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Underwater Explorer Takes on Strange Mission

Searching for shipwrecks and collecting their treasures has been a passion of diver Bill Warren for years. He's been especially successful in the past, having found some well-known wrecks off the coasts of Mauritius and the Bahamas. In fact, one of his greatest successes was finding the 17th century Port Royal. But last summer Warren embarked on a new treasure hunt; a hunt to yield a prize much greater than gold bullion or lost art. He went on a quest to find the body of former Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.

Searching for bodies in the deep sea is not something normally undertaken by shipwreck explorers or subsea services companies. The primary reason being that cadavers wouldn't typically last very long in the open ocean. However, the Pentagon reports that bin Laden's burial at sea included placing the body in a lead-lined or rubber bag, potentially offering protection of the body for at least some amount of time. How much remains if they actually do find the bag will be interesting, to say the least.

One wonders why a man who has spent his life looking for lost treasure at sea would undertake such a project. Warren provides two reasons. First, he is on a mission to prove that Osama bin Laden was indeed killed and buried at sea just as the U.S. military claims. This would settle once and for all the question of whether the world's most famous terrorist is truly deceased. But like any good treasure hunter Warren also admitted that his second purpose for the expedition is financial.

He claims that several individuals identifying themselves as bin Laden's family have told him they will make it financially worth his while if he recovers the corpse. Warren claims that he would be willing to sell the body back to the bin Laden family if he finds it. This raises considerable ethical questions; something that treasure hunters deal with on a regular basis.

As for how he intends to find bin Laden's body, Warren will be using the same equipment typically used by subsea services companies to map the sea floor. At the centre of his exploration will be some of the world's most highly advanced sonar systems that will produce colour images of the seascape below. Through the different shades of colour he hopes to be able to identify foreign objects -- including the bin Laden body bag. According to Warren, he'll investigate anything that looks like a cigar lying on the ocean floor.

Good luck to you, Mr. Warren. If you find the body I hope you are prepared to deal with the controversy that will undoubtedly unfold.