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 ...
bin Laden is Number Six?
The only thing he was trying to command were his bowel movements. The dude was sick and depressed. The place was a dump as other new photos show crap strewn around outside and neglected fruit trees. He had a satellite dish to while the time away watching the boob tube and looking for any mentions of his past glory.
His wife said Osama hadn’t left his room in five years. IMO this is not true but what is true, is that he spent 90% of time in his room feeling ill and out of it from renal and other problems. I’ll bet Osama was broke and one of family kept him barely afloat
———no internet,-——
There was one report of a buried fiber optic cable..
If true, he was well plugged in with no radiating signals
bin Laden probably wasn’t significant to terrorism any more. The real terrorists knew if he was the head honcho, he would be too much of a liability anyway, so they “left” him for the most part. How’s a guy who is supposedly in good health, and under pressure from drones and special forces supposed to be a positive asset. The rest of the organization ditched him behind to be a magnet for our military forces, assuming the SEAL Team did take him out. I would be willing to say he was living in such a dump, with so little resistance, that they had to cut and paste a tale to make it all sound so brave and so valiant how they finally found and killed him, when perhaps what they really saw was pretty clear evidence that the man was plain out left behind as bird bait.
Huh? Obama spoke on Sunday night. Or did this reporter slip something...?
I agree. Someone was couriering in Net droppings and e-mails on media .... he had access somewhere in town, or down the road, with a two-legged slow interface.
It was Monday morning in Pakistan when the raid took place.
We'll know if they release the fact there was a stash of Ovaltine in the house...
Pardon my ignorance, but what about wifi?
Really?! It would be interesting to find out he secretly had a cache and privileges on Paki military nets .... via ISI maybe? Then he could surf all the jihadi sites he wanted, with presumption being, on the part of anyone seeing the activity, that someone in ISI was nosing around collecting intel.
Do you have a source for the report?
Make up a bunch of emails with instructions, give them to your courier, and go to bed. Your courier drives a few hundred miles, finds one of many houses in Pakistan with unsecured wifi, uploads your email, downloads info, drives back and hands you the info and responses while you're having breakfast.
Wifi is internet access.
Nope.
Search for "Bin Laden intelligence coup" or similar.
You will see quotes and 'sources' in the Admin, Senate, Congress, Pentagon, CIA, "intelligence agencies' etc.
Not confined to the WH by a LONG shot.
Washingtonian stupidity is not confined to one building.
There is no internet connection here, either.
#21 on Michelle Malkin’s list of stories from BHO&CO
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.