarding isn’t torture. It worked so it couldn’t be torture…right?
Posted by: Ryan | May 2, 2011, 11:54 am 11:54 am
Total vindication of Guantanimo Bay!
You won’t see the Navy Seals in the White House and you won’t get their names for a long time. They would be targeted as well as their families. Instead they will live out their lives in anonimity, with our thanks.
Posted by: fuul aluuf | May 2, 2011, 11:55 am 11:55 am
Anyone count the number of times Obama said “I” in his speech last night?
Posted by: fuul aluuf | May 2, 2011, 11:56 am 11:56 am
. . . Horatio Caine from CSI : Miami did the DNA test . . .
Posted by: Optimus.Crime | May 2, 2011, 11:56 am 11:56 am
So Pakistan scrambled fighters to intercept the helicopters..hmm..and yet one of their government officials says they were “assisting”? yeeeaahhhhh…right. I do not trust the Pakistanis any further than I could throw them..
Posted by: angus | May 2, 2011, 12:03 pm 12:03 pm
Thank goodness for the Navy Seals and this President had not disbanned them yet. Thank goodness for Gitmo. God Bless America! Hopefully their votes will be counted this next election.
Posted by: Freedom | May 2, 2011, 12:03 pm 12:03 pm
Silly republicans. All they care about is what came out of Obamas mouth last night, instead of looking at the bigger picture, and recognizing what a great moment this is for our entire country, no matter what party you come from. Who cares what he said, and who cares that he just happened to be the one in office during the extermination of the world’s No.1 wanted face of terrorism. Shout out to SEAL Team 6, God Bless You guys, we admire your courage, strength, and dedication. God Bless America, Land of the Free Home of the Brave
Posted by: Pastor | May 2, 2011, 1:18 pm 1:18 pm
I didn’t think it would take but a few nanoseconds for the conspiracy and partisan nuts to start cranking out their toxic crap.
Hey, I have an idea! Let’s stop for a moment to congratulate our President and military and intelligence communities on a job well done!!
God bless the Navy Seals and may He protect them from harm!!
Posted by: Jake Clark | May 2, 2011, 1:20 pm 1:20 pm
Seals gave Bin Laden option to “surrender”? So, Obama “tied their hands” like our Military in Afghanistan, Iraq, AND Libya! Now THAT’s LAUGHABLE! LMAO Leave it to Obama to be PC even during a SPECIAL OP! This guy is DANGEROUS to OUR MILITARY!
Posted by: Barb | May 2, 2011, 1:28 pm 1:28 pm
Jake,helicopters can carry only so much
weight, so how did they get a dead body
and the extra crew on the other helicopter
after blowing up the helicopter that was disabled. Seems, some of this story is not
being told.
Posted by: deadwrestler | May 2, 2011, 1:50 pm 1:50 pm
CONGRATS TO TEAM SIX. TO BAD MARCINKO WASNT THERE.
Posted by: SANGER | May 2, 2011, 2:03 pm 2:03 pm
@Sanger There were three Black Hawks. Two are more then enough to take a football team and a couple of corpses.
Posted by: dave | May 2, 2011, 2:26 pm 2:26 pm
for God and Country…..ST6
don’t give the details to the idiot press….let them wonder….and keep the clean up going!
Posted by: GT | May 2, 2011, 2:29 pm 2:29 pm
We all owe thanks to the makers of video games like Doom, Quake, and Call of Duty, for putting the nation in the right frame of mind to support such a mission, and see it through to the end. Silly but true.
Posted by: Ehrbum | May 2, 2011, 2:42 pm 2:42 pm
I cannot imagine that the helicopters were “uncovered”.
Good thing for those Paki fighters that they didn’t get too close to the helicopters, lest they become “disabled”.
Posted by: George | May 2, 2011, 2:48 pm 2:48 pm
Navy Seals…awesome!!! and thanks to the President for persevering.
Posted by: Dede | May 2, 2011, 3:13 pm 3:13 pm
aLL THIS AND 9/11 COULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDED IF SLICK HAD DONE HIS JOB AND TAKEN OUT UBL WHEN FIRST GIVEN INFO OF HIS LOCATION. INSTEAD MONICA GOT ALL HIS ATTENTION.
Posted by: LAZRTX | May 2, 2011, 3:15 pm 3:15 pm
Ha! Intel gathered from enhanced interrogation techniques was used to track and kill bin Laden. I guess it really does work! :)
Posted by: Lou | May 2, 2011, 3:34 pm 3:34 pm
SANGER DID NOT POST THE COMMENT ABOUT THE HELICOPTERS I POSTED THE CONGRATS TO TEAM 6.LOOK WHERE THE ARROWS ARE POINTING TO THE POSTS AND NAMES.
Posted by: SANGER | May 2, 2011, 4:24 pm 4:24 pm
Demanding proof is not a conspiracy. ,Saying you cant’ have proof is.
Where did they get the DNA sample to compare the remains with?
Are they expecting us to believe they got so close to Osama in the past that they got verified DNA from him in?
There is NO way to get a DNA confimation without a verified DNA sample
And the US is claiming a 99.9 percent DNA match….that doesn’t come from comparing family DNA
Posted by: adam | May 2, 2011, 4:26 pm 4:26 pm
aLL THIS AND 9/11 COULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDED IF SLICK HAD DONE HIS JOB AND TAKEN OUT UBL WHEN FIRST GIVEN INFO OF HIS LOCATION. INSTEAD MONICA GOT ALL HIS ATTENTION.
POSTED BY: LAZRTX | MAY 2, 2011 3:15:08 PM
Agreed. I wonder how many posters even know what you’re referring to!
Posted by: deanbob | May 2, 2011, 4:27 pm 4:27 pm
Folks, let’s get real here. Obama did nothing other than authorize this mission.
In other words….he did his job. He said yes.
Now, the SEAL team are the true heros here! God bless the SEALs and God bless America!
Posted by: Kate | May 2, 2011, 4:27 pm 4:27 pm
Where are the usual “it’s all Bush’s fault”????. Won’t hear that on this one.
Posted by: Tom B | May 2, 2011, 4:44 pm 4:44 pm
God Bless the Navy Seals. My friend’s kid heard the news and asked, “how did a seal learn to fly a helicopter.” I hope all Americans get to enjoy this glorious and patriotic moment. I am not a fan of Obama, but I give him all the credit in the world for letting the Seals do their job. In the end, this was a victory for all Americans and, as such, I hope all Americans get to enjoy it…
Posted by: Billy Sullivan | May 2, 2011, 4:50 pm 4:50 pm
Wish I had a clue what George was talking about with his reference to video games.
This was the antithesis of video game war. You confuse these guys going deep into an unknown situation, prepared to fight an enemy of unknown strength with drone attacks and cruise missile strikes.
Hats off to the Warriors who pulled this off.
Hats off to George W. Bush for establishing policies to extract critical intelligence from captured scum;, for persevering despite the howls of people like BHO, and threats of war crime trials if he travels abroad.
Posted by: Oldflyer | May 2, 2011, 4:57 pm 4:57 pm
I’ll bet here is how the decision making process went down with Obama. Obama was most likely dithering as he always does. I’m sure Obama was more concerned about how the Muslim world would react than actually getting bin Laden. The military and CIA folks in the room told Obama we are a go for this mission whether you like it or not and Obama finally said go.
Posted by: Flyboy7588 | May 2, 2011, 5:13 pm 5:13 pm
The Muslims don’t need a body to rally around. They alreayd have a focal point for their cause, it’s called Mecca and the Middle East.
Thank you SEAL’s, thank you CIA, and thank you President Bush your work has paid off despite the constant detractors.
Posted by: I love my country | May 2, 2011, 5:15 pm 5:15 pm
BILLY SULLIVAN | MAY 2, 2011 4:50:54 PM……I agree 100%.
Posted by: deanbob | May 2, 2011, 5:17 pm 5:17 pm
I disagree with almost all of President Obama’s policies. However, I thank him for his courage to put an end to this saga. No, it is not an end of the jihad against America.
Posted by: deanbob | May 2, 2011, 5:19 pm 5:19 pm
Obama’s sister died of cancer at Mass General Hospital a few years ago. The FBI got access to her body and extracted DNA (just in case). So the had a family member’s DNA to test OBL’s DNA against.
Posted by: tinMan | May 2, 2011, 5:20 pm 5:20 pm
GOD BLESS YOU GW BUSH! THANK you for staying the course which gave our idiot in chief in the oval office a map to get this guy!
THANK YOU GW BUSH! You are a true hero!
Posted by: july | May 2, 2011, 5:35 pm 5:35 pm
DeanBob,
You clearly know nothing about forensic DNA. Yes. You can get a 99.99% hit from a family member as long as the comparison is done from the paternal lineage. Don’t start a conspiracy where there is none. All they would have needed is buccal swabs from one of his brother or sisters.
Way to go SEALS!!!!!
Posted by: Tgo | May 2, 2011, 6:00 pm 6:00 pm
I can’t believe all the thank-yous to Pres Bush. It turned out that Pres. Obama came up with the idea to use the SEALs in a special op instead of bombing the compound because he understand how important DNA verification would be or there’d be another conspiracy theory about it. Thank you, Pres. Obama, the SEALs, and all the others involved. No thanks to Bush who took his eyes off Afghanistan and wasted lives and money on Iraq.
Posted by: Eve | May 2, 2011, 6:36 pm 6:36 pm
Actually we should thank Bush..but also Obama for NOT closing Guantonomo like many liberals wanted. We would of never gotten the intel if it was closed. Even Rush Limbaugh said Obama came up with the idea of sending in SEALS and CIA. Actually..I thought they would of done this yrs ago! But they never had a bead on him…I am happy he’s dead. Proud day as an American.
Posted by: Vinny | May 2, 2011, 7:03 pm 7:03 pm
The info came from conventional techniques used to hunt down any fugitive, not waterboarding. They found common couriers and it took until 2007 to discover his name, and since they stopped waterboarding in 2003…
It’s torture, it’s marginally effective, it’s illegal, it’s immoral, and its unAmerican. So stop trying to glorify waterboarding. It is a stain on the soul of this nation.
Posted by: DewyB | May 2, 2011, 7:36 pm 7:36 pm
Thank-you BUSH ????????
Oh wait…..you are right. THANK-YOU Bush for getting out of the way so those that can do a job they set out to do…can.
Seal Team 6 THANK-YOU and BRAVO ZULU from a 14 year NAVY vet!
Posted by: JEFF | May 2, 2011, 8:42 pm 8:42 pm
You’re a Navy vet and you call them Seals? Yeah, okay. Thank you SEALs and the CIA.
Posted by: ConservativeWoman | May 2, 2011, 8:54 pm 8:54 pm
Congratulations W. Bush but for decision to not send in Rangers, gator mines and decision to not authorize special operators in Tora Bora to relocate inside Pakstan to ambush bin Laden’s escape caravan, bin Laden would not have been in position to become Barrack Obama’s trophy.
Posted by: Buck Adams | May 2, 2011, 9:28 pm 9:28 pm
Wish I had a clue what George was talking about with his reference to video games.
This was the antithesis of video game war.
POSTED BY: OLDFLYER | MAY 2, 2011 4:57:21 PM
—-
That was me, not George. The point is that without the video games making these kinds of ops missions popular at home, we may have pulled out of Pakistan by now, and this mission might not have gotten started.
Posted by: Ehrbum | May 2, 2011, 10:12 pm 10:12 pm
Effectively this was a symbolic objective and will lead to little if any substantive destabilization of the Terror networks world-wide. In fact it could lead to an escalation in their activity in order to show they are still viable. However it is a great psychological Victory and an emotional feel good mission. Happily none of our Warriors were injured or killed. I for one would have preferred a high explosive precision ordinance on target. Although it was a nice touch to put our shooters eye ball to eye ball with this puke and dump him. My only regret is they didn’t use MARSOC to shoot this parasite down like a dog. I’m also very thankful they didn’t take him alive and subject him to the whims of whatever Kangaroo court Holder & company could conjure up in their weak kneed warped liberal leftee minds. O and this won’t save Obama for re-election either so forget it.
Posted by: IMTT | May 2, 2011, 10:34 pm 10:34 pm
After reading these posts, I feel even further ashamed to be an American….I wonder when it will be safe for me to be a Republican again. I thank those involved in this maneuver for their efforts to bring this episode some closure.
Posted by: sonicqaz | May 3, 2011, 1:49 am 1:49 am
These navy seals are true american heroes. i hope they know that the american people are grateful for their courage and dedication. god bless them and keep them safe now and always!
Posted by: Jan taylor | May 3, 2011, 11:56 am 11:56 am
Is it me or is Anne Compton morphing into a swine…i.e. PIG before our very eyes???
Juan was right. Be she a hefer, hoe or piglet…dat broad is an animal!
Posted by: pg pagali | May 3, 2011, 12:23 pm 12:23 pm
Is it really possible that many people just ignore the facts in fully searchable in public records?
Lets get the facts straight shall we…
1)Bill Clinton tried and failed to kill Bin Ladin
2) GWB tried and failed to kill Bin Ladin
3)In 2004 not once but several times GWB stated that finding Bin Ladin was not his top priority. (Because the CIA had no idea where he was)
4) In 2005 GWB shut down the CIA task force tasked with trying to find Bin Ladin (because they had no credible leads for years as to his location) Incidently the compound where OBL was found was built in 2005).
5) Within the first 30 days of Obama becoming President he tasked the CIA to come up with a credible plan to capture or Kill OBL. Hundreds of secret executive orders were written authorizing actions to find Bin Ladin and other terrorist operatives.
6. Presdident Obama dramitacally increased counterism efforts to root out and kill terrorists around the world.
7. KSM did not give up the intel during any of the 189 times he was waterboarded. He gave up the intel over a year later during conventional interragation techniqies. (Most likely all the waterboarding only delayed getting the real actionable intel we needed.)
8. President Obama chose the riskiest scenareo (helicopter raid) over B2 bomber strikes because he realized we needed definitive proof.
9) It was President Obama who grilled military commanders over the use of only two helicopters asking what happens if one is shot down and you have to fight your way out? he further demanded a contingency plan for this scenareo.
10. President Obanma kept his promise to the American people.
11. For everyone who retardedly parrots the rebublican lie that Democrats are weak on defense and anti terrorism you can feel free to shut up now. It may help if you read some US history books -it was a democratic President who ended World War II and authorized the use of the atomic bomb. Now found and killed the worlds most wanted terrorist.
All the points above are public record and are indisputible. At least give credit where credit is due and for once just be proud to be american.
Posted by: Tom | May 3, 2011, 12:55 pm 12:55 pm
Posted by: tinMan | May 2, 2011 5:20:18 PM
SIR YOU NEED TO READ HOW YOU WROTE YOUR LITTLE PARAGRAPH. YOU HAVE OBOMA IN THERE INSTEAD OF OSAMA. IT WASNT OBAMAS SISTER AT ALL.
Posted by: TIFFANY | May 3, 2011, 2:35 pm 2:35 pm
Waterboarding got this info, and the America hating Liberals screamed and whined about that. They said it is cruel and unusual punishment. So they went in and killed bin laden and that was OK with them. So waterboarding not good, but killing is good. Proof positive, Liberalism is a Mental Disorder!
Posted by: don | May 3, 2011, 4:31 pm 4:31 pm
Keep in mind…
It was not the President who killed Osama Bin Laden. It was the elite Navy Seal Team Six who carried the mission out.
Posted by: Judi | May 3, 2011, 7:03 pm 7:03 pm
tiffany be serious! obama did what his military guys say! you ever heard of a white house press seceratary? yeah, the same who first said osama was armed, then said he used women as shields. none of which was true. yet you believe him when he says obama masterminded this? rest assured all credit goes to the cia and the spec ops, last time i checked obama served in neither of those fields. maybe you should and check what units he did serve in! hint………….he was never in the us military!
Posted by: katahdin | May 3, 2011, 9:39 pm 9:39 pm
Just a quick thought. First I am proud as a U.S. Citizen because of this event. Regardless of who made the decision on how to carry out the mission, the decision was made. I am sure when the pressure is on to send 40 of your most elite U.S. Fighting force into harms way realizing that the nature of the mission is to kill one, but the potential harm 40 U.S. Soldiers was also at risk. Tough decision. Thanks for making it. As far as critics beating about history, just be thankful that the current admisitration acted (and I did not vote for them!!) I am sure it was discussed in great length, and with the outcome we all know it was a good decision. Ross Perot was not a President but also risked lives to save Americans. Did not matter he was not a President, he just believed in America. I thank those that persuaded the current administration as I can only imagine the “floundering”. Yes there is a price of being only liked by 50% of your voters. Lets move on to the other items now. Thanks for listening.
Posted by: David | May 3, 2011, 11:35 pm 11:35 pm
For those who served out at sea during war zones might get more credit for what we did out at sea besides just being blew water sailors. remember the choppers came off a aircraft carrier.
Posted by: gilbert c Montoya | May 5, 2011, 3:00 pm 3:00 pm
Its utter confusion ..,.,.,this i would like to tell other people.,,.,,
Posted by: Usman | May 13, 2011, 2:53 pm 2:53 pm