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I understand what you're saying, and I agree. But I think it might be a little disingenuous to use Osama Bin Laden's crypto practices as an example. I believe t

I understand what you're saying, and I agree. But I think it might be a little disingenuous to use Osama Bin Laden's crypto practices as an example. I believe this is the more interesting story of what really happened with Bin Laden? >Pakistan secretly captures Bin Laden by bribing tribesmen. The US finds out by bribing Pakistani officials. Further bribes with foreign aid money get other Pakistani officials to issue a stand down order. The SEALS swoop in unopposed but somehow still lose a helicopter. They kill a captive Bin Laden as part of a deal to avoid exposing Saudi support for Al Qaeda. The media gets fed a cover story about the compound being a command center. Some doctor guy becomes a scapegoat and vaccination programs are derailed in all of Pakistan. The CIA fabricates documents from the compound and flirts with claiming credit for "enhanced interrogation" technique in the matter. If you don't like that story then sure by all means stick with Story A: The CIA does brilliant investigative work. The commander-in-chief makes a gutsy call. The SEALs storm in and kill the bad guy in a firefight. He is buried at sea with full rituals. The 2012 presidential campaign starts a few days afterwards. If you support Story A, then this would certainly make sense: >It's like they simply forgot about the biggest reason it took so long to find Osama bin Laden: he was so security-concerned that he used couriers and relays (which, counter to the broad narrative about the terrorist shift to security, actually cannot be decrypted) ##EDIT Claims comes from a previous HN article about the Killing of Bin Laden: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9520984 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9520984

nickbauman 11y ago
Those are some pretty big claims, have any evidence to back them up?
- sliverstorm 11y ago
  The less evidence and the more faith involved, the more captivating the conspiracy theory. That's how they work.
- curun1r 11y ago
  The only thing that lends credibility to the story in the post you're responding to is the person who's claiming it's the truth. Seymour Hersh [1] has enough of a track record that we shouldn't dismiss it out of hand. As far as evidence goes, I'm not sure the official story has been proven any more than Hersh's story has, so it's hard to know what to believe. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seymour_Hersh https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seymour_Hersh
- retroafroman 11y ago
  This IIRC is essentially the story reported by investigative journalist Sy Hersh, relying on unnamed sources. See here for the full read: http://www.lrb.co.uk/v37/n10/seymour-m-hersh/the-killing-of-osama-bin-laden http://www.lrb.co.uk/v37/n10/seymour-m-hersh/the-killing-of-...
- nickbauman 11y ago
  Thank you! Ok I remember when that story broke but I didn't read the details. Seymour Hersh is such a respected and renowned journalist who has a track record for revealing exactly this stuff. But the lack of openness in the sources is disquieting. But the story is so odious and so serious, I suspect there are no sources that could weather the storm regardless.
wodenokoto 11y ago
I fail to see how story b contradicts the parent post. If Osama was easily traceable there was no need to bribe everyone.
ljf 11y ago
The other 'wild' claim I heard was that his compound was actually a prison, built especially to house him. Again no proof, but an interesting idea none the less.
- the_watcher 11y ago
  To be fair, an ultra-secure compound that the owner/resident of doesn't ever leave for fear of his own safety can be indistinguishable from a luxury prison in terms of outcome, even if it wasn't intended that way.
the_watcher 11y ago
I was just using it as an example of it long being on the mind of terrorists that they need to take extreme precautions to avoid their electronics being compromised. Snowden didn't alert them to the concept of decryption. Sorry if I implied anything more.

nickbauman 11y ago

Those are some pretty big claims, have any evidence to back them up?

sliverstorm 11y ago
The less evidence and the more faith involved, the more captivating the conspiracy theory. That's how they work.
curun1r 11y ago
The only thing that lends credibility to the story in the post you're responding to is the person who's claiming it's the truth. Seymour Hersh [1] has enough of a track record that we shouldn't dismiss it out of hand. As far as evidence goes, I'm not sure the official story has been proven any more than Hersh's story has, so it's hard to know what to believe. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seymour_Hersh https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seymour_Hersh
retroafroman 11y ago
This IIRC is essentially the story reported by investigative journalist Sy Hersh, relying on unnamed sources. See here for the full read: http://www.lrb.co.uk/v37/n10/seymour-m-hersh/the-killing-of-osama-bin-laden http://www.lrb.co.uk/v37/n10/seymour-m-hersh/the-killing-of-...
nickbauman 11y ago
Thank you! Ok I remember when that story broke but I didn't read the details. Seymour Hersh is such a respected and renowned journalist who has a track record for revealing exactly this stuff. But the lack of openness in the sources is disquieting. But the story is so odious and so serious, I suspect there are no sources that could weather the storm regardless.

wodenokoto 11y ago

I fail to see how story b contradicts the parent post. If Osama was easily traceable there was no need to bribe everyone.

ljf 11y ago

The other 'wild' claim I heard was that his compound was actually a prison, built especially to house him. Again no proof, but an interesting idea none the less.

the_watcher 11y ago
To be fair, an ultra-secure compound that the owner/resident of doesn't ever leave for fear of his own safety can be indistinguishable from a luxury prison in terms of outcome, even if it wasn't intended that way.

the_watcher 11y ago

I was just using it as an example of it long being on the mind of terrorists that they need to take extreme precautions to avoid their electronics being compromised. Snowden didn't alert them to the concept of decryption. Sorry if I implied anything more.