Posted on 02/28/2004 8:47:48 PM PST by blam
SAS joins fresh bid to snare bin Laden
Jason Burke, chief reporter
Sunday February 29, 2004
The Observer (UK)
American and British forces have launched a dramatic new effort to capture or kill Osama bin Laden and other senior al-Qaeda leaders in Afghanistan. SAS detachments will join thousands of US troops - including a 'super-secret' special forces unit transferred from Iraq - and contingents of Afghan soldiers in a huge sweep of mountainous border areas where the terrorists are believed to be hiding.
The push will be the biggest such operation for 18 months. Attempts to find the fugitives last year were hindered by a lack of special forces soldiers - most of whom had been deployed in Iraq - and the failure of Pakistan to cut off escape routes by closing its border with Afghanistan. Harsh winter conditions in recent months have made movement in the high ground where bin Laden is thought to be hiding impossible.
Thousands of Pakistani troops and paramilitaries are preparing to move into positions along the 1,520-mile frontier to act as an 'anvil' against which the US-led 'hammer' can strike. Reports from an Iranian news agency yesterday that bin Laden has been captured proved false but Washington is confident the Saudi-born militant will be killed or captured within a year.
The operation will be led by the ultra-secret Task Force 121 - a unit of elite Navy SEALs and Delta Force soldiers led by top intelligence analysts that was formed by the Pentagon last year to head the hunt for Saddam Hussein.
Key personnel from the unit have now been transferred to Afghanistan. The Americans are also expected to draw on British elite forces. Soldiers from territorial army units 21 SAS and 23 SAS have recently arrived in Afghanistan to join their full-time counterparts. Unmanned Predator drones have also been switched from Iraq to Afghanistan. The Predator is equipped with Hellfire missiles and powerful spy cameras which can follow cars or even individuals from thousands of feet up.
Bin Laden, 47, is believed to be hiding with his partner Ayman al-Zawahiri, an Egyptian militant, in the mountains lining the border. The terrain and sympathetic tribesmen offer substantial protection. Al-Zawahiri issued two tapes last week calling for attacks on the 'Crusader-Zionist alliance'. In one he referred to the recent controversy in France over the banning of the Islamic veil from schools, making it clear he was alive at least a month ago.
The hunt is being boosted by a computer program developed in Iraq to locate 'high value human targets'. The program charts links between thousands of people associated with a fugitive, allowing intelligence officers to detect key individuals who might have vital information.
The Americans are also employing 'psychological operations' against bin Laden, allowing news of the new push to leak into the media. US intelligence specialists know that, like Saddam, bin Laden and his aides monitor the media and are hoping that news of the operation will 'flush out' the terrorist leader, forcing him to leave winter hideouts for fear they have become known to the coalition or to Pakistan.
'The sands in their hourglass are running out. We reaffirm our effort to track these guys down and get 'em,' said Lieutenant-Colonel Matthew Beevers, a US military spokesman in Afghanistan.
Officials are careful not to seem over-confident. Beevers admitted that if coalition forces knew where bin Laden and his men were, 'we'd already have him'. Last week Donald Rumsfeld, US Defence Secretary, played down the prospect of catching bin Laden, al-Zawahiri and Mullah Omar, the leader of the Taliban.
Most intelligence analysts believe bin Laden and a small number of associates have been hiding somewhere between the eastern Afghan city of Khost and the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta since slipping the net drawn round them by American forces at the cave complex of Tora Bora in December 2001.
American intelligence officials say bin Laden recently crossed into Afghanistan from Pakistan, where they believe he was being sheltered in the remote south Waziristan tribal agency by local leaders, during the winter. Mullah Omar is believed to be on the move in the areas of south eastern Afghanistan where support for the Taliban is strongest, travelling remote desert and mountain regions by motorbike.
Both bin Laden and Mullah Omar have been assisted by the fiercely autonomous, heavily armed tribes which straddle the border. Pakistan has adopted a 'carrot and stick' policy towards the tribesmen, many of whom see bin Laden as a hero.
Pakistani troops using helicopters and artillery flattened three housing compounds and detained at least 20 people last Tuesday in a remote region where bin Laden and other al-Qaeda fugitives are believed to have hidden recently. Four of the detainees were from the Middle East, the rest from the local Pashtun tribes. On Friday armed tribesmen raided a military compound in south Waziristan and 11 men died in a shoot-out at a border post.
Sunday February 29, 2004 3:16 AM
By KATHERINE PFLEGER SHRADER
Associated Press Writer
The Guardian (UK)
WASHINGTON (AP) - The United States is rounding up and questioning the relatives of fugitive al-Qaida leaders to generate information on the possible whereabouts of Osama bin Laden and his top deputies. This tactic helped lead to Saddam Hussein's capture.
On Saturday, Pentagon and Pakistani officials denied an Iranian state radio report that bin Laden had been captured ``a long time ago'' in Pakistan's border region with Afghanistan.
But some U.S. officials do say they have been able to extract useful information from Afghan and Pakistani relatives and friends of al-Qaida fugitives, providing hints on the possible whereabouts of the organization's leaders.
So far, the information the U.S. has received is unconfirmed and does not mean the terrorist leader's location has been pinned down or his capture is imminent. U.S. officials caution that rumors of significant progress are overstated.
With the weather improving in Afghanistan, the U.S. military has sent troops and technology to the country to aid the search and to give forces on the ground more opportunity to track down bin Laden. He is the United States' most wanted terrorist for his leadership in planning the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Rounding up relatives for questioning helped bring about the Dec. 13 capture of Saddam, the former Iraqi leader. U.S. officials hope the tactic could lead to information on the whereabouts of bin Laden and his top deputies, especially when combined with information from spy satellites, communication intercepts and prisoner interrogations.
U.S. military officials have said they are planning a spring offensive in Afghanistan in the hopes of capturing bin Laden, former Taliban leader Mullah Omar and their associates.
Meanwhile, American commanders in Afghanistan have expressed new optimism about finding bin Laden. Late last month, U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty said the military believes it could seize bin Laden this year, perhaps within months.
Other U.S. officials try to temper such optimism.
In a sign of an increased focus on the Afghan-Pakistani border, Pakistani rapid reaction forces have been deployed to selected areas in the region, a mountainous landscape that runs 2,000 miles from the Himalayas in Pakistan's northern territories to the desert of southwestern Baluchistan.
Pakistani officials told The Associated Press on Friday that satellite telephone intercepts from last year indicated al-Qaida members were hiding near the border. Two intelligence officials said participants discussed a man called ``Shaikh'' - a code name for bin Laden.
``Some people who were speaking in Arabic have been heard saying Shaikh is in good health,'' one of the intelligence officials said.
A U.S. defense official, also speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that Pakistani forces have killed or captured more al-Qaida members than any other U.S. ally. ``We continue to aggressively pursue the remnants of al-Qaida and the Taliban,'' the official said.
--- Associated Press writers John Solomon in Washington and Stephen Graham in Afghanistan contributed to this report.
This must be the secret , hadn't heard of it before.
This is the endgame. This element of the 22nd Special Air Services Regiment are tasked with actually closing in and either capturing bin Laden or assassinating him and Al Zawahiri. Bush and Blair have agreed that the SAS are the guys to actually do the takedown. My suspicion is that several SAS "sticks" have been on the ground in the Northwestern Frontier States to recce and try to pick up bin Laden's trail.
The SAS are the best in the world. At any one time, there are only a few hundred men in the entire regiment. Look at it this way. The Pentagon let leak, quite loudly I might add, that a Spring Offensive was in the offing in the Border Region. So bin Laden's people as well as his eyes and ears in Bagram, Kabul, Islamabad, Baghdad, and other spots, have kept their eyes on the movements of American military units, paying special attention to landings by paratroopers, Rangers, Air Assault units, or Mountain Division troops.
I bet they forgot all about the SAS. The SAS didn't forget about them, however.
Be Seeing You,
Chris
I have read about this computer program but can't remember what they call it..
The Americans are also employing 'psychological operations' against bin Laden, allowing news of the new push to leak into the media. US intelligence specialists know that, like Saddam, bin Laden and his aides monitor the media and are hoping that news of the operation will 'flush out' the terrorist leader, forcing him to leave winter hideouts for fear they have become known to the coalition or to Pakistan.
Travis you called this last night on the Cofer Balck thread I believe....psy-ops to get Bunny moving.
'The sands in their hourglass are running out. We reaffirm our effort to track these guys down and get 'em,' said Lieutenant-Colonel Matthew Beevers, a US military spokesman in Afghanistan.
Cap there is that term again..."sands in the hourglass..."
Pakistani troops using helicopters and artillery flattened three housing compounds and detained at least 20 people last Tuesday in a remote region where bin Laden and other al-Qaeda fugitives are believed to have hidden recently.
He was there.
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