Monica Bamambote Mr.

B February 19, 2012 English 1102

The purpose of this paper is to explain who Osama Bin Laden was, why the United States was on a man hunt for him, and who the men that successfully killed him were. On September 11, 2001, the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon were hit hijacked planes. There was a lot of chaos and turmoil. This was the first time that the United States was attacked on their soil. About 2,793 people died in the towers and planes that day. Osama Bin Laden and his terrorist group alQaeda were responsible for this attack. This was the start of what we now call the War on Terror. Throughout the years after the attack, Iraqi leaders such as Saddam Hussein and others were brought to trial and executed but the mastermind himself was nowhere to be found. Many began to think that Bin Laden would never be found, none the less killed. On May 1st 2011 the Navy SEAL Teami Six changed that. Osama bin-Muhammad bin-Awad bin Laden was born in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on March 10, 1957. He was born into a very wealthy family and had fifty two siblings. His father Muhammad Bin Laden died in a plane crash in September of 1967. Osama felt that he and his father had a close bond but according to his brother in law Muhammad Jamal Khalifah he was not with his father very much. His father did however introduce him to prominent Islamic leaders and scholars. Michael Scheuer stated in his book that Osama gained a respect for the

role scholars play in the Muslim society (Scheuer). Allia Ghanem was Osamas mother. They shared a very close relationship. While it was Muhammad that set the guidelines, Allia enforced them on a daily basis (Scheuer 26). She was in charge of his upbringing. Allia said she wanted him to have the fear of God, respect for his family, neighbors and teachers. She said that she didnt have to work too hard for that. Altogether the Bin Ladens are a very close family. They respect and support one another. It wasnt until February 1994 that the chief of the family, Bakr bin Laden, let out a statement expressing the families regret, denunciation, and condemnation of his activities. Even though this statement was released, in 2004 Carmen bin Laden, Osamas sister in law, said that you have to support your family member. The Bin Ladens have to say that they disowned Osama. They have to pretend to be cutting him off but in actuality they admire him. Its not hard to believe that that is what was taking place (Scheuer). Out of all of his male siblings, Osama was the only one to receive his full education in Saudi Arabia without being exposed to Western schooling. While in school, he became fascinated with Islamic history and came to master it over time. In Michael Scheurs book, Osama Bin Laden, it states that he attended the prestigious al-Thagher Model School, an allboys school from k-12. All the sons of the Kingdoms elite attended al-Thagher, including the sons of the royal family. He enrolled in 1968 at the age of eleven and graduated in 1976. In the years before al-Thagher he attended a Lebanese grade school. Fyfield Shayler, Osamas English teacher, said that Osama was in fact, more courteous than the average student, probably because he was a bit shyer than the other students. Although he did not shine at that particular school, he would be in the top fifty students of his age education-wise in Saudi Arabia. Osama also participated in an after-school religious study group. In Osama Bin Laden, Steve Coll says that it was a semi-clandestine organization in which bin Laden received his first formal education in

some of the precepts of violent jihad. He also learned about violent jihad from attending mosque and from being in the company of scholars and jurists at events that were sponsored by his family (Scheuer). This is where all his al-Qaeda tactics were based. Bruce Riedel is the author of The Search for Al Qaeda. He states in his book that AlQaeda is the first truly global terrorist organization in history (Riedel). Zawahiris justification for al-Qaedas attack on 9/11 is focused on what he believes the Western world has done to the Islamic world. Ayman Al-Zawahiri was the brains and Osama bin Laden was the one with people willing to attack. Al-Qaedas primary ally is the Taliban. They not only terrorize countries but also the countries they reside in. They were taught by Osama that violent jihad is the only way for change. There are numerous members of al-Qaeda but eliminating their leaders will inevitably eliminate them.ii Osama Bin Laden was traced back to a compound located in Abbottabad Pakistan. Neptune Spear was the name of the mission to locate and kill Osama bin Laden. In the Chuck Pfarrers book Seal Target Geronimo, it states that the operation was directed by the Joint Special Operations Command, SEAL Team Six, and the Central Intelligence Agency. Fewer than ten thousand men have been given the right wear the badge that marks a sailor as a Navy SEAL. It takes two years of intense training to earn the basic SEAL qualification of a combat swimmer. After that, SEALs are judged by the missions they have taken, courage, skill, physical ability, and character. There is no shortcut to command (Pfarrer 1). On the morning of the operation, technicians from Joint Special Operations Command arrived at the White House basement situation room to set up communication with the Joint Operations Center in Afghanistan, the National Military Command Center at the Pentagon, and a video conference

link to the CIA headquarters. They would be listening and watching everything that was taking place in Abbottabad. At 1:00 a.m. Osamas bedroom to fill with a buzzing sound. It was the sound of a Stealth Hawk, a military helicopter that is only flown at night. Two SEALs burst into the room to find a man and a woman. The woman, his wife, was screaming but she wasnt a threat. The man on the other hand was reaching for a machine pistol that was on the side of the bed. The SEALs were tracking his every move with their weapons. Headsets all over the compound started to crackle and all you they hear was GERONIMO. The woman saw the light on the SEALs weapons converge and she scream out no, no, dont do this in Arabic. Osama dove across the bed trying to reach his weapon. His wife was screaming its not him but he never even made it to the weapon. Two predator bullets struck him next to his breastbone, blowing apart his aorta. The last bullet went through his skull, killing him instantly (Pfarrer 192). Now it was time to clear out the compound. Due to the fact that there were women and children in the building they could not simply throw in a hand grenade. They had to enter every room and engage in close quarter combat by determining who was a bad guy and who wasnt. Osama body was photographed and they took a DNA sample. All of this was accomplished in thirty-eight minutes.iii Geronimo, E, enemy. Killed in action said CIA director, Leon Panetta. Bin Ladens death had been confirmed. But just when they thought that they were out of there one of the two Stealth Hawks went crashing to the ground. The remaining SEALs rushed to the helicopter to find the comrades a little shaken up but they were alright. Commander Kerr said Gather up the intel, bag it up, and we are of here in ten minutes. Wheels up in ten minutes! At 11:30 p.m. on Sunday May 1, President Barack Obama made the short announcement letting America know

that the mastermind of 9/11 had captured and killed. Bin Ladens body was washed and wrapped in clean clothing, in accordance with Islamic tradition, and then he was buried at sea. The hunt for Osama Bin Laden almost lasted a full 10 years. It was great to say that they finally captured the man behind the deaths of so many innocent people. The War on Terror may not be over just yet, but that was a great step towards the endiv.

Monica Bamambote Mr. B February 19, 2012 English 1102 Works Cited 1. Osama bin Laden." 2012. Biography.com 07 Feb 2012, 09:49 http://www.biography.com/people/osama-bin-laden-37172. Web. 2. Pfarrer, Chuck. Seal Target Geronimo. New York. St. Martins Press. 2011. Book. 3. Runkle, Benjamin. Wanted Dead or Alive. New York. St. Martins Press. 2011. Book. 4. Scheuer, Michael. Osama Bin Laden. New York. Oxford University Press. 2011. Book. 5. Riedel, Bruce. The Search for Al Qaeda. Washington. Brookings Institution Press. 2008. Book

Navy SEAL Team Six were the men in charge of the raid on the compound in Afghanistan. They are the ones who successfully killed Osama Bin Laden. In my video game the gamer will be a Navy SEAL. They wont know it but they will end up being one of the two that kill Osama at the end of the game. The practice and training for the compound will take up 3 of the 5 levels. There will be target practice and training to learn how to fly helicopters. They will not be learning how to fly the stealth hawk that was actually used in the mission since it can only be flown at night. Once they get passed all of their training and practice of searching the compound the stealth hawk will be unlocked. So the first level will be basic training like target practice. The second level will be learning how to control the helicopters and fly them. The third level is when they will actually have a mock-up of the compound and master their way around all the rooms. Once that is complete they will move to the fourth level which will be the raid on the compound. They will have to get to Osamas room without getting killed by one of his body guards and they will have to do this in a timely manner. If the clock runs out then the level restarts. Once they kill Osama they will move to the final level which will be to kill any other al-Qaeda leaders in the compound without inuring any hostages. The title of the game will be 38 SEAL MINUTES. ii At the beginning of my video game when the SEALs are going through training and practicing for the raid there will be mock al-Qaeda leaders in the mock compound in order to prepare them for the actual raid. When they arrive at the last level of the game, they will have a list al-Qaeda leaders that they need to kill after they get Bin

Laden. The goal at that point will be to kill the al-Qaeda leaders without killing any innocent by standers because there were also hostages in the compound during the raid. Once all of the al-Qaeda leaders and Bin Laden are killed the game will flash to a scene of the President giving his speech letting the nation know that Osama Bin Laden is dead. The last scene of the game will be the dropping of his body into the sea. iii The killing of Osama Bin Laden will be the hardest part of the game. They will have to kill him without killing his wife because he was using her as a shield in order to reach his gun. They have to hit in the chest and skull in order to pass this level. iv This paper connects with my concept because of the history that is given in the paper. My purpose is to have people understand that there is more to just going in and killing someone. There was research that was done before the raid actually took place. The C.I.A and the military have been learning about who Osama Bin Laden really was for years now. Without actually knowing their target they would not have been so successful in tracking him down and killing him. My point in all this is to show that before any action can be taken there must be a legitimate amount of research done. Since I am doing a video game and not a movie showing the C.I.A doing research would not really be the correct way to show what preparation was put into the mission. I used the Navy SEALs training and exercises as a way to show the preparation that was put in for the raid. In the end levels of the game they get to practice go through the compound and learn all the different rooms. Because of the practice and training they put in, they were not blind sighted when they actually had to go and raid the compound.