Ya think?
Posted on 09/09/2005 4:25:30 PM PDT by gandalftb
It had been more than two years since Pakistani intelligence last picked up the trail of the world's most wanted man, one of its top officers said in a hasty meeting at a secret rendezvous point.
"At one stage in early 2003 we thought we were quite close to him," murmurs the official.
"But a few hours before the operation could start in the border terrain near Afghanistan, he moved out."
Since then, nothing. "We have been saying previously and we still maintain that we are not into manhunt," said Major General Shaukat Sultan.
"If your sole objective was capture of OBL, yes we remain where we were but ... in Pakistan that is not our sole objective."
One key al-Qaeda suspect revealed under interrogation that bin Laden was using couriers travelling on foot or horseback instead of communicating by satellite telephone or the Internet, General Sultan said.
"It generally takes them about two months to get the message across and get its response," he said. "This is the time involved in that, so one can make rough guess about where would the man be."
CIA director Porter Goss said he had an "excellent idea" of where bin Laden was hiding - though he did not say where.
Elite US Delta Force and Navy SEAL units have just started to come back to Afghanistan after tours of duty in Iraq and are spearheading the hunt.
"Several special forces teams are stationed right at the border and use special sensors along the roads to pick up sound and vibration from the movement of cars," an official said.
"Some cross-border reconnaissance raids by intelligence agents are taking place from Afghanistan into South and North Waziristan, and all the way up to Bajaur and the Northern Areas," the official said.
(Excerpt) Read more at theaustralian.news.com.au ...
Al Queda itself just works for the Golden Chain, a group of wealthy Muslims, mostly Saudi.
Think of the Golden Chain as finance and senior management, setting long-term goals. Osama is middle-management. He takes the funding and divides it among operational units, and provides coordination.
The point here is that as long as the Golden Chain is politically untouchable, they can just recruit another Osama.
You think its easy trying to find ONE MAN in the HINDU KUSH mountains ...why aren't you there helping then.
Love it ! But make it Miller or Bud and you have a deal. Southern boys don't do Coors down here!
or at least 20 does in burkhas
Or New York.
See how you are.
I pinged you to the yesterdays identical article.
Ya think?
Yeah, "the CIA has verified that communique is in Bin Laden's handwriting."
If I see OBL on a street corner panhandling, I'll be sure to pass the info on to the authorities.
"Clearly, the Pakis are dragging their feet, milking us for weapons and money. OBL is their biggest "tourist" attraction and they don't want to lose him."
BING!
Bang on the money. Nice post.
Y'know, UBL kind of reminds me of Dawood Ibrahim, the Pentagon-designated global terrorist and Indian mafia kingpin (kinda losing his grip these days) and also India's most wanted man - he's behind the 1993 serial bomb blasts in Bombay (with some help from the ISI in the form of RDX explosives) in which around 280 people were killed.
The Pakistanis say they don't know where he is. Which is funny, cos he's been living in downtown Karachi for years. Go figure!
Bin Laden would have very limited means of escape from Chitral and that is not his way. The three passes in and out are snowed in 6 months a year and travel up the Kunar River can be easily interdicted. Bin Laden likes his back doors such as Iran or the sea.
I'll vote for a cul-de-sac valley in western Baluchistan unless you know better.
Not even remotely close to the man power that is needed (unless we just happen to get lucky via a snatch and grab Op that provides pinpoint Intel).
Predator Aircraft don't see sh*t with regard to most of the rugged mountainous regions along the Aghan / Pak border region -
He's most certainly not dead - Follow the shooters, we have many at the tip of the spear hunting the Afghan / Pak border region (these shooters would be in Iraq if the prime HVT wasn't alive) -
He is very much alive (as is Al Zawahiri and Mullah Omar) we have certain proof of this -
Nope - We'll bag him long before he dies of natural causes - It will be breaking news on every TV screen in the Country one of these days -
Nope - We'll bag him long before he dies of natural causes - It will be breaking news on every TV screen in the Country one of these days -
Nobody would like that more that me!
I thought the Pred A/C had FLIR sensors to show where the warm bodies are.
And by the way what are the estimates on Bin Ladens Security Force.
It cannot be more than 50 or so, or else it would make a stir in the remote areas he's hidding in.
But then there's the rumor that he's in Iran.
He is not in Iran -
UBL has never put himself at the mercy of a Country with a strong centralized Gov't (exactly what Iran has) - Nor does UBL bring any benefit to Iran....other than an assured U.S. Military strike with full backing of the majority of the American public....the last thing Iran wants or needs.
Nor does Iran offer UBL as safer hide site then does the Afghan / Pak / China / India border regions - This is some of the most brutal landscape on earth - Which makes running Ops in these areas close to impossible (especially without having staging points for logistics throughout the region).
As for UBL security force?? - Anyone's guess at this time - Though he probably has a sizable number of people who are within a few days call -
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