Posted on 05/01/2011 11:30:46 PM PDT by Para-Ord.45
Apparently, the key to the whole operation was finding and tracking Bin Laden’s most trusted courier, a process that took years — and involved info given by Guantanamo detainees:
Sunday afternoon’s raid by U.S. forces that killed Osama bin Laden was the “culmination of years of careful and highly advanced intelligence work,” senior administration officials said in a conference call, describing the genesis of an operation that sounded like it was right out of a “Mission Impossible” movie.
Some time after Sept. 11, detainees held by the U.S. told interrogators about a man believed to work as a courier for bin Laden, senior administration officials said. The man was described by detainees as a protégé of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and “one of the few Al Qaeda couriers trusted by bin laden.”
Initially, intelligence officials only had the man’s nickname, but they discovered his real name four years ago.
Two years ago, intelligence officials began to identify areas of Pakistan where the courier and his brother operated, and the great security precautions the two men took aroused U.S. suspicions.
Last August, intelligence officials tracked the men to their residence in Abbottabad, Pakistan, a relatively wealthy town 35 miles north of Islamabad where many retired military officers live.
“When we saw the compound where the brothers lived, we were shocked by what we saw,” a senior administration official said.
The compound was eight times larger than any other home in the area. It was surrounded by walls measuring 12 feet to 18 feet that were topped with barbed wire. There were additional inner walls that sectioned off parts of the compound and entry was restricted by two security gates. And the residents burned their trash instead of leaving it outside for pickup. There was a three-story house on the site, with a 7-foot privacy wall on the top floor.
While the two brothers, the couriers, had no known source of income, the compound was built in 2005 and valued at $1 million. That led intelligence officials to conclude that it must have been built to hold a high-value member of Al Qaeda.
Read more at the Washington Examiner: http://washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/2011/05/raid-got-bin-laden-was-culmination-years-work-sr-admin-official-s#ixzz1LAodut4D
Most Americans will have other things on their minds in the next 18 days, never mind the next 18 months.
How did that work out for GHWB when he went from a 90% post war approval rating to a defeat at the polls in.......18 months?
George HW Bush had 90% approval after the first Gulf War and it evaporated before the election lasting only long enough to intimidate Democrats except Bill Clinton away from running.
Pretty soon the stories will emerge which will diminish Obama's role relatives to the role of the professionals and expose the shameless self-promotion in which he engaged in his announcement. But you are right, Obama deserves a certain amount of credit and we should give it to him.
A mature answer ???
Possibly an election changer.We ‘know’ it’s going to be close and if even a few milque toast ‘middle of the roaders’ are influenced by this it could be the difference.
I was struck by the I ME ism of bo’s announcement.
He still has a little problem of the US economy going bankrupt!
You are nuts. We snagged Osama despite Obama/ Our military gets all the glory not Bammy Boy
Final act, tell him if he didn't approve the raid, they would let it be known that he refused. His refusal would have been his political suicide. Left him with no choice.
Lets not forget to credit those magnificent young men in their flying machines! Go navy seals!!
You know how they’re going to spin that!
repubs are protecting the rich - refusing to raise wealthy taxes. They want safety net programs to fail, etc....
(sarc of course)
A political gold mine for Obama, too bad they could not get him alive though. Must give the totalitarian CIC credit for this episode, despite the obvious dubious intentions.
I think that’s a little exaggerated. Obama has been President for 2 and a half years almost. It’s not like Truman who took over on Apr 12 and the Germans surrendered on May 6.
And what is the genesis of the leads to got OBL??? Enhanced interrogation techniques on Guantanamo detainees.
Wasn’t this a major campaign issue for Obama and the loony left? As a matter of fact, wasn’t it Obama who released to the press the memos of our EITs?
Of course no mention will be made of this...
Pretty soon the stories will emerge which will diminish Obama’s role relatives to the role of the professionals and expose the shameless self-promotion in which he engaged in his announcement. But you are right, Obama deserves a certain amount of credit and we should give it to him.
And every time Obama or the loony lefties bring up the fact that “Obama got Osama” let us remind them the leads derived from enhanced interrogation techniques used on Guantanamo detainees.
Obama intended to close Guantanamo and also released to the world the memos of our EITs for all to see. Let us remind them of this as well!
Yes, a mature answer. I tip my hat to Obama for seeing this through. I think he and Hillary are naive has hell to think this is all going to stop and doves are going to come out of terrorist butts, but I do give him credit for taking him out.
I am beyond pissed at the left this morning with their little play on words saying “MISSION ACCOMPLISHED” as they mock Bush. I find that be incredibly distasteful. If anyone should be mocked, it should be Clinton who had multiple opportunities to take Bin Laden out but didn’t. That led to 9-11.
There is plenty I don’t like about Obama, but today I’m pleased he had the courage to continue to pursuit of Osama and took him out. I believe that is a mature answer.
I'm really glad to know that in the end.......in the final analysis........Obama will NOT get the glory he so vainly piles upon his own head.
I'm actually surprised that he didn't state outright that he, by himself, accomplished what the eeeevil Bush could never do.
Never mind that it was all Bush policies that he campaigned against and didn't throw out once in office, that got bin Laden. Never mind that he campaigned to get rid of Gitmo, that he said there WAS no "War on Terror," never mind all those pesky facts.
He and his MSM minions just see this as a political plus for the freak show.
But the American people KNOW. WE KNOW.
PAKIS KNEW EXACTLY WHERE OBL WAS LIVING:
On where he was found:
Abbottabad is essentially a military-cantonment city in Pakistan, in the hills to the north of the capital of Islamabad, in an area where much of the land is controlled or owned by the Pakistani Army and retired Army officers. Although the city is technically in what used to be called the Northwest Frontier Province, it lies on the far eastern side of the province and is as close to Pakistani-held Kashmir as it is to the border city of Peshawar. The city is most notable for housing the Pakistan Military Academy, the Pakistani Army’s premier training college, equivalent to West Point. Looking at maps and satellite photos on the Web last night, I saw the wide expanse of the Academy not far from where the million-dollar, heavily secured mansion where bin Laden lived was constructed in 2005. The maps I looked at had sections of land nearby marked off as “restricted areas,” indicating that they were under military control. It stretches credulity to think that a mansion of that scale could have been built and occupied by bin Laden for six years without its coming to the attention of anyone in the Pakistani Army.
The initial circumstantial evidence suggests that the opposite is more likely—that bin Laden was effectively being housed under Pakistani state control.
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