The death of Osama bin Laden was a surreal moment in American history.
He was one of the main architects of 9/11, a well-known terrorist to the government for many years before, and the main face behind the tragic event that killed 2,996 people on that 2001 September day, completely reshaping American culture as we know it in the process. The September 11th attacks sparked a global manhunt for bin Laden that morphed into a giant, illegal, and unwinnable war, and on May 2, 2011, he was now dead.
The United States got their guy, though in the end, it did little to change much of anything.
In many ways, our response to 9/11 brought out the worst in ourselves as a nation, and we are still dealing with the ramifications of that to this day.
But for one night, there was a cathartic moment for Americans, when a team of Navy SEALs raided bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan and killed the most wanted man in the world, who had managed to evade the most powerful country in the world for nearly a decade.
But how people got the news that bin Laden was killed was… a little strange.
The Rock Tweets the News of bin Laden’s Death
For many people, the news of bin Laden’s death didn’t come from a major news source. Instead, before it was officially announced to the world, many people got a hint of what was to come from Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who at 10:24 p.m. on May 1, 2011, tweeted the following:
“Just got word that will shock the world – Land of the free…home of the brave DAMN PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!”
How Did The Rock Know About bin Laden’s Assassination?
This is the question that has eluded us for so many years now. How exactly did the Rock know about bin Laden’s death before the rest of us?
Unfortunately, the Rock has never revealed his source. According to Johnson himself, he has friends “in high places and low places,” and somewhere in that spectrum there has to be someone with a great deal of security clearance. Was Hillary Clinton texting the Rock under the table when that famous, historic photo was taken of the Obama White House watching the assassination scene unfold in a conference room near the Situation Room? We can’t rule it out!
Johnson also knew that President Obama would be delivering a speech on the bin Laden raid, but didn’t know exactly when. So he just went ahead and tweeted out the news to the free world, and then, amazingly, got a call telling him when the speech would actually be made. So the Rock’s tweets were floating out on Twitter for a few hours before anyone really knew what was going on, and before there was an official announcement from the U.S. government.
What we also know is that Keith Urbahn, the former chief of staff to Donald H. Rumsfeld, tweeted something himself just seconds before the Rock’s tweet, and it was far less vague: “So I’m told by a reputable person they have killed Osama Bin Laden.”
Since Urbahn and Johnson’s tweets were posted so close together, one has to assume this secret source knows both men. What circles could these two possibly be running in together? Johnson has made it clear that he’d be open to pursuing a political career someday, so anything’s possible here.
Still, this remains one of the great mysteries of the 21st century, and unless Johnson is willing to divulge his source, it doesn’t seem like we’ll get an answer anytime soon.
