SAS joins fresh bid to snare bin Laden

Guardian Unlimited ^

[treeclimber]

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

[treeclimber]

Reposted due to incorrect title. This indicates to me that things are seriously heating up over there. British SAS are on par with our SEALS or Delta Force...go git em'!!!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/afghanistan/story/0,1284,1158870,00.html

[misterrob]

OBL: Be afraid, be very afraid.

These guys have a whole lot more experience with this stuff than we do having been in a war with the IRA for the past 30 years. They actualy get to do wet work.....

[jonsie]

If it so "super secret" why am I reading it on the internet!

[treeclimber]

US govt is using psy-ops to smoke em out., That is why we are hearing so much news about the spring offensive, how many troops are moving in, etc. They want the bad guys to hear about us coming to get them moving and on the run.

The "super secret" reference is to the makeup and tactics of the SAS, much like our own Delta Force is shrouded in secrecy. US didnt acknowledge existence of Delta for yrs...they are an ever so effective force multiplier.

[CheneyChick]

If it so "super secret" why am I reading it on the internet!

It's amazing how much true super secret stuff there is on the internet...

[TruthShallSetYouFree]

having been in a war with the IRA

IRA, Iraq, Iran, IRS--do I detect a pattern here? I've even been at war with my cousin Ira (the putz) for years.

[Libertina]

Talked with a woman yesterday whose husband is deployed overseas. He emailed her saying that they believe Osama is trapped within a 10-mile radius. I think it's close.

[treeclimber]

The weather is improving over there so our Predators and satellites will work better. Our Special Ops are moving in...not a good time to be a bad guy.

[Libertina]

LOL Certainly not with our troops on his tail :) Awesome US Military BUMP

[Shooter 2.5]

I'll bet our SAS can beat up their SAS. LOL.

[rodguy911]

Osammmmuuuhhh is hopefully screwed. If he stays put we get him. If he moves our drones and spy satelittes find him. The best bet of course is to get him alive. Big time terrorists like him always squeal the loudest. No telling what or who he will give up.

[skinkinthegrass]

.IRA, Iraq, Iran, IRS ??? Internal Revenue Service???..(meaning no disrespect)IRS, That one group not even the vaulted S.A.S. can handle...all the Bureaucrats, red tape, Lawyers. :))

...and Prior to that...since the 1950..Malaya, South Arabia, Oman, Yemen and then IRA...has much more experience than Delta Force (it was started in the early '60s)...excellent book Tom Geraghty's Inside the S.A.S.

[treeclimber]

Here is another article mentioning the psy-ops angle and the Predator drones.

"The Pentagon is also employing ''psychological operations'' against bin Laden, leaking news of the push to the media. And a computer program developed in Iraq to locate ''high value human targets'' is being employed."


http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=37356

[angkor]

And a computer program developed in Iraq to locate ''high value human targets'' is being employed."

http://www.i2inc.com/Products/Analysts_Notebook/default.asp#

[Prodigal Son]

Whole article:

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.

[Chu Gary]

"...excellent book Tom Geraghty's Inside the S.A.S."

Another excellent book is Bob Andrews' book "SOG," which stands for Studies & Operations Group. These were the very baddest asses in SE Asia during the VN war. The book is more a documentary than a story, but it's fascinating. They were led by a guy (forget his name) who is the most decorated person in U.S. history. Get the book, you won't regret it.

[JLS]

I am almost beginning to believe they have him. Not like M.Albright thinks and are saving him for an October surprise, but maybe have him are testing his DNA and will spend a month interogating him and getting ready for the reaction of his minions when his capture is annouced?

1. I doubted it when all of these Arab press reports started springing up over the weekend. Even with the somewhat nondenial denials that accompanied them.

2. Then on the FNC crawl, I see the claim of a White House meeting today to "plan" new strategy to get OBL. That made me think, does the White House plan such things? Or could they be discussing what to do with him.

3. There are also these leaks of the big plan to catch him. When do you make such leaks? When you have him so when you announce it whether it was planned or you stumbled into him or he was given up, it sounds like the result of a well planned operation.

We probably do not have him already, but there is a lot of to me suspicious noise that could lead to disappointment IF he is not already in custody or his body is not already in custoday.

[skinkinthegrass]

Another excellent book is Bob Andrews' book "SOG," which stands for Studies & Operations Group.

Thx...just got finished rereading Claire Sterling's The Terror Network.