Among the earliest reports to emerge about the death of Osama bin Laden was that he’d used one of his wives as a human shield during the assault on the compound in Pakistan. John Brennan, a United States counter-terrorism official, used strong words to paint this emasculating picture of the most wanted man in the world.
“From a visual perspective, here is bin Laden who has been calling for attacks, living in this million dollar plus compound, living in an area that’s far removed from the front, hiding behind women who were put in front of him as a shield,” Brennan said.
“I think it really just speaks to just how false his narrative has been over the years, and so again looking at what bin Laden was doing, hiding there while he’s putting other people out there to carry out attacks, again, just speaks to, I think, the nature of the individual he was.”
It’s interesting that a top U.S. official would go on record in portraying bin Laden’s final moments as—in many people’s eyes—the height of unmanliness. Using your wife as a human shield? Lee Marvin just rolled over in his grave.
Well, turns out that story was not true. According to Politico, U.S. officials now concede that bin Laden did not use his wife to ward off bullets. Moreover, he wasn’t armed, didn’t fire back, and his wife was only injured and not killed during the attack, and most likely in the crossfire.
The White House didn’t offer a reason for any of the changes. However, Brennan noted during his televised briefing that his information came from reports from the scene as well as live video feeds of the raid. “I wasn’t there,” he said.
And some people wonder how conspiracy theories get legs.
It should be enough that bin Laden was brought to justice. No need to augment the scene by painting him as a pantheon-level wimp. But hey, for many people it makes a captivating story that much more tantalizing.
Photo: ABC.Net