9/11 museum details hunt for bin Laden in new exhibit

Nov. 7 (UPI) -- The National September 11 Memorial & Museum is giving visitors a taste of the effort that went into the U.S. government's hunt for Osama bin Laden in a new exhibit featuring photos, interviews and a reconstruction of the Pakistan home where the terrorist died.

The New York museum plans to open the new exhibit -- Revealed: The Hunt for Bin Laden -- Nov. 15, but gave the media a preview of the show Thursday.

The exhibit explores what the museum describes as "the greatest manhunt in American history" -- that of the mastermind behind the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks that killed 2,977 victims in New York City, at the Pentagon and a plane crash site in Pennsylvania.

"Our mission calls for examination of the ongoing repercussions of the 9/11 attacks, and there is no other institution that can tell this story with quite the same impact afforded by the powerful symbolism of this site," museum President and CEO Alice Greenwald said. "Our special exhibition ... offers powerful testimony to this decisive chapter of our nation's history, reflecting the dedication of men and women from all walks of life in pursuit of a critical and dangerous mission on behalf of their fellow Americans."

The exhibit includes artifacts detailing two simultaneous operations after the attacks -- that of intelligence agents, law enforcement and military agencies seeking to halt terrorism and find bin Laden, as well as al-Qaida's attempt to keep its leader hidden while carrying out terrorism throughout the globe.

Among the items on display are a reconstruction of the home where a Navy SEAL team killed bin Laden, a computer recovered from the compound, clothing worn by CIA and SEAL operatives involved in the hunt and a Forward Operating Base Chapman challenge coin. The exhibit also includes footage of interviews with Navy SEALs involved in the Abbottabad raid.

The United States was successful in its hunt for bin Laden nearly one decade after the Sept. 11 attacks. President Barack Obama announced his death in May 2011.

"This exhibition serves as a testament to the United States' determination to never forget," former FBI special agent in charge Mary Galligan said. "Already renowned for its powerful telling of the 9/11 attacks, the 9/11 Memorial Museum now provides visitors with a compelling account of what happened next as the U.S. brought to bear its unrivaled intelligence and military assets to relentlessly track the al-Qaida leader."