Washington: Legendary US investigative journalist Seymour Hersh in his new book titled ‘The Killing of Osama bin Laden’ has once again claimed that he believes Islamabad helped Washington nab and kill Osama bin Laden.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist first made this claim in an article published last year which shook United States and forced the White House to reject the story as false. His claim was also rejected as incorrect by major U.S. media outlets.
In an interview to Dawn, Hersh once again said that he believed more than ever that Pakistan helped the United States get founder of al-Qaeda.
“I learned a lot more than I knew in the beginning,” he said.
He said that that since last year there were new evidence that he saw that cemented his belief how US officials found Osama in his compound and killed him.
Claiming that Pakistan had detained Osama in 2006 and kept him prisoner with the backing of Saudi Arabia, Hersh said that the U.S and Islamabad then struck a deal. The deal was to raid Laden’s compound but make it look like Pakistan was unaware about it.
“The Pakistani intelligence picked him (bin Laden) in the Hindu Kush area, built the compound in Abbottabad and put him there. Pakistani officials did so because the Saudis asked them to. The Saudis did not want Americans to interrogate Osama bin Laden,” he said.
Arguing that it was not possible for U.S. helicopters to enter Abbottabad without alerting the Pakistanis, he said, “Pakistan is in constant alert because of India. Their radars are watching, their F-16s are up all the time.”
Hersh also claimed that then army and ISI chiefs made the deal with the Americans, which had upset other Pakistani generals. He said the disgruntled general was made PIA chairman after his retirement to compensate for his silence.
“The then head of Pakistan’s Air Defence Command was very, very upset. He was ready to go public,” said Hersh.
He also in an interview to media outlet said that in August 2010, a Pakistani a colonel came to U.S. embassy and went to the then CIA Station Chief Jonathan Bank.
According to Hersh, when the CIA asked Pakistani officials to make the May 2, 2011, operation at Osama’s compound in Abbottabad a surprise raid, they agreed.
