Seymour Hersh’s theories surrounding the killing of Osama bin Laden and recent events in Syria are forceful but unconvincing
Shortly after the twin towers and the Pentagon were attacked in September 2001 by suicidal al-Qaida terrorists, Osama bin Laden, the 44-year-old Saudi-born multimillionaire who had declared war on the west, became the world’s most wanted criminal. Yet despite a hugely costly war in Afghanistan, where he had originally taken refuge, and a manhunt unprecedented in scale and resources, the leader of al-Qaida was able to avoid the clutches of the US authorities for close to a decade.
When he was finally located, he was living in a large compound in Abbottabad, a military garrison town in Pakistan – supposedly an ally of the US in the war on terror. In the early hours of 2 May 2011 a team of navy Seals staged an assault on Bin Laden’s hideout and the man who inspired jihad across the globe was killed.
Related: Bin Laden's declassified documents reveal a family-oriented conspiracist
All of Hersh’s sources speak in the paranoid tone of disillusioned whistleblowers from a television thriller
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