The Navy SEAL who helped kill Osama bin Laden and was tasked with photographing his body tells Scott Pelley how he washed the blood from the dead al Qaeda leader's face to get the best photos he could. The former SEAL Team 6 member, who uses the pseudonym Mark Owen, will appear in his first interview on 60 Minutes Sunday, Sept. 9 at 7 p.m. ET/PT.
Excerpts from the interview will appear tonight on the CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley at 6:30 p.m.
CBS News will not identify "Owen" for security reasons. A makeup artist was employed to disguise his appearance and sound manipulation was used to mask his real voice for his 60 Minutes interview. His book, "No Easy Day," went on sale this week. Below is an excerpt:
Mark Owen: I figured these were the-- probably some of the most important photos I'd ever take in my life. So you know, make sure I do it right, get good angles, and all this other stuff. But, you know, you got to clean off the face, so...[its] identifiable as possible. So one of my buddies had a CamelBak with some water in it. Got some, you know-- spread some water on him, took a sheet off the bed, kind of wiped the blood off and then took photos.
Scott Pelley: Wiping the blood off of Osama bin Laden's face? And you shot pictures of his face in a profile. Can you describe what they look like?
Owen: They're pretty gruesome.
