The man who killed bin Laden

It was the moment the Navy SEAL had trained for, said Phil Bronstein in Esquire.com. During the 2011 raid on Osama bin Laden’s Pakistan compound, the SEAL—who is keeping his identity secret to protect his family—burst into a third-floor bedroom and suddenly found himself face to face with the most wanted man in the world. “There was bin Laden standing there,” says the SEAL. “He had his hands on a woman’s shoulders, pushing her ahead. It was his youngest wife, Amal. He looked confused. And way taller than I was expecting. Taller than all of us.” Bin Laden, he says, moved toward a gun on a shelf, so the SEAL opened fire. “I shot him, two times in the forehead. Bap! Bap! He crumpled onto the floor and I hit him again. Bap! Same place. I watched him take his last breath, just a reflex breath.” As he watched bin Laden die, “I thought, ‘Is this the best thing I’ve ever done, or the worst thing I’ve ever done?’” His comrades took photos of the al Qaida leader’s body, but the SEAL understands why they’ve never been released. “I could see his brains spilling out over his face. The American public doesn’t want to know what that looks like.”

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up