Yesterday Esquire’s Phil Bronstein released a detailed account of the events that took place on May 2, 2011 in Abbottabad, Pakistan. His source: a 35-year-old Seal Team Six operator who is the confirmed shooter of Osama bin Laden. There are no names mentioned and the interview is an extremely long read, but the detailed account is nothing short of astonishing.
During the interview process Bronstein accompanied the Shooter and his uncle to a local movie theater where they viewed Kathryn Bigelow’s drama Zero Dark Thiry, based on the events leading up to the death of Osama bin Laden.
When the movie starts to play in the dark theater this past January the Shooter laughs when the screen reads, “Based on firsthand accounts of actual events.”
The Shooter’s uncle asked his nephew if he had already seen the film, the Shooter responded, “I saw the original.”
The first major critique the Shooter had of the film is when a SEAL Team 6 character in the film yells “Breacher!” before one of the doors to Osama bin Laden’s compound is blown open. “Are you fucking kidding me? Shut up!” the shooter yelled in the theater.
In real-life it is standard practice for a SEAL to use a fist to the helmet as a signal for a pending door breach. Silence is everything, a SEAL would never yell during a raid.
The next scene the Shooter critiqued was minor but one he considered “horrible”. When the SEAL Team is waiting for their departure order in the film the guys are shown lounging around while sporting tattoos. “Those guys had little skulls or something instead of having some real ink that goes up to here” as he pointed to his shoulder blade.
Overall the Shooter considered the film fun to watch although some of the tactics on the screen “sucked”.
“It was fun to watch. There was just little stuff. The helos turned the wrong way [toward the target], and they talked way, way too much [during the assault itself]. If someone was waiting for you, they could track your movements that way,” the Shooter critiqued of Zero Dark Thirty.
“The mission in the damn movie took way too long,” he added. The stairs in the compound were wrong, the dog used in the film was a German Shepherd compared to a Belgian Malinois in the actual raid, there was absolutely no talking on the chopper, and the four-eye goggles were not used in real life.
“Dude, what the fuck? How come I never got my four-eye goggles?” the Shooter joked to Bronstein. “We have those….Are you kidding me?”
When bin Laden was shot in real life “it was chaos, people screaming. No one called his name.” In the film SEALs are seen whispering the name “Osama” as they are creeping up to his bedroom.
“They Hollywooded it up some,” the Shooter remarked.
One thing the Shooter could confirm that the movie did nail was Jessica Chastain’s character “Maya”, based on the real-life CIA operative that planned that attack. “They made her a tough woman, which she is.”
Now the Shooter has to constantly watch his back due to his actions on May 2, 2011. His family is already planning to change their last names and the name titles on their vehicles and houses so there is no way jihadi extremist can trace their way to his family. They have a “bolt” bag prepared at all times full of clothes, food, and other items the family would need in order to survive in hiding for two weeks. His wife sleeps next to a loaded shotgun and has a knife as backup in case anyone makes a move on the family.
“Once you’re on their list, you never get off,” the Shooter quotes one of the last scenes of the film.
Read Phil Bronstein’s full interview with the Shooter at www.esquire.com.
