Bin Laben was turned in by ISI agent for $25M

Society Pakistan & World Affairs
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Another version of the Bin Laden story.
Will we ever find out the truth?

Forget the cover story of waterboarding-leads-to-courier-leads-to bin Laden (not to deny the effectiveness of waterboarding, but it’s just not applicable in this case.) Sources in the intelligence community tell me that after years of trying and one bureaucratically insane near-miss in Yemen, the US government killed OBL because a Pakistani intelligence officer came forward to collect the approximately $25 million reward from the State Department’s Rewards for Justice program. The informant was a walk-in.
The ISI officer came forward to claim the substantial reward and to broker US citizenship for his family. My sources tell me that the informant claimed that the Saudis were paying off the Pakistani military and intelligence (ISI) to essentially shelter and keep bin Laden under house arrest in Abbottabad, a city with such a high concentration of military that I’m told there’s no equivalent in the US.
The CIA and friends then set about proving that OBL was indeed there. And they did.
Next they approached the chiefs of the Pakistani military and the ISI. The US was going to come in with or without them. The CIA offered them a deal they couldn’t refuse: they would double what the Saudis were paying them to keep bin Laden if they cooperated with the US. Or they could refuse the deal and live with the consequences: the Saudis would stop paying and there would be the international embarassment…
The ISI and Pakistani military were cooperating with the US on the raid.
The cooperation was why there were no troops in Abottabad. They were all pulled out. It had always seemed very far-fetched to me that a helicopter could crash and later destroyed in an area with such high military concentration without the Pakistanis noticing. But then it seemed even wilder to believe that a US Navy SEAL (DEVGRU) actually shot a woman who rushed them in the leg. Yeah, right. I know these guys. They only way they’ll shoot a woman in the leg is if they are double tapping a head or chest and that leg got in the way.
DEVGRU shoots to kill.
The cover story was going to be a drone strike in Pakistan. Things went south when the helicopter crashed. The White House freaked and the cooperating Pakistanis were thrown under the bus.
Splat.

Although the White House really pissed off the intel and DEVGRU guys with their knee-jerk reaction that tossed the Pakistanis under the proverbial bus, ironically it did have the same outcome as the original CIA cover story: the way they were treated, no one believes Generals Kiyani and Pasha were cooperating with the US.
Big shaka for that, Barry!

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Re: Bin Laben was turned in by ISI agent for $25M

We will have to wait for truth for 25-30 years.
Than some one old ,retired , tired ‘Billa’ will come out
and tell us
Like PIA hijacking
[State sponsored 1981 PIA plane hijack: Brig Imtiaz](Redirect Notice hijacking&ei=TNVCToKDIIvLrQf_z4CuBw&usg=AFQjCNH7y57bsH1pYGYXFDOCtmExpKTTmQ&cad=rja)

BBC Urdu - پاکستان - ’دفاعی بجٹ میں اربوں روپے کی بےقاعدگیاں‘
www.bbc.co.uk

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Re: Bin Laben was turned in by ISI agent for $25M

Robert Fisk said it to this affect right from the outset, that Bin Laden was betrayed...

Also, that maxim about Pakistanis, mother and selling is generally true...

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Re: Bin Laben was turned in by ISI agent for $25M

you don’t have to wait so much long now. It is the miracle of information highway that you get the real picture soon, how much some one manuplates the incidence.

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Re: Bin Laben was turned in by ISI agent for $25M

A walk in agent? Didnt Shuja Pasha visit US recently? Is this news a dig at him?

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Re: Bin Laben was turned in by ISI agent for $25M

Well that means that some rogue ISI members have turned their guns against their own institution too, lol :)

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Re: Bin Laben was turned in by ISI agent for $25M


but that wouldn't be a new news

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Re: Bin Laben was turned in by ISI agent for $25M

The same news in daily Telegraph

Osama bin Laden ‘protected by Pakistan in return for Saudi cash’
Osama bin Laden was protected by elements of Pakistan’s security apparatus in return for millions of dollars of Saudi cash, according to a controversial new account of the operation to kill the world’s most wanted man.
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01768/Crilly_60_1768732j.jpg
By Rob Crilly, Islamabad

12:35PM BST 10 Aug 2011

Raelynn Hillhouse, an American security analyst, claims his whereabouts were finally revealed when a Pakistani intelligence officer came forward to claim the $25m (£15 million) bounty on the al-Qaeda leader’s head.

Her version, based on evidence from sources in what she calls the “intelligence community”, contradicts the official account that bin Laden was tracked down through his trusted courier.

Pakistani officials have always denied that bin Laden was sheltered or that Islamabad had any knowledge of the secret mission that killed him.

**But Dr Hillhouse, who is known for her links to private military contractors that work extensively with the CIA, says Pakistan gave permission for a covert mission which would then be covered up by claiming bin Laden had been killed in a drone strike.

“The [Inter-Services Intelligence] officer came forward to claim the substantial reward and to broker US citizenship for his family,” she writes on her intelligence blog, The Spy Who Billed Me.
**
“My sources tell me that the informant claimed that the Saudis were paying off the Pakistani military and intelligence (ISI) to essentially shelter and keep bin Laden under house arrest in Abbottabad, a city with such a high concentration of military that I’m told there’s no equivalent in the US.” After confirming bin Laden’s presence in the military town, the US approached Pakistan’s military leaders securing their co-operation in return for cash and a chance to avoid public humiliation.

**The theory, if true, would explain how American black hawk helicopters were then able to fly deep into Pakistan territory in May without encountering resistance.

The plan only unravelled when one of the helicopters crash-landed, blowing the cover story.**

“The co-operation was why there were no troops in Abottabad,” writes Dr Hillhouse. “It had always seemed very far-fetched to me that a helicopter could crash and later be destroyed in an area with such high military concentration without the Pakistanis noticing.” In the immediate aftermath of the raid, some residents of Abbottabad, where bin Laden had lived for five years, said they had received mysterious visits a night earlier warning them to stay inside with their lights off.

However, a senior Pakistani security official denied that the ISI had sheltered bin Laden.
“We don’t use toilet paper – we wash,” he said. “But toilet paper is all this theory is good for.”

A spokesman for the US department of defense said: “We have no additional operational details, or comments on operational details, to make at this time.”

](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/al-qaeda/8693111/Osama-bin-Laden-protected-by-Pakistan-in-return-for-Saudi-cash.html)

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Re: Bin Laben was turned in by ISI agent for $25M

Some followup questions raised by the original author

Questions Raised by Real Story of How US Found Bin LadenThe real story of how the US found bin Laden raises some key questions, namely:

  • Why did the Saudis pay the Pakistanis to keep bin Laden?
  • Why did the Pakistani’s cooperate?
  • Did the ISI run the safe house itself or did it use a third party?
  • How permeable was the safe house?

A key to understanding why Saudi Arabia would finance bin Laden’s hideout is clarifying what the Saudis were actually paying for. Bin Laden was esentially being kept under house arrest. His contact with the outside world was controlled and he was not allowed to leave the compound without Pakistani approval.
It is unknown if they ever let him out.
The recent puff piece in the New Yorker giving the Obama administrations’ fanciful version of mission to take out OBL, included a very interesting detail:
…security precautions were in place. A locked metal gate blocked the base of the staircase leading to the second floor, making the downstairs room feel like a cage.
Now the author assumed that the gate was to keep people out of OBL’s upstairs apartment, but it’s my understanding that it was to keep OBL inside.

The Saudis were in a very precarious situation with no good answers. OBL was a Saudi who had sworn to overthrow the House of Saud, but he had widespread support among the Wahhabists whose acquiesence is critical for the stability of the Saudi state. And he was the US public enemy number one. Paying off a third party to keep him under wraps might have been the best solution for handling such an uncomfortable problem.
Yes, the Saudis were sheltering, but at the same time they were apparently trying to keep him on a tight rope. An interesting side question is under what conditions were the Pakistanis supposed to be holding OBL? Did the Saudis stipulate that he be allowed or not be allowed contact with the outside world and did the Pakistanis honor the Saudi wishes or do their own thing?

Now why the Pakistanis cooperated seems that it would have been a better option that having OBL running around loose in Waziristan and the tribal areas**, constantly provoking US pressure and raids and potentially acting to destabilize Pakistan.
And of course, there was the money.
I assume that since the Pakistanis didn’t want to risk getting caught housing OBL,** they used a cutout or rather a thrid party to hide behind. Given tight relationship between Harakatand the ISI, they would be at the top of my list of suspects. The New York Times reported that OBL’s courier’s cell phone had multiple calls to Harakat and suggested the benefits OBL would have in having Harakat as part of his in-country support network.

How permeable was the safe house? Regular release of audios indicates OBL was able to get information out. The recent wave of encounters between top Qaeda leaders and Predator drones suggests that the US recently acquired significant intelligence on Qaeda leadership and its whereabouts. There have also been numerous reports about valuable intelligence coming from OBL’s computer drives. It’s probably very safe to assume the safe house leaked like OBL’s body after the SEAL encounter.
Then the interesting question becomes was this the intent and understanding of the Saudi benefactors? (Did those guys ever check up on their outsourced prison? At least the US black sites/detention did have a contract monitoring system in theory…)
Or did the ISI allow OBL to remain active, all the while keeping tabs on all information passed through that grate between the floors?
Did the ISI ever leak actionable intelligence gleaned this way to the US?
I doubt we will ever have definitive answers

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Re: Bin Laben was turned in by ISI agent for $25M

Wouldn't surprise me if this news is true.

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Re: Bin Laben was turned in by ISI agent for $25M

this theory doesnt add up, why saudi want to protect osama and why would Pakistani take huge risk and hiding him in such a bad way just for money, the co operation cant be ruled out and whole staging of this show had both governments approval.