I guess hindsight is 20/20. But with the size of the building and the big wall, it looks like a place you would want to know who lives there. Considering the location and the size of surrounding homes.
Hi, Yes maybe the BBC have it right..Not sure yet though. The property in the BBC location
appears not to have any other builldings/properties around it, where as in the news reports/videos
it does.
I've read multiple references to a replica site built in the US for practice. It will be interesting to see if future imagery of some of the US special forces training sites have captured the replica compound. I know SEALs train at Eglin AFB. The team that went in was former Seal Team 6 (i.e DEBGRU). I have no idea where they might have conducted their training. They are garrisoned at Oceana in Virginia. Maybe they trained at Quantico.
Maybe not, Parabellum, several media sources say they recreated the house state-side. So, perhaps Fort Lewis, where there are other recreations as well?
Also, as to the floor plan, remember, this is a town that Intel would be interested in anyway. As the building was being built, floor by floor, classified sat images would be available. At the time the images were taken, perhaps no one had any interest in this house. But none the less, this is certainly how they knew the floor plan and built a copy.
This HVT was special, and the raids required practice, so they replicated the one-acre compound at Camp Alpha, a segregated section of Bagram Air Base. Trial runs were held in early April.
Great link, Skyeye. The photo of the compound (immediately after the helicopter wreckage against the wall) illustrates just how ironic it is that OBL would locate here. The large script written across the mountainside says "Home of the Pfiffers 2005" — the moniker of the Pakistani Army's Frontier Force Regiment. Evidently, it was scrawled on the mountainside the same year Osama's compound was being constructed beneath it.
More on the helo wreckage featured in Skyeye's link. Here's a closer look at it as featured in Aviation Week. Turns out it is a newly developed stealth version of the Blackhawk UH-60.
Interesting that the epicenter of Pakistan's big earthquake 08-05-2005 was just 32.5 km away and happened the same year OBL purportedly moved into his compound.
appears not to have any other builldings/properties around it, where as in the news reports/videos
it does.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3559509/Bin-Ladens-life-of-luxury-revealed.html
Unless the google imagry is very old?? I guess we will find out for sure in the next few days.
cheers BB
News Video below.
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/video/Video-Sky-News-On-Bin-Ladens-Compound/Video/201105115984013?lid=VIDEO_15984013_VideoSkyNewsOnBinLadensCompound&lpos=searchresults
http://www.businessinsider.com/satellite-images-of-bin-ladens-compound-2011-5
http://ogleearth.com/2011/05/finding-osama-bin-ladens-abbottabad-mansion-with-google-earth/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Naval_Special_Warfare_Development_Group#Death_of_Osama_bin_Laden
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2011/05/the-secret-team-that-killed-osama-bin-laden/238163/
http://cryptome.org/eyeball/obl-kill/obl-kill.htm
http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/blogs/defense/index.jsp?plckController=Blog&plckBlogPage=BlogViewPost&newspaperUserId=27ec4a53-dcc8-42d0-bd3a-01329aef79a7&plckPostId=Blog:27ec4a53-dcc8-42d0-bd3a-01329aef79a7Post:275902dd-e7a2-40fd-ab78-d46e3bf922b1&plckScript=blogScript&plckElementId=blogDest
http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2011/05/06/the-actuals-plan-for-bin-ladens-pucca-house/
http://curbed.com/archives/2011/05/09/architectural-plans-for-osama-bin-ladens-house-revealed-1.php
http://photoblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/05/16/11738144-pentagon-unveils-scale-model-of-bin-laden-compound?lite