By: Ali Elizabeth Turner
When President Barak Obama announced here in the States on May 1 (May 2 in Pakistan) 2011, that Osama bin Laden had been killed, there were plenty of people here in Athens-Limestone County who were without power, water, or a house in which to lay their heads, let alone a radio or a TV to hear the news. The “Killer Storm” of April 27, 2011, had just roared through; our community had swathes of destruction that looked like bombs had been dropped, and we were busy working through the aftermath of a disaster that takes people and communities from “reeling-to-recovering.” It was a remarkable time and experience, albeit one I would rather not repeat. So, as word began to surface that Navy SEALS had successfully breached Osama’s compound in Pakistan and he was no longer an existential threat to our country, there was relief, to be certain, but our focus was on sifting through stuff, sending hope, and coping with shock. Nonetheless, after Osama died, the SEALS gained even more popularity in our culture at large, although there was understandable disapproval amongst much of the spec ops community that anyone “broke the code” and went public re: allegedly firing the kill shot that took Osama out. That just ain’t right.
In 2021, a decade after Osama was killed, we were reeling again, this time during the COVID pandemic, and there was marginal mention of the operation in what would have been the standard ten-year commemoration of such an important covert operation. By that time, much more information about what had happened and had been found at the compound in Pakistan had become de-classified, and there were some fascinating things that came to light. One was that Osama had written extensively in his diary that he was afraid of being found and killed by Americans. It reminds me of other dreadful creatures such as Adolph Hitler and Saddam Hussein. Past all the bluster, flawed humans often cave in to fear when they are facing a doomed eternity.
At Osama’s compound, there were other indications of a highly conflicted existence, not to anyone’s surprise. One was a rather extensive collection of pornography. The other was a collection of Disney movies, including Cars, and Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, along with video games as diverse as Super Mario Brothers and Resident Evil 2.
Other pieces of intel made it possible for the raid to go off without a hitch, even though one of the helicopters experienced a soft crash. The first was tracking a courier who would come and go from the compound. Another was finding out the code name of the courier, and another was the ingenious use of a ruse that involved giving Hepatitis B shots to the whole community, which gave a nurse access to Osama and could thereby confirm through the tiniest amount of blood and resulting DNA that he was, in fact, the guy inside. Once the compound had been identified through satellite imagery, a life-size model was built so that the SEALS could practice the raid and be familiar with the layout before they ever got there. Osama was shot through the eye with his rifle at his side, and was buried at sea in under 24 hours according to Muslim traditions. At this point I could just say, “The End,” and I would be tempted to do so because I believe evil always eventually gets bested, eventually. However, I want to use this space to say “Thank you” to all the ones, civilian and military, whose names we will never know and whose actions we’ll never be able to celebrate—thank you 15 years later for ending an evil man and protecting us once again.
By: Ali Elizabeth Turner
