The town of Abbottabad, Pakistan, not far from the capitol Islamabad, is a quiet and mild-mannered place befitting of its strong military presence. It was also home to Osama bin Laden, who made his hideout in a large compound not far from the Pakistani Military Academy. Be that coincidence or not, it took American intelligence years to uncover the hideout, which it zeroed in on in recent months, using leads on a courier who was a protege of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and worked for the al-Qaeda leader. Here's the non-plussed Lonely Planet description that may or may not have helped bin Laden make his decision:
Once the assassination operation began, the White House and the CIA could monitor events on the ground using highly sophisticated communication satellites. Meanwhile, the lack of phone lines or Internet links at the million-dollar mansion led analysts to suspect that they had found chez Osama.After the raid, Russia Today aired grainy footage of the neighborhood, while ABC News got hold of some footage from inside the compound, replete with tangled sheets and bloody carpet:
And for a reminder of how hard this particular location was to pinpoint, watch Morgan Spurlock's 2008 documentary about his mad search for the elusive bad guy (it's only 90 minutes long, as opposed to, say, fifteen years):
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U.S. spy satellites created a considerably different kind of travel guide to the scenic locale. "The outer features of the compound were studied intensively," John Brennan, the White House's deputy national security adviser for homeland security and counterterrorism, told journalists today. With likely help from the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, the Pentagon can use a myriad of military satellites as well as commercial cameras, like the ones that provide mapping data for Google Earth. With that information, the CIA could create detailed 3D maps of the compound that could be used to plan a raid:Abbottabad (ab-it-uh-baad), Hazara's headquarters and biggest town, was founded as a British garrison town in the 1850s, and the shady gardens, church bells and wide streets in the Cantonment evoke the colonial era. Beside the Cantonment is a compact and vibrant bazaar. At 1220m, Abbottabad has a cool climate, and one of the country's finest hill-station retreats is an hour away at Thandiani. Southbound cyclists should take a rest and contemplate the scenic mountain route via Murree rather than the truck-choked KKH. Apart from changing money for an excursion into the Kaghan Valley there's little reason for other travellers to make a halt.
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Already, the "death site" has been charted by diligent Google Earth mappers. Lat/lon 34.187663° 73.242617° See it on Google Maps – the compound is on the top left of the map and the military compound is a mile away to the southeast, in the bottom right hand corner.