Le New York Times du 7 mai évoque le problème de la dialyse. Selon la plus jeune femme de Ben Laden, son mari était en parfaite santé, il s’était bien remis de deux opérations des reins pratiquées au moins dix ans auparavant dans le sud de l’Afghanistan, en partie grâce à des remèdes fait maison, et notamment... de la pastèque ! 

"Contrary to a widely held belief that Bin Laden was on dialysis to treat a kidney ailment, Pakistani investigators said last week that his youngest wife told them he was healthy. “He was neither weak nor frail,” one of the investigator quoted the wife as saying. She told them, they said, that Bin Laden had recovered from two kidney operations a decade or more ago in southern Afghanistan, in part by using homemade remedies, including watermelon."