Operation Neptune Spear
The culmination for the hunt of Osama
Al-Qaeda
An Arabic word meaning “The Base” is a global militant Islamist organization. Al-Qaeda ideologues envision a complete break from all foreign influences in Muslim countries. Al-Qaeda leaders regard liberal Muslims, Shias, Sufis and other sects as heretics.
Symbol
of Al-Qaeda
Born to a bin Laden family of a billionaire in Saudi
Arabia, the 6’4 Al-Qaeda leader was the 17th child out of 54
children of Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden, who had more than 10 wives. Despite
being a billionaire’s son, Osama was against the US and Saudi Arabia relations.
He was deeply religious, fought against USSR with the Mujahideens and later on
fought against US.
Tora Bora
During the invasion of Afghanistan it was one of the
strongholds of the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. It was suspected that Osama was using
the caves as a hideout during 2001.
It was also reported
that in 2007, U.S. intelligence suspected that Osama bin Laden planned to meet
with top Al Qaeda and Taliban commanders at Tora Bora prior to the launch of a
possible attack in Europe or the United States. Despite a commando operation
that killed dozens of militants, bin Laden was not found.
Many times in the since 9/11 there had been false news
of Osama’s death. There have been many documentaries made on Osama[1]
and Operation Neptune Spear[2].
Tracking of Osama
Bin Laden was known not to use phones after 1998, when
the U.S. had launched missile strikes against his bases in Afghanistan and Sudan
by tracking an associate’s satellite phone.
A 2010 wire trap of another suspect associate was picked
up a conversation with Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti, one of the suspected couriers of bin Laden, which first brought
the suspicion of Osama living at the Abbottabad compound. The CIA rented a home in Abbottabad from which a team staked out and
observed the compound over a number of months. The CIA team used informants and
other techniques to gather intelligence on the compound.
The CIA used surveillance photos and
intelligence reports to determine the identities of the inhabitants of the
Abbottabad compound to which the courier was traveling. In September 2010, the
CIA concluded that the compound was custom-built to hide someone of
significance, very likely bin Laden. Officials surmised that he was living
there with his youngest wife and family.
Abbottabad
Compound
Objective
A “kill or capture mission” be it an unarmed person
since the people behind those walls of the Abbottabad compound had no intentions
of surrendering.
Operation Geronimo or Operation Neptune Spear
The killing or capture of bin Laden was known as
Operation Geronimo but was changed to Neptune Spear. The operational code
name for the "kill mission" to get Osama Bin Laden, was
"Neptune
Spear." This is the rational for that code name:
Neptune's spear is the trident, which appears on the U.S. Navy's Special Warfare insignia, with the three prongs of the trident representing the operational
capacity of SEALs on sea, air and land.
Mythological and religious symbolisms are often used in such military
operations. Recall the movie "Sword of Gideon" which narrated the
Israeli reprisals for the Black September terrorist attack at the Munich
Olympics.
The Romans also worshiped Neptune as a god of horses, and was the patron
of horseracing. Depictions of Neptune always show him holding a three-pronged
spear, also called a Triton or Trident.
Execution of the Operation
The raid was carried out
by approx. two dozen heliborne U.S. Navy SEALS. The SEALs flew form the city of
Jalalabad in Afghanistan.
Planners
and Executioners of the Operation
Two
Black Hawks Helicopters were used in this mission in a never-publically-seen
stealth version that flew more quietly and were harder to be detected on radar.
Black
Hawk Stealth Helicopters
The first helicopter was to hover over the compound’s
yard and the second was to land on the rooftop. But it did not go as planned,
the first helicopter crashed due to some airflow conditions not doing much harm
to the pilot and its passengers, but it crashed through the wall, and the
second helicopter landed outside the compound and the SEALs had to scale the
wall to get inside.
Compound Residents
There were 22 residents in the compound including bin
Laden and two of his wives and a total of five people were killed.
Identification of the body
Officials compared the DNA
of the person killed at the Abbottabad compound with the bin Laden "family
DNA" to determine that the 9/11 mastermind had in fact been killed.
A
girl child who was in the room with him when he died positively identified the
dead body of Osama bin Laden
Handling of the body
After the mission was over, the U.S. forces covered
the body by a sheet and threw it in the sea. There was a controversy as under
Islamic traditions burial of the body on sea was considered inappropriate and
should be buried in proper Muslim culture.
The will of Osama bin Laden
A will left by Osama stated that he urged his children
not to join Al-Qaeda and not to continue the Jihadi system. Interestingly the
note was written a little time after the September 11 attacks.
Hated or loved by the people this man's story is one for the books....
Rohan Mehta
May 13
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