55. Bin Laden vs the CIA: The Hunt for the World's Most Wanted (Ep 5)

The Rest Is Classified

Goalhanger

History

4.6 • 732 Ratings

🗓️ 15 June 2025

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

A decade after 9/11, Osama bin Laden remained at large, a constant "running sore" for the US government. But how did a fleeting glimpse of a tall guy with a beard and the interrogation of a high-value detainee finally set the CIA on the right path? And what was the decision that President Obama had to make, knowing the risks and the history of missed opportunities? In this episode, we detail the relentless pursuit of Osama bin Laden, focusing on the critical intelligence trail that went from a vague alias to a specific car. Discover how the complex US-Pakistani relationship, characterised by mistrust and double game allegations, complicated any direct action. And, learn about the elaborate surveillance of the compound in Abbottabad, perhaps the last place the CIA expected bin Laden to be. Join David and Gordon in this penultimate episode in their investigation into the life and death of Osama bin Laden. ------------------- To sign up to The Declassified Club, go to www.therestisclassified.com or click this ⁠⁠⁠link⁠⁠⁠. To sign up to the free newsletter, go to: ⁠https://mailchi.mp/goalhanger.com/tric-free-newsletter-sign-up⁠ ------------------- Get our exclusive NordVPN deal here ➼ nordvpn.com/restisclassified It's risk-free with Nord's 30 day money back guarantee Exclusive INCOGNI Deal: To get an exclusive 60% off an annual Incogni plan, go to https://incogni.com/restisclassified ------------------- Order a signed edition of Gordon's latest book, The Spy in the Archive, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠via this link.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Order a signed edition of David's latest book, The Seventh Floor, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠via this link.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ------------------- Email: [email protected] Twitter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@triclassified⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Assistant Producer: Becki Hills Producer: Callum Hill Senior Producer: Dom Johnson Exec Producer: Tony Pastor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	For exclusive interviews, bonus episodes, ad-free listening, early access to series,
0:09.0	first look at live show tickets, a weekly newsletter, and discounted books,
0:13.1	join the Declassified Club at the rest is classified.com.
0:17.3	Music Oh, son, suffice to say that I'm full of grief and size. What can I say if we are living in a world of laziness and discontent? What can I say to a world that is blind in both sight and perception?
0:38.7	Pardon me, my son, but I can only see a very steep path ahead. A decade has gone by in
0:44.9	vagrancy and travel, and here we are in our tragedy. Security has gone, but danger remains.
0:51.5	It is a world of crimes in which children are slaughtered like cows.
0:55.5	For how long will real men be in short supply? Action must somehow be done to ward off harm.
1:02.4	I have sworn by God Almighty to fight the impedal.
1:06.9	Well, welcome to the rest is classified. I'm Gordon Carrera.
1:09.9	And I'm David McCloskey.
1:11.2	And that was Asama bin Laden writing in verse to one of his sons sometime around 2002 about life on the run.
1:21.8	And that is where we are picking up the story of Osama bin Laden and the CIA this time with the aftermath of those
1:29.7	terrible attacks on September the 11th, 2001, the opportunity perhaps to kill or capture
1:36.4	Osama bin Laden at last at Torabora missed and him escaping over the border. And then, David, he basically disappears, doesn't he? I mean,
1:48.4	it's crazy, but he's just gone. And I mean, there were glimpses of him in various places we might come to,
1:55.8	but it's going to turn into a manhunt, more like a detective novel, really, rather than a counter-terrorist mission, trying to find like a killer who's disappeared and where the case is cold.
2:08.5	Listeners for this episode in particular should think about this as paralleling exactly a sort of detectives hunt for a serial killer along a trail that's gone totally cold,
2:19.7	right? Because that is what this becomes. We have gone from the Osama bin Laden of the late
2:26.1	90s declaring war on the United States, the CIA coming up with a variety of sometimes
2:33.2	quite audacious plans to try to kidnap him,
2:36.5	cruise missile strikes, 9-11, and then all of a sudden he is just after this, you know,
	...

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