SAS Joins Fresh Bid To Snare Bin Laden

The Guardian (UK) ^ | 2-29-2004 | Jason Burke

[Dog]

And please note post 19..

[JOE43270]

I think it's nice to have them along. From what I understand those SAS guys can hold their own with the best.

[babaloo]

FWIW Julian Phillips has opined this morning that he has been on record that Osama needed to be found and that he thought the US should have dealt with that earlier. What a buffoon. Thanks for playing, Julian.

[hershey]

It will boost Blair's popularity at home if the SAS is in on the 'kill'. Bush probably called him up with the invite. He owes Blair a favor or two, plus this will shut Kerry up about the US 'going it alone' baloney and how the world would be better off if we handed the keys to the front door to the UN.

[ASA Vet]

and you all tell me to calm down

I'm not telling you to calm down dog.
I'm having fun watching you chase your tail. ;-)

[Cap Huff]

"The Americans are also employing 'psychological operations' against bin Laden, allowing news of the new push to leak into the media."

I have come to the conclusion that the weird use of the expression "sands of the hourglass" relates somehow to psyops. It may be that flyers dropped in the region use this analogy. It may also be a case of using OBL's own words against him. Maybe this was an expression he used in a communication he thought was secure, but we intercepted. Once he finds out that his communications have been hacked, he might panic. Maybe it is a way of taunting him (and may just be the reason that Zawahiri tried to taunt back in his tape the other week).

[mewzilla]

Sounds like we were waiting for the SAS to arrive, so they could be in on the fun.

[ASA Vet]

It may also be a case of using OBL's own words against him.
Maybe this was an expression he used in a communication he thought was secure, but we intercepted.

Thus insuring discontinuance of that communications channel,
and the loss of any intel which could have been gleaned from it.

Yep, sounds like something we'd want to do. ;-)

[Cap Huff]

Here's another report that repeats a lot of the same information that has already been reported, but there are some interesting items:

Hunt for bin Laden, allies heats up
Posted on Sun, Feb. 29, 2004
SATELLITES, SOLDIERS COMB MOUNTAINS

By John Walcott

Knight Ridder

>>snip<<

In addition, said the officials, who all spoke on the condition of anonymity because the operations are highly classified, U.S. reconnaissance satellites were redirected this weekend to spend more time over border areas near Pakistan's South Waziristan region, where Pakistani forces recently have clashed with what appear to be heavily armed members of Al-Qaida or of Afghanistan's former Taliban military.

However, the officials cautioned that they still had no independently confirmed intelligence pinpointing bin Laden, his second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, or Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, and on Friday they said the unusually public discussions of intensifying operations are an effort to flush out the 6-foot, 5-inch Al-Qaida leader in hopes that drones, other aircraft, satellites or spies are more likely to spot him if he moves.

>>snip<<

The officials also expressed skepticism about reports that intercepted satellite telephone conversations referring to ``the Sheik,'' a suspected code name for bin Laden, indicate the presence of Al-Qaida members along the border.

``Bin Laden and the people who know where he is stopped yakking on `sat' phones more than five years ago,'' said one official. ``If we can overhear it, it's probably disinformation.''

The officials said they expect that the hunt will end, whenever it does, in bin Laden's death rather than his capture. Both the armed Predator drones and the special-forces teams along the border are authorized to shoot to kill if they're certain they have bin Laden, Zawahiri or Omar in sight, one official said.

>>snip<< Hunt for bin Laden, allies heats up

[Cap Huff]

" Yep, sounds like something we'd want to do. ;-)"

Of course what you imply would ordinarily make good sense. If we've broken into his communications we'd like to glean as much as we could from it by keeping that fact secret. But in a game of cat and mouse there may be times when the cat may want to give up a little to get a lot more. The whole point is that the phrase may have been used MONTHS ago, and maybe he knows that the channel is already gone.

For example:

Man arrested for contacting Qaeda(In contact with the Al Qaeda leadership)

As the article says our guys have been "allowing news of the new push to leak into the media."

I caught the winking smiley . . . . I think we'll all be smiling when this all gets resolved!

[ASA Vet]

Having done it for 28 years I can attest to some really strange ploys, plots,
and yes sometimes deliberate lose of sources.
I'll never say never.

I wish FR was a SCIF.

[Ditter]

Am I the only one who thinks Bin Lauden is dead?

[atomicpossum]

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.

Don't you think that our forces were probably already in place before they 'let it leak?'

[IGOTMINE]

They are varsity squad all right...but I wouldn't look past The D boys or the Super Squids at Dev Group.

At the level these guys play, they're all "the world's best". Near olympic class atheletes that will kill at the drop of a hat. We're fortunate that we have a positive outlet for such men.

[section9]

I can almost guarandamteeya that either the SAS or the DELTA's were tracking Binnie in the Northwestern Frontier states, probably Waziristan.

Be Seeing You,

Chris

[swarthyguy]

Remember the news reports about SAS being deployed in Iraq last fall in the Saddam Triangle. And then, bingo, shortly thereafter, Saddam's nabbed.

There were some reports that SAS had a significant hand in that capture.

At the take I have on the news, this means the SAS boys have been hunting in their latest version of Operation Snipe for at least a month or two, if not longer.

EndGame Osama. Now to the Saudis.

[swarthyguy]

>>>"sands of the hourglass"

A medieval allegory, well understood by these denizens of Araby, whose flowery rhetoric and florid allusions are all too obvious in some of their seminal books and works - titles such as "Under the Shadow of the Lances", "Milestones on the Path", and nom de guerres like "Jihad Falcon".

Osama means Lion and remember his own allegory about people wanting to ride the stronger horse, referring to the appeal of his movement among like minded islamis.

[swarthyguy]

>>I wish FR was a SCIF.


What've you got against the rest of us:)

If we speculate enough, we'll probably hit upon the right answer. Except we won't know it.

[swarthyguy]

You mean like this little puppy here. A TurboCharged Triple XXX version?

http://www.namebase.org/cgi-bin/nb06?_BIN%20LADEN_OSAMA_

[progop]

Section9, I always read your posts. I tend to agree with you 99% of the time. You always have good insight.

However, I have to disagree with you here. No way is SAS getting the takedown on Bin Laden or Al Zawahiri. (If UBL is even alive).

The American Special Forces would have none of it. They are very competitive and our Special Op's guys (DEVGRU & DELTA) have risked way to much in the past 3 years not to be allowed this takedown.

Trust me, if a takedown happens on UBL or Zawahiri it will be conducted by the Jedi Knights of DEVGRU or DELTA (probably members of both).