Bin Laden CIA Women: New HBO Documentary Examines Role Women Played In Finding Terrorist

HBO will premiere a new documentary about a group of women working for the CIA and how they helped to bring down Osama Bin Laden, the mastermind behind the September 11, attacks on the United States.

"Manhunt" will air at 8 p.m. on Wednesday May 1 on HBO. The documentary will examine the role of women working in the CIA and how they helped to bring down one of the world's worst terrorists.

According to the synopsis on HBO.com, Manhunt chronicles the 20-year long search for Osama Bin Laden. The CIA women featured in the documentary were part of a group dedicated to finding and stopping the leader of al-Qaeda before he launched an attack against the United States.

"When 9/11 confirmed Osama Bin Laden's intentions, these same analysts and operatives were now blamed for failing to prevent it, though they had spent years warning about the possibility of an attack," the synopsis reads.

In the 2012 Oscar nominated film "Zero Dark Thirty" Jessica Chastain played Maya, a CIA agent recruited out of high school. Maya was later sent to Pakistan to work as part of the team responsible for protecting the homeland from terrorist attacks and finding Osama Bin Laden.

After a good friend and fellow CIA agent working with Maya is killed, she makes it her sole mission to find and kill the leader of al-Qaeda.

The movie is based on what actually happened, but includes fictional dramatizations. While a large commercial success, the film was criticized for showing U.S. officials torturing prisoners for information.

The "Zero Dark Thirty," and the book "No Easy Day" by Mark Owen, credit only one woman as the CIA agent that found Bin Laden's location.

"Manhunt" tells the true story of the team of CIA women responsible for finding Osama Bin Laden.

According to Yahoo News, the new HBO documentary about the hunt for Bin Laden will include, "Interviews with several members of the so-called Sisterhood, as the team of female analysts assigned to track Bin Laden came to be known within the CIA."

Many of the women featured in the documentary are speaking on-camera about their roles in the Bin Laden hunt for the first time. In the HBO synopsis, Nada Bakos, a now retired CIA agent, talks about her job as "lead targeter." She headed up the team whose mission it was to capture or kill Bin Laden.

"I think women make fantastic analysts," Bakos says. "We have patience, perseverance, and we're not always looking for the sexy payoff immediately."

It is ironic to think that the leader of an organization like al-Qaeda, whose mission is to spread fear and adamantly opposes the education of women, was brought down by a group of female CIA agents.

Al-Qaeda has taken their distaste for educated women so far as to target a 15-year-old girl and attempt to have her killed. The Taliban attempted to have Malala Yousufzai assassinated for promoting education for girls in Pakistan.