Looking Back: Osama Bin Laden’s Abbottabad Compound in Second Life

 

It was ten years ago from yesterday, on Monday May 2, 2011 that the news came out about the death of terrorist leader Osama Bin-Laden, the planner behind the 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington DC, killed by a team of US Navy SEAL troops. Soon after a build of the Abbottabad compound where the battle took place appeared here in Second Life. The build would remain for several months, and no doubt was the scene of some reenactments, such as the one filmed and shown on Youtube. But like the real-life location, eventually the virtual location would be demolished.

The death of the infamous mass-murderer and arch-criminal was greeted with cheers across the United States, including crowds waving American flags in front of the White House in Washington DC. Ten years later, Washington DC still has extra police patrols and barriers around the Capitol building, which a few months ago was attacked by a mob, killing and injuring a number of policemen, a reflection of the worsening political divide in the country that would have been unthinkable in the days after 9/11,
  
Bixyl Shuftan
  

The Death of Bin Laden, Five Years Later

It was five years ago yesterday in which the infamous terrorist Osamo Bin-Laden finally met his end. A team of US Navy SEALs stormed the three story compound in Abbottabad Pakistan at night, killing him and three other men, and one wife of one of the terrorists. Taking place almost a decade after the massive terrorist attack that murdered almost 3,000 people in New York City, Arlington Virginia, and Shanksville Pennsylvania, Bin Laden is believed to have slipped out of his hideout in Tora-Bora during a casefire when US and allied forces attacked. Bin-Laden's body was disposed of at sea, a controversial move some saw as proof of a cover-up. But Islamofacist broadcasts about his death and threats to avenge him helped quell conspiracy theories.

Shortly afterwards, a group of builders, the Avatrian Development Team, constructed a replica of the compound, which the Newser reported on, and was the scene of some reenactments. It is unclear how long the build remained, but in late February 2012, the Avatrian Central sim where it was located vanished, taking away whatever remained. The group is believed to have ceased all activity in Second Life, it's final act to recreate the final launch of the Space Shuttle later that year in July 2011.

Ironically, the Pakistani government had began demolishing the compound. Officially, the action was to prevent the location from being a shrine for radicals. But Bin-Laden having been found in a place less than a mile away from a military academy was an embarrassment to the US ally, which has been accused of double-dealing and deception.

With the rise of ISIS, Bin-Laden's organization has been eclipsed as the main target of US anti-terrorism efforts. But with questions about possible Saudi involvement of Bin-Laden's 9/11 attacks, of which most of the hijackers were from the country, it's shadow continues to haunt America and the Middle East. While over time some locations in Second Life which had been doing 9/11 memorials every year have either scaled back or halted their observances, other places in the virtual world continue them.

Bixyl Shuftan

Osama Bin Laden’s Abbottabad Compound in Second Life

Recently, I heard of a re-creation of Osama Bin-Laden’s hideout, known to locals as the Wazirstan Haveli (mansion), here in Second Life. Built by the Avitarian development team, “to the proper scale and orientation of the RL compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.” It was considered largely complete after five days, but “still an on-going work.” Google Earth maps were used in planning the build, in addition to TV footage.

Although the insides are unfinished, the building exteriors, grounds, and walls are well-detailed. The walkway from the main entrance nearly splits the compound in two, the residential building on the left side of the gate. On the right, a helicopter sits inside the compound, the wreckage of another next to the wall with the tail rotor hanging outside. Smaller buildings hold the satellite dish and water tower. The high outer walls are topped with barbed wire. Around the compound lies a wraparound picture of nearby Abbotabad, with the stream playing Arabic music to add to the atmosphere.

Founded by Chenin Anabuki, Avatarian plans to continue to improve the build over time, and film Second Life movies there. The compound is open to the public, but keep in mind the Avatarians can drop in at any moment to recreate a raid, “We prefer avatars with kevlar vests and camo pants as bullets tend to fly around the area. Visit at your own risk!”

More pictures can be found at Avatarian’s Flickr page, and they’ve released one film.



“This film ... demonstrates rapid-development capabilities in the Second Life platform and only shows a loose re-enactment of the SEAL raid operation on the compound. It is not meant to portray actual events. ... It is very important to point out though that whenever we produce a machinima, we are always faced with the classic project triangle of fast, good, and cheap. We can only pick two out of three. In the case of this particular machinima, we opted for fast and cheap because it is an internally funded project."

According to news bulletins, Pakistan plans to eventually level the compound. So virtual recreations such as this one may be the only way to visit it in the future.

The compound is at Avatarian Central at (123, 151, 3502).

Sources: Avatarian Home Page, Second Edition, Dateline Zero, CNN, Wikipedia

Bixyl Shuftan

A Moment of Reflection

As most of you know, the arch-terrorist Osama Bin-Laden was finally killed by US special forces on Sunday May 1st. It’s been almost ten years since that dreadful day in which four planes were hijacked and used as missiles. The Pentagon was hit, the Twin Towers fell, and some other location in Washington would have been hit if the passengers of the fourth plane hadn’t revolted, sending it plummeting to the ground.

Ten years ... some of us were in grade school then. I myself was still a young man with community college still relatively fresh in my mind. The Internet was still somewhat new. MMOs were just starting to come out, the big one being Everquest, and Virtual worlds like Second Life were still under development. Many of us just puttered about on simple text-based games. The news, the country had just gotten over the Y2K mess in which people feared the world as we knew it would end, and we weren’t quite over the bitter Presidential election.

And then came Sept. 11th, and life as we knew it came to a halt. And when it slowly resumed, life had changed.

A number of 9-11 tributes had been built in the past. Among them was the World Trade Center memorial in the New York City Block at NYC. But a few months ago, that sim faded away. So I headed to the New York NYC sim for the Firefighters Memorial there, showing a statue of a leaning fireman. Names were read aloud over the radio. Near the memorial is a flag at half staff plus a firehouse.


To get to the memorial, head to New York NYC (45, 235, 21)

Bixyl Shuftan