Posted on 10/02/2006 2:50:46 PM PDT by edzo4
NBC News has obtained top-secret video shot by the U.S. government. It illustrates an enormous opportunity the Clinton administration had to kill or capture bin Laden — critics say a missed opportunity.
In the fall of 2000 in Afghanistan, un-manned, un-armed spy planes — called Predators — fly over known al-Qaida training camps. The pictures are transmitted live to CIA headquarters, showing al-Qaida terrorists firing at targets, conducting military drills, then scattering on cue through the desert.
Also that fall, the Predator captured even more extraordinary pictures of a tall figure in flowing white robes. Many intelligence analysts believed then and now it is Osama bin Laden.
We showed the video to William Arkin, a former intelligence officer and now military analyst for NBC, and asked him why U.S. intelligence believes it's bin Laden.
"You see a tall man. You see him surrounded by — or at least protected by — a group of guards," says Arkin.
Bin Laden is 6'5" tall — the man on the tape clearly towers over those around him — and seems to be treated with great deference. Another clue — the video is shot at Tarnak Farm, the walled compound where bin Laden is known to have lived. The layout of the buildings in the Predator video perfectly matches secret U.S. intelligence photos and diagrams of Tarnak Farm obtained by NBC News.
"It's dynamite — it's putting together all of the pieces and that doesn't happen every day. I guess you could say we've done it once – and this is it," says Arkin.
The tape proves the Clinton administration was tracking al-Qaida a year before 9/11. But if the U.S. government had bin Laden and the camps in its sights in real time — why was no action taken against them?
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
check out about 2 minutes into the video.
I don't think those drones carried missiles.
"I tried, and I failed. But at least I tried (to fail)"
the video is not coming up.
Bubba was busy;taking bids on pardons,kissing up to Hillary,....
P.S. Don't mess with headlines.
The title and date you created have been amended to reflect those of the original published article. Please do not alter titles.
I see the moderator already fixed the headline.
Killer post and tape.
The drone was unarmed, but that is no excuse for not going back immediately.
They didn't in 2000 but now they can be equipped with Hellfire missiles.
The drones may not have been armed, but where were the tomahawks?
BTW, thanks for posting this article.
Thanks for the ping!
The Air Force’s predator Unmanned Aerial Vehicle made aerospace history 21 February 2001 as it successfully launched a live Hellfire missile helping it evolve from a non-lethal, reconnaissance asset to an armed, highly accurate tank killer.
I believe the CIA Predators were carrying Hellfire missiles at least a year before the first one was used.
Thanks for the link. It goes a long way in disproving much of what old Slick said to Chris Wallace.
Waiting for Pakistan approval to overfly their airspace. And as soon as the approval was granted, a phone call from Mush(or one of his top aids) would go straight to OBL's Sat Phone.
Have you noticed that the farther away we get from 9/11 that there are fewer and fewer articles like this? The media is back to CYA for Clinton.
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