Posted on 05/07/2011 1:24:01 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON (Reuters) The compound in Pakistan where U.S. forces killed Osama bin Laden was an active command center from which he directed al Qaeda, a senior intelligence official said on Saturday as he released videos showing bin Laden watching himself on tape and rehearsing speeches.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said information carted away from the compound by U.S. forces following Monday's raid represented the largest trove of intelligence ever obtained from a single terrorism suspect.
"This compound in Abbottabad was an active command and control center for al Qaeda's top leader and it's clear ... that he was not just a strategic thinker for the group," the official said. "He was active in operational planning and in driving tactical decisions."
The official released five video clips of bin Laden taken from the compound, most of them showing the al Qaeda leader, his beard dyed black, evidently rehearsing the videotaped speeches he occasionally distributed to his followers.
One video segment, however, showed a gray-bearded bin Laden in a more casual setting wrapped in a blanket and apparently wearing a ski cap while watching videotapes of himself. The official said the personal nature of the videos was further evidence that the man killed in the raid was bin Laden.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Thanks, bert.
“It’s bullshit,” said a senior Pakistani security official, when quizzed on a U.S. intelligence official’s assertion that bin Laden had been “active in operational planning and in driving tactical decisions” of the Islamist militant group from his secret home in the town of Abbottabad.
On Saturday, the White House released five video clips of bin Laden taken from the compound, most of them showing the al Qaeda leader, his beard dyed black, evidently rehearsing the videotaped speeches he sometimes distributed to his followers.
None of the videos was released with sound. A U.S. intelligence official said it had been removed because the United States did not want to transmit bin Laden’s propaganda. But he said they contained the usual criticism of the United States as well as capitalism.
http://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/world/9337831/scepticism-in-pakistan-over-bin-ladens-alleged-role/
I agree 100%. Obongo decided to make a move to help his poll numbers and to possibly increase his chances for re-election which seemed to be looking slimmer. No way are Wookie and Valerie accepting only 4 years of riding the gravy train.
Some news reports have referred to information on safe houses among the intel. That kind of intel needs to be used immediately, before it becomes widely known. Why did Obama announce it worldwide on TV within hours of the raid, destroying any intel that had a short shelf-life?
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Pathological narcissism and rapidly plummeting poll numbers, that’s why.
Verity = truth
Is the optical tale truth?
This is the only report I recall
That’s a good point. Perhaps he believed he was safe there with (apparent) Pakistani approval?
Turds float.
I heard a plausable theory that the whole operation was a show staged to cover up Pakistan turning over Bin Ladens body after dying of other causes
Telling AQ we got good stuff is just insane.
I just hope that they’re actually right about how significant to we the people who pay for these operations. Give it all the razzle-dazzle you want, but then we can tell, based on how long, or how much evidence/documentation of the big busts in the future, you can actually turn up.
My feelings are that bin Laden became less significant between the time of 9/11 and when he was finally taken out. It’s possible, he handed command over to numerous other members so that they could take care of more without immediate notice.
No...I’m not saying that. Bush was more concerned about the network of active terrorists than he was concerned about one man.
Had he known where OBL was, he would have blown him to smithereens.
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