SEALS Were Told To Catch Osama Alive, If Possible

Former commando Matt Bissonnette, who has written a book titled 'No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama bin Laden', using the pseudonym "Mark Owen," has made the claim in an interview to CBS news

WASHINGTON: The raid on Osama bin Laden's hideout in Pakistan was "not a kill-only" mission as commandos were told to capture the dreaded Al-Qaida chief alive if possible, a former Navy SEAL has claimed.

Former commando Matt Bissonnette, who has written a book titled 'No Easy Day: The Firsthand Account of the Mission That Killed Osama bin Laden', using the pseudonym " Mark Owen," has made the claim in an interview to CBS news.

"This was absolutely not a kill-only mission. It was made very clear to us throughout our training for this that, 'Hey, if given the opportunity, this is not an assassination. You will capture him alive... if feasible'," Bissonnette said.

Report: Pentagon Criticizes Bin Laden Raid Book
A makeup artist was employed to disguise his appearance and sound manipulation was used to mask his real voice for the interview.

His book, "No Easy Day" has irked the Pentagon as it had threatened to take legal action against the former Navy SEAL on charges of leaking classified information.

The book went on sale on Tuesday. On being asked if capturing the most wanted terrorist was the preferred thing, Bissonnette said, "Yeah, yeah. I mean, we're not there to assassinate somebody. We weren't sent in to murder him. This was, Hey, kill or capture."

Apart from making the claim that they were told to capture bin Laden alive if possible, Bissonnette also gave an insight in to the crashing of one of the two helicopters in the courtyard of bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad on May 2, last year.

Pakistan didn't know they were coming so the helicopters, flown by the Army's 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, flew at tree-top level on a moonless night to avoid Pakistani air defenses.

They reached the target and prepared to slide down ropes into the compound when everything went wrong in Bissonnette's chopper.

"And then, all of a sudden, we banked hard 90 degrees, and then we-- once we went hard 90-- it was very apparent that something was wrong," Bissonnette said.

"Something about the downdraft hitting the complex of walls below caused the heavily loaded helicopter to falter in the air," he added.

Bin Laden was shot in the head by a "point man" from the crack US Navy SEALS unit as the al-Qaida leader peered out through his narrowly-opened bedroom door.

Bursting into his room, the Seals then fired more rounds into his body as he lay on the floor in his death throes and as two of his wives wailed beside him.

    EXPLORE:  World News      ex-Navy SEAL Matt Bissonnette     No Easy day   

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Edited By Cen Fox Post Team

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Pentagon Criticizes Bin Laden Raid Book

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                           The book debuted at No. 1 on Amazon's best-seller list Tuesday.

Washington --

A former Navy SEAL's insider account of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden contains classified information, the Pentagon said Tuesday, and the admiral who heads the Naval Special Warfare Command said details in the book may provide enemies with dangerous insight into secretive U.S. operations.

Report:  PENTAGON MAY TAKE LEGAL ACTION AGAINST 'SEAL' AUTHOR

Rear Adm. Sean Pybus told his force Tuesday that "hawking details about a mission" and selling other information about SEAL training and operations puts the force and their families at risk.

"For an elite force that should be humble and disciplined for life, we are certainly not appearing to be so," Pybus wrote in a letter to the roughly 8,000 troops under his command. "We owe our chain of command much better than this."

At the Pentagon, press secretary George Little said that an official review of the book, "No Easy Day," determined that it reveals what he called "sensitive and classified" information. He was not more specific but said the author was required to submit the book to the Pentagon before publication for a formal review of potential disclosures of such information.

More:  EX NAVY SEAL DENIES SPILLING SECRETS

"When you have special operations units that perform these missions, there are tactics, techniques, and procedures, not to mention human life, that are in play," Little said. "And it is the height of irresponsibility not to have this kind of material checked for the possible disclosure of classified information."

Pybus, in his letter, was more direct, saying that, "We must immediately reconsider how we properly influence our people in and out of uniform NOT to seek inappropriate monetary, political, or celebrity profit from their service" with the SEALS.

Last week, Adm. William McRaven, head of U.S. Special Operations Command, warned his troops that he would take legal action against anyone found to have exposed sensitive information that could cause fellow forces harm.

A lawyer for author Matt Bissonnette, who wrote under the pseudonym Mark Owen, has disputed that he was legally obliged to have the book screened before publication.

Little would not say what damage may result from the book's revelations and he declined to point to any specific portions of the book that contain material that would be considered a violation and a release of classified information.

The book, which was published by Dutton, an imprint of Penguin Group (USA), was No. 1 on Amazon's best seller list Tuesday, which was its official release day.

   EXPLORE :   World News         ex-Navy SEAL Matt Bissonnette  

                                             No Easy day   

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Edited By Cen Fox Post Team

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