Osama 'Bert' Laden: angry Seals claim Obama blew intel

THE US Navy Seals who killed Osama Bin Laden - codenamed 'Bert' - are angry over inaccuracies in the official account of the al-Qaeda mastermind's death, a new book featuring interviews with the men claims.

A former commander of Seal Team 6, which carried out the killing, Chuck Pfarrer, interviewed many of the men who took part for his new account, Seal Target Geronimo, reports The Sunday Times.

One of the biggest revelations is the claim that the White House blew valuable intelligence gathered during the mission by announcing Bin Laden's death too soon, giving "time for every other Al-Qaeda leader to scurry to another bolthole" according to Pfarrer.

The Seals are also angry that the White House described the operation as a 'kill mission'. First, says Pfarrer, Bin Laden was killed within 90 seconds of US Navy landing in his compound – though the version of events given to the press suggested his death came towards the end of the 38-minute mission.

He was killed not after a protracted gun battle – but in a clinical operation where just 12 shots were fired.

Second, the Seals were fully prepared to take him alive. "I've been a Seal for 30 years and I never heard the words 'kill mission'", Pfarrer said. "It's a [Washington insider's] fantasy word.

"If it was a kill mission you don't need Seal Team 6; you need a box of hand grenades," he added, explaining they were forced to shoot Bin Laden as he reached for his AK-47.

Bin Laden's code-name was 'Bert', Pfarrer reveals, to distinguish the extremely tall, thin al-Qaeda boss from his short, round deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri. Al-Zwahiri was, of course, known as Ernie in homage to Sesame Street.

Pfarrer's book offers some explanation for the inaccuracies in the official version of events, centred on the famous photograph showing Obama, Hillary Clinton and other bigwigs watching the mission via live video link.

It was reported that they saw the killing take place in close-up, via helmet cameras worn by the Seals. Not so, says Pfarrer – instead they were watching live video from a drone hovering some 20,000 feet overhead, giving them a much less informative picture.

Read the report in full at The Sunday Times. ·