# The power went out in Abbottabad **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 11, 2011, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-power-went-out-in-abbottabad/581482 "2011-05-11T05:14:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-power-went-out-in-abbottabad/581482/1 "2011-05-11T05:14:10Z")
[How’d we do that?](http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2011-05-02-pakistan-abbottabad-resident_n.htm) Third paragraph down. How’d we do that? Surely, the Pakistanis must have known. It’s not like we blew up their power station; service was restored right after we were done. How’d we do that? ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-power-went-out-in-abbottabad/581482/2 "2011-05-11T05:41:46Z")
I can’t imagine the CIA didn’t have local operatives already on the ground in Abbotabad. Taking out a transformer at a predetermined time wouldn’t be hard to arrange. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-power-went-out-in-abbottabad/581482/3 "2011-05-11T06:00:38Z")
Pakistan is not known for its top notch public infrastructure. The man quoted said that it was unusual for there to be power outages, but I find that a bit hard to believe. I’ve spent time on the subcontinent (though not in Pakistan) and even capital cities often have daily blackouts. Small cities could expect the problem to be even worse, and would rarely have power all day. A quick search for “[pakistan power outage](http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=pakistan+power+outage)” brings up quite a few hits. Power consistency is a problem in Pakistan. Now, the city’s military importance may mean they prioritize it for power, but it seems like they have problems keeping power to in Islamabad. I’d be surprised if power was that consistant in a smaller place. Not that we couldn’t have done it. I’m sure we could have. But “power outage” and “South Asia” go together like white on rice. There is a reasonable chance that it’s a coincidence. ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-power-went-out-in-abbottabad/581482/4 "2011-05-11T06:03:12Z")
Fair enough; but I disagree about this part. [QUOTE=even sven] There is a reasonable chance that it’s a coincidence. [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-power-went-out-in-abbottabad/581482/5 "2011-05-11T06:06:54Z")
There’s the [BLU-114](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BLU-114/B_%22Soft-Bomb%22) that can disable power equipment, but it doesn’t explain how quickly power was restored. But it’s possible that other assets from the power grid came online and replaced the functionality. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-power-went-out-in-abbottabad/581482/6 "2011-05-11T06:26:36Z")
A better way to put it is that it’s not out of the realm of possibility for it to be a coincidental. If a place has a one to five hour power outage every three days during daylight hours (not unusual for the region) then there is a decent chance any given daytime event is going to happen during a power outage. It’s almost certain that the house had an independent generator- it’s standard equipment for a nice house in the area. Cell phone reception probably wouldn’t have been disturbed. Internet access may or may not be disturbed depending on who has generators. The power being out wouldn’t have been as important a factor as it might seem at first. I think the best thing it would do would be keeping people in surrounding areas from communicating too much and figuring stuff out. I also find it somewhat unlikely that restoring power was our first priority, although if it was that’s awfully nice of us. Anyway, we probably won’t know the answers, but it doesn’t automatically point to Pakistan’s cooperation. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-power-went-out-in-abbottabad/581482/7 "2011-05-11T06:55:24Z")
I’ve never been to Pakistan but outages happened all the time when I was in Bangladesh, and most places had generators. If you read the Twitter feed of the guy who inadvertently tweeted the raid as it was happening, he had a generator. The power outage was something that he grumbled about - and he eventually turned on the generator so he could make himself a cup of coffee. In other words, power outages are commonplace there. So yeah, it was probably a coincidence, or something done covertly that wouldn’t have caused any suspicion. ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-power-went-out-in-abbottabad/581482/8 "2011-05-11T07:13:24Z")
Seems kinda pointless of the US to knock out the power if everyone had a generator. And if they still did want to knock out the power for whatever reason, it seems kinda dick to do it to the entire town instead of just the compound itself. So I’m going with coincidence. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-power-went-out-in-abbottabad/581482/9 "2011-05-11T08:34:30Z")
Nah, I’d guess it was intentional. Knocking out lights to the town would make it safer for the helicopters to approach, for example. And even if people have generators, I doubt if they’re fancy auto-start generators that just kick in like emergency generators in hospitals. They’re probably more like the portable gas units with a pull-start that you have to go and fire up and connect to the house before you get power back. That takes time, and it makes noise which would also help cover the sounds of an assault. Hell, maybe that’s the whole point. Kill the power, wait for all those portable generators to get fired up, and they’ll help mask the sounds of the helicopters. It can’t be hard to knock out the power like that for someone who knows what he’s doing. And I’m guessing the special forces know what they’re doing in this regard. Hell, we get power outages in suburbs in the U.S. and Canada all the time due to accidents like a backhoe going through a buried power cable. Taking down the power before an assault is probably a trained procedure. ---
**Author:** ![NiceGuyJack](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/niceguyjack/32/3069_2.png) [@NiceGuyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NiceGuyJack)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-power-went-out-in-abbottabad/581482/10 "2011-05-11T09:49:23Z")
Having been to the subcontinent I know power outages are common, but they do try to control this by scheduling outages in order to save fuel. It’s very common to have scheduled power shutdown in the middle of the night when they figure usage is minimal. Those who need power at scheduled shutdowns would need to use their own generators. IIRC, they were called “scheduled electricity load shedding”. This would have been easy for the CIA. Phone power company, ask for power shutdown schedule. Email over to SEALS. I’m thinking the power came on because someone (Police, Pakistani military) realized something was going on and called power company to turn the grid on before the scheduled blackout was supposed to end. Which I guess took 15 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![NiceGuyJack](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/niceguyjack/32/3069_2.png) [@NiceGuyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NiceGuyJack)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-power-went-out-in-abbottabad/581482/11 "2011-05-11T09:58:53Z")
P.S. See the following article for example: [Three to five-hour blackouts from tomorrow](http://www.pakistantoday.com.pk/2010/12/three-to-five-hour-blackouts-from-tomorrow/) ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-power-went-out-in-abbottabad/581482/12 "2011-05-11T13:21:45Z")
> [@NiceGuyJack](#): > > Having been to the subcontinent I know power outages are common, but they do try to control this by scheduling outages in order to save fuel. They may try, but in both Dhaka and Kathmandu in the last couple of years, they happened completely randomly. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-power-went-out-in-abbottabad/581482/13 "2011-05-11T13:27:40Z")
I think I might be responsible There’s this switch in my garage that I could never figure out what it was connected to. I turned it off just about that time. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-power-went-out-in-abbottabad/581482/14 "2011-05-11T13:36:31Z")
o/` That's the night the lights went out in Abbottabad. That's the night they shot the evil big cheese. So don't trust your life to some fanatical Muslim mastermind, 'cause now the vile little toad has got bloodstains on his kameez. o/` ---
**Author:** ![NiceGuyJack](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/niceguyjack/32/3069_2.png) [@NiceGuyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NiceGuyJack)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-power-went-out-in-abbottabad/581482/15 "2011-05-11T13:36:54Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > They may try, but in both Dhaka and Kathmandu in the last couple of years, they happened completely randomly. Good thing Bin Laden wasn’t in Bangladesh or Nepal then. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-power-went-out-in-abbottabad/581482/16 "2011-05-11T13:44:42Z")
They could have turned it off like any other power company would turn it off using the line switches. Or they could have tripped it off like they did in various invasions in the past such as Kosovo by dropping streamers over the wires. It’s not particularly difficult. ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-power-went-out-in-abbottabad/581482/17 "2011-05-11T13:51:23Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > They may try, but in both Dhaka and Kathmandu in the last couple of years, they happened completely randomly. > [@NiceGuyJack](#): > > Good thing Bin Laden wasn’t in Bangladesh or Nepal then. It was this way in smaller towns in India as well while I was there. The western hotels had generators, and the power was pretty stable in Delhi and Hyderabad, but in Vizag there were random outages roughly every other day. There was one in the middle of the day in Hyderabad as well, IIRC. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if it were random _or_ intentional, in this case. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-power-went-out-in-abbottabad/581482/18 "2011-05-11T14:00:21Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > They could have turned it off like any other power company would turn it off using the line switches. Or they could have tripped it off like they did in various invasions in the past such as Kosovo by dropping streamers over the wires. It’s not particularly difficult. Why something so complicated? And why would the incursion team even need to be involved except to coordinate. The CIA doubtless secretly employs several locals in the area as it does all over the region, perhaps even employees of the local utilities. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-power-went-out-in-abbottabad/581482/19 "2011-05-11T15:06:28Z")
Power goes out; bin Laden’s shot. No miscommunication. You can’t explain that. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-power-went-out-in-abbottabad/581482/20 "2011-05-11T15:16:13Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > Power goes out; bin Laden’s shot. > No miscommunication. > You can’t explain that. Hmm? It’s not like the Seals would have been using communicating on landlines. I have no idea if anyone cut the power, but we do know the CIA had people watching bin Laden’s house in Abbottabad. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-power-went-out-in-abbottabad/581482.md?page=2)