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SEAL's first-hand account of bin Laden killing
Scott Pelley: When you landed back in the United States, what did you think of all the media coverage?
Mark Owen: It was all surreal because, you know, this had all been so hush-hush leading up to it. We went and did it. And now it was the biggest news story ever. We got on a bus. They drove us back to work. I didn't even go in. They told us we had a couple days off. And I grabbed my keys, went and got in my truck and, you know, I put it in the book. But, you know, I hit Taco Bell on the way home, hit the drive-thru, a couple tacos. And, you know, ate it in my car right there and then drove home.
Scott Pelley: You were part of the team that killed Osama bin Laden and the first thing you do when you get back to the United States is go to Taco Bell?
Mark Owen: Two tacos and a bean burrito. It's routine.
Life has been anything but routine for Mark Owen since the publication of his book was announced. We'll have that when we come back.
Days after returning from the raid in Abbottabad, Pakistan, Mark Owen's squadron boarded an ancient C-130 transport plane for one more mission. The men wondered why the plane was so old. Then they found out the plane had been used in 1980 in the failed attempt to rescue the American hostages in Iran. Somebody thought it was a fitting piece of American history to carry the men to their secret meeting with the president of the United States.
[President Barack Obama: The terrorist leader who struck our nation on 9/11 will never threaten America again.]
President Obama was making a speech at Fort Campbell, Ky., and he met with the bin Laden team privately. All of the men would receive a Silver Star for valor.
Scott Pelley: Did the president ask you guys which ones of you had shot Osama bin Laden?
Mark Owen: Yeah. He asked who was the one. And we told him we wouldn't tell.
Scott Pelley: You wouldn't tell him? Why not?
Mark Owen: Pulling a trigger's easy. You know, a couple pounds of pressure on your trigger finger, and I've done it millions of times, and it's not that hard. You know, so it's not about who that one person was. It's about the team, or the helicopter pilots, or the intel folks that teed this whole thing up. Who cares who the one person is? Doesn't matter.
Scott Pelley: I wonder in writing this book whether you're worried the some of your fellow SEALs will be angry with you?
Mark Owen: I've had nothing but an outpouring of support from the guys who know me. To quote one of my friends, he said, "Hey, if anybody can tell this story and do it right, it's you." And I'm not taking that and trying to toot my own horn. They know I'm doing it right.
Scott Pelley: You say in the preface to the book that if a reader is looking for secrets, this isn't their book.
Mark Owen: Absolutely not. I'm not talking secrets, I'm not talking tactics. I don't even get into any of that stuff. But I really try and give the reader a sense of what it's like to be there.
Publically, the Pentagon is not happy about "No Easy Day." They have a differing account of bin Laden's final minutes, saying he that he was first shot when the SEALs were inside his bedroom. Spokesman George Little said last week that Owen signed a secrecy agreement as a SEAL and should've submitted his book for editing by the government.
[George Little (Pentagon briefing): The author is in material breach of his secrecy agreements with the United States government. We believe that sensitive and classified information is contained in the book. I don't think I could be any clearer than that.]
But Owen insists there's nothing in the book that compromises the secrets of the United States or the safety of the SEALs. And there was one more thing he wanted to say, the release was timed to the anniversary of 9/11.
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