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Man Unknowingly Tweets the Osama Raid

Sohaib Athar, a.k.a. @ReallyVirtual, had no idea the helicopters he was complaining about on twitter were part of the top secret mission that killed Osama bin Laden Sunday night. 10 hours before bin Laden's death was announced Athar posted: "Helicopter hovering above Abbottabad at 1AM (is a rare event).” From the article: "During the raid, Athar speculates that he was two or three kilometers away from the shooting that took place. Once news broke that bin Laden had been killed in Abbottabad, Athar tweeted, 'Uh oh, now I’m the guy who liveblogged the Osama raid without knowing it.'”

8 of 354 comments (clear)

  1. Re:This is good to know by rwven · · Score: 4, Informative

    Nah, it was a US helicopter that went down, but it was a minor incident. The "window shaking bang" was when the seals blew up the chopper on the way out (since it apparently couldn't fly). There's been a lot of news coverage on that topic. :-P

  2. Re:This is good to know by AHuxley · · Score: 3, Informative

    http://stocksthatpay.com/?p=16697 with a pic "U.S. helicopter, which was destroyed to protect intelligence"

    --
    Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
  3. Re:Call me Crazy... by RingDev · · Score: 2, Informative

    We invaded Afghanistan because we demanded that they turn over Osama bin Laden, and they demanded we follow an extradition process.

    -Rick

    --
    "Most people in the U.S. wouldn't know they live in a tyrannical state if it walked up and grabbed their junk." - MyFirs
  4. Re:I can't find it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    No, that doesn't make sense. I've seen a few locations guessed wrong (including on CNN, who just zoomed in on downtown Abbottabad). None of those locations in the thread are right so far.

    It's been described as a 3-story building with a walled balcony on one side and a high wall around it, fitting what is seen in the ground photos in the news stories. Location-wise, yes, it is near Abbottabad, but is described as being in the outskirts, and only a few hundred metres from the local military school -- that places it on the east or northeast side of Abbottabad. The neighborhood has also been described in the media, and a BBC article showed a box around the relevant area on the map, between Abbottabad and Kakul. Within that area, this building and walled compound is noticeably bigger and has a higher wall than most other buildings in the area, has a bunker on one side of the roof as seen in the ground photos (at the N side of the roof), and a walled balcony on the opposite side (the S side). It closely matches the appearance of the building in the ground photos. Ah, just as I was about to add in the BBC link, I discovered that they've already updated their map with a more precise location: that is the right spot.

  5. Re:Call me Crazy... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    You're wrong, son. Afganistan only offered *after* the invasion had begun.
     
    Nice revisionist history though...

  6. Re:I can't find it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Here it is http://maps.google.com/maps?q=osama+bin+laden+&hl=en&view=map&mcsrc=google_reviews&num=10&ie=UTF8&start=20&cid=11196890339658103699&t=h&ll=34.184471,73.246193&spn=0.010331,0.01929&z=16&iwloc=A

    Not according to the BBC, who place it slightly further east: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=osama%27s+hideout&ie=UTF8&hq=osama%27s+hideout&hnear=&cid=11926225655530825281&ll=34.169377,73.242888&spn=0.00348,0.006968&t=h&z=18&iwloc=A

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-13257330