> an elaborate ruse News started to leak out that bin Laden had been killed in Abbotabad not long after it happened. As no one disputes, one of the helicopter

> an elaborate ruse News started to leak out that bin Laden had been killed in Abbotabad not long after it happened. As no one disputes, one of the helicopters crashed. The disputed premise is either the Pakistani high command ok'd the raid (Hersh) or they did not (you - official line). That is the premise. The "elaborate ruse to cover up a quid pro quo conspiracy" is a no-brainer after that. If the high command did OK the raid and there was no ruse, it would basically be saying the Pakistani military does not protect Pakistanis from the invasion of foreign armies, that it is more or less a US puppet. Something a sizable portion of Pakistan, not unsympathetic to bin Laden, thought already. And why wouldn't they support bin Laden - the US stood along side them supporting bin Laden's jihad to oust the secular government of Afghanistan in the 1980s. They have just remained the same, it's the US that shifted its policies (putting Army bases in Saudi Arabia, getting into conflict with bin Laden and other Arabian elements). Either the high command ok'd the raid or they did not. It is natural for the ruse and conspiracy to follow. I am sure it was one of the "ransom" demands made so that the raid could happen.