Osama bin Laden didn’t die after a 45-minute gunfight, according to a new book—he died 90 seconds into the raid, according to SEAL Target Geronimo. The new book is by former SEAL Team Six leader Chuck Pfarrer, who says he interviewed the team that killed bin Laden. The book says SEALs landed on the roof, not the ground floor, bursting right into Osama’s bed chamber, according to advance looks from the Daily Beast and Telegraph. Only 12 bullets were fired in the entire raid.
But team members confirm there was no kill order, and that they would have captured bin Laden if possible. Perhaps more damaging for the Obama administration is the assertion that the SEALs resent the president for announcing bin Laden’s death so quickly. If he hadn’t, they believe they could have used intelligence from the raid to launch surprise attacks on al-Qaeda leaders—potentially rolling up the organization in six months. US officials, however, have dismissed the book as “plain wrong.” (More Osama bin Laden stories.)