SEAL tells 60 Minutes book is for honor, not politics
(CBS News) A retired Navy SEAL who was present at the killing of Osama bin Laden tells Scott Pelley in a 60 Minutes interview that his book about the raid is not a political statement, rather it is timed to commemorate the 9/11 attack and give credit to the hundreds of people whose work made the mission a success. The former SEAL Team 6 member, who uses the pseudonym Mark Owen, will appear in his first interview on 60 Minutes, Sunday Sept. 9 at 7:00 p.m. ET/PT.
As a security measure, CBS News will not identify “Owen” in any reports about his account of the raid; his face and voice were disguised for his 60 Minutes interview. His book about the raid, “No Easy Day,” will be available next week. The following is an excerpt that appeared on the CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley:
He calls himself Mark Owen. That’s not his real name. We’ve disguised him and will keep his name confidential for his own safety. Owen was on the helicopter that crashed in bin Laden’s compound. He was the second man in the room when bin Laden was shot, he took the photographs of the body that were never released. But Owen told us the story is not about him — it’s the story of hundreds of Americans who spent years gathering intelligence, planning and training of the SEALs, Owen says, “We just took care of the last 40 minutes.”
We built what we believe is the most accurate model of bin Laden’s compound ever constructed. Owen told us, before the mission, a full size replica of the compound was built in the United States for training and there was a dress rehearsal for the top brass including the chairman of the joint chiefs, Admiral Mike Mullen, and Admiral Eric Olsen, head of Special Operations Command.
https://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18560_162-57502917/seal-tells-60-minutes-book-is-for-honor-not-politics/