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'Rewriting History' in 140 Characters as CIA Live Tweets Bin Laden Assassination
Stunt backfires as critics seize upon the public relations move to raise renewed questions about the accuracy of the spy agency's narrative.
U.S. President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Vice President Joe Biden, and others watch the "situation on ground in Abbottabad live in Situation Room." (Photo: CIA/Twitter)
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was pilloried on Sunday for its decision to mark the 5th anniversary of the 2011 raid and killing of Osama bin Laden by "live-tweeting" the operation "as if it were happening today."
Beginning at 1:25 EDT, using the hashtag #UBLRaid (referring to the alternate spelling, "Usama"), the CIA reiterated its account of the May 2 raid on bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad in Pakistan.
3:53 pm EDT - @POTUS receives tentative confirmation of positive identification of Usama Bin Ladin#UBLRaid
— CIA (@CIA) May 1, 2016
3:30 pm EDT - @POTUS watches situation on ground in Abbottabad live in Situation Room#UBLRaid pic.twitter.com/59KPF7eUTr
— CIA (@CIA) May 1, 2016
But the stunt quickly backfired as journalists and other critics of the controversial operation seized upon the public relations move to raise renewed questions about the accuracy of the spy agency's narrative.
Let's thank CIA for giving journalists &lawyers opportunity to live-rectify agency's manufactured record on #UBLRaid https://t.co/V3eJn8k1RB
— Sarah Kay (@K_interarma) May 1, 2016
The @CIA would like to take MayDay to celebrate whacking an unarmed man & dumping his body into the sea & making a pro-torture movie abt it
— Adam H. Johnson (@adamjohnsonNYC) May 1, 2016
Remember to include the part about the multiple false WH claims about it to the world https://t.co/cEM1UhWjyp https://t.co/LZWpJ8RqiZ
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) May 1, 2016
Today is #UBLRaid day, thanks to @CIA rewriting history in live tweets of 5 years ago raid. https://t.co/AtXmoT5zjO
— Peter Maass (@maassp) May 1, 2016
Responding to the CIA update that at 3:39 pm EDT "Usama Bin Ladin found on third floor and killed #UBLRaid," The Intercept senior editor Peter Maass retorted: "Pity the 140 character limit on Twitter got in way of @CIA saying more about the 'found and killed' part."
Thousands of comments were left on the tweets, as activists and others joined in the rebuke.
Sarah Dougherty, senior fellow at the anti-torture program with Physicians for Human Rights quipped that the #UBLraids tweets are a "more direct approach to pushing 'torture works' lie than its usual route of using Hollywood," referring to the Academy Award winning film Zero Dark Thirty, which was widely criticized for embracing the CIA narrative.
And Comedy Central's Daily Show tweeted: "If you live tweet the Bay of Pigs invasion, call us. Otherwise, stop it."