In the years since the west’s most hated terrorist was killed in a raid in Abbottabad, Pakistan, many new details have emerged. From Twitter leaks during the raid to the surprising conduct of Osama bin Laden’s fifth wife, there is a lot to know about the event.
Here are 7 surprising and surreal details from the Osama bin Laden raid
1. The Situation Room was catered by Costco
Apparently, the White House is into getting a deal because they decided Costco sandwiches were the best finger foods for the table in the Situation Room where the senior leaders would watch the raid play out.
They weren’t the only ones to enjoy sandwiches for the occasion. Navy SEAL Rob O’Neill, “The man who killed Osama bin Laden,” reportedly ate a sandwich by the body the next day.
2. The first leak of the raid was a local on Twitter
Sohaib Athar, an IT consultant living in Abbottabad, heard the helicopters hovering over the compound and decided to mention it on Twitter. He didn’t know that he was live-tweeting the raid that would kill the world’s most notorious terrorist.
The CIA decided to one up Athar in 2016 by live-tweeting the entire raid as if it was happening right then.
3. Osama bin Laden’s porn stash was a terrorist cliche
According to an extensive description of the 2011 raid in The New Yorker, Osama bin Laden’s famous porn stash was actually a common find in terror raids.
A special operations officer quoted in the piece said, “We find it on all these guys, whether they’re in Somalia, Iraq, or Afghanistan.”
4. The top-secret helicopter was first destroyed with a hammer
A helicopter notoriously crashed during the bin Laden raid, partially because of a difference in temperature between where pilots rehearsed the raid and the actual site. The temperature difference accelerated a loss of lift when the helicopter ended up in its own rotor wash.
The pilot completed a masterfully controlled crash and then got to work destroying classified parts. While the helo would eventually be burnt with thermite and other incendiaries, the first wave of destruction was completed with a common hammer kept on board for that purpose.
5. One of bin Laden’s wives was talking sh-t the whole time like a spouse on “Cops”
According to testimony in the New Yorker article, Osama bin Laden’s wife was all about attacking the SEALs. When bin Laden went to hide behind her and another wife, Amal al-Fatah made a motion to charge the Americans. She was shot in the calf.
But she wasn’t done. Even as she and other survivors were left in the courtyard near the burning helicopter and the SEALs were exfiltrating the compound, al-Fatah was screaming insults at the Americans like she was telling the police not to take her man away on an episode of “Cops.”
6. The President met the SEAL dog after the operation, and that scared the Secret Service
When President Barack Obama went to Fort Campbell, Kentucky to meet the SEALs and other operators on the mission, the Navy SEAL military working dog who was on the raid was closed in an adjoining room because of a request by the Secret Service.
President Obama asked to meet the dog anyway but allowed his muzzle to remain in place.
7. Because no one thought to bring a tape measure, bin Laden’s height was measured by a SEAL lying next to him
When Adm. William H. McRaven called the CIA headquarters to try and make sure that the man killed in the raid really was Osama bin Laden, one of his questions was the exact height of the body. Bin Laden was between 6 feet, 4 inches and 6 feet, 5 inches tall.
No one at the site had a tape measure handy, so a SEAL laid down next to it. Reports vary on whether the SEAL was 6-foot or 6-foot, 4-inches. Regardless, the final verdict was that the body matched bin Laden’s height. DNA evidence would later prove that it really was the terrorist who was killed.