Posted on 05/02/2011 3:14:56 AM PDT by CutePuppy
U.S. forces finally found al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden not in the rugged mountains of Afghanistan's border, but in a million-dollar compound in an upscale suburb of Pakistan's capital, with his youngest wife, U.S. officials said early on Monday.
They were led to the fortress-like three-story building after more than four years tracking one of bin Laden's most trusted couriers, whom U.S. officials said was identified by men captured after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
"Detainees also identified this man as one of the few al Qaeda couriers trusted by bin Laden. They indicated he might be living with or protected by bin Laden," a senior administration official said in a briefing for reporters.
Bin Laden was finally found - more than 9-1/2 years after the 2001 attacks on the United States - after authorities discovered in August 2010 that the courier lived with his brother and their families in an unusual and extremely high-security building, officials said.
"When we saw the compound where the brothers lived, we were shocked by what we saw: an extraordinarily unique compound," a senior administration official said.
"The bottom line of our collection and our analysis was that we had high confidence that the compound harbored a high-value terrorist target. The experts who worked this issue for years assessed that there was a strong probability that the terrorist who was hiding there was Osama bin Laden," another administration official said.
The home is in Abbotabad, a town about 35 miles (60 km) north of Islamabad, that is relatively affluent and home to many retired members of Pakistan's military.
The building, about eight times the size of other nearby houses, sat on a large plot of land that was relatively secluded when it was built in 2005.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnbc.com ...
If you will recall, the official position for any high level kills was that the body would be prominently photographed and the body put on display so that the bad guy’s followers and the common people would be able to see that the bad guy was dead and would never bother them again. Only after this would the body be disposed of.
They did this with Saddam’s sons and torture buddies; they did this with al-Zarkawi, why not Osama?
This is too convenient, and, comes at a time that Obama needs a boost in the polls to deflect the birthers, the economy and the daily sky rocketing oil prices.
Give me a break. Buried at sea? And before the official announcement? This just reeks of HOAX.
What did they do with the other bodies? Buried them at sea or left in the compound for more “traditional” Islamic burial?
no reason to tunnel, no reason to hide. He was enjoying the protection of the Paki military. The guy was probably sitting in the open air markets, drinking tea and nailing goats in the keister in plain sight of the military establishment.
Our war is not with him, it’s with Islam. When are we going to wake up?
Okay, good, I am not the only one who thinks this stinks.
We supposedly kill the spiritual leader of a terrorist group, a man who is supposedly over 6 feet tall and on some form of dialysis in a firefight with 6 Navy Seals? And then they supposedly confirm his ID through DNA sampling (where did they get the comparative samples?), then dump his body in the ocean?
I am sorry, but the US Military customarily shows proof of HVT kills through video or imagery. Saddam, and esp. his sons were shown on international TV through pictures and videos. Khalid Sheik Mohammad was dogged-and-ponied around the news outlets in his nasty stained shirt. But the biggest terrorist leader in the world is just dumped overboard, and we are supposed to believe that?
If Osama comes out in a video/audio tape in the next couple of days, I am going to literally laugh until I pee myself. I do not believe a damn thing this administration does, and I think this is a feint on their part.
Yes, Uday Husssein and Qusay Hussein and al-Zarkawi were on prominent photo-display despite fake “outrage” from the press and Islamic “community”.
This handling may open bigger can of worms than LFBC, unless it’s well documented.
Hopefully they were left there as proof that they did get bin Laden.
Islam allows burials at sea in select circumstances including if there's risk an enemy may dig the body up.
That really ticks me off!
I'm sure you're not alone! We'll only have the regime's "so say." Imagine if this had been under W's watch. No one on the Left or press would accept that.
“but unfortunately doesn’t do much for the WOT....”
I disagree. Terrorist organizations require paymasters, planners and operational leaders among others to carry out attacks. OBL was not only a Saudi paymaster but also a planning and operations leader. His removal is tremendously significant.
6 seals? Not likely. I think you are very confused. Google Seal Team 6.
An Al Queda spokesman says Osama "will be avenged" although WA Times didn't ID who this was and whether they were confirming Obama's story.
My local news outlets are reporting 6 Seals. I know all about Seal Team 6, and that makes a lot more sense.
If true (it seems reasonable that some important Saudis may have helped him), the recent uprisings in the Arab world cannot be a coincidence in regards to diming out Bin Laden, at this point in time.
“They did this with Saddam’s sons and torture buddies; they did this with al-Zarkawi, why not Osama?”
It’s all about jurisdiction over the body. The Iraqi government had jurisdiction over bodies killed in Iraq and did as they chose with them. OBL’s body was technically the jurisdiction of Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. Dumping the body before notification of the death removes all diplomatic obligations to those nations.
It’s that old diplomatic phrase: diplomacy first; when all else fails use force. It’s what makes diplomacy legitimate.
I will gladly shut my mouth as soon as they show us photos of his body and 100% confirmation that the DNA collected is his. I’d also like to hear from an actual military officer about it.
This has been the Obama Show up to this point. “I, me, my...” from The One. Credit where credit is due if all of this pans out to be true, but I’m going to remain skeptical.
I guarantee the SEALs shoved some pork into his mouth.
He should have gone down sewn inside a pigskin.
Who pays for million dollar compounds?
“Those people tunnel like crazy.”
Mexicans do, too.
Paymaster and planner / "organizer" in the beginning, certainly. Lately, more likely, none of the above.
Most of the al-Qaeda operations and recruitment has been shifted to Iraq, where 90% or more of al-Qaeda met with dismal fate of martyrdom (unless 72 virgins changes the qualification of the outcome for them).
There even has been a lot of talk about the strife between aQI and al-Qaeda leaders about the future of al-Qaeda organization and leadership before the "surge" in Iraq.
Osama would have been on the run most of the time since the Afghanistan campaign and the fallout of al-Qaeda and Taliban - that doesn't a planning and operational leader make.
For all the talk by liberals of the "military adventures in Iraq" being a "recruiting tool" for al-Qaeda, they are now awfully silent and unconcerned about more recent events in Africa and ME (and particularly, idiotic involvement in war in Libya) fueled by Obama's destabilizing "foreign policy" in the region.
People who have the money to do so. Ever heard of Kennedys?
Vermin do that
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