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Good morning, Roca Nation. Here are today’s four need-to-know stories:
President Trump began an immigration crackdown after an Afghan national allegedly shot two National Guard members last week
President Zelensky’s chief of staff resigned amid a major corruption scandal that has rocked Ukraine
President Trump pardoned Honduras’ former president, who was serving a 45-year sentence for drug trafficking, amid a national election (free)
Campbell’s fired an executive after he allegedly said the company’s soup is “highly processed food” for “poor people” (free)
Roca co-founder Max Frost recently visited Pakistan and will be publishing stories from the trip here. Today, he documents his visit to Osama bin Laden’s compound – and how a way of thinking he encountered there is gaining traction within the US.
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By Max Frost
Shortly after midnight on May 2, 2011, two helicopters carrying 24 Navy SEALs touched down in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Minutes later, they stormed a walled compound.
For 15 minutes, they “[moved] carefully through the compound, room to room, floor to floor," military officials said. When the dust settled, they had killed five people: Osama bin Laden, three other men, and a woman. They then scraped the compound for intelligence and, 48 minutes after touching down, departed with bin Laden’s body.
Except no one in Pakistan believes that.
This spring, I spent three weeks traveling across the country for a series of articles I’ll be publishing here. Of the dozens of people I asked about bin Laden, around 90% told me that they do not believe the US killed him in Abbottabad. Many rejected the idea that he was ever in Pakistan. Around 90% also expressed positive feelings about bin Laden. Most didn’t have well-thought-out political philosophies to explain this, but believed that bin Laden was a pious Muslim leader and that, as such, it was impossible that he had killed innocent people.
I heard this time and again: “A Muslim wouldn’t do that.”
I wanted to hear it from Osama’s neighbors themselves, so cameraman Drew and I got a ride to Abbottabad.
Named for a British Army major, James Abbott, Abbottabad isn’t any ordinary city: It’s home to Pakistan’s military academy – its West Point – and numerous other important Army installations. Pakistan’s Army controls the country’s politics and government, which means that Abbottabad is a prosperous place. Drew and I both separately concluded that it was the nicest city we visited in Pakistan – and that bin Laden’s neighborhood was the nicest area of any city.
Driving toward bin Laden’s compound, we passed through an upper-class zone of multi-storied cement homes within walled compounds. The roads were paved; the houses were spacious and private. Drive into a typical mid-sized Pakistani city, and you’ll find people living in extreme poverty alongside trash and sewage; in bin Laden’s neighborhood, you’ll find homes decorated with flowers and shrubs.
Turning down an alleyway, we were deposited onto a clearing – what was once bin Laden’s compound. Our driver said it had been destroyed to prevent it from becoming a shrine.
The vacant lot of bin Laden’s former compound
As we walked around the vacant lot – much larger than any nearby lot and now covered in grass and trash – a few young men approached us.
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The men were aged between 15 and 25 – likely too young to remember anything about bin Laden or the raid. But, nevertheless, they had strong opinions.
“He wasn’t killed at this place,” one of the group said. “Some people said American airfighters came, but Osama bin Laden was not here. His wife and his children were here.”
“He was not here,” said another. “Maybe his brother was.”
Interviewing bin Laden’s neighbors
“I was here when the raid happened,” said a third. His family’s home was next door to bin Laden’s. On the night of the raid, his window exploded, wounding his leg and forcing him to go to the hospital. The raid happened, he said, but bin Laden was not there. He pointed out that no one had ever seen bin Laden or heard of him being there.
The fourth member of the group agreed. I asked that one what he thought of him.
“I have read his writings,” he said. “And I think he is a good Muslim.”
“Come with me,” he added, gesturing to follow.
He led us into a courtyard diagonal from bin Laden’s plot and told us to sit down on a couch. After getting us cold bottles of Sprite, he claimed that it was impossible both that bin Laden had done the things of which he was accused (because he was a Muslim) and that he had been in Abbottabad (because no one had seen him). Perhaps he had died before; perhaps he was still alive. There was no way of knowing, he said.
(It’s worth noting that al-Qaeda confirmed bin Laden’s death four days after the raid.)
Back outside, a group formed around us, each eager to share their take. All agreed that bin Laden had not been in the compound. They all lived in the neighborhood and said no one had ever seen or heard of his being there. Their theories for what actually happened ranged from bin Laden being a CIA spy to the raid targeting someone else or having the wrong address for bin Laden.
Interviewing bin Laden’s neighbors
Of the dozen or so people we asked here, only one, who was too young to remember when the raid happened, believed that bin Laden had been in Abbottabad. To the rest, it was a myth, just like the claims about bin Laden being a terrorist.
The bin Laden conversations embodied a type of reverse logic that we encountered across Pakistan: People have an idea and then fit information to agree with it. I’ve since noticed the same in the US.
In Pakistan, most people I spoke to held the belief that Muslims can’t be terrorists and won’t kill civilians. Many people then force reality to fit that narrative. For example, people know that bin Laden was a Muslim and believe that a Muslim wouldn’t kill innocent people, so bin Laden couldn’t have done what people accused him of. This isn’t just true of bin Laden: Across Pakistan, a devoutly religious country where being perceived as criticizing Islam can put one’s life at risk, people bend reality to fit their view of the faith. The Taliban? Al-Qaeda? Suicide bombers who blew up a police checkpoint during our trip? People told us they were all Indian, Israeli, or CIA spies. Muslims? Impossible.
But this logic isn’t limited to Pakistan – it follows anyone who puts ideology ahead of reality.
I’ve been paying close attention to the dramatic rise in Holocaust denial in the US. Initially, I couldn’t understand how this was possible. But then, on a recent trip to Arkansas, I met two people who could reasonably be described as neo-Nazis. They do not look like what you’re imagining – they weren’t skinheads or covered with tattoos – but through talking to them, I heard them speak positively about “National Socialism.” One went so far as to endorse the National Socialist (Nazi) ideology and say he hoped it would take over the US.
When I asked them about the Holocaust, both men dismissed it, saying that their primary sources told them it didn’t happen. One added, “If I believed the National Socialists killed millions of innocent people, it would be immoral for me to support them.”
And it’s the same for bin Laden: If people believed he killed thousands of innocent people, it would be immoral to support him.
Now, it’s possible that bin Laden wasn’t actually here or that the US didn’t actually kill him in Abbottabad. After all, his body was dumped at sea and never publicly revealed. But numerous US officials, plus the SEAL Team that conducted the raid, have all affirmed that bin Laden was killed. Bin Laden was never seen again after the raid, and al-Qaeda confirmed his death.
But, like the Holocaust deniers, those who emphasize that part of the story are sacrificing inconvenient facts in pursuit of their faith.
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Editor’s Note
If you enjoyed this story, check out our YouTube video where we interviewed bin Laden’s neighbors.
We’re curious to hear your thoughts on this story. We’ve got a whole lot more to bring you from this trip and can’t wait to get it out. Frost had been sitting on this one for a while, and the recent conversations in Arkansas led him to pull the trigger. If you have thoughts, send them over.
Thanks to those who wrote in over the weekend in response to our story on Somalis in Minneapolis. Here are a couple of those replies:
Rach said:
I find this whole patriotism, 'America First' thing so interesting. You make it sound like you're either on one team (America) or you're on another team (Somalia). You can't be on both. You can't have any flag but the American flag, and you have to live by American rules. I understand concern about sending American tax dollars to other countries and neglecting American people, but why does it matter what flag people fly, or if people chose to send their money back to family in other countries? Isn't America about freedom? Being able to do whatever you want? Surely if you move to America you can still be allowed to identify with and love your home country. Surely you don't have to drop all your customs and way of life the moment you step onto American soil.
By the way, I'm Australian. I find patriotism kind of funny. The only countries that are as patriotic as America are communist countries. And America is TERRIFIED of communism. Go figure!
If anyone wants to explain patriotism to me, I'm all ears.
And Spencer from Naples, FL wrote:
It was very interesting to see how much this community resists assimilation - not just from your reporting, but from other reporters who have gone to Minneapolis and said the same. You asked whether Somalian culture being so different from European culture has something to do with it, and, while that may be part of the story, I don't think that's all of it. If you visit Ethiopian, Marshall Island, or Filipino communities in the USA, they all assimilate remarkably well despite not being European. OrthodoxAshkenazi Jews, despite being European, still face persecution in this country, and also seem to "stick to their own" even if their families have been here for generations. While having a European background helps people assimilate easier to our country, it is not simply having a European background that assures easy assimilation - it is shared values. The reason some groups assimilate well in America and others do not is because American government and culture rests on values of tolerance, justice, and Enlightenment ideals - ideas whose seeds were planted from millenia of Christian teaching. Despite being a secular nation, we still have those morals and values rooted in our government and culture. People from countries/cultures that share those values have an easy time fitting in here in the USA. People from countries/cultures that do not share those values have a harder time assimilating.
If you’re catching up post-Thanksgiving, find our latest articles here:
See you tomorrow,
Max and Max
