7 Wildest Details Of The New Bin Laden Bombshell

by Austin Petersen

By Ivan Plis

Veteran investigative journalist Seymour Hersh’s latest, a 10,000-word essay on the 2011 U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden, has raised plenty of eyebrows since arriving Sunday on the London Review of Books’ website.

It claims that contrary to the official narrative presented by the White House at the time, the raid was a joint U.S.-Pakistani operation, staged with Pakistani consent as a cover for a deal in which that country “sold” the U.S. access to bin Laden.

The White House issued a statement Monday criticizing the article’s apparently countless “inaccuracies and baseless accusations,” and asserting that Pakistan “was not notified until after the raid had occurred.”

Here are some of Hersh’s most incendiary allegations, together with reasons to doubt his claims:

1. Pakistan set up bin Laden’s comfy Abbottabad compound

Much of Hersh’s reporting depends on an anonymous retired U.S. intelligence official, “who was knowledgeable about the initial intelligence about bin Laden’s presence in Abbottabad,” the Pakistani town and site of bin Laden’s compound. The official confirms the claim, signed off on by a Pakistani named Asad Durrani, that the country’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency held bin Laden as a “prisoner” in Abbottabad since 2006.

Pakistan has been a key but not necessarily trustworthy partner in the U.S.’ fight against the Taliban, al-Qaida and other terrorist organizations. Its willingness to turn a blind eye to their operations in the country, just across the border from Afghanistan, remains a sticking point in the U.S.’ relationship with Pakistan. But if Hersh’s story holds up, it means that the ISI’s agents used bin Laden as a pawn to extract further concessions from the U.S.

Austin Petersen is a homegrown Missourian with a lifelong passion for liberty. He grew up on a horse farm in Peculiar, Missouri and went on to attend Missouri State University, graduating with a degree in the Fine Arts. After developing a career in media in both New York City and Washington, D.C., he returned to Kansas City, MO, the city he now calls home. In 2016, Petersen appeared on the national stage as a candidate for president of the United States. He took second place in the crowded Libertarian primary behind Governor Gary Johnson and ahead of cyber security maverick John McAfee. During his campaign, Petersen earned many high-profile conservative endorsements, including Mary Matalin, Erick Erickson and Leon Wolf of RedState.com. Petersen also brings decades of professional experience in a wide variety of fields, from content production and media to business and political activism. He is the owner and chief executive of Stonegait LLC, a consulting firm specializing in photo and video services. He was also the director of production at FreedomWorks and an associate producer for Judge Andrew Napolitano’s show “Freedom Watch” on the Fox Business Network. Additionally, Petersen has a national following as a commentator and professional pundit. He is the founder of The Libertarian Republic, a powerful online news source for the public that receives an average of 1 million unique visits monthly and whose podcast, The Freedom Report, receives an average of one million monthly downloads. He is also a frequent contributor on television, appearing on Fox News, Fox Business, CNN, MSNBC and on dozens of local radio shows.

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