SEAL Book Describes Grisly Death of Osama Bin Laden
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AFP/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — Leaked copies of a former Navy SEAL’s first-person account of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden describe the gruesome scene when the terror leader died and offer details that appear to contradict some of the “official” account, according to two news organizations that obtained copies of the book.
“Blood and brains spilled out of the side of his skull,” a passage in the book says, according to The Huffington Post, which first obtained a copy of No Easy Day written by a former SEAL Team Six member under the pseudonym Mark Owen.
In the book, the author said he was right behind the “point man” who first shot bin Laden after the al Qaeda leader poked his head out of a doorway on one of the upper floors of the complex in Abbottabad, Pakistan. At the time, it wasn’t immediately clear if those shots had connected.
“We were less than five steps from getting to the top when I heard suppressed shots. BOP. BOP,” Owen writes of the May 2011 raid, according to the Huffington Post. “I couldn’t tell from my position if the rounds hit the target or not. The man disappeared into the dark room.”
It wasn’t until several SEAL Team Six members entered the room that Owen learned some of the first shots hit their mark and that Osama bin Laden was the man bleeding and twitching on the ground with an apparent shot to the head. Still, Owen and another SEAL pointed their laser sights at his chest and “fired several rounds. The bullets tore into him, slamming his body into the floor until he was motionless.”
The reported account appears to differ from earlier versions of the raid given by U.S. officials, including that of White House spokesperson Jay Carney, that the SEALs had entered the room before bin Laden was shot, that one of bin Laden’s wives charged the SEALs and that bin Laden had “resisted” before he was killed, even if he was unarmed.
No Easy Day does say that two women were in the room when bin Laden died, but they were wailing over his body when the SEALs entered, the Huffington Post reported.
Owen also reportedly writes that the SEALs were told in a pre-raid briefing the mission was not an assassination and that bin Laden should be detained should he pose no threat.
The former SEAL Team Six member who wrote the book said through Dutton Tuesday that he’s “proud” to have written his account for the public.
“My hope is that it gives my fellow Americans a glimpse into how much of an honor it is to serve our country,” Owen said. “It is written with respect for my fellow service members while adhering to my strict desire not to disclose confidential or sensitive information that would compromise national security in any way.”
Dutton said Owen plans to donate a majority of the proceeds from his book to charities that help the families of fallen Navy SEALs.
Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio