By Jim Emerson, staff writer
The 10 year effort to track down and find Osama bin Laden took dedicated determination of intelligence personnel. Their effort paid off last Sunday with the killing of the world’s number one terrorist.
How they did it.
Even though bin Laden stopped openly communicating since he and his followers escaped from Tora Bora. The intelligence community focused on bin Laden’ inner circle and traced them to Abbottabad, Pakistan where Osama’s couriers had an unusually large resident. This is was where the Al Qaeda leader has been hiding for the last five to six years. He was hiding in plain sight.
Interrogations
Captured terrorist provided the first clue about the location of the Al Qaeda leader. According to the Washington Times an unnamed defense official pointed out that “captured al Qaeda trainee Ahmed Siddiqui was arrested in July and disclosed to U.S. interrogators in Afghanistan that bin Laden was hiding in a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.”
It was captured terrorists that revealed that bin Laden was living with one of his couriers and that the courier and his brother were sheltering the terrorist and protecting him since 2005. Extraordinary security practices by the brothers made it difficult to locate the exact location of the hideout. They were careful that no electronic communication entered or exited the compound.
Big Break
Once it was discovered who is possibly hiding America’s most wanted a plan was put together. An intercepted phone call to Osama’s hideout provided the exact location of the compound and placed under human surveillance. Satellite reconnaissance and tracking added valuable information for the mission planners as the strike date came closer.
CIA Safe House
One of the most valuable methods of gathering intelligence is to get eyes on the target. The CIA took over a nearby safe house to observe the daily activities of the compound and talk to local residences about the compound and it occupants. The agents also collected information about the lay of the land, any security measures used by bin Laden and his men and any other external protection forces the terrorists could count on.
Close Hold
The greatest asset in planning a clandestine operation is secrecy. All intelligence was closely held and not revealed to Pakistanis or anyone else who might leak information to al Qaeda or the press. To a great extent the mission was a success because Americans and the rest of the world learned about attack after it was completed.
Joint Special Operations Command, at Ft Bragg, planned and coordinated the operation and proposed the mission to the President and the Joint Chiefs of staff. Such missions cannot go ahead without the President’s approval. As for the courier and his brother, their post mortem pictures could be seen on the internet thanks to Reuters.
Pictures of three al-Qaeda defenders of the compound killed in the operation can be viewed on line.
To contact your Congressional Representative use this link: http://www.contactingthecongress.org/
This day in history May 7
1945: Germany unconditionally surrendered to the allies and World War II ended in Europe.
To read more about the killing of bin Laden use these links:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/may/2/intelligence-break-led-to-bin-ladens-hide-out/print/
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/06/world/asia/06intel.html?hp
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/gallery/2011/may/04/osama-bin-laden-compound?picture=374256178
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Hello,
Yet with all the mind numbing blathering by this so-called President that we have to endure as of right now, he would never, no never, have gotten to the point that he got to find this bastard-[BIN LADEN]-If it was not for the work of the former President–GEORGE W. BUSH. MAY GOD BLESS HIM FOR KEEPING AMERICA AS SAFE AS HE COULD DURING HIS TENURE IN OFFICE.
It appears Trump got the timing advanced. With the lack of proof of citizenship (COLB) causing huge drop in popularity Obama/Soetoro panicked and got Hawaii to provide (manufacture) one and went abruptly ahead with the mission rather than his usual procrastination. His left wing protective press has a field day to help produce a popularity boost.
Of course because of Obama/Soetoro parentage he is still not eligible for Presidency but the accent on place requirement and birther term caused a diversion of the parentage requirement. Even the one successful previous usurper, Chester Arthur was the son of a father who became a loyal citizen after his birth and remained in the US unlike our present usurper who unfortunately had a "hit and run" alien father which he cherishes and rubs in our noses according to the documentation provided by him and Hawaii.
Have a nice day.
Is there a purposeful whitewash of the tactics used to get bin Laden? The original connection to the courier came in the form of a "nickname" of the courier given up during waterboarding. It took time to get the real name of the courier, and when the name was mentioned to KSM and another top captured terrorist, they insisted they did not know who it was. Their denials threw up a red flag, as they could not have NOT known someone this close to bin Laden, and their insistence led to further investigation and the eventual capture.
I don't feel any description of the capture of bin Laden is accurate without mentioning the critical role played by waterboarding, which, regardless of the redefining of language attempted by the left, is not torture.
Donald Rumsfeld would seem to be the point person, with personal knowledge, and his account has been verified by Leon Pantetta, (grudgingly)
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/rep-peter-king-intel-t…
http://www.fireandreamitchell.com/2011/05/03/cia-…
There are those, like Alan Colmes, who can't seem to understand English well enough to understand Donald Rumsfeld when he said no waterboarding information came from Gitmo.
Colmes and others pounce on that and say "see, waterboarding didn't do it!"
They ignore Rumsfeld saying the waterboarding occurred elsewhere, and produced the name that led directly to the capture. http://www.alan.com/2011/05/04/donald-rumsfelds-o…
Ron Reale
realetybytes.com
Guts and courage? The SEALS who went into the compound had guts and courage. Obama didn't have to have either of these to tell OTHERS to "go ahead". Do we even know what words mean anymore? How long does Obama continue with his victory lap as he "congratulates" others while swimming in false humility? Real humility would have been keeping his yap shut and saying he was working on other important issues.