Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney were adept at this and sometimes the media questions come in at such an alarming rate that one shows weakness to get the rehearsed story right. It is clear that the White House counterterrorism chief John Brennan is getting too old to deal with such pressure. We also saw this with White House spokesman Jay Carney who clearly had difficulty handling the flow of questions.

The question of what type of helicopters were used, how many, and where they flew from was a major issue. We had senior officials in Pakistan saying the helicopters operated from their base at Ghazi, and the West saying Pakistan had nothing to do with the operation and was not aware of it. The US Government made it clear that the helicopters came from Afghanistan and returned there.

The next question was how many helicopters were used and how many US Navy Seals were involved. Again answers ranged from two helicopters to four helicopter and Intel reports between 30-40 Seals while others said 20-25.

Then we had the story from the US Government that one of the choppers had a mechanical failure and landed heavily in the compound and that the Seals had to destroy it. Other local reports said the aircraft was shot at and came down; others say it may have hit power lines going into the complex. One thing for sure is that the tail unit did not end up in the compound which would indicate it was hit in flight or that it struck either the wall or power cables on the way in. Whatever the outcome, a loud explosion was heard and the helicopter was burning fiercely in the compound.

As time progressed, the story start to change so the US Government could become more convincing in this heroic deed. We first heard that bin Laden used a woman as a human shield and that she was shot dead with others. Then this changed into the woman being shot in the leg. Somewhere in between another woman was shot, but this was changed to being accidental crossfire. [Since then we learnt the bin Laden crowd was unarmed, so what is crossfire?] The whole charade by the “Star Performers” would have made Shakespeare turn in his grave!!

Then we had the story of Osama bin Laden’s body being taken away in one of the choppers and yet the Seals did their usual Fast-Rope and Rappelling Techniques and did not actually land. If they did land, the question would be where, as the main compound at the end, which may have had room, was not available due to the helicopter that crashed and was clearly very much on fire. Maybe they winched the dead body up; maybe over the next few days they will explain to us. I think we will have to wait and see how the White House PR team covers up the next stage of political spin. But do remember that all the PR team watched this live as it happened by using a helmet mounted camera on one of the Navy Seals, so why the different versions?

Pakistan [or China?] must be excited to get hold of the wreckage of the United States latest Stealth Helicopter operated by 160th SOAR and carrying the elite Navy Seal Team Six known as DEVGRU.

DNA test

It must have taken tremendous courage for the elite Seals to shoot their way through the unguarded compound, confront an unarmed bin Laden allegedly shielded by one of his wives, and then take the fatal decision to kill.

But they still faced the task of getting his body up the rope and inside the helicopter so they could take the DNA sample with their onboard laboratory!!

One can imagine how pushed they were for space, having lost one of their new top secret stealth helicopters (apparently due to mechanical problems?) The White House spins brings up new aspects almost daily. the latest being that they will not show the photograph of Bin Laden’s corpse, though they have assured us he is dead and they have the DNA to prove it!

Let’s look briefly at the time it takes to carry out a DNA analysis.

Normally, it can take between 5-10 days, but if the case is extremely urgent it can be rushed through the normal system and secured in around three days. May be in the case of Osama Bin Laden they saved time by having the apparatus onboard the helicopter? What we know is that they told us the same day that they had taken DNA samples and confirmed that it was Bin Laden after comparing it with DNA taken from a relative’s brain. Come on America. when are you going to wake up to this scam?

Let’s briefly look at this unbelievable mammoth last journey that Osama Bin Laden took to his watery grave and see what a magnificent feat of airmanship took place in the early hours of May 2.

Remember the US had a race against time so they could respect Islamic traditions by making sure his body received due respect (sic) and was buried within 24 hours of his death. Well, he was actually ‘buried’ within eight hours, a remarkable achievement when you consider the flying hours required to ship him out to the carrier USS Carl Vinson.

Firstly, the distance to Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan is around 200 nautical miles, and the distance from there to the North Arabian Sea is around 700 nautical miles, so who carried the body from Bagram to the carrier? As an ex-flight planner for aircraft and helicopter I thought I would just work out some basics on this perilous mission.

Sohaib Athar, the guy that was live on Twitter at the time, reported:

Helicopter hovering above Abbottabad at 1AM (is a rare event).

Please note that this makes the operation starting around 2000 GMT [1600 EST in the US].

Athar reported at 2110 GMT [1710 EST] that one of the helicopters had been shot down (by whom, we still don’t know. Maybe Athar made a mistake about the shooting, and it just crashed in the dark). Athar confirmed there were two helicopters, and one was down!! The report stated that the White House confirmed that two helicopters full of Navy Seals had been sent from Afghanistan. During the ensuing raid, one helicopter was damaged and then destroyed by the SEALs before they boarded the remaining helicopter with bin Laden’s dead body and flew back to Afghanistan.

My question is - if neither helicopter landed, and the troops came down on ropes, how did they recover bin Laden’s body back to the only remaining helicopter?

There appears to be some conflict about the time the raid started and the fact that it (allegedly) only lasted 45 minutes. Assuming a start time of approximately 2030 GMT [1630 EST in the US], an operation of only 45 minutes would give a departure of around 2115 GMT [1715 EST US]. If we assume the chopper left immediately back to Afghanistan it would have landed at Bagram (at best) around 2230 GMT [1830 EST US] where it was positioned in the hangar to transfer the body out to the carrier.

Now another mammoth journey began by helicopter out to the USS Carl Vinson which is around 700 nautical miles away, and at best would have taken the chopper around 4 hours and 15 minutes! So if it arrived in Bagram around 2230 GMT [1830 EST US] and took a minimum of 30 minutes on the ground to take on fuel and check the body, etc., and departed Bagram around 2300GMT [1900 EST US], a transit time of 4 hours and 15 minutes would make the onboard time around 0315 GMT [2315 EST US]. We can only assume this very swift action took place using a helicopter, unless he was carried in the bomb bay of one of their fixed wing aircraft - whatever they say you will believe!

The White House made it clear they did not want to bury bin Laden on land as his burial ground would have become a shrine, so they decided to bury his body at sea. However, the same day, administration officials said bin Laden’s body would be handled according to Islamic practice and tradition. That practice calls for the body to be buried within 24 hours, the official said. “Finding a country willing to accept the remains of the world’s most wanted terrorist would have been difficult,” he said, so the US decided to bury him at sea. As you can see, a totally different story emerges every time you speak with another person, a clear indication of a total cover-up.

So he was prepared for a sea burial as follows:

Osama bin Laden was buried at sea from the deck of a US aircraft carrier in the north Arabian Sea after being washed according to Islamic custom and receiving a religious funeral

‘Preparations for at-sea burial began at 1:10 a.m. EST (0510 GMT) and were completed at 2 a.m. EST,’ the official said. ‘Traditional procedures for Islamic burial were followed.’

‘The deceased's body was washed and then placed in a white sheet. The body was placed in a weighted bag.’

So there you have it folks, the whole exercise was rushed to make sure he was buried with 24 hours of his death. Actually it only took them just over 8 hours to bury him whilst the world was asleep, very convenient don’t you think?

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Local residents say bin Laden had three children (a girl aged around 12-13 and two boys). Someone said there were 8 other children in the compound and that he had two wives and two maids. His youngest wife told someone he had lived in his room for five years without leaving it.

Bin Laden's wife, a 27-year-old Yemeni, is now being treated in military hospital in Pakistan where the authorities have already refused an American request to question her. In a further blow to the US, the Pakistan government has said she will be sent home to Yemen once she has recovered.

The girl is being held by the Pakistani authorities, along with bin Laden’s wife and another woman, thought to be either a relative or servant. In a statement, the Pakistan government said all were in ‘safe hands’ and would eventually be sent back to their countries of origin. There was no official comment on any US bid to question the al Qaeda leader’s wife.

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Now the latest fantasy unfolds and they tell us that four helicopters were involved, two of which were a newer version of a Black Hawk helicopter modified into stealth with different main rotor and tail rotor hubs; the other two they now indicate could have been Chinooks which certainly are not stealth in any shape or form and anyone can hear a Chinook approached from miles away. The story is becoming comical.

Having been involved in aviation most of my life, I would say that when such dramatic modifications are carried out - using the template for a basic Black Hawk helicopter - the aircraft is totally re-designed. So this story does not gel with me.

A Pakistan Intelligence Official said:

The helicopters were not picked up on radar and were only detected when seen entering the country from Afghanistan.

But if you saw them entering the country from the border, how come you did not alert someone of the event? No one in Pakistan knew of this raid until it was actually taking place… what a farce!!!

Yet another report said two of the helicopters were stealth and were being used as pathfinders backed by two larger Chinooks. As an ex-military man and aviation expert I believe the term pathfinders is only used to describe aircraft that find and mark the target and do not actually take part in the action; they remain in the area in a coordination role. But one of these stealth choppers came down in the compound, leaving its brand new tail in the field over the wall.

The report added that the helicopter that crashed was going to be used to bring back the other members of the family for questioning, a mission abandoned when they lost the helicopter.

Finally, recall the images shown on Pakistan TV immediately after the attack with the burning chopper in the compound. At that stage, there were no fire trucks in attendance, so it had obviously been filmed live. So who were the two rather strange gentlemen rummaging around under the tin roofed outer building in the same compound; they had torches and appeared to be looking for something? Then very quickly they rushed out from under the rubbish disposal area! May be the Pakistan Government would like to identify these two gentlemen?