A brief but wide ranging look into the life of Osama Bin Laden. His origins, rise, conspiracies and fall.

1. Osama Bin
Laden
Life, Death and Politics.
Agastya Sanjai.
Anal Raval.
Shreyas Sarasan.

2. Osama
Nationality:
Saudi Arabia (1957-1994)
Stateless (1994–2011)

3. Metamorphosis.

4. Neptune Spear.

5. Dog used in the raid,
a training session.

6. Raid.

7. Part II
CONSPIRACIES & POLITICAL MOTIVES.

8. Political implications.
 The death of OBL had a massive impact on the political landscape of America.
 Media coverage was entirely dominated by his death for the rest of the next three months.
 After 9/11, there was a sense of non-partisanship in America.
 After the raid, this sense of unity was again seen in the entire country.
 This also solidified Obama’s position as a leader and also cemented US superiority.
“I want to congratulate President Obama on a job well done.”
Tim Pawlenty, Minnesota Governor.

9. No Physical Evidence.
 The lack of physical evidence, such as a DNA sample or a photo of the dead body itself has
been a major moot point.
 While the raid was described in incredible detail by the US, no actual proof of anything was
ever presented.
 Proof was denied even to third party organizations requesting information under the FOIA.
“This information is important for the historical record. That's our view.”
Michael Oreskes, Associated Press.

10. Burial at Sea.
 An important fact that has been frowned upon intensely in the aftermath.
 A burial at sea accommodated the lack of physical evidence.
 The US cited its reasons saying that it was following Muslim law by burying the body within 24
hours of its death.
 They did not follow the Muslim Law when they killed the sons of Saddam Hussein.
 However, one valid reason could be that no state was willing to be the final resting place of
Osama Bin Laden.
 Another reason was to disallow the existence of a terrorist shrine.

11. Tora Bora.
 Reports of OBL’s narrow escape from the raid in the Tora Bora mountains were highly
publicized when it was carried out.
 Many theories postulate that Bin Laden was killed in that raid itself, and that the US
administration has been keeping a tight lid on the entire issue.
 For reasons that are aforementioned, this would make sense.

12. Pakistan’s view.
 Several Pakistani senior officials were of the view that no firefight had ever taken place.
“Bin Laden was killed by the US several years ago.”
Hamid Gul, Former Head(ISI)
 The news of this happening was kept on ice for it to be released at a more opportune moment.
 With the re-election of the Obama administration just around the corner, this worked out for
them.
 Could be a tactical strategy to extend the war into Afghanistan.

13. Iran’s view.
 Iran, on the other hand, refused to accept OBL as an entity separate from the US.
“Bin Laden was a puppet, controlled by the US.”
Ismail Kosairi, MP.
 Bin Laden worked on directives from the US, which has always had interests in the middle
east.
 The US was very pleased with OBL’s work over the past few years, but had to eliminate him to
further middle eastern policies.
“Bin Laden died sometime ago due to disease.”
Heydar Moslehi, Intelligence Minister.

14. Turkey’s View.
 OBL died of natural causes on June 26, 2006.
 Americans knew about this the entire time.
 The Obama administration dug out his body to implicate he was killed by the US.
 This would provide a huge boost for the sagging Obama administration.

15. Internet and Other.
“I personally think he is not with us anymore.”
Dale Watson, US Counter Terrorism.
“I don’t think from what I’ve heard that those pictures exist.”
Thomas Mulcair, Canadian MP.
“The lack of photos and videos is suspicious.”
Taliban.

16. So are they true?
 The United States claims of killing Osama are about as credible as any other conspiracy theory.
 The reason being that just like any other conspiracy theory that is deemed a hoax, the Obama
administration has no answer to FOIA requests.
 So while the Obama administration might have the world’s foremost publicizing machinery at
his command, it still is a hollow pitch.

17. Aftermath.
UPROAR.

18. Mistrust and Allegations
• U.S. chose to not notify Pakistani authorities before the operation.
• Numerous allegations were made that the government of Pakistan had shielded bin Laden.
• Countries from all over the globe accused Pakistan of being guilty.
• Pakistan's ISI was blamed to have helped smuggle al-Qaeda militants into Afghanistan to
fight NATO troops.
• Paul Brennan, US counter terrorism chief said it was inconceivable that bin Laden did not
have some support in Pakistan.
• Former Pakistani Army Chief, also came up with the allegation of Bin Laden kept in an
Intelligence Bureau safe house.

19. Pakistan’s reaction.
• The Pakistani government initially welcomed , but within hours the mood changed anti-American sentiment, support for
Islamist extremism and anger at the violation of sovereignty in the operation.
◦ Praised the effort and Ashamed at the fact that Osama was hiding in their country.
◦ Infuriated at the US for invading their airspace.
◦ Operation Neptune Spear, ranks second on the national humiliation scale.
◦ Pak claimed- their sovereignty was violated.
◦ US asked if it was not when Osama was found in their territory.
◦ Ali Zardari stayed quiet.
Since the raid, Pakistan has tried to close one of the most notorious chapters in its history.

20. India’s reaction
•On the wake of Operation Neptune's Spear there were calls for similar strikes conducted by India
against Hafiz Muhammad Saeed and Dawood Ibrahim
•Army chief and Air chief showed their confidence in Indian forces
•PM welcomed the news of bin Laden's death "I welcome it as a significant step forward and
hope that it will deal a decisive blow to Al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups.
• Also stated that many of the perpetrators of the Mumbai terror attacks, continue to be
sheltered in Pakistan.

21. >>
•Minister for Home Affairs P. Chidambaram said that bin Laden hiding "deep inside" Pakistan was
a matter of grave concern for India
•The BJP smartly backed their previous comments saying Osama was a dangerous face of global
terrorism and stressed that his death in Pakistan proved India's repeated assertion that
"Pakistan is the epicenter of global terrorism"
Next up: Social Media reaction>>

23. End.