I still don’t get how the noise of the approaching choppers didn’t alert them and give him some time to try and make an escape. Maybe we can get them pretty quiet if we need to, and by the time anyone heard anything we were already on the scene. Also, maybe you just get tired of running at some point. He dedicated his life to fighting America, and after all this time America finally showed up at his doorstep and obliged him. But the fact they got in and out so cleanly was very impressive.
Ralph Peters said that the location of his hideout may have been UBL’s fatal mistake. It was a military area where the sound of helicopters would not have been out of place. Somebody at this location would not be alerted by helicopter noises.
TeeVee talking heads have explained there were plenty of comings and goings of helicopters in the area. They were used to hearing them.
bin Laden screwed up. The brilliant manipulator of marketing and his architectural experience (boasted in his 9-14 video) could have done 3 things:
1. Eliminated landing sites for helos: an open field, vs. a field filled with pipes.
(Actually, by accident, he did. The helo that went down was caught in a vortex wind caused by the proximity of the walls. It was a soft landing, not a crash, but because of the air trapped, it could not take off. There are many good descriptions of this effect from helo pilots.)
2. Laden did not prepare an underground bunker that he could temporarily escape to. For sure, this would have been discovered, but would have given him time to escape, via (3).
3. An underground escape route would have included a tunnel to a safe location with a van that could carry him away. We would have lost him again.
Laden obviously felt secure, and did not take these steps.
We can wonder why.