Al Qaeda and Taliban leaders killed in US airstrikes since 2004

LONG WAR JOURNAL ^ | August 7, 2009 1:10 PM | By BILL ROGGIO

[Cindy]

If the death of Baitullah Mehsud, the leader of the Pakistani Taliban who is thought to have been killed during the Aug. 5 airstrike in South Waziristan, is confirmed, his name will top of the list of senior al Qaeda and Taliban leaders killed since the US began launching airstrikes into Pakistan's tribal areas in 2004.

Baitullah would be the first tier one target (senior most al Qaeda and Taliban commanders) killed since the Jan. 1, 2009, airstrike that killed Osama al Kini and Sheikh Ahmed Salim Swedan. Al Kini was al Qaeda's operations chief in Pakistan, and Swedan was his deputy. Both men had been indicted for their roles in the 1998 suicide attacks on the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

Since mid-May 2009, when the US ramped up its campaign to kill Baitullah, three of his military commanders in South Waziristan have been killed in strikes.

The senior al Qaeda leaders killed in 2008 include Abdullah Azzam al Saudi, a trainer, facilitator, and liaison between al Qaeda and the Taliban operating in Pakistan's northwest; Abu Jihad al Masri, the leader of the Egyptian Islamic Group and the chief of al Qaeda's intelligence branch; Khalid Habib, the commander of the Lashkar al Zil, or Shadow Army, al Qaeda's paramilitary force in Pakistan's northwest and Afghanistan; Abu Khabab al Masri, the chief of al Qaeda's weapons of mass destruction program and a master bomb maker; Abu Sulayman Jazairi, the chief of al Qaeda's external network and a senior trainer, explosives expert, and operational commander; and Abu Laith al Libi, a senior military commander in Afghanistan and the leader of the reformed Brigade 055 in al Qaeda's paramilitary Shadow Army.

List of High Value Targets killed in Pakistan since 2004

[marron]

Maybe Pelosi would like to subpoena Cheney and get to the bottom of this.