Revealed: Military emails show that NO U.S. sailors witnessed Osama bin Laden’s secret burial at sea

Emails describe how Osama bin Laden's body was washed, wrapped in a white sheet and slid into the sea after religious remarks in Arabic

Defense Department says it cannot find any images or videos of bin Laden's aboard USS Carl Vinson 

Pentagon failed to produce autopsy report, death certificate or results of DNA tests

Military officials referred to bin Laden's body as 'package' in coded missives 

Release of emails mark first public disclosure of information about bin Laden's May 1, 2011 death

Internal emails among U.S. military officers indicate that no American sailors watched Osama bin Laden's burial at sea from the USS Carl Vinson, and traditional Islamic procedures were followed during the secret ceremony.

The emails, obtained by The Associated Press through the Freedom of Information Act, are heavily blacked out, but are the first public disclosure of government information about the al-Qaida leader's death. The emails were released Wednesday by the Defense Department.

Bin Laden was killed on May 1, 2011, by a Navy SEAL team that assaulted his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

One email stamped secret and sent on May 2 by a senior Navy officer briefly describes how bin Laden's body was washed, wrapped in a white sheet, and then placed in a weighted bag.

According to another message from the Vinson's public affairs officer, only a small group of the ship's leadership was informed of the burial.

‘Traditional procedures for Islamic burial was followed,’ the May 2 email from Rear Adm. Charles Gaouette reads. ‘The deceased's body was washed (ablution) then placed in a white sheet. The body was placed in a weighted bag.

‘A military officer read prepared religious remarks, which were translated into Arabic by a native speaker. After the words were complete, the body was placed on a prepared flat board, tipped up, whereupon the deceased's body slid into the sea.’

Final destination: Bin Laden's body was taken to an unknown location aboard USS Carl Vinson and dropped into the sea, but the Defense Department says that it cannot find any images showing the terrorist mastermind's remains on the ship

Fallen mastermind: In this undated file image from video seized from bin Laden's walled compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, the al Qaeda leader watches TV.


Stronghold: Members of the anti-terrorism squad are seen surrounding the compound where bin Laden was killed by Navy SEAL Team 6 in Abbottabad May 4, 2011

The email also included a cryptic reference to the intense secrecy surrounding the mission.

‘The paucity of documentary evidence in our possession is a reflection of the emphasis placed on operational security during the execution of this phase of the operation,’ Gaouette's message reads

Recipients of the email included Adm. Mike Mullen, then the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Gen. James Mattis, the top officer at U.S. Central Command. Mullen retired from the military in September 2011.

Earlier, Gaouette, then the deputy commander of the Navy's Fifth Fleet, and another officer used code words to discuss whether the helicopters carrying the SEALs and bin Laden's body had arrived on the Vinson.

‘Any news on the package for us?’ he asked Rear Adm. Samuel Perez, commander of the carrier strike group that included the Vinson.

 

FEDEX delivered the package,’ Perez responded. ‘Both trucks are safely enroute home base.’

Although the Obama administration has pledged to be the most transparent in American history, it is keeping a tight hold on materials related to the bin Laden raid. 

In a response to separate requests from the AP for information about the mission, the Defense Department said in March that it could not locate any photographs or video taken during the raid or showing bin Laden's body. It also said it could not find any images of bin Laden's body on the Vinson.

The Pentagon also said it could not find any death certificate, autopsy report or results of DNA identification tests for bin Laden, or any pre-raid materials discussing how the government planned to dispose of bin Laden's body if he were killed.

Historic moment: In this May 1, 2011, image, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden receive an update on the bin Laden mission in the Situation Room

The Defense Department also refused to confirm or deny the existence of helicopter maintenance logs and reports about the performance of military gear used in the raid. 

One of the stealth helicopters that carried the SEALs to Abbottabad crashed during the mission and its wreckage was left behind. People who lived near bin Laden's compound took photos of the disabled chopper.

The CIA, which ran the bin Laden raid and has special legal authority to keep information from ever being made public, has not responded to AP's request for records about the mission.
 

War for Peace, or a plea for real change?

The Zionist experiment in ruling over Palestine has been a summary failure

They say you need war before you can have peace. The same holds true for Palestine, sadly the hundred plus killed in the past week and thousands homeless from Gaza are the targets of this war, to build a scenario where the US, UN and its Israeli ally can manufacture an accord called “peace” which strengthens Israel’s brutal occupation and little else.

The history of this conflict is well known and sadly very one sided. Since Britain occupied Palestine in 1917 they worked diligently to create a new state at the behest of the Zionists with the Balfour Declaration of 1917, only one of many indications that they were prepared to run roughshod over the owners and inhabitants of this blessed land. Following the declaration of the state of Israel in 1948 and the forced expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Muslims from their land, several “scenario” wars ensued, whereby the Arab regimes of principally Jordon, Egypt, Saudi, and Syria acted as though they would expel the occupier, but in reality put little forward in the way of forces or commanded that those forces withdrawal after offering token opposition to Israel. The results of the 1948, 1956, 1967, 1973, 1982, and 2008 wars and intifada’s were predictable with Israel strengthening its position and taking yet more land.

Sultan Abdul Hameed the Second warned of this very scenario following his rebuff of the overture of the Zionists who wanted to buy Palestine to settle some of the Uthmani state’s debts.

His statement was as firm as the current regimes of the region are spineless:

“Please do tell Dr. Hertzel not to take any serious steps towards this issue. I cannot concede one single hand span of the Palestinian land for it is not mine to concede. Palestine belongs to the Muslim Nation (Ummah) My people have fought hard for this land and irrigated it with their blood. The Jews might as well keep their millions. If the Khilafah State one day fell then you can take Palestine without any price. But as long as I am alive, I would rather be cut to pieces than to see Palestine cut off from the Khilafah State and this shall not happen. I cannot agree to the mutilation of our bodies as long as we are alive.”

The establishment of Israel was indeed made possible in the aftermath of the destruction of the Khilafah and through the complicity of treacherous Muslim regimes who have helped create the myth of Israeli strength and invincibility bringing great shame upon the Muslims. They were in David Ben Gurion’s words “the first line of defence” for Israel and remain so.

Despite victory in these scenario wars Israel wants and needs more. Even with treacherous peace accords involving Turkey, Jordan and Egypt it is not enough. They need the whole of the region to capitulate, recognise the theft of the land they call their own and give formal legitimacy on the world stage. A legitimacy which will ensure greater obstacles for a future sincere Islamic state in returning the land to Islamic authority.

The Two State Solution?

This proposal is not “Two State” and is no “solution”. The proposed Palestinian “state” will have no foreign policy, no military to defend itself and little control over its budget. With no control over its borders as now, there would be scant opportunity to develop a functional economy, with the geographic challenges of managing what is effectively a series of refugee camps dotted around the West bank and Gaza, hardly a serious proposal for an operational state.

It is truly shameful that the international community has consistently and blindly backed Israel, a state which has ruled the region with an iron fist, rekindled the worst of apartheid as they separated Jews from Muslims with the enormous concentration camp fence scarring the centre of the land, and repeatedly boycotted (economically) and attacked (militarily) an occupied population that morally and by all norms of international law should be under their protection.

Israel’s demands can never be met. No right to return for citizens that have had their land stolen, a permanent capital of Jerusalem, protection and peace (signing away permanent rights to the land they have taken), and a weak and subservient Palestinian population with few rights or hope. But of greatest issue is that the Muslims of this region and indeed globally cannot accept such a solution in light of the Shariah injunctions.

The Prophet (saw) said:

“Whosoever gives even one hand span of Muslim Land away, Allah will grant him an equal hand span in Hellfire.”

Allah (swt) commands in Surah Mumtahana:

“Allah forbids you with regard to those that fight you for your deen, and drive you out from your homes, and support others in driving you out, from having any relation with them. And those that do so are wrongdoers”[TMQ 60:9]

The central position of Al-Aqsa Masjid in Islam is well known. The abandonment of the third most holy site in Islam can and will never be tolerated, no matter how many years it takes.

Regime change or the same old story?

With change starting to sweep the region new hope was given that the change of regimes would mean a new determination re Israel. Would Mohamed Morsi take a strong line against Israel, use his forces to defend the Muslims of Gaza, or be promoted as “peace maker” to add weight to US/Israeli aims to fortify Israel’s position in the region?

The recently agreed ceasefire whilst welcome in ending the bloodshed, for now, has deferred the issue. And it is hardly a ceasefire when the Muslim armies are not in theatre, they have never really been available to defend the lives, honour and lands of their brothers over the past 65 years! Consequently the Muslims will never feel secure in Gaza and the West bank with Israel and its apartheid policies and politicians who are ready to wage war prior to their elections to garner electoral support. Nor will the Jews of the region feel secure with a government and system that separates citizens whether Jews from Europe or Africa, or Muslim families that have lived there for hundreds of years.

The Zionist experiment in ruling over Palestine has been a summary failure. Peace, security, rights of ownership and enjoyment of land, fair trading opportunities are but a distant dream, particularly for the Muslims of Gaza and the West bank. The only time in history in which this region functioned fairly for Jews, Christians and Muslims was under Islamic authority (Khilafah), in which all are treated as citizens and oppression of any is a crime.

This was exemplified during Umar’s Caliphate in his contract with the Christians of Jerusalem:

“This is the protection which the servant of God, ‘Umar, the Ruler of the Believers has granted to the people of Eiliya [Jerusalem]. The protection is for their lives and properties, their churches and crosses, their sick and healthy and for all their coreligionists. Their churches shall not be used for habitation, nor shall they be demolished, nor shall any injury be done to them or to their compounds, or to their crosses, nor shall their properties be injured in any way. There shall be no compulsion for these people in the matter of religion, nor shall any of them suffer any injury on account of religion… Whatever is written herein is under the covenant of God and the responsibility of His Messenger, of the Caliphs and of the believers, and shall hold good as long as they pay Jizya [the tax for their defense] imposed on them.”