New ‘Half-Scandal?’ There May Be New Details Of Bin Laden’s Death

Does this mean that bin Laden isn’t dead? No, it just means there is a new report about the circumstances behind his death.

According to Democracy Now!, the new report written by Seymour Hersh for the London Review of Books says the Obama administration gave a false account of the hunting and killing of Osama bin Laden. It is normally claimed that bin Laden was shot dead four years ago this month in a U.S. raid on his compound in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad.

Hersh is an American investigative journalist and author based in Washington, D.C. According to Wikipedia, he is a regular contributor to The New Yorker magazine. He has also won two National Magazine Awards and is a five-time Polk winner and recipient of the 2004 George Orwell Award.

He first gained worldwide recognition in 1969 for exposing the My Lai Massacre and its cover-up during the Vietnam War.

In his article, Hersh cites interviews with “a retired senior intelligence official” and American sources who “had access to corroborating information,” writes Slate magazine.

Hersh says top Pakistani military leaders knew about the operation and provided key assistance. The U.S. also claimed it helped locate bin Laden by tracking his personal messenger. But Hersh reports a former Pakistani intelligence officer identified his whereabouts in return for the bulk of a $25 million U.S. bounty. Pakistani intelligence was reportedly aware of bin Laden’s location and held him “prisoner” at the Abbottabad compound since 2006.

The White House claimed at the time the U.S. operatives entered from Afghanistan without Pakistan’s knowledge.

Hersh’s article also questions the U.S. account of bin Laden’s shooting, saying there was never a firefight inside the compound and that bin Laden himself wasn’t armed.

A retired American official says U.S. claims of finding information from bin Laden’s computers and documents was a “hoax” to give the false impression he was still operationally important.

Questions were also raised about whether bin Laden was actually buried at sea, as the U.S. claimed.

The White House has denied the accounts given by Seymour Hersh, and the CIA has called the Hersh article “nonsense.”

(Updated article)

http://www.lrb.co.uk/v37/n10/seymour-m-hersh/the-killing-of-osama-bin-laden

http://www.democracynow.org/2015/5/11/headlines

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2015/05/10/seymour_hersh_in_london_review_of_books_obama_lied_about_bin_laden_raid.html

Review: The Boy Next Door

Some sources are claiming the Jennifer Lopez movie The Boy Next Door is certain to induce groans.

Connect Savannah claims it is reminiscent of the dopey ‘women in peril’ thrillers from the years surrounding Y2K. Like bombs that featured the slumming likes of Angelina Jolie, Halle Berry and Ashley Judd.

The movie stars Lopez as Claire Peterson, a high school teacher living alone with her teenage son Kevin (Ian Nelson) in the aftermath of learning about her husband Garrett’s (John Corbett) infidelity.

Husband Garrett admits he made a mistake and wants to reconcile, but Claire is torn between giving him another chance or divorcing. When hunky Noah Sandborn (Ryan Guzman) moves in next door to tend to his grandfather (Jack Wallace), Claire is interested in him.

Noah is 19 years old, but life circumstances (namely, the deaths of his parents) have led to him still being in high school. Nevertheless, Noah’s hot for teacher, and when he makes a pass at her, she responds favorably. The morning after their sexual encounter, Claire realizes she made a mistake.

Connect Savannah:

“It’s at this precise point Noah goes from 0 to 60 mph on the psycho scale.”

Variety:

“No sooner has she attempted the next morning’s walk of shame, however, than Noah turns on a dime into an obsessive stalker, appearing unannounced at her home and somehow getting a seat in her high-school literature class. The film’s initial formulaic competence gives way to outright preposterousness rather quickly, hinging on idiot-plot character motivations, ‘It was only a cat!’ jump scares and computer files that may as well be labeled ‘Evil Schemes, 2012-2014.’”

Connect Savannah:

“As for Claire, she’s the typical dunderheaded heroine found in thrillers of this low caliber, making so many mistakes in dealing with her stalker that you wonder how she can possibly possess the brainpower to master a light switch, let alone teach Homer to bored teens.”

Screen Daily:

“With Rob Cohen (The Fast And The Furious) directing from a clunky script by Barbara Curry, the film morphs from would-be sexy melodrama to harder edged thriller and ends up with a near-horror climax.”