ELITE UNIT SETS SIGHTS ON OSAMA

New York Post ^ | 2/24/04 | NILES LATHEM

[kattracks]

February 24, 2004 -- WASHINGTON - The Pentagon has dispatched the elite commando force that hunted down Saddam Hussein to Afghanistan for a new operation aimed at getting Osama bin Laden, officials said yesterday. Military sources confirmed that members of the shadowy Task Force 121, the unit that conducted the high-tech search for Saddam and his henchmen, have recently begun operating in the remote mountainous region along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border where bin Laden and key al Qaeda and Taliban fugitives are believed to be hiding.

[lentulusgracchus]

So why are we reading about this in the press?

Reminds me of the days when turncoat blowhards like Peter Arnett used to love to announce new American operations in Vietnam.

Then there were the guys who liked to do live TV shots from Dhahran, with heavily-loaded F-15E's and SEPECAT Jaguars taking off in the background bound for (obviously) Baghdad.

[Dog]

Happy hunting boys!

As you can tell I want Osama's head on a spike...:-)

[chadwimc]

This might be a plan. Remember during the Iraq war, every time some ragheaded bastard general was supposed to have surrendered or defected? Within hours some building or neighborhood erupted in explosions from our aircraft. When the turds figured out the US could hear their cell phones, they swithced to regular old land lines. Then the Bagdad phone exchange blew up. The anti -American press could be very useful...

[lentulusgracchus]

I'm still waiting to hear the inside skinny about that incident when an M-1A1 put a round into the Palestine Hotel. Bet some scumbag Leftist journo decided to play amateur forward observer for the fedayeen, and someone passed the word to a local tank commander.

Remember the accidental bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade........right after the Serbs, supposedly with Chinese help, figured out how to bag an F-117? Ooops, sorry! And if you ever try that again, we'll make another mistake! Those Chinese journalists that got hosed were no way journalists. They had to be PLA people participating in a black op to a) help the Serbs and b) evaluate techniques and technologies of their own in the field against U.S. forces, from behind the safety of diplomatic cover. I despise Slick Willie down to the ground, but I've got to give him that one. Assuming the military even told him about it.

[Prodigal Son]

So why are we reading about this in the press?

Because the Pentagon wants us to?

[Central_Floridian]

This is just speculation, but it seems to me that an intelligent commander will use all means available to achieve his goal.
Therefore, utilization of the media to achieve something could be thought of as an effective tactic.
One way the media could be used is as a "diversion."
The news media has been used for disinformation and psychological warfare for a long time.

[DugwayDuke]

Why all this press coverage? Perhaps a ruse designed to entice Osaama to do something stupid like move or communicate? Or, then it could be a ruse to make him think we want him to move or communicate? Or, then again, it could be nothing at all? Time will tell.

[kjam22]

Or then again it could be so that when we capture him in October as Albright suggested... it will look more legit having talked about the intense manhunt.

Just kidding.

[commish]

So why are we reading about this in the press?

HMm Let's thnk about this. Curerent intel and reports indicate Osama and company to be hiding out in the mountains along the border. Most likely in caves.

They already know they cannot use Cell Phones, etc because we have every line of communication bugged, jammed or monitored. Very unlikely that they have CNN or any type of TV -- This would require Power Gens and Sat hookups which would give away thier positions.

SO, what are we left with. Osama has no comm except HUMAN CONTACTS. They see the reports, they have TO GO TO OSAMA to report this to him. That means they will be tracked and followed.

OR Scenario 2 -- Osama does have Sat Linkup. Know he know we are closing in. So he has to make a run for it. We are monitoring, so as soon as he moves we have him

Make sense now? We WANT him to know that we are on to him, so either he or his followers make a mistake and put us on his exact location.

[Prodigal Son]

Time will tell.

Yep. Once you get into propaganda and counter propaganda and psyops- it's almost impossible to tell what's really going on or what the intent is. But as you say, time will tell.

[DugwayDuke]

There are so many alternative explanations that I just can't get too excited about this. I hope I'm wrong. I'd like to see the man captured.

That said, perverted mind that I have, I would probably get more pleasure out of the democrat and libertarian response.

I can just see a deeply saddened Tom Dashcle responding to this news.

Or, John Keery saying this means we sould have been pursueing non-military, law-enforcement options all along.

Or, the trial lawyer dominated democrat party trying to justify not executing Bin Ladin.

Or, perhaps, best of all, Harry Browne claiming this proves we should have offered a reward for his capture and private industry would have spent the billions necessary to conduct such an operation.