Posted on 02/28/2004 8:47:48 PM PST by blam
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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