Military emails reveal details of bin Laden burial

WASHINGTONInternal emails among U.S. military officers indicate that no sailors watched Osama bin Laden's burial at sea from the USS Carl Vinson and traditional Islamic procedures were followed during the ceremony.

The emails, obtained by The Associated Press through the Freedom of Information Act, are heavily blacked out, but are the first public disclosure of government information about the al-Qaida leader's death. The emails were released Wednesday by the Defense Department.

Bin Laden was killed on May 1, 2011, by a Navy SEAL team that assaulted his compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

• "60 Minutes" special: Killing bin Laden
• Osama bin Laden is dead
• Bin Laden's burial at sea in followed Islamic practices, White House insists

One email stamped secret and sent on May 2 by a senior Navy officer briefly describes how bin Laden's body was washed, wrapped in a white sheet, and then placed in a weighted bag.

According to another message from the Vinson's public affairs officer, only a small group of the ship's leadership was informed of the burial.

"Traditional procedures for Islamic burial was followed," the May 2 email from Rear Adm. Charles Gaouette reads. "The deceased's body was washed (ablution) then placed in a white sheet. The body was placed in a weighted bag. A military officer read prepared religious remarks, which were translated into Arabic by a native speaker. After the words were complete, the body was placed on a prepared flat board, tipped up, whereupon the deceased's body slid into the sea."

The email also included a cryptic reference to the intense secrecy surrounding the mission. "The paucity of documentary evidence in our possession is a reflection of the emphasis placed on operational security during the execution of this phase of the operation," Gaouette's message reads. Recipients of the email included Adm. Mike Mullen, then the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Gen. James Mattis, the top officer at U.S. Central Command. Mullen retired from the military in September 2011.

Play Video

Obama on Bin Laden's sea burial

Earlier, Gaouette, then the deputy commander of the Navy's Fifth Fleet, and another officer used code words to discuss whether the helicopters carrying the SEALs and bin Laden's body had arrived on the Vinson.

"Any news on the package for us?" he asked Rear Adm. Samuel Perez, commander of the carrier strike group that included the Vinson.

"FEDEX delivered the package," Perez responded. "Both trucks are safely enroute home base."

Although the Obama administration has pledged to be the most transparent in American history, it is keeping a tight hold on materials related to the bin Laden raid. In a response to separate requests from the AP for information about the mission, the Defense Department said in March that it could not locate any photographs or video taken during the raid or showing bin Laden's body. It also said it could not find any images of bin Laden's body on the Vinson.

The Pentagon also said it could not find any death certificate, autopsy report or results of DNA identification tests for bin Laden, or any pre-raid materials discussing how the government planned to dispose of bin Laden's body if he were killed.

The Defense Department also refused to confirm or deny the existence of helicopter maintenance logs and reports about the performance of military gear used in the raid. One of the stealth helicopters that carried the SEALs to Abbottabad crashed during the mission and its wreckage was left behind. People who lived near bin Laden's compound took photos of the disabled chopper.

The AP is appealing the Defense Department's decision. The CIA, which ran the bin Laden raid and has special legal authority to keep information from ever being made public, has not responded to AP's request for records about the mission.

[perhaps12]

Video of Bin Laden in the house:
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7365312n

[Plumbline9]

Revelation 20:11-13........

The Great White Throne Judgment

.....11 Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. 13 The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works.

[JJ_in_tulsa]

This dude wasn't even important. I have no idea why he is such a big deal. He was never part of the 9/11 thing except as a messinger,, why was his death such a big deal? But more important, since he was never the head of ANYTHING, why did we kill him dead rather than interigate him? I will always wonder about that because he was never the head of anything. We killed him and we got NOTHING....

[erasmus111]

He was more than just a "messenger".

[perhaps12]

Yeah, he had no role in funding it, in recruiting, in publicizing jihad against the United States...

Also, we didn't get nothing. We got several laptops full of information. Many of the names on those laptops have since been crossed out.

[MrLiterally]

Bin Laden did not deserve the dignity of such ceremony.

[kdu0]

Disposing of the body at sea with no witnesses was not a good idea. This is great fodder for years of conspiracy theories.

[sickofbull]

I thought of that, too. I think they did not want to have a burial plot for anyone to visit and honor. All this POTUS has to do is sneeze wrong and he gets jumped on, anyway.

[RickyTick123]

It is unfortunate that CBS News feels the need to continue the Osama death sham and sacrifice their journalistic integrity to their masters.
It is commonly accepted that Osama died of kidney failure in the 2004 time frame.
Had any reports or photos of Osama (other than the "secret raid" in which no one was allowed to see him) been revealed after 2004? No, he was a ghost, literally and figuratively.
The whole assassination scenario is just a public relations smokescreen, and will be so until some shred of proof is revealed.

And for all "Americans" that are indignant that they had to live on the same planet as this "evil Muslim", google "Tim Osman" and find out who your friends really are.

[perhaps12]

Yeah, sure he died in 2004. That's why in the videos we recovered from the house where we killed him he's complaining about how President Obama isn't calling it the war on terror anymore. (apparently that was a pretty good recruiting tool for him)

Either Osama was the greatest psychic that ever lived...or we really killed him Pakistan. Guess what my money's on?

[RickyTick123]

Really, can you provide me the link to these captured videos you claim to exist? I would love to see them to prove your point - or are they "ultra-classified" and a matter of national security as well?

[ElderRaven]

Once Osama was dead, what was the need for all the secrecy? Why are there no available photographs or any other documentation to prove the death and burial? I'm not saying that Bin Laden didn't deserve to die - I'm actually not at all certain or convinced that he really had anything to do with 9-11, truth be told - but the huge degree of secrecy and the absence of any corroboration make me wonder if he is really dead. Our Government is certainly not above lying to the American people and the rest of the world.

[sickofwhiners]

Yes Bin Laden is alive. He is living in Michigan with Elvis and Tupac Shakur.

[ElderRaven]

Once Osama was dead, what was the need for all the secrecy? Why are there no available photographs or any other documentation to prove the death and burial? I'm not saying that Bin Laden didn't deserve to die - I'm actually not at all certain or convinced that he really had anything to do with 9-11, truth be told - but the huge degree of secrecy and the absence of any corroboration make me wonder if he is really dead. Our Government is certainly not above lying to the American people and the rest of the world.

[rjsquirrel]

The secrecy was to be sure that no hint of gloating or unseemly display (spiking the ball) was allowed to incite Muslims worldwide. In fact, the way it was handled received praise from Muslim leaders, and won us respect. The data gained from his hard drive and notes is said to have led to the deaths of a dozen high ranking followers, as well. Killing Bin Laden was necessary, and it was done. You insist on photos? It is just too bad. Let Joe Arpaio, Donald Trump and a thousand paranoid nuts examine it and decide it wasn't done, who cares, Bin Laden is still dead.

[pitai]

I remember when the CIA in a brilliant operation retrieved secret codes from a USSR submarine and then proceed to give proper burial at sea to the recovered bodies. At the end of Cold War the film was given to President Yelstin in a gesture of goodwill. Nothing of the same will ever be done for OBL and that is perfect that way. No publicity.Nothing. Done properly.Next.

[PourpaixPourpaix]

America was once a place that closely observed moral obligations to respect the dead, no matter to what degree the dead deserved their fate. Isn't it odd, that the supposedly unholy satin worshiper in the White House shows more Christian respect than the "God's Chosen" conservative right. All that tells me is that the right is no longer Christian or conservative, happy to trade in antique American values for a new world of American domination by murder, mayhem, and terror. What's next for you little maniacs, swastikas and Himmler studies?

[1notrub11]

Pour, do you really believe that the way this was handled was to show respect? I think it is much more likely what others have indicated - provide no shrine, reduce incitement of response, among others. It has zero to do with how any other perspective would have handled things. Come down off your soapbox and back to reality.