The Hunt for Bin Laden’s Corpse: Part III

Did Osama Bin Laden die in Pakistan? Was his corpse stuffed into a rubber-lined canvas body bag, weighed down with lead, and then buried in the North Arabian Sea? Or was he secretly transported back to the United States?

Where is Osama Bin Laden’s Corpse?

Back in June 2011, treasure hunter Bill Warren was attempting to raise $400,000 to locate and excavate Bin Laden’s body, which the U.S. government claimed had been buried at sea. We’ve been skeptical about his chances…highly skeptical.

“Warren plans to use side-scanning radar to locate the body bag. The problem with his strategy is obvious. The Arabian Sea is gigantic and side-scanning sonar is a slow, tedious process. Finding a corpse in it is like finding a needle in a haystack…a haystack that measures 1.5 million square miles.

Perhaps even more problematic are the limitations of side-scanning sonar. Even shipwrecks, with their hard edges and solid structures, are difficult to discern from the natural underwater landscape. Distinguishing something as small and with as little acoustic resonance as a corpse is next to impossible, even when taking into account two-hundred pounds of lead in the body bag. And the deeper the corpse lies, the harder it will prove to find.” ~ David Meyer, The Hunt for Bin Laden’s Corpse

Warren recently resurfaced for an interview with the Spanish newspaper El Mundo. And he claims to have struck pay dirt.

Guerrilla Explorer’s Analysis

Unfortunately, we’re still skeptical. Warren has had little luck soliciting donations on his website, apparently raking in just $15 from a single donor. So, it seems probable he’s just trying to drum up some attention to fund his hunt.

We also find it hard to believe Bin Laden was buried at sea in the first place. That story never made much sense. It seems far more likely he was secretly transported back to the United States. But, we’re holding out hope for Warren. Maybe he really will find the body and put an end to all the crazy Bin Laden conspiracy theories…

But we wouldn’t count on it.

The Hunt for Bin Laden’s Corpse: Part II

Did Osama Bin Laden really die in Pakistan? Was his corpse truly stuffed into a rubber-lined canvas body bag, weighed down with lead, and then buried in the North Arabian Sea?

Where is the Osama Bin Laden’s Corpse?

That was the subject of the second blog post ever at Guerrilla Explorer, way back on June 29, 2011. At the time, treasure hunter Bill Warren had declared his intention to recover Bin Laden’s body from the bottom of the Arabian Sea. It turns out that would probably be a huge waste of time, and not just for the obvious reasons.

Recently, WikiLeaks began publishing over 5 million emails from Stratfor, a “global intelligence” firm. Several of those emails contradict the official story about Bin Laden’s body, confirming what many of us had already suspected. That is, Bin Laden wasn’t buried at sea at all. Instead his body was transported to the United States. Here’s more on the mysterious fate of Osama Bin Laden from Business Insider:

At 5:26 a.m. on May 2, the morning after Barack Obama announced the successful raid on bin Laden’s Abbottabad compound, Stratfor CEO George Friedman sent an email with the subject “[alpha] OBL” that said: Reportedly, we took the body with us. Thank goodness.

Fred Burton, Stratfor’s vice president for intelligence, followed that up at 5:51 a.m. with an email titled “[alpha] Body bound for Dover, DE on CIA plane” that said: Than [sic] onward to the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology in Bethesda…

(See Business Insider for more on the mysterious fate of Osama Bin Laden)

The Hunt for Bin Laden’s Corpse

Did Osama Bin Laden really die in Pakistan?  Was his corpse truly stuffed into a rubber-lined canvas body bag, weighed down with lead, and then buried in the North Arabian Sea?  According to a recent interview with TMZ, deep sea treasure hunter Bill Warren intends to find out.

“I am doing it because I am a patriotic American who wants to know the truth.  I do it for the world.” – Bill Warren

Where is Bin Laden’s Corpse?

Warren wants to raise $400,000 in order to fund his expedition to recover Bin Laden’s corpse.  It’s an incredible story, one torn straight out of Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune.

Adding to the drama are the many conspiracy theories that have cropped up in the wake of Bin Laden’s demise.  According to the official White House line, Bin Laden was killed by members of SEAL Team 6 during Operation: Neptune Spear on May 2, 2011.  Afterwards, the corpse was removed to a U.S. base in Afghanistan.  Biometric facial recognition and DNA tests confirmed that the body belonged to Bin Laden.  Al-Qaeda confirmed the death on May 6.  Less than twenty-four hours later, the corpse was taken aboard the USS Carl Vinson and buried at sea.

Searching for Bin Laden?

Warren plans to use side-scanning radar to locate the body bag.  The problem with his strategy is obvious.  The Arabian Sea is gigantic and side-scanning sonar is a slow, tedious process.  Finding a corpse in it is like finding a needle in a haystack…a haystack that measures 1.5 million square miles.However, conflicting accounts as well as the White House’s refusal to release photographs have created significant doubt.  Some people think he’s still alive.  Others think he died years ago.  Still others believe that he died on May 2, but under entirely different circumstances or that his body was disposed of in some other manner.

Guerrilla Explorer’s Analysis

Perhaps even more problematic are the limitations of side-scanning sonar.  Even shipwrecks, with their hard edges and solid structures, are difficult to discern from the natural underwater landscape.  Distinguishing something as small and with as little acoustic resonance as a corpse is next to impossible, even when taking into account two-hundred pounds of lead in the body bag.  And the deeper the corpse lies, the harder it will prove to find.  At the same time, depth is desirable as it, along with low temperatures, will slow decomposition.

It’s a waste of money.  It’s a waste of time.  But I’m still rooting for Warren.  If he succeeds, maybe we’ll finally be able to put all of those crazy Bin Laden conspiracy theories to rest.  After all, the man’s dead and buried at the bottom of the Indian Ocean.

Isn’t he?