"Chuck Pfarrer, a former commander of US Navy SEAL Team Six, whose members carried out the assault, claims bin Laden was shot dead almost instantly rather than killed in a 45-minute firefight.
Claiming to have interviewed several men involved in the raid, Pfarrer also contradicted the official account of how the SEAL team landed and how one of their Black Hawk helicopters crashed.
"The SEALs entered the building after being deposited on the roof by the lead helicopter, not from the ground," Pfarrer said in a statement about the book.
"Only minutes after bin Laden was dead did the lead helicopter, heading for a landing spot, lose altitude and sink, tail-first, into the large walled enclosure east of the main house." Pfarrer explains that if the SEALs had been forced to climb stairs to reach bin Laden, as has been officially claimed, he would have had enough warning to arm and effectively defend himself.
"Bin Laden was dead within 90 seconds of the beginning of the raid, not after an extended firefight," Pfrarrer said.