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You can check out the news articles on the George W. Bush murder of Saddam Hussein here.

The American Empire murders Osama bin Laden? Or is this just a publicity stunt to get Obama reelected in 2012.

"A U.S. official later said bin Laden had been buried at sea" - which is why I think this might be made up as a publicity stunt to get Obama reelected in 2012. With nobody left it is pretty hard to prove Osama bin Laden has been assassinated.

I am not saying the Feds made this up, I am just raising the question. I don't known.

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Official: Osama bin Laden buried at sea

May. 2, 2011 12:59 AM

Associated Press

WASHINGTON - A U.S. official says Osama bin Laden has been buried at sea.

After bin Laden was killed in a raid by U.S. forces in Pakistan, senior administration officials said the body would be handled according to Islamic practice and tradition.

That practice calls for the body to be buried within 24 hours, the official said. Finding a country willing to accept the remains of the world's most wanted terrorist would have been difficult, the official said. So the U.S. decided to bury him at sea.

The official, who spoke Monday on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive national security matters, did not immediately say where that occurred.

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Obama: Al-Qaida head bin Laden dead

by Julie Pace and Matt Apuzzo - May. 2, 2011 01:21 AM

Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- Osama bin Laden, the glowering mastermind behind the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks that killed thousands of Americans, was slain in his luxury hideout in Pakistan early Monday in a firefight with U.S. forces, ending a manhunt that spanned a frustrating decade.

"Justice has been done," President Barack Obama said in a dramatic announcement at the White House.

A jubilant crowd of thousands gathered outside the White House as word spread of bin Laden's death. Hundreds more sang and waved American flags at Ground Zero in New York -- where the twin towers that once stood as symbols of American economic power were brought down by bin Laden's hijackers 10 years ago.

Another hijacked plane slammed into the Pentagon on that cloudless day, and a fourth was commandeered by passengers who forced it to the ground -- at cost of their own lives -- before it could reach its intended target in Washington.

The United States attacked Afghanistan within months, pursuing al-Qaida, and an invasion of Iraq followed as part of the Bush administration's global war on terror.

U.S. officials said the CIA tracked bin Laden to his location, then elite troops from Navy SEAL Team Six, a top military counter-terrorism unit, flew to the hideout in four helicopters. Bin Laden was shot in the head in an ensuing firefight, these officials said, adding that he and his guards had resisted his attackers. U.S. personnel identified him by facial recognition, the official said, declining to say whether DNA analysis had also been used.

The U.S. team took custody of bin Laden's remains. A U.S. official later said bin Laden had been buried at sea and the remains were handled in accordance with Islamic practice, which calls for speedy burial.

The official, who spoke Monday on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive national security matters, said it would have been difficult to find a country willing to accept the remains. The official did not say where the body was buried.

Obama said no Americans were harmed in the operation. Three adult males were also killed in the raid, including one of bin Laden's sons, whom officials did not name. One of bin Laden's sons, Hamza, is a senior member of al-Qaida. U.S. officials also said one woman was killed when she was used as a shield by a male combatant, and two other women were injured.

The operation occurred in pre-dawn darkness on Monday in Pakistan -- Sunday afternoon in Washington. Obama went on television late Sunday night to make the announcement.

Bin Laden's death marks a psychological triumph in a long struggle that began with the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, and seems certain to give Obama a political lift. But its ultimate impact on al-Qaida is less clear.

The greatest terrorist threat to the U.S. is now considered to be the al-Qaida franchise in Yemen, far from al-Qaida's core in Pakistan. The Yemen branch almost took down a U.S.-bound airliner on Christmas 2009 and nearly detonated explosives aboard two U.S. cargo planes last fall. Those operations were carried out without any direct involvement from bin Laden.

Obama provided few details of the operation beyond to say that he had personally ordered it be carried out. Other officials said it was so secretive that no foreign officials were informed in advance, and only a small circle inside the administration was aware of what was unfolding half a world away.

But within hours of the announcement, Pakistani officials and a witness said bin Laden's guards had opened fire from the roof of the building, and one of the choppers crashed. The sound of at least two explosions rocked the small northwestern town of Abbottabad, where the al-Qaida chief made his last stand.

Flames were visible after the attack on the building, which was located about 100 yards from the gates of a Pakistani military academy -- certain to raise questions about al-Qaida's ability to build a custom-made hideout in such close proximity.

Abbottabad, surrounded by hills and with mountains in the distance, is less than half a day's drive from the border region with Afghanistan, where most intelligence assessments believed bin Laden was holed up.

The White House said Obama convened at least nine meetings with top national security officials in the lead-up to Sunday's raid.

The president spent part of the day on the golf course, but cut his round short to return to the White House for a meeting where he and top national security aides reviewed final preparations for the raid.

Two hours later, Obama was told that bin Laden had been tentatively identified.

CIA director Leon Panetta was directly in charge of the military team during the operation, according to one official, and when he and his aides received word at agency headquarters that bin Laden had been killed, cheers broke out around the conference room table.

Halfway around the world, in Abbotabad, one witness described a military raid carried out under darkness.

"I heard a thundering sound, followed by heavy firing. Then firing suddenly stopped. Then more thundering, then a big blast," said Mohammad Haroon Rasheed. "In the morning when we went out to see what happened, some helicopter wreckage was lying in an open field."

A Pakistani official in the town said fighters on the roof opened fire on the choppers with rocket-propelled grenades. Another official said the four helicopters took off from the Ghazi air base in northwest Pakistan.

The U.S. and Pakistani officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information.

Obama said he gave the order for the operation after receiving intelligence information that he did not further describe.

Former President George W. Bush, who was in office on the day of the attacks, issued a written statement hailing bin Laden's death as a momentous achievement. "The fight against terror goes on, but tonight America has sent an unmistakable message: No matter how long it takes, justice will be done," he said.

Senior administration officials said the terrorist mastermind was found inside a custom-built compound with two security gates. They said it appeared to have been constructed to harbor one high-value target and that for undisclosed reasons, officials believed the hideout was bin Laden's.

The stunning end to the world's most widely-watched manhunt came just months before the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Centers and Pentagon, orchestrated by al-Qaida, that killed nearly 3,000 people.

The attacks a decade ago seemed to come out of nowhere, even though al-Qaida had previously struck American targets overseas.

The terrorists hijacked planes, flew one of them into one of Manhattan's Twin Towers -- and, moments later, into the other one. Both buildings collapsed, trapping thousands inside and also claiming the lives of firefighters and others who had rushed to help them.

A third plane slammed into the Pentagon, defacing the symbol of America's military night. Officials have speculated that the fourth plane had been heading for the U.S. Capitol or perhaps even the White House when it crashed in Pennsylvania.

Based on statements given by U.S. detainees, intelligence officials have known for years that bin Laden trusted one al-Qaida courier in particular, and they believed he might be living with him in hiding. In November, intelligence officials found out where he was living, a huge fortified compound. It was surrounded by walls as high as 18 feet high, topped with barbed wire. There were two security gates and no phone or Internet running into the house.

Intelligence officials believed the $1 million home was custom-built to harbor a major terrorist. CIA experts analyzed whether it could be anyone else, but time and again, they decided it was almost certainly bin Laden.

Obama spoke with Bush and former President Bill Clinton Sunday night to inform them of the developments.

The president struck a less than boastful tone in his brief announcement, although he said the death of bin Laden was "the most significant achievement to date in our nation's effort to defeat al-Qaida.

"His death does not mark the end of our effort. There's no doubt that al-Qaida will continue to pursue attacks against us. We must and we will remain vigilant," he added.

Moments after Obama spoke, the State Department put U.S. embassies on alert and warned of the heightened possibility for anti-American violence. In a worldwide travel alert, the department said there was an "enhanced potential for anti-American violence given recent counterterrorism activity in Pakistan."

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Small U.S. team raided compound, killed Osama bin Laden

by Dan Nowicki - May. 1, 2011 11:23 PM

The Arizona Republic

Nearly a decade after he launched the deadliest terrorist attacks on U.S. soil, notorious al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden met his doom early Sunday in a firefight with a small U.S. team in a compound in a suburb of Islamabad, Pakistan.

President Barack Obama ordered the raid that killed the man behind the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that destroyed the World Trade Center in New York and damaged the Pentagon.

"Osama bin Laden is now no longer a threat to America," a senior administration official told journalists late Sunday night in a conference call. "This remarkable achievement could not have happened without persistent effort and careful planning over many years."

U.S. intelligence analysts became suspicious of the $1 million mansion where bin Laden was found - described as "an extraordinarily unique compound" - once they linked it to a specific al-Qaida courier with ties to 9/11 planner Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. Built in 2005, it was about eight times bigger than other houses in the area. It had 12- to 18-foot walls with barbed wire and two security gates. Unlike their neighbors, the occupants burned their trash. They had no telephone line or Internet connection.

"We had high confidence that the compound harbored a high-value terrorist target," a second senior administration official said. "The experts who worked this issue for years assessed that there was a strong probability that the terrorist who was hiding there was Osama bin Laden."

Intelligence authorities soon suspected that bin Laden and relatives were living there. On Sunday, a small U.S. team hit the compound with a helicopter raid. The surgical strike was planned to minimize collateral damage. The Americans were on the ground for less than 40 minutes. Bin Laden resisted the U.S. team along with three other adult men, who were also killed, officials said. The dead are believed to include the al-Qaida courier and his brother and bin Laden's adult son. Another woman died after one of the fighters tried to use her as a shield. One helicopter was lost due to mechanical failure. The crew destroyed it.

The body of bin Laden, in the custody of U.S. forces, was being handled with sensitivity to Islamic traditions and practices, an official said on the media call.

"Today's success was a team effort," another senior administration official said. "Since 9/11, this is what the American people have expected of us. Today, in this critical operation, we were able to finally deliver."

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Bin Laden killed in fiery raid in Pakistan

by Nahal Toosi - May. 2, 2011 04:41 AM

Associated Press

ABBOTTABAD, Pakistan -- Four helicopters swooped in early Monday and killed Osama bin Laden in a fiery American raid on his fortress-like compound in a Pakistani town that is home to three army regiments. His location raised pointed questions of whether Pakistani authorities knew the whereabouts of the world's most wanted man.

The al-Qaida chief was living in a house in the town of Abbottabad that a U.S. official said was "custom built to hide someone of significance." Abbottabad is around 60 miles from the capital Islamabad, a far cry from the remote mountain caves along the Pakistan-Afghanistan tribal border where most intelligence assessments had put bin Laden in recent years.

Residents said the compound was around one kilometer (half a mile) away from the Kakul Military Academy, an army run institution for top officers and one of several military installations in the bustling, hill-ringed town of around 400,000 people.

An American administration official said the compound was built in 2005 at the end of a narrow dirt road with "extraordinary" security measures. He said it had 12 to 18-feet walls topped with barbed wire with two security gates and no telephone or Internet service connected to it.

A Pakistan intelligence official said the property where bin Laden was staying was 3,000 square feet.

Critics have long accused elements of Pakistan's security establishment of protecting bin Laden, though Islamabad has always denied this. Ties between the United States and Pakistan have hit a low point in recent months over the future of Afghanistan, and any hint of possible Pakistani collusion with bin Laden could hit them hard even amid the jubilation of getting American's No. 1 enemy.

Pakistan's government and army are very sensitive to concerns that they are working under the orders of America and allowing U.S. forces to operate here. Some critics assailed Pakistan for allowing the operation and tried to appeal to nationalist sentiments, while at least one Islamist party was planning a protest against the killing of man idolized by militants inside Pakistan.

Pakistan's former President Pervez Musharraf, who is eyeing a political comeback, said the "killing was the success of all peace loving people of the world." But he also said the Americans should not have been allowed to operate independently in the country.

One Pakistani official said the choppers took off from a Pakistani air base, suggesting some cooperation in the raid. President Barack Obama said Pakistan had provided some information leading to the raid, did not thank the country in his statement on bin Laden's death.

Pakistan's intelligence agency and the CIA have cooperated in joint raids before against al-Qaida suspects in Pakistan on several occasions since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. But U.S. and Pakistani officials indicated that this mission was too important to let anyone know more than a few minutes in advance.

Pakistan's foreign office hailed the death as a breakthrough in the international campaign against militancy, and noted al-Qaida "had declared war on Pakistan" and killed thousands of Pakistani civilians and security officers.

It stressed that the operation to kill bin Laden was an American one, and did not mention any concerns that Pakistani officials may have been protecting bin Laden in some way. Domestically, the already weak government may yet face criticism by political opponents and Islamists for allowing U.S. forces to kill bin Laden on its soil, but there were no signs of a major backlash Monday.

Pakistani officials said a son of bin Laden and three other people were killed. Other unidentified males were taken by helicopter away from the scene, while four children and two woman were arrested and left in an ambulance, the official said.

A witness and a Pakistani official said bin Laden's guards opened fire from the roof of the compound in the small northwestern town of Abbottabad, and one of the choppers crashed. However U.S. officials said no Americans were hurt in the operation. The sound of at least two explosions rocked Abbottabad as the fighting raged.

It was not known how long bin Laden had been in Abbottabad, which is less than half a day's drive from the border region with Afghanistan. But Pakistani intelligence agencies are normally very sharp in sniffing out the presence of foreigners, especially in towns with a heavy military presence.

Locals said large Landcruisers and other expensive cars were seen driving into the compound, which is in a regular middle-class neighborhood of dirt covered, litter-strewn roads and small shops. Cabbage and other vegetables are planted in empty plots in the neighborhood.

Salman Riaz, a film actor, said that five months ago he and a crew tried to do some filming next to the house, but were told to stop by two men who came out.

"They told me that this is haram (forbidden in Islam)," he said.

Abbottabad resident Mohammad Haroon Rasheed said the raid happened about 1:15 a.m. local time.

"I heard a thundering sound, followed by heavy firing. Then firing suddenly stopped. Then more thundering, then a big blast," he said. "In the morning when we went out to see what happened, some helicopter wreckage was lying in an open field."

Qasim Khan, 18, who lives in a house just across the compound, said he saw two Pakistani men going in and coming out of the house often in the past several years. One of them was relatively a fat man with a beard, he said.

"I never saw anybody else with the two men but, some kids sometime would accompany them. I never saw any foreigner."

Relations between Pakistan's main intelligence agency and the CIA had been very strained in recent months. A Pakistani official has said that joint operations had been stopped as a result, and that the agency was demanding the Americans cut down on drone strikes in the border area.

In late January, a senior Indonesian al-Qaida operative, Umar Patek, was arrested at another location in Abbottabad.

News of his arrest only broke in late March. A Pakistani intelligence official said its officers were led to the house where Patek was staying after they arrested an al-Qaida facilitator, Tahir Shahzad, who worked at the post office there.

Sick Americans celebrate the murder of Osama bin Laden by the American Empire

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News and jubilation spread fast after Bin Laden's death

By Tina Susman, Geraldine Baum and Nathaniel Popper, Los Angeles Times

May 2, 2011, 12:14 a.m.

Reporting from New York— "Justice served."

"We got him!"

"I don't believe it."

"I'm glad he's dead."

There were joyful cries of victory. There was skepticism from those who demanded to see a corpse. There were huge crowds waving U.S. flags outside the White House, and people erupting into chants of "USA!" on the dark streets around the former World Trade Center in New York. And there were the bitter words of a mother still mourning the son lost on Sept. 11, 2001.

There was no shortage of reaction across the nation to the news late Sunday of Osama bin Laden's death, but in the city hit hardest by the attacks, joy at the news was tempered with anguish over the loved ones lost a decade ago, and the time it took to end the reign of the world's most wanted terrorist.

There was also a tacit acknowledgment that the killing of Bin Laden by U.S. forces in Pakistan could have repercussions.

In the minutes after the announcement came from the White House, though, there were few signs of worry — not even in Times Square, where exactly one year earlier a Pakistani-born immigrant angered over the U.S. war in Afghanistan had tried to blow up a car bomb. On this night, passersby clambered atop a New York fire truck as the news blazed in giant letters across the neon billboards surrounding the square.

A few miles south, the darkened streets around the former World Trade Center came to life as crowds surged toward the massive construction site, blasting horns and singing "God Bless America." It began as a slow trickle, then grew to hundreds. Some men shimmied up a light pole and popped corks from champagne bottles over the swelling crowd. Police blared sirens and blasted bagpipes through loudspeakers.

"There's no better place in the country to be right now," said David Polyansky, 40, who rejoined the Marines after the Sept. 11 attacks and served a year in Iraq. He now lives near the former World Trade Center.

The news triggered a massive emotional release in Washington, where a spontaneous celebration erupted on Pennsylvania Avenue along the White House fence. A mostly young crowd ecstatically waved flags, cheered and sang the national anthem, its numbers growing from dozens to hundreds and beyond as midnight passed.

People sprinted from around the downtown Washington area to join in the jubilation, which took on the air of a city celebrating a professional sports championship.

"I was watching on CNN and just the excitement, I couldn't miss it," said Derek Guizado, 25, a Georgetown law student originally from Los Alamitos. "I had to come down here for this. This is such a big moment."

Participants and commentators could not avoid the comparison to the scene 10 years ago, when the same streets were gripped in fear as the terrorist attacks unfolded.

It also was impossible not to contrast the jubilation in the streets with the quiet contemplation expressed by relatives of those who lost their lives in the attacks, such as Jay Winuk, whose brother, Glenn, died at the World Trade Center.

"I don't know if we'll ever quite feel closure," Winuk said. "It's hard when you think about it. I don't know what my brothers' last moments were like. We only got partial remains back. How does that bring closure?"

"There's no such thing as closure," said Rosemary Cain, whose firefighter son, George C. Cain, died that day while doing his job. "There would be closure if my doorbell would ring and my son would be standing at my front door," she told NY1, the city's all-news channel, making no attempt to hide the bitterness at her loss. "I'm glad he's dead," she said of Bin Laden.

Paula Berry, whose husband died at the World Trade Center, said her 17-year-old son, Reed, put it beautifully when he said that Bin Laden's death would not bring his father back or restore their lost years. "But it does ensure that [Bin Laden] will never play a role in taking the life away from an innocent person," Reed told his mother.

Most family members reached said they were still too stunned to fully absorb the news. Some, like Winuk, said they looked forward to hearing more details of the terrorist leader's death. Others, like Pat Shanower, whose son, Navy Cmdr. Dan F. Shanower, 40, was killed in the Pentagon, said relief at Bin Laden's death was tinged with worry for the future.

"It's one step, I hope, for an eventual peace for our country," she said, adding, "I don't think this is the end. … I'm sure there are people that are going to fill Bin Laden's shoes now."

Others said it would take time to feel true relief.

Outside the homes of those still mourning the loss of loved ones, though, nobody needed time to start celebrating.

In Tuscaloosa, Ala., a man drove through the parking lot of the Wal-Mart with his window down, shouting at strangers. "Osama bin laden's dead!" he yelled, a huge smile on his face. "We got him!"

In Los Angeles, about 25 USC students were just finishing a ceremonial dinner at the campus Chabad House when whispers began making their way around the table and diners became focused on their phones. "Osama bin Laden is dead! It's on Twitter," one student finally said out loud. The room erupted in cheers and high fives.

To the south in Long Beach, Del Warren, whose 28-year-old son, Kyle, was killed by a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan in July, said he started tearing up when his son's widow texted him with the news. "It's fabulous," Warren said, glued to the TV. "That's the reason my son was over there. This is just huge."

At an upscale Italian restaurant in South Lake Tahoe, Calif., a party asked its waitress whether she'd heard the news of Bin Laden's death.

"I thought we killed him a long time ago," she said, and glanced at her note pad. The diners chuckled. "We should have strung him up," one of them said.

tina.susman@latimes.com

geraldine.baum@latimes.com

nathaniel.popper@latimes.com

"President Barack Obama, whose popularity suffered from continuing U.S. economic woes, will likely see a short-term bounce in his approval ratings" - A guaranteed way to increase your popularity ratings for the 2012 election - murder one of your enemies?

"However, Bin Laden's death is unlikely to have any impact on the nearly decade-long war in Afghanistan" - of course the murder won't even slightly effect the American Empires war on terror, which is really a war on Arabs and Muslims, and of course a war on the U.S Constitution and Bill of Rights.

Source

World on alert after U.S. kills bin Laden

Mark Hosenball and Kamran Haider Reuters

10:07 a.m. CDT, May 2, 2011

WASHINGTON/ABBOTTABAD, Pakistan (Reuters) - Osama bin Laden was killed in a U.S. assault on his Pakistani compound on Monday, then quickly buried at sea, in a dramatic end to the long manhunt for the al Qaeda leader who had become the most powerful symbol of global terrorism.

World leaders hailed bin Laden's death but the euphoria was tempered by fears of retaliation and warnings of renewed vigilance against attacks.

The death of bin Laden, who achieved near-mythic status for his ability to elude capture under three U.S. presidents, closes a bitter chapter in the fight against al Qaeda, but it does not eliminate the threat of further attacks.

The September 11, 2001, attacks, in which al Qaeda militants used hijacked planes to strike at economic and military symbols of American might, spawned two wars, in Afghanistan and Iraq, inflicted damage on U.S. ties with the Muslim world that have yet to be repaired, and redefined security for air travelers.

A small U.S. strike team, dropped by helicopter to bin Laden's compound near the Pakistani capital Islamabad under the cover of night, shot dead the al Qaeda leader in a firefight, U.S. officials said.

"This was a kill operation," one security official told Reuters, but added: "If he had waved a white flag of surrender he would have been taken alive."

The revelation that bin Laden was living in a three-story residence in the military garrison town of Abbottabad, and not as many had speculated, in the country's lawless western border regions, is a huge embarrassment to Pakistan, whose relations with Washington have frayed under the Obama administration.

President Barack Obama, whose popularity suffered from continuing U.S. economic woes, will likely see a short-term bounce in his approval ratings. At the same time, he is likely to face mounting pressure from Americans to speed up the planned withdrawal this July of U.S. forces from Afghanistan.

However, Bin Laden's death is unlikely to have any impact on the nearly decade-long war in Afghanistan, where U.S. forces are facing record violence by a resurgent Taliban.

Many analysts see bin Laden's death as largely symbolic since he was no longer believed to have been issuing operational orders to the many autonomous al Qaeda affiliates around the world.

Financial markets were more optimistic. The dollar and stocks rose, while oil and gold fell, on the view bin Laden's death reduced global security risks.

WARNINGS OF AL QAEDA REVENGE

Fearful of revenge attacks, the United States swiftly issued security warnings to Americans worldwide.

CIA Director Leon Panetta said al Qaeda would "almost certainly" try to avenge bin Laden's death.

"Though Bin Laden is dead, al Qaeda is not. The terrorists almost certainly will attempt to avenge him, and we must -- and will -- remain vigilant and resolute," Panetta said.

France's President Nicolas Sarkozy hailed the killing as a coup in the fight against terrorism, but he, too, warned it did not spell al Qaeda's demise.

British Prime Minster David Cameron said the West would have to be "particularly vigilant" in the weeks ahead.

U.S. officials said bin Laden was found in a million-dollar compound in Abbottabad, 35 miles north of Islamabad. After 40 minutes of fighting, bin Laden, three other men and a woman, who U.S. officials said was used as a human shield, lay dead.

A source familiar with the operation said bin Laden was shot in the head after the U.S. military team, which included members of the Navy's elite Seals unit, stormed the compound.

Television pictures from inside the house showed bloodstains smeared across a floor next to a large bed.

BURIED AT SEA

Two officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said bin Laden was buried at sea. A third official said this was done to prevent a gravesite on land becoming a shrine for followers.

It was the biggest national security victory for the president since he took office in early 2009 and will make it difficult for Republicans to portray Democrats as weak on security as he seeks re-election in 2012.

In sharp contrast to the celebrations in America, on the streets of Saudi Arabia, bin Laden's native land, there was a mood of disbelief and sorrow among many. The Palestinian Islamist group Hamas mourned bin Laden as an "Arab holy warrior."

But many in the Arab world felt his death was long overdue. For many Arabs, inspired by the popular upheavals in Egypt, Libya and elsewhere over the past few months, the news of bin Laden's death had less significance than it once might have.

PAKISTAN TOLD AFTER RAID

The operation could complicate relations with Pakistan, a key U.S. ally in the battle against militancy and the war in Afghanistan. Those ties have already been damaged over U.S. drone strikes in the west of the country and the six-week imprisonment of a CIA contractor earlier this year.

Pakistani authorities were told the details of the raid only after it had taken place, highlighting the lack of trust between Washington and Islamabad.

"For some time there will be a lot of tension between Washington and Islamabad because bin Laden seems to have been living here close to Islamabad," said Imtiaz Gul, a Pakistani security analyst.

Bin Laden was finally found after U.S. forces discovered in August 2010 that one of his most trusted couriers lived in an unusual and high-security building in Pakistan that had few outward facing windows and no Internet or telephone access.

"After midnight, a large number of commandos encircled the compound. Three helicopters were hovering overhead," said Nasir Khan, a resident of the town.

"All of a sudden there was firing toward the helicopters from the ground," said Khan, who watched the dramatic scene unfold from his rooftop.

Thousands of cheering and flag-waving people converged on the White House after Obama made his televised announcement. Similar celebrations erupted at New York's Ground Zero, site of the World Trade Center twin towers destroyed on September 11.

"I never figured I'd be excited about someone's death. It's been a long time coming," said firefighter Michael Carroll, 27, whose firefighter father died in the September 11 attacks.

Former President George W. Bush, whose eight-year presidency was defined by the September 11 attacks after he launched a global "war on terror" to root out Islamic militants, called the operation a "momentous achievement".

The United States is conducting DNA testing on bin Laden and used facial recognition techniques to help identify him, the official said.

(Additional reporting by Jeff Mason, Patricia Zengerle, Arshad Mohammed, Alister Bull, Missy Ryan, Mark Hosenball, Richard Cowan, Kristin Roberts, Andrew Quinn, Tabassum Zakaria, Joanne Allen and David Morgan in Washington and Chris Allbritton in Islamabad; Writing by Ross Colvin; editing by Jackie Frank)

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Detective Work on Courier Led to Breakthrough on Bin Laden

By MARK MAZZETTI and HELENE COOPER

Published: May 2, 2011

WASHINGTON — After years of dead ends and promising leads gone cold, the big break came last August.

A trusted courier of Osama bin Laden’s whom American spies had been hunting for years was finally located in a compound 35 miles north of the Pakistani capital, close to one of the hubs of American counterterrorism operations. The property was so secure, so large, that American officials guessed it was built to hide someone far more important than a mere courier.

What followed was eight months of painstaking intelligence work, culminating in a helicopter assault by American military and intelligence operatives that ended in the death of Bin Laden on Sunday and concluded one of history’s most extensive and frustrating manhunts.

American officials said that Bin Laden was shot in the head after he tried to resist the assault force, and that one of his sons died with him.

For nearly a decade, American military and intelligence forces had chased the specter of Bin Laden through Pakistan and Afghanistan, once coming agonizingly close and losing him in a pitched battle at Tora Bora, in the mountains of eastern Afghanistan. As Obama administration officials described it, the real breakthrough came when they finally figured out the name and location of Bin Laden’s most trusted courier, whom the Qaeda chief appeared to rely on to maintain contacts with the outside world.

Detainees at the prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, had given the courier’s pseudonym to American interrogators and said that the man was a protégé of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the confessed mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks.

American intelligence officials said Sunday night that they finally learned the courier’s real name four years ago, but that it took another two years for them to learn the general region where he operated.

Still, it was not until August that they tracked him to the compound in Abbottabad, a medium-sized city about an hour’s drive north of Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan.

C.I.A. analysts spent the next several weeks examining satellite photos and intelligence reports to determine who might be living at the compound. A senior administration official said that by September the C.I.A. had decided that there was a “strong possibility” that Bin Laden himself was hiding there.

It was hardly the spartan cave in the mountains that many had envisioned as Bin Laden’s hiding place. Rather, it was a mansion on the outskirts of the town’s center, set on an imposing hilltop and ringed by 12-foot-high concrete walls topped with barbed wire.

The property was valued at $1 million, but it had neither a telephone nor an Internet connection. Its residents were so concerned about security that they burned their trash rather putting it on the street for collection the way their neighbors did.

American officials believed that the compound, built in 2005, was designed for the specific purpose of hiding Bin Laden.

Months more of intelligence work would follow before American spies felt highly confident that it was indeed Bin Laden and his family who were hiding there — and before President Obama determined that the intelligence was solid enough to begin planning a mission to go after the Qaeda leader.

On March 14, Mr. Obama held the first of what would be five national security meetings in the course of the next six weeks to go over plans for the operation.

The meetings, attended by only the president’s closest national security aides, took place as other White House officials were scrambling to avert a possible government shutdown over the budget.

Four more similar meetings to discuss the plan would follow, until President Obama gathered his aides one final time last Friday.

At 8:20 that morning, Mr. Obama met with Thomas Donilon, the national security adviser; John O. Brennan, the counterterrorism adviser; and other senior aides in the Diplomatic Room at the White House. The president was traveling to Alabama later that morning to witness the damage from last week’s tornadoes. But first he had to approve the final plan to send operatives into the compound where the administration believed that Bin Laden was hiding.

Even after the president signed the formal orders authorizing the raid, Mr. Obama chose to keep Pakistan’s government in the dark about the operation.

“We shared our intelligence on this compound with no other country, including Pakistan,” a senior administration official said.

It is no surprise that the administration chose not to tell Pakistani officials. The United States never really believed the Pakistanis’ insistence that Bin Laden was not in their country. American diplomatic cables in recent years show constant American pressure on Pakistan to help find and kill Bin Laden.

Asked about the Qaeda leader’s whereabouts during a Congressional visit to Islamabad in September 2009, the Pakistani interior minister, Rehman Malik, replied that he “’had no clue,” but added that he did not believe that Bin Laden was in the area. Bin Laden had sent his family to Iran, so it made sense that he might have gone there himself, Mr. Malik argued. Alternatively, he might be hiding in Saudi Arabia or Yemen, or perhaps he was already dead, he added, according to a cable from the American Embassy that is among the collection obtained by WikiLeaks.

The mutual suspicions have grown worse in recent months, particularly after Raymond A. Davis, a C.I.A. contractor, shot two men on a crowded street in Lahore in January.

On Sunday, the small team of American military and intelligence operatives poured out of helicopters for their attack on the heavily fortified compound.

American officials gave few details about the raid itself, other than to say that a firefight broke out shortly after the commandos arrived and that Bin Laden had tried to “resist the assault force.”

When the shooting had stopped, Bin Laden and three other men lay dead. One woman, whom an American official said had been used as a human shield by one of the Qaeda operatives, was also killed.

The Americans collected Bin Laden’s body and loaded it onto one of the remaining helicopters, and the assault force hastily left the scene.

Obama administration officials said that one of helicopters went down during the mission because of mechanical failure, but that no Americans were injured.

It was 3:50 Eastern time on Sunday afternoon when President Obama received the news that Bin Laden had tentatively been identified, most likely after a series of DNA tests.

The Qaeda leader’s body was flown to Afghanistan, the country where he made his fame fighting and killing Soviet troops during the 1980s.

From there, American officials said, the body was buried at sea.

Source

Bin Laden’s Death Likely to Deepen Suspicions of Pakistan

By JANE PERLEZ

Published: May 2, 2011

The killing of Osama bin Laden deep inside Pakistan in an American operation, almost in plain sight in a medium-sized city that hosts numerous Pakistani forces, seems certain to further inflame tensions between the United States and Pakistan and raise significant questions about whether elements of the Pakistani spy agency knew the whereabouts of the leader of Al Qaeda.

The presence of Bin Laden in Pakistan, something Pakistani officials have long dismissed, goes to the heart of the lack of trust Washington has felt over the last 10 years with its contentious ally, the Pakistani military and its powerful spy partner, the Inter-Services Intelligence.

With Bin Laden’s death, perhaps the central reason for an alliance forged on the ashes of 9/11 has been removed, at a moment when relations between the countries are already at one of their lowest points as their strategic interests diverge over the shape of a post-war Afghanistan.

For nearly a decade, the United States has paid Pakistan more than $1 billion a year for counterterrorism operations whose chief aim was the killing or capture of Bin Laden, who slipped across the border from Afghanistan after the American invasion.

The circumstance of Bin Laden’s death may not only jeopardize that aid, but will also no doubt deepen suspicions that Pakistan has played a double game, and perhaps even knowingly harbored the Qaeda leader.

Bin Laden was not killed in the remote and relatively lawless tribal regions, where the United States has run a campaign of drone attacks aimed at Qaeda militants, where he was long rumored to have taken refuge, and where the reach of the Pakistani government is limited.

Rather, he was killed in Abbottabad, a city of about 500,000, in a large and highly secured compound that, a resident of the city said, sits virtually adjacent to the grounds of a military academy. In an ironic twist, the academy was visited just last month by the Pakistani military chief, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, where he proclaimed that Pakistan had “cracked” the forces of terrorism, an assessment that was greeted with skepticism in Washington.

In addition, the city hosts numerous Pakistani forces — three different regiments, and a unit of the Army Medical Corps. According to some reports, the compound and its elaborate walls and security gates may have been built specifically for the Qaeda leader in 2005, hardly an obscure undertaking in a part of the city that the resident described as highly secure.

A Qaeda operative, Umar Patek, an Indonesian involved in the Bali bombings in 2002, was captured in a house in Abbottabad in February where he was protected by a Qaeda courier, who worked as a clerk at the city post office.

Almost instantly, the death of Bin Laden in such a place in Pakistan led to fresh recriminations from its neighbors.

“The fundamental challenge is how does the West treat Pakistan from now on?” said Amrullah Saleh, the former intelligence director for Afghanistan and a fierce foe of Pakistan.

Still, it was too soon to say whether Bin Laden’s presence in Abbottabad reflected Pakistani complicity or incompetence.

The capture in Pakistan of other top Qaeda operatives, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and Abu Zubaydah, in the years immediately after 9/11 make it clear that Pakistan, a large country with a population relatively sympathetic to Al Qaeda, is easy to hide in, despite Pakistani denials. But those high-profile joint operations have declined in the last few years.

At the very least, Bin Laden’s death in Pakistan now will be highly embarrassing to the country’s military and intelligence establishment.

After the killing of Bin Laden became public in Pakistan, an ISI official confirmed his death but then insisted, contrary to President Obama’s statement, that he was killed in a joint United States-Pakistani operation, apparently an effort to show that Pakistan knew about the operation in advance.

On Monday, General Kayani, President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan, and the ISI chief, Lt. Gen. Ahmad Shuja Pasha, met in Islamabad but had not issued any statement more than six hours after Mr. Obama’s announcement of Bin Laden’s death.

General Kayani appears to be less enthusiastic about the alliance with the United States because he is under pressure from his senior generals, according to Pakistani officials who keep in touch with the military. About half of the 11 corps commanders, the generals who make up the senior command, have questioned the wisdom of the alliance, according the officials. Some of the younger mid-ranking officers — majors and captains — seem to have more sympathy for the militants than for the idea of fighting them, they said.

The Pakistani government and the military have played a delicate balancing act since 9/11 between sometimes trying to overtly support the United States in its goal to get rid of Al Qaeda, and local popular Pakistani sentiment that seemed to, at the very least, tolerate the militants. A Pew poll taken in Pakistan in early 2010 showed that only 3 percent of Pakistanis believed that Al Qaeda was a threat and 68 percent held a negative view of the United States.

After a C.I.A. contractor, Raymond A. Davis, shot and killed two Pakistanis in broad daylight in January in the city of Lahore, the balance tipped against the United States in Pakistani statements and attitudes.

In the aftermath of the shooting, General Kayani asked the American military to draw down its Special Operations training contingent and asked the Americans to remove C.I.A. contractors from Pakistan, as well as C.I.A. personnel who operate the drone campaign from an air base in southern Baluchistan, an American official said. The drone strikes against militants in the tribal areas, which American officials say have been effective, will continue despite Pakistani objections, American officials say.

Another major irritant has been the failure of the Pakistani military to heed the calls of the United States to squash the Qaeda-linked militants known as the Haqqani network, which is given a free hand by the Pakistanis in North Waziristan.

Two weeks ago, moments before meeting General Kayani in Islamabad, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, publicly lambasted the Pakistani military for allowing the Haqqani network to freely cross the border from Pakistan’s tribal areas into Afghanistan and kill American and NATO soldiers.

Bin Laden was an irritant, too, now removed. American officials have speculated over the last few years whether some Pakistani officials in the spy agency knew the whereabouts of Bin Laden. When asked, many Pakistani ISI officials nearly always gave the same answer: Bin Laden was dead, or they insisted, they did not know where he was.

Alissa J. Rubin contributed reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan, and Pir Zubair Shah from New York.

Source

The secret team that killed bin Laden

Washington, on Monday, May 2, 2011, …

By National Journal national Journal – 2 hrs 48 mins ago

By Marc Ambinder

From Ghazi Air Base in Pakistan, the modified MH-60 helicopters made their way to the garrison suburb of Abbottabad, about 30 miles from the center of Islamabad. Aboard were Navy SEALs, flown across the border from Afghanistan, along with tactical signals, intelligence collectors, and navigators using highly classified hyperspectral imagers.

After bursts of fire over 40 minutes, 22 people were killed or captured. One of the dead was Osama bin Laden, done in by a double tap -- boom, boom -- to the left side of his face. His body was aboard the choppers that made the trip back. One had experienced mechanical failure and was destroyed by U.S. forces, military and White House officials tell National Journal.

Were it not for this high-value target, it might have been a routine mission for the specially trained and highly mythologized SEAL Team Six, officially called the Naval Special Warfare Development Group, but known even to the locals at their home base Dam Neck in Virginia as just DevGru.

This HVT was special, and the raids required practice, so they replicated the one-acre compound at Camp Alpha, a segregated section of Bagram Air Base. Trial runs were held in early April.

DevGru belongs to the Joint Special Operations Command, an extraordinary and unusual collection of classified standing task forces and special-missions units. They report to the president and operate worldwide based on the legal (or extra-legal) premises of classified presidential directives. Though the general public knows about the special SEALs and their brothers in Delta Force, most JSOC missions never leak. We only hear about JSOC when something goes bad (a British aid worker is accidentally killed) or when something really big happens (a merchant marine captain is rescued at sea), and even then, the military remains especially sensitive about their existence. Several dozen JSOC operatives have died in Pakistan over the past several years. Their names are released by the Defense Department in the usual manner, but with a cover story -- generally, they were killed in training accidents in eastern Afghanistan. That's the code.

How did the helicopters elude the Pakistani air defense network? Did they spoof transponder codes? Were they painted and tricked out with Pakistan Air Force equipment? If so -- and we may never know -- two other JSOC units, the Technical Application Programs Office and the Aviation Technology Evaluation Group, were responsible. These truly are the silent squirrels -- never getting public credit and not caring one whit. Since 9/11, the JSOC units and their task forces have become the U.S. government's most effective and lethal weapon against terrorists and their networks, drawing plenty of unwanted, and occasionally unflattering, attention to themselves in the process.

JSOC costs the country more than $1 billion annually. The command has its critics, but it has escaped significant congressional scrutiny and has operated largely with impunity since 9/11. Some of its interrogators and operators were involved in torture and rendition, and the line between its intelligence-gathering activities and the CIA's has been blurred.

But Sunday's operation provides strong evidence that the CIA and JSOC work well together. Sometimes intelligence needs to be developed rapidly, to get inside the enemy's operational loop. And sometimes it needs to be cultivated, grown as if it were delicate bacteria in a petri dish.

In an interview at CIA headquarters two weeks ago, a senior intelligence official said the two proud groups of American secret warriors had been "deconflicted and basically integrated" -- finally -- 10 years after 9/11. Indeed, according to accounts given to journalists by five senior administration officials Sunday night, the CIA gathered the intelligence that led to bin Laden's location. A memo from CIA Director Leon Panetta sent Sunday night provides some hints of how the information was collected and analyzed. In it, he thanked the National Security Agency and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency for their help. NSA figured out, somehow, that there was no telephone or Internet service in the compound. How it did this without Pakistan's knowledge is a secret. The NGIA makes the military's maps but also develops their pattern recognition software -- no doubt used to help establish, by February of this year, that the CIA could say with "high probability" that bin Laden and his family were living there.

Recently, JSOC built a new Targeting and Analysis Center in Rosslyn, Va. Where the NationalCounterterrorism Center tends to focus on threats to the homeland, TAAC, whose existence was first disclosed by the Associated Press, focuses outward, on active "kinetic" -- or lethal -- counterterrorism-missions abroad. Its creation surprised the NCTC's director, Michael Leiter, who was suspicious about its intent until he visited.

That the center could be stood up under the nose of some of the nation's most senior intelligence officials without their full knowledge testifies to the power and reach of JSOC, whose size has tripled since 9/11. The command now includes more than 4,000 soldiers and civilians. It has its own intelligence division, which may or may not have been involved in last night's effort, and has gobbled up a number of free-floating Defense Department entities that allowed it to rapidly acquire, test, and field new technologies.

Under a variety of standing orders, JSOC is involved in more than 50 current operations spanning a dozen countries, and its units, supported by so-called "white," or acknowledged, special operations entities like Rangers, Special Forces battalions, SEAL teams, and Air Force special ops units from the larger Special Operations Command, are responsible for most of the "kinetic" action in Afghanistan.

Pentagon officials are conscious of the enormous stress that 10 years of war have placed on the command. JSOC resources are heavily taxed by the operational tempo in Afghanistan and Pakistan, officials have said. The current commander, Vice Adm. William McRaven, and Maj. Gen. Joseph Votel, McRaven's nominated replacement, have been pushing to add people and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance technology to areas outside the war theater where al-Qaida and its affiliates continue to thrive.

Earlier this year, it seemed that the elite units would face the same budget pressures that the entire military was experiencing. Not anymore. The military found a way, largely by reducing contracting staff and borrowing others from the Special Operations Command, to add 50 positions to JSOC. And Votel wants to add several squadrons to the "Tier One" units -- Delta and the SEALs.

When Gen. Stanley McChrystal became JSOC's commanding general in 2004, he and his intelligence chief, Maj. Gen. Michael Flynn, set about transforming the way the subordinate units analyze and act on intelligence. Insurgents in Iraq were exploiting the slow decision loop that coalition commanders used, and enhanced interrogation techniques were frowned upon after the Abu Ghraib scandal. But the hunger for actionable tactical intelligence on insurgents was palpable.

The way JSOC solved this problem remains a carefully guarded secret, but people familiar with the unit suggest that McChrystal and Flynn introduced hardened commandos to basic criminal forensic techniques and then used highly advanced and still-classified technology to transform bits of information into actionable intelligence. One way they did this was to create forward-deployed fusion cells, where JSOC units were paired with intelligence analysts from the NSA and the NGA. Such analysis helped the CIA to establish, with a high degree of probability, that Osama bin Laden and his family were hiding in that particular compound.

These technicians could "exploit and analyze" data obtained from the battlefield instantly, using their access to the government's various biometric, facial-recognition, and voice-print databases. These cells also used highly advanced surveillance technology and computer-based pattern analysis to layer predictive models of insurgent behavior onto real-time observations.

The military has begun to incorporate these techniques across the services. And Flynn will soon be promoted to a job within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, where he'll be tasked with transforming the way intelligence is gathered, analyzed, and utilized.

Source

Hunting bin Laden: How the mission went down

by Mike Allen - May. 2, 2011 10:57 AM

POLITICO.COM

The helicopter carrying Navy SEALs malfunctioned as it approached Osama bin Laden's compound at about 3:30 p.m. ET Sunday, stalling as it hovered. The pilot set it down gently inside the walls, then couldn't get it going again.

It was a heart-stopping moment for President Barack Obama, who had been monitoring the raid in the White House Situation Room since 1 p.m., surrounded by members of his war cabinet.

"Obviously, everyone was thinking about Black Hawk Down and Desert One," a senior administration official recalled.

The SEALs disembarked.

"The assault team went ahead and raided the compound, even though they didn't know if they would have a ride home," an official said.

The special forces put bombs on the crippled chopper and blew it up, then lifted off in a reinforcement craft just before 4:15 p.m., capping an astounding 40 minutes that gave the United States a tectonic victory in the 10-year war on terror touched off by 9/11.

"The world is safer. It is a better place because of the death of Osama bin Laden," Obama said at the White House Monday. [ What rubbish! The American Empire has murdered another person and the Muslim and Arab world will almost certainly launch a counter attack making the world a much LESS safer place to live. ]

The sick chopper turned out to be a tiny wrinkle in an astounding military and intelligence triumph. Bin Laden was shot in the face by the SEALs during a firefight after resisting capture. [ I guess firefight is a politically correct nice sounding word for gun fight! ]

Bin Laden's body was taken to the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson, and he was buried in the North Arabian Sea overnight - less than 12 hours after the raid, officials said. DNA from the remains provided certain confirmation that bin Laden was dead. [ How do we know the DNA is really Bin Laden's and that Uncle Sam isn't making the whole thing up? ] He was 54.

Here's how the world's most-hunted man was vanquished, as recounted by senior administration officials:

Contrary to the intelligence community's long-held belief that bin Laden was in a lawless "no man's land" on the Pakistani border, bin Laden had been hiding in a three-story house in a one-acre compound in Abbottabad, about 35 miles north of Islamabad, the Pakistani capital. Officials describe it as a relatively affluent community, with lots of residents who are retired military.

"Bin Laden was living in a relatively comfortable place: a compound valued at about $1 million," a senior U.S. official told POLITICO. [ Yes I suspect it would easily be worth $1 million in the USA, but it is hard to believe that it could cost that much in a third world country like Pakistan? ] "Many of his foot soldiers are located in some of the remotest regions of Pakistan and live in austere conditions. You've got to wonder if they're rethinking their respect for their dead leader. He obviously wasn't living as one of them." [ Of course the Supreme Leader of the American Empire, Barak Obama doesn't live in a mud hut either! ]

Officials described the raid as the culmination of years of highly advanced intelligence work that included the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), which specializes in imagery and maps, and the National Security Agency (NSA), the "codemakers and codebreakers" who can covertly watch and listen to conversations around the world. [ Hmmm... How much did it cost us to murder Bin Laden? A million bucks? A billion bucks? What ever it was it certainly wasn't worth it. ]

On June 2, 2009, just over four months into his presidency, Obama had signed a memo to CIA Director Leon Panetta stating "in order to ensure that we have expanded every effort, I direct you to provide me within 30 days a detailed operation plan for locating and bringing to justice" bin Laden.

In the biggest break in a global pursuit of bin Laden that stretched back to the Clinton administration, the U.S. discovered the compound by following one of the terrorist's personal couriers, identified by terrorist detainees as one of the few al Qaeda couriers who bin Laden trusted. [ So I guess they will use that as a lame excuse to justify the illegal treatment of all the POWs the American Empire is illegally holding in Guantánamo Bay ( or Guantanamo Bay with out the silly accent mark!) ]

"They indicated he might be living with and protecting bin Laden," a senior administration official told reporters on a midnight conference call. "Detainees gave us his nom de guerre, or his nickname, and identified him as both a protégé of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of September 11th, and a trusted assistant of Abu Faraj al-Libbi, the former number three of al Qaeda who was captured in 2005."

Officials didn't learn the courier's name until 2007. Then it took two years to find him and track him back to this compound, which was discovered in August 2010.

"It was a "Holy cow!" moment," an official said.

The compound had been relatively secluded when it was built in 2005 - on the outskirts of the town center, at the end of a narrow dirt road.

"In the last six years, some residential homes have been built nearby," an official said on the call. "The main structure, a three-story building, has few windows facing the outside of the compound. A terrace on the third floor . . . has a seven-foot privacy wall. . . . [T]he property is valued at approximately $1 million but has no telephone or Internet service connected to it." [ Not installing a phone or internet connection was probably a mistake on the part of Bin Laden, assuming this isn't a lie put out by the American government ]

Everything about the compound signaled that it was being used to hide someone important.

"It has 12- to 18-foot walls topped with barbed wire," the official said. "Internal wall sections - internal walls sectioned off different portions of the compound to provide extra privacy. Access to the compound is restricted by two security gates, and the residents of the compound burn their trash, unlike their neighbors, who put the trash out for collection. [ Sounds like the American military has been spying on this compound for a good amount of time ]

For all their suspicions, U.S. officials never knew for sure that bin Laden was inside. [ Well in that case raiding certainly would be illegal under US law and questionable under international law. ]

The White House's original plan had been to bomb the house, but Obama ultimately decided against that.

"The helicopter raid was riskier. It was more daring," an official told POLITICO. "But he wanted proof. He didn't want to just leave a pile of rubble."

Officials knew there were 22 people living there, and Obama wanted to be sure not to kill civilians unnecessarily. So he ordered officials to come up with an air-assault plan. [ Jesus, Emperor Obama sounds just as bad as Emperor Bush! ]

The SEALs held rehearsals of the raid on April 7 and April 13, with officials monitoring the action from Washington.

As the real thing approached, daily meetings were held of the national security principals, chaired by National Security Adviser Tom Donilon, and their deputies, chaired by John Brennan, the president's counterterrorism adviser.

Over the past seven weeks, Obama had chaired numerous National Security Council meetings on the topic, including ones on March 14, March 29, April 12, April 19 and April 28.

"In the lead up to this operation, the President convened at least 9 meetings with his national security Principals," a senior administration official e-mailed reporters. "Principals met formally an additional five times themselves; and their Deputies met 7 times. This was in addition to countless briefings on the subject during the President's intelligence briefings; and frequent consultations between the [White House National Security Council], CIA, [Defense Department] and Joint Staff. The President was actively involved in reviewing all facets of the operation."

At an April 19 meeting in the Situation Room, the president approved the air assault as the course of action. He ordered the force to fly to the region to conduct it.

Last Thursday, just after his East Room announcement that Panetta would succeed Robert Gates as Defense Secretary, the president held another meeting in the Situation Room, and went through everyone's final recommendations.

Obama didn't announce his decision at the meeting, but kept his counsel overnight.

In the White House Diplomatic Room at 8:20 a.m. on Friday, before flying down to view tornado destruction in Alabama, Obama informed Donilon that he was authorizing the operation. Also attending the meeting were Brennan, White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley and Deputy National Security Adviser Denis McDonough.

Donilon signed a written authorization to Panetta, who commanded the strike team. Donilon convened a principals' meeting at 3 p.m. to finish the planning.

The raid was scheduled for Saturday, the day when Obama and most of the West Wing was due at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner. But weather pushed it to Sunday.

Top West Wing staff worked most of the day on the operation. Senior national-security officials stayed in the Situation Room beginning at 1 p.m.

The official's e-mail gave this account of Obama's day: "2:00pm the President met with the Principals to review final preparations. . . . 3:32pm the President returned to the Sit Room for an additional briefing. . . . 3:50pm the President first learns that UBL was tentatively identified. . . . 7:01pm the President learns that there's a 'high probability' the HVT [high-value target] was [bin Laden]. . . . 8:30pm the President receives further briefings."

In the Situation Room, the president was surrounded by Daley, Donilon, McDonough, Gates, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mike Mullen, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, and others.

Panetta was at CIA headquarters, where he had turned his conference room into a command center that gave him constant contact with the tactical leaders of the strike team.

With the team still in the compound, the commander on the ground told a remote commander that they had found bin Laden.

Applause erupted in Washington. [ Damn, Obama sounds as bad as Carter when we invaded Iran? and tried to rescue those hostages. ]

Three other adult males were killed with bin Laden, officials said.

"We believe two were the couriers and the third was bin Laden's adult son," an official said on the call. "There were several women and children at the compound. One woman was killed when she was used as a shield by a male combatant. Two other women were injured."

U.S. forces took photographs of the body, and officials used facial-recognition technology to compare them with known pictures of bin Laden. [ What's wrong with a good old fashioned eyeball identification? Do those government morons have to use a high tech computer to do everything? ]

It was him.

At 11:35 p.m., Obama stepped into the East Room and told the world: "Justice has been done." [ Wrong! The American Empire murders another person! ]

The Arizona Republic is a member of the Politico Network.

American Empire also wants to murder Moammar Gadhafi

Source

Libyan crowds attack U.K., Italy embassies

by Patrick J. McDonnell - May. 2, 2011 12:00 AM

Los Angeles Times

BENGHAZI, Libya - Enraged crowds attacked the embassies of Britain and Italy in the Libyan capital of Tripoli on Sunday after an international airstrike that Libyan officials say killed the youngest son of President Moammar Gadhafi and three of his dictator's grandchildren.

The United Nations compound reportedly was looted, and the agency was planning to remove its remaining personnel.

The vandalized embassies were empty and nobody was reported injured.

The intensified bombing campaign by NATO warplanes appears to have accelerated the pace of developments in Libya, where rebels backed by NATO air power are fighting to oust Gadhafi after 40 years as the nation's absolute ruler.

NATO defended Saturday's airstrike after criticism from Russia and Venezuela, among others, that the alliance was overstepping its mandate to protect Libyan civilians and may be targeting the Libyan leader.

Hidden from view by blast walls and tall trees, the complex targeted Saturday contained three one-story buildings and a large yard with lawns, geranium flower beds, a woodshed, a swing and a table soccer game. A kitchen clock, knocked from the wall, had stopped at 8:08 and 45 seconds, the time of the explosion.

The bombing did not slow the attacks of Gadhafi's forces on rebel strongholds in the western part of Libya that has remained largely under the control of the regime.

The rebel port of Misrata, which has been besieged by Gadhafi's troops for two months, came under heavy shelling Sunday and at least 12 people were killed, a medic said.

In Washington, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz, and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said they supported airstrikes targeting Gadhafi.

"In my view, wherever Gadhafi goes, he is the legitimate military target. He's the command and control source," Graham, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said on "Fox News Sunday."

"I'd like to have a pour-it-on approach to get this over with."

Asked if such strikes would be a violation of the U.S. ban on assassinating foreign leaders, Graham said Gadhafi was "acting as a murderer," making him a legitimate target. "He is not the legitimate leader of Libya," Graham said. "He should be brought to justice, or he should be killed."

McCain, who supports additional aid to the rebels, said killing Gadhafi could be legitimate "if you view Gadhafi himself as part of the command and control."

But McCain cautioned on CBS' "Face the Nation" that it was difficult to kill foreign leaders, citing the attempts to target Saddam Hussein during the early part of the Iraq war.

NATO denies Moammar Gadhafi murder attempt!

NATO doubts Libya claim that airstrike killed Gadhafi's son Sources: Command-control center hit

by Nancy A. Youssef - May. 2, 2011 12:00 AM

McClatchy Newspapers

BENGHAZI, Libya - NATO has found no evidence to support claims by the Libyan government that an airstrike in Tripoli killed Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's youngest son and three grandchildren, two military officials said Sunday.

What the Libyan government called a residence - where Gadhafi's son, Seif al Arab, and three grandchildren lived when the structure was struck Saturday night - was, in fact, a command-and-control center with a bunker underneath, the NATO and U.S. officials said on the condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak publicly about NATO's findings.

The officials also rejected suggestions that the attack targeted Gadhafi. Regime officials said that Gadhafi and his wife were at the Tripoli home of their son when the airstrike took place; both escaped unharmed.

"We have seen no evidence of civilian casualties," the NATO official said.

"We do not target individuals and have no real way of knowing who is inside."

The officials said they couldn't say the regime was lying, simply that they couldn't confirm the claims.

Privately, however, officials at the Pentagon suggested that the regime claimed that civilians and children died by a NATO strike to divide an already conflicted international community.

In Benghazi, the rebel capital, residents were dubious, noting that Gadhafi has said family members have died at the world community's hands before.

After the U.S. attacked the regime's military headquarters in 1986, Gadhafi said his adopted daughter had been killed. Even now, Libyans aren't certain whether that's true.

Regardless, the effects of the airstrike reverberated around the world as Libyan officials showed a body they said was a victim of the attack.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said last week that NATO was "not targeting Gadhafi specifically" but that his command-and-control facilities - including a facility inside his Tripoli compound that was hit with airstrikes last Monday - were legitimate targets.

NATO refused to say what kind of aircraft was involved in Saturday's attack, saying it didn't want to link the attack to one country.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.

Osama bin Laden skull blown apart

Osama bin Laden skull blown apart, U.S. official says

May. 2, 2011 04:59 PM

Associated Press

WASHINGTON - A U.S. official says Osama bin Laden was shot above his left eye, blowing away part of his skull.

The precision kill shot was delivered by a member of Navy's elite SEAL Team Six during a pre-dawn raid Monday on bin Laden's hideout in Pakistan.

Photos of bin Laden's injuries were transmitted to Washington as proof that the mission was a success. The administration wasn't releasing the photos Monday.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters.

Source

Fabled SEAL Team 6 ends hunt for Osama bin Laden

May. 2, 2011 04:59 PM

Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Osama bin Laden's death in a ripped-from-a-spy-thriller helicopter raid and firefight gives a storied unit of U.S. special operations forces bragging rights for what has become the most famous covert operation since the Sept. 11 attacks launched on bin Laden's orders.

The unit, called Navy SEAL Team Six, probably won't claim the credit publicly, however.

U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, say units from SEAL Team Six dropped into bin Laden's high-walled compound in Pakistan early Monday morning, sliding down ropes in the pre-dawn dark. The military won't confirm which unit carried out the attack.

But the head of the Navy SEALs, Rear Adm. Edward Winters, sent an email congratulating his forces and warning them to keep their mouths shut.

"Be extremely careful about operational security," he added. "The fight is not over."

Made up of only a few hundred forces based in Dam Neck, Va., the elite SEAL unit officially known as Naval Special Warfare Development Group, or "DEVGRU," is part of a special operations brotherhood that calls itself "the quiet professionals."

SEAL Team Six raided targets outside war zones like Yemen and Somalia in the past three years, though the unit operates primarily in Afghanistan. The Associated Press will not publish the names of the commanding officers, to protect them and their families from possible retaliation by militants for the bin Laden operation.

The unit is overseen by the Joint Special Operations Command, which oversees the U.S. Army's Delta Force and other special units. JSOC's combined forces have been responsible for a quadrupling of counterterrorism raids that have targeted militants in record numbers over the past year in Afghanistan. Some 4,500 elite special operations forces and support units have been part of the surge of U.S. forces there.

CIA Director Leon Panetta was in charge of the military team during the covert operation, a U.S. official said. While the president can empower the SEALs and other counterterrorism units to carry out covert actions without CIA oversight, President Barack Obama's team put the intelligence agency in charge, with other elements of the national security apparatus answering to them for this mission.

SEAL Team Six actually works so often with the intelligence agency that it's sometimes called the CIA's Pretorian Guard - a partnership that started in Iraq, as an outgrowth of the fusion of special operations forces and intelligence in the hunt for militants there.

SEALs and Delta both, commanded by then-JSOC chief Gen. Stanley McChrystal, learned to work much like FBI agents, first attacking a target, killing or capturing the suspects, and then gathering evidence at the scene.

McChrystal described it as building a network to chase a network, where the special operations forces work with intelligence analysts back at a joint base. The raiders, he said, could collect valuable "pocket litter" from the scene, like documents or computers, to exploit to hunt the next target.

The battlegrounds of Iraq and Afghanistan had been informally divided, with the SEALs running Afghanistan and the U.S. Army's Delta Force conducting the bulk of the operations in Iraq, though there was overlap of each organization. There is considerable professional rivalry between them.

Delta Force units caught Saddam Hussein late in 2003, and had killed his sons Uday and Qusay in a shootout in Mosul earlier that year. The race to be the unit that captured bin Laden had been on ever since.

"Officially, Team Six doesn't exist," says former Navy SEAL Craig Sawyer, 47, who advises Hollywood and acts in movies about the military.

After undergoing a six-month process in which commanders scrutinized his every move, Sawyer says he was selected in the 1990s to join the team.

"It was like being recruited to an all-star team," he said, with members often gone 300 days a year, only lasting about three years on the team before burning out.

"They train around the clock," he said. "They know that failure will not be an option. Either they succeed or they don't come home."

Other special operations units joke that "SEAL" stands for "Sleep, eat, lift," though the term actually stands for Sea, Air, Land.

"The SEALs will be the first to remind everyone that the L' in SEAL stands for land," says retired Army Gen. Doug Brown, former commander of U.S. Special Operations Command in Tampa, Fla. "They have skills on the land equal to their skills at sea."

Brown, who led the command from 2003-2007, said the operation against bin Laden is the most significant mission conducted by U.S. commando forces since the organization was formed in 1987 in the wake of the failed attempt in 1980 to rescue the American hostages in Iran.

"I can't think of a mission as nationally important," Brown said.

The last time the public was made aware of a SEAL raid on Pakistani soil was 2008, when the raiders flew only a mile over the border to the town of Angurada, according to Pakistani officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive strategic matters. The high-value targets the Americans had been told were there had fled, and those left behind in the compound fought back, resulting in a number of civilian casualties, U.S. and Pakistani officials say, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a classified operation.

While the U.S. usually does not comment on covert actions, especially ones that go wrong, the 2008 incident was caught on cellphone video, so they confirmed it and apologized publicly, U.S. officials said.

The successful bin Laden mission is a much-needed boost for the unit. The SEALs' reputation took a hit within the special operations community after a 2010 rescue mission led to the accidental killing of British hostage Linda Norgrove, held by militants in Afghanistan. One of the SEALs threw a fragmentation grenade at a militant when the team stormed their hideout, not realizing Norgrove was curled on the ground next to the militant.

The SEALs originally reported that Norgrove had been killed by a fighter's suicide vest, but when the SEAL commanding officer reviewed the tape from simultaneous surveillance video, he saw an explosion after one of the SEALs threw something in Norgrove's direction, U.S. officials say, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a classified operation.

One SEAL was dismissed from the unit, after he lied to a commanding officer about bringing that type of grenade on a rescue mission, when the standard practice in hostage rescue scenarios is to bring "flash-bangs," which produce noise and light but do not kill.

DEVGRU is the same unit that rescued an American ship captain, Richard Phillips, held hostage on a lifeboat by Somali pirates after his capture from the USS Maersk Alabama in 2009. A DEVGRU unit fired precision shots from the rocking stern of a Naval ship, killing all three pirates.

Source

Osama bin Laden dead: Unwary phone call led U.S. to doorstep

May. 2, 2011 04:59 PM Associated Press

WASHINGTON - When one of Osama bin Laden's most trusted aides picked up the phone last year, he unknowingly led U.S. pursuers to the doorstep of his boss, the world's most wanted terrorist.

That phone call, recounted Monday by a U.S. official, ended a years-long search for bin Laden's personal courier, the key break in a worldwide manhunt. The courier, in turn, led U.S. intelligence to a walled compound in northeast Pakistan, where a team of Navy SEALs shot bin Laden to death.

The violent final minutes were the culmination of years of intelligence work. Inside the CIA team hunting bin Laden, it always was clear that bin Laden's vulnerability was his couriers. He was too smart to let al-Qaida foot soldiers, or even his senior commanders, know his hideout. But if he wanted to get his messages out, somebody had to carry them, someone bin Laden trusted with his life. Quantcast

In a secret CIA prison in Eastern Europe years ago, al-Qaida's No. 3 leader, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, gave authorities the nicknames of several of bin Laden's couriers, four former U.S. intelligence officials said. Those names were among thousands of leads the CIA was pursuing.

One man became a particular interest for the agency when another detainee, Abu Faraj al-Libi, told interrogators that when he was promoted to succeed Mohammed as al-Qaida's operational leader he received the word through a courier. Only bin Laden would have given al-Libi that promotion, CIA officials believed.

If they could find that courier, they'd find bin Laden.

The revelation that intelligence gleaned from the CIA's so-called black sites helped kill bin Laden was seen as vindication for many intelligence officials who have been repeatedly investigated and criticized for their involvement in a program that involved the harshest interrogation methods in U.S. history.

"We got beat up for it, but those efforts led to this great day," said Marty Martin, a retired CIA officer who for years led the hunt for bin Laden.

Mohammed did not reveal the names while being subjected to the simulated drowning technique known as waterboarding, former officials said. He identified them many months later under standard interrogation, they said, leaving it once again up for debate as to whether the harsh technique was a valuable tool or an unnecessarily violent tactic.

It took years of work for intelligence agencies to identify the courier's real name, which officials are not disclosing. When they did identify him, he was nowhere to be found. The CIA's sources didn't know where he was hiding. Bin Laden was famously insistent that no phones or computers be used near him, so the eavesdroppers at the National Security Agency kept coming up cold.

Then in the middle of last year, the courier had a telephone conversation with someone who was being monitored by U.S. intelligence, according to an American official, who like others interviewed for this story spoke only on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive operation. The courier was located somewhere away from bin Laden's hideout when he had the discussion, but it was enough to help intelligence officials locate and watch him.

In August 2010, the courier unknowingly led authorities to a compound in the northeast Pakistani town of Abbottabad, where al-Libi had once lived. The walls surrounding the property were as high as 18 feet and topped with barbed wire. Intelligence officials had known about the house for years, but they always suspected that bin Laden would be surrounded by heavily armed security guards. Nobody patrolled the compound in Abbottabad.

In fact, nobody came or went. And no telephone or Internet lines ran from the compound. The CIA soon believed that bin Laden was hiding in plain sight, in a hideout especially built to go unnoticed. But since bin Laden never traveled and nobody could get onto the compound without passing through two security gates, there was no way to be sure.

Despite that uncertainty, intelligence officials realized this could represent the best chance ever to get to bin Laden. They decided not to share the information with anyone, including staunch counterterrorism allies such as Britain, Canada and Australia.

By mid-February, the officials were convinced a "high-value target" was hiding in the compound. President Barack Obama wanted to take action.

"They were confident and their confidence was growing: This is different. This intelligence case is different. What we see in this compound is different than anything we've ever seen before,'" John Brennan, the president's top counterterrorism adviser, said Monday. "I was confident that we had the basis to take action."

Options were limited. The compound was in a residential neighborhood in a sovereign country. If Obama ordered an airstrike and bin Laden was not in the compound, it would be a huge diplomatic problem. Even if Obama was right, obliterating the compound might make it nearly impossible to confirm bin Laden's death.

Said Brennan: "The president had to evaluate the strength of that information, and then made what I believe was one of the most gutsiest calls of any president in recent memory."

Obama tapped two dozen members of the Navy's elite SEAL Team Six to carry out a raid with surgical accuracy.

Before dawn Monday morning, a pair of helicopters left Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan. The choppers entered Pakistani airspace using sophisticated technology intended to evade that country's radar systems, a U.S. official said.

Officially, it was a kill-or-capture mission, since the U.S. doesn't kill unarmed people trying to surrender. But it was clear from the beginning that whoever was behind those walls had no intention of surrendering, two U.S. officials said.

The helicopters lowered into the compound, dropping the SEALs behind the walls. No shots were fired, but shortly after the team hit the ground, one of the helicopters came crashing down and rolled onto its side for reasons the government has yet to explain. None of the SEALs was injured, however, and the mission continued uninterrupted.

With the CIA and White House monitoring the situation in real time - presumably by live satellite feed or video carried by the SEALs - the team stormed the compound.

Thanks to sophisticated satellite monitoring, U.S. forces knew they'd likely find bin Laden's family on the second and third floors of one of the buildings on the property, officials said. The SEALs secured the rest of the property first, then proceeded to the room where bin Laden was hiding. In the ensuing firefight, Brennan said, bin Laden used a woman as a human shield.

The SEALs killed bin Laden with a bullet to the head. Using the call sign for his visual identification, one of the soldiers communicated that "Geronimo" had been killed in action, according to a U.S. official.

Bin Laden's body was immediately identifiable, but the U.S. also conducted DNA testing that identified him with near 100 percent certainty, senior administration officials said. Photo analysis by the CIA, confirmation on site by a woman believed to be bin Laden's wife, and matching physical features such as bin Laden's height all helped confirm the identification. At the White House, there was no doubt.

"I think the accomplishment that very brave personnel from the United States government were able to realize yesterday is a defining moment in the war against al-Qaida, the war on terrorism, by decapitating the head of the snake known as al-Qaida," Brennan said.

U.S. forces searched the compound and flew away with documents, hard drives and DVDs that could provide valuable intelligence about al-Qaida, a U.S. official said. The entire operation took about 40 minutes, officials said.

Bin Laden's body was flown to the USS Carl Vinson in the North Arabian sea, a senior defense official said. There, aboard a U.S. warship, officials conducted a traditional Islamic burial ritual. Bin Laden's body was washed and placed in a white sheet. He was placed in a weighted bag that, after religious remarks by a military officer, was slipped into the sea about 2 a.m. EDT Monday.

Said the president: "I think we can all agree this is a good day for America."

Source

Osama bin Laden killed: 23 children, 9 women with him during raid, U.S. official says

May. 2, 2011 07:28 PM

Associated Press

WASHINGTON - A U.S. official says al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden was far from alone when U.S. forces launched their assault on his compound in Pakistan.

The official tells The Associated Press that 23 children and nine women were in the compound that had served as bin Laden's secret home for six years. The official says the women and children were turned over to Pakistani authorities.

The official, who had been briefed on the operation, spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss matters of intelligence.

A team of Navy SEALs killed bin Laden during an intense firefight that also left dead one of bin Laden's sons and two al-Qaida facilitators.

The official says the U.S. forces captured a great deal of material from the site, from documents to electronic hardware.

Obama killed Osama to help him get reelected in 2012. I wouldn't doubt it. Of course Emperor Obama always has been a war monger like Emperor Bush. Not only did Obama continue Bush's two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Obama started a 3rd war in Libya!

Source

Obama gains, but economy looms for 2012

by Dan Nowicki - May. 3, 2011 12:00 AM

The Arizona Republic

The death of America's most-wanted terrorist, Osama bin Laden, on Sunday in a daring, secret U.S. raid was a historic U.S. accomplishment that likely will boost President Barack Obama's political fortunes in the short term.

But political experts and other observers agreed Monday that it remains far too early to predict how the killing of bin Laden will affect Obama's bid for a second term next year.

The economy and pocketbook issues such as high gasoline prices could have more influence on his political fate. And nobody expects that bin Laden's death closes the file on the terror risk posed by al-Qaida, the network he founded that orchestrated the deadly Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. Retaliatory terror plots are feared.

Obama authorized the risky, but successful, helicopter assault against the al-Qaida compound in an upscale suburb of Islamabad, Pakistan. Bin Laden, three men and one woman were killed in a nearly 40-minute firefight. There were no U.S. casualties.

"The president deserves great credit for making the decisions that he made," said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., ranking GOP member of the Senate Armed Services Committee who unsuccessfully squared off against Obama in the 2008 presidential election. "I think the president will get great credit from the American people. But still, there are other issues on their minds, primarily the economy, that will have significant impact."

History teaches how fleeting even high-profile overseas successes can be for U.S. commanders in chief. President George H.W. Bush's popularity soared after the U.S.-led defeat of Saddam Hussein's Iraq in the 1991 Persian Gulf War, but he lost the White House to Bill Clinton in 1992. A bad economy helped doom Bush's prospects.

Likewise, the economy has been the dominant U.S. domestic issue since the financial crisis of 2008. One presidential scholar predicted that the economy again will be the overriding factor in the 2012 race and that bin Laden's death helps Obama only marginally.

"If the economy improves, Obama gets re-elected," predicted H.W. Brands, a professor of history at the University of Texas-Austin and author of more than 20 books on presidents, U.S. foreign relations and other topics.

"If it gets worse, well, he might still get re-elected because the Republicans have been unable to come up with a credible candidate at this point. I would say he is the favorite going in, but by no means is he a shoo-in."

Others gave Obama props for getting bin Laden, although they also doubted it alone could ensure a second term.

"He will be able to point to this as a signal achievement, and he will get credit from all sides of the aisle for it, but I don't think it's going to end the 2012 campaign," said Peter Feaver, a professor of political science at Duke University who served in the Clinton and George W. Bush administrations in National Security Council positions.

Besides helping to counter a perception that Obama's foreign policy is muddled and indecisive, the aggressive pursuit of bin Laden is sure to complicate 2012 GOP efforts to undermine his administration as soft on terrorism issues.

The bin Laden operation contributes to an emerging portrait of Obama as a grimly determined president who does not flinch from directing the use of lethal force against U.S. enemies. "From his perspective, it's not just permissible but a good thing to go after people who've been deemed bad actors in the international arena," said Kareem Crayton, a political scientist and associate professor of law at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

They also stole every thing in sight when they murdered Osama - "According to the U.S. account, the assault team came away with hard drives, DVDs, documents"

Remember Osama bin Laden was not in a country that we are at war with, but in Pakistan, a country which we have not [unofficially] declared war on yet [like we have unofficially declared on Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya].

Imagine that out rage that would occur the American military raided a home in some other country like Canada and murdered bin Laden and stole then his property.

Source

US holds photos of slain bin Laden, weighs release

Posted 5/3/2011 7:28 AM ET

By Adam Goldman And Kimberly Dozier, Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Still-secret photos of the dead Osama bin Laden show a precision kill shot above his left eye, a U.S. official said, as fresh details emerged of an audacious American raid that netted potentially crucial al-Qaida records as well as the body of the global terrorist leader. President Barack Obama is going to ground zero in New York to mark the milestone and remember the dead of 9/11.

Patience and persistence -- characteristics normally attributed to al-Qaida -- proved decisive in America's decade-long hunt for bin Laden, whose fate was sealed in 40 minutes of thunderous violence, years in the making.

According to the U.S. account, the assault team came away with hard drives, DVDs, documents and more that might tip U.S. intelligence to al-Qaida's operational details and perhaps lead the manhunt to the presumed next-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahri. The CIA is already going over the material.

Obama, who approved the extraordinarily risky operation by Navy SEALs against bin Laden's Pakistan redoubt and witnessed its progression from the White House Situation Room, his face heavy with tension, reaped accolades from world leaders he'd kept in the dark as well as from political opponents at home.

Republican and Democratic leaders alike gave him a standing ovation at an evening White House meeting that was planned before the assault but became a celebration of it, and an occasion to step away from the fractious political climate. Obama plans to visit New York on Thursday.

"Last night's news unified our country," much as the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, did, Republican House Speaker John Boehner said earlier in the day. Obama later appealed for that unity to take root as the U.S. presses the fight against a terrorist network that is still lethal -- and now vowing vengeance.

The episode was an embarrassment, at best, for Pakistani authorities as bin Laden's presence was revealed in their midst. The stealth U.S. operation played out in a city with a strong Pakistani military presence and without notice from Washington. Questions persisted in the administration and grew in Congress about whether some elements of Pakistan's security apparatus might have been in collusion with al-Qaida in letting bin Laden hide in Abbottabad.

In an essay published Monday by The Washington Post, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari denied suggestions his country's security forces may have sheltered Osama bin Laden, and said their cooperation with the United States helped pinpoint bin Laden.

As Americans rejoiced, they worried, too, that terrorists would be newly motivated to lash out. In their wounded rage, al-Qaida ideologues fed that concern. "By God, we will avenge the killing of the Sheik of Islam," one prominent al-Qaida commentator vowed. "Those who wish that jihad has ended or weakened, I tell them: Let us wait a little bit."

In that vein, U.S. officials warned that bin Laden's death was likely to encourage attacks from "homegrown violent extremists" even if al-Qaida is not prepared to respond in a coordinated fashion now.

The administration weighed whether to release photos of bin Laden's corpse and video of his swift burial at sea. Officials were reluctant to inflame Islamic sentiment by showing graphic images of the body. But they were also eager to address the mythology already building in Pakistan and beyond that bin Laden was somehow still alive.

U.S. officials say the photographic evidence shows bin Laden was shot above his left eye, blowing away part of his skull.

He was also shot in the chest, they said. This, near the end of a frenzied firefight in a high-walled Pakistani compound where helicopter-borne U.S. forces found 23 children, nine women, a bin Laden courier who had unwittingly led the U.S. to its target, a son of bin Laden who was also slain, and more.

Bin Laden had lived at the fortified compound for six years, officials said, putting him far from the lawless and harsh Pakistani frontier where he had been assumed to be hiding out.

The only information about what occurred inside the compound has come from American officials, much of it provided under condition of anonymity.

They said SEALs dropped down ropes from helicopters, killed bin Laden aides and made their way to the main building. Obama and his national security team monitored the strike, watching and listening nervously and in near silence from the Situation Room as it all unfolded.

"The minutes passed like days," White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan said.

U.S. officials said the information that ultimately led to bin Laden's capture originally came from detainees held in secret CIA prison sites in Eastern Europe. There, agency interrogators were told of an alias used by a courier whom bin Laden particularly trusted.

It took four long years to learn the man's real name, then years more before investigators got a big break in the case, these officials said. Sometime in mid-2010, the man was overheard using a phone by intelligence officials, who then were able to locate his residence -- the specially constructed $1 million compound with walls as high as 18 feet topped with barbed wire.

U.S. counterterrorism officials considered bombing the place, an option that was discarded by the White House as too risky, particularly if it turned out bin Laden was not there.

Instead, Obama signed an order on Friday for the team of SEALs to chopper onto the compound under the cover of darkness.

In addition to bin Laden, one of his sons, Khalid, was killed in the raid, Brennan said. Bin Laden's wife was shot in the calf but survived, a U.S. official said. Also killed were the courier, another al-Qaida facilitator and an unidentified woman, officials said.

Some people found at the compound were left behind when the SEALs withdrew and were turned over to Pakistani authorities who quickly took over control of the site, officials said. They identified the trusted courier as Kuwaiti-born Sheikh Abu Ahmed, who had been known under the name Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti.

Within 40 minutes, the operation was over, and the SEALs flew out -- minus one helicopter, which had malfunctioned and had to be destroyed. Bin Laden's remains were flown to the USS Carl Vinson, then lowered into the North Arabian Sea.

Bin Laden's death came 15 years after he declared war on the United States. Al-Qaida was also blamed for the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa that killed 224 people and the 2000 attack on the USS Cole that killed 17 American sailors in Yemen, as well as countless other plots, some successful and some foiled.

___

AP writers Chris Brummitt in Islamabad and Darlene Superville, Ben Feller, Matt Apuzzo, Erica Werner, Pauline Jelinek, Robert Burns, Matthew Lee, Eileen Sullivan and Calvin Woodward in Washington contributed to this story. Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Trust me, I killed Osama bin Laden and dumped his body in the ocean. Honest, swear to God. I have photos [which I am going to refuse to show you]. I also have DNA samples to prove the body was bin Laden [but I am also going to refuse to show you them]. Last but not least I video taped the whole thing to prove I did it [but I am going to refuse to release the video].

I certainly don't doubt that the America Empire wants to murder Osama bin Laden, and perhaps they did, but they are not really showing much evidence to prove to us they pulled off the job.

Source

Not everyone believes bin Laden really is dead

WASHINGTON (AP) — Knowing there would be disbelievers, the U.S. says it used convincing means to confirm Osama bin Laden's identity during and after the firefight that killed him. But the mystique that surrounded the terrorist chieftain in life is persisting in death.

Was it really him? How do we know? Where are the pictures?

Already, those questions are spreading in Pakistan and surely beyond. In the absence of photos and with his body given up to the sea, many people do not want to believe that bin Laden — the Great Emir to some, the fabled escape artist of the Tora Bora mountains to foe and friend alike — is really dead.

U.S. officials are balancing that skepticism with the sensitivities that might be inflamed by showing images they say they have of the dead al-Qaida leader and video of his burial at sea. Still, it appeared likely that photographic evidence would be produced.

"We are going to do everything we can to make sure that nobody has any basis to try to deny that we got Osama bin Laden," John Brennan, President Barack Obama's counterterrorism adviser, said Monday. He said the U.S. will "share what we can because we want to make sure that not only the American people but the world understand exactly what happened."

In July 2009, the U.S. took heat but also quieted most conspiracy theorists by releasing graphic photos of the corpses of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's two powerful sons to prove American forces had killed them.

So far, the U.S. has cited evidence that satisfied the Navy SEAL force, and at least most of the world, that they had the right man in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

The helicopter-borne raiding squad that swarmed the luxury compound identified bin Laden by appearance. A woman in the compound who was identified as his wife was said to have called out bin Laden's name in the melee.

Officials produced a quick DNA match from his remains that they said established bin Laden's identity, even absent the other techniques, with 99.9 percent certainty. U.S. officials also said bin Laden was identified through photo comparisons and other methods.

Tellingly, an al-Qaida spokesman, in vowing vengeance against America, called him a martyr, offering no challenge to the U.S. account of his death.

Even so, it is almost inevitable that the bin Laden mythology will not end with the bullet in his head. If it suits extremist ends to spin a fantastical tale of survival or trickery to gullible ears, expect to hear it.

In the immediate aftermath, people in Abbottabad expressed widespread disbelief that bin Laden had died — or ever lived — among them.

"I'm not ready to buy bin Laden was here," said Haris Rasheed, 22, who works in a fast food restaurant. "How come no one knew he was here and why did they bury him so quickly? This is all fake — a drama, and a crude one."

Kamal Khan, 25, who is unemployed, said the official story "looks fishy to me."

The burial from an aircraft carrier in the North Arabian Sea was videotaped aboard the ship, according to a senior defense official who spoke on condition of anonymity because a decision on whether to release the video was not final. The official said it was highly likely that the video, along with photographs of bin Laden's body, would be made public in coming days.

The swiftness of the burial may have raised suspicions but was in accord with Islamic traditions. Islamic scholars, however, challenged U.S. assertions that a burial at sea was an appropriate fate for a Muslim who had died on land.

The act denied al-Qaida any sort of burial shrine for their slain leader. Once again, bin Laden had vanished, but this time at the hands of the United States and in a way that ensures he is gone forever.

If that satisfies U.S. goals and its sense of justice, Brad Sagarin, a psychologist at Northern Illinois University who studies persuasion, said the rapid disposition of the body "would certainly be a rich sort of kernel for somebody to grasp onto if they were motivated to disbelieve this."

Also expected to come out is a tape made by bin Laden, before U.S. forces bore down on him, that may provide fodder to those who insist he is alive.

Pakistan, for one, is a land of conspiracy theorists, and far-fetched rumors abound on the streets and in blogs throughout the Arab world. But that's not just a characteristic of the Islamic pipeline. Many ordinary Americans — and one billionaire — persistently questioned whether Obama was born in the U.S. despite lacking any evidence that he wasn't.

Sagarin said most people will probably be convinced bin Laden is dead because they cannot imagine the government maintaining such an extraordinary lie to the contrary in this day and age.

Yet, he said, "as with the birther conspiracy, there's going to be a set of people who are never going to be convinced. People filter the information they receive through their current attitudes, their current perspectives."

To be sure, even photos and video, subject to digital manipulation, may not provide the final word to everyone. But Seth Jones, a RAND Corp. political scientist who advised the commander of U.S. special operations forces in Afghanistan, said the administration should do all it can to minimize doubts.

"There are always conspiracy theories," he said. "There are individuals who believe that bin Laden wasn't involved in the 9/11 attacks."

__

Associated Press writers Zarar Kahn in Abbottabad, Pakistan; Malcolm Ritter in New York; and Lolita C. Baldor, Ben Feller, Matt Apuzzo and Pauline Jelinek in Washington contributed to this report.

Source

May. 2, 2011 6:51 PM ET

Post-9/11 changes to industries outlive bin Laden

MICHAEL LIEDTKEMICHAEL LIEDTKE, AP Business Writer THE ASSOCIATED PRESS STATEMENT OF NEWS VALUES AND PRINCIPLES

Security screening at airports will still be a hassle and raise the cost of travel. Laws that turned banks into financial cops will stay in place. And most companies will still spend more to ship goods and secure their computer systems.

Osama bin Laden's death won't reverse the transformation of business that followed the Sept. 11 attacks.

The attacks fueled higher corporate spending on security and intelligence — costs that have been passed on to consumers. Those surging gas prices that motorists are cursing are higher, in part, because the bin Laden-driven attacks raised fears that terrorists might disrupt the flow of Middle East oil.

No matter what happens next, bin Laden's legacy has meant costs and fees that business and consumers had never faced before and that aren't about to go away.

"The cost of doing business has gone up permanently since 9/11," said Sung Won Sohn, an economics professor for the California State University at Channel Islands.

At the same time, John Silvia, chief economist at Wells Fargo Securities, said bin Laden's death might reduce the perception of risk in trading and doing business, something that could benefit the global economy.

"I would view this as a risk-reducing event," Silvia said.

Stocks began climbing Monday morning after news of bin Laden's death. Strong earnings reports from Humana Inc. and other companies also pushed them higher.

But by lunchtime, the gains were gone. The major indexes wavered the rest of the day and closed slightly lower.

Here's a look at how different industries and sectors were reshaped by the Sept. 11 attacks:

AIRLINES

The terrorist attacks turned the act of flying into a test of patience. Air travel changed from a routine exercise — almost as simple as hopping on a train — into a process of seemingly ever-changing rules and procedures and time-hogging scrutiny. The role of flight attendants changed from serving coffee and a meal with a smile to being a first responder with a need for combat training.

In the near-decade since 9/11, passengers have been forced to take off their shoes, throw away containers containing more than 3.4 fluid ounces (100 cubic centimeters) of liquid and, more recently, subjected to full-body scanners if they want to avoid pat-downs that have sparked complaints about invasions of civil liberties.

"Whether or not these rules are effective at making our planes more secure is debatable, but one thing for sure is that they have made going through security more of a hassle for the traveling public," said Anne Banas, executive editor of SmarterTravel.

It also caused deep financial hardships for an industry that had long struggled to maintain profits. Besides having to charge a $2.50-per-flight fee to help bankroll the Transportation Security Administration, most airlines now charge to check baggage, too. That adds $100 to $200 to the cost of flying for many travelers.

The good news: An airline ticket itself costs slightly less than it did before the attacks. That's largely because airlines remade themselves into leaner operations, desperate not to lose money after a wave of bankruptcies triggered by 9/11. The list of post-attack bankruptcies included US Airways in 2002 and 2004, United in 2002, Northwest and Delta in 2005.

Mergers have reduced the number of airlines. The result: Airlines employed about 380,000 people at the end of last year — down 27 percent from roughly 520,000 from 2000.

ENERGY

Electricity and other energy costs are likely higher than they would be had the Sept. 11 attacks not occurred. Power plants and energy transmission networks are deemed to be potential terrorist targets. So the security costs related to them have risen, with costs passed along to customers.

After 9/11, U.S. oil refineries were subjected to increased and costly security measures that remain in place, says Bill Day, spokesman for Valero Energy, the nation's largest independent refiner. Bin Laden's death prompted Valero to increase security at its 14 refineries as a general precaution.

Michael Lynch, President of Strategic and Economic Research, Inc., says oil has been more expensive over the past decade because traders have worried that al-Qaida could disrupt supplies by attacking refineries, pipelines or ports in the Middle East.

"The right person in the right place could do a lot of damage, and al-Qaida has always had people willing to take more risk than anyone else," Lynch said.

But Lynch says the threat, and the fear premium, have diminished in recent years, in part because attempted attacks failed to do any damage. In 2006, terrorists tried to attack a Saudi oil refinery. And last year, an al-Qaida affiliate took credit for an attack on a Japanese oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz.

"It will fade more with time because of the death of bin Laden," he said of the fear premium.

TECHNOLOGY

The attacks spurred more demands for more sophisticated computers and software.

The fear of another destructive attack that might target information technology, or IT, forced companies to hustle to upgrade their security software. This included heavy-duty encryption and data-recovery protections. The urgency has been especially felt in banking and government and operators of bridges, tunnels and power plants.

"The one thing 9/11 really brought to life was how organized the terrorists were," said Patrik Runald, who runs the U.S. security lab for Websense Inc., a San Diego-based Internet security firm. "People started realizing, if they're so organized when it comes to physical attacks, what if they were that organized when it comes to cyber-attacks?"

More companies also tried to make their workers more productive to help offset their higher costs in 9/11's aftermath. That goal also helped sell more computers and technology services.

"When businesses want to raise productivity, the first place they look is technology," Sohn said.

PORT SECURITY

Before 9/11, port security focused almost solely on smugglers and thieves. Now, the focus has shifted to international terrorism threats. And that's raised the cost of doing business.

"We are really looking at threats through a different lens," said Aaron Ellis, a spokesman for the American Association of Port Authorities.

There are more guards, and radiation and gamma ray technology is used to scan containers and ships. Unusual shipments like artillery or chemicals draw extra attention.

FINANCIAL COMPANIES

Banks had to shoulder higher costs to obey the Patriot Act after 9/11. Among other things, the law required banks to police their customers more vigilantly to prevent money laundering and detect the transfer of money to terrorist causes. To comply, the banks had to improve their record-keeping and more closely scrutinize new accountholders and the sources of large deposits.

The regulations have been costly to implement, particularly for small financial institutions, according to the most recent information from a 2007 study published in the Journal of Money Laundering Control. "Banks, brokerage firms, and other financial institutions spent over $11 billion in 2002 to strengthen their internal controls," after the Patriot Act was passed. Those same firms spent an average of 61 percent more in the three year period from 2001 to 2004 than they had in prior years.

Brokerages also spent more to guard against possible terrorist attacks. After 9/11, Lime Brokerage in Manhattan invested in backup servers to handle orders in case the primary servers went down. It now has 22 extra servers on standby, one for each primary one. The costs involve millions for redundant fiber-optic lines and software to coordinate the multiple systems.

"We try to be as paranoid as possible," says John Jacobs, head of operations at Lime's offices just north of the World Trade Center site.

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Bin Laden's sea burial fuels conspiracy theories

By Matea Gold, Eryn Brown and David S. Cloud, Los Angeles Times

May 2, 2011, 6:40 p.m.

Reporting from Washington and Los Angeles— Within hours of the raid on Osama bin Laden's Pakistani compound, the CIA had used 21st century technology to get "a virtually 100% DNA match" on the dead man. But something out of another century may come back to haunt Washington: the Al Qaeda leader's burial at sea.

Conspiracy theorists on both the left and right were quick to insist that Bin Laden was either still alive or had been dead for years, pouncing on the government's decision to slide the body of the world's most wanted man off a board into the Arabian Sea.

As blogs hummed with allegations that the Obama administration had faked the middle-of-the-night raid, the Bin Laden "death hoax" threatened to replace questions about President Obama's citizenship as the latest Internet rumor to go viral.

"I am sorry, but if you believe the newest death of OBL, you're stupid," antiwar activist Cindy Sheehan posted on her Facebook page. "Just think to yourself — they paraded Saddam's dead sons around to prove they were dead — why do you suppose they hastily buried this version of OBL at sea?"

Infowars, the website of Libertarian radio host Alex Jones, was crammed with stories charging that the U.S. government had concocted the killing to justify a security crackdown. The Tea Party Nation website brimmed with indignant posts questioning the timing of Obama's announcement.

"Don't you think OBAMA needs something to assure his reelection," one commenter wrote.

Even a relative of one of the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks voiced skepticism, citing the burial at sea.

"Is it true or false? I don't know," said Stella Olender of Chicago, whose daughter Christine died at the World Trade Center. "To me that seems strange, that they disposed of it and no one [besides] whoever was right there knows what happened."

The conspiracy theories spoke to the quandary facing the U.S.: proving the Al Qaeda leader's death without inflaming his supporters and the broader Muslim world. Because of that concern, U.S. officials were considering the merits of releasing gory photos of Bin Laden taken after he was shot.

The burial, which was carried out from aboard the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson in the northern part of the Arabian Sea, was necessary because arrangements couldn't be made with any country to bury Bin Laden within 24 hours, as dictated by Muslim practice, administration officials said. But a senior military officer said the U.S. also wanted to avoid creating a shrine somewhere on land that would attract his followers.

Administration officials insisted Monday that there was no question who was killed in the Pakistani raid. Along with being visually identified on the scene by U.S. operatives, Bin Laden was identified by name by a woman believed to be one of his wives, according to a senior intelligence official. On Sunday evening, CIA specialists compared photos of the body with known photos of Bin Laden, determining with 95% certainty that they were one and the same.

On Monday morning, the CIA and other agencies conducted an "initial DNA analysis," comparing a sample taken from the body with DNA samples from several Bin Laden family members. The results, the official said, gave them "a virtually 100% DNA match."

The intelligence community has been collecting DNA samples from Bin Laden relatives for years, according to another U.S. intelligence official. Because the family is so big, obtaining samples was not difficult, officials said, particularly from relatives who denounce Bin Laden's activities.

Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and a former FBI agent, confirmed that the government had more than one source of DNA.

"Through the DNA testing and other things, it is clear beyond a shadow of a doubt that this was Osama bin Laden, based on the science," he said.

Dr. Frederick Bieber, a medical geneticist at Brigham and Women's Hospital, said it is possible for genetic kinship analysis to be done quickly, particularly if profiles of relatives have already been completed.

"Often it can be done overnight, and in high-profile forensic investigations, it often is," said Bieber, who declined to comment on the particulars of this case.

The administration was still weighing whether to release graphic photos of Bin Laden's bullet-pocked body to put the rumors of a hoax to rest. (A photo, purportedly of Bin Laden's corpse, circulating online was determined to be fake.)

"We are going to do everything we can to make sure that nobody has any basis to try to deny that we got Osama bin Laden," said John Brennan, Obama's top counter-terrorism advisor. "And so, therefore, the releasing of information and whether that includes photographs — this is something to be determined."

Some congressional leaders suggested such a move was necessary.

"Unless there's an acknowledgement by people in Al Qaeda that Bin Laden is dead, it may be necessary to release the pictures — as gruesome as they will undoubtedly be, because he's been shot in the head — to quell any doubts that this somehow is a ruse that the American government has carried out," Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) told reporters.

Rogers said there were pros and cons to distributing the photos widely.

"We want to make sure that we maintain dignity, if there was any, in Osama bin Laden so that we don't inflame our problems in places around the world and still provide enough evidence that people are confident that it was Osama bin Laden," he said.

In fact, doubt was also widespread in the Muslim world.

"He is still alive," said Sayed Mohammed, a chef at a restaurant in Cairo's bustling Zamalek neighborhood. "He is a clever guy — he is no Hosni Mubarak."

And in Peshawar, a city near Pakistan's militant-heavy tribal areas and a place where locals are vehemently anti-Western, many refused to believe that Bin Laden had been killed.

As he made copies at a Peshawar stationery store, Muhammad Sajjad said, "I am sure he will conquer America first, then he will die."

Of course, even if the government does release photographs of Bin Laden's body, that will not necessarily quell the doubters.

"It's certainly a hallmark of conspiracy theorists that whatever evidence is presented, they always find problems with it," said Brooks Jackson, director of FactCheck.org, a nonpartisan organization that monitors the factual accuracy of politicians. "There are still some people who say the moon landing was faked."

matea.gold@latimes.com

eryn.brown@latimes.com

david.cloud@latimes.com

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Abbottabad residents startled by events

By Alex Rodriguez, Los Angeles Times

May 2, 2011, 6:30 p.m.

Reporting from Abbottabad, Pakistan— Perhaps nothing was as surprising in the hunt for Osama bin Laden as the last place he chose to hide.

The sprawling compound is hemmed by a forested ridge and a quiet neighborhood of pastel-colored homes adorned with columns and terrazzo porches — a far cry from the caves or rough tribal lands where most people thought the Al Qaeda leader might be.

The city of Abbottabad itself is known not for any connections to Islamic militants but for its mountain breezes, well-kept avenues and educational institutions, including Pakistan's most renowned academy for military officers.

Residents of the adjacent Bilal Town neighborhood acknowledge they were curious about what went on on the other side of the 15-foot-high walls topped with barbed wire. It appeared as a fortress with a white, two-story structure at its heart.

Photos: Osama bin Laden's death

All they really knew was that security cameras spied on anyone who approached. And except for a stout man driving a red van, they never saw anyone coming or going.

They got their answer early Monday when low-flying helicopters carrying the American forces coming for Bin Laden rattled their windows, waking them up. Then, the shooting started.

Later in the day, the compound was hidden behind a high, red screen. Pakistani soldiers restricted access at a checkpoint about a mile down the road. A truck hauled the burned wreckage of a helicopter out of the neighborhood.

"It's shocking to realize there was an internationally known terrorist living here," said Saifullah Zarsheed, who lives a couple of hundred yards from the compound where Bin Laden was killed. "But when you look at the place, it was a very suitable place for him and his people."

The Pakistani military, which the Obama administration says it kept in the dark about the mission, made sure Monday that throngs of journalists stayed at a distance. The screen erected around the compound's perimeter cordoned off the grounds. But a passage through alleys and lanes led to a rooftop about 200 yards away, from which dozens of soldiers could be seen walking in and around the site.

Abbottabad, a city of 500,000 people, has a look and feel that's light-years from the caves of Tora Bora in eastern Afghanistan, where Bin Laden first fled after the Sept. 11 attacks nearly a decade ago. Nor is it anything like the rugged terrain of Waziristan, the tribal border area where Al Qaeda had continued to plan and operate with the help of local Taliban militants — and where many people thought Bin Laden was hiding.

Abbottabad residents say proudly that their city doesn't know the sound of suicide bombings or the scourge of assassinations.

Its streets are dotted with colleges and military installations, the most famous of which is the Pakistan Military Academy, the country's most renowned training center for officers. Hotels abound, a testament to the area's lure as a summer vacation destination far from the brutal heat of Karachi or Multan. The city is named for James Abbott, a British colonial officer who founded it in 1853.

"Abbottabad is such a peaceful city — I can't ever recall a terrorist incident happening here, and this isn't a place where there ever has been any militant activity," said Shehryar Khan, a 21-year-old college student.

The fact that Abbottabad has such a significant military footprint raises questions about whether some in Pakistan's security establishment were aware of Bin Laden's presence. Washington has long suspected that factions within Pakistan's security establishment were aware of his whereabouts and failed to act on that knowledge. Pakistani officials have denied those claims.

At least one other high-profile Al Qaeda operative has used Abbottabad, 35 miles north of the capital, Islamabad, as a haven. Earlier this year, Umar Patek, an Indonesian militant, was arrested there with the help of a CIA tip.

President Obama said the U.S. learned in August that Bin Laden might be in Abbottabad, but it was not clear how long he had been there.

The fact that Bin Laden sought refuge in an urban setting reflects a recent change in strategy by militant leaders to leave strongholds in the tribal areas, which have been hit hard by America's campaign of drone strikes. Karachi, Pakistan's largest city, has increasingly become a hub for Afghan Taliban leaders.

Abbottabad residents said Monday that they had wondered often about the large compound and gossiped about who might live behind its high gray walls.

"We've been here for only a month, but neighbors who had been here for years told us they could never figure out who was living there," said a young man standing on the rooftop a distance from the compound. He declined to give his name. "This whole city is such a high-security zone. How could someone like that hide here?"

Sometime between midnight Sunday and 1:15 a.m. Monday, the residents of Bilal Town awoke to the sounds of helicopters hovering so low that windows rattled, said Khan, the college student.

Minutes later, residents heard bursts of gunfire and the sounds of rocket-propelled-grenade explosions. "Then suddenly there was a flash and a big bang," said an older man who lives in the neighborhood and spoke on the condition he not be named. "Everyone ran out of their houses."

Footage from Pakistani television showed the compound's main building partially in flames. A neighborhood boy, 13-year-old Usama Ali Sayed, said he saw one of the helicopters ablaze as it crashed to the ground.

In Abbottabad, residents expressed skepticism that Bin Laden's death would deal a major blow to Al Qaeda. In addition to targeting the West, the terrorist network has also helped Pakistani militant groups carry out attacks on Pakistani soil because it regards Islamabad as subservient to Washington.

"This won't make any difference," said Faheem Hamid, 24, a college student. "He was only one terrorist. Yes, he's killed, but anyone can replace him. Al Qaeda will still be there."

Elsewhere in Pakistan, reaction to news of Bin Laden's death hewed to longstanding rifts between Western-minded political parties and leaders and followers of the country's hard-line Islamic clerics.

The Pakistani government, led by President Asif Ali Zardari, hailed Monday's operation as "a major setback to terrorist organizations around the world." Speaking at the Assembly of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, which includes Abbottabad, Senior Minister Bashir Ahmed Bilour, a Zardari ally, told lawmakers: "Thank God we are rid of this scourge. Bin Laden was supplying our children in the Swat Valley with suicide jackets, guns and explosives."

But in the same chamber, Mufti Kifayetullah, a lawmaker with Islamist leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman's Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam faction, called on Muslims to regard Bin Laden as a hero.

"Today, Americans have killed a great hero of Islam," Kifayetullah said. "Americans should keep in mind that they have killed Osama, but they cannot eliminate his ideology."

Many Pakistanis said they were happy that Al Qaeda's leader had been killed, but they worried that Pakistan would bear the brunt of a wave of revenge attacks.

"There will be more unrest with his death," said Israr Hussain, a 23-year-old salesman at a bookstore in Islamabad. "There will be reaction from Bin Laden's friends, and there could be more pressure from the U.S. on Pakistan to finish off his associates."

Photos: Osama bin Laden's death

alex.rodriguez@latimes.com

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How Bin Laden met his end

By Bob Drogin, Christi Parsons and Ken Dilanian, Los Angeles Times

May 3, 2011 Reporting from Washington—

The nail-biting moment, the period when absolute disaster loomed, came at the very start.

About two dozen Navy SEALs and other U.S. commandos were supposed to rope down into a Pakistani residential compound from a pair of specially modified Black Hawk helicopters in the predawn hours Monday, race into two buildings, and capture or kill Osama bin Laden. One chopper stalled as it hovered between the compound's high walls, unable to sustain its lift, and thudded into the dirt.

Half a world away in the White House Situation Room, the president and his war council crowded around a table covered with briefing papers and keyboards and watched nervously as video feeds streamed in. The special forces team needed a rescue chopper. Gunfire was blazing around them. No one wanted another "Black Hawk Down" debacle.

"A lot of people were holding their breath," recalled John Brennan, the president's counter-terrorism advisor.

The extraordinary drama surrounding the killing of Bin Laden encompassed the White House, the CIA and other arms of America's vast national security apparatus. The tale is part detective story, part spy thriller. But the decade-old manhunt for the Al Qaeda leader ultimately came down to a three-story building on a dirt road in the Pakistani army town of Abbottabad, north of Islamabad.

If the raid went wrong, President Obama would bear the blame. He had vetoed a plan to obliterate the compound with an airstrike. Obama wanted to be certain he had Bin Laden, and there was no guarantee that a smoking crater would yield proof. He had asked for a bolder plan, one that would allow the U.S. to take custody of Bin Laden or his body. It posed far more risk.

As reports flowed into the White House, the commando team methodically swept through the compound. Bin Laden and his family lived on the second and third floors of the largest structure, U.S. intelligence indicated. Officials said that when the commandos found him there, he was armed and "resisted." They shot him in the head and chest.

There were conflicting reports Monday about whether Bin Laden had fired at the Americans, or whether he had tried to use a woman as a human shield. His wife, who called out Bin Laden's name during the fight, was wounded in the leg during the battle and may have tried to interpose herself between the troops and her husband, but Bin Laden was not hiding behind her, a senior U.S. official said.

Within 20 minutes, the fighting had ended. In 20 more, the military had flown in a backup helicopter. The commandos questioned several people in the compound to confirm Bin Laden's identity, detonated explosives to destroy the crippled Black Hawk and then departed. As they flew off, they carried with them the bloodied corpse of the tall man with a thick beard.

In addition, the raiding party took "a large volume of information" from the compound, a U.S. official said, "so large that the CIA is standing up a task force" to examine it for clues. The material, which includes digital and paper files, could be a treasure trove of new intelligence about Al Qaeda, the official said. Among other things, officials hope the information will lead them to Al Qaeda's other leaders.

They left behind the bodies of four other people killed in the raid — a courier they had been tracking for years, his brother, one of Bin Laden's sons and an unidentified woman.

The Pakistani government, which had not been informed of the raid in advance, scrambled aircraft in response to the firefight, but the low-flying U.S. helicopters quickly flew out of Pakistani airspace.

Within hours, Bin Laden's remains had been given funeral rites designed by the military to be consistent with Muslim practices and dropped into the northern Arabian Sea from the hangar deck of the aircraft carrier Carl Vinson. The FBI quickly slapped "Deceased" on its Internet posters for the world's most wanted terrorist.

Bin Laden had vanished after the Sept. 11 attacks of 2001. U.S. military commanders had failed to close the noose around his Afghan stronghold in Tora Bora, and the Al Qaeda leader and his aides somehow hiked across the rugged border region into Pakistan.

Once or twice a year, Bin Laden popped up on a new video or audio recording, mocking America's leaders and urging his faithful to follow his path. They did so with bombings in London, Madrid, Bali and elsewhere.

The CIA knew that Bin Laden had stopped using cellphones and other electronic or digital communications long ago to evade U.S. intelligence. He relied on human couriers instead to get his videos and other messages out to underlings and followers.

Find the courier, the thinking went, and they'd ultimately find Bin Laden.

Interrogators at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay were pushed to ask Al Qaeda suspects in custody about possible couriers. The information came in pieces, a U.S. official said, and it took years.

The information enabled the CIA and other intelligence agencies to develop "a composite" of Bin Laden's courier network.

"One courier in particular had our constant attention," a U.S. intelligence official said. Detainees "indicated he might be living with and protecting Bin Laden. But for years, we were unable to identify his true name or his location."

The break came in 2007. Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the former operations chief for Al Qaeda and self-described mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks, disclosed the nickname of a Pakistani man he said was Bin Laden's most trusted confidant and courier. Confirmation came from Abu Faraj Libbi, another captured Al Qaeda leader, and other prisoners.

Several media outlets identified the courier Monday as Maulawi Abd Khaliq Jan based on a U.S. military assessment file on Libbi that was released by WikiLeaks last week. An administration official said that name was incorrect. Officials have so far declined to identify him.

It took the CIA until last summer to find his fortified compound in Abbottabad, a quiet city in rolling hills north of Islamabad. Named for a British colonial officer, the former hill station is home to a prestigious Pakistani military academy, an army regiment and thousands of retired military officers.

Satellite photos showed the house and 1-acre compound had been built in 2005. The high walls, barbed wire and pervasive security cameras suggested it was designed as a private fortress.

It took months to build a picture of who was living in the compound, but eventually the CIA concluded that one of the families was likely to include Bin Laden, several wives and children.

"There wasn't perfect visibility on everything inside the compound, but we did have a very good idea" of how many people lived there, how many women and children were in one of the families, and other pertinent details, said one of the intelligence officials.

With help from the National Security Agency, which intercepts communications, and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, which provides detailed maps and other data, the intelligence finally coalesced in February.

"Our confidence level grew much higher" that Bin Laden might be hiding in the compound, a senior official said. But the intelligence wasn't definitive. No one had seen him for certain, and there was concern that obtrusive surveillance efforts would be discovered and cause him to flee.

As the details accumulated, Obama ordered his national security team to develop courses of action, according to senior administration officials. The team brought several proposals for attacking the site, and they were refined over the next few weeks.

"There was a body of intelligence brought" to Obama, a Pentagon official said, "but in the weeks and months beforehand, his personal attention pushed the case to a new level."

As officials refined their plans, the SEALs team practiced the raid in early April, using a replica of the compound. Officials said they hadn't decided in advance to kill Bin Laden rather than take him prisoner.

"There were certainly capture contingencies," said a senior Pentagon official. But until nearly the last minute, it wasn't clear the mission would go.

Obama met with his senior national security aides on Thursday to review three options: the commando raid, an airstrike, or a pause for further intelligence gathering. He went around the table of advisors and asked each to weigh in.

The intelligence remained uncertain about whether Bin Laden was actually at the compound. Half of those present supported the raid; the rest were divided between the other two choices, a senior official said. Obama then left the meeting without announcing his decision.

Friday morning, just before Obama flew to Alabama to survey the devastation left by a flurry of tornadoes, the team met again in the White House Diplomatic Room. "It's a go," the president said. The UH-60 Black Hawks were supposed to fly on Saturday, but because of bad weather, the commanders pushed the schedule back a day.

Had the operation gone that day as planned, it would have coincided closely with a North Atlantic Treaty Organization airstrike on a villa in Tripoli where Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi, another longtime U.S. foe, apparently had visited. He escaped harm, but the missiles apparently killed one of his sons and three grandchildren.

Saturday evening, the president grinned broadly and offered light remarks at the annual White House correspondents dinner at a hotel in Washington. He joked about releasing his birth certificate and poked fun at Donald Trump.

Comedian Seth Meyers quipped that Bin Laden was hiding in plain sight by hosting a C-SPAN show. The president had in fact spent much of the day being briefed on the operation.

On Sunday, Obama monitored the final preparations in the Situation Room, along with Tom Donilon, his national security advisor. Others quickly gathered, including Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, Joint Chiefs Chairman Adm. Michael G. Mullen and James R. Clapper, director of national intelligence.

The president joined the group as the operation got underway around 2 p.m. Sunday Washington time — around midnight in Pakistan. The room was silent in between reports.

"It was probably one of the most anxiety-filled periods of time, I think, in the lives of the people who were assembled here yesterday," said Brennan, the president's Arabic-speaking counter-terrorism advisor. "The minutes passed like days."

At 3:50 p.m. Sunday, Obama was told that Bin Laden had been "tentatively" identified. A few hours later, he was told that there was a "high probability" that the Al Qaeda leader had been killed. DNA tests, using samples from several Bin Laden family members, would later confirm Bin Laden's identity.

The risk had paid off.

Brennan said Obama's reaction to the news was simple: "We got him."

bob.drogin@latimes.com

cparsons@latimes.com

ken.dilanian@latimes.com

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Afghans fear Bin Laden's death won't end war

By Laura King, Los Angeles Times

8:50 p.m. CDT, May 2, 2011

Reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan— The Taliban's war was not Osama bin Laden's war.

And that, analysts say, is why the killing of the Al Qaeda leader is unlikely to prove a death knell for Afghanistan's resilient homegrown Islamist movement.

The methodical tracking of Bin Laden to the Pakistani city of Abbottabad provides an enormous morale boost to the U.S. military and its allies in neighboring Afghanistan. It also points up the strengths of an intelligence-driven strategy of pinpoint raids — methods that also have been successfully employed for much of the last year against the Afghan Taliban's midlevel leadership tier.

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But whether Bin Laden's death represents a body blow to the Taliban remains doubtful.

Al Qaeda and the Taliban have been inextricably linked in the minds of most Americans since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. However, the groups' outlooks and agendas differ in fundamental ways, and Taliban goals have always been far more localized than Bin Laden's call to worldwide jihad.

Although Al Qaeda is thought to be intertwined with insurgent groups such as the Pakistan-based Haqqani network, which mainly operates in Afghanistan's rugged east, links between it and the Taliban are considered relatively loose in crucial parts of the country, including the key battleground provinces of Helmand and Kandahar.

"The death of such a prominent leader certainly has a psychological effect," said Waheed Muzhda, a onetime Taliban foreign ministry official who remains familiar with the thinking of the movement's leadership. "But keep in mind, he was not a prominent personality in terms of operational activities. Those who have the ability to plan and launch attacks are still alive."

Ordinary Afghans for the most part expressed relief over Bin Laden's death, but also said they doubted it would slow the tempo of violence.

"Here in the south especially, it won't affect operations by the Taliban," said Mohammad Omari, a Kandahar man in his 30s. "Just look what is happening here every day."

Kandahar, the Taliban's spiritual home, has been rocked in recent weeks by violence and a surge of rebel activity, including the assassination of the provincial police chief and a prison break in Kandahar city that freed hundreds of Taliban inmates.

President Hamid Karzai, addressing a rural development conference in Kabul, used Bin Laden's killing to repeat his longstanding appeals to the Taliban to come to the negotiating table. But he also took a veiled swipe at the Western military, saying many innocent Afghans had died in their pursuit of Bin Laden.

"They found Osama in Pakistan — not in Lowgar, in Kandahar, in Mazar," he said, listing the names of Afghan provinces and cities. "I want the safety of our homes and the lives of people in Afghanistan. I tell NATO once again that the war against terrorism is not in the villages and homes of Afghans."

At coalition military bases across Afghanistan, there was fist-pumping satisfaction and a swell of pride among U.S. troops — some of whom were still in elementary school when the Sept. 11 attacks took place. News of Bin Laden's death, however, provided little respite from the day-to-day prosecution of a war that has grown markedly bloodier in recent weeks.

Last month, 52 NATO troops were killed, compared with 34 in April 2010, according to the independent website icasualties.org. As has long been the battlefield trend, the majority of April's military deaths — 45 — were Americans.

A Taliban spokesman refused to comment on Bin Laden's death, saying the movement did not know whether the American account was true. A Taliban field commander in southern Afghanistan, reached through intermediaries, said his fighters would redouble their efforts to kill coalition troops.

"Why would this make us stop?" he said.

There were signs, too, that the Taliban would seek to portray the killing as an attack on all Muslims — despite President Obama's explicit declaration that the act of hunting down and killing Bin Laden did not represent a war against Islam.

"It's a big, big loss for all good Muslims," said Abdul Hai, a Kandahari who looked grimly furious when asked about the death.

Senior U.S. officials challenged the folk-hero status that Bin Laden had enjoyed in some quarters here.

"Afghans have suffered as much as any other nation from the campaign of terror that [Bin Laden] and his extremist followers undertook," the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, Karl W. Eikenberry, said in a statement. "His victims — Afghan, American and from many other nations — will never be forgotten."

Many feared retribution, at a time when insurgent attacks are already maiming and killing unprecedented numbers of Afghan civilians. "They will try to retaliate, probably more aggressively," said Noor-ul Haq Ulomi, a military analyst and former parliamentarian from Kandahar.

Afghanistan's relationship with Pakistan has long been fraught by its neighbor's sheltering of insurgent figures. Ulomi, like many others, said the circumstances of Bin Laden's death pointed up the need to clear militant havens on the Pakistani side of the border.

"Osama bin Laden is dead, but terrorist forces, terrorist infrastructure and terrorist setups still exist in Pakistan," he said.

It was Monday morning in Afghanistan when the news broke, with many people on their way to work or school when Obama's announcement was made. The news spread less quickly here than elsewhere, because Internet access is not widespread, particularly in the countryside. But by midmorning, many passersby were wearing broad grins.

"The people of Afghanistan are very happy today," said Rahim Sardar, a 26-year-old physician. "They're thinking that this might help Afghanistan become a better and more peaceful country."

Photos: Osama bin Laden's death

laura.king@latimes.com

Special correspondent Aimal Yaqubi in Kabul and a special correspondent in Kandahar contributed to this report.

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Terrorism concerns prompt security measures

By Richard A. Serrano and Brian Bennett, Washington Bureau

May 3, 2011

Reporting from Washington— An hour after President Obama announced that Osama bin Laden was dead, a midnight bulletin flashed across the country to state and local law enforcement officials, warning them that a suddenly leaderless Al Qaeda would probably "retaliate" and "continue to pursue attacks" against the United States.

The caution from the Homeland Security Department in Washington escalated Monday as national security officials, terrorism experts and the White House agreed that future strikes could likely be triggered from a new power struggle inside Al Qaeda or by some lone wolf or "micro-terrorist" plotting in the U.S. to personally even the score for Bin Laden's death.

Around the country, airports beefed up inspections, mass-transit police heightened patrols and cities such as Los Angeles, New York and Chicago increased their security measures. Abroad, U.S. embassies and other foreign facilities were placed on high alert, and U.S. citizens were strongly advised to be careful if traveling or living overseas.

In the midnight bulletin to state and local officials, Washington warned that anything could happen. "Everyone is extremely sensitive to the fact that there will at least be an attempt for a retaliatory attack," said one U.S. intelligence official.

Yet officials strongly underscored that Al Qaeda had a tradition of being patient, and was willing to take its time to make a bigger splash. With that in mind, the consensus was that terrorists would probably strike again; when and where remain unknown.

"The enemy is out there," said Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee. "My own great concern in the days ahead is a so-called lone wolf."

"Though Bin Laden is dead, Al Qaeda is not," CIA Director Leon E. Panetta told his employees in an early morning message, encouraging them to keep up their guard. "Terrorists almost certainly will attempt to avenge him."

"They are a wounded tiger," said White House counter-terrorism advisor John Brennan, acknowledging that Al Qaeda will try to regroup. "But they still have life left in them."

Experts on terrorism said the list of possible targets was long and the possible perpetrators would be difficult to identify.

Christine Parthemore, a fellow at the Center for a New American Security, a nonpartisan research group in Washington, said terrorists could try to hurt the U.S. economy with some kind of attack on Middle Eastern gas and crude oil. "Top concerns in the coming months should include reprisal attacks within Saudi Arabia, where petroleum infrastructure has always been targeted," she said.

Frank Cilluffo, who was White House domestic security advisor to President George W. Bush, said U.S. officials were concerned that the next attack could be against a "soft" target like a crowded mall or restaurant, and the shooter could be an American who never had to leave the U.S. to link up with a terrorist organization. "Something more quick-moving and fluid, soft targets," Cilluffo said.

It is much easier to detect violence being planned by an organization, but individuals acting alone are nearly impossible to stop, said Rick Nelson of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank.

"Anybody can go on a website and say, 'I want to kill Americans.' How do I know when one of those individuals is actually going take action?"

Near the World Trade Center site in New York, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg spoke as helicopters whirred overhead and the area flooded with police, journalists and wary tourists.

"Osama bin Laden is dead, and New York City's spirit has never been stronger," Bloomberg said.

But Bloomberg acknowledged the threat hanging over the city. "There is no doubt we remain a top target, and the killing of Bin Laden will not change that," he said.

His predecessor, Rudolph W. Giuliani, also appeared near the site. He praised the administration in Washington and the military for "the courage" to take action against Bin Laden.

But he too warned of "short-term dangers," saying some of the elation on Monday was a bit premature, that the fight goes on.

"I know there are going to be people who are going to want to do damage to us," Giuliani said.

Photos: Osama bin Laden's death

richard.serrano@latimes.com

brian.bennett@latimes.com

Times staff writer Geraldine Baum in New York contributed to this report.

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Killing Adds to Debate About U.S. Strategy and Timetable in Afghanistan

By MARK LANDLER, THOM SHANKER and ALISSA J. RUBIN

Published: May 2, 2011

WASHINGTON — The killing of Osama bin Laden deep in Pakistan is sure to fuel the debate over the Obama administration’s strategy in Afghanistan, where 100,000 troops are still fighting a war to destroy Al Qaeda. And the raid, conducted without the cooperation or even advance knowledge of Pakistan, raised fresh doubts about the lengthy American effort to turn it into a trustworthy partner in the hunt for terrorists.

As President Obama approaches a critical period in deciding how many troops to pull out of Afghanistan — and how fast — the deadly raid on Al Qaeda’s leader called into question many of the administration’s basic assumptions about how to prevent Afghanistan from becoming a safe haven for Islamic terrorists.

On Monday, administration officials insisted that their commitments to Afghanistan and Pakistan would be undiminished by the death of Bin Laden. But they said privately that the pressure would mount on Mr. Obama to withdraw troops more quickly.

John O. Brennan, Mr. Obama’s chief counterterrorism adviser, said Pakistan would remain a critical partner in the fight against terrorism, regardless of what he conceded were questions about whether its government provided support to Bin Laden and disagreements about counterterrorism strategy. And he said the large NATO troop presence in Afghanistan was still necessary to prevent that country from again becoming a “launching point” for Al Qaeda.

But officials in the State Department and Pentagon, as well as key lawmakers, said Bin Laden’s death was bound to alter the debate about a costly war soon to enter its second decade. Those questions will be even more pointed, on the eve of an election year and amid growing alarm about the federal budget deficit.

“Every question has to be on the table in terms of where this is going,” said Senator John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who will hold hearings on the policy this week. “What this does is initiate a possibility for re-evaluating what kind of transition we need in Afghanistan.”

Pentagon officials said they were preparing for calls for a more rapid withdrawal from Afghanistan. Critics of the war are expected to trumpet the death of Bin Laden as such a crippling blow to Al Qaeda that the movement, while remaining dangerous, is no longer an existential threat to the United States. Even before Bin Laden’s death, there was a camp within the administration and the Democratic Party — as well some voices among Republicans — calling for a rapid winding down of American involvement.

Pentagon officials acknowledged that NATO nations, many of whom already are reluctant to remain in Afghanistan, also may argue that Bin Laden’s death allows them to withdraw more rapidly than planned.

“I hope people are going to feel, on a bipartisan basis, that when you move the ball this far it’s crazy to walk off the field,” one senior administration official said. Officials who favor retaining a large troop presence said that while this was a significant victory, the security gains in Afghanistan remained fragile.

When Mr. Obama ordered an additional 30,000 troops to Afghanistan in 2009 with a goal of disrupting, dismantling and defeating Al Qaeda, it included a broader counterinsurgency campaign to protect the population, rebuild the economy and shore up the fragile central government. This broader campaign, which goes far beyond a focused fight against Al Qaeda, is based on the goal of assuring that Afghanistan would never again become a safe haven for the terror organization.

The administration, officials said, was already moving away from this counterinsurgency strategy, toward one with more limited objectives for Afghanistan and a goal of political reconciliation with the Taliban, which once offered Al Qaeda sanctuary there. Drone strikes and nighttime raids, of the kind that killed Bin Laden, would figure even more prominently in such a strategy, officials said.

But reconciling with the Taliban will require an active role by Pakistan, which provides a haven for Taliban leaders. The strains between the United States and Pakistan could make that process more difficult. And Bin Laden’s death near Islamabad has rekindled suspicions in Afghanistan. On Monday, Afghan officials were withering in their criticism of Pakistan as the locus of terrorism.

“Pakistan is the problem, and the West has to pay attention,” said Amrullah Saleh, the former intelligence director of Afghanistan, who resigned last summer. Though jubilant at the death of Bin Laden, he said it was time for the United States to “wake up to the fact that Pakistan is a hostile state exporting terror.”

President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan was more diplomatic but said Bin Laden’s death should speed the end of the war.

“We said that the fight against terrorism is not in bombing women and children of Afghanistan,” Mr. Karzai said to a meeting of Afghan district leaders on Monday. “The fight against terrorism is in its sanctuaries, in its training bases and in its financing centers, not in Afghanistan, and now it’s proved that we were right.”

Mr. Obama has set a deadline of July for beginning a withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan. As the White House begins to debate how many troops should leave and how quickly, Pentagon officials and military officers said they expected additional pressure to reassess the strategy and accelerate a withdrawal.

Officials pointed to one unexpected benefit of the raid: American allies in the Persian Gulf believe that Iran may be chastened, however temporarily, by evidence of a forceful operation by the United States to protect its national security interests — and one that required violating the sovereignty of another nation.

Although Mr. Brennan acknowledged questions about Pakistan’s trustworthiness, the administration sought to keep relations calm. Mr. Obama called President Asif Ali Zardari. The administration’s special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Marc Grossman, arrived in Islamabad on Monday for previously scheduled three-way talks between the United States, Pakistan and Afghanistan. A previously scheduled conference between top-level American and Pakistan defense officials convened Monday at the Pentagon, and will continue Tuesday. Still, the next few days and weeks could prove bumpy, American and Pakistani officials said, as the two side try to rebuild trust.

“Pakistan is a huge country with lots of people, some of whom unfortunately sympathize with the goals of terrorists,” said Husain Haqqani, Pakistan’s ambassador to Washington. “But their presence in the country should not be interpreted as, in any way, state complicity.”

Mark Landler and Thom Shanker reported from Washington, and Alissa J. Rubin from Kabul, Afghanistan.

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May 3, 2011, 10:47 am

U.S. to Investigate Whether Pakistan Helped Bin Laden

By MICHAEL D. SHEAR

The top counterterrorism official in the United States pledged on Tuesday to “get to the bottom” of whether the Pakistani government provided help to Osama bin Laden in his decade-long efforts to avoid detection by those who were hunting him.

John O. Brennan, who serves as President Obama’s top adviser on terrorism, said Tuesday on National Public Radio that “it would be premature to rule out the possibility.” He added that “we’re not accusing anybody at this point, but we want to make sure we get to the bottom of this.”

Mr. Brennan’s comments came as Pakistan’s president insisted that his government did not provide assistance to Bin Laden. In an article published in The Washington Post on Tuesday, President Asif Ali Zardari wrote that his country had “as much reason to despise Al Qaeda as any nation.”

“Some in the U.S. press have suggested that Pakistan lacked vitality in its pursuit of terrorism, or worse yet that we were disingenuous and actually protected the terrorists we claimed to be pursuing,” Mr. Zardari wrote. “Such baseless speculation may make exciting cable news, but it doesn’t reflect fact.”

Other senior United States officials, including Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, praised the working relationship between the allies in the fight against terrorism.

“Our counterterrorism cooperation over a number of years now, with Pakistan, has contributed greatly to our efforts to dismantle Al Qaeda,” Mrs. Clinton said Monday. “And in fact, cooperation with Pakistan helped lead us to Bin Laden and the compound in which we was hiding. Going forward, we are absolutely committed to continuing that cooperation.”

The competing American messages reflect the delicate diplomatic challenge the Obama administration faces as it tries to determine how untrustworthy its ally is, while at the same time continuing to work with Mr. Zardari’s government.

In the hours after Mr. Obama revealed the raid that led to Bin Laden’s death, lawmakers in Washington expressed anger and doubt that the world’s most wanted terrorist could be living so close to the Pakistani capital and a Pakistani military training facility without the government’s knowledge.

“I think this tells us once again that, unfortunately, Pakistan is playing a double game, and that is very troubling to me,” Senator Susan Collins of Maine, the senior Republican on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said Monday.

Senator Carl Levin, Democrat of Michigan on Monday cited the location of the compound where Bin Laden was found as reason to believe that the Pakistani government had “a lot of explaining to do.”

“I think the army and the intelligence of Pakistan have plenty of questions that they should be answering, and hopefully, they’re being asked by the Pakistani government,” Mr. Levin said.

Senator John Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said he would convene a new round of hearings to assess the relationship between the countries. On Monday, he said that “it raises very, very serious questions about a number of things, not least of which is how much effort from their own intelligence was putting in to try and find him, if indeed they were trying to do that at all.”

On Monday, Mr. Brennan suggested that the United States would go further than just letting Pakistan ask those questions. In a briefing with reporters, Mr. Brennan said that it was “inconceivable” that Bin Laden did not have a support network inside of Pakistan, though he stopped short of suggesting that the network involved government officials.

“We are talking with the Pakistanis on a regular basis now, and we’re going to pursue all leads to find out exactly what type of support system and benefactors that Bin Laden might have had,” Mr. Brennan said.

That question may be critical to the complicated relationship between the countries. In the last 24 hours, officials in Pakistan and the United States have stressed that the two countries have worked together effectively at times to combat terrorism.

In his Washington Post article, Mr. Zardari said his country had “paid an enormous price” for its pursuit of terrorism.

“More of our soldiers have died than all of NATO’s casualties combined. Two thousand police officers, as many as 30,000 innocent civilians and a generation of social progress for our people have been lost,” Mr. Zardarai wrote. “And for me, justice against Bin Laden was not just political; it was also personal, as the terrorists murdered our greatest leader, the mother of my children.”

In an interview with NPR on Monday, Mr. Kerry said that despite the legitimate questions about Pakistan’s knowledge of Bin Laden’s whereabouts, “we really have to be careful not to cut off our nose to spite our face here and recognize sort of how complicated and insanely byzantine the politics of the area are and the choices that face us.”

Don't get me wrong but I consider George W. Bush a far bigger terrorist then Osama bin Laden!

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The Most Wanted Face of Terrorism

By KATE ZERNIKE and MICHAEL T. KAUFMAN

Published: May 2, 2011

With the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001, Bin Laden was elevated to the realm of evil in the American imagination once reserved for dictators like Hitler and Stalin. He was a new national enemy, his face on wanted posters. He gloated on videotapes, taunting the United States and Western civilization.

“Do you want Bin Laden dead?” a reporter asked President George W. Bush six days after the Sept. 11 attacks.

“I want him — I want justice,” the president answered. “And there’s an old poster out West, as I recall, that said, ‘Wanted: Dead or Alive.’ ”

It took nearly a decade before that quest finally ended in Pakistan with the death of Bin Laden in a firefight with American forces who attacked a compound where officials said he had been hiding. He was generally believed to be 54.

The manhunt was punctuated in December 2001 by a battle at an Afghan mountain redoubt called Tora Bora, near the border with Pakistan, where Bin Laden and his allies were hiding. Despite days of pounding by American bombers, Bin Laden escaped. For more than nine years afterward, he remained an elusive, shadowy figure frustratingly beyond the grasp of his pursuers and thought to be holed up somewhere in Pakistan and plotting new attacks.

Long before, he had become a hero in much of the Islamic world, as much a myth as a man — what a longtime C.I.A. officer called “the North Star” of global terrorism. He had united disparate militant groups, from Egypt to the Philippines, under the banner of Al Qaeda and his ideal of a borderless brotherhood of radical Islam.

Terrorism before Bin Laden was often state-sponsored, but he was a terrorist who had sponsored a state. From 1996 to 2001 he bought the protection of the Taliban, then the rulers of Afghanistan, and used the time and freedom to make Al Qaeda — which means “the base” in Arabic — into a multinational enterprise for the export of terrorism.

After the Sept. 11 attacks, the names Al Qaeda and Bin Laden spread to every corner of the globe. Groups calling themselves Al Qaeda, or acting in the name of its cause, attacked American troops in Iraq, bombed tourist spots in Bali and blew up passenger trains in Spain.

To this day, the precise reach of his power remains unknown: how many members Al Qaeda could truly count on, how many countries its cells had penetrated — and whether, as Bin Laden had boasted, he was seeking chemical, biological and nuclear weapons.

He waged holy war with modern methods. He sent fatwas — religious decrees — by fax and declared war on Americans in an e-mail beamed by satellite around the world. Qaeda members kept bomb-making manuals on CDs and communicated through encrypted memos on laptops, leading one American official to declare that Bin Laden possessed better communications technology than the United States. He railed against globalization, even as his agents in Europe and North America took advantage of a globalized world to carry out their attacks, insinuating themselves into the very Western culture he despised.

He styled himself a Muslim ascetic, a billionaire’s son who gave up a life of privilege for the cause. But he was media savvy and acutely image-conscious. Before a CNN crew that interviewed him in 1997 was allowed to leave, his media advisers insisted on editing out unflattering shots. He summoned reporters to a cave in Afghanistan when he needed to get his message out, but like the most controlling of C.E.O.’s he insisted on receiving written questions in advance.

His reedy voice seemed to belie the warrior image he cultivated, a man whose constant companion was a Kalashnikov rifle that he boasted he had taken from a Russian soldier he had killed. The world’s most threatening terrorist, he was also known to submit to dressings down by his mother. While he built his reputation on his combat experience against Soviet troops in Afghanistan in the 1980s, even some of his supporters questioned whether he had actually fought.

And though he claimed to follow the purest form of Islam, many scholars insisted that he was glossing over the faith’s edicts against killing innocents and civilians. Islam draws boundaries on where and why holy war can be waged; Bin Laden declared the entire world as fair territory.

Yet it was the United States, Bin Laden insisted, that was guilty of a double standard.

“It wants to occupy our countries, steal our resources, impose agents on us to rule us and then wants us to agree to all this,” he told CNN in the 1997 interview. “If we refuse to do so, it says we are terrorists. When Palestinian children throw stones against the Israeli occupation, the U.S. says they are terrorists. Whereas when Israel bombed the United Nations building in Lebanon while it was full of children and women, the U.S. stopped any plan to condemn Israel. At the same time that they condemn any Muslim who calls for his rights, they receive the top official of the Irish Republican Army at the White House as a political leader. Wherever we look, we find the U.S. as the leader of terrorism and crime in the world.”

The Turning Point

For Bin Laden, as for the United States, the turning point came in 1989, with the defeat of the Soviets in Afghanistan.

To the United States, which had supported the Afghan resistance with billions of dollars in arms and ammunition, the Soviet retreat was the beginning of the end of the cold war and the birth of a new world order; to Bin Laden, who had supported the resistance with money, construction equipment and housing, it was an affirmation of Muslim power and an opportunity to recreate Islamic political power and topple infidel governments through jihad, or holy war.

He declared to an interviewer in 1998, “I am confident that Muslims will be able to end the legend of the so-called superpower that is America.”

In its place he built his own legend, modeling himself after the Prophet Muhammad, who in the seventh century led the Muslim people to rout the infidels, or nonbelievers, from North Africa and the Middle East. Just as Muhammad saw the Koran revealed to him amid intense persecution, Bin Laden regarded his expulsions from Saudi Arabia and then Sudan in the 1990s as signs that he was a chosen one.

In his vision, he would be the “emir,” or prince, in a restoration of the khalifa, a political empire extending from Afghanistan across the globe. “These countries belong to Islam,” he told the same interviewer, “not the rulers.”

Al Qaeda became the infrastructure for his dream. Under it, he created a web of businesses — some legitimate, some less so — to obtain and move the weapons, chemicals and money he needed. He created training camps for his foot soldiers, a media office to spread his word and even “shuras,” or councils, to approve his military plans and his fatwas.

Through the 1990s, Al Qaeda evolved into a far-flung and loosely connected network of symbiotic relationships: Bin Laden gave affiliated terrorist groups money, training and expertise; they gave him operational cover and furthered his cause. Perhaps the most important alliance was with the Taliban, who rose to power in Afghanistan largely on the strength of Bin Laden’s aid, and in turn provided him refuge and a base for holy war.

Long before Sept. 11, though the evidence was often thin, Bin Laden was considered in part responsible for the killing of American soldiers in Somalia and Saudi Arabia; the first attack on the World Trade Center, in 1993; the bombing of the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia; and a foiled plot to hijack a dozen jets, crash a plane into the C.I.A. headquarters and kill President Bill Clinton.

In 1996, American officials described Bin Laden as “one of the most significant financial sponsors of Islamic extremism in the world,” but he was not thought of as someone capable of orchestrating international terrorist plots. When the United States put out a list of the most wanted terrorists in 1997, neither Bin Laden nor Al Qaeda was on it.

Bin Laden, however, demanded to be noticed. In February 1998, he declared it the duty of every Muslim to “kill Americans wherever they are found.” After the bombings of two American embassies in East Africa in August 1998, President Clinton declared Bin Laden “Public Enemy No. 1.”

The C.I.A. spent much of the next three years hunting him. The goal was to capture Bin Laden using recruited Afghan agents or to kill him with a precision-guided missile, according to the 2004 report of the 9/11 Commission and the memoirs of George J. Tenet, the director of central intelligence from July 1997 to July 2004.

The intelligence was never good enough to pull the trigger. By the summer of 2001, the C.I.A. was convinced that Al Qaeda was on the verge of a spectacular attack. But no one knew where or when it would come.

The Early Life

Osama bin Muhammad bin Awad bin Laden was born in 1957, the seventh son and 17th child, among 50 or more, of his father, people close to the family say. Many experts believe he was born in March of that year, though Steve Coll, in his book “The Bin Ladens: An Arabian Family in the American Century,” reported that Bin Laden himself said he was born in January 1958.

His father, Muhammad bin Awad bin Laden, had immigrated to what would soon become Saudi Arabia in 1931 from the family’s ancestral village in a conservative province of southern Yemen. He found work in Jidda as a porter to the pilgrims on their way to the holy city of Mecca; years later, when he owned the largest construction company in Saudi Arabia, he displayed his porter’s bag in the main reception room of his palace as a reminder of his humble origins.

The elder Bin Laden began his family’s rise by skillfully navigating the competing interests within and around the House of Saud in the 1950s. He first built palaces for the royal family and was then chosen to renovate holy sites, including those at Medina and Mecca. In 1958, when several Arab countries set about to renovate the Dome of the Rock and the Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, on one of the holiest sites in Islam, he won the bid for the Saudis by offering to do the job at a loss. In interviews years later, Osama bin Laden would recall proudly that his father had sometimes prayed in all three holy places in one day.

By the 1960s, King Faisal decreed that all construction projects be awarded to the Bin Laden group.

All of the Bin Laden children were required to work for the family company, meaning that Osama spent summers working on road projects. Muhammad bin Laden died in a plane crash in 1967, when Osama was 10. The siblings each inherited millions — the precise amount was a matter of some debate — and led a life of near-royalty. Osama — the name means “young lion” — grew up playing with Saudi princes and had his own stable of horses by age 15.

But some people close to the family paint a portrait of Bin Laden as a misfit. His mother, the last of his father’s four wives, was from Syria, and was the only one not from Saudi Arabia. The elder Bin Laden had met her on a vacation, and Osama was their only child. Within the family, she was said to be known as “the slave” and Osama “the slave child.”

Within the Saudi elite, it was rare to have both parents born outside the kingdom. In a profile of Osama bin Laden in The New Yorker, Mary Anne Weaver quoted a family friend who suggested that he had felt alienated in a culture so obsessed with lineage. “It must have been difficult for him,” the family friend said. “Osama was almost a double outsider. His paternal roots are in Yemen, and within the family his mother was a double outsider as well — she was neither Saudi nor Yemeni but Syrian.”

According to one of his brothers, Osama was the only Bin Laden child who never traveled abroad to study. A biography of Bin Laden provided to the PBS television program “Frontline” by an unidentified family friend asserted that Bin Laden had never traveled outside the Middle East.

That lack of exposure to Western culture would prove a crucial distinction; the other siblings went on to lead lives that would not be unfamiliar to most Americans. They took over the family business, estimated to be worth billions, distributing Snapple drinks, Volkswagens and Disney products across the Middle East. On Sept. 11, 2001, several Bin Laden siblings were living in the United States.

Bin Laden had been educated — and, indeed, steeped, as many Saudi children are — in Wahhabism, a puritanical, ardently anti-Western strain of Islam. Even years later, he so despised the Saudi ruling family’s coziness with Western nations that he refused to refer to Saudi Arabia by its modern name, instead calling it “the Country of the Two Holy Places.”

Newspapers have quoted anonymous sources — particularly an unidentified Lebanese barber — about a wild period of drinking and womanizing in Bin Laden’s life. But by most accounts he was devout and quiet, marrying a relative, the first of his four wives, at age 17.

Soon afterward, he began earning a degree at King Abdulaziz University in Jidda. It was there that he shaped his militancy. He became involved with the Muslim Brotherhood, a group of Islamic radicals who believed that much of the Muslim world, including the leaders of Saudi Arabia, lived as infidels, in violation of the true meaning of the Koran.

And he fell under the influence of two Islamic scholars: Muhammad Quttub and Abdullah Azzam, whose ideas would underpin Al Qaeda. Mr. Azzam became a mentor to the young Bin Laden. Jihad was the responsibility of all Muslims, he taught, until the lands once held by Islam were reclaimed. His motto was, “Jihad and the rifle alone: no negotiations, no conferences and no dialogue.”

The Middle East was becoming unsettled in 1979, when Bin Laden was at the university. In Iran, Shiite Muslims mounted an Islamic revolution that overthrew the shah and made the United States a target. Egypt and Israel signed a peace treaty. And as the year ended, Soviet troops occupied Afghanistan.

Bin Laden arrived in Pakistan-Afghanistan border within two weeks of the occupation. He said later that he had been asked to go by Saudi officials, who were eager to support the resistance movement. In his book “Taliban,” the Pakistani journalist Ahmed Rashid said that the Saudis had originally hoped that a member of the royal family might serve as an inspirational leader in Afghanistan, but that they settled on Bin Laden as the next closest thing when no princes volunteered.

He traveled more like a visiting diplomat than a soldier, meeting with leaders and observing refugees coming into Peshawar, Pakistan. As the family friend said, it “was an exploratory rather than an action trip.” He returned twice a year for the next few years, in between finishing his degree and lobbying family members to support the Afghan mujahedeen.

Bin Laden began traveling beyond the border into Afghanistan in 1982, bringing with him construction machinery and recruits. In 1984, he and Mr. Azzam began setting up guesthouses in Peshawar, which was the first stop for holy warriors on their way to Afghanistan. With the money they had raised in Saudi Arabia, they established the Office of Services, which branched out across the world to recruit young jihadists.

The recruits were known as the Afghan Arabs, though they came from all over the world, and their numbers were estimated as high as 20,000. By 1986, Bin Laden had begun setting up training camps for them as well, and he was paying roughly $25,000 a month to subsidize them.

To young would-be recruits across the Arab world, Bin Laden’s was an attractive story: the rich young man who had become a warrior. His own descriptions of the battles he had seen, how he had lost the fear of death and slept in the face of artillery fire, were brushstrokes of an almost divine figure.

But intelligence sources insist that Bin Laden actually saw combat only once, in a weeklong barrage by the Soviets at Jaji, where the Arab Afghans had dug themselves into caves using Bin Laden’s construction equipment.

“Afghanistan, the jihad, was one terrific photo op for a lot of people,” Milton Bearden, the C.I.A. officer who described Bin Laden as “the North Star,” said in an interview on “Frontline,” adding, “There’s a lot of fiction in there.”

Still, Jaji became a kind of touchstone in the Bin Laden myth. Stories sent back from the battle to Arab newspaper readers, and photographs of Bin Laden in combat gear, burnished his image.

The flood of young men following him to Afghanistan prompted the founding of Al Qaeda. The genesis was essentially bureaucratic; Bin Laden wanted a way to track the men so he could tell their families what had happened to them. The documentation that Al Qaeda provided became a primitive database of young jihadists.

Afghanistan also brought Bin Laden into contact with leaders of other militant Islamic groups, including Ayman al-Zawahri, the bespectacled doctor who would later appear at Bin Laden’s side in televised messages from the caves of Afghanistan. Ultimately Dr. Zawahri’s group, Egyptian Jihad, and others would merge with Al Qaeda, making it an umbrella for terrorist groups.

The Movement

Through the looking glass of Sept. 11, it seemed ironic that the Americans and Osama bin Laden had fought on the same side against the Soviets in Afghanistan — as if the Americans had somehow created the Bin Laden monster by providing arms and cash to the Arabs. The complex at Tora Bora where Qaeda members hid had been created with the help of the C.I.A. as a base for the Afghans fighting the Soviets.

Bin Laden himself described the fight in Afghanistan this way: “There I received volunteers who came from the Saudi kingdom and from all over the Arab and Muslim countries. I set up my first camp where these volunteers were trained by Pakistani and American officers. The weapons were supplied by the Americans, the money by the Saudis.”

In truth, the Americans did not deal directly with Bin Laden; they worked through the middlemen of the Pakistani intelligence service.

In the revisionism of the Bin Laden myth, his defenders would say that he had not worked with the Americans but that he had only tolerated them as a means to his end. As proof, they insisted he had made anti-American statements as early as 1980.

Bin Laden would say in retrospect that he was always aware who his enemies were.

“For us, the idea was not to get involved more than necessary in the fight against the Russians, which was the business of the Americans, but rather to show our solidarity with our Islamist brothers,” he told a French journalist in 1995. “I discovered that it was not enough to fight in Afghanistan, but that we had to fight on all fronts against Communism or Western oppression. The urgent thing was Communism, but the next target was America.”

Afghanistan had infused the movement with confidence.

“Most of what we benefited from was that the myth of the superpower was destroyed not only in my mind but also in the minds of all Muslims,” Bin Laden told an interviewer. “Slumber and fatigue vanished, and so was the terror which the U.S. would use in its media by attributing itself superpower status, or which the Soviet Union used by attributing itself as a superpower.”

He returned to Saudi Arabia, welcomed as a hero, and took up the family business. But Saudi royals grew increasingly wary of him as he became more outspoken against the government.

The breaking point — for Bin Laden and for the Saudis — came when Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990. Bin Laden volunteered to the Saudis that the men and equipment he had used in Afghanistan could defend the kingdom. He was “shocked,” a family friend said, to learn that the Americans — the enemy, in his mind — would defend it instead. To him, it was the height of American arrogance.

The United States, he told an interviewer later, “has started to look at itself as a master of this world and established what it calls the new world order.”

The Saudi government restricted him to Jidda, fearing that his outspokenness would offend the Americans. Bin Laden fled to Sudan, which was offering itself as a sort of haven for terrorists, and there he began setting up legitimate businesses that would help finance Al Qaeda. He also built his reserves, in 1992, paying for about 500 mujahedeen who had been expelled from Pakistan to come work for him.

The Terrorism

It was during that time that it is believed he honed his resolve against the United States.

Within Al Qaeda, he argued that the organization should put aside its differences with Shiite terrorist groups like Hezbollah in Lebanon, the better to concentrate on the common enemy: the United States. He called for attacks against American forces in the Saudi peninsula and in the Horn of Africa.

On Dec. 29, 1992, a bomb exploded in a hotel in Aden, Yemen, where American troops had been staying while on their way to Somalia. The troops had already left, and the bomb killed two Austrian tourists. American intelligence officials came to believe that it was Bin Laden’s first attack.

On Feb. 26, 1993, a bomb exploded in a truck driven into the underground garage at the World Trade Center, killing six people. Bin Laden later praised Ramzi Yousef, who was convicted of the bombing. In October of that year, in Somalia, 18 American service members were killed — some of their bodies dragged through the streets — while on a peacekeeping mission; Bin Laden was almost giddy about the deaths.

After leaving Afghanistan, the Muslim fighters headed for Somalia and prepared for a long battle, thinking that the Americans were “like the Russians,” he told an interviewer.

“The youth were surprised at the low morale of the American soldiers and realized more than before that the American soldier was a paper tiger and after a few blows ran in defeat,” he said. “And America forgot all the hoopla and media propaganda about being the world leader and the leader of the new world order, and after a few blows, they forgot about this title and left, dragging their corpses and their shameful defeat.”

By 1994, Bin Laden had established new training camps in Sudan, but he became a man without a country. The Saudi government froze his assets and revoked his citizenship. His family, which had become rich on its relations with the royal family, denounced him publicly after he was caught smuggling weapons from Yemen.

This seemed to make him only more zealous. He sent an open letter to King Fahd outlining the sins of the Saudi government and calling for a campaign of guerrilla attacks to drive Americans from Saudi Arabia. Three months later, in November 1995, a truck bomb exploded at a Saudi National Guard training center operated by the United States in Riyadh, killing seven people. That year, Belgian investigators found a kind of how-to manual for terrorists on a CD. The preface dedicated it to Bin Laden, the hero of the holy war.

The next May, when the men accused of the Riyadh bombing were beheaded in Riyadh’s main square, they were forced to read a confession in which they acknowledged the connection to Bin Laden. The next month, June 1996, a truck bomb destroyed Khobar Towers, an American military residence in Dhahran. It killed 19 soldiers.

Bin Laden fled to Afghanistan that summer after Sudan expelled him under pressure from the Americans and Saudis, and he forged an alliance with Mullah Muhammad Omar, the leader of the Taliban. In August 1996, from the Afghan mountain stronghold of Tora Bora, Bin Laden issued his “Declaration of War Against the Americans Who Occupy the Land of the Two Holy Mosques.”

“Muslims burn with anger at America,” it read. The presence of American forces in the Persian Gulf states “will provoke the people of the country and induces aggression on their religion, feelings, and prides and pushes them to take up armed struggle against the invaders occupying the land.”

The imbalance of power between American forces and Muslim forces demanded a new kind of fighting, he wrote, “in other words, to initiate a guerrilla war, where sons of the nation, not the military forces, take part in it.”

That same month in New York City, a federal grand jury began meeting to consider charges against Bin Laden. Disputes arose among prosecutors and American law enforcement and intelligence officers about which attacks against American interests could truly be attributed to Bin Laden — whether in fact he had, as an indictment eventually charged, trained and paid the men who killed the Americans in Somalia.

His foot soldiers, in testimony, offered different pictures of Bin Laden’s actual involvement. In some cases he could be as aloof as any boss with thousands of employees. Yet one of the men convicted of the bombings of the embassies said that Bin Laden had been so involved that he was the one who had pointed at surveillance photographs to direct where the truck bomb should be driven.

Bin Laden was becoming more emboldened, summoning Western reporters to his hide-outs in Afghanistan to relay his message: He would wage war against the United States and its allies if Washington did not remove its troops from the gulf region.

“So we tell the Americans as a people,” he told ABC News, “and we tell the mothers of soldiers and American mothers in general that if they value their lives and the lives of their children, to find a nationalistic government that will look after their interests and not the interests of the Jews. The continuation of tyranny will bring the fight to America, as Ramzi Yousef and others did. This is my message to the American people: to look for a serious government that looks out for their interests and does not attack others, their lands or their honor.”

In February 1998, he issued the edict calling for attacks on Americans anywhere in the world, declaring it an “individual duty” for all Muslims.

In June, the grand jury that had been convened two years earlier issued its indictment, charging Bin Laden with conspiracy to attack the United States abroad, for heading Al Qaeda and for financing terrorist activities around the world.

On Aug. 7, 1998, the eighth anniversary of the United States order sending troops into the gulf region, two bombs exploded simultaneously at the American Embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The Nairobi bomb killed 213 people and wounded 4,500; the bomb in Dar es Salaam killed 11 and wounded 85.

The United States retaliated two weeks later with strikes against what were thought to be terrorist training camps in Afghanistan and a pharmaceutical plant in Sudan, which officials contended — erroneously, it turned out — was producing chemical weapons for Al Qaeda.

Bin Laden had trapped the United States in a spiral of tension, where any defensive or retaliatory actions would affirm the evils that he said had provoked the attacks in the first place. In an interview with Time magazine that December, he brushed aside President Clinton’s threats against him, and referred to himself in the third person, as if recognizing or encouraging the notion that he had become larger than life.

“To call us Enemy No. 1 or Enemy No. 2 does not hurt us,” he said. “Osama bin Laden is confident that the Islamic nation will carry out its duty.”

In January 1999, the United States government issued a superseding indictment that affirmed the power Bin Laden had sought all along, declaring Al Qaeda an international terrorist organization in a conspiracy to kill American citizens.

The Aftermath

After the attacks of Sept. 11, Bin Laden did what had become routine: He took to Arab television. He appeared, in his statement to the world, to be at the top of his powers. President Bush had declared that the nations of the world were either with the Americans or against them on terrorism; Bin Laden held up a mirror image, declaring the world divided between infidels and believers.

Bin Laden had never before claimed or accepted responsibility for terrorist attacks. But in a videotape found in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar weeks after the attacks, he did precisely that, reveling in the horror of Sept. 11.

“We calculated in advance the number of casualties from the enemy, who would be killed based on the position of the tower,” he said. “We calculated that the floors that would be hit would be three or four floors. I was the most optimistic of them all.”

In the videotape, showing him talking to followers nearly two months after the attacks, Bin Laden smiles, hungers to hear more approval and notes proudly that the attacks let loose a surge of interest in Islam around the world.

He explained that the hijackers on the planes — “the brothers who conducted the operation” — did not know what the mission would be until just before they boarded the planes. They knew only that they were going to the United States on a mission of martyrdom.

Bin Laden’s voice continued to be heard, off and on, for almost the next 10 years as he issued threats, warnings and pronouncements on video and audiotape from wherever he was hiding. As recently as October he appealed for aid for flood victims in Pakistan and blamed the West for causing climate change.

Bin Laden long eluded the allied forces in pursuit of him, moving, it was said, under cover of night with his wives and children, at first between mountain caves. Yet he was determined that if he had to die, he too would die a martyr’s death.

His greatest hope, he told supporters, was that if he died at the hands of the Americans, the Muslim world would rise up and defeat the nation that had killed him.

Source

Newspapers See Big Demand From Bin Laden News

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: May 3, 2011 at 10:57 AM ET

WASHINGTON (AP) — When big news breaks, newspapers are in demand despite the immediacy of online news.

Newspaper across the country including The New York Times, The Washington Post and The News & Advance in Lynchburg, Va., printed extra copies in anticipation of higher demand Monday, when headlines heralded the death of Osama bin Laden.

Some newspapers stopped their presses to update their front pages with late Sunday's developments. The Washington Examiner, a free daily newspaper, ran a special edition Monday afternoon under the headline, "We Got Him!"

The website for the Newseum, a museum in Washington devoted to journalism, was inaccessible for many visitors Monday as thousands of people flocked to it to see how newspapers around the world handled coverage of the terrorist leader's death. The website posts digital replicas of front pages of hundreds of newspapers every day.

The site was working fine on Tuesday, when many international papers that couldn't get the news in Monday's editions reported the news of bin Laden's death.

Paul Sparrow, senior vice president of broadcasting at the Newseum, said the museum often sees demand for newspapers' front pages spike when there are major stories in sports, entertainment or politics. Some of the biggest news events recently were the 2008 presidential elections and the New Orleans Saints' Super Bowl victory in 2009.

The site was processing more than 2,800 requests per second when it became overloaded Monday, he said. Traffic started to peak at 3 a.m. Eastern time Monday when Europeans woke to the news. It grew again at about 6 a.m. Newseum even became one of the 10 most-talked about topics on Twitter for a while.

Although websites allow people to get up-to-the-minute news, readers turn to newspapers because they offer a snapshot in time, Sparrow said.

"It reflects an emotional moment in time versus an ongoing story that's constantly changing," he said.

Stephen G. Smith, editor of The Washington Examiner, said readers like to relive major events, and newspapers offer a chance to stop and digest news, rather than chase the latest developments.

Several newspapers promoted Monday's editions as keepsakes, just as many did the day after President Barack Obama's election and inauguration. Some newspapers, such as the Chicago Tribune, plan to make Monday's edition available for sale on Tuesday for people who missed it.

A newsstand at the National Press Building in Washington sold out nearly every newspaper with the bin Laden story by noon Monday. The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post were sold out on some newsstands, according to those newspapers.

The New York Times doubled or tripled the number of newsstand copies it printed for several markets, including New York, Washington, Boston and San Francisco. The Washington Post said it printed an additional 70,000 copies, which is about double its normal print run, excluding home subscribers. USA Today added roughly 200,000.

The Los Angeles Times printed 100,000 extra copies and kept printing plates in place "if we need to run more," said spokeswoman Nancy Sullivan. The News & Advance in Lynchburg added about 2,000 copies to its daily run of 28,000.

The newspapers did not say how many were actually sold Monday.

Newspaper websites were also seeing increased traffic. Visitors to The New York Times' website who were not already logged in could not access articles for about 30 minutes, as the site coped with an unprecedented surge in volume.

At the Newseum on Washington's Pennsylvania Avenue, a newspaper from Pakistan joined the daily displays of newspapers from every state and Canada. Many visitors pulled out their cell phones to take pictures of the screaming headlines, especially the New York Post's: "Got Him: Vengeance at last! US nails the bastard."

"It's exactly how New York feels," said Jamie Jablonowski, 24, of East Brunswick, N.J., who was visiting a friend in Washington. The two had joined hundreds of others at the White House when news broke Sunday night.

She and her friend, Rachel Nomberg, 24, remember 9/11 from their junior high years. It's the first huge moment of history they can remember.

"People talk about newspapers going out of style and the Internet taking over, but I do think it's really cool to have something tangible," Nomberg said.

The Honolulu Star-Advertiser stood out for having one of the biggest pictures. Bin Laden's image filled nearly the entire page with the big headline, "Dead."

Some newspapers were noteworthy for not having the bin Laden news at all, with news apparently coming too late for their deadlines. Some including The New York Times and USA Today had to redo their front pages after their press runs had already begun. Others delayed their printing; The Washington Post said its final edition wasn't finished until 2 a.m., hours past its normal deadline.

Time magazine plans to publish a special edition Thursday to mark the occasion. The cover image of the new, 68-page issue will be the fourth in the magazine's history to feature a red "X" over a historical figure's face. The first time was on May 7, 1945, following the death of Adolf Hitler.

The Newseum will save Monday's front pages and post them in the museum's permanent 9/11 exhibit, which also features the broadcast tower that once stood atop the World Trade Center.

The Newseum also plans to set up a video booth over Memorial Day weekend for visitors to record their remembrances. Curators will create a special exhibit for the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks this year.

Tyson Tuttle, 43, of Austin, Texas, was visiting Washington with his wife for their daughter's school trip. They plan to save copies of several newspapers and hope to snag a copy of the New York Post.

"In 2001, when you woke up and you saw the buildings on fire and everything we've been through from then until now, it's a good end point," he said. "I hope that we can move on and start solving some of our other problems. But it's a good day to celebrate."

___

Barbara Ortutay reported from New York.

Source

Osama bin Laden death: Gaza demonstrators pay tribute to al-Qaida leader

May. 3, 2011 06:26 AM

Associated Press

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Some two dozen Palestinians gathered in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday to pay tribute to slain al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.

About 25 people holding pictures and posters of bin Laden rallied outside a Gaza City university. The crowd included al-Qaida sympathizers as well as students who said they opposed bin Laden's ideology, but were angry at the U.S. for killing him and consider him a martyr.

Hamas police did not interfere in the demonstration.

On Monday, Ismail Haniyeh, prime minister of Gaza's Hamas government, condemned the U.S. operation against bin Laden, whom he hailed as a "Muslim and Arab warrior." Still, the Islamic Hamas has always distanced itself from al-Qaida's militant Islamic ideology, saying its battle is against Israel, not the West.

Bin Laden's killing in Pakistan on Monday has touched off expectations of revenge attacks.

In Israel, police said they beefed up security around sensitive sites, including the airport, the U.S. Embassy, the U.S. consulate and areas where U.S. officials live.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld characterized the reinforcements as precautionary.

Source

Arizona an important site for 9/11 killers

by Dennis Wagner - May. 3, 2011 12:00 AM

The Arizona Republic

After hijackers crashed four jetliners and brought down the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, the FBI determined that at least two conspirators had lived and trained in Arizona, a state that was a historic nexus for key al-Qaida figures. Now, nearly a decade later, the death of Osama bin Laden, the mastermind of the worst terrorist attack in America, has rekindled memories of the hunt for terrorists in Arizona.

Joseph Welty, then-chief of national-security prosecutions for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Arizona, said investigators here began gathering information on potential threats immediately after 9/11.

"It was intelligence analysts chasing the dots and connecting them," recalled Welty, now a Maricopa County Superior Court judge.

Ray Churay, who in 2001 served as assistant special agent in charge at the FBI office in Phoenix, said agents quickly realized that Arizona "was one of the most important sites in the United States" in connection with the 9/11 conspiracy.

"Everybody was at hyper-alert," recalled Churay, now deputy chief over intelligence at the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office. "You can't ignore a tip. And there were just hundreds of them coming in. . . . That was a very, very trying time for law enforcement and their families."

Norm Beasley, chief criminal investigator at the Arizona Department of Public Safety in 2001, said the al-Qaida attack turned out to be "the most defining moment of my career."

Immediately afterward, Beasley became director of a new agency, the Arizona Counter Terrorism Information Center, that teamed up federal, state and local police for intelligence-gathering. He is now the sheriff's counterterrorism coordinator.

Even before 9/11, counterterrorism had identified al-Qaida tentacles in Arizona. An Islamic mosque in Tucson served as the focal point for key figures during the 1980s and early 1990s, when bin Laden was still allied with the United States in repelling Soviet forces from Afghanistan.

One of bin Laden's top lieutenants, Wadih El-Hage, who spent most of a decade in Tucson, later was imprisoned for masterminding the 1998 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Tanzania. According to a 567-page report of the 9/11 Commission, which analyzed U.S. intelligence efforts before the 2001 attack, at least two other al-Qaida operatives were in Tucson during that period.

And, on July 10, 2001, Phoenix FBI Agent Kenneth Williams e-mailed a memo to headquarters, warning that Islamic jihadists in Arizona were training as pilots and might be plotting a terrorist event.

That memo, marked "routine," speculated about "a coordinated effort by Osama bin Laden to send students to the United States to attend civil aviation (schools) . . . to conduct terror activity."

It was not acted upon before 9/11 but served as a guide for investigators immediately afterward.

The FBI assigned all 212 Arizona field agents to Operation Penttbom, as the 9/11 case was known. Hundreds of other law officers from state and municipal agencies joined the probe. Investigators began churning out leads.

How do you spell TERRORIST?

SEAL?
DevGru

The American government is the worlds largest terrorist group.

And of course American Emperors George W. Bush and Barak Obama are the worlds evillest terrorists, literally killing hundreds of thousands of people, if not millions in the American Empires unconstitutional and illegal wars in Iraq and Afghanistan!

Source

Osama bin Laden killed: Who shot al-Qaida leader?

May. 3, 2011 09:42 AM

Washington Post

WASHINGTON - Who shot Osama?

He's out there somewhere, an instant icon in the annals of American conflict, the ultimate big-game hunter. But an enigma, too, his identity cloaked for now, and maybe forever.

He is the unknown shooter. The nameless, faceless triggerman who put a bullet in the head of the world's most notorious terrorist.

Yet there are clues, and the beginnings of a portrait can be pieced together from scraps gleaned from U.S. officials. A trio of former Navy SEALs - Eric Greitens, Richard Marcinko and Stew Smith - helped us fill in the blanks, drawing from their experiences to develop a kind of composite sketch of an elusive historic figure in real time.

He's likely between the ages of 26 and 33, says Marcinko, founder of the elite "SEALs Team 6" - now known as DEVGRU - that many believe led the assault on bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. He'll be old enough to have had time to hurdle the extra training tests required to join the elite counter-terrorism unit, yet young enough to withstand the body-punishing rigors of the job. The shooter's a man, it's safe to say, because there are no women in the SEALs. And there's a good chance he's white, though the SEALs have stepped up efforts to increase the number of minorities in their ranks, Marcinko and Smith say. A "positive thinker" who "gets in trouble when he's not challenged," Marcinko suspects, a man who "flunked vacation and flunked relaxing."

He was probably a high school or college athlete, Smith says, a physical specimen who combines strength, speed and agility. "They call themselves tactical athletes,' " says Smith, who works with many prospective SEALs in his Heroes of Tomorrow training program in Severna Park, Md. "It's getting very scientific."

Marcinko puts it in more conventional terms: "He'll be ripped," says the author of the best-selling autobiography "Rogue Warrior." "He's got a lot of upper-body strength. Long arms. Thin waist. Flat tummy."

On this point, Greitens departs a bit. "You can't make a lot of physical assumptions," says the author of "The Heart and the Fist: The Education of a Humanitarian, the Making of a Navy SEAL." There are SEALs who are 5 feet 4 and SEALs who are 6 feet 5, Greitens says. In his training group, he adds, there were college football studs who couldn't hack it; those who survived were most often men in good shape, but they also had a willingness to subsume their concerns in favor of the mission.

The shooter's probably not the crew-cut, neatly shaven ideal we've come to expect from American fighting forces. "He's bearded, rough-looking, like a street urchin," Marcinko supposes. "You don't want to stick out." Marcinko calls it "modified grooming standards."

His hands will be calloused, Smith says, or just plain "gnarled," as Marcinko puts it. And "he's got frag in him somewhere," Marcinko says, using the battlefield shorthand for "fragments" of bullets or explosive devices. This will not have been the shooter's first adventure. Marcinko estimates that he might have made a dozen or more deployments, tours when he was likely to have run afoul of grenades, improvised explosive devices or bullets.

Chances are he's keeping score. Smith, who served in the SEALs from 1991 to 1999, got together recently with five Navy SEALs, some of whom he'd served with and others whom he'd trained. "They were responsible for 250 dead terrorists," Smith says. "They know their number."

But there are terrorists, and then there are TERRORISTS. Bin Laden falls into the latter category. It's hard to imagine someone not wanting to take credit for such a significant kill. Yet revealing SEALs' identities would make them targets for al-Qaida sympathizers and would also make it difficult or impossible for them to participate in future secret operations.

The identities of other key players in the war against terrorism remain anonymous. No one has identified the troops who slapped cuffs on Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein or named the pilots who dropped the bombs that killed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, head of al-Qaida in Iraq. Times have certainly changed. Another era's military history-makers were frequently publicly identified - Paul Tibbets, the pilot of the Enola Gay, the plane that dropped a nuclear bomb on Hiroshima, wasn't a mystery. But this is a different kind of war - a kind of perpetual, amorphous conflict - one much less likely to see a formal declaration of peace. Also it's likely the shooter's superiors would forbid him and his colleagues to reveal his identity.

"This is playing in the Super Bowl and getting the Oscar all in one breath. He wants credit," Marcinko supposes of the shooter who felled bin Laden. "But only among his peers." Many SEALs consider themselves "humble warriors," Greitens says.

But among his colleagues, the shooter's identity will be well-known. And right now, he's probably in for some locker-room-style ribbing.

Says Marcinko: "It'll be, If I'd have been there, it'd have been done in 20 minutes instead of 40 minutes.' " Smith can envision the shooter's pals razzing him about the precise location of the shot. But, in the culture of the SEALs, it's not as if he won't push back. He'll come back at them, Marcinko says, with something like: "Talk is cheap. I did it. I left my mark in the sand."

There are sure to be awards and honorifics, all done in private. But the shooter is likely looking for some moments of peace, a way to completely remove himself from the pressure cooker. "These guys can one day be killing on the other side of the world and then mowing the grass 24 hours later," Smith says.

But given the chance, he'll almost certainly want to get right back into the action, to feel the rev of adrenaline again. "He keeps going," Marcinko predicts. "He wants to prove that it wasn't a fluke." He'll be thinking: Let me prove I really did know what I'm doing.

When the next helicopter is fueled and ready to whirl away, Greitens says, the Unknown Shooter will "be the first one running for the helo."

Source

Osama bin Laden death: Pakistan's president denies harboring al-Qaida chief

May. 3, 2011 06:26 AM

Associated Press

ABBOTTABAD, Pakistan - Pakistan's leader denied suggestions his country's security forces may have sheltered Osama bin Laden before he was killed by American forces, even as Britain said Tuesday it would be demanding answers from Islamabad as to how the al-Qaida chief was able to live undetected in a large house in a garrison town.

But in a nod to the complex realities of dealing with a nuclear-armed, unstable country that is crucial to success in neighboring Afghanistan, British Prime Minister David Cameron said having "a massive row" with Islamabad over the issue would not be in Britain's interest.

Asif Ali Zardari's comments in a Washington Post opinion piece Monday were Pakistan's first formal response to the suspicions by U.S. lawmakers and other critics, which could further sour relations between Islamabad and its Western backers at a key point in the war in Afghanistan.

Bin Laden was killed close to a military academy in the bustling northwestern town of Abbottabad, not in the remote Afghan border region where many had assumed he had been holed up. That was quickly taken as a sign of possible collusion with the country's powerful security establishment, which Western officials have long regarded with a measure of suspicion despite several notable al-Qaida arrests in the country since 2001.

"Some in the U.S. press have suggested that Pakistan lacked vitality in its pursuit of terrorism, or worse yet that we were disingenuous and actually protected the terrorists we claimed to be pursuing. Such baseless speculation may make exciting cable news, but it doesn't reflect fact," Zardari wrote.

Ties between the two nominal allies were already strained amid U.S. accusations that the Pakistanis are supporting militants in Afghanistan and Pakistani anger over American drone attacks and spy activity on its soil. They came to head in late January after a CIA contractor shot and killed two Pakistan's, in what Washington said was self-defense.

U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin said Pakistan's intelligence and army have "got a lot of explaining to do," given that bin Laden was holed up in such a large house with surrounding buildings, the fact that its residents took the unusual step of burning their garbage and avoiding any trash collection.

"It's hard to imagine that the military or police did not have any ideas what was going on inside of that," Levin said.

Cameron, who has also made supporting Pakistan a major foreign policy commitment, echoed those concerns.

"Those are questions we have to ask, those are questions we will want answered and we will be asking that question of everyone in Pakistan and the Pakistani government," Cameron told BBC radio before acknowledging the West's limited leverage against Islamabad.

"We could go down the route of having some massive argument, massive row with Pakistan, but I assess our relationship with Pakistan and it is my very clear view that it is in out interests to work with the government and people of Pakistan to combat terrorism, combat extremism and help development in that country."

Suspicions were also aired in many Pakistan's media and on the street Tuesday.

"That house was obviously a suspicious one," said Jahangir Khan, who was buying a newspaper in Abbottabad. "Either it was a complete failure of our intelligence agencies or they were involved in this affair."

U.S. officials have said that Pakistani officials were not told about the early morning helicopter raid until the strike team had killed bin Laden had returned to Afghanistan from where they took off from, citing security reasons.

Many Pakistanis were surprised at how this was possible, especially when initial reports stated that the choppers took off from a Pakistani air base. Some were angry that the country's sovereignty had been violated - an especially sensitive issue given the unpopularity of America here.

Zardari said it "was not a joint operation" - the kind of which has been conducted in the past against lesser terror suspects in Pakistan - but that Pakistani cooperation, in a general sense, had helped lead them to bin Laden.

"A decade of cooperation and partnership between the United States and Pakistan led up to the elimination of Osama bin Laden as a continuing threat to the civilized world," he said.

President Barack Obama also said the country's anti-terror alliance had helped in the run-up to the operation, but did not thank Pakistan when he announced the death of bin Laden.

The death has raised fears of revenge attacks, both in Pakistan - which has seen hundreds of suicide attacks by al-Qaida and its allies since 2007 - and internationally. The U.S Embassy said its missions in Pakistan would remain closed to the public until further notice.

Source

U.S. considering release of photos of slain bin Laden
(yea sure!)

by Adam Goldman and Kimberly Dozier - May. 3, 2011 10:28 AM

Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Bit by bit, new details about the audacious raid that killed the world's most wanted terrorist trickled out Tuesday: Unexpectedly high temperatures caused a lumbering helicopter carrying elite commandos to make a hard landing. A woman killed in the raid is believed to have been the wife of the courier whose trail led to Osama bin Laden.

And as Navy SEALs swept through the massive compound, they handcuffed those they encountered with plastic zip ties and pressed on in pursuit of their target, code-named Geronimo. Then, once bin Laden had been shot, they doubled back to move the prisoners away from the compound before blowing up the downed helicopter.

The fuller picture of the high-stakes assault emerged as U.S. officials weighed whether to release secret video and photos of bin Laden, killed with a precise shot above his left eye.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who chairs the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and revealed some of the new details about the raid, said she'd known about the suspected bin Laden compound since last December - offering rare proof that Washington can indeed keep a blockbuster secret.

President Barack Obama made plans to go to ground zero in New York on Thursday to mark the milestone of bin Laden's demise and to remember the dead of 9/11.

White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan said the U.S. already was scouring items seized in the raid - said to include hard drives, DVD's, a pile of documents and more - that might tip U.S. intelligence to al-Qaida's operational details and perhaps lead the manhunt to the presumed next-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahri.

As for publicly releasing photos and video, Brennan said in a series of appearances on morning television: "This needs to be done thoughtfully," with careful consideration given to what kind of reaction the images might provoke.

At issue were photos of bin Laden's corpse and video of his swift burial at sea. Officials were reluctant to inflame Islamic sentiment by showing graphic images of the body. But they were also eager to address the mythology already building in Pakistan and beyond that bin Laden was somehow still alive.

In a move that could increase pressure for the release of photos, Afghan Taliban spokesman Zabihullah said talk of bin Laden's death was "premature," adding that the U.S. had not presented "convincing evidence," the SITE Intelligence Group reported.

Obama, who approved the extraordinarily risky operation and witnessed its progression from the White House Situation Room, his face heavy with tension, reaped accolades from world leaders he'd kept in the dark as well as from political opponents at home. Pakistan, however, called the raid "unauthorized" Tuesday and said it hoped it wouldn't serve as a precedent for future actions.

Republican and Democratic leaders at home gave Obama a standing ovation at an evening White House meeting that was planned before the assault but became a celebration of it, and an occasion to step away from the fractious political climate.

"Last night's news unified our country," much as the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, did, Republican House Speaker John Boehner said earlier in the day. Obama later appealed for that unity to take root as the U.S. presses the fight against a terrorist network that is still lethal - and now vowing vengeance.

The episode was an embarrassment, at best, for Pakistani authorities as bin Laden's presence was revealed in their midst. The stealth U.S. operation played out in a city with a strong Pakistani military presence and without notice from Washington. Questions persisted in the administration and grew in Congress about whether some elements of Pakistan's security apparatus might have been in collusion with al-Qaida in letting bin Laden hide in Abbottabad.

Brennan asked the question that was reverberating around the world: "How did Osama bin Laden stay at that compound for six years or so and be undetected?"

"We have many, many questions about this," he said. "And I know Pakistani officials do as well." Brennan said Pakistani officials were trying to determine "whether there were individuals within the Pakistani government or military intelligence services who were knowledgeable." He questioned in particular why bin Laden's compound hadn't come to the attention of local authorities.

Feinstein, for her part, said Congress may consider docking the almost $1.3 billion dollars in annual aid to Pakistan if it turns out the Islamabad government knew where Osama bin

In an essay published Tuesday by The Washington Post, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari denied suggestions his country's security forces may have sheltered bin Laden, and said their cooperation with the United States helped pinpoint his whereabouts.

As Americans rejoiced, they worried, too, that terrorists would be newly motivated to lash out. In their wounded rage, al-Qaida ideologues fed that concern. "By God, we will avenge the killing of the Sheik of Islam," one prominent al-Qaida commentator vowed. "Those who wish that jihad has ended or weakened, I tell them: Let us wait a little bit."

In that vein, U.S. officials warned that bin Laden's death was likely to encourage attacks from "homegrown violent extremists" even if al-Qaida is not prepared to respond in a coordinated fashion now.

U.S. officials say the photographic evidence shows bin Laden was shot above his left eye, blowing away part of his skull.

He was also shot in the chest, they said. This, near the end of a frenzied firefight in a high-walled Pakistani compound where helicopter-borne U.S. forces found 23 children, nine women, a bin Laden courier who had unwittingly led the U.S. to its target, a son of bin Laden who was also slain, and more.

Bin Laden had lived at the fortified compound for six years, officials said, putting him far from the lawless and harsh Pakistani frontier where he had been assumed to be hiding out.

They said SEALs dropped down ropes from helicopters, killed bin Laden aides and made their way to the main building. Obama and his national security team monitored the strike, watching and listening nervously and in near silence from the Situation Room as it all unfolded.

"The minutes passed like days," Brennan said.

U.S. officials said the information that ultimately led to bin Laden's capture originally came from detainees held in secret CIA prison sites in Eastern Europe. There, agency interrogators were told of an alias used by a courier whom bin Laden particularly trusted.

It took four long years to learn the man's real name, then years more before investigators got a big break in the case, these officials said.

In a June 2010 television interview, CIA director Leon Panetta professed not to know bin Laden's whereabouts, saying he was in deep hiding in tribal areas under tremendous security. All of that turned out to be wrong.

Sometime in mid-2010, the courier was overheard using a phone by intelligence officials, who then were able to locate his residence - the specially constructed $1 million compound with walls as high as 18 feet topped with barbed wire.

U.S. counterterrorism officials considered bombing the place, an option that was discarded by the White House as too risky, particularly if it turned out bin Laden was not there.

Instead, Obama signed an order on Friday for the team of SEALs to chopper onto the compound under the cover of darkness.

In addition to bin Laden, one of his sons was killed in the raid, Brennan said. Bin Laden's wife was shot in the calf but survived, a U.S. official said. Also killed were the courier, and the courier's wife and brother, U.S. intelligence officials believe.

Feinstein, asked if the information gleaned from high-value detainees in the CIA's former secret prisons had proved the worth of such tactics, said "nothing justifies the kind of procedures used."

Some people found at the compound were left behind when the SEALs withdrew and were turned over to Pakistani authorities who quickly took over control of the site, officials said. They identified the trusted courier as Kuwaiti-born Sheikh Abu Ahmed, who had been known under the name Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti.

Within 40 minutes, the operation was over, and the SEALs flew out - minus the helicopter that had to be destroyed. Bin Laden's remains were flown to the USS Carl Vinson, then lowered into the North Arabian Sea.

Bin Laden's death came 15 years after he declared war on the United States. Al-Qaida was also blamed for the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa that killed 224 people and the 2000 attack on the USS Cole that killed 17 American sailors in Yemen, as well as countless other plots, some successful and some foiled.

___

Online:

on.today.com/jgeMC

___

AP writers Chris Brummitt in Islamabad and Darlene Superville, Ben Feller, Matt Apuzzo, Erica Werner, Pauline Jelinek, Robert Burns, Matthew Lee, Eileen Sullivan, Nancy Benac and Calvin Woodward in Washington contributed to this story.

Source

Bin Laden unarmed when shot, White House says

I suspect that means legally he was murdered.

In Arizona the law says cops are only allowed to shoot to kill when their life is in danger. So if this happened in Arizona the guy that shot bin Laden would be guilty of murder.

Technically this murder was an invasion of Pakistan by the American government. So I suspect it was murder under Pakistan laws.

But lets say you give the military the benefit of the doubt and pretend it was a legal military action. I wonder per the Geneva Convention says on this. Is it legal to shoot unarmed soldiers? I suspect it isn't.

Source

Bin Laden unarmed when shot, White House says

by Nancy Benac - May. 3, 2011 12:55 PM

Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- Osama bin Laden was unarmed when he was confronted by U.S. commandos at his Pakistani hideout but tried to resist the assault, the White House said Tuesday as new details emerged about the audacious raid that killed the world's most wanted terrorist.

The White House said it was considering whether to release photos that were taken of bin Laden after he was killed but was concerned that the photos were "gruesome" and could be inflammatory. [Yea, like those photos of the Abu Ghraib prison where the American Empire was torturing Iraqi citizens]

Other details that emerged on Tuesday, according to U.S. officials: One of bin Laden's wives tried to rush the commandos and was shot in the leg. High temperatures caused a lumbering helicopter carrying the raiders to make a hard landing. And as Navy SEALs swept through the compound, they handcuffed those they encountered with plastic zip ties and pressed on in pursuit of their target, code-named Geronimo.

Once bin Laden had been shot, they doubled back to move the prisoners away from the compound before blowing up the downed helicopter. [Hmmm the headline title for this article says bin Laden was unarmed. But the article doesn't mention it here.]

The fuller picture of the high-stakes assault emerged as U.S. officials weighed whether to release video and photos of bin Laden, who was killed with a shot above his left eye.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee and revealed some of the new details about the raid, said she'd known about the suspected bin Laden compound since last December -- offering rare evidence that Washington can indeed keep a blockbuster secret.

President Barack Obama made plans to go to ground zero in New York on Thursday to mark the milestone of bin Laden's demise and to remember the dead of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan said the U.S. was scouring items seized in the raid on bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan -- said to include hard drives, DVDs, a pile of documents and more -- that might tip U.S. intelligence to al-Qaida's operational details and perhaps lead to the presumed next-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahri.

As for publicly releasing photos and video, Brennan said in a series of appearances on morning television. "This needs to be done thoughtfully," with careful consideration given to what kind of reaction the images might provoke.

At issue were photos of bin Laden's corpse and video of his swift burial at sea. Officials were reluctant to inflame Islamic sentiment by showing graphic images of the body. But they were also anxious to address the stories already building in Pakistan and beyond that bin Laden was somehow still alive.

In a move that could increase pressure for the release of photos, Afghan Taliban spokesman Zabihullah said talk of bin Laden's death was "premature," adding that the U.S. had not presented "convincing evidence," the SITE Intelligence Group reported.

Obama, who approved the extraordinarily risky operation and witnessed its progression from the White House Situation Room, his face heavy with tension, reaped accolades from world leaders he'd kept in the dark as well as from political opponents at home. Pakistan, however, called the raid "unauthorized" Tuesday and it shouldn't serve as a precedent for future actions.

CIA Director Leon Panetta, in interviews with Time and PBS' "Newshour," sketched the scene in the Situation Room as the tense final minutes of the raid played out.

"Once those teams went into the compound," he told PBS, "I can tell you there was a time period of almost 20 or 25 minutes that we really didn't know just exactly what was going on."

Then, Panetta told Time, when Adm. William McRaven, head of the Joint Special Forces Command, reported that the commandos had identified "Geronimo" -- the code name for bin Laden -- "all the air we were holding came out."

And when the helicopters left the compound 15 minutes later, Panetta said, the room broke into applause.

Carney filled in details about the assault, saying that bin Laden did resist the commandos, although he was not armed. One of bin Laden's wives, Carney said, was in the room and tried to charge at the U.S. assaulters."

Monday night, Republican and Democratic leaders gave Obama a standing ovation at an evening White House meeting that was planned before the assault but became a celebration of it, and an occasion to step away from the fractious political climate.

The episode was an embarrassment, at best, for Pakistani authorities as bin Laden's presence was revealed in their midst. The stealth U.S. operation played out in a city with a strong Pakistani military presence and without notice from Washington. Questions persisted in the administration and grew in Congress about whether some elements of Pakistan's security apparatus might have been in collusion with al-Qaida in letting bin Laden hide in Abbottabad.

Brennan asked the question that was reverberating around the world: "How did Osama bin Laden stay at that compound for six years or so and be undetected?"

"We have many, many questions about this," he said. "And I know Pakistani officials do as well." Brennan said Pakistani officials were trying to determine "whether there were individuals within the Pakistani government or military intelligence services who were knowledgeable." He questioned in particular why bin Laden's compound hadn't come to the attention of local authorities.

Feinstein, for her part, said Congress may consider docking the almost $1.3 billion dollars in annual aid to Pakistan if it turns out the Islamabad government knew bin Laden's whereabouts.

In an article published Tuesday by The Washington Post, Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari denied suggestions his country's security forces may have sheltered bin Laden, and said their cooperation with the United States helped pinpoint his whereabouts.

As Americans rejoiced, they worried, too, that terrorists would be newly motivated to lash out. In their wounded rage, al-Qaida ideologues fed that concern. "By God, we will avenge the killing of the Sheik of Islam," one prominent al-Qaida commentator vowed. "Those who wish that jihad has ended or weakened, I tell them: Let us wait a little bit."

In that vein, U.S. officials warned that bin Laden's death was likely to encourage attacks from "homegrown violent extremists" even if al-Qaida is not prepared to respond in a coordinated fashion now.

U.S. officials say the photographic evidence shows bin Laden was shot above his left eye, blowing away part of his skull.

He was also shot in the chest, they said. This, near the end of a frenzied firefight in a high-walled Pakistani compound where helicopter-borne U.S. forces found 23 children, nine women, a bin Laden courier who had unwittingly led the U.S. to its target, a son of bin Laden who was also slain, and more.

Bin Laden could have lived at the fortified compound for up to six years, putting him far from the lawless and harsh Pakistani frontier where he had been assumed to be hiding out.

They said SEALs dropped down ropes from helicopters, killed bin Laden aides and made their way to the main building.

U.S. officials said the information that ultimately led to bin Laden's death originally came from detainees held in secret CIA prison sites in Eastern Europe. There, agency interrogators were told of an alias used by a courier whom bin Laden particularly trusted.

It took four long years to learn the man's real name, then years more before investigators got a big break in the case, these officials said.

Sometime in mid-2010, the courier was overheard using a phone by intelligence officials, who then were able to locate his residence -- the specially constructed $1 million compound with walls as high as 18 feet topped with barbed wire.

U.S. counterterrorism officials considered bombing the place, an option that was discarded by the White House as too risky, particularly if it turned out bin Laden was not there.

Panetta told Time that a "direct shot" with cruise missiles was still under consideration as late as Thursday but was ruled out because of the possibility of "too much collateral" damage. Waiting for more information also was a possibility.

Ultimately, Obama signed an order on Friday for the team of SEALs to chopper onto the compound under the cover of darkness.

In addition to bin Laden, one of his sons was killed in the raid, Brennan said. Bin Laden's wife was shot in the calf but survived, a U.S. official said. Also killed were the courier, and the courier's wife and brother, U.S. intelligence officials believe.

Feinstein, asked if the information gleaned from high-value detainees in the CIA's former secret prisons had proved the worth of such tactics, said "nothing justifies the kind of procedures used."

Some people found at the compound were left behind when the SEALs withdrew and were turned over to Pakistani authorities who quickly took over control of the site, officials said. They identified the trusted courier as Kuwaiti-born Sheikh Abu Ahmed, who had been known under the name Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti.

Within 40 minutes, the operation was over, and the SEALs flew out -- minus the helicopter that had to be destroyed. Bin Laden's remains were flown to the USS Carl Vinson, then lowered into the North Arabian Sea.

Bin Laden's death came 15 years after he declared war on the United States. Al-Qaida was also blamed for the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa that killed 224 people and the 2000 attack on the USS Cole that killed 17 American sailors in Yemen, as well as countless other plots, some successful and some foiled.

------

Online:

on.today.com/jgeMC

------

AP writers Chris Brummitt in Islamabad and Darlene Superville, Ben Feller, Matt Apuzzo, Erica Werner, Pauline Jelinek, Robert Burns, Matthew Lee, Eileen Sullivan, Nancy Benac and Calvin Woodward in Washington contributed to this story.

Source

Echoes of a bygone war

The eerie thing about studying World War I is the way you can't help but be reminded of today's headlines.

By Adam Hochschild

May 3, 2011

For the last half a dozen years, I've been mentally living in the world of 1914-18, writing a book about World War I. I've haunted battlefields and graveyards, asked a Belgian farmer if I could step inside a wartime concrete bunker that now houses his goats, and walked through an underground tunnel that protected Canadian troops moving ammunition to the front line.

In government archives, I've read reports by officers who survived battles in which most of their troops died; I've talked to a man whose labor-activist grandfather was court-martialed because he wrote a letter to the Daily Mail complaining that every British officer was assigned a private servant. In a heartbreakingly beautiful tree-shaded cemetery full of British soldiers mowed down by a single German machine gun on the opening day of the Battle of the Somme, I found a comment in the visitors' book: "Never Again."

If only that were true.

The eerie thing about studying World War I is the way you can't help but be reminded of today's headlines. Consider, for example, how the war started. High officials of the rickety Austro-Hungarian Empire, frightened by ethnic nationalism among Serbs within its borders, wanted to dismember neighboring Serbia, whose very existence as an independent state they regarded as a threat. Austro-Hungarian military commanders had even drawn up invasion plans.

When a 20-year-old ethnic Serb fired two fatal shots at Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife in the summer of 1914, the commanders had the perfect excuse to put their plans into action — even though the killer was an Austro-Hungarian citizen and there was no evidence Serbia's cabinet knew of his plot.

The more I learned about the war's opening, the more I thought about the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. President George W. Bush and his key advisors had long hungered to dislodge Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein from power. Like the archduke's assassination, the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, gave them the excuse they had been waiting for — even though there was no connection between the 9/11 hijackers and Hussein's regime.

Bush mistakenly assumed a swift victory in Iraq and Afghanistan, as did Kaiser Wilhelm II when he declared war in 1914. "You will be home," Wilhelm confidently told his troops that August, "before the leaves have fallen from the trees." The war ultimately claimed the lives of about 20 million people and left parts of Europe in smoldering ruins.

When politicians and generals lead nations into war, they have a remarkably enduring tendency not to foresee problems that, in hindsight, seem obvious. In 1914, both sides sent huge forces of cavalry to the Western Front — the Germans dispatching eight divisions with 40,000 horses. But machine guns and barbed wire were destined to end the days of glorious cavalry charges forever. In addition, the new internal-combustion engines brought their own problems. In the opening weeks of the war, 60% of the invading German army's trucks broke down. This meant supplies had to be pulled by horses and wagons. For those horses, not to mention all the useless cavalry mounts, the French countryside simply could not supply enough feed. Eating unripe green corn, the German horses sickened and died by the tens of thousands, slowing the advance even more.

Bush and his top officials also miscalculated optimistically, nowhere so gravely as in their certainty that Iraqis would welcome their "liberation." Because of that assumption, they had given remarkably little thought to what they should do once in Baghdad. In the same way, despite a long, painfully instructive history to guide them, administration officials somehow never managed to consider that, however much most Afghans loathed the Taliban, they might come to despise even more foreign invaders who didn't go home.

As World War I reminds us, however understandable the motives of those who enter the fight, the definition of "war" is "unplanned consequences." It's hard to fault a young Frenchman who marched off to battle in August 1914. After all, Germany had just sent millions of troops to invade France and Belgium. Wasn't that worth resisting? Yet by the time the Germans were finally forced to surrender and withdraw 4 1/2 years later, half of all Frenchmen ages 20 to 32 in 1914 had been killed. There were similarly horrific casualties among the other combatant nations.

Was it worth it? Of course not. The near-starvation of Germans during the war, their humiliating defeat and the misbegotten Treaty of Versailles virtually ensured the rise of the Nazis, along with a second, even more destructive world war and a still more ruthless German occupation of France.

The same question has to be asked about our current war in Afghanistan. Certainly, at the start, there was an understandable motive for the war; after all, the Afghan government, unlike the one in Iraq, had sheltered the planners of the 9/11 attacks. But nearly 10 years later, dozens of times more Afghan civilians are dead than were killed in the United States on that day — and more than 2,400 American, British, Canadian, German and other allied troops as well.

War has a tendency to produce lofty rhetoric. A French newspaper at the time called World War I a "holy war of civilization against barbarity," while a German paper insisted the war was necessary to stop Russia from crushing "the culture of all of Western Europe."

And so it still goes. Today's high-flown war rhetoric naturally cites only the most noble of goals: stopping terrorists, eliminating weapons of mass destruction, spreading democracy and protecting women from the Taliban. But beneath the flowery words, national self-interest is as powerful as it was almost 100 years ago. Does anyone think that Washington would have gotten quite so righteously worked up in 2003 if, instead of having massive oil reserves, Iraq's principal export was turnips?

Someday, I have no doubt, the dead from today's wars will be seen with a similar sense of sorrow at needless loss and folly as those millions of men who lie in the vast military cemeteries that spread along the old front line in France and Belgium — and tens of millions of Americans will feel a similar revulsion for the politicians and generals who were so spendthrift with others' lives. But here's the question that haunts me: What will it take to bring us to that point?

Adam Hochschild is a San Francisco-based author of seven books, including "King Leopold's Ghost." His latest book is "To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914-1918." A longer version of this piece appears at tomdispatch.com

Source

CIA chief: Bin Laden death photos likely will be released

by Felicia Sonmez - May. 3, 2011 11:48 PM

Washington Post

WASHINGTON - CIA Director Leon Panetta said Tuesday evening that he feels the Obama administration will ultimately release to the public the photographs of Osama bin Laden taken after the al-Qaida leader was killed by U.S. forces at his compound in Pakistan, but that "the White House makes that final decision."

"I mean, I think it will be," Panetta said when asked whether he thought the photos would eventually be released.

He added, however, "I don't think you have to convince the world because of the DNA and all of the other proof that we have." [Some proof? Trust us, the DNA from the missing body matches Osamas's DNA. Yea sure!]

Panetta made the remarks to reporters after he left a closed-door briefing in the Capitol Visitor Center during which he and other administration officials briefed senators on the mission in which bin Laden was killed.

The White House has said that it has not made a decision on whether to release the photos to the public. Officials have expressed concern that although the gruesome images might serve as proof of bin Laden's death, they could also inflame tensions around the world.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry, D-Mass., said earlier Tuesday that he thought any debate over releasing the photos was premature.

"I don't think we have to make that judgment yet, frankly," Kerry said after Senate Democrats' weekly caucus meeting. "I think that there's a lot of evidence that there's a pretty broad acceptance that he's dead."

Kerry added that he hadn't seen any of the bin Laden images but has received "very good descriptions of them."

Rep. Howard McKeon, R-Calif., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, said the White House should "probably not" release the photos.

Source

In the end, the menacing terrorist had no gun

Posted 5/4/2011 8:11 AM ET

By Kimberly Dozier And Erica Werner, Associated Press

WASHINGTON — A U.S. commando's curt message to superiors signaled the end had come for the world's most wanted terrorist: "Geronimo EKIA," meaning enemy killed in action.

Osama bin Laden, the al-Qaida leader who liked to pose with a menacing AK-47 assault rifle in his hand or by his side, was discovered without a gun by the Navy SEALs who barged into his room and shot him dead.

The White House on Tuesday gave a more complete picture of the assault -- and corrected some key details from earlier official accounts -- as the team that pulled off the storied raid in Pakistan briefed officials and rested back at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington.

The administration possesses graphic images of bin Laden's corpse, at least one of which is likely to be released, according to CIA Director Leon Panetta. Officials hope that doing so would quiet any doubts that bin Laden is indeed dead. The worry is that anti-U.S. sentiment would be inflamed as a result.

Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., among the lawmakers who had the images described to them, played down that concern. "They're not going to scare people off," he said. "Nothing more than you'd expect with a person with a bullet in his head."

Codenamed Geronimo after the Apache fighter of the late 1800s who was ultimately captured by the U.S., bin Laden was buried at sea from an American ship scant hours after his death.

White House officials initially suggested bin Laden had been holding a gun and perhaps firing at U.S. forces. The corrected account raised questions about whether the Americans ever planned to take him alive, or simply were out to kill him.

Panetta told "PBS NewsHour" that bin Laden "made some threatening moves" that "represented a clear threat to our guys" but was not more specific about what the unarmed terrorist did as the commandos engaged others at the compound in a firefight and burst into their prey's room.

"I don't think he had a lot of time to say anything," Panetta said. "It was a firefight going up that compound. ... This was all split-second action on the part of the SEALs."

Panetta underscored that Obama had given permission to kill the terrorist leader: "The authority here was to kill bin Laden," he said. "And obviously, under the rules of engagement, if he had in fact thrown up his hands, surrendered and didn't appear to be representing any kind of threat, then they were to capture him. But they had full authority to kill him."

After they shot him in the head and chest, the SEAL team in just minutes quickly swept bin Laden's compound for useful intelligence, making off with a cache of computer equipment and documents. The CIA was hurriedly setting up a task force to review the material from the highest level of al-Qaida's leadership.

The documents provide a rare opportunity for U.S. intelligence. When a midlevel terrorist is captured, his bosses know exactly what information might be compromised and can change plans. When the boss is taken, everything might be compromised but nobody knows for sure.

The revised account of bin Laden's final moments was one of many official details that have changed since he was killed in the nighttime raid early Monday morning in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad. The White House misidentified which of bin Laden's sons was killed -- it was Khalid, not Hamza. Officials incorrectly said bin Laden's wife died in gunfire while serving as his human shield. That actually was the wife of a bin Laden aide, and she was just caught in crossfire, the White House said Tuesday.

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney attributed those discrepancies to the fog of war, saying the information was coming in bit by bit and was still being reviewed. Nevertheless, the contradictory statements may raise suspicions about the White House's version of events, given that no independent account from another source is likely to emerge. The only non-U.S. witnesses to survive the raid are in Pakistani custody.

Five people were killed in the raid, officials said: bin Laden; his son; his most trusted courier, Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti; and al-Kuwaiti's wife and brother. The latest White House account leaves open the question of whether there was any gunfire from bin Laden's defenders in his room before the commandos shot him.

President Barack Obama prepared to visit New York City's ground zero on Thursday to mark the end to one of history's most intense manhunts and to remember anew the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks at the hands of bin Laden's al-Qaida organization.

In Washington, questions flew about whether Pakistan was complicit in protecting the mastermind of those attacks. Several Republicans and Democrats in Congress have raised the possibility of cutting off U.S. aid to Pakistan. The Pakistani government has denied suggestions that its security forces knew anything about bin Laden's hideout or failed to spot suspicious signs in a city with a heavy military presence.

In a closed-door briefing for lawmakers Tuesday, Panetta said, "Pakistan was involved or incompetent," a U.S. official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the private meeting.

Pakistan criticized the American raid in its sovereign territory as "unauthorized unilateral action."

While tensions grew, efforts also were apparent to contain the damage in an important if checkered relationship. The Obama administration pushed back against the talk of punishing Pakistan. So did Republican House Speaker John Boehner, who said, "Having a robust partnership with Pakistan is critical to breaking the back of al-Qaida and the rest of them."

And Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said that despite difficult relations with Pakistan, "They have allowed us to pursue our drone program. We've taken out over 16 of the top 20 al-Qaida leaders because of that. That's cooperation."

For the long-term legacy of the most successful counterterrorism operation in U.S. history, the fact that bin Laden was unarmed is unlikely to matter much to the Americans he declared war against. President George W. Bush famously said he wanted bin Laden "dead or alive," and the CIA's top counterterrorism official once promised to bring bin Laden's head back on a stake.

Yet just 24 hours before the White House acknowledged that bin Laden had been unarmed, Obama's chief counterterrorism adviser, John Brennan, said, "If we had the opportunity to take bin Laden alive, if he didn't present any threat, the individuals involved were able and prepared to do that."

Will it matter around the world? Some may try to make much of it in Pakistan and elsewhere.

"This country has gone through a lot of trauma in terms of violence, and whether or not he was armed is not going to make a difference to people who were happy to see the back of him," said Mosharraf Zaidi, a political analyst and columnist in Pakistan. Yet, he said, "The majority have a mistrust of America, and this will reinforce their mistrust of America."

Obama and his national security team followed the operation as it unfolded, watching television monitors, the air thick with tension at the White House. Nerves were raw when one of the two Black Hawk helicopters that descended into the bin Laden compound Monday fell heavily to the ground. Officials believe that was due to higher-than-expected air temperature that interfered with the chopper's ability to hover -- an aeronautical condition known as "hot and high."

The SEALs all got out of the downed helicopter and proceeded into the compound. As they swept through the property, they handcuffed those they encountered with plastic zip ties and pressed on in pursuit of their target. Many SEAL team members carry helmet-mounted cameras, but the video beamed back to Washington did not show the fateful showdown with bin Laden, officials said.

That word came from the SEALs on the ground: "Geronimo EKIA." The CIA's makeshift command center erupted in applause as the SEALs helicoptered to safety.

___

Associated Press writers Chris Brummitt in Islamabad, Nahal Toosi and Zarar Khan in Abbottabad, and Matt Apuzzo, Adam Goldman, Pauline Jelinek, Robert Burns, Matthew Lee and Calvin Woodward in Washington contributed to this report.

Bin Laden could have surrendered - If he was naked and unarmed.

Source

Osama bin Laden's surrender wasn't a likely outcome in raid, officials say

By Ken Dilanian and Brian Bennett, Los Angeles Times

May 3, 2011, 5:27 p.m. Reporting from Washington— U.S. commandos who attacked Osama bin Laden's compound were operating under rules of engagement that all but assured the Al Qaeda leader would be killed, officials have acknowledged, backing away from an initial account that Bin Laden was armed and used a woman as a shield.

After saying Monday that the American operatives who raided the Pakistani compound had orders to capture Bin Laden if he gave himself up, U.S. officials Tuesday added an important qualifier: The assault force was told to accept a surrender only if it could be sure he didn't have a bomb hidden under his clothing and posed no other danger.

Bin Laden could have surrendered only "if he did not pose any type of threat whatsoever," White House counter-terrorism chief John Brennan said on Fox television, and if U.S. troops "were confident of that in terms of his not having an IED [improvised explosives device] on his body, his not having some type of hidden weapon or whatever."

Added a senior congressional aide briefed on the rules of engagement: "He would have had to have been naked for them to allow him to surrender."

Once troops exchanged fire with Bin Laden allies living in the compound — three men and a woman were killed in addition to the Al Qaeda leader — the chances of a surrender were almost nil, experts say.

The surrender issue was one of several on which administration officials shifted ground.

At the White House, spokesman Jay Carney read a Pentagon "narrative" of the tense minutes at the compound in the city of Abbottabad that he said was intended to correct information that had been released "in great haste" by Brennan the day before. Brennan had said Bin Laden was armed, "engaged in a firefight" with U.S. forces and shielded himself behind a woman.

"In the room with Bin Laden, a woman — Bin Laden's wife — rushed the U.S. assaulter and was shot in the leg but not killed," Carney said. "Bin Laden was then shot and killed. He was not armed."

CIA Director Leon E. Panetta said in an interview on PBS television Tuesday that he did not believe Bin Laden had a chance to speak before he was shot in the face and killed.

"To be frank, I don't think he had a lot of time to say anything," Panetta said.

Nonetheless, officials strongly defended the decision to shoot. "The right of self-defense is never denied," said a special forces officer interviewed by telephone who was not authorized to speak publicly.

"If anyone feels in any way that there is a hostile threat in a case like this — it can be a movement, or a failure to follow commands — deadly force will be authorized. It's a judgment call," the officer said. "And these assaulters are some of the finest, most highly trained in discriminate shooting. They train for hostage rescue."

The CIA has had grim experience with concealed suicide vests: In December 2009, a Jordanian doctor who the CIA believed was its agent blew himself up with a vest, killing seven CIA employees and contractors who had come to greet him at a base in Khowst, Afghanistan.

Yet if Bin Laden had been taken alive, it would have posed myriad complications.

The U.S. probably would have faced questions about the legality of having snatched a prisoner from a sovereign country without that country's permission, and whether to treat him as an enemy combatant or pursue a criminal prosecution.

Panetta told Congress last month that Bin Laden probably would have been taken first to Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan and then the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, an uncomfortable chain of events for an administration that promised to close Guantanamo. And any legal proceeding, whether criminal or military, would have afforded the world's most famous terrorist leader a global platform.

Carney also said officials were still mulling over the release of a gruesome photograph of a dead Bin Laden. Officials understand that some people will not believe the Al Qaeda leader is dead without seeing the photograph, but they are concerned about the "sensitivity" of the image, which could offend or inflame parts of the Muslim world.

He added that the White House stood by its claim Monday that Bin Laden had resisted capture, but said that "resistance does not require a firearm."

Asked how the White House had gotten the initial story wrong, Carney said officials had been rushing to release information about a complex, fast-moving operation.

"We provided a great deal of information in great haste in order to inform you, and through you the American public, about the operation and how it transpired," he said. "And obviously some of the information came in piece by piece and is being reviewed and updated and elaborated on.''

One of the other people killed in the raid is believed to be Bin Laden's son, and the two other dead men were described as brothers who are the listed owners of the compound, one of whom was the Al Qaeda courier who unwittingly led the CIA to Bin Laden. The dead woman is the wife of the courier, U.S. officials said.

Officials said they left the other residents, mostly women and children, at the compound.

Obama's decision to order a surgical raid continued to draw praise on Capitol Hill from both Republicans and Democrats.

"They could have sent a Predator with Hellfire missiles and killed everyone in the place. They didn't do it," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who is chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. "It was a very gutsy mission."

U.S. officials also disclosed new details of Bin Laden's activities while hiding in his Abbottabad compound. The Al Qaeda leader no longer ran day-to-day operations of the terrorist network he had founded. But he continued to secretly send strategic guidance to affiliate groups scattered around the globe, the officials said.

Early this year, for example, Bin Laden dispatched written messages by courier to Al Qaeda franchises in Iraq, Yemen and Algeria, said three current and former U.S. officials who are familiar with the intelligence and who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"Bin Laden's guidance was, 'Remember, Americans are the primary enemy now. Don't get bogged down in local fights,' " one official said.

He said the messages probably were designed to silence restive factions within the affiliates that wanted to join forces with local insurgencies against governments.

The official said Bin Laden appeared particularly worried about attacks launched by an Algerian-based group, Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, in North Africa.

Officials said the messages suggest that Bin Laden was concerned that without his direction, the far-flung franchises could lose their common purpose against the West and therefore diminish Al Qaeda's strategic power.

ken.dilanian@latimes.com

brian.bennett@latimes.com

Peter Nicholas in the Washington bureau contributed to this report.

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Bin Laden Raid Revives Debate on Value of Torture

By SCOTT SHANE and CHARLIE SAVAGE

Published: May 3, 2011

WASHINGTON — Did brutal interrogations produce the crucial intelligence that led to the killing of Osama bin Laden?

As intelligence officials disclosed the trail of evidence that led to the compound in Pakistan where Bin Laden was hiding, a chorus of Bush administration officials claimed vindication for their policy of “enhanced interrogation techniques” like waterboarding.

Among them was John Yoo, a former Justice Department official who wrote secret legal memorandums justifying brutal interrogations. “President Obama can take credit, rightfully, for the success today,” Mr. Yoo wrote Monday in National Review, “but he owes it to the tough decisions taken by the Bush administration.”

But a closer look at prisoner interrogations suggests that the harsh techniques played a small role at most in identifying Bin Laden’s trusted courier and exposing his hide-out. One detainee who apparently was subjected to some tough treatment provided a crucial description of the courier, according to current and former officials briefed on the interrogations. But two prisoners who underwent some of the harshest treatment — including Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, who was waterboarded 183 times — repeatedly misled their interrogators about the courier’s identity.

The discussion of what led to Bin Laden’s demise has revived a national debate about torture that raged during the Bush years. The former president and many conservatives argued for years that force was necessary to persuade Qaeda operatives to talk. Human rights advocates, and Mr. Obama as he campaigned for office, said the tactics were torture, betraying American principles for little or nothing of value.

Glenn L. Carle, a retired C.I.A. officer who oversaw the interrogation of a high-level detainee in 2002, said in a phone interview Tuesday, that coercive techniques “didn’t provide useful, meaningful, trustworthy information.” He said that while some of his colleagues defended the measures, “everyone was deeply concerned and most felt it was un-American and did not work.”

Obama administration officials, intent on celebrating Monday’s successful raid, have tried to avoid reigniting a partisan battle over torture.

“The bottom line is this: If we had some kind of smoking-gun intelligence from waterboarding in 2003, we would have taken out Osama bin Laden in 2003,” said Tommy Vietor, spokesman for the National Security Council. “It took years of collection and analysis from many different sources to develop the case that enabled us to identify this compound, and reach a judgment that Bin Laden was likely to be living there.”

From the moment the first Qaeda suspects were captured, interrogators at both the military’s prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and the C.I.A.’s secret prisons were focused on identifying Qaeda members who served as couriers.

“We knew that it was likely that if we were ever to get Osama bin Laden, it would be because we somehow came upon somebody closely associated with him that he trusted,” said Charles D. Stimson, the top Pentagon official on detainee affairs from 2004 to 2007.

In 2002 and 2003, interrogators first heard about a Qaeda courier who used the nom de guerre Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti, but his name was just one tidbit in heaps of uncorroborated claims.

After the capture in March 2003 of Mr. Mohammed, the chief planner of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, he was subjected to the most harrowing set of the so-called enhanced measures, which included slamming prisoners into walls, shackling them in stress positions and keeping them awake for as long as 180 hours. Like two other prisoners, he was subjected to waterboarding.

According to an American official familiar with his interrogation, Mr. Mohammed was first asked about Mr. Kuwaiti in the fall of 2003, months after the waterboarding. He acknowledged having known him but said the courier was “retired” and of little significance.

In 2004, however, a Qaeda operative named Hassan Ghul, captured in Iraq, gave a different account of Mr. Kuwaiti, according to the American official. Mr. Ghul told interrogators that Mr. Kuwaiti was a trusted courier who was close to Bin Laden, as well as to Mr. Mohammed and to Abu Faraj al-Libi, who had become the operational chief of Al Qaeda after Mr. Mohammed’s capture.

Mr. Kuwaiti, Mr. Ghul added, had not been seen in some time — which analysts thought was a possible indication that the courier was hiding out with Bin Laden.

The details of Mr. Ghul’s treatment are unclear, though the C.I.A. says he was not waterboarded. The C.I.A. asked the Justice Department to authorize other harsh methods for use on him, but it is unclear which were used. One official recalled that Mr. Ghul was “quite cooperative,” saying that rough treatment, if any, would have been brief.

Armed with Mr. Ghul’s account of the courier’s significance, interrogators asked Mr. Mohammed again about Mr. Kuwaiti. He stuck to his story, according to the official.

After Mr. Libi was captured in May 2005 and turned over to the C.I.A., he too was asked. He denied knowing Mr. Kuwaiti and gave a different name for Bin Laden’s courier, whom he called Maulawi Jan. C.I.A. analysts would never find such a person and eventually concluded that the name was Mr. Libi’s invention, the official recalled.

Again, the C.I.A. has said Mr. Libi was not waterboarded, and details of his treatment are not known. But anticipating his interrogation, the agency pressured the Justice Department days after his capture for a new set of legal memorandums justifying the most brutal methods.

Because Mr. Mohammed and Mr. Libi had both steered interrogators away from Mr. Kuwaiti, C.I.A. officials concluded that they must be protecting him for an important reason.

“Think about circles of information — there’s an inner circle they would protect with their lives,” said an American official who was briefed on the C.I.A. analysis. “The crown jewels of Al Qaeda were the whereabouts of Bin Laden and his operational security.”

The accumulating intelligence about Mr. Kuwaiti persuaded C.I.A. officials to stay on his trail, leading to the discovery of his real name — which American officials have not disclosed — and whereabouts. He in turn unwittingly led the agency to Bin Laden’s lair, where Mr. Kuwaiti and his brother were among those who died in Monday’s raid.

Before a day had passed, the torture debate had flared. The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Representative Peter T. King, Republican of New York, told Fox News that the success of the hunt for Bin Laden was due to waterboarding. The next morning, Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California and chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said just as flatly that “none of it came as a result of harsh interrogation practices.”

David Rohde contributed reporting from New York.

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Property records give new insights into bin Laden

By ZARAR KHAN and NAHAL TOOSI, Associated Press Zarar Khan And Nahal Toosi, Associated Press

ABBOTTABAD, Pakistan – The Pakistani who owned the compound that sheltered Osama bin Laden in his final years said he was buying the property for "an uncle," according to the doctor who sold a piece of the land in 2005.

The man was identified in property records as Mohammad Arshad; neighbors said one of two Pakistani men living in the house went by the name Arshad Khan. The two names apparently refer to the same man and both names may be fake. But one thing is clear — bin Laden relied on a small, trusted inner circle as lifelines to the outside who provided for his daily needs such as food and medicine and kept his location secret. And it appears they did not betray him.

Among those in that inner circle were Arshad and another man who has been identified as either his brother or cousin. Arshad is suspected as the courier who ultimately led the Americans to bin Laden, unwittingly, after years of painstaking tracking. American officials said the courier and his brother were killed in the American commando raid Monday in the northwestern Pakistani town of Abbottabad.

As new details have begun to emerge about bin Laden's hiding place, Pakistani officials have stepped up their denials that they knew where the al-Qaida leader was located.

Many countries, including the United States, have expressed disbelief that bin Laden could have holed up in Abbottabad, an army town that is just two hours drive from the capital, without being detected. U.S. officials have long criticized Pakistan, a key but difficult ally, for failing to target Islamist militants on its territory.

Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said Wednesday that anyone who claimed his country hid bin Laden was "color blind."

During a visit to Paris, Gilani said that Pakistan shared intelligence with numerous countries in the fight against terrorism and had "excellent cooperation" with the United States. He said that "if we have failed, it means everybody failed," and an investigation would be ordered.

In the meantime, attention has focused on Arshad and his sidekick, who both watched over bin Laden.

The true identities of the two confidants and their exact links to other high ranking al-Qaida figures remain one of the biggest mysteries surrounding the terror leader. But more information about Arshad emerged Wednesday.

Qazi Mahfooz Ul Haq, a doctor, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that he sold a plot of land to Arshad in 2005. He said the buyer was a sturdily built man who had a tuft of hair under his lower lip. He spoke with an accent that sounded like it was from Waziristan, a tribal region close to Afghanistan that is home to many al-Qaida operatives.

Neighbors identified Arshad Khan as one of two Pakistani men living in the house where bin Laden hid for up to six years.

Property records obtained by The Associated Press show Mohammad Arshad bought adjoining plots in four stages between 2004 and 2005 for $48,000.

"He was a very simple, modest, humble type of man" who was "very interested" in buying the land for "an uncle," the doctor said.

The doctor saw Arshad a few times after he sold him the land, he said. On one of those occasions, Arshad cryptically said, "your land is now very costly" — meaning valuable.

Arshad bought two other plots used for the compound in a less transparent transaction in November 2004, according to a review of the property records.

Raja Imtiaz Ahmed, who previously owned the two plots, said he sold them to a middleman who may have then passed them on to Arshad. He could not recall the middleman's name and was looking for records that would reveal it.

U.S. officials have identified the courier who unwittingly led them to bin Laden as Sheikh Abu Ahmed, a Pakistani man born in Kuwait who went by the nom de guerre Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti. They obtained his name from detainees held in secret CIA prison sites in Eastern Europe and vetted it with top al-Qaida operatives like Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

The courier was so important to al-Qaida that he was tapped by Mohammed to shepherd the man who was to have been the 20th hijacker through computer training needed for the Sept. 11 attacks, according to newly released documents from Guantanamo Bay interrogations.

The courier trained Maad al-Qahtani at an internet cafe in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi in July 2001 so that he could communicate by email with Mohammed Atta, the Sept. 11 financier and one of the 19 hijackers, who was already in the United States.

But al-Qahtani proved to be a poor student and was ultimately denied entry to the U.S. when he raised suspicion among immigration officials.

The Guantanamo documents also revealed that the courier might have been one of the men who accompanied bin Laden to Tora Bora in eastern Afghanistan in December 2001 just weeks before the Taliban's final surrender.

Al-Kuwaiti inadvertently led intelligence officials to bin Laden when he used a telephone last year to talk with someone the U.S. had wiretapped. The CIA then tracked al-Kuwaiti back to the walled compound in Abbottabad.

Bin Laden was living in a large house not far from a military academy in Abbottabad for up to six years before U.S. Navy Seals raided the compound early Monday morning and shot the al-Qaida leader.

One of bin Laden's daughters, who says she say U.S. forces shooting her father, is in Pakistani custody, said a Pakistani intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity in line with the agency's policy.

A total of 10-12 people, including six or seven children, and a woman have been seized from the compound and are all in Pakistani custody, he said. The woman, whose nationality the official would not disclose, is wounded and undergoing treatment at a hospital, he said.

That bin Laden lived in Abbottabad for so long undetected has reignited long-standing suspicions that the country is playing a double game.

Some U.S. lawmakers have suggested that Washington cut or terminate American aid to Pakistan as a result. But others are advising caution — Pakistan has nuclear arms, is already unstable and the U.S. needs its support to withdraw from Afghanistan.

Mike Rogers, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said the discovery of bin Laden so close to an army installation was "embarrassing to them" but that institutional entities like the army, intelligence service and government likely didn't know about bin Laden's presence.

Meanwhile, Indonesia's defense minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro said the country's most wanted terrorist suspect Umar Patek was in Abbottabad to meet Osama bin Laden when he was arrested there early this year. Patek was injured in a raid by Pakistani intelligence agents on a house in Abbottabad on Jan. 25, but news of arrest only leaked out in late March.

A senior American counterterrorism official said Patek's arrest in Abbottabad "appears to have been pure coincidence" and that there were no indications that Patek met with bin Laden in Abbottabad.

I am ashamed to be a citizen of the America Empire. These guys are not war hero. These guys are terrorist criminals and we should be ashamed of them. These guys should be in prison, not the military

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Navy SEAL team likely honored in secret for raid

By JULIE WATSON, Associated Press Julie Watson, Associated Press

SAN DIEGO – The highly secretive Navy SEAL team that killed Osama bin Laden will likely be honored in the only way such a covert group can be: in private with nobody but themselves and their commanders in the know.

Quietly recognizing heroic actions for clandestine operations is not new in the military. Some service members wear war decorations but refuse to talk about how they earned them. Others stash away their medals, either because they've been ordered to hide them or they have chosen to for their own security.

And there are those heroes who have never lived to see a medal, their families sworn to secrecy until they were honored posthumously. For the elite few who dropped from the sky into the walled compound in Pakistan, they must carry on without breathing a word about their participation in Sunday's spectacular raid that eliminated the world's most-wanted terrorist.

It is a secret that surely must burn in their souls, but military officials say they have no doubt it will be kept. The stakes are too high.

The Navy still hasn't confirmed its SEALs carried out the much-lauded, 40-minute operation. But privately, Rear Adm. Edward Winters, at Naval Special Warfare Command in California, sent an email congratulating his forces and reminding them to keep quiet because "the fight is not over."

Winters is the chief of the elite SEAL unit officially known as Naval Special Warfare Development Group, or "DEVGRU," which is made up of only a few hundred personnel based in Dam Neck, Va. They call themselves "the quiet professionals."

Team members' names won't be released for their personal safety, said Naval Petty Officer 2nd Class John Scorza, a spokesman for the Naval Special Warfare Command.

"I can understand the conundrum that commanders are in about how much can you tell," said defense analyst Paul Giarra, a retired U.S. naval officer. "Because it's news that's good for morale and it also makes it clear to al-Qaida that they're losing. That's important. They need to know they're losing."

Revealing too much, on the other hand, can give the upper hand to groups like al-Qaida, Giarra said.

Gauging how much to tell is a growing challenge as military special operation groups increasingly work side by side with the intelligence community, like the SEALs and CIA did Sunday. There are benefits to touting such fantastic successes, something the U.S. government has long seized upon: President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered Marines photographed raising the flag on Iwo Jima to come home and be identified so they could use interest in the picture to raise billions of dollars in war bonds.

President Barack Obama's ratings went up after the announcement of bin Laden's death, as did donations for the Virginia-based Navy SEAL Foundation, which helps the families of SEALs.

Other details of the raid that emerged Tuesday — including that Navy SEALs handcuffed those they encountered in the compound with plastic zip ties and pressed on in pursuit of their target, code-named Geronimo — could boost the public image of a force, whose raids have not always gone as planned. In a 2008 raid, the intended targets at a compound in Pakistan fled and instead a number of civilians were killed.

Sunday's raid was nearly textbook perfect, and officials say its participants will likely receive some of the military's highest medals. As military personnel, they are not eligible for the $25 million reward that was offered for hunting down bin Laden.

First, the Navy would have to confirm who did what exactly, and then a letter outlining their achievements would be written. Usually, the immediate commanding officer presents the honor. The entire process could take months, and would be meticulously carried out to ensure the names of those involved are not revealed, officials say.

In other cases, the government has chosen not to honor service members of covert operations until the mission has been declassified.

Last year, Obama posthumously recognized Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Richard L. "Dick" Etchberger for his courage under fire in 1968 during a mission on a remote Laotian mountain that was kept secret for decades because the U.S. wasn't supposed to have troops in the officially neutral Southeast Asian country. Etchberger was awarded the nation's highest military award, the Medal of Honor, after the government declassified his mission.

Sunday's raid was one of a countless number that U.S. special operation forces have carried out in their pursuit of terrorists from Africa to the Middle East. While the SEALs were applauded for bin Laden's death, they've also been told their mission is not over.

The SEALs involved in Sunday's mission were back in the U.S. at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington for debriefing on the raid, lawmakers said after meeting with CIA Director Leon Panetta.

Craig Sawyer, a former Navy SEAL, speculated the team will likely be invited to the White House to meet the president and attend a private, small ceremony acknowledging their grand achievement.

"The operators of their unit and they themselves will know about it, but nobody else will," he said. "That's just the nature of the business."

Many Americans, like Omar Quintero, a San Diego contractor, said it's a shame the nation cannot give them the thanks they deserve.

"It would be very exciting to see who they are," the 34-year-old father of two said. "Then we could treat them like celebrities. The guy who killed him (bin Laden) would be like our Superman."

Does this mean they are making up the story about murdering Osama bin Laden?

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Bin Laden photos won't be released, Obama says

by Michael A. Memoli - May. 4, 2011 01:13 PM

Tribune Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration will not release photos showing Osama bin Laden after he was killed by U.S. forces, the president has told CBS News in an interview to air Sunday on "60 Minutes."

Obama said that after seeing the photos himself, and based on DNA testing, he is "absolutely certain" that bin Laden is dead. But he said that releasing the photos could pose a national security risk.

"It is important for us to make sure that very graphic photos of somebody who was shot in the head are not floating around as an incitement to additional violence or as a propaganda tool. That's not who we are. We don't trot out this stuff as trophies," he told CBS' Steve Kroft, according to a transcript read by White House spokesman Jay Carney.

"The fact of the matter is, this was somebody who was deserving of the justice that he received. And I think Americans and people around the world are glad that he is gone. But we don't need to spike the football," Obama said.

Obama also told Kroft that he discussed the decision with Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, as well as his intelligence team, "and they all agree."

Asked about those who have expressed doubts that bin Laden was killed, Obama said: "There is no doubt that bin Laden is dead. Certainly there is no doubt among al-Qaida members that he is dead. And so we don't think that a photograph in and of itself is going to make any difference."

The decision follows broad debate within the administration about whether to distribute what has been described as a "gruesome" photo in order to prove that the al-Qaida leader is dead.

CIA Director Leon Panetta had said in interviews Tuesday, however, that the photos would ultimately be made public.

Several lawmakers who saw a photo said earlier Wednesday that the White House should not release them.

"I don't want to make the job of our troops serving in places like Iraq and Afghanistan any harder than it already is," said Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. "The risks of release outweigh the benefits. Conspiracy theorists around the world will just claim the photos are doctored anyway, and there is a real risk that releasing the photos will only serve to inflame public opinion in the Middle East."

Hmmm ... They sure sound like American cops who routine jusify their murders by claiming the victim went for a weapon.

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May. 4, 2011 7:41 PM ET

Officials: SEALs thought bin Laden went for weapon

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama ordered grisly photographs of Osama bin Laden in death sealed from public view on Wednesday, declaring, "We don't need to spike the football" in triumph after this week's daring middle-of-the-night raid. The terrorist leader was killed by American commandos who burst into his room and feared he was reaching for a nearby weapon, U.S. officials said.

Several weapons were found in the room where the terror chief died, including AK-47 assault rifles and side arms, the officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity as they offered the most recent in a series of increasingly detailed and sometimes-shifting accounts of bin Laden's final minutes after a decade on the run.

Obama said releasing the photographs taken by the Navy SEAL raiders was "not who we are" as a country. Though some may deny his death, "the fact of the matter is you will not see bin Laden walking this earth again," the president said in an interview taped for CBS' "60 Minutes."

He said any release of the photos could become a propaganda tool for bin Laden's adherents eager to incite violence.

White House press secretary Jay Carney said the president's decision applied to photographs of bin Laden, said to show a portion of his skull blown away from a gunshot wound to the area of his left eye, as well as to a video recording of his burial several hours later in the North Arabian Sea.

The president made no public remarks during the day about the raid, apart from the taped interview. But he arranged a visit for Thursday to ground zero in Manhattan, where the World Trade Center twin towers once stood.

After two days of shifting accounts of the dramatic raid, Carney said he would no longer provide details of the 40-minute operation by the team of elite Navy SEALs. That left unresolved numerous mysteries, prominent among them an exact accounting of bin Laden's demise. Officials have said he was unarmed but resisted when an unknown number of commandos burst into his room inside the high-security compound.

The officials who gave the latest details said a U.S. commando grabbed a woman who charged toward the SEALs inside the room. They said the raiders were concerned that she might be wearing a suicide vest.

Administration officials have said bin Laden's body was identified by several means, including a DNA test. Members of Congress who received a briefing during the day said a sample from the body killed at the compound in Pakistan was compared to known DNA from bin Laden's mother and three sons.

After two days of speculation about releasing the photographs, there was no detectable public debate in the U.S. about the merits of the raid itself against the man behind the terror attacks that killed nearly 3,000 Americans on Sept. 11, 2001.

Attorney General Eric Holder told Congress the operation was "entirely lawful and consistent with our values" and justified as "an action of national self-defense." Noting that bin Laden had admitted his involvement in the events of nearly a decade ago, he said, "It's lawful to target an enemy commander in the field."

Holder also said the team that carried out the raid had been trained to take bin Laden alive if he was willing to surrender. "It was a kill-or-capture mission," he said. "He made no attempt to surrender."

Bin Laden had evaded capture for nearly a decade, and officials said he had currency as well as two telephone numbers sewn into his clothing when he was killed, suggesting he was prepared to leave his surroundings on a moment's notice if he sensed danger.

Administration officials said the two dozen SEALs involved in the operation were back at their home base outside Virginia Beach, Va., and the extensive debriefing they underwent was complete. Saluted as heroes nationwide, they remained publicly unidentified because of security concerns.

In addition to bin Laden's body, the SEALs helicoptered out of the compound with computer files, flash drives, DVDs and documents that intelligence officials have begun analyzing in hopes the information will help them degrade or destroy the network bin Laden left behind.

In New York on Thursday, Carney said, Obama will lay a wreath at the World Trade Center site and hold a private meeting with relatives of some of the victims of the attacks, in which jetliners hijacked by terrorists were flown into the side of first one tower, then the other.

The buildings collapsed within minutes, dooming office workers as well as rescuers who had run in hoping to save them.

A few days later, then-President George W. Bush stood amid the rubble and spoke through a bullhorn. When one worker yelled, "I can't hear you," the president responded, "I can hear you! The rest of the world hears you! And the people — and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon!"

A decade — and long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan later — Obama said he had no intention of gloating.

Obama's decision not to release any photographs was unlikely to be the final word, though.

Some members of Congress have been shown at least one photo of bin Laden, and others have asked to see it, an indication of the intense interest generated by the raid.

The Associated Press on Monday requested through the Freedom of Information Act photos of bin Laden's body as well as other materials, including video taken by military personnel during the raid and on the USS Carl Vinson, the ship that conducted bin Laden's burial at sea. The government has 20 days to respond.

Some family members of those who died in the 9/11attacks have pressed to have the photographs released to document bin Laden's death, as have some skeptics in the Arab world. But many lawmakers and others expressed concern that the photographic images could be seen as a "trophy" that would inflame U.S. critics and make it harder for members of the American military deployed overseas to do their jobs.

Obama said he had discussed his decision with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert Gates "and my intelligence teams, and they all agree."

Despite fears of revenge attacks, officials have yet to raise the national threat level.

The disclosure that bin Laden was living in relative comfort inside Pakistan in Abbottabad has provoked some administration officials and lawmakers to question the Pakistani government's commitment to the decade-long search for the terrorist leader.

Publicly, Pakistan issued a statement on Monday taking the U.S. to task for an "unauthorized unilateral action" that "cannot be taken as a rule."

But privately, according to one official, Pakistani Army chief Ashfaq Kayani offered congratulations when Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, called to inform him after the operation, and urged a public release of the news. The official spoke on condition of anonymity, citing the sensitivity of the conversation.

The White House also announced Obama would visit Fort Campbell, Ky., on Friday to greet troops returning from Afghanistan, which the United States attacked in 2001 after its leaders refused to turn over members of the al-Qaida leadership living there.

Secret helicopter crashed in Osama bin Laden murder?

Could the bin Laden Raid Have Revealed a Secret New Helicopter?

By MICHELLE TRAVIERSO Michelle Travierso – Wed May 4, 5:40 pm ET

A picture of the tail rotor of the chopper that the Navy Seals' Team Six detonated revealed unfamiliar features. Reports say it could be a new, secret helicopter.

When the Team Six members reached Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad one of the choppers made a "controlled but hard landing," according to reports, probably due to higher than expected temperatures.

Temperatures affects the density of the air, and low density makes it harder for the rotor to sustain the weight of the chopper, especially if it was near its maximum weight (being packed with soldiers and fuel to fly in from Afghanistan). Abbottabad is about 1200 meters above the sea level, and altitude also affects air density.

So what machine exactly experienced the hard landing described above? Short answer: we don't know for sure. Long answer: It seems that the tail rotor visible in the picture belongs to a highly modified version of the H-60, the chopper of choice of the special forces for more than 30 years. Aviation Week doesn't beat around the bush, claiming: "A previously undisclosed, classified stealth helicopter apparently was part of the U.S. task force that killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan on May 1."

Stealth technology on helicopters is not itself new, but the fact that a previously unknown machine was used in this raid is yet another proof of the degree of importance that this mission had for U.S. commanders.

Aviation Week then goes techie and explains what we can see from that picture: "Photos disseminated via the European PressPhoto agency and attributed to an anonymous stringer show that the helicopter’s tail features stealth-configured shapes on the boom and the tail rotor hub fairings, swept stabilizers and a 'dishpan' cover over a five-or-six-blade tail rotor. It has a silver-loaded infrared suppression finish similar to that seen on V-22s."

Low radar visibility was essential, for the Pakistani air force would have either scrambled its jets if an unknown threat to its airspace was detected, or fired its surface to air missiles. It's possibly more proof of the fact that Pakistan really knew nothing about the mission - or at least its first wave of attack - until it ended.

This would explain why the Seals wasted critically precious time to blew up the mysterious helicopter and why many experts had problems identifying its remains. It's unclear what Pakistan could have made of the downed chopper, but growing ties between Pakistani and Chinese armed forces could have made the destruction of such new machine a must. China and Pakistan, over the past two decades, have developed a multi role combat aircraft called JF-17 and an advanced trainer, the JL-8.

The Navy Seals usually fly in the famed Sikorsky UH-60, popularized by the movie Black Hawk Down, in which two UH-60 were shot down in Somalia, resulting in the death of 18 men.

Black Hawk Down was a scenario, insiders say, that together with first attempt to rescue the hostages held at the U.S. embassy in 1980 in Iran, that's been evoked constantly in the planning phases leading to the May 1 raid, as examples of potentially disastrous outcomes. (Via Aviation Week)

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Pakistan warns America not to stage any more raids

By CHRIS BRUMMITT, Associated Press Chris Brummitt, Associated Press

ISLAMABAD – Pakistan warned America Thursday of "disastrous consequences" if it carries out any more raids against terrorists like the one that killed Osama bin Laden, and hit back at international allegations it may have been harboring the al-Qaida chief.

But the government in Islamabad stopped short of labeling Monday's helicopter raid on bin Laden's compound an illegal operation and insisted relations between Washington and Islamabad remained on course.

With calls from some U.S. lawmakers to cut aid to Pakistan following the raid, the European Union said it would not turn its back on the nuclear-armed nation that is seen by many as key to helping negotiate an end to the war in Afghanistan.

The army and the government have come under criticism domestically for allowing the country's sovereignty to be violated. Some critics have expressed doubts about government claims that it was not aware of the raid until after it was over or scolded it for not reacting quickly enough and shooting down the helicopters.

Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir's remarks seemed to be aimed chiefly at addressing that criticism.

"The Pakistan security forces are neither incompetent nor negligent about their sacred duty to protect Pakistan," he told reporters. "There shall not be any doubt that any repetition of such an act will have disastrous consequences," he said.

Bashir repeated Pakistani claims that it did not know anything about the raid until it was too late to stop it. He said the army scrambled two F-16 fighter jets when it was aware that foreign helicopters were hovering over the city of Abbottabad, not far from the capital Islamabad, but they apparently did not get to the choppers on time.

American officials have said they didn't inform Pakistan in advance, fearing bin Laden could be tipped off.

Elements of Pakistan's army and Inter-Services Intelligence agency have long been suspected of maintaining links to Islamist militants, mostly for use as proxies in Afghanistan and Pakistan. While the country has worked with the United States to arrest many al-Qaida operatives since 2001, suspicion lingers it is playing a double game.

The leaders of Britain and France, as well as U.S. officials, have said Pakistan has questions to answer over bin Laden's location in a large house close to an army academy in a garrison town.

Bashir said it was "absolutely wrong" to blame the ISI. "After all there was information within the U.S. system about those who were ultimately, eventually responsible for the 9/11 (attacks), so it's not for me to say that the U.S. government or the CIA failed to prevent that," he said.

While some U.S. lawmakers have taken a tough line, President Barack Obama and other American officials have been more cautious, realizing that downgrading or severing ties with the country would be risky.

Bashir said perceptions that Pakistan's ties with Washington were at rock bottom were untrue.

"We acknowledge the United States is an important friend," he said. "Basically Pakistan and U.S. relations are moving in the right direction."

EU spokesman Michael Mann said Thursday "there can be no doubt" Pakistan would remain an important partner in the region even amid the allegations.

___

Associated Press writer Munir Ahmed contribute to this report from Islamabad.

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Account Tells of One-Sided Battle in Bin Laden Raid

WASHINGTON — President Obama decided Wednesday not to release graphic photographs of Osama bin Laden’s corpse, as new details emerged about the raid on Bin Laden’s fortified compound that differed from the administration’s initial account of the nearly 40-minute operation.

The latest on President Obama, the new Congress and other news from Washington and around the nation. Join the discussion.

Mr. Obama, after a brief but intense debate within his war council, concluded that making the images of Bin Laden public could incite violence against Americans and would do little to persuade skeptics that the founder of Al Qaeda had been killed, White House officials said.

The new details suggested that the raid, though chaotic and bloody, was extremely one-sided, with a force of more than 20 Navy Seal members quickly dispatching the handful of men protecting Bin Laden.

Administration officials said that the only shots fired by those in the compound came at the beginning of the operation, when Bin Laden’s trusted courier, Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti, opened fire from behind the door of the guesthouse adjacent to the house where Bin Laden was hiding.

After the Seal members shot and killed Mr. Kuwaiti and a woman in the guesthouse, the Americans were never fired upon again.

This account differs from an official version of events issued by the Pentagon on Tuesday, and read by the White House spokesman, Jay Carney, which said the Seal members “were engaged in a firefight throughout the operation.”

In a television interview on PBS on Tuesday, Leon E. Panetta, the director of the C.I.A., said, “There were some firefights that were going on as these guys were making their way up the staircase of that compound.”

Administration officials said the official account of events has changed over the course of the week because it has taken time to get thorough after-action reports from the Seal team. And, they added, because the Special Operations troops had been fired upon as soon as they touched down in the compound, they were under the assumption that everyone inside was armed.

“They were in a threatening and hostile environment the entire time,” one American official said.

When the commandos moved into the main house, they saw the courier’s brother, who they believed was preparing to fire a weapon. They shot and killed him. Then, as they made their way up the stairs of the house, officials said they killed Bin Laden’s son Khalid as he lunged toward the Seal team.

When the commandos reached the top floor, they entered a room and saw Osama bin Laden with an AK-47 and a Makarov pistol in arm’s reach. They shot and killed him, as well as wounding a woman with him.

The firefight over and Bin Laden dead, the team found a trove of information and had the time to remove much of it: about 100 thumb drives, DVDs and computer disks, along with 10 computer hard drives and 5 computers. There were also piles of paper documents in the house.

The White House declined to release any additional details about the operation, saying that further information would jeopardize the military’s ability to conduct clandestine operations in the future. The administration’s reticence came after it was forced on Tuesday to correct parts of its initial account of the raid, including assertions that Bin Laden had used his wife as a “human shield.”

“We’ve revealed a lot of information; we’ve been as forthcoming with facts as we can be,” Mr. Carney said.

Mr. Carney said the president expressed doubts early on about releasing the photos, but consulted his senior advisers. All of them, Mr. Carney said, voiced concerns about the risks. Based on its monitoring of worldwide reaction to the announcement of Bin Laden’s death, Mr. Carney said, the administration also concluded that most people viewed the reports of his death as credible and that publicizing photos would do little to sway those who believed it was a hoax.

Mr. Obama was direct in an interview with the CBS News program “60 Minutes,” to be broadcast Sunday, according to a transcript released by the network. “It is very important for us to make sure that very graphic photos of somebody who was shot in the head are not floating around as an incitement to additional violence — as a propaganda tool.”

“That’s not who we are,” Mr. Obama added. “You know, we don’t trot out this stuff as trophies.” He said, “We don’t need to spike the football.”

“Certainly there’s no doubt among Al Qaeda members that he is dead,” he said on “60 Minutes.” “And so we don’t think that a photograph in and of itself is going to make any difference. There are going to be some folks who deny it. The fact of the matter is, you will not see Bin Laden walking on this earth again.”

The deliberations were reminiscent of Mr. Obama’s decision in May 2009 to fight the release of photos documenting the abuse of prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan by American military personnel. The administration said originally that it would not oppose releasing the pictures, but the president decided he would fight making them public after his military commanders warned that the images could provoke a reaction against troops in those countries.

The White House said Mr. Obama would take part in a wreath-laying ceremony at the site of the Sept. 11 memorial in Lower Manhattan on Thursday. He is also to meet with relatives of the victims of the terrorist attacks, but he will not make a speech. The next day, he is to travel to Fort Campbell in Kentucky to speak to troops returning from Afghanistan.

Seeking to quell any legal questions about the raid, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said, “It was justified as an act of national self-defense,” citing Bin Laden’s role as the architect of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

There were divided opinions on Capitol Hill about the photographs, with some lawmakers saying the United States needed to show proof that Bin Laden was dead, while others worried about the possibility of blowback against American troops.

“The whole purpose of sending our troops into the compound, rather than an aerial bombardment, was to obtain indisputable evidence of Bin Laden’s death,” said Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina. “The best way to protect and defend our interests overseas is to prove that fact to the rest of the world.”

Source

The Torture Apologists

Published: May 4, 2011

The killing of Osama bin Laden provoked a host of reactions from Americans: celebration, triumph, relief, closure and renewed grief. One reaction, however, was both cynical and disturbing: crowing by the apologists and practitioners of torture that Bin Laden’s death vindicated their immoral and illegal behavior after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Jose Rodriguez Jr. was the leader of counterterrorism for the C.I.A. from 2002-2005 when Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and other Al Qaeda leaders were captured. He told Time magazine that the recent events show that President Obama should not have banned so-called enhanced interrogation techniques. (Mr. Rodriguez, you may remember, ordered the destruction of interrogation videos.)

John Yoo, the former Bush Justice Department lawyer who twisted the Constitution and the Geneva Conventions into an unrecognizable mess to excuse torture, wrote in The Wall Street Journal that the killing of Bin Laden proved that waterboarding and other abuses were proper. Donald Rumsfeld, the former defense secretary, said at first that no coerced evidence played a role in tracking down Bin Laden, but by Tuesday he was reciting the talking points about the virtues of prisoner abuse.

There is no final answer to whether any of the prisoners tortured in President George W. Bush’s illegal camps gave up information that eventually proved useful in finding Bin Laden. A detailed account in The Times on Wednesday by Scott Shane and Charlie Savage concluded that torture “played a small role at most” in the years and years of painstaking intelligence and detective work that led a Navy Seals team to Bin Laden’s hideout in Pakistan.

That squares with the frequent testimony over the past decade from many other interrogators and officials. They have said repeatedly, and said again this week, that the best information came from prisoners who were not tortured. The Times article said Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, who was waterboarded 183 times, fed false information to his captors during torture.

Even if it were true that some tidbit was blurted out by a prisoner while being tormented by C.I.A. interrogators, that does not remotely justify Mr. Bush’s decision to violate the law and any acceptable moral standard.

This was not the “ticking time bomb” scenario that Bush-era officials often invoked to rationalize abusive interrogations. If, as Representative Peter King, the Long Island Republican, said, information from abused prisoners “directly led” to the redoubt, why didn’t the Bush administration follow that trail years ago?

There are many arguments against torture. It is immoral and illegal and counterproductive. The Bush administration’s abuses — and ends justify the means arguments — did huge damage to this country’s standing and gave its enemies succor and comfort. If that isn’t enough, there is also the pragmatic argument that most experienced interrogators think that the same information, or better, can be obtained through legal and humane means.

No matter what Mr. Yoo and friends may claim, the real lesson of the Bin Laden operation is that it demonstrated what can be done with focused intelligence work and persistence.

The battered intelligence community should now be basking in the glory of a successful operation. It should not be dragged back into the muck and murk by political figures whose sole agenda seems to be to rationalize actions that cost this country dearly — in our inability to hold credible trials for very bad men and in the continued damage to our reputation.

OK, he is an evil commie, but in this case he is right!

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U.S. Showed Weakness in Osama 'Execution': Castro

By REUTERS

Published: May 5, 2011 at 10:51 AM ET

HAVANA (Reuters) - The United States "executed" Osama bin Laden and showed "weakness and insecurity" in its attack on his Pakistani sanctuary, former Cuban leader Fidel Castro said in a column published on Thursday in the state-run press.

Castro, 84, wrote that President Barack Obama "has no way to hide that Osama was executed in the presence of his children and wives".

The former Cuban president said the operation by U.S. special forces violated Pakistani law and offended the country's religious traditions and national dignity.

The operation, including Osama's rapid burial at sea, had not ended Washington's problems with him, Castro predicted.

"To kill him and send him to the depths of the sea shows weakness and insecurity, they convert him into a much more dangerous figure," said Castro, who ruled Cuba for 49 years before officially ceding power to brother Raul in 2008.

Bin Laden and four others were killed when Navy SEALs raided his compound early on Monday in the Pakistani town of Abbottabad.

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Pakistani Military Investigates How Bin Laden Was Able to Hide in Plain View

By CARLOTTA GALL

Published: May 4, 2011

ABBOTTABAD, Pakistan — The Pakistani military has taken charge of investigations into the circumstances that allowed Osama bin Laden to reside quietly in a three-story house on the edge of this town, officials here said. Military intelligence investigators returned to the house on Wednesday and spent most of the day working inside the compound, while the army and the police barred journalists and others from approaching the area.

The walled-off property in Abbottabad, Pakistan, where Osama bin Laden was killed early Monday has become the object of curiosity. Investigators spent Wednesday inside the house.

The intelligence agencies have detained at least 11 people for questioning, including an immediate neighbor who once worked with the family and the construction manager who built the house, Pakistani news organizations reported.

They have also taken into custody the bodies of four people killed when an American Navy Seals team made an air assault on the house early Monday.

Three women and nine children found in the house after the raid are also in the custody of the intelligence services, Pakistani security officials said. At least two are related to Bin Laden, one security official said: a 12- or 13-year-old daughter and his wife, who was shot in the leg but has received hospital care and is out of danger. He spoke on the condition of anonymity in accordance with the rules of his agency.

The national daily newspaper The News published a photograph that it said was the photo page of the passport of Bin Laden’s wife. The passport was from the Republic of Yemen and pictured a woman in a black head scarf named Amal Ahmed Abdulfattah, born March 29, 1987, making her 24 years old, about 30 years younger than Bin Laden.

Asked about the validity of the passport, the security official said he could not confirm whether it was connected to anyone detained after the raid.

Officials are still investigating the identity of the four people whose bodies were found inside the compound after the Seals team departed with Bin Laden’s body. The bodies included two brothers and a son of Bin Laden, the security official said. American officials have said the fourth person killed was a woman, while the Pakistani official said the fourth was an unknown man.

The two brothers were known as Arshad Khan, the owner of the house, and Tareq Khan. Neighbors say they were either brothers or cousins. Preliminary investigations have made officials suspect that these were not their real names and that they were living under fake identities.

Arshad Khan was carrying an old, noncomputerized Pakistani national identity card, which said he was from Khat Kuruna, a village in Tangi district, near Charsadda in northwestern Pakistan. Yet officials have found that there is no record of an Arshad Khan in Khat Kuruna.

Pakistan introduced computerized identity cards a few years ago to cut down on the production of fraudulent identity cards, many of them bought by Afghan refugees, among others.

American officials said that Arshad Khan was the local alias of the trusted courier who led them to Bin Laden and who was known inside Al Qaeda as Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti. They describe him as a Pakistani who was brought up in Kuwait, hence the suffix to his name, and say that he was a close protégé of two senior figures in Al Qaeda, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and Abu Faraj al-Libi, who were both arrested in Pakistani cities before being handed over to United States custody.

The men and the compound do seem to have on occasion drawn the attention of intelligence agencies. Both Afghan and Pakistani officials have said they had pointed out the compound as one of interest to C.I.A. officials in previous years.

Pakistan’s foreign secretary, Salman Bashir, told the BBC that officials had indicated it as suspicious in 2009, and as a possible hide-out for Bin Laden, although there were “millions” of other suspected locations.

An Afghan intelligence official told Agence-France Presse that Afghan intelligence pinpointed the compound last August, but that officials thought a senior Taliban commander, Maulavi Abdul Kabir, was living there.

“The house that Osama bin Laden was killed in was pinpointed for the first time by Afghan intelligence,” the official told the news agency, which said the official declined to be named because of the delicacy of the issue.

Afghan agents living in an old refugee camp in the nearby town of Haripur carried out surveillance of the house, he said.

He said that Afghan intelligence’s information about the house “was shared with the Americans and they showed lots of interest,” but that Afghan spies had not been involved in the subsequent investigations or operation, the news agency reported.

Ismail Khan contributed reporting from Peshawar, Pakistan, Salman Masood from Abbottabad, and Mark Mazzetti from Washington.

Remember the Afghanistan government is just a puppet government installed by the Americans. Think of their words being the words their American masters told them to say!

And of course the government of Pakistan, whose dictators get $1 billion in American aid each year is almost a puppet government of American.

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Afghanistan Uses News About Bin Laden to Intensify Its Criticism of Pakistan

By ALISSA J. RUBIN

Published: May 4, 2011

KABUL, Afghanistan — The Afghan government escalated its criticism of Pakistan on Wednesday, publicly questioning for the first time how the Pakistanis could ensure the security of their nuclear arms if they did not even know that Osama bin Laden, the world’s most wanted terrorist, had been hiding in a compound in a Pakistani military town less than an hour from their capital.

In comments at a weekly news conference, Gen. Zahir Azimi, a spokesman for the Afghan Defense Ministry, echoed points made this week by others in the country, including President Hamid Karzai, but in starker terms. The general specifically criticized Pakistan’s intelligence agency, the Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence, which has claimed that it was unaware that Bin Laden had been living for years in the military garrison town of Abbottabad, where American commandos killed him in a raid early Monday.

“If the Pakistani intelligence agency does not know about a home located 10 meters or 100 meters away from its national military academy, where for the last six years the biggest terrorist is living, how can this country take care of its strategic weapons?” General Azimi said.

“How could they be satisfied that their strategic weapons are not in danger?” he asked.

He added that if Pakistan’s intelligence did in fact know the whereabouts of Bin Laden, then “they are playing a double game.”

The specific reference to Pakistan’s intelligence service was an escalation of criticism but reflected a refrain heard here since Bin Laden’s death was announced: the Afghan government has said repeatedly that the roots of the insurgency here are in Pakistan and that the United States has been waging the war in the wrong country.

Mr. Karzai made such remarks somewhat obliquely in speeches shortly after Bin Laden’s death was announced, but his national security adviser, Rangin Spanta, was more explicit.

“We have to change the geography of the war,” Mr. Spanta said in an interview. “For 10 years, President Karzai has repeated, ‘We have to destroy the sanctuaries, and the sanctuaries are in Pakistan.’ ”

Beyond the rhetoric, however, lies a far more complicated dynamic. Pakistan is resented for its military strength and in recent years for its ability to ratchet up or down the insurgency in Afghanistan through its hosting of terrorist training camps and its financing for jihadist Islamic movements.

But it has also been a refuge for millions of Afghans, and the tribal areas in Pakistan share a common culture and language with people in southern and eastern Afghanistan. By contrast, the north and west of Afghanistan are home to Dari speakers, whose ethnicity is closer to that of Persians and some Uzbeks and Turkmens.

Despite the animosity and denunciation, there are also deep ties. “We cannot live in permanent war with a neighbor,” said Mr. Spanta, explaining that the tension did not negate the Afghan efforts to work with Pakistan to achieve peace with the Taliban.

“Our offer to Pakistan for cooperation with Pakistan and building peace remains the same,” said Mr. Spanta, despite Bin Laden’s showing up in Pakistan.

General Azimi’s words were, if anything, more restrained than those of a former Afghan intelligence director, Amrullah Saleh, who has closely followed Pakistan’s patterns of support for the Taliban and has long been an outspoken critic.

“If they were able to protect Osama for 10 years, then Mullah Omar and Haqqani are in the ISI safe guesthouse, safe house, whatever you want to call it,” said Mr. Saleh, referring to Mullah Muhammad Omar, the spiritual leader of the Taliban, and members of the Haqqani group, a Taliban offshoot believed to be largely financed by Pakistan’s intelligence service.

“It is time for the United States to wake up to the fact that Pakistan is a hostile state exporting terror,” he said.

Sharifullah Sahak contributed reporting.

Hmmm ... was murdering Osama bin Laden part of Obamas 2012 election strategy?

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For Obama, Big Rise in Poll Numbers After Bin Laden Raid

By JAMES DAO and DALIA SUSSMAN

Published: May 4, 2011

Support for President Obama rose sharply after the killing of Osama bin Laden, with a majority now approving of his overall job performance, as well as his handling of foreign policy, the war in Afghanistan and the threat of terrorism, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.

The glow of national pride seemed to rise above partisan politics, as support for the president rose significantly among both Republicans and independents. In all, 57 percent said they now approved of the president’s job performance, up from 46 percent last month.

But euphoria was tempered by a sense of foreboding: more than six in 10 Americans said that killing Bin Laden was likely to increase the threat of terrorism against the United States in the short term. A large majority also said that the Qaeda leader’s death did not make them feel any safer. Just 16 percent said they personally felt more safe now.

Though there has been talk in some quarters that the United States military can now leave Afghanistan, the poll showed that public sentiment on the issue seems more complicated.

Nearly half said the nation should decrease troop levels in Afghanistan. But more than six in 10 also said the United States had not completed its mission in Afghanistan, suggesting that the public would oppose a rapid withdrawal of all American forces.

One Democrat polled, Richard Olbrich, 68, said in a follow-up interview that Bin Laden’s death was not sufficient reason to remove all American forces.

“The Taliban needs to be defeated,” said Mr. Olbrich, a lawyer from Madison, Wis. “I have no idea how long it will take to complete that mission. And we can’t leave until Afghanistan is back on its feet a little bit.”

The Obama administration has said it plans to begin a gradual drawdown of troops from Afghanistan this summer, with a complete withdrawal to be completed in 2014.

It is common for presidents to see their poll numbers shoot up after major military or foreign policy successes. But they usually do not sustain the ratings.

Mr. Obama’s job approval rating rose 11 points, compared with an 8-point increase for President George W. Bush, to 58 percent, after the capture of Saddam Hussein in December 2003. Mr. Bush’s bump evaporated within a month.

The increase in Mr. Obama’s ratings came largely from Republicans and independents. Among independents, his approval rating increased 11 points from last month, to 52 percent, while among Republicans it rose 15 points, to 24 percent. Among Democrats, 86 percent supported his job performance, compared with 79 percent in April.

But in an indication that anxieties about unemployment, gas prices and the national debt have not withered with Bin Laden’s death, good will toward Mr. Obama did not extend to his economic policies. More than half said they disapproved of his handling of the economy, similar to the result last month, the poll found.

Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, addressed those worries on Wednesday, saying, “The country is still emerging from the worst recession since the Great Depression.”

“I think that gas prices have weighed heavily on Americans as they try to make ends meet,” Mr. Carney said. “And it’s entirely understandable why that sentiment is out there, because people are struggling.”

Mr. Obama received higher marks in several major areas of foreign policy. Slightly more than half said they liked the way he was handling foreign policy generally, up from 39 percent in April. About six in 10 approved of his handling of Afghanistan, up from 44 percent in January. And more than seven in 10 supported his handling of the terrorism threat, up from about half in August 2010.

Perhaps least surprising, more than eight in 10 said they supported his handling of the pursuit of Bin Laden.

Diane Bottum, 63, a Republican from Lafayette, Ind., said she thought that the commando operation to kill Bin Laden was a “macho thing” that would encourage many Republicans to vote for Mr. Obama next year.

“Wiping out Bin Laden has been almost 10 years in the making, so it’s really significant,” Ms. Bottum, a retired university professor, said. “I’m convinced he’s nailed the next election.”

The government placed military bases and diplomatic offices on higher alert after Bin Laden’s death, and those concerns about retaliatory attacks by Qaeda supporters are reflected in public opinion. About seven in 10 said they thought a terrorist attack in the United States in the next few months was somewhat or very likely, the highest percentage since 2004.

“When I first heard the news, I thought, ‘We’d better watch it,’ ” said Monica Byrne, 48, an independent from Paramus, N.J. “Attacks could be anywhere, but I feel the New York metropolitan area is a target because they want to disrupt our lives, especially in the financial and business sectors.”

In the long term, Americans were divided over the impact of the Qaeda leader’s death, with about a quarter saying the threat of terrorism would increase, about a quarter saying it would decrease and about 40 percent saying it would stay the same.

Americans were less ambivalent about whether the killing was a success, with nearly 90 percent calling it either a major or minor victory in the war on terrorism.

More than four in 10 Americans, 44 percent, also now think that the United States and its allies are winning the war on terrorism, up from 36 percent in 2006. But a significant minority, 45 percent, say the war is a draw.

The poll found opinion divided about whether the death of Bin Laden had brought a sense of closure about the Sept. 11 attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people. Half said it had, while 45 percent said it had not. Majorities of Northeasterners and Westerners said they did not feel closure.

The nationwide telephone poll was conducted May 2 and 3 with 532 adults and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus four percentage points.

Megan Thee-Brenan, Marina Stefan and Marjorie Connelly contributed reporting.

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Solo Osama hunter wants part of bin Laden bounty

Wed May 4, 3:14 pm ET

GREELEY, Colo. – The Colorado construction worker who flew last year to Pakistan on a one-man mission to hunt down Osama bin Laden says he played a part in bin Laden's death.

Gary Faulkner said Wednesday he'd like one-quarter of the $25 million reward that was offered for hunting down bin Laden. He said he'd use it for his nonprofit foundation.

Faulkner was found last year in the woods of northern Pakistan armed with a pistol, sword and night-vision goggles. The Greeley, Colo., man says he believes he had a hand in forcing bin Laden out of the mountains where he supposedly was hiding.

Bin Laden was killed at a compound in northwestern Pakistan early Monday. U.S. officials say he had been living there for up to six years.

Source

Photos show three dead men at bin Laden raid house

By Chris Allbritton Chris Allbritton – Wed May 4, 7:49 pm ET

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Photographs acquired by Reuters and taken about an hour after the U.S. assault on Osama bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad in Pakistan show three dead men lying in pools of blood, but no weapons.

The photos, taken by a Pakistani security official who entered the compound after the early morning raid on Monday, show two men dressed in traditional Pakistani garb and one in a t-shirt, with blood streaming from their ears, noses and mouths.

The official, who wished to remain anonymous, sold the pictures to Reuters.

None of the men looked like bin Laden. President Barack Obama decided not to release photos of his body because it could have incited violence and used as an al Qaeda propaganda tool.

"I think that given the graphic nature of these photos, it would create some national security risk," Obama told the CBS program "60 Minutes."

Based on the time-stamps on the pictures, the earliest one was dated May 2, 2:30 a.m., approximately an hour after the completion of the raid in which bin Laden was killed.

Other photos, taken hours later at between 5:21 a.m. and 6:43 a.m. show the outside of the trash-strewn compound and the wreckage of the helicopter the United States abandoned. The tail assembly is unusual, and could indicate some kind of previously unknown stealth capability.

Reuters is confident of the authenticity of the purchased images because details in the photos appear to show a wrecked helicopter from the assault, matching details from photos taken independently on Monday.

U.S. forces lost a helicopter in the raid due to a mechanical problem and later destroyed it.

The pictures are also taken in sequence and are all the same size in pixels, indicating they have not been tampered with. The time and date in the photos as recorded in the digital file's metadata match lighting conditions for the area as well as the time and date imprinted on the image itself.

The close-cropped pictures do not show any weapons on the dead men, but the photos are taken in medium close-up and often crop out the men's hands and arms.

One photo shows a computer cable and what looks like a child's plastic green and orange water pistol lying under the right shoulder of one of the dead men. A large pool of blood has formed under his head.

A second shows another man with a streak of blood running from his nose across his right cheek and a large band of blood across his chest.

A third man, in a T-shirt, is on his back in a large pool of blood which appears to be from a head wound.

U.S. acknowledgment on Tuesday that bin Laden was unarmed when shot dead had raised accusations Washington had violated international law. The exact circumstances of his death remained unclear and could yet fuel controversy, especially in the Muslim world.

Pakistan faced national embarrassment, a leading Islamabad newspaper said, in explaining how the world's most-wanted man was able to live for years in the military garrison town of Abbottabad, just north of the capital.

Pakistan blamed worldwide intelligence lapses for a failure to detect bin Laden, while Washington worked to establish whether its ally had sheltered the al Qaeda leader, which Islamabad vehemently denies.

Source

New Zealand MP apologises for bin Laden tribute

Thu May 5, 1:40 am ET

WELLINGTON (AFP) – An outspoken New Zealand Maori politician apologised Thursday after praising slain Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden as a freedom fighter who stood up for his people.

In remarks that Prime Minister John Key slammed as "ridiculous", Independent MP Hone Harawira said this week that positive aspects of bin Laden's life should be acknowledged and urged people not to damn him.

"We have heard nothing but negative things about him from the Americans, but he fought for the self-determination of his people and for his beliefs," Harawira told Maori-language television on Monday.

"Indeed, despite what the media has said, his family, his tribe, his people are in mourning.

"They mourn for the man who fought for the rights, the lands and the freedom of his people. We should not damn them in death but acknowledge the positive aspects of life."

But Harawira backed away from his comments after they were published in English-language media Thursday, saying they were not meant to express support for bin Laden's actions.

"This was a mistake and was not intended," he said in a statement. "Using terror for political reasons is never acceptable.

"I apologise for how I expressed myself."

Key, who on Monday welcomed news of bin Laden's death in US special forces raid in Pakistan, said Harawira's views the Al-Qaeda leader were "misguided".

"Hone Harawira's comments about Osama bin Laden are ridiculous," he said.

"Bin Laden murdered thousands of people, including New Zealanders, and was responsible for many terrorist attacks. The world is a safer place without him."

Harawira, a strong advocate for Maori rights, stirred controversy last year when he said he would not want his children to date white New Zealanders.

He was formerly a member of the Maori Party, a minority partner in the National Party-led conservative government, but left it in February, saying it was not doing enough to advance the cause of indigenous people.

Source

Gunning for Bin Laden

Did the U.S. ever intend to do anything other than kill the Al Qaeda leader?

May 5, 2011

It might seem churlish to second-guess a military operation that removed a master terrorist from the face of the Earth. But conflicting statements from the White House about whether Osama bin Laden was armed during the raid on his compound raise the question of whether the United States ever intended to do anything other than kill him, and if not, whether we should find that troubling.

In his statement to the nation Sunday, President Obama said Bin Laden was killed after a firefight, the implication being that he exchanged gunfire with American commandos. Speaking on Monday, John Brennan, Obama's counter-terrorism advisor, echoed those remarks and said: "Whether or not he got off any rounds, I frankly don't know." Then, on Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney backtracked, revealing that Bin Laden was in fact unarmed when he was killed.

Some officials insist that capture was a possibility. On Wednesday, Carney said the commandos were told to be prepared to accept Bin Laden's surrender. A spokesman for the National Security Council said there were contingency plans to transport him to a naval vessel and begin interrogation. But other officials say that though capturing Bin Laden alive was always a possibility, self-defense was defined broadly. They told The Times: "The assault force was told to accept a surrender only if it could be sure he didn't have a bomb hidden under his clothing and posed no other danger." A congressional aide briefed on the rules of engagement said that Bin Laden "would have had to be naked for them to allow him to surrender."

The attractions of assassination over capture are obvious: Killing Bin Laden forestalls public controversy over whether and where he should be tried. It provides the American people with a sense of closure not offered by a trial. And it sends a powerful message to the world about U.S. resolve — or, as some might perceive it, ruthlessness.

But there also would have been advantages to taking Bin Laden alive. He could have provided information about the plans of Al Qaeda and the whereabouts of his second-in-command, Ayman Zawahiri. And, as will be the case with the trial of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, a trial for Bin Laden would have demonstrated that the United States was willing to afford the protections of U.S. law even to the worst of the worst.

In the end, it is what it is. U.S. forces killed Bin Laden in a bold and risky raid. We do not have enough information to say whether the commandos were right or wrong to pull the trigger, and we're not saddened that an implacable foe of the United States is dead.

Still, we'd like to think that the people in charge planned for the possibility of capture. There would have been something uplifting — something to be proud of — if Bin Laden had been brought home and publicly held to account for his many crimes.

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Thu May 5, 11:12 am ET

Intense interest surrounds dog who may have participated in bin Laden raid

By Liz Goodwin liz Goodwin – Thu May 5, 11:12 am ET

Americans are fascinated by the anonymous U.S. Navy SEALs who daringly raided Osama bin Laden's Abbottabad, Pakistan compound this week, but one canine commando is attracting especially fervent interest.

According to the New York Times and the British tabloid The Sun, a military dog (not pictured) was strapped onto one of the assault team members as he was lowered out of a Black Hawk helicopter and began the operation that killed the notorious terrorist on Monday. But who is this canine hero?

Sadly, we know very little, and the Pentagon has yet to confirm that a dog was even on the mission, much less release information about the canine's name or breed.

"Little is known about what may be the nation's most courageous dog," the Times' Gardner Harris writes. He speculates that the dog was most likely a German shepherd or a Belgian Malinois, since those are the breeds most often found in the military's 2,700-strong military dog program. (A new breed, however, is becoming popular with the troops. Labrador retrievers have begun to "wander off-leash 100 yards or more in front of patrols to ensure the safety of the route.")

The Pentagon and White House are keeping tight-lipped about the details of the operation, but that, of course, hasn't prevented commentators from speculating on the dog's role based on the functions of other war dogs in combat. "It's possible that the commandos brought a specialized search dog, which would have been sent in ahead of the humans to find explosives or people hidden inside the building," Slate's Brian Palmer writes. Or the dog could have been a "combat tracker"--canines who are specially trained to sniff out individuals and then follow their trail. Saddam Hussein was found in a hole under a hut--the assault team could have decided that they needed a good tracking dog in case bin Laden had a similar idea.

Dogs are increasingly important in America's combat operations abroad, and some have been outfitted with special (and adorable) "doggles" to protect their eyes, oxygen masks to protect their lungs as they parachute out with soldiers at high altitudes, and even waterproof vests that contain infrared cameras that transmit video back to servicemen watching a monitor yards behind them. Check out Foreign Policy's beautiful photo essay on military dogs here.

Luckily for this courageous and anonymous furry creature, there is some precedent for war dogs receiving military honors. The Navy awarded a Silver Star in 2009 to a dog named Remco who gave his life charging "an insurgent's hide-out in Afghanistan," Harris writes. According to Foreign Policy, another dog named Eli fiercely guarded his Marine, Private First Class Carlton Rusk, after he was shot by Taliban sniper fire in Afghanistan. Rusk's bomb-sniffing dog would not even let fellow Marines approach the wounded Rusk, who did not survive the attack. Eli now lives with Rusk's family.

The dog's role was not mentioned in any of the public White House press briefings on bin Laden's death, and we have yet to hear back from our request to the Pentagon's press office asking them to confirm his presence in the operation (and tell us what he looks like). We'll update this post if we get more information.

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Bin Laden's wife spent 6 years in Pakistani house

Posted 5/6/2011 7:08 AM ET

By Munir Ahmed, Associated Press

ISLAMABAD — One of three wives living with Osama bin Laden has told Pakistani interrogators she had been staying in the al-Qaida chief's hideout for six years without leaving its upper floors, a Pakistani intelligence official said Friday.

The woman, identified as Yemeni-born Amal Ahmed Abdullfattah, and the other two wives of bin Laden are being interrogated in Pakistan after they were taken into custody following the American raid on bin Laden's compound in the town of Abbottabad.

Pakistani authorities are also holding eight or nine children who were found there after the U.S. commandos left.

The corpses of at least three slain men were also left behind, while bin Laden's body was taken and buried at sea.

The wives' accounts will help show how bin Laden spent his time and how he managed to avoid capture, living in a large house close to military academy in a garrison town, a two-and-a-half hours' drive from the capital Islamabad.

Given shifting and incomplete accounts from U.S. officials about what happened during the raid, the women's testimonies may also be significant in unveiling details about the operation.

A Pakistani official said CIA officers had not been given access to the women in custody. Military and intelligence relations between the United States and Pakistan have been strained even before Monday's helicopter-borne raid, and have become more so in its aftermath. There is also anger among Pakistanis over the raid, which many see as a violation of their country's sovereignty.

On Friday, American drone-fired missiles killed 10 people in North Waziristan, an al-Qaida and Taliban hotspot close to Afghanistan, Pakistani officials said. The strike risks more tensions between the two countries. Such attacks were routine last year, but their frequency has dropped this year amid opposition by the Pakistan security establishment.

The Pakistani intelligence official did not say on Friday whether the Yemeni wife has said that bin Laden was also living there since 2006. "We are still getting information from them," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to give his name to the media.

A security official said the wife was shot in the leg during the operation, and did not witness her husband being killed. He also said one of bin Laden's eldest daughters had said she witnessed the Americans killing her father.

Meanwhile, Pakistan's intelligence agency has concluded that bin Laden was "cash strapped" in his final days and that al-Qaida had split into two factions, with the larger one controlled by the group's No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahri, according to a briefing given by a senior officer in the agency.

The officer spoke to a small group of Pakistani reporters late Thursday. A top military officer also present at the briefing told The Associated Press what was said, as did two of the journalists. All asked that their names not be used because of the sensitivity of the meeting.

The officer didn't provide details or elaborate how his agency made the conclusions about bin Laden's financial situation or the split with his deputy, al-Zawahri. The al-Qaida chief had apparently lived without any guards at the Abbottabad compound or loyalists nearby to take up arms in his defense.

The image of Pakistan's intelligence agency has been battered at home and abroad in the wake of the raid that killed bin Laden. Portraying him as isolated and weak may be aimed at trying to create an impression that a failure to spot him was not so important.

Documents taken from the house by American commandos showed that bin Laden was planning to hit America, however, including a plan for derailing an American train on the upcoming 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. The confiscated materials reveal the rail attack was planned as of February 2010.

Late Thursday, two Pakistani officials cited bin Laden's wives and children as saying he and his associates had not offered any "significant resistance" when the American commandos entered the compound, in part because the assailants had thrown "stun bombs" that disorientated them.

One official said Pakistani authorities found an AK-47 and a pistol in the house belonging to those in the house, with evidence that one bullet had been fired from the rifle.

"That was the level of resistance" they put up, said the official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity.

His account is roughly consistent with the most recent one given by U.S. officials, who now say one of the five people, killed in the raid was armed and fired any shots, a striking departure from the intense and prolonged firefight described earlier by the White House and others in the administration.

U.S. officials say four men were killed alongside bin Laden, including one of his sons.

The raid has exacerbated tensions between America and Pakistan. The army here is angry that it was not told about the unilateral raid on a target within its territory, while there are suspicions in Washington that bin Laden may have been protected by Pakistani security forces while on the run.

Is Obama "spiking the ball" here and using his murder of Osama bin Laden to help him get reelected in 2012?

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Obama to honor troops, thank raid participants

Posted 5/6/2011 7:08 AM ET

By Jim Kuhnhenn, Associated Press

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama's carefully calibrated response to the killing of Osama bin Laden is shifting from remembrance to appreciation.

One day after laying a wreath at the site of the World Trade Center in New York City, the president was to go to Fort Campbell, Ky., to thank participants in the daring raid on bin Laden's compound in Pakistan five days ago.

Obama, however, is seeking to convey a return to the business of governing. He was also to stop in Indianapolis on Friday to promote his energy policies and showcase a transmission plant that produces systems for hybrid vehicles.

White House officials say that at Fort Campbell Obama will express his gratitude to the raid participants privately. But the president, joined by Vice President Joe Biden, also will address soldiers who have returned recently from Afghanistan, a public forum where the military triumph will be hard to mask.

Obama so far has tried to avoid rejoicing publicly over bin Laden's death. But he has maintained a steady stream of events and activities that have kept the success of the remarkable commando operation at the forefront. On Thursday he visited New York fire and police stations that responded to the Sept. 11, 2001, attack that was carried out by bin Laden's al-Qaida operatives, and he met privately with victims' families. He also has given an interview about the operation to CBS that will air Sunday on "60 Minutes."

In New York, Obama did not mention bin Laden by name. He didn't have to.

"When we say we will never forget, we mean what we say," Obama told firefighters.

At the same time, the White House is wary of overplaying its hand. Obama has decided not to release photographs of bin Laden's corpse, saying, "We don't need to spike the football."

As a result, the president also has hewed to his regular schedule, participating in policy sessions and routine ceremonial events. The trip to Indianapolis originally had been scheduled for last month, but Obama canceled it as he negotiated an eleventh-hour deal with Congress to avoid a government shutdown.

Without bin Laden's death to overshadow it, the Indianapolis trip would have policy and political consequences. Obama has been promoting his energy policies as a long-term answer to rising oil prices and U.S. dependence on foreign oil. The skyrocketing cost of gasoline had caused Obama's public approval numbers to dip until bin Laden's death shoved them back up. What's more, Indiana is a battleground state that Obama won narrowly in 2008 by less than 30,000 votes. The state's governor, Mitch Daniels, is contemplating a presidential run and would be considered a top contender for the Republican nomination.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood previewed the Indianapolis trip Thursday, promoting Obama administration policies that foster the manufacture of hybrid vehicles. Obama will tour the headquarters of Allison Transmission, which develops transmissions for hybrid propulsion systems.

LaHood said the administration this fall will announce long-awaited new mileage standards for the 2017-2025 model year vehicles. Under rules adopted last year, the average mileage of the new vehicle fleet will rise to 35.5 mpg by 2016, an increase of more than 40 percent over current standards.

Still, the centerpiece of the day for the president will be the stop at Fort Campbell.

The fort is home to the 101st Airborne Division and many of its combat teams have returned recently from tours of duty in Afghanistan. But its main draw for Obama is the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, the highly specialized Army unit that carried Navy SEALs to bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

The unit, known as Night Stalkers, has fought in nearly every U.S. conflict, from Grenada to Afghanistan, and they were memorialized in the mission that resulted in the book and movie "Black Hawk Down." Many of its missions are classified and among its primary duties are flying special forces commandos behind enemy lines using night-vision technology and low-flying techniques.

They are equipped with Black Hawk, Chinook and MH-6 Little Bird helicopters. Aviation experts said a helicopter used in the bin Laden raid appeared to be a stealthier, top secret and never-before-seen version of a routinely used special ops helicopter. The helicopter made a hard landing and was destroyed by the military team at the site, leaving behind wreckage for experts to analyze.

White House officials would not offer details on the meeting between the president and the participants of the raiding party.

"The successful mission against Osama bin Laden is a monumental achievement," White House spokesman Jay Carney said. "But the fact remains that we're still at war, that we have 100,000 combat personnel in Afghanistan, we have troops in a support-and-assist role in Iraq, and we have U.S. military men and women in other places around the globe and, in some cases, in difficult situations."

"So it's important to acknowledge that and for Americans to remember that despite the elimination of bin Laden, we're still extremely dependent upon and grateful to our military men and women for what they do."

___

Associated Press writers Lolita C. Baldor and Kimberly Hefling contributed to this report.

Ron Paul is against the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya, along with being against ALL foreign aid. A vote for Ron Paul in 2012 will take all the American troops home from the unconstitutional wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya.

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Bin Laden's death upends agenda for first Republican presidential debate

By Michael A. Memoli

May 5, 2011, 6:57 p.m.

Reporting from Washington— Polls show that Americans' top concern is the economy, but the killing of Osama bin Laden put foreign policy at the top of the agenda in the first Republican candidates debate of the 2012 presidential campaign.

In the forum, broadcast by Fox News from Greenville, S.C., a quintet of lesser-known candidates offered their views on the operation that killed the Al Qaeda leader and how it might affect America's mission in Afghanistan.

Tim Pawlenty, the former Minnesota governor, praised President Obama for "being decisive" in launching the raid on Bin Laden's compound, but attacked his broader foreign policy outlook.

"He's made a number of other decisions relating to our security here and around the world that I don't agree with," he said. "If it turns out that many of the techniques that he criticized during the campaign led to Osama bin Laden's being identified and killed, he should be asked to explain whether he does or does not support those techniques."

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, who just announced the formation of an exploratory committee a day earlier, downplayed what he said was simply a "tactical decision" by Obama.

"If you look at what President Obama has done right in foreign policy, it has always been a continuation of the Bush policies," he said. "The issues that have come up while he is president, he's gotten it wrong strategically every single time."

Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, a libertarian-minded Republican long opposed to the war in Afghanistan, said Bin Laden's death showed the folly of keeping the war going.

"Boy, it is a wonderful time for this country now to reassess it and get the troops out of Afghanistan, and end that war that hasn't helped us and hasn't helped anyone in the Middle East," he said.

That view was echoed by former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson, who called for the immediate withdrawal of U.S. forces.

"We're building roads, schools, bridges and highways in Iraq and Afghanistan and we're borrowing 43 cents on every dollar to do that. In my opinion, this is crazy," he said.

A fifth candidate, Herm Cain, criticized a lack of clarity in the mission, but admitted to not being well-briefed enough on these issues to offer his own strategy going forward.

"I'm not privy to a lot of confidential information. One of the things that I've always prided myself on is making an informed decision knowing all the facts," he said.

The initial exchange in this first debate shows just how the operation against Bin Laden has temporarily upended the 2012 campaign. Obama is enjoying a bump in his poll numbers, though voters still give him low marks for handling the economy.

That issue did not come up for at least 15 minutes in the debate. Pawlenty used a question on jobs to attack the National Labor Relations Board for blocking an effort by Boeing to build a South Carolina plant, to the delight of the audience.

But when the subject turned to healthcare, he resisted an opportunity to criticize Mitt Romney for the universal health plan he signed into law in Massachusetts.

"Gov. Romney's not here to defend himself, so I'm not going to pick on him," he said.

The debate became the first of the primary season after NBC News and Politico rescheduled one that would have taken place Tuesday at the Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley.

Using data from a new Quinnipiac University poll, the five candidates' support combined would be just 11%, good for fifth place among national Republican voters surveyed.

CNN is hosting a June 7 debate in New Hampshire, which may draw more participants.

michael.memoli@latimes.com

In this debate Ron Paul said he would legalize heroin and all drugs. He got huge applause from that. The article also says that former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson is a Libertarian. About the closest he got to being any where near Libertarian was when he said he would legalize marijuana, but not other drugs.

And of course Ron Paul was against the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya, along with being against ALL foreign aid.

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Lesser-known GOP presidential hopefuls debate in South Carolina

By Paul West, Los Angeles Times

May 5, 2011, 9:50 p.m.

Reporting from Greenville, S.C.— The 2012 presidential campaign lurched to an unconventional start Thursday night, as the Republican Party put several lesser-known candidates on display in the first debate of the season.

A handful of second-tier contenders was given 90 minutes of precious national TV time after better-known GOP contenders declined to participate. The event might have played to the advantage of Tim Pawlenty, the most heralded of those on the South Carolina debate stage. But it didn't exactly work out that way.

Instead, tough questioning from the debate panel repeatedly put the former Minnesota governor on the defensive. At a moment he hoped to use to introduce himself to voters who, he acknowledged, know very little about him, he was forced to explain why he balanced his state's budget by borrowing $6 billion from local school districts, leaving the state billions of dollars in the red.

Then came a discussion of Pawlenty's past support for an energy cap-and-trade system, a climate-change initiative that Republicans almost universally condemn.

Chris Wallace of Fox News, which cosponsored the event and carried it live, prefaced his question to Pawlenty by saying that he would play for viewers an ad in which the then-governor delivered a pitch that, Wallace said, suggested Pawlenty was "far more committed to cap and trade" than he was now letting on.

"Do we have to?" asked Pawlenty, somewhat ruefully. The ad featured a Pawlenty plea to "cap greenhouse gas pollution now."

Pawlenty said that all executives are going to have some "clunkers" in their backgrounds.

"I made a mistake," he said. "Nobody's perfect."

On the same day that President Obama visited the former World Trade Center site in New York to honor victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attack after the death of Osama bin Laden, several of the GOP candidates departed from their party's tough-on-defense reputation. Their answers would have seemed more at home in a Democratic forum, but drew applause in one of the nation's most conservative Republican states.

The two libertarians in the GOP field, Ron Paul and Gary Johnson, delivered vigorous dissents from the military policy of both the Obama and Bush administrations. Johnson, a former New Mexico governor, said he opposed both the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and Obama's intervention in Libya. He criticized America's expensive nation-building endeavor in Afghanistan "and borrowing 43 cents out of every dollar to do that," saying, "To me that is crazy."

Paul, a Texas congressman making his second GOP presidential run, said the fighting in Afghanistan bore little relationship to the search for Bin Laden, and that while the United States was bombing neighboring Pakistan, it was at the same time providing that nation with billions in aid.

"Boy, it's a wonderful time for this country now to reassess it and get the troops out of Afghanistan," said Paul, to loud applause from the audience at the Peace Center for the Performing Arts in Greenville.

Herman Cain, a former pizza company executive and radio talk-show host, said "the bigger problem" was that the goals of the U.S. mission in Afghanistan were no longer clear to the American people.

Rick Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator, joined Pawlenty and Cain in expressing support for a resumption of waterboarding, an interrogation technique that some regard as torture.

Santorum, whose ardent conservatism may come closest to the religious and social conservatism that prevails among this state's Republicans, took a rare shot at a fellow GOP contender. In response to a question, he said he disagreed with Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, a potential candidate, that Republicans needed a "truce" on social issues to broaden the party's appeal.

"Anybody that would suggest that," Santorum said, "doesn't understand what America is all about."

The decisions by the party's better-known contenders to skip the debate angered and embarrassed the state Republican Party, which cosponsored it with the Fox News Channel. Front-runner Mitt Romney called it too early to start debating, but his absence raised questions about whether he'll downgrade his effort in a socially conservative Southern state where his Mormon religion cuts against him.

Republican National Chairman Reince Priebus inadvertently captured the awkwardness of the event when he attempted to defend the missing candidates.

"Quite frankly, I think Americans are sick and tired of two-year, knock-out, drag-out contests with a zillion debates and forums," he said.

paul.west@latimes.com

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Attack on Bin Laden Used Stealthy Helicopter That Had Been a Secret

By CHRISTOPHER DREW

Published: May 5, 2011

The assault team that killed Osama bin Laden sneaked up on his compound in radar-evading helicopters that had never been discussed publicly by the United States government, aviation analysts said Thursday.

The commandos blew up one of the helicopters after it was damaged in a hard landing, but news photographs of the surviving tail section reveal modifications to muffle noise and reduce the chances of detection by radar.

The stealth features, similar to those used on advanced fighter jets and bombers, help explain how two of the helicopters sped undetected through Pakistani air defenses before reaching the Bin Laden compound in Abbottabad. The use of the specially equipped helicopters also underscores the extent to which American officials wanted to get to Bin Laden without tipping off Pakistani leaders.

Analysts said the raid was a rare case in which stealth aircraft, devised for conventional warfare during the cold war, became critical to fighting terrorism.

Military and intelligence agencies have refused to comment about the use of stealth aircraft in this raid. But since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the special forces have spared no expense in developing technology to hunt terrorists, and aviation experts said the debris from the damaged helicopter provided further evidence of that.

Leon E. Panetta, the C.I.A. director, has said that two Black Hawk helicopters carried about 25 Navy Seal members to the compound, where they killed Bin Laden and three other people in an operation that lasted nearly 40 minutes.

But several analysts and executives in the helicopter industry said the rear section that was left behind looked nothing like the tail of a regular Black Hawk, a popular midsize helicopter made by Sikorsky. Rather, they said, it appeared that the Black Hawks had been modified to incorporate some of the features of a proposed stealth helicopter that the Pentagon canceled in 2004.

“They would have learned an awful lot from that, and a lot of it would have been relevant to a program like this,” said Richard L. Aboulafia, an aviation analyst at the Teal Group in Fairfax, Va.

Mr. Aboulafia said the changes appeared to include the addition of special coatings to the skin to absorb radar beams and the replacement of sharp edges on the helicopter with curved ones. The gentler curves could scatter the reflections of other radar beams in too many directions for an air-defense system to put together a coherent picture of the plane, he said.

Bill Sweetman, the editor of a military trade publication owned by Aviation Week, reported that the damaged helicopter appeared to have five or six blades in its tail rotor, instead of the four in a standard Black Hawk. That could have allowed operators to slow the rotor speed and reduce the familiar chop-chop sound that most helicopters make.

A cover on the rotor that looks like a dishpan or a hubcap in the news photographs may have also helped reduce so-called radar signature of the craft, the analysts said.

Lawmakers who were briefed on the mission said the damaged helicopter had not malfunctioned, as initially described by senior administration officials. Instead, they said, it got caught in an air vortex caused by higher-than-expected temperatures and the high compound walls, which blocked the downwash of the rotor blades.

As a result, the helicopter lost its lift power while hovering over the yard and had to make a hard landing, clipping one of the walls with its tail. Some of the Seal members later tried to destroy the craft, presumably to hide the secret stealth components, before boarding larger backup helicopters that carried them to Afghanistan.

Mr. Aboulafia and Mr. Sweetman both said it was harder to quiet a helicopter than a winged plane, given all the whirling blades.

It was not clear whether the special forces had used the stealth helicopters in any earlier raids in Afghanistan, Iraq or Pakistan’s tribal areas.

Indications that stealth features were added to the helicopters suggest an extension of a technology that was created to protect American fighter jets and bombers from sophisticated air defenses in countries like Russia and China.

The top stealth fighter, the F-22, has never been flown in combat. The long-range B-2 bombers have been used sparingly, including a recent bombing run that destroyed an airfield in Libya.

Mr. Aboulafia said the latest modifications seemed similar to plans for the stealthy Comanche helicopter, which were canceled in 2004 after billions of dollars in cost overruns. Those plans also arose during the cold war. But with the lack of anti-aircraft threats in Iraq and Afghanistan, Army officials decided that full-scale production of stealth copters was not worth the cost.

“Stealth never made sense in an Afghan context,” Mr. Aboulafia said, “unless you were also looking at the Pakistan dimension.”

Some analysts wondered whether the C.I.A. might have also used a stealthy drone to gather intelligence before the raid on Bin Laden’s compound and possibly to monitor the attack.

In addition to satellite photographs, the special forces rely on Predator and Reaper drones in Iraq and Afghanistan to provide video showing how many people are living in insurgent compounds and their patterns of activity. But the Predators and Reapers would be easy for almost any air-defense system to track.

The Pentagon announced in late 2009 that it was testing a bat-winged stealth drone, the RQ-170 Sentinel, in Afghanistan, and it was quickly dubbed the Beast of Kandahar. Military officials have not mentioned it publicly since then, and they would not say this week whether it had been involved in the hunt for Bin Laden.

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Al Qaeda Confirms Bin Laden Death

By ELIZABETH A. HARRIS

Published: May 6, 2011

Al Qaeda released a statement on militant Web sites Friday confirming the death of Osama bin Laden, news agencies reported.

The statement, dated May 3, was signed by “the general leadership” of the group, the Associated Press said.

“We stress that the blood of the holy warrior sheik, Osama bin Laden, God bless him, is precious to us and to all Muslims” the statement said according to the A.P., adding that his death would not “go in vain.” The statement also said, “We will remain, God willing, a curse chasing the Americans and their agents, following them outside and inside their countries.”

Bin Laden was killed by a United States raid early Monday morning in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

The statement said a voice recording that Bin Laden made a week before his death would be released soon, Reuters reported. The statement also called on the people of Pakistan to rebel against their government and warned of reprisal attacks against America.

“Soon, God willing, their happiness will turn to sadness,” the statement said, according to the Associated Press, “their blood will be mingled with their tears.”

I guess the American Empire only cares about civilian deaths when they are going after high profile targets like bin Laden.

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US Drone Attack Kills 15 in Pakistan Tribal Area

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: May 6, 2011 at 8:14 AM ET

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — The U.S. carried out its first drone attack in Pakistan since Osama bin Laden's death in an American raid this week, killing 15 people in a hail of missiles near the Afghan border Friday, Pakistani intelligence officials said.

The strike targeted a vehicle suspected of carrying foreign militants in the North Waziristan tribal area, an al-Qaida and Taliban stronghold that has been subject to frequent missile attacks, said the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.

The aircraft fired eight missiles at the vehicle as it drove near a roadside restaurant, killing at least 15 people, including foreign militants, said the officials. At least one civilian died when the missiles damaged the restaurant and a nearby home, they said.

It was unclear whether intelligence gleaned from the U.S. commando raid that killed bin Laden on Monday played a part in the drone strike.

Drone attacks are extremely unpopular in Pakistan, and the most recent attack could further increase tensions between the U.S. and Pakistan that have spiked in the wake of bin Laden's death.

Many U.S. officials have expressed skepticism of claims by Pakistani officials that they didn't know where bin Laden was hiding — even though he was found in a compound in the army town of Abbottabad, only about a two hours' drive from the capital.

The U.S. refuses to publicly acknowledge the covert CIA drone program in Pakistan, but officials have said privately that the attacks have killed many senior al-Qaida and Taliban commanders.

Pakistani officials regularly condemn the attacks as violations of the country's sovereignty. But many are believed to privately support the program, and some of the drones are suspected of taking off from inside Pakistan.

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Pakistani Army Chief Warns U.S. on Another Raid

By JANE PERLEZ

Published: May 5, 2011

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — The head of Pakistan’s army, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, said Thursday that he would not tolerate a repeat of the American covert operation that killed Osama bin Laden, warning that any similar action would lead to a reconsideration of the relationship with the United States.

Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir spoke out on Thursday about the American raid that killed Osama bin Laden.)

In his first public reaction to the American raid early Monday that left many Pakistanis questioning the capacities of the nation’s army, General Kayani did not appear in person, choosing instead to convey his angry message through a statement by his press office and in a closed meeting with Pakistani reporters.

The statement by the army’s press office said, “Any similar action violating the sovereignty of Pakistan will warrant a review on the level of military/intelligence cooperation with the United States.”

General Kayani had decided that the number of American troops in Pakistan was to be reduced “to the minimum essential,” the statement said.

He did not specify the exact number of American troops asked to leave Pakistan, and it was not clear that the level was below what Pakistan had previously demanded after a C.I.A. contractor shot and killed two Pakistanis in January.

Then, the Americans were told that the number of Special Operations soldiers involved in a training program would have to be reduced to 39 from 120, that C.I.A. contractors would no longer be allowed to stay in Pakistan, and that other American officials who appeared to be working for the C.I.A., but whose jobs were not clearly defined, would have to leave, too.

Clearly, the Bin Laden raid has compounded Pakistani anger, and further worsened relations.

Calling the American raid a “misadventure,” General Kayani told the Pakistani reporters that another, similar, raid would be responded to swiftly, a promise that seemed intended to tell the Pakistani public that the army was indeed capable of stopping the Americans’ trying to capture other senior figures from Al Qaeda.

General Kayani’s blunt warnings came after he met with his top commanders at their monthly conference at army headquarters at Rawalpindi, a gathering of the top 11 generals. The meeting was devoted to the consequences of the raid, which has severely embarrassed the Pakistani military, leaving the nation’s most prestigious institution looking poorly prepared and distrusted by its most important ally.

The official statement acknowledged “shortcomings” in developing intelligence on the presence of Bin Laden in Pakistan, a reference to the fact that the Qaeda leader was hiding in a compound in Abbottabad, a midsize city that is home to a top military academy and is about two hours from Islamabad, the capital.

The C.I.A. had developed intelligence on Bin Laden with the Pakistanis in the early going when the Pakistani spy agency, Inter-Services Intelligence, had provided “initial information.”

But the C.I.A. did not share further development of intelligence on the case with ISI, “contrary to the existing practice between the two services,” an account that generally conformed with what American officials said in the aftermath of the Bin Laden raid.

Pakistani officials and Western diplomats have described General Kayani and Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha, the head of ISI, as seething with anger at the American go-it-alone action.

In an earlier account on Thursday, the foreign secretary, Salman Bashir, sought to dispel domestic criticism of Pakistan’s lack of response to the raid, saying that two Pakistani F-16 fighter jets were airborne as soon as the Pakistani military knew about the operation. But, by that time, he said, the American helicopters were on their way back to Afghanistan.

Mr. Bashir, speaking at a news conference, said that the Americans had used technology to evade Pakistani radar.

Alternately combative and defensive, Mr. Bashir said Washington should abandon the idea that Pakistan was complicit in helping Bin Laden hide. But he did not elaborate, saying only that the ISI had a “brilliant” record in counterterrorism.

Defending the Pakistani Army, the fifth largest in the world, Mr. Bashir said, “Pakistani security forces are neither incompetent or negligent about the sacred duty to the nation to protect Pakistan.”

But after withering criticism at home and abroad about how and why the Pakistani security forces could allow Bin Laden to be in Pakistan, the initial reaction here to Mr. Bashir’s appearance was mixed.

One of Pakistan’s best-known television journalists, Kamran Khan, who is regarded as a supporter of the military, dismissed the performance. “They have no answer,” Mr. Khan said. “We have become the biggest haven of terrorism in the world and we have failed to stop it.”

A retired ambassador and newspaper columnist, Zafar Hilaly, who has called for a public inquiry into Pakistan’s military, said that Mr. Bashir had erred in seeming to ask for the world’s sympathy by saying 30,000 Pakistani civilians and more than 3,000 soldiers had lost their lives in the fight against terrorism.

“The world wants to know whether we are effective,” Mr. Hilaly said.

Apparently in response to comments by American officials that the United States decided not to share details in advance with Pakistan because of a lack of trust, Mr. Bashir said, “All we expect is some decency and civility, especially in the public domain.”

The Pakistani authorities first learned of the operation when one of the American helicopters involved in the raid crashed at the Bin Laden compound.

“Immediately our armed forces were asked to check whether it was a Pakistani helicopter,” Mr. Bashir said. Although Abbottabad is home to a major military academy and three military regiments, he said, none of these institutions required sophisticated defenses that could have detected the impending raid.

The authorities learned that Bin Laden had been killed in the raid from surviving members of his family, he said.

Pakistan received the first official word from the United States about the covert operation when the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, called General Kayani about 3 a.m. Monday local time, Mr. Bashir said.

That call took some time to arrange, he said, because “secure sets” were needed. Mr. Bashir said Admiral Mullen had been the first to raise the issue of Pakistan’s sovereignty in the call, but he did not specify exactly what the admiral said. Later, President Obama telephoned the Pakistani president, Asif Ali Zardari.

The relationship between the United States and Pakistan will endure, the foreign secretary said, because “we share strategic convergence.”

In Washington, American aid to Pakistan faced new criticism. The top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Thursday expressed “deep and ongoing concerns” about the United States providing Pakistan more than $1 billion a year in security assistance in light of the discovery of Bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad and other recent evidence that Pakistan’s military and intelligence agencies are aiding militants.

The lawmaker, Representative Howard L. Berman of California, wrote in a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton that “Pakistan’s continued resistance to cooperate with the United States in counterterrorism bespeaks an overall regression in the relationship.”

Source

Bin Laden death sparks new talk over Patriot Act

By LAURIE KELLMAN, Associated Press Laurie Kellman, Associated Press – Fri May 6, 6:04 am ET

WASHINGTON – Freshman Republican Randy Hultgren had no problem voting against extending the Patriot Act in February. But the death of Osama bin Laden, just weeks before part of the terrorist-fighting law expires, raises new questions for the Illinois congressman.

"It hasn't changed my mind, not yet," Hultgren said this week. "I want to see that we're doing it in a careful way, that we're seeing results from it."

There's no indication that the mission to take out bin Laden relied on the Patriot Act, which was designed after the Sept. 11 attacks to find terrorists inside the U.S. But the afterglow of the operation's success shined new light on the nature of the terrorist threat nearly a decade after the attacks bin Laden inspired.

Interviews with House and Senate experts on the law, from both parties, indicate this week's developments may have marginalized any effort to tighten the Patriot Act's protections and perhaps scuttled Senate plans to hold a full week of debate on the bill.

From its inception, the law's increased surveillance powers have been criticized by both liberals and conservatives as infringements on free speech rights and protections against unwarranted searches and seizures.

Some Patriot Act opponents suggest that bin Laden's demise should prompt Congress to reconsider the law, written when the terrorist leader was at the peak of his power. But the act's supporters warn that al-Qaida splinter groups, scattered from Pakistan to the United States and beyond, may try to retaliate.

"Now more than ever, we need access to the crucial authorities in the Patriot Act," Attorney General Eric Holder told the Senate Judiciary Committee. [ Attorney General Eric Holder sounds like a big supporter of the Police State! Of course as Attorney General, Eric Holder is part of the police state! ]

If bin Laden's death has any impact on the law's fate, "I hope...it'll be in the direction of extending the current law," said Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell. "Most of us believe it's been an effective tool in the war on terror." [ Of course a police state is an effective way for the government to get rid of alleged criminal. No need for messy trials, and things like Constitutional rights. Just jail anybody you think is a criminal an forget about them. Who cares if they are innocent. ]

The provisions that expire May 27 allow the government to use roving wiretaps on multiple electronic devices and across multiple carriers and get court-approved access to business records relevant to terrorist investigations. The third, a "lone wolf" provision that was part of a 2004 law, permits secret intelligence surveillance of non-U.S. individuals without having to show a connection between the target and a specific terrorist group.

The Senate Judiciary Committee in March approved a bill that would extend the provisions until 2013, tighten its civil liberties protections and increase oversight. But there's evidence that bin Laden's death may have marginalized any such effort to do more than extend the law, as is. A Senate official not authorized to speak for the record said it wasn't clear that there would be a full week of floor debate on the Patriot Act as Majority Leader Harry Reid had indicated.

The law's fate, for now, resides in the Republican-controlled House and the odd pairing of GOP libertarians and Democratic liberals who have long viewed the Patriot Act as an oppressive overreach.

The new Republican majority in February underestimated the mistrust of the Patriot Act and tried to renew it for 10 months under rules that required a two-thirds supermajority. It failed. Instead, the Senate proposed a three-month extension, and House GOP leaders succeeded in passing it with a simple majority, 279-143.

Of the 'no' votes against the three-month extension, 26 came from Republicans. GOP leaders now are looking to a meeting of the House Judiciary Committee next Wednesday to test whether a straight extension, or one with changes, could draw votes from Democrats, too.

That has left the Senate's Patriot Act experts cooling their heels as they wait for the House to write a bill that might pass. On ice is a bill written by Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. Approved by his committee in March with bipartisan support, it would impose tighter standards on the government's access to library and other records and require more oversight of agencies that operate under the law.

Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., has called for a clean extension through 2013. Several Republicans have proposed just making the expiring provisions permanent.

But as the magnitude of the bin Laden operation sank in, questions arose in the Senate as well as the House.

Freshman Sen. Mike Lee, the Utah Republican whose tea party backing helped him defeat incumbent Sen. Bob Bennett in a primary, was the sole Republican to vote for Leahy's bill to tighten the Patriot Act's civil liberties protections and beef up its oversight requirements.

But this week, Lee couldn't say whether he'd vote for it on the floor. He also did not rule out voting for a straight extension.

Leahy's bill "would do a better job of protecting civil liberties and privacy than current law," Lee said in a statement. But, he said, "I will need to see how the final reform package shapes up."

This article seems to be written by someone who loves war!

I think their logic is that "war is great because it creates jobs".

Of course you could use that logic and say that a person who goes around smashing store windows is a great person, because that person creates jobs for the glass companies that have to replace the smashed windows.

Of course the store owner who had his windows smashed will certainly disagree with that. The store owner would rather spend his hard earned money on things other then replacing smashed windows!

Source

The cost of bin Laden: $3 trillion over 15 years

By National Journal national Journal – Fri May 6, 8:12 am ET

By Tim Fernholz and Jim Tankersley

National Journal

The most expensive public enemy in American history died Sunday from two bullets.

As we mark Osama bin Laden's death, what's striking is how much he cost our nation—and how little we've gained from our fight against him. By conservative estimates, bin Laden cost the United States at least $3 trillion over the past 15 years, counting the disruptions he wrought on the domestic economy, the wars and heightened security triggered by the terrorist attacks he engineered, and the direct efforts to hunt him down.

What do we have to show for that tab? Two wars that continue to occupy 150,000 troops and tie up a quarter of our defense budget; a bloated homeland-security apparatus that has at times pushed the bounds of civil liberty; soaring oil prices partially attributable to the global war on bin Laden's terrorist network; and a chunk of our mounting national debt, which threatens to hobble the economy unless lawmakers compromise on an unprecedented deficit-reduction deal.

All of that has not given us, at least not yet, anything close to the social or economic advancements produced by the battles against America's costliest past enemies. Defeating the Confederate army brought the end of slavery and a wave of standardization—in railroad gauges and shoe sizes, for example—that paved the way for a truly national economy. [ Huh? The Civil War was wonderful because it produced standardized railroad gauges and shoe sizes? What a bunch of BS! ] Vanquishing Adolf Hitler ended the Great Depression and ushered in a period of booming prosperity and hegemony. [ Even more garbage logic!!! WWII was great because it ended the Great Depression! What hogwash! ] Even the massive military escalation that marked the Cold War standoff against Joseph Stalin and his Russian successors produced landmark technological breakthroughs that revolutionized the economy. [ Even more stinking garbage logic!!! So the Cold War was great because it produced all kinds of high tech ways to kill people? I don't think so! ]

Perhaps the biggest economic silver lining from our bin Laden spending, if there is one, is the accelerated development of unmanned aircraft. [ More garbage logic! We waste $3 trillion bucks hunting down bin Laden and this guy is happy because we got a few stinking high tech drones for the $3 trillion bucks? This guy is an idiot! ] That's our $3 trillion windfall, so far: Predator drones.

"We have spent a huge amount of money which has not had much effect on the strengthening of our military, and has had a very weak impact on our economy," says Linda Bilmes, a lecturer at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government who coauthored a book on the costs of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars with Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz.

Certainly, in the course of the fight against bin Laden, the United States escaped another truly catastrophic attack on our soil. Al-Qaida, though not destroyed, has been badly hobbled. "We proved that we value our security enough to incur some pretty substantial economic costs en route to protecting it," says Michael O'Hanlon, a national-security analyst at the Brookings Institution.

But that willingness may have given bin Laden exactly what he wanted. While the terrorist leader began his war against the United States believing it to be a "paper tiger" that would not fight, by 2004 he had already shifted his strategic aims, explicitly comparing the U.S. fight to the Afghan incursion that helped bankrupt the Soviet Union during the Cold War. "We are continuing this policy in bleeding America to the point of bankruptcy," bin Laden said in a taped statement. Only the smallest sign of al-Qaida would "make generals race there to cause America to suffer human, economic, and political losses without their achieving anything of note other than some benefits for their private corporations." Considering that we've spent one-fifth of a year's gross domestic product—more than the entire 2008 budget of the United States government—responding to his 2001 attacks, he may have been onto something.

THE SCORECARD

Other enemies throughout history have extracted higher gross costs, in blood and in treasure, from the United States. The Civil War and World War II produced higher casualties and consumed larger shares of our economic output. As an economic burden, the Civil War was America's worst cataclysm relative to the size of the economy. The nonpartisan Congressional Research Service estimates that the Union and Confederate armies combined to spend $80 million, in today's dollars, fighting each other. That number might seem low, but economic historians who study the war say the total financial cost was exponentially higher: more like $280 billion in today's dollars when you factor in disruptions to trade and capital flows, along with the killing of 3 to 4 percent of the population. The war "cost about double the gross national product of the United States in 1860," says John Majewski, who chairs the history department at the University of California (Santa Barbara). "From that perspective, the war on terror isn't going to compare."

On the other hand, these earlier conflicts for all their human costs also furnished major benefits to the U.S. economy. After entering the Civil War as a loose collection of regional economies, America emerged with the foundation for truly national commerce; the first standardized railroad system sprouted from coast to coast, carrying goods across the union; and textile mills began migrating from the Northeast to the South in search of cheaper labor, including former slaves who had joined the workforce. The fighting itself sped up the mechanization of American agriculture: As farmers flocked to the battlefield, the workers left behind adopted new technologies to keep harvests rolling in with less labor. [ Of course this all would have happened with out the Civil War, although probably much slower. And with out a half a million dead bodies!]

World War II defense spending cost $4.4 trillion. At its peak, it sucked up nearly 40 percent of GDP, according to the Congressional Research Service. It was an unprecedented national mobilization, says Chris Hellman, a defense budget analyst at the National Priorities Project. One in 10 Americans—some 12 million people—donned a uniform during the war.

But the payoff was immense. The war machine that revved up to defeat Germany and Japan powered the U.S. out of the Great Depression and into an unparalleled stretch of postwar growth. Jet engines and nuclear power spread into everyday lives. [Ask the relatives of the millions of Jews that the Nazi's murdered, if they are happy because out of the deal we got jet engines and nuclear power? I suspect they will resoundingly tell you NO!]

A new global economic order—forged at Bretton Woods, N.H., by the Allies in the waning days of the war—opened a floodgate of benefits through international trade. Returning soldiers dramatically improved the nation's skills and education level, thanks to the GI Bill, and they produced a baby boom that would vastly expand the workforce.

U.S. military spending totaled nearly $19 trillion throughout the four-plus decades of Cold War that ensued, as the nation escalated an arms race with the Soviet Union. Such a huge infusion of cash for weapons research spilled over to revolutionize civilian life, yielding quantum leaps in supercomputing and satellite technology, not to mention the advent of the Internet.

Unlike any of those conflicts, the wars we are fighting today were kick-started by a single man. While it is hard to imagine World War II without Hitler, that conflict pitted nations against each other. (Anyway, much of the cost to the United States came from the war in the Pacific.) And it's absurd to pin the Civil War, World War I, or the Cold War on any single individual. Bin Laden's mystique (and his place on the FBI's most-wanted list) made him—and the wars he drew us into—unique. [ Again the guy is using poor logic. WWII was mostly caused by Hitler, Mussolini and the Emperor of Japan. The Civil War was cause mostly by Abraham Lincoln who chose to illegally and unconstitutionally invade the South after it succeeded.]

By any measure, bin Laden inflicted a steep toll on America. His 1998 bombing of U.S. embassies in Africa caused Washington to quadruple spending on diplomatic security worldwide the following year—and to expand it from $172 million to $2.2 billion over the next decade. The 2000 bombing of the USS Cole caused $250 million in damages.

Al-Qaida's assault against the United States on September 11, 2001, was the highest-priced disaster in U.S. history. Economists estimate that the combined attacks cost the economy $50 billion to $100 billion in lost activity and growth, or about 0.5 percent to 1 percent of GDP, and caused about $25 billion in property damage. The stock market plunged and was still down nearly 13 percentage points a year later, although it has more than made up the value since. [You can blame 50 years of American Foreign policy for the attack on 9/11. Starting with the American Empires stealing of the land from the people of Palestine and giving it to the Jews in Israel. And the American Empires arming of the Jews in Israel so they can commit genocide against the Arabs that want their land back. ]

The greater expense we can attribute to bin Laden comes from policymakers' response to 9/11. The invasion of Afghanistan was clearly a reaction to al-Qaida's attacks. It is unlikely that the Bush administration would have invaded Iraq if 9/11 had not ushered in a debate about Islamic extremism and weapons of mass destruction. Those two wars grew into a comprehensive counterinsurgency campaign that cost $1.4 trillion in the past decade—and will cost hundreds of billions more. The government borrowed the money for those wars, adding hundreds of billions in interest charges to the U.S. debt. [That is rubbish. Both the war in Afghanistan and Iraq were cause by war monger George W. Bush quest for revenge! ]

Spending on Iraq and Afghanistan peaked at 4.8 percent of GDP in 2008, nowhere near the level of economic mobilization in some past conflicts but still more than the entire federal deficit that year. "It's a much more verdant, prosperous, peaceful world than it was 60 years ago," and nations spend proportionally far less on their militaries today, says S. Brock Blomberg, a professor at Claremont McKenna College in California who specializes in the economics of terrorism. "So as bad as bin Laden is, he's not nearly as bad as Hitler, Mussolini, [and] the rest of them."

Yet bin Laden produced a ripple effect. The Iraq and Afghanistan wars have created a world in which even non-war-related defense spending has grown by 50 percent since 2001. As the U.S. military adopted counterinsurgency doctrine to fight guerrilla wars, it also continued to increase its ability to fight conventional battles, boosting spending for weapons from national-missile defense and fighter jets to tanks and long-range bombers. Then there were large spending increases following the overhaul of America's intelligence agencies and homeland-security programs. Those transformations cost at least another $1 trillion, if not more, budget analysts say, though the exact cost is still unknown. Because much of that spending is classified or spread among agencies with multiple missions, a breakdown is nearly impossible.

It's similarly difficult to assess the opportunity cost of the post-9/11 wars—the kinds of productive investments of fiscal and human resources that we might have made had we not been focused on combating terrorism through counterinsurgency. Blomberg says that the response to the attacks has essentially wiped out the "peace dividend" that the United States began to reap when the Cold War ended. After a decade of buying fewer guns and more butter, we suddenly ramped up our gun spending again, with borrowed money.

The price of the war-fighting and security responses to bin Laden account for more than 15 percent of the national debt incurred in the last decade—a debt that is changing the way our military leaders perceive risk. "Our national debt is our biggest national-security threat," Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters last June.

All of those costs, totaled together, reach at least $3 trillion. And that's just the cautious estimate. Stiglitz and Bilmes believe that the Iraq conflict alone cost that much. They peg the total economic costs of both wars at $4 trillion to $6 trillion, Bilmes says. That includes fallout from the sharp increase in oil prices since 2003, which is largely attributable to growing demand from developing countries and current unrest in the Middle East but was also spurred in some part by the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. Bilmes and Stiglitz also count part of the 2008 financial crisis among the costs, theorizing that oil price hikes injected liquidity in global economies battling slowdowns in growth—and that helped push up housing prices and contributed to the bubble.

Most important, the fight against bin Laden has not produced the benefits that accompanied previous conflicts. The military escalation of the past 10 years did not stimulate the economy as the war effort did in the 1940s—with the exception of a few large defense contractors—in large part because today's operations spend far less on soldiers and far more on fuel. Meanwhile, our national-security spending no longer drives innovation. The experts who spoke with National Journal could name only a few advancements spawned by the fight against bin Laden, including Predator drones and improved backup systems to protect information technology from a terrorist attack or other disaster. "The spin-off effects of military technology were demonstrably more apparent in the '40s and '50s and '60s," says Gordon Adams, a national-security expert at American Univeristy.

Another reason that so little economic benefit has come from this war is that it has produced less—not more—stability around the world. Stable countries, with functioning markets governed by the rule of law, make better trading partners; it's easier to start a business, or tap national resources, or develop new products in times of tranquility than in times of strife. "If you can successfully pursue a military campaign and bring stability at the end of it, there is an economic benefit," says economic historian Joshua Goldstein of the University of Massachusetts. "If we stabilized Libya, that would have an economic benefit."

Even the psychological boost from bin Laden's death seems muted by historical standards. Imagine the emancipation of the slaves. Victory over the Axis powers gave Americans a sense of euphoria and limitless possibility. O'Hanlon says, "I take no great satisfaction in his death because I'm still amazed at the devastation and how high a burden he placed on us." It is "more like a relief than a joy that I feel." Majewski adds, "Even in a conflict like the Civil War or World War II, there's a sense of tragedy but of triumph, too. But the war on terror … it's hard to see what we get out of it, technologically or institutionally."

BIN LADEN'S LEGACY

What we are left with, after bin Laden, is a lingering bill that was exacerbated by decisions made in a decade-long campaign against him. We borrowed money to finance the war on terrorism rather than diverting other national-security funding or raising taxes. We expanded combat operations to Iraq before stabilizing Afghanistan, which in turn led to the recent reescalation of the American commitment there. We tolerated an unsupervised national-security apparatus, allowing it to grow so inefficient that, as The Washington Post reported in a major investigation last year, 1,271 different government institutions are charged with counterterrorism missions (51 alone track terrorism financing), which produce some 50,000 intelligence reports each year, many of which are simply not read.

We have also shelled out billions of dollars in reconstruction funding and walking-around money for soldiers, with little idea of whether it has even helped foreigners, much less the United States; independent investigations suggest as much as $23 billion is unaccounted for in Iraq alone. "We can't account for where any of it goes—that's the great tragedy in all of this," Hellman says. "The Pentagon cannot now and has never passed an audit—and, to me, that's just criminal."

It's worth repeating that the actual cost of bin Laden's September 11 attacks was between $50 billion and $100 billion. That number could have been higher, says Adam Rose, coordinator for economics at the University of Southern California's National Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events, but for the resilience of the U.S. economy and the quick response of policymakers to inject liquidity and stimulate consumer spending. But the cost could also have been much lower, he says, if consumers hadn't paid a fear premium—shying away from air travel and tourism in the aftermath of the attacks. "Ironically," he says, "we as Americans had more to do with the bottom-line outcome than the terrorist attack itself, on both the positive side and the negative side."

The same is true of the nation's decision, for so many reasons, to spend at least $3 trillion responding to bin Laden's attacks. More than actual security, we bought a sense of action in the face of what felt like an existential threat. We staved off another attack on domestic soil. Our debt load was creeping up already, thanks to the early waves stages of baby-boomer retirements, but we also hastened a fiscal mess that has begun, in time, to fulfill bin Laden's vision of a bankrupt America. If left unchecked, our current rate of deficit spending would add $9 trillion to the national debt over the next decade. That's three Osamas, right there.

Although Bin Laden is buried in the sea, other Islamist extremists are already vying to take his place. In time, new enemies, foreign and domestic, will rise to challenge America. What they will cost us, far more than we realize, is our choice.

Source

Osama bin Laden killed: Wife spent 6 years in Pakistani house

May. 6, 2011 07:22 AM

Associated Press

ISLAMABAD - One of three wives living with Osama bin Laden told Pakistani interrogators she had been staying in the al-Qaida chief's hideout for six years, and could be a key source of information about how he avoided capture for so long, a Pakistani intelligence official said Friday.

In its first confirmation of bin Laden's death, al-Qaida warned of retaliation in an Internet statement, saying Americans' "happiness will turn to sadness."

Bin Laden's wife, identified as Yemeni-born Amal Ahmed Abdullfattah, said she never left the upper floors of the house the entire time she was there.

She and bin Laden's other two wives are being interrogated in Pakistan after they were taken into custody following Monday's American raid on bin Laden's compound in the town of Abbottabad. Pakistani authorities are also holding eight or nine children who were found there after the U.S. commandos left.

Given shifting and incomplete accounts from U.S. officials about what happened during the raid, testimony from bin Laden's wives may be significant in unveiling details about the operation.

Their accounts will also help show how bin Laden spent his time and managed to stay hidden, living in a large house close to a military academy in a garrison town, a two-and-a-half hours' drive from the capital, Islamabad.

A Pakistani official said CIA officers had not been given access to the women in custody. Already-tense military and intelligence relations between the United States and Pakistan have been further strained after the helicopter-borne raid, which many Pakistanis see as a violation of their country's sovereignty.

The proximity of bin Laden's hideout to the military garrison and the Pakistani capital also has raised suspicions in Washington that bin Laden may have been protected by Pakistani security forces while on the run.

Risking more tensions, missiles fired from a U.S. drone killed 15 people, including foreign militants, in North Waziristan, an al-Qaida and Taliban hotspot close to Afghanistan, Pakistani officials said. Such attacks were routine last year, but their frequency has dropped this year amid opposition by the Pakistan security establishment.

Pakistan's army - a key U.S. ally in the Afghanistan war - on Thursday threatened to review cooperation with Washington if it stages anymore attacks like the one that killed bin Laden.

The Pakistani intelligence official did not say Friday whether the Yemeni wife has said that bin Laden was also living there since 2006. "We are still getting information from them," he said.

Another security official said the wife was shot in the leg during the operation, and did not witness her husband being killed. He also said one of bin Laden's eldest daughters had said she witnessed the Americans killing her father.

Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to give their names to the media.

Meanwhile, Pakistan's intelligence agency has concluded that bin Laden was "cash strapped" in his final days and al-Qaida had split into two factions, with the larger one controlled by the group's No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahri, according to a briefing given by two senior military officers.

The officers spoke to a small group of Pakistani reporters late Thursday and their comments were confirmed for The Associated Press by another top military officer who was present at the briefing.

The officer, who asked that his name not be used because of the sensitivity of the meeting, didn't provide details or elaborate how his agency made the conclusions about bin Laden's financial situation or the split with his deputy, al-Zawahri. The al-Qaida chief apparently had lived without any guards at the Abbottabad compound or loyalists nearby to take up arms in his defense.

The image of Pakistan's intelligence agency has been battered at home and abroad in the wake of the raid that killed bin Laden. Portraying him as isolated and weak could be aimed at trying to create an impression that a failure to spot him was not so important.

Documents taken from the house by American commandos showed that bin Laden was planning to hit America, however, including a plan for derailing an American train on the upcoming 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. The confiscated materials reveal the rail attack was planned as of February 2010.

Late Thursday, two Pakistani officials cited bin Laden's wives and children as saying he and his associates had not offered any "significant resistance" when the American commandos entered the compound, in part because the assailants had thrown "stun bombs" that disorientated them.

One official said Pakistani authorities found an AK-47 and a pistol in the house belonging to those in the house, with evidence that one bullet had been fired from the rifle.

"That was the level of resistance" they put up, said the official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity.

His account is roughly consistent with the most recent one given by U.S. officials, who now say one of the five people, killed in the raid was armed and fired any shots, a striking departure from the intense and prolonged firefight described earlier by the White House and others in the administration.

U.S. officials say four men were killed alongside bin Laden, including one of his sons.

Reflecting the anger in Pakistan, hundreds of members of radical Islamic parties protested Friday in several Pakistan cities against the American raid and in favor of bin Laden. Many of the people chanted "Osama is alive" and blasted the U.S. for violating the country's sovereignty.

The largest rally took place in the town of Khuchlak in southwestern Baluchistan province, where about 500 people attended.

"America is celebrating Osama bin Laden's killing, but it will be a temporary celebration," said Abdullah Sittar Chishti, a member of the Jamiat Ulema Islam party who attended the rally in Khuchlak. "After the martyrdom of Osama, billions, trillions of Osamas will be born."

Source

Bin Laden raid reveals another elusive target: a stealth helicopter

By W.J. Hennigan and Ralph Vartabedian, Los Angeles Times

May 7, 2011

When a U.S. military helicopter was destroyed in the backyard of Osama bin Laden's compound, it left not only a pile of smoldering wreckage but tantalizing evidence of a secret stealth chopper.

The quest for a helicopter that can slip behind enemy lines without being heard or detected by radar has been the Holy Grail of military aviation for decades and until this week nobody had thought such a craft existed.

But aviation experts are now convinced that the Pentagon may have developed such an aircraft. They say the U.S. military went to extraordinary lengths to protect its new technology by destroying a helicopter that had been damaged in the raid, either during the initial landing or in the subsequent evacuation.

A section of the craft also survived intact, and photos of it leave no doubt in analysts' minds that the U.S. had modified a MH-60 Black Hawk into some kind of super-secret stealth helicopter — the likes of which have never been seen before.

CIA Director Leon E. Panetta has said that the only helicopters used for the operation were Black Hawks, and he acknowledged that one of them had to be destroyed.

While stealth jets are designed to evade radar, stealth helicopters are built to be quiet. Some experts have concluded that the military and CIA may have succeeded in their decades-old quest to develop a helicopter without the ear-splitting thump-thump-thump that has signaled the presence of rotorcraft from miles away.

Maj. Wes Ticer, a U.S. Special Operations Command spokesman, declined to comment.

Aerospace analysts say the surviving tail section appears nothing like that of the standard $30-million Black Hawk chopper made by Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. in Connecticut. Notably, the tail rotor was partially covered by a plate or hub, possibly part of a noise muffling system.

"What we're seeing here is a very different type of design than what we normally see in rotorcraft," said Loren Thompson, defense policy analyst for the Lexington Institute in Arlington, Va. "It appears that the military went to great lengths to reduce the radar and acoustic signature of the helicopter."

The tail section hints at what other modifications might have been made to the far more important main rotor.

Farhan Gandhi, aerospace engineering professor at Pennsylvania State University and deputy director of the Penn State Vertical Lift Research Center of Excellence, said tremendous advances in helicopter noise reduction have been made in recent years.

"You can never have helicopters make zero noise, but there is a tremendous possibility to make them much quieter than they are now," Gandhi said.

To reduce noise, rotors can be slowed down. Advanced computation has enabled engineers to refine the shape of rotor tips. And research is being conducted into active controls that can make minute changes to the shape of rotors many times per second as they change position.

"The technology has been lab tested and flight tested, but it is not on any military aircraft that we know about," Gandhi said.

Jeff Eldredge, a UCLA aerospace engineering professor and acoustics expert, said helicopter noise is extremely complex and requires many approaches to controlling it.

"The idea of a stealth helicopter is something of a misnomer," he said. "It is very unlikely this is a helicopter you wouldn't hear coming."

But any reduction in noise could provide some tactical benefit.

The idea of quiet choppers is not a new one. During the Vietnam War, the U.S. Army and CIA developed what could be considered a stealth helicopter for the first time. Dubbed "the Quiet One," it was developed by now-defunct Hughes Aircraft Co. in Playa Vista.

In the 1980s, the Pentagon worked on developing a classified stealth helicopter along with the F-117 Nighthawk stealth aircraft and the B-2 stealth bomber, said John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org, a website for military policy research.

The Army also tried to develop a stealth chopper, dubbed Comanche. But the helicopter program was canceled in 2004 after it incurred huge cost overruns.

No one knows for sure who worked on the modifications on the special forces' Black Hawks or how many of them exist, but at least one may have been destroyed.

The Pentagon said the chopper experienced a mechanical "malfunction." A senior military official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk about the incident said that the helicopter couldn't get lift because of the 18-foot-high walls surrounding the compound.

The lift problem may have been caused by the modification to the aircraft, Pike said. The aerodynamics of the chopper could have been compromised in the process of making it stealthy.

The wreckage, some of which was carted away by the Pakistan military, has raised worries that key technology could be revealed to other countries, said Rebecca Grant, president of IRIS Independent Research, a military and aerospace consulting firm.

This year, China said it had developed and built a stealth fighter jet, dubbed Chengdu J-20. U.S. military officials believe that the Chinese used technology collected from a F-117 stealth aircraft that was shot down over Serbia in 1999 during the Kosovo war.

Chinese agents were said to have purchased parts of the plane from local farmers. The F-117 fighter uses high-tech coatings that act like a sponge to absorb radar waves as they strike the plane.

"There will be fears that the technology may get into the wrong hands," Grant said. "But it's not like you can just pick up a piece and reproduce it. This is extremely complicated technology. Most of us never have the chance to ever see it."

william.hennigan@latimes.com

ralph.vartabdian@latimes.com

David S.Cloud in The Times' Washington Bureau contributed to this report.

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U.S. Demands More From Pakistan in Bin Laden Inquiry

WASHINGTON — Pakistani officials say the Obama administration has demanded the identities of some of their top intelligence operatives as the United States tries to determine whether any of them had contact with Osama bin Laden or his agents in the years before the raid that led to his death early Monday morning in Pakistan.

The officials provided new details of a tense discussion between Pakistani officials and an American envoy who traveled to Pakistan on Monday, as well as the growing suspicion among United States intelligence and diplomatic officials that someone in Pakistan’s secret intelligence agency knew of Bin Laden’s location, and helped shield him.

Obama administration officials have stopped short of accusing the Pakistani government — either privately or publicly — of complicity in the hiding of Bin Laden in the years after the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. One senior administration official privately acknowledged that the administration sees its relationship with Pakistan as too crucial to risk a wholesale break, even if it turned out that past or present Pakistani intelligence officials did know about Bin Laden’s whereabouts.

Still, this official and others expressed deep frustration with Pakistani military and intelligence officials for their refusal over the years to identify members of the agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate, who were believed to have close ties to Bin Laden. In particular, American officials have demanded information on what is known as the ISI’s S directorate, which has worked closely with militants since the days of the fight against the Soviet army in Afghanistan.

“It’s hard to believe that Kayani and Pasha actually knew that Bin Laden was there,” a senior administration official said, referring to Pakistan’s army chief, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, and the ISI director-general, Lt. Gen. Ahmad Shuja Pasha. But, added the official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the diplomatic sensitivity of the issue, “there are degrees of knowing, and it wouldn’t surprise me if we find out that someone close to Pasha knew.”

Already, Pakistani news outlets have been speculating that General Pasha, one of the most powerful figures in Pakistan, may step down as a consequence of the Bin Laden operation.

The increasing tensions between the United States and Pakistan — whose proximity to Afghanistan makes it almost a necessary ally in the American and allied war there — came as Al Qaeda itself acknowledged on Friday the death of its leader. The group did so while vowing revenge on the United States and its allies.

Pakistani investigators involved in piecing together Bin Laden’s life during the past nine years said this week that he had been living in Pakistan’s urban centers longer than previously believed.

Two Pakistani officials with knowledge of the continuing Pakistani investigation say that Bin Laden’s Yemeni wife, one of three wives now in Pakistani custody since the raid on Monday, told investigators that before moving in 2005 to the mansion in Abbottabad where he was eventually killed, Bin Laden had lived with his family for nearly two and a half years in a small village, Chak Shah Mohammad, a little more than a mile southeast of the town of Haripur, on the main Abbottabad highway.

In retrospect, one of the officials said, this means that Bin Laden left Pakistan’s rugged tribal region sometime in 2003 and had been living in northern urban regions since then. American and Pakistani officials had thought for years that ever since Bin Laden disappeared from Tora Bora in Afghanistan, he had been hiding in the tribal regions straddling the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

A former Pakistani official noted that Abbottabad, the site of the Pakistani equivalent of the West Point military academy, is crawling with security guards and military officials who established a secure cordon around the town, raising questions of how the officials could not know there was a suspicious compound in their midst.

“If he was there since 2005, that is too long a time for local police and intelligence not to know,” said Hassan Abbas, a former Pakistani official now teaching at Columbia University.

Mr. Abbas said there was a tight net of security surrounding Abbottabad because Pakistani officials were concerned about terrorist attacks on sensitive military installations in the area.

Art Keller, a former officer of the Central Intelligence Agency who worked on the hunt for Bin Laden from a compound in the Waziristan region of Pakistan in 2006, said the Qaeda founder’s choice of the garrison town of Abbottabad as a refuge in 2005 raised serious questions. Bin Laden certainly knew of the concentration of military institutions, officers and retirees in the town — including some from the ISI’s S directorate, Mr. Keller said. And because the military has also been a target of militant attacks in recent years, the town has a higher level of security awareness, checkpoints and street surveillance than others.

If Bin Laden wanted to relocate in a populated area of Pakistan to avoid missiles fired from American drones, Mr. Keller said, he had many choices. So Mr. Keller questioned why Bin Laden would live in Abbottabad, unless he had some assurance of protection or patronage from military or intelligence officers. “At best, it was willful blindness on the part of the ISI,” Mr. Keller said. “Willful blindness is a survival mechanism in Pakistan.”

The trove of information taken by the commandos from the compound occupied by Bin Laden may answer some of these questions, and perhaps even solve the puzzle of where he has been in recent years.

A senior law enforcement official said Friday that the F.B.I. and C.I.A. had rapidly assembled small armies of analysts, technical experts and translators to pore over about 100 thumb drives, DVDs and computer disks, along with 10 computer hard drives, 5 computers and assorted cellphones. Analysts are also sifting through piles of paper documents in the house, many of which are in Arabic and other languages that need to be translated.

In Washington and New York alone, several hundred analysts, technical experts and other specialists are working round the clock to review the trove of information. “It’s all hands on deck,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the continuing investigation.

Technical specialists are recovering phone numbers from several cellphones recovered at the compound. The experts need to distinguish foreign telephone contacts from any numbers in the United States, which undergo a separate legal review, the official said.

“We’re also looking through notes, letters, e-mails and other communications,” the official said. “We’re looking at who owns the e-mails and what linkages there are to those people.” The official said that the initial analysis would involve searching for information about specific threats or plots, or potential terrorists sent to the United States or Europe, and that the F.B.I. was pursuing a small number of leads from the information reviewed so far.

Helene Cooper reported from Washington, and Ismail Khan from Peshawar, Pakistan. Eric Schmitt, Scott Shane and Mark Mazzetti contributed reporting from Washington.

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Drone Strike in Yemen Was Aimed at Awlaki

By MARK MAZZETTI

Published: May 6, 2011

WASHINGTON — A missile strike from an American military drone in a remote region of Yemen on Thursday was aimed at killing Anwar al-Awlaki, the radical American-born cleric believed to be hiding in the country, American officials said Friday. Enlarge This Image Site Intelligence Group, via Associated Press

Anwar al-Awlaki, the American-born radical cleric, during a sermon broadcast online. He is believed to be hiding in Yemen.

The attack does not appear to have killed Mr. Awlaki, the officials said, but may have killed operatives of Al Qaeda’s affiliate in Yemen.

It was the first American strike in Yemen using a remotely piloted drone since 2002, when the C.I.A. struck a car carrying a group of suspected militants, including an American citizen, who were believed to have Qaeda ties. And the attack came just three days after American commandos invaded a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, and killed Osama bin Laden, the founder of Al Qaeda.

The attack on Thursday was part of a clandestine Pentagon program to hunt members of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the group believed responsible for a number of failed attempts to strike the United States, including the thwarted plot to blow up a trans-Atlantic jet on Dec. 25, 2009, as it was preparing to land in Detroit.

Although Mr. Awlaki is not thought to be one of the group’s senior leaders, he has been made a target by American military and intelligence operatives because he has recruited English-speaking Islamist militants to Yemen to carry out attacks overseas. His radical sermons, broadcast on the Internet, have a large global following.

The Obama administration has taken the rare step of approving Mr. Awlaki’s killing, even though he is an American citizen.

Troops from the Pentagon’s Joint Special Operations Command are in charge of the mission in Yemen, with the help of the C.I.A. Over the past two years, the military has carried out strikes in Yemen using cruise missiles from Navy ships and munitions from Marine Harrier jets.

Thursday’s strike was the first known attack in the country by the American military for nearly a year. Last May, American missiles mistakenly killed a provincial government leader, and the Pentagon strikes were put on hold.

More recently, officials have worried that American military strikes in Yemen might further stoke widespread unrest that has imperiled the government of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

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A Scattering of Protests Honoring Bin Laden

CAIRO — About 200 demonstrators gathered outside the United States Embassy here on Friday to protest the killing and burial at sea of Osama bin Laden as manifestations of what they called American hostility to Muslims.

Like many in Egypt, most in the crowd said they doubted Bin Laden’s responsibility for the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and instead vented pent-up resentment of America for its invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan as well as its support for Israel.

“Until now there is no legal document which charges or accuses Osama or anyone” of orchestrating the terrorist attacks, said Mamdouh Ismail, a speaker at the demonstration, founder of a new Islamic party and a candidate for Parliament — apparently unaware of the legal case in New York, filed in 1998 against Bin Laden and Al Qaeda. (Prosecutors said this week that the charges would be dismissed.) “Let us talk about American injustice, the killing of women and children, the killing of Muslims all over the world at the hands of America.”

Such peaceful demonstrations were prohibited before the Feb. 11 revolution that ousted President Hosni Mubarak, and Egyptians have been relishing their chance to speak out.

The protest began after a sermon at a Cairo mosque by an aging Islamist firebrand, Sheik Hafez Salama. His supporters produced a sign proclaiming Bin Laden “a symbol of Islamic jihad” and saying “America is the terrorist state.” They chanted “Obama, Obama, the terrorist is not Osama,” and called for a march to the embassy.

“They martyred Osama, who was able to stand up to the world’s harshest power,” Mr. Salama said at a stop along the way, where a small crowd had gathered as usual in Tahrir Square, reliving the revolution. “We are all Osama bin Laden.”

The Tahrir Square crowd, however, was more interested in another speaker, who was airing conspiracy theories about the internal security forces. And of the hundreds of people who had emerged from the mosque chanting solidarity with Bin Laden, only about 200 made it to the protest at the American Embassy. They were surrounded every step of the way by an overwhelming number of police officers and soldiers and their equipment, including three armored personnel carriers and a squadron of riot police outside the embassy. But both sides remained peaceful.

Although almost no one seemed to believe that Bin Laden was responsible for the 9/11 attacks, all offered a familiar litany about American military interventions, support for Israel and treatment of Iraqi captives at Abu Ghraib prison.

Many seized on the disposal of Bin Laden’s body, in a burial at sea that they said failed to adhere to Islamic rituals, as a symbol of what they said was American disregard for the Muslim world. “When Obama announced the burial I felt sickened,” said Hassan Ali, 52, one of the few who acknowledged some wrongdoing by Bin Laden. “He was a terrorist. We expected him to be arrested, maybe executed at some point. But we are here because of what they did to his body.”

Most refused to concede his guilt. “We are very against violence,” said Ibrahim Haggag, 45, speaking of Muslims generally. “They could be framing him as an excuse to attack Arabs, an excuse to take their wealth.”

Amina Mohame, 28, added: “The Jews were the ones who planned 9/11. If the U.S. is a civil society, why did they fund Bush’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan?”

Similar demonstrations in support of Bin Laden were held in several other cities, including London; Abbottabad, Pakistan, where he was killed; and Solo, Indonesia.

In London, hundreds of protesters gathered outside the American Embassy in Grosvenor Square, in the exclusive Mayfair district. They held placards with slogans like “Islam will dominate the world.” Lines of police officers separated the demonstrators from members of a far-right group, the English Defence League, who held aloft placards highly critical of Bin Laden and other Islamic extremists.

Lara el-Gibaly contributed reporting from Cairo, and Ravi Somaiya from London.

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Drone Strike Said to Kill at Least 8 in Pakistan

By PIR ZUBAIR SHAH

Published: May 6, 2011

Missiles believed to have been fired by an American drone killed at least eight suspected militants and wounded four in Pakistan’s tribal regions on Friday, according to a Pakistani security official and a resident in the area of the strike. Later, seven more bodies were recovered, bringing the death toll to 15, the resident said.

The attack was the first by a drone since the killing of Osama bin Laden, the leader of Al Qaeda, in an American helicopter-borne raid early Monday in Abbottabad, a small garrison city about a two-hour drive from the capital, Islamabad.

The drone campaign, which is run by the C.I.A., has long been a sore point with the Pakistani public for what is widely considered its violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty. The government has publicly condemned the strikes, while privately tolerating them in an arrangement with the United States, which flies drones from a base inside Pakistan.

The Bin Laden raid has put new pressure on that alliance, however, coming after the killing of two Pakistanis by a C.I.A. contractor in January, and has inflamed the sovereignty issue still further.

On Thursday, the head of Pakistan’s army, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, said another raid like the one that killed Bin Laden would not be tolerated, and he repeated a demand that the number of American troops in Pakistan be reduced “to the minimum essential.”

The attack on Friday showed, however, what the Americans have insisted, that they will continue the drone campaign, which has proved to be an effective way of reaching Qaeda militants in Pakistani’s tribal region on the Afghan border.

The latest attack took place at noon on Friday in Dua Toi, a village in North Waziristan, which borders Afghanistan. The village is in the Datta Khel area, about 30 miles west of Miram Shah, the regional capital. The official said four of the dead were foreign fighters, but their nationalities were not known yet.

The missiles hit a car near a roadside restaurant and a compound where the militants had been invited for lunch by commanders affiliated with Hafiz Gul Bahadar, the top commander in North Waziristan. He is a close ally of the Haqqani network and Al Qaeda, and has reached a truce with the Pakistani military, though he is involved in fighting against the NATO forces in Afghanistan.

The missiles killed five of the militants in the car. In the compound, three were killed and four were wounded.

Datta Khel is the stronghold of Mr. Bahadar, and many of the drone strikes have taken place in that area because of its high concentration of local and foreign fighters, who are involved in cross-border attacks against coalition forces in Afghanistan.

Osama bin Laden watching himself in videos

by Lolita C. Baldor and Kimberly Dozier - May. 7, 2011 10:14 AM

Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Newly released videos show Osama bin Laden watching himself on television and rehearsing for terrorist videos, revealing that even from the walled confines of his Pakistani hideout, he remained a media maestro who was eager to craft his own image for the cameras.

The videos, released by U.S. intelligence officials Saturday, were offered as further proof that Navy SEALs killed the world's most wanted terrorist this week. But they also served to show bin Laden as vain, someone obsessed with his portrayal by the world's media.

One of the movies shows bin Laden, his unkempt beard streaked in gray, sitting on the floor, wrapped in a brown blanket and holding a remote control. He flipped back and forth between what appears to be live news coverage of himself. The old, small television was perched on top of a desk with a large tangle of electrical wires running to a nearby control box.

In another, he has apparently dyed and neatly trimmed his beard for the filming of a propaganda video. The video, which the U.S. released without sound, was titled ""Message to the American People" and was believed to be filed sometime last fall, a senior intelligence official said during a briefing for reporters, on condition that his name not be used.

The videos were seized from bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan. Officials said the clips shown to reporters were just part of the largest collection of senior terrorist materials ever collected. The evidence seized during the raid also includes phone numbers and documents that officials hope will help break the back of the organization behind the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

Intelligence officials have known that bin Laden and al-Qaida monitored the news. But for years, when it was assumed that he was living in Pakistan's rugged, mountainous tribal region, some believed he might not be able to get real-time news.

After the CIA discovered bin Laden's suburban compound, they realized that a satellite dish provided a television feed to bin Laden's compound. The video also reveals that bin Laden had a computer in his home, though officials say there were no Internet or phone lines running from the house.

Bin Laden and four others were killed in a daring pre-dawn raid Monday after U.S. helicopters lowered a team of SEALs behind the compound's high walls. The terrorist leader's death leaves al-Qaida with an uncertain future and represents America's most successful counterterrorism mission.

The American Empire is doing everything it possibly can to justify the use of torture in looking for Osama bin Laden, and using the murder of Osama bin Laden to justify past torture of POWs.

This makes me ashamed to be an American. F*ck Bush, F*ck Obama.

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Osama bin Laden death: New tactics debate

by Matt Apuzzo and Adam Goldman - May. 7, 2011 08:42 AM

Associated Press

WASHINGTON - The government's hunt for Osama bin Laden has left the country questioning whether the tactics used to interrogate suspected terrorists were successful and lawful. With his death, both sides of the debate have regrouped along familiar lines, claiming they were right all along.

But America's greatest counterterrorism success does not represent a victory for either camp. Rather, it paints a clearer picture of the CIA's interrogation and detention program, revealing where it was successful and where its successes have been overstated.

At its core, the hunt for bin Laden evolved into a hunt for his couriers, the few men he trusted to pass his personal messages to his field commanders. After the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, detainees in the CIA's secret prison network told interrogators about one of al-Qaida's most important couriers, someone known only as Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti. He was a prot{inodot}g{inodot} of al-Qaida's No. 3, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

In 2003, the CIA captured Mohammed, the group's operational leader. Mohammed was interrogated using what the agency called "enhanced interrogation techniques" such as sleep deprivation and the simulated drowning technique known as waterboarding. Months after being waterboarded, Mohammed acknowledged knowing al-Kuwaiti, former officials say.

"So for those who say that waterboarding doesn't work, to say that it should be stopped and never used again: We got vital information, which directly led us to bin Laden," the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., said last week.

But current and former officials directly involved in the interrogation program say that's not the case.

Mohammed acknowledged knowing al-Kuwaiti after being waterboarded, but he also denied he was an al-Qaida figure or of any importance. It was a lie, much like the stories Mohammed said he made up about where bin Laden was hiding. Even after the CIA deemed him "compliant," Mohammed never gave up al-Kuwaiti's real name or his location, or acknowledged al-Kuwaiti's importance in the terrorist network.

But the detention program did play a crucial role in the search for bin Laden.

In 2004, top al-Qaida operative Hassan Ghul was captured in Iraq. In a secret CIA prison, Ghul confirmed to the CIA that al-Kuwaiti was an important courier. In particular, Ghul said, the courier was close to Faraj al-Libi, who had replaced Mohammed as al-Qaida's operational commander.

The CIA had less success when it captured al-Libi.

Al-Libi was not waterboarded. But he did get the full range of enhanced interrogation, including intense sleep deprivation, former officials recalled. Despite those efforts, al-Libi adamantly denied knowing al-Kuwaiti. He acknowledged meeting with an important courier, but he provided a fake name.

Both he and Mohammed withheld or fabricated information, even after the agency's toughest interrogations. That gave credence to what many longtime interrogators have maintained, that increasingly harsh questioning produces information but not necessarily reliable information.

Given what they knew from other detainees, CIA interrogators suspected that al-Libi and Mohammed were lying about al-Kuwaiti and that it must be important if they were so committed to withholding this information. So they reasoned that, if they could find al-Kuwaiti, they might find bin Laden. Years later, thanks to help from other informants and an intercepted phone call involving al-Kuwaiti last year, the CIA was proved right. Kuwaiti unwittingly led the agency to bin Laden's doorstep in Pakistan.

"They used these enhanced interrogation techniques against some of these detainees," CIA Director Leon Panetta said this past week. "But I'm also saying that, you know, the debate about whether we would have gotten the same information through other approaches, I think is always going to be an open question."

The Obama administration has labeled waterboarding torture. While Attorney General Eric Holder has said he will not prosecute any officers who followed the rules laid out by CIA, White House and Justice Department lawyers, he has appointed a prosecutor to review cases in which detainees died.

CIA officers involved in finding bin Laden said they are frustrated that the entire detention and interrogation program and the killing of bin Laden have been reduced to a debate over waterboarding.

"People can debate the value of any single piece of information that may or may not have come from a program like that," said Rob Dannenberg, the former chief of operations at the CIA's Counterterrorism Center, who retired in 2007. "But in the aggregate and over the course of time, you are going to unravel the best clandestine organizations in the world with patience and persistence."

Obama shuttered the CIA's prison system soon after taking office. Human rights advocates cheered the end of a system in which detainees were held indefinitely, without access to lawyers or the International Committee of the Red Cross, as is normally required.

Critics accused the president of abandoning the strategy that had worked, of capturing terrorists and questioning them. Instead, the U.S. has increased airstrikes from unmanned Predator drones, which have killed terrorists in the tribal regions along the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan.

"We weren't capturing people anymore, they were just ending up dead in the tribal areas," said Bob Grenier, who ran the Counterterrorism Center from 2004 to 2006.

When that happens, Grenier said, the CIA doesn't get to inspect cell phones or documents or whatever else is in the room during the capture.

"They take their secrets with them," Grenier said.

Obama was unable to fulfill his pledge to close the Guantanamo Bay military prison, where suspected terrorists are held. He had hoped to move many onto U.S. soil for trial, but political opposition stalled that effort. Now, if the CIA captures a major terrorist abroad, it's unclear what the U.S. would do with him.

Though the CIA prisons are closed, Afghanistan is one possibility. There, the U.S. military maintains a network of secret jails where detainees are being held and interrogated for weeks, including one run by the elite special operations forces at Bagram Air Base in Kabul.

Like many Arabs I don't consider Osama bin Laden to be a terrorist. I consider him to be a freedom figherer, helping the Arabs fight the evil American government who has terrorized themf for years

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The death of bin Laden: Before the kill, the 10-year hunt

U.S. teams chased their prey in vain. Then they learned to think as terrorists.

by Peter Finn, Ian Shapira and Marc Fisher - May. 8, 2011 12:00 AM

Washington Post

Finally, after weeks of searching the caves and mountains of Tora Bora for traces of Osama bin Laden, CIA field commander Gary Berntsen believed his men had a good peg on the terrorist. Berntsen called in the big bomb - the BLU-82, a 15,000-pound device the size of a car.

The bomb was pushed out of the back of a C-130 transport plane. It struck with such force that it vaporized men deep inside caves. The devastation spread across an area as big as five football fields, killing numerous al-Qaida fighters - including, Berntsen believed, bin Laden.

It was three months after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Berntsen thought, "I've got him now."

Six days later, two of Berntsen's men were listening to a radio they had picked up from a dead al-Qaida fighter. They heard bin Laden addressing his troops in Arabic. The hunt went on.

Immediately after al-Qaida's attack on Sept. 11, America went after the world's most notorious terrorist with a quick-action injection of cash, commandos and massive firepower.

Within a few months, that first phase of the search for bin Laden would give way to a decade-long manhunt in which the tedious work of analysis and surveillance would eventually bag the target. To find bin Laden, who had declared holy war on the United States in 1996, the Americans needed to think more like him, to absorb the structures and rhythms of a terrorist network.

The search that ended early Monday with bullets to bin Laden's head and chest was the result of a new approach to finding an elusive target, the product of a few dozen analysts in Langley, Va., who refused to accept that their prey may have vanished forever.

"I want justice. And there's an old poster out west, I recall, that says 'Wanted: Dead or Alive.' "

- President Bush, Sept. 17, 2001

Less than a month after the Sept. 11 attacks, U.S. bombers began hitting Afghanistan, hoping to bring down the Taliban government for giving al-Qaida sanctuary. On the ground, the hunt for bin Laden was also under way. A few dozen U.S. paramilitary troops, dressed as Afghans in beards and loose robes and accompanied by hired Afghan fighters, took up the chase.

The American presence at first was thin, and expertise was scarce. The CIA had had a team tracking bin Laden from back home at Langley since 1996, but now it scrambled to find officers who knew Afghanistan and could deploy immediately. Only about a dozen agency people were working in the country on Sept. 11, according to a former senior intelligence official who helped set up agency outposts there.

The first job was to identify tribal leaders and meet with them, always bringing gifts. "The message was, 'We're your friends,' " said the senior intelligence official. "We're everyone's friends. But whoever hosts us is in line to get American money."

This account of the hunt is based on interviews with more than 20 senior political, military and intelligence officials from the Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations, some of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss operations.

CIA field commander Berntsen, who led a team charged with finding bin Laden, worked out of a Kabul guesthouse, fueling the hunt with several million dollars in cash that he kept stowed in a Rubbermaid tub. From that makeshift bank, he distributed payoffs in the thousands of dollars to informants in tribal villages where bin Laden sightings had been reported.

"I must have gotten eight reports at the time, saying he's in this village here or that village there," said Berntsen, who had investigated al-Qaida's 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. "He was stopping and giving speeches."

Intelligence analysts would later learn where bin Laden was in the first weeks after the attack, mainly through interrogations of al-Qaida operatives held at CIA "black sites" overseas and at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

But in the immediate aftermath of Sept. 11, the Americans had no idea that bin Laden and his chief deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, were on the move, traveling through Afghanistan by car, meeting frequently with followers and Taliban leaders. According to classified U.S. military documents obtained by the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks and based on interviews with detainees, bin Laden held court at a secret guesthouse in or near Kabul.

Acting like an exiled head of state, he received terrorist operatives from Afghanistan, Malaysia and elsewhere and met with leaders such as the Taliban's Jalaluddin Haqqani. He issued instructions for campaigns against Western targets, lectured on Islam and history, and sent out a video boasting about how pleasantly surprised he was that the attacks had claimed so many American lives.

In early October, Yunis Khalis, an elderly Afghan warrior who controlled a swath of territory in the country's east, including the regional capital of Jalalabad and the nearby cave complex at Tora Bora, sent a message to bin Laden telling him he could provide sanctuary for the al-Qaida leader.

Bin Laden had friends and followers all along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. Even before the founding of al-Qaida in 1988, bin Laden had spent years in the area, developing relationships with tribal and religious leaders, many of whom he worked with side by side in the Afghan mujaheddin's 1980s battles against the Soviet Union.

Khalis and bin Laden had known each other since those days, when Khalis, one of the most prominent leaders of the anti-Soviet resistance, had received tens of millions of dollars in guns and money from the CIA. He later introduced bin Laden to Mohammad Omar, the Taliban leader. After the United States began to bomb Afghanistan on Oct. 7, Khalis, then 82, called for jihad against the Americans.

Taking advantage of Khalis' hospitality, bin Laden arrived in Jalalabad just two months after the Sept. 11 attacks and immediately began to spread cash among local tribes, either directly or through trusted intermediaries.

When the bombing around Jalalabad intensified, bin Laden fled into the fortified caves of Tora Bora, about 35 miles south of the regional capital. Bin Laden knew the territory; as a young man, he had driven bulldozers there as Afghan resistance fighters excavated miles of tunnels.

In late November, probably within days after bin Laden had arrived in the area, Berntsen's team tracked him to a mountainous area called Milawa, just below the peaks of Tora Bora. Berntsen's men called in airstrikes - a barrage from B-52s, F-15s and plenty more - that lasted nearly 60 hours.

"Our guys were exhausted; they had been hammering Osama for days," Berntsen said. "Finally, bin Laden fled deeper into the mountains."

Berntsen, who was back in Kabul, summoned several members of his team to tell him what they would need to take down bin Laden now that they thought they knew where he was. The response: "We need 800 Army Rangers between bin Laden and the border."

Berntsen wrote to his superiors, begging for troops. His pleas went unanswered, according to a Senate Foreign Relations Committee report on Tora Bora. Without more manpower, Berntsen could not risk a ground assault.

Still, the Americans tried to stay close to bin Laden. Berntsen's deputy, a CIA paramilitary officer, recruited an Afghan to trek into the mountains and offer bin Laden and his followers food and water, then report back on the terrorist's location.

"The guy saw bin Laden and his son," Berntsen said. "When you're desperate, you're desperate. And when you don't have food and water, you'll take it."

As the United States carpet-bombed the cave complex, bin Laden and Zawahri urged their fighters to carry on against the Americans. In the bitter cold of the caves, bin Laden sipped mint tea. He heard pleas from his fighters for medicine and, with ever-greater urgency, escape routes.

A video later obtained by the CIA shows bin Laden in that period, teaching followers how to dig holes where they could spend the night without being seen by U.S. spy planes. As bin Laden speaks, a U.S. bomb explodes in the background. The terrorist casually notes that "we were there last night."

The American campaign was conducted primarily from the air. Despite the pleas from CIA operatives, U.S. officials were reluctant to send in ground troops to flush out bin Laden. They told officers on the ground in Afghanistan that Pakistani troops would help them, cutting off bin Laden if he tried to cross into their country.

But in early December, over lunch at his palace in Islamabad, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf made it clear to U.S. officials that he did not want to commit troops unless the Americans would help transport them to the border by air. According to Wendy Chamberlin, then the U.S. ambassador to Pakistan, Musharraf told her and Gen. Tommy Franks, commander of U.S. Central Command: "I'd put the troops in trucks, but that'll take weeks. Could you give me air support?"

Franks would not comment for this article, but according to Chamberlin he was noncommittal about air support. Only later did she learn that the general was already "planning for Iraq," she said. "Even if he could have helped out, he was already starting to have to reshuffle." Without the air support, the Pakistanis sent some soldiers to the border, but never enough to secure it.

Back in Tora Bora, a team from Delta Force - the military's secretive, elite Special Operations unit - planned to sneak up on bin Laden from behind, crossing into the terrorist's suspected lair from Pakistan through an undefended back door. That would have required using supplemental oxygen to scale a 14,000-foot peak, but according to the leader of the Delta Force team, who later wrote a book under the pseudonym Dalton Fury, the plan had a better chance of succeeding than any frontal assault that relied on help from Afghan fighters.

Fury, the assault troop commander who retired from the Army as a major, said in an e-mail interview that the Pakistani forces who were supposed to seal the border "never made it there." He said his superiors told him to skip the border-side assault and instead "align our mission with the Afghan mujaheddin to put an Afghan face on killing" bin Laden.

Fury didn't trust the Afghans. "The mujaheddin were not very skilled or motivated fighters," he said. But following orders, the Delta Force team stayed on the Afghan side of the border.

On Dec. 10, Fury's team got a tip from a source who claimed to know bin Laden's general location in the Tora Bora area. Thirty members of the team launched a hasty assault, but when some of them were abandoned by their Afghan allies behind enemy lines, the men halted their advance and spent two hours rescuing their mates. Fury aborted the mission.

The next summer, Fury's men returned to Tora Bora with a forensics team to search 80 graves of al-Qaida fighters. None of the remains they dug up was a match for bin Laden.

The team stayed on the hunt. In December 2002, they conducted a nighttime raid on Tora Bora, capturing a man who had given medical care to bin Laden. But bin Laden was long gone. The trail had gone cold.

Tora Bora taught both sides important lessons. The Americans learned, as a top intelligence official said, "that it was a bad idea to outsource something as important as capturing or killing bin Laden." Mutual mistrust kept the Pakistani military and Afghan fighters from embracing the Americans' search for bin Laden.

After Tora Bora, the Americans knew that "when the time came to move, we would do it ourselves," said the official, who was involved in the search for years.

Bin Laden, who took the U.S. bombing seriously enough to have written his will in mid-December of 2001, learned that he had lost his safe haven and was now a fugitive on the run. "Hiding and isolation from operatives and recruits transformed him from a hands-on leader into an almost mythical figure within al-Qaida," the intelligence official said. That new mystique lent additional import to each video or audio transmission that bin Laden managed to smuggle out, but it also dampened al-Qaida's fundraising and recruiting capacity.

The popular version of bin Laden's escape from Tora Bora was dramatic. Somehow, a hunted man made it over the mountains, south to the tribal areas of Pakistan.

But U.S. interrogators later learned from Guantanamo detainees that bin Laden had actually taken a more daring route, to the north toward Jalalabad, right past the approaching U.S. and British special forces and their Afghan allies. After resting there, he proceeded on horseback on a several days' journey into Konar province, in Afghanistan's far northeast. A U.S. intelligence official last week confirmed this account.

"It's still unclear who bribed who and who talked to who," the official said, but "bin Laden got out. Knowing the land, knowing the people who could direct you, he was able to get out to Konar," into valleys "that no one has subdued . . . places the Soviets never pacified."

Bin Laden and Zawahri next moved on to an "unknown location," according to military documents. Some detainees reported that the two had stayed in Konar for up to 10 months. Even bin Laden's closest followers didn't know where he had gone, according to U.S. analysts who mined the interrogations of al-Qaida operatives.

"It became clear that he was not meeting with them face to face," said one official. "People we would capture had not seen him."

U.S. forces believed that at Tora Bora they had come within perhaps 2,000 yards of bin Laden. Yet he managed to slip away, vanishing so completely that several years went by without a single tip, surveillance photo or monitored transmission of any value. On the ground, American operatives continued to try to pry intelligence from "locals willing to talk for some pocket change," Fury said. "The CIA did a lot of this fishing. Mind-numbing. A million dead ends."

A few months after Tora Bora, as part of the preparation for war in Iraq, the Bush administration pulled out many of the Special Operations and CIA forces that had been searching for bin Laden in Afghanistan, according to several U.S. officials.

Even the drones that U.S. forces depended on to track movements of suspicious characters in the Afghan mountain passes were redeployed to be available for the Iraq war, Lt. Gen. John Vines told the Washington Post in 2006. Once, when Vines' troops believed they were within half an hour of catching up to bin Laden, the general asked for drones to cover three possible escape routes. But only one drone was available - others had been moved to Iraq. The target got away.

Back home, frustration over the long search led to a debate between critics of the Bush administration's global war on terrorism, who argued that the cause of security would be better served by focusing on targeted strikes against bin Laden and al-Qaida, and defenders of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, who said the best way to contain terrorism was to take the fight to where the enemy lived.

As that debate raged, the analysts in the CIA's HV Unit - dedicated to hunting for high-value targets (bin Laden was known in the agency as "HVT-1") - began to envision the search in a new way.

"The story of hunting bin Laden is a story of increased sophistication in thinking," said an intelligence official. Maybe bin Laden was in the mountains; maybe not. But that was the wrong question.

Even al-Qaida's top guns didn't know where bin Laden was, yet they still managed to get instructions from him. So the most important question was not "Where is bin Laden?" but rather "How does he communicate?"

Interrogations determined that bin Laden got his orders out only once a month, by courier, and that led analysts to decide that, as the intelligence official said, "you have to know the network, the couriers and how that leads to the location."

At the White House, under pressure from mounting skepticism about the hunt, Bush moved on a different track. He ordered up "Operation Cannonball," directing the CIA to "flood the zone," beefing up the number of officers on the hunt in Pakistan and Afghanistan. But there were no breakthroughs.

That did not discourage the analysts at the HV Unit. They were learning more about how al-Qaida worked, and that led them to think about networks in which information doesn't get passed up through a hierarchy but is shared across all ranks.

The network idea was catching on in the military as well. In 2006, Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal launched raids against al-Qaida leaders in Iraq as well as in Yemen and Afghanistan, said a former White House official. To make those raids happen, McChrystal needed information to move in new ways, and he adopted a networked structure modeled on what he called al-Qaida's "alarming" ability to grow quickly and shore up weak spots.

"To defeat a networked enemy," McChrystal wrote in Foreign Policy, "we had to become a network ourselves."

That meant instantly sharing intelligence with people throughout the battlefield rather than sending it up the chain of command. Video from drones was now delivered not just to analysts who controlled the unmanned flying cameras but also to combat teams on the ground. The result was a dramatic increase in the number of raids and their success rate.

At the CIA, analysts searched for clues not in caves but in books and interrogation transcripts. Even popular books such as "Growing Up Bin Laden," by the terrorist's wife Najwa and son Omar, were mined for insights. In the book, Omar says his father kept safe houses in Kabul because he believed the Americans would never bomb a big city, for fear of killing innocent civilians. That got analysts thinking about urban hideouts.

"Finding bin Laden was not a problem susceptible to human-wave tactics," said an intelligence official who helped supervise the early years of the search. "Lots of people who knew little was almost certain to be less efficacious than a small, dedicated cadre of people with experience working the problem."

The slow, painstaking work of analyzing data met with impatience at the White House, where "a little fatigue had set in," said a former Bush White House official. "We weren't about to find him anytime soon. Publicly, we maintained a sense of urgency: We're looking as hard as we can. But the energy had gone out of the hunt. It had settled to no more than a second-tier issue. After all, those were the worst days of Iraq."

The troubled war in Iraq, mounting concern about Iran's nuclear program, and the increasingly unstable situation in North Korea stole attention from the bin Laden hunt, White House and CIA officials said. The search for bin Laden, once the clarion cry of a nation bent on striking back, morphed into a topic Bush and his top staffers sought to avoid.

Through the next few years, leaders of the hunt hoped that the drones surveying the tribal areas would generate new leads, "but it was just a hope," said Juan Zarate, Bush's deputy national security adviser for counterterrorism in the middle years of the search. "It was a very dark period."

"We can say to those families who have lost loved ones to al-Qaida's terror: Justice has been done."

- President Obama, May 1, 2011

In the Bush White House, the lack of credible leads led to public statements designed to play down the individual and focus attention on the broader threat. The idea was "not to overly aggrandize the man even as we tried to find him," Zarate said. Outside the HV Unit, the landscape looked grim. "I can't remember any single piece of intelligence that got us especially excited," Zarate said.

But even as the hunt became a political liability, the road to bin Laden's house in Abbottabad was being built, not "brick by brick," said former CIA director Michael Hayden, but "pebble by pebble."

Turning vague references to a courier into a verified name took upwards of four years, but that opened the way to discovering how he operated, and that led to the surveillance of the strangely overbuilt house that curiously had no phone or Internet service.

The couple of dozen U.S. commandos who dropped onto bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad last week had to complete their mission in minutes, but it had taken years to get them there

Karen DeYoung, Anne E. Kornblut, Ellen Nakashima and Joby Warrick; special correspondent Shaiq Hussain in Pakistan; and staff researcher Julie Tate contributed to this article.

Source

Replacing bin Laden is big challenge for al-Qaida

by Craig Whitlock and Joby Warrick - May. 8, 2011 12:00 AM

Washington Post

A week after the death of Osama bin Laden, al-Qaida still has not publicly anointed a successor, and the most likely heir apparent could prove to be a divisive figure within the terrorist network.

U.S. counterterrorism officials and analysts said they expected that Ayman al-Zawahri, an Egyptian surgeon and bin Laden's longtime deputy, would take over as al-Qaida's emir, or paramount leader.

But they said that his ascendance was not guaranteed, pointing to a statement released Friday by al-Qaida's "general command" that acknowledged bin Laden's demise but gave no hint of who was in charge.

"Zawahri is obviously the presumed successor, but there are strong indications that he is not popular within certain circles of the group," a senior U.S. intelligence official told reporters Saturday in a briefing at the Pentagon. "It is, of course, anathema to al-Qaida to hold free and fair elections. If free and fair elections (were conducted), Zawahri would most likely have a fight on his hands."

Another U.S. official, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence assessments, noted that although many al-Qaida sub-commanders have been killed in recent years, there are alternatives to Zawahri.

Among them are two veteran Libyan jihadis, Atiyah Abd al-Rahman and Abu Yahya al-Libi.

"Atiyah or Abu Yahya are rumored to be more personable than Zawahri and have certainly earned their operational chops," the official said.

Al-Qaida's central organization is formally governed by a shura, or leadership council.

Most of its members had sworn an oath to serve under bin Laden. It remains to be seen whether Zawahri or his rivals will be able to command the same loyalty.

U.S. officials are hoping that the trail that led them to bin Laden's hideout in Abbottabad, Pakistan, will also take them to Zawahri, who has been al-Qaida's operational commander for years.

Over the past week, the CIA has been trying to exploit an intelligence windfall of materials collected from bin Laden's compound, including possible information on the whereabouts of other al-Qaida figures.

U.S. officials briefed on the effort have hinted that Zawahri is among those being pursued aggressively, and the chairman of the House intelligence committee said last week that he believed "we're hot on the trail."

Zawahri's stature as a theoretician and intellectual is unquestioned in Islamist radical circles. He lacks bin Laden's personal magnetism, however, and has alienated many allies with his uncompromising leadership style and prickly personality.

"He is the master ideologue of the global jihad," said Fawaz Gerges, a professor of Middle Eastern studies at the London School of Economics who has studied Zawahri and the history of al-Qaida. "There is no one else who has his weight or intellect. He is a giant among the remaining figures in al-Qaida. But there is no doubt Ayman al-Zawahri has been a divisive figure."

After the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Zawahri gradually became the most visible face of al-Qaida, issuing dozens of video and audio propaganda statements while bin Laden receded into the shadows, surfacing only occasionally to remind the world that he remained at large.

Source

Officials mine secrets of bin Laden papers, videos

Posted 5/8/2011 7:29 AM ET

WASHINGTON — Intelligence experts will mine the secrets of Osama bin Laden as they sort through a trove of material seized during the deadly raid on his Pakistan compound. The documents have already shown the world's most wanted terrorist was actively involved in planning and directing al-Qaida's plots.

Notes and computer material gathered by Navy SEALs after the pre-dawn raid last Monday, local time, revealed bin Laden's home was a command-and-control center for the terrorist network, said a senior U.S. intelligence official who briefed reporters Saturday and insisted his name not be used.

Bin Laden was eager to strike American cities again and discussed ways to attack trains, officials said, though it appeared that plan never progressed beyond early discussions.

"The material found in the compound only further confirms how important it was to go after bin Laden," said CIA director Leon Panetta in a statement. "Since 9/11, this is what the American people have expected of us. In this critical operation, we delivered."

A handful of videos released Saturday show bin Laden appearing hunched and tired, seated on the floor, watching television, wrapped in a wool blanket and wearing a knit cap. Out-takes of his propaganda tapes show that they were heavily scripted affairs. He dyed and trimmed his beard for the cameras, then shot and reshot his remarks until the timing and lighting were just right. The new material shows bin Laden in a much more candid, unflattering light than the rare propaganda videos that trickled out during his life portraying him as a charismatic religious figure unfazed at being the target of a worldwide manhunt.

The new videos picture a shabby, makeshift office in which bin Laden watched newscasts of himself from a tiny television perched atop a rickety old desk cluttered with wires.

Officials said the clips shown to reporters were just part of the largest collection of senior terrorist materials ever collected. The evidence seized during the raid also includes phone numbers and documents that officials hope will help break the back of the organization behind the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

The videos showing "out-takes" -- the miscues by bin-Laden that were destined for the cutting-room floor -- were offered as further proof of bin Laden's death. President Barack Obama decided this week not to release photos of bin Laden's body, which were deemed too gruesome to reveal and could be used as anti-American propaganda. The U.S. has said it confirmed bin Laden's death using DNA.

By selecting unflattering clips of bin Laden, the U.S. is trying to shatter the image he worked so hard to craft.

One video clearly shows the terror leader choosing and changing channels with a remote control, which he points at what appears to be a satellite cable box. U.S. officials have previously said there was a satellite dish for television reception but no Internet or phone lines ran to the house. Cellphones were prohibited on the compound.

It's unclear how many tapes were taken from the house, and U.S. officials say they're scouring the intelligence so quickly it has not even been catalogued and counted.

Among the material handed out was an al-Qaida propaganda video, apparently intended for public release, entitled "Message to the American People," likely filmed sometime last fall, the official said. Bin Laden has not released a video since 2007, and officials were not sure why this one had not been released.

The official said the short taped message denigrated capitalism and included anti-American messages similar to his previous tapes, but he refused to say if it included a direct threat against the United States. The government released the video without sound because it did not want to disseminate a terrorist message.

Al-Qaida has confirmed the death of its founder, but did not announce a successor.

Source

Pakistan still holding bin Laden's wives, children

Posted 5/8/2011 7:29 AM ET

By Munir Ahmed, Associated Press

ISLAMABAD — As U.S. investigators comb through a treasure trove of computer data and documents seized from Osama bin Laden's home, Pakistani officials face a more domestic task: What to do with three of the slain terrorist leader's wives and eight of his children.

Pakistan's foreign ministry said Sunday that government officials were still holding the wives and children for questioning and that so far, no country had sought their extradition.

Pakistan gained custody of bin Laden's family members on Monday after a covert U.S. operation killed the al-Qaida chief at his hideout in the northwestern city of Abbottabad.

Among them was bin Laden's Yemeni-born wife, Amal Ahmed Abdullfattah.

She has told Pakistani investigators that she moved to the home in 2006 and never left the compound.

Pakistan foreign ministry spokeswoman Tahmina Janjua said that neither Yemen or any other country had asked for the extradition of bin Laden's relatives. Pakistani officials, who have not disclosed where the relatives are being held, have said that they will be returned to their countries of origin.

The ages of the children have not been disclosed.

Bin Laden led a life on the run, yet he kept his family close.

One of his sons, Khalid, was killed during the raid. Abdullfattah, his youngest wife, was shot in the leg and was initially taken to a military hospital, a Pakistani military official has said. One of his daughters watched her father being slain, he said.

Abdullfattah told interrogators that she had been staying in bin Laden's hideout since 2006 and never left the upper floors of the large, sparsely furnished building, said a Pakistani intelligence official who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with the agency's policy.

CIA officers have not been given access to the women or children in custody, the official said. Their accounts could help shed light on the U.S. military operation that killed the al-Qaida leader and on how he was able to avoid capture for nearly 10 years.

Obama "spikes the football" to celebrate his murder of Osama bin Laden!

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Obama victory lap marks critical military moment for the president

By Christi Parsons

May 6, 2011, 11:29 a.m.

Reporting from Fort Campbell, Ky.— In a private meeting carefully shielded from public view, President Obama was set to meet Friday with military participants in the raid on Osama bin Laden's compound, thanking them for carrying out the operation that will stand for many as his single most memorable achievement in office.

Although Fort Campbell is home to the only air assault division in the military, the White House would not say if Obama was meeting specifically with pilots of the helicopters that brought the Navy SEALs in for the raid, or if the SEALs themselves flew to Kentucky for the event.

The secrecy surrounding the day's events showed the president in the challenging role he has played all week, as he publicly savors the success of the Bin Laden operation while trying mightily not to cross the line into exploiting it.

Obama kept his visit with survivors and victims of the 9/11 attacks private when he went to ground zero in New York on Thursday, for instance, and said in a "60 Minutes" interview that he didn’t want to “spike the football” in celebration over the event. In a Friday visit to a plant in Indianapolis, Obama moderated the day’s rhetoric by talking exclusively about economic issues.

Still, accepting credit for Bin Laden's long-awaited capture is important to the Obama White House, and his victory lap through the home of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment marked an important moment for the Democratic president.

Obama and Vice President Joe Biden were scheduled to meet privately with members of the team that carried out the mission, before joining a large crowd gathered in a gymnasium. Soldiers at the base recently came home from a one-year deployment to Afghanistan, according to base officials.

At times, military receptions for Obama have been tepid, with members of the military establishment expressing skepticism that the Democrat could be as deeply committed to the defense infrastructure as any conservative.

Indeed, as troops waited for Obama's arrival, one sergeant said before the president’s arrival that it was “about time” the commander-in-chief found his way to the military base.

“He should have been here before,” said Tami Curtis, a truck driver in the 101st Airborne sustainment division. “We’re his soldiers. He needed to come to show that he supports us.”

Others said they welcomed Obama’s visit in this particular week, just days after pilots like their own carried out the Bin Laden mission.

“This is monumental to me,” said Kingston McCaden, a staff sergeant in the transportation battalion. “He’s rallying the troops, like in the old days, coming to see us and the Night Stalkers like the ones who flew in to do the job. I feel really deeply proud."

Six American presidents have visited the base, and President Bush visited the base at Fort Campbell three times while he was president -- including during the period when Gen. David Petraeus was commanding officer.

Known in the military as the “Night Stalkers,” members of the 160th regiment pioneered night-flight techniques in the early 1980s, according to base officials. The regiment's earliest mission was in Grenada in 1983, and the unit has since participated in missions in Panama and Kuwait as well as operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.

cparsons@tribune.com

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Torturing for truth

May 8, 2011

An old joke: "Why do elephants paint their toenails red?" I don't know. "So they can hide in the tomato patch." There are no elephants in the tomato patch. "See? It works."

That's the sort of logic deployed by defenders of the Bush administration's torture program. After being waterboarded, 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed admitted knowing someone later found to be Osama bin Laden's courier. The CIA eventually located the man and followed him to the house where bin Laden was killed. Voila! The information from Mohammed vindicates these methods.

But it turns out that Mohammed also lied about the courier, saying he was a retired nobody. From this, CIA officials now claim, they knew the guy had to be a big deal. It was a crucial clue.

That's right: When tortured detainees provide truthful information, they prove torture works, and when they lie, they prove it works. If Mohammed had broken into a chorus of "Y.M.C.A.," that would have proved the same.

This bizarre reasoning is one of the many oddities about the defense of torture. Another is that the advocates never, ever refer to it as torture.

Mark Thiessen, a former speechwriter for President George W. Bush, wrote a column for The Washington Post defending what he called "enhanced interrogation techniques." Former Justice Department official John Yoo referred to them as "tough interrogations."

Let's be more specific. Mohammed underwent simulated drowning 183 times. Methods used on him and others, reports The New York Times, include "slamming prisoners into walls, shackling them in stress positions and keeping them awake as long as 180 hours." The CIA admitted making detainees stand for up to 40 hours and dousing naked captives with cold water in chilled cells.

If treatment like this were inflicted on captured American soldiers, no American would dispute that it was torture. But when we resort to it, the likes of Thiessen and Yoo can't bring themselves to use the honest term. Calling it "enhanced interrogation" is like calling the Alabama tornadoes "enhanced weather."

The evidence that vicious methods work is modest. Matthew Alexander, who wrote about his experience as a military interrogator in Iraq in his book "Kill or Capture: How a Special Operations Task Force Took Down a Notorious al Qaeda Terrorist," says that far from being helpful, brutality usually makes it harder to get information from a prisoner.

Alexander, an Air Force Reserve officer who conducted or supervised some 1,300 interrogations using traditional techniques, told me, "I was surprised that the people we thought would be the hardest were the easiest to interrogate."

He cites the case of a Muslim scholar, a high-level al-Qaida operative who was "as hard-core as you could find." Using a non-coercive approach, "in six hours I convinced him to cooperate."

How can it be that a violent, determined enemy of the United States could be persuaded to talk without extreme measures? "He's human, he's not a robot," says Alexander. By establishing a personal connection, interrogators can induce prisoners to open up. But if detainees are abused, he found, "they quit talking."

Sometimes, no doubt, torture can loosen a tongue. But once a high-value operative is brutalized, there is no way to know what he might have divulged under more patient, humane interrogation. If he spills a secret after being waterboarded, it "proves" that torture works. If he withholds information, it "proves" that nothing else would have sufficed.

But what if torture does sometimes work? Mere effectiveness is not enough to justify it. Yoo was once asked about the legality of "crushing the testicles of a person's child," and he did not rule it out.

Why should he? If torturing a terrorist failed, wouldn't we be justified in torturing his wife or his children to get the truth?

If waterboarding is OK, why not crushing testicles? Why not pulling out fingernails? Why not the most agonizing methods an evil mind could devise? The advocates of waterboarding are much more eager to declare what is allowed than what is forbidden — if anything.

In the end, they don't really care about imposing limits, and they don't really care if torture is effective or not. Torture, in the minds of its apologists, is not a means to a good result. It's a good result all by itself.

Steve Chapman is a member of the Tribune's editorial board and blogs at chicagotribune.com/chapman.

schapman@tribune.com

Twitter @SteveChapman13

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ATF told gun stores to arm drug cartels

Vin Suprynowicz

Posted: May 8, 2011 | 2:35 a.m.

On the night of Dec. 14, 2010, a firefight erupted in the Southern Arizona desert.

According to court documents obtained by CBS News, Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was part of a squad that spotted a group of illegal immigrants, some armed with assault rifles. When the illegals refused to drop their weapons -- in a pathetic symbol of the current administration's "college kid" approach to the dangers of the real world -- agents fired "less than lethal" bean bags. The bandits fired back with real bullets.

Terry was shot and killed. His partners returned fire with a rifle and pistol, but it was too late.

In the rank and file of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives -- still generally referred to as the ATF -- discouraging words began to be heard. Was it possible the agency's "Project Gunrunner" -- and a Phoenix spin-off called "Fast and Furious" -- had provided bad guys with the firearms used to kill Agent Terry?

Though official ATF spokesmen initially denied purposely allowing any weapons to cross the border, whistle-blowers spoke to Second Amendment activist David Codrea and others of an operation that provided assault weapons to buyers who would then "walk" the guns over the border and sell them to members of the Mexican drug cartels. The goal was to provide the bad guys with weapons with traceable serial numbers, thus helping manufacture evidence against them.

How many guns? On March 28, Fox News reported "Congress and the Department of Justice appear to be headed for a showdown this week over documents detailing Operation Fast and Furious, the botched gunrunning sting set up by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives that funneled more than 1,700 smuggled weapons from Arizona to Mexico."

Demanded from the Justice Department by March 30 were "a stack of records and emails naming the individuals responsible for the gun trafficking operation that may have killed dozens, if not hundreds of Mexicans, and is becoming a growing embarrassment for the Obama administration."

Under Project Gunrunner -- now frequently and sarcastically dubbed "Gunwalker" -- and the Phoenix offshoot Fast and Furious, the ATF encouraged gun store owners to sell to straw buyers, consumers who they suspected of working on behalf of Mexican drug cartels, reported William La Jeunesse at Fox.

Using this investigative technique, records show the ATF "allowed more than 1,700 guns, including hundreds of AK-47s and high-powered, armor-piercing .50-caliber rifles to be trafficked to Mexico," Fox News reported.

Under one of our thousands of unconstitutional gun laws, buying guns to pass along to others is illegal. But gun store owners were reportedly assured by ATF agents the buyers were under investigation and the guns would be intercepted before crossing into Mexico.

'Told to go through with sales'

President Obama, speaking for the first time on the growing scandal, conceded last month that Operation Fast and Furious may have been "a serious mistake," but he claimed, "I did not authorize it; Eric Holder, the attorney general, did not authorize it. He's been very clear that our policy is to catch gunrunners and put them into jail."

An investigation by Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, could show otherwise.

Rep. Issa contends gunmen who shot up an SUV carrying two U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents inside Mexico in mid-February, killing Special Agent Jaime Zapata, 32, were also using guns purchased in the United States, and that his investigators will now check to see whether those weapons were linked to Gunrunner.

Humberto Trevino, a senior Mexican lawmaker, says at least 150 people have been shot with ATF-monitored guns.

Two of the gun stores involved were Carter's Country in Houston and J&G Gun Sales in Prescott, Ariz., Fox News reports.

"Let me tell you something about Carter's Country. They have been cooperating with ATF from the get-go," says Carter's Country attorney Dick Deguerin. "They were told to go through with what they considered to be questionable sales. They were told to go through with sales of three or more assault rifles at the same time or five or more 9mm guns at the same time or a young Hispanic male paying in cash. It's all profiling, but they went through with it."

Both gun stores felt betrayed by the ATF, Deguerin says -- first by records leaked to The Washington Post that showed the two stores responsible for dozens of guns found at Mexican crime scenes, now by Operation Fast and Furious.

"You assumed they had your back," J&G President Brad Desaye told Fox. "Absolutely, we felt like partners with ATF in a lot of ways."

Rep. Issa wants details, but on April 1, the California congressman said the Obama administration had failed to meet his deadlines for providing requested documents. So Rep. Issa said he'll proceed to subpoena the ATF.

In England, the Guardian newspaper and its website have been even less charitable toward official "Who, me?" denials, both in Washington and in Mexico City.

"Nearly two weeks after extensive reports on the gun-walking scandal have come to light, no senior figure in Mexico's federal government has yet denounced the ATF's tactics. ..." The Guardian reports.

No major cartel figures arrested

"Since 'Project Gunrunner' began in 2008, over 30,000 cartel-related deaths have been recorded in Mexico. Thus far, the only reported successes from these operations appear to be the arrest of 20 arms traffickers by the ATF this January. Given the immeasurable damage that these operations are likely to have caused, and the little information available on them so far, both governments still have a lot of explaining to do -- and soon," The Guardian reports.

At a news conference in February, the ATF in Phoenix announced 34 suspects had been indicted and that agents had seized 375 weapons as part of Operation Fast and Furious. None of those arrested was a significant cartel figure.

Meantime, Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, has expressed concern that -- far from being forthcoming -- the ATF has launched a stonewall operation designed to isolate and punish whistle-blowers.

On the House side, Rep. Issa said last month, "I have four investigators working full-time on this, and we're not going to quit until we see, not just an answer, but an absolute guarantee that this cannot happen again. ... The gun shops are often vilified for being the source -- well in this case, they did the right thing, they contacted the agent, and they were told to go ahead. ...

"Two individuals, maybe more, lost their life needlessly because AK-47s got over the border -- not by accident, they got there as part of, effectively, a plot, by the very people who we believe should be protecting us from those weapons getting into the wrong hands."

I doubt we've gotten to the bottom of Operation Gunwalker. But that's what we know, so far.

Vin Suprynowicz is assistant editorial page editor of the Review-Journal, and author of the novel "The Black Arrow" and "Send in the Waco Killers." See www.vinsuprynowicz.com.

If you think Obama's decision to murder bin Laden was wrong you are insane! - "Anyone who questions whether the terrorist mastermind didn't deserve his fate 'needs to have their head examined'"

I suspect Obama feels the same way about people who think that accused criminals have "rights" and should get "fair trials", like those POWs we have been holding in Guantanamo, Cuba for years.

Of course if you ask me the American invasion into Pakistan to murder Osama bin Laden, steal his computers was a complete violation of international law. And a violation of American law and the U.S. Constitution.

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Obama: 'Getting our man' outweighed risks

May. 9, 2011 12:00 AM

Associated Press

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama ordered the commando raid that killed terrorist leader Osama bin Laden after deciding the risks were outweighed by the possibility of "finally getting our man" following a decade of frustration, he said in a Sunday broadcast interview.

The raid "was the longest 40 minutes of my life," Obama told CBS' "60 Minutes," with the possible exception of when his daughter Sasha became sick with meningitis as an infant.

Monitoring the commando raid on the compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, from the White House Situation Room a week ago, Obama said he and top aides "had a sense of when gunfire and explosions took place" halfway around the world, and knew when one of the helicopters carrying Navy SEALs made an unplanned hard landing.

"But we could not get information clearly about what was happening inside the compound," he said.

Jim Messina, the president's campaign manager, e-mailed supporters encouraging them to watch the program. The note included a link to a listing of all of the network's local affiliates around the country - and another one requesting donations to Obama's re-election effort.

In the interview, Obama said that as nervous as he was about the helicopter raid, he didn't lose sleep over the possibility that bin Laden might be killed. Anyone who questions whether the terrorist mastermind didn't deserve his fate "needs to have their head examined," he said.

The president offered no details that have not yet been made public.

He said the decision to order the raid was very difficult, in part because there was no certainty that bin Laden was at the compound and because of the risk to the SEALs.

"But ultimately, I had so much confidence in the capacity of our guys to carry out the mission that I felt that the risks were outweighed by the potential benefit of finally getting our man," he said.

Source

Prime Minister Is Defiant as Pakistan Outs C.I.A. Officer

By JANE PERLEZ

Published: May 9, 2011

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — For the second time in five months, the Pakistani authorities have embarrassed the Central Intelligence Agency by leaking the name of the C.I.A. station chief in Islamabad to Pakistani news media, a deliberate effort to complicate the work of the American spy agency in the aftermath of the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden, American officials said.

"After our raid, some defiance was to be expected regarding our not informing them. But the lengths to which the Prime Minister went to avoid taking any blame but rather shifting it all to the US, is unbelievable."

The publication of the name demonstrated the tilt toward a near adversarial relationship between the C.I.A. and the Pakistani spy agency, the Inter Services Intelligence Directorate, or ISI, since the Bin Laden raid. It appeared to be aimed at showing the leverage the Pakistanis retain over American interests in the country, both sides said.

In an address before Parliament on Monday, Prime Minister Yousaf Gilani made clear that Pakistani officials at the highest levels accepted little responsibility for the fact that Bin Laden was able to hide in their country for years.

Instead, he obliquely criticized the United States for having driven Bin Laden into Pakistan, condemned its violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty, and called the Qaeda leader’s presence in Pakistan an intelligence failure of the “whole world.”

He said it was “disingenuous” for anyone to blame the ISI or the army of being “in cahoots” with Bin Laden, something American officials suspect but say they have no proof of.

The prime minister’s statements, along with the publication of the name of the C.I.A. station chief, signaled the depths of the recriminations and potential for retaliation on both sides as American officials demand greater transparency and cooperation from Pakistan, which has not been forthcoming.

The Pakistani spy agency, Inter Services Intelligence Directorate, gave the name of the station chief to The Nation, a conservative daily newspaper, American and Pakistani officials said.

The name appeared spelled incorrectly but in a close approximation to a phonetic spelling in Saturday’s editions of The Nation, a paper with a small circulation that is supportive of the ISI. The ISI commonly plants stories in the Pakistani media and is known to keep some journalists on its payroll.

Last December, American officials said the cover of the station chief at the time was deliberately revealed by the ISI. As a result, he was forced to leave the country.

In that case, the name of the station chief appeared in at least one Pakistani newspaper, including The News, a widely circulated English language paper. Subsequently, a Pakistani lawyer representing a family of victims of an American drone strike against militants in the tribal region included the name in a legal complaint sent to the Pakistani police.

From that exposure, the station chief received death threats and quickly left the country, Obama administration officials said.

The new station chief, whose misspelled name appeared in The Nation Saturday, had no intention of leaving Pakistan, American officials said.

Described as one of the agency’s toughest and most experienced officers, the current station chief supervised aspects of the successful raid against Bin Laden, including the C.I.A. safe house used to spy on the compound where Bin Laden lived for five years.

The safe house was located close enough to the compound at Abbottabad for C.I.A. agents to gather details of the daily life of the Qaeda leader that helped the planning for the operation, Obama administration officials said.

The relationship between the new station chief and the head of the ISI, Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha, as been described as particularly acrimonious by officials familiar with their meetings.

The two men first clashed over the case of Raymond A. Davis, a C.I.A. contractor who killed two Pakistanis in January during an attempted robbery. He was detained by Pakistan for more than a month, despite arguments from the Obama administration that he was protected by diplomatic immunity.

The killing of Bin Laden, and suggestions by the Obama administration that officials in the ISI may have known his whereabouts and provided him support, have infuriated Lieutenant General Pasha, Pakistani officials said.

Lieutenant General Pasha, and the chief of the Pakistani army, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, were humiliated that the United State had deliberately not warned Pakistan of the raid, they said.

In what could be another flash point, Washington has asked Pakistan to give American officials access to the women who were at the compound in Abbottabad with Bin Laden and who have been questioned by the ISI since the raid a week ago. So far, such access had not been granted, an American official said Monday.

Mr. Gilani was the second official of the civilian government to publicly address the Bin Laden raid, while General Kayani and Lieutenant General Pasha have remained behind the scenes, limiting their remarks to a select group of Pakistani journalists last week.

"After our raid, some defiance was to be expected regarding our not informing them. But the lengths to which the Prime Minister went to avoid taking any blame but rather shifting it all to the US, is unbelievable."

According to accounts from two journalists who attended the closed-door session, the army chief criticized the civilian government for failing to give guidance to the military on counterterrorism and for never asking about the progress the military was making. General Kayani, they said, bitterly reproached the Americans for the commando raid, saying that now they would have “Hollywood movies for the next decade.”

Many expected the prime minister to use his speech to give an accounting of what Pakistan knew about Bin Laden’s presence in Pakistan, but instead he focused on the how the raid was a breach of Pakistani sovereignty, and warned that a repeat of such a raid to capture other high profile terrorists could be met with “full force.”

He defended the ISI as the best in the world, describing the agency as a “national asset” that had done more than any other intelligence agency to take on Al Qaeda. “No other country in the world and no other security agency has done so much to interdict Al Qaeda than the ISI and our armed forces,” he said.

Mr. Gilani’s account of the history of Al Qaeda essentially blamed the United States for allowing Islamic militants to take hold in Pakistan. “We didn’t invite Osama bin Laden to Pakistan or Afghanistan,” he said.

The United States, he said, had encouraged the Islamic militants who fought against the Soviet Union to disperse into Pakistan after that war was over in the late 1980s. Similarly, he said, the bombings of Qaeda militants at Tora Bora after the Sept. 11 attacks “resulted in the dispersal of Al Qaeda.”

“We had cautioned international forces on a flawed military campaign,” Mr. Gilani said.

But Mr. Gilani did not explain how Bin Laden managed to remain sequestered for five years in the garrison city of Abbottabad, about 75 miles by road from the national capital. He said that Lt. Gen. Javed Iqbal, a senior army general and close aide to General Kayani, would conduct an inquiry, but he gave no timeframe. A joint session of Parliament on May 13 would be given a briefing by the military, he said.

After the live broadcast of the speech, a leading Pakistani journalist, Mohammed Ziauddin, said the prime minister had failed to answer critical questions. “People have to be told the real facts, they can’t be glossed over,” said Mr. Ziauddin, the executive editor of The Express Tribune.

In unusually blunt statements, some politicians and journalists have called for a full public inquiry and have suggested that “heads should roll.” But the prime minister’s address fell short of both demands.

I have always said that the Obama Administration is pretty much a clone of the Bush Admistration. I would like to thank the NY Times for confirming that.

Of course I don't agree with either Bush or Obama's police state government.

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Whose Foreign Policy Is It?

By ROSS DOUTHAT

Published: May 8, 2011

For those with eyes to see, the daylight between the foreign policies of George W. Bush and Barack Obama has been shrinking ever since the current president took the oath of office. But last week made it official: When the story of America’s post-9/11 wars is written, historians will be obliged to assess the two administrations together, and pass judgment on the Bush-Obama era.

The death of Osama bin Laden, in a raid that operationalized Bush’s famous “dead or alive” dictum, offered the most visible proof of this continuity. But the more important evidence of the Bush-Obama convergence lay elsewhere, in developments from last week that didn’t merit screaming headlines, because they seemed routine rather than remarkable.

One was NATO’s ongoing bombing campaign in Libya, which now barely even pretends to be confined to humanitarian objectives, or to be bound by the letter of the United Nations resolution. Another was Friday’s Predator strike inside Pakistan’s tribal regions, which killed a group of suspected militants while the world’s attention was still fixed on Bin Laden’s final hours. Another was the American missile that just missed killing Anwar al-Awlaki, an American-born cleric who has emerged as a key recruiter for Al Qaeda’s Yemen affiliate.

Imagine, for a moment, that these were George W. Bush’s policies at work. A quest for regime change in Libya, conducted without even a pro forma request for Congressional approval. A campaign of remote-controlled airstrikes, in which collateral damage is inevitable, carried out inside a country where we are not officially at war. A policy of targeted assassination against an American citizen who has been neither charged nor convicted in any U.S. court.

Imagine the outrage, the protests, the furious op-eds about right-wing tyranny and neoconservative overreach. Imagine all that, and then look at the reality. For most Democrats, what was considered creeping fascism under Bush is just good old-fashioned common sense when the president has a “D” beside his name.

There is good news for the country in this turnabout. Having one of their own in the White House has forced Democrats to walk in the Bush administration’s shoes, and appreciate its dilemmas and decisions. To some extent, the Bush-Obama convergence is a sign that the Democratic Party is growing up, putting away certain fond illusions, and accepting its share of responsibility for the messy realities of the post-9/11 world.

It’s a good thing, for instance, that President Obama has slow-walked the American withdrawal from Iraq, and it’s a sign of political maturity that his base hasn’t punished him for doing so. It’s a good thing that this White House didn’t just send every Guantánamo prisoner to a civilian court (or back home without a trial). It’s a very good thing that many Democrats seem willing to opt for frontier justice over procedural justice when the circumstances call for it — as they did in Abbottabad last week.

But there are dangers in this turnabout as well. Now that Democrats have learned to stop worrying and embrace the imperial presidency, the United States lacks a strong institutional check on the tendency toward executive hubris and wartime overreach. The speed with which many once-dovish liberals rallied behind the Libyan war — at best a gamble, at worst a folly — was revealing and depressing. The absence of any sustained outcry over the White House’s willingness to assassinate American citizens without trial should be equally disquieting.

As Barack Obama has discovered, an open-ended, borderless conflict requires a certain comfort with moral gray areas. But it requires vigilance as well, and a skepticism about giving the executive branch a free hand in a forever war. During the Bush era, such vigilance was supplied (albeit sometimes cynically, and often in excess) by one of the country’s two major political parties. But in the Obama era, it’s mainly confined to the far left and the libertarian right.

This vigilance needs to be mathematical as well as moral. The most dangerous continuity between the Bush and Obama presidencies, perhaps, is their shared unwillingness to level with the country about what our current foreign policy posture costs, and how it fits into our broader fiscal liabilities.

Instead, big government conservatism has given way to big government liberalism, America’s overseas footprint keeps expanding, and nobody has been willing to explain to the public that the global war on terror isn’t a free lunch.

The next president won’t have that luxury. In one form or another, the war on terror is likely to continue long after Osama bin Laden’s bones have turned to coral. But we’ll know that the Bush-Obama era is officially over when somebody presents us with the bill.

Source

Son says bin Laden sea burial demeans family: report

Reuters

– Tue May 10, 2:00 pm ET

LONDON (Reuters) – A statement purporting to come from a son of Osama bin Laden denounced the al Qaeda leader's killing as "criminal" and said his burial at sea had humiliated the family, an online monitoring service said.

The statement, attributed to Omar bin Laden, bin Laden's fourth eldest son, said the al Qaeda chief's children reserved the right to take legal action in the United States and internationally to "determine the true fate of our vanished father," the SITE Intelligence Group said.

There was no independent confirmation of the authenticity of the letter, published on the website of Islamist ideologue Abu Walid al-Masri, although several specialists on militant propaganda said the text appeared genuine.

Omar bin Laden, who has been based in the Gulf in recent years, did not immediately respond to emailed and telephoned requests for comment.

The letter said, in part: "We hold the American President (Barack) Obama legally responsible to clarify the fate of our father, Osama bin Laden, for it is unacceptable, humanely and religiously, to dispose of a person with such importance and status among his people, by throwing his body into the sea in that way, which demeans and humiliates his family and his supporters and which challenges religious provisions and feelings of hundreds of millions of Muslims."

The letter said the U.S. administration had offered no proof to back up its account of the mission. It alleged the goal of raid had been to kill and not arrest, adding that afterwards the American commandos had "rushed to dispose of the body."

Some Muslims have misgivings about how U.S. forces killed bin Laden in a raid in Pakistan on May 2 and disposed of his body in the ocean.

Questions have multiplied since the White House said the al Qaeda leader was unarmed when U.S. helicopter-borne commandos raided the villa where he was hiding in the city of Abbottabad.

Bin Laden's swift burial at sea, in what many Muslims say was a violation of Islamic custom, has also stirred anger.

So it wasn't just murder, it was murder and armed robbery.

If Congress had voted to have the American Empire declared war on Osama bin Laden and Pakistan I could understand this. But since we have never declared war on either bin Laden or Pakistan I will assume this is just a murder and armed robbery by Obama and his gang of criminal thugs in the White House!

Source

AP sources: Bin Laden hand-written journal seized

By KIMBERLY DOZIER, Associated Press Kimberly Dozier, Associated Press – 23 mins ago

WASHINGTON – U.S. officials say that Osama bin Laden kept a hand-written journal filled with planning ideas and details of operations. The journal was seized in the dramatic US raid.

The journal was part of a huge cache of intelligence that included about 100 flash drives and five computers taken by U.S. Navy SEALs after they swept through the compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk publicly about what was found in bin Laden's hideout.

Bin Laden has long been known to record his thoughts and had been thought to keep a diary. Bin Laden's son, in a memoir, has described his father as recording his thoughts and plans when the family lived in Sudan and Afghanistan.

Source

Osama bin Laden's death photos will be viewed by select members of Congress

May 11, 2011 | 12:42 pm

Osama bin Laden's final photographs that President Obama originally refused to release will soon be viewable by certain members of Congress.

A government official told CNN on Tuesday that members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, the Senate Intelligence Committee, and the equivalent committees in the House, will be granted the opportunity to view the photos taken of Bin Laden soon after he was shot and killed by the SEALs.

In an interview that aired Sunday, Obama explained on CBS why he didn't want to release the gory photos of the fallen terrorist leader.

"We don't trot out this stuff as trophies," the president told CBS' Steve Kroft on "60 Minutes." "The fact of the matter is, this was somebody who was deserving of the justice that he received. And I think Americans and people around the world are glad that he is gone. But we don't need to spike the football," Obama said.

Still, there has been a clamor by some to see the photographs: Some do want the football spiked, and others simply want closure. Bin Laden's son, Omar, was one of those who wanted proof that his father was dead, and Monday he requested to see either photos or video of his dead father. In the meantime, he said he and his family will go on believing that his father wasn't shot, killed and buried at sea.

"We are not convinced on the available evidence in the absence of dead body, photographs and video evidence that our natural father is dead," a statement signed by Omar bin Laden said.

The White House's slight reversal seems to take the advice of Times reader Bernard Rapkin, who recently wrote to the newspaper with his idea of what should be done about the controversial images.

"No matter what President Obama does about the pictures of Osama bin Laden's body, there will always be some skeptics who will insist it never happened. I'm sure there are plenty of Obama haters who will take the other side of whatever he does," Rapkin wrote.

"So why not take a middle-of-the-road approach? Invite several of the more level-headed leaders of both political parties (not the crazies like Michele Bachmann, Sarah Palin and Donald Trump) to view the pictures and verify to the public that they are authentic," he continued.

"This, of course, won't solve the problem completely, but it should satisfy most of the doubters," Rapkin concluded.

Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who would be eligible to view the photos, would pass at the chance, calling it "morbid."

"I don’t want to see it," Reid said during a news conference last week.

The date of the viewing, which will be held at the CIA headquarters, has yet to be determined, CNN reported.

To be honest I have to agree with bin Laden on this. The best way to stop American aggression is to bring the war to the cities of America.

Of course I don't think the royal rulers of American were smart enough to listen to the message bin Laden was sending us. After all as one columnist pointed out the American foreign policy has cost us $3 trillion in our war against bin Laden.

Source

Bin Laden obsessed with U.S., data show

by Greg Miller - May. 12, 2011 12:00 AM

Washington Post

WASHINGTON - Osama bin Laden was preoccupied with attacking the United States over all other targets, a fixation that led to friction with followers, according to U.S. intelligence officials involved in analyzing the trove of materials recovered from the al-Qaida leader's compound.

In handwritten journals and long-winded compositions saved on computer hard drives, the officials said, bin Laden always seemed to be searching for a way to replicate the impact of al-Qaida's most devastating strike.

He exhorted followers to explore ways to recruit non-Muslims "who are oppressed in the United States," in the words of one official - particularly African-Americans and Latinos - and to assemble a plot in time for the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Even while sealed inside a concrete compound in a Pakistani city, bin Laden functioned like a crime boss pulling strings from a prison cell, sending regular messages to his most-trusted lieutenants and strategic advice to far-flung franchises, including al-Qaida's affiliate in Yemen. Some followers pledged their fealty to him; others, however, chafed at his exhortations to remain focused on U.S. targets instead of mounting less-risky operations in places such as Yemen, Somalia and Algeria.

"Bin Laden is saying, 'You've got to focus on the U.S. and the West,' " said a senior U.S. intelligence official who was involved in reviewing the stockpile, adding that some of bin Laden's followers seemed more concerned with regional issues and were reluctant to conduct an attack that would provoke an American response.

Little over a week after obtaining one of the largest intelligence hauls on a terrorist group, U.S. officials involved in reviewing the trove said they are learning more about bin Laden and the al-Qaida bureaucracy than about the locations of operatives or specific plots that might be unfolding.

Overall, the officials said, the new information - as well as the lack of any apparent effort by bin Laden to prevent it from falling into U.S. hands - provides a strikingly rich portrait of the al-Qaida chief.

"Bin Laden got lazy and complacent," said the senior U.S. official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information. "I don't think he thought he would meet his maker in that house. And he certainly didn't make any preparations" to escape a raid or destroy the information found inside, the official said.

Officials said they are still in triage mode as they sift through the contents of more than 110 flash drives, laptops and other digital-storage devices, in addition to piles of paper documents. The trove, which represents millions of pages that must be translated from Arabic, is being scrutinized at a secret CIA facility in northern Virginia. Analysts and Arabic linguists from other agencies are being brought in to review the materials.

The early effort has focused on searching for keywords, including the names of major American cities. Analysts are also scanning for references to names of al-Qaida figures, phone numbers and other details that could provide clues for CIA operatives and military counterterrorism teams working overseas.

U.S. officials said bin Laden had a relatively short list of senior al-Qaida members with whom he was in touch frequently and directly, albeit through messages smuggled out of the compound by couriers.

Among them are Ayman al-Zawahri, an Egyptian physician who has long functioned as bin Laden's second in command, as well as Atiyah Abd al-Rahman, a Libyan operative who is the latest to fill the organization's No. 3 slot.

This isn't fair! The government stole around $3 trillion from us serfs to pay for their war to hunt down and murder bin Laden. We should at least get to see the photos of the American Empire's murder of bin Laden.

Source

Lawmakers see bin Laden photos, differ over release

by Michael Doyle - May. 11, 2011 05:15 PM

McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON - Lawmakers who have seen graphic photos of a dead Osama bin Laden differ over whether the photos should be made public.

Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., saw some photos and came away convinced they must remain under lock and key.

"I was asked, personally, to keep them secret by folks in the intelligence field, who don't want those photos released," Nunes said in an interview Wednesday.

A member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Nunes cited his secrecy oath in strictly limiting his own description of the bin Laden photos whose disclosure he fears would endanger U.S. forces.

"I'll just say this," Nunes said. "He's dead."

But a fellow conservative Republican who saw the photos Wednesday at CIA headquarters, Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma, insisted that at least some of the bin Laden photos should be released. Inhofe told The Associated Press that he spent about an hour examining more than a dozen photos, some showing gruesome wounds.

"Either a bullet, the significant bullet, went through the ear and out the eye, or vice versa," Inhofe told AP. "It wasn't a very pretty picture."

Inhofe was among the first in what is expected to be a caravan of lawmakers making the trek to CIA headquarters in northern Virginia to view the bin Laden photos.

President Barack Obama, saying he does not want to "spike the football," declared that the photos of bin Laden would not be released publicly.

But House and Senate intelligence panel members, congressional leaders and members of the House and Senate armed services committee have been invited to a secure room at CIA headquarters.

At least some of the photos show bin Laden's face, or what remained of it after he was shot twice by a Navy SEAL commando. One of the bullets hit the 54-year-old bin Laden above the left eye and the other entered his chest, Obama administration officials say.

The type of weapon, caliber of bullet, distance at which bin Laden was shot and full extent of structural damage done have not been formally divulged by the administration.

Nunes said congressional intelligence committee members were shown "photos and videos" at a briefing, and he noted that the House panel has asked for additional photos and videos to be provided in secret as well.

"We have not seen all of them yet," Nunes said. "The committee has asked them to bring all of their photos and videos."

Still others opt out.

"I don't want to see it," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., told reporters, calling the photos "morbid."

The public at large would get a chance to see the photos if the AP and other news organizations succeed in Freedom of Information Act requests filed to gain access.

The CIA, though, is likely to cite national security or other concerns in rejecting the FOIA requests.

"I think there are a number of FOIA exceptions it will fall under," noted Nate Jones, FOIA coordinator for the National Security Archive.

Although rejected FOIA requests can prompt lawsuits, Jones added that federal judges often grant considerable deference to military and security organizations when considering freedom of information cases.

Source

Officials: Bin Laden eyed small cities as targets

Posted 5/12/2011 7:21 AM ET

By Kimberly Dozier, AP Intelligence Writer

WASHINGTON — Though hunted and in hiding, Osama bin Laden remained the driving force behind every recent al-Qaida terror plot, U.S. officials say, citing his private journal and other documents recovered in last week's raid.

Until Navy SEALs killed him a week ago, bin Laden dispensed chilling advice to the leaders of al-Qaida groups from Yemen to London: Hit Los Angeles, not just New York, he wrote. Target trains as well as planes. If possible, strike on significant dates, such as the Fourth of July and the upcoming 10th anniversary of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Above all, he urged, kill more Americans in a single attack, to drive them from the Arab world.

Bin Laden's written words show that counterterrorist officials worldwide underestimated how key he remained to running the organization, shattering the conventional thinking that he had been reduced through isolation to being an inspirational figurehead, U.S. officials said Wednesday.

His personal, handwritten journal and his massive collection of computer files show he helped plan every recent major al-Qaida threat the U.S. is aware of, including plots in Europe last year that had travelers and embassies on high alert, two officials said. So far, no new plots have been uncovered in bin Laden's writings, but intelligence officials say it will take weeks, if not months, to go through them.

They described the intelligence to The Associated Press only on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk publicly about what was found in bin Laden's hideout.

The records show bin Laden was communicating from his walled compound in Pakistan with al-Qaida's offshoots, including the Yemen branch, which has emerged as the leading threat to the United States. Though there is no evidence yet that he was directly behind the attempted Christmas Day 2009 bombing of a Detroit-bound airliner or the nearly successful attack on cargo planes heading for Chicago and Philadelphia, it's now clear that they bear some of bin Laden's hallmarks.

He was well aware of U.S. counterterrorist defenses and schooled his followers how to work around them, the messages to his followers show. Don't limit attacks to New York City, he said in his writings. Consider other areas such as Los Angeles or smaller cities. Spread out the targets.

In one particularly macabre bit of mathematics, bin Laden's writings show him musing over just how many Americans he must kill to force the U.S. to withdraw from the Arab world. He concludes that the smaller, scattered attacks since the 9/11 attacks had not been enough. He tells his disciples that only a body count of thousands, something on the scale of 9/11, would shift U.S. policy.

He also schemed about ways to sow political dissent in Washington and play political figures against one another, officials said.

The communications were in missives sent via plug-in computer storage devices called flash drives. The devices were ferried to bin Laden's compound by couriers, a process that is slow but exceptionally difficult to track.

Intelligence officials have not identified any new planned targets or plots in their initial analysis of the 100 or so flash drives and five computers that Navy SEALs hauled away. Last week, the FBI and Homeland Security Department warned law enforcement officials nationwide to be on alert for possible attacks against trains, though officials said there was no specific plot.

Officials have not yet seen any indication that bin Laden had the ability to coordinate timing of attacks across the various al-Qaida affiliates in Pakistan, Yemen, Algeria, Iraq and Somalia, and it is also unclear from bin Laden's documents how much the affiliate groups relied on his guidance. The Yemen group, for instance, has embraced the smaller-scale attacks that bin Laden's writings indicate he regarded as unsuccessful. The Yemen branch had already surpassed his central operation as al-Qaida's leading fundraising, propaganda and operational arm.

Al-Qaida has not named bin Laden's successor, but all indications point to his No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahri. The question is whether al-Zawahri, or anyone, has the ability to keep so many disparate groups under the al-Qaida banner. The groups in Somalia and Algeria, for instance, have very different goals focused on local grievances. Without bin Laden to serve as their shepherd, it's possible al-Qaida will further fragment.

British officials said the Americans had shared some information with them about the bin Laden cache, but there had been nothing concrete yet to indicate bin Laden's stamp on any of the recent terror attacks or plans in Britain -- including a European plot last year involving the threat of a Mumbai-style shooting spree in a capital. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss matters of intelligence.

Britain's two largest terror attacks and plots -- the 2005 suicide bombings and the trans-Atlantic liquid explosive plot to blow up several airliners in 2006 -- both had trails that led back to Pakistan and al-Qaida figures, but there was never a direct link to bin Laden himself.

Most of the recent plots, including the stabbing of a lawmaker last year, have been traced to al-Qaida in Yemen and specifically the radical American-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, British officials have said.

One British official said counterterror authorities had not been tracking bin Laden like they had other terrorists deemed more directly involved in operations.

While Obama has ordered that photos of bin Laden's body be kept from public view, members of the House and Senate Intelligence and Armed Services committees have been making appointments at CIA headquarters to view the graphic images.

Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., a Senate Armed Services Committee member, said he spent nearly an hour Wednesday looking over more than a dozen photos taken at the Pakistan compound the night bin Laden was killed and on board the U.S. Navy ship that buried his body at sea.

One of the photos was of bin Laden's head and showed what appeared to be a fatal wound, according to Inhofe.

Some lawmakers had no interest in seeing the photos. Said Rep. John Garamendi, D-Calif., a member of House Armed Services Committee, "I'm quite satisfied Osama bin Laden is dead."

___

Kimberly Dozier can be reached on Twitter at kimberlydozier

___

Associated Press writers Matt Apuzzo, Adam Goldman and Richard Lardner in Washington and Paisley Dodds in London contributed to this report.

Sure the US Government considers Osama Bin Laden a terrorist, all governments demonized their enemies and make them sound like the worst scum on the face of the earth.

But in reality the US Government is the evil person here and Osama Bin Laden is just a freedom fighter who was fighting the American governments evil policies.

Source

Osama bin Laden's journal contains his thoughts on killing Americans

By Ken Dilanian and Brian Bennett, Los Angeles Times

May 12, 2011

Reporting from Washington— Osama bin Laden kept a personal journal in which he contemplated how to kill as many Americans as possible, including in terrorist attacks against Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington, according to U.S. officials.

The handwritten journal was part of a vast cache of digital and printed material hauled away from Bin Laden's hide-out after U.S. Navy SEALs killed him last week in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

One official said Wednesday that the trove provided "terabytes" of new information about Al Qaeda.

The official described the journal as full of planning ideas and outlines of potential operations — "aspirational guidance" on how to kill the maximum number of people rather than specific proposals or plots that were actually underway.

In one passage, Bin Laden wondered how many Americans would have to die in U.S. cities to force the U.S. government to withdraw from the Arab world. He concluded that it would require another mass murder on the scale of the Sept. 11 attacks to spur a reversal in U.S. policy, an official said.

The officials declined to provide details about potential plots in Los Angeles and Chicago. Bin Laden discussed an operation in Washington, one official said, "because of its iconic value."

Michael Downing, commanding officer of the Los Angeles Police Department's counter-terrorism and special operations bureau, said the intelligence cache confirms what authorities have long known: "Los Angeles was on the target list for Al Qaeda."

In 1999, an Al Qaeda-trained terrorist, "millennium bomber" Ahmed Ressam, was arrested in Port Angeles, Wash., with a carload of explosives. He was convicted of plotting to bomb Los Angeles International Airport.

A CIA-led multiagency task force continues to scrutinize data from five computers, dozens of flash-drive storage devices and other items taken from Bin Laden's walled compound. The analysts have not found evidence of an imminent threat of attack by Al Qaeda or its affiliates around the globe, officials said.

But the initial analysis has shown that Bin Laden was in regular communication with several deputies, including reputed operations chief Atiyah Abd Rahman, officials said. The messages were sent primarily by couriers carrying flash drives, the official said.

Some reports have said Rahman was killed in a 2010 drone strike, but U.S. officials say they believe he is still alive.

The intelligence cache has also upended the long-held belief that Bin Laden was an isolated, inspirational figurehead who had cut off communications and played no operational role in attacks or plots, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to publicly discuss sensitive intelligence information.

"These assumptions [are] going out the window," one official said.

Discovery of the journal was not entirely unexpected. Bin Laden's son Omar described his father in a 2009 memoir, "Growing Up Bin Laden," as regularly recording his thoughts and plans.

The son sharply criticizes his father's terrorist operations in the book, but this week he accused the Obama administration of murdering his father instead of capturing him. "We maintain that arbitrary killing is not a solution to political problems," he said in a statement released to several news organizations.

Intelligence officials throughout the U.S. government have been briefed daily this week on new information gleaned from the intelligence haul, one official said.

The messages to Rahman, a Libyan in his mid-30s, are of particular interest.

Rahman joined Bin Laden in Afghanistan as a teenager in the 1980s and "since then, he has gained considerable stature in al-Qaeda as an explosives expert and Islamic scholar," according to a State Department website that offers a $1-million reward for information leading to him.

In 2005, Rahman signed a letter to Abu Musab Zarqawi, the now-dead leader of the group Al Qaeda in Iraq, rebuking the group for indiscriminate violence against Shiite Muslims, according to counter-terrorism experts. Rahman met Zarqawi in Herat, in western Afghanistan, in the late 1990s, according to the State Department dossier.

Rahman is now believed to be in Pakistan, U.S. officials said.

Also Wednesday, several members of Congress and other officials got a chance to examine photos of Bin Laden's corpse. President Obama has decided not to release the photos publicly. Bin Laden was shot in the head and chest and was buried at sea.

"By viewing these photos, I can help dispel conspiracy theorists who doubt that Bin Laden is in fact dead," said Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.), who was among those who traveled to CIA headquarters in Langley, Va., to see the photos.

ken.dilanian@latimes.com

brian.bennett@latimes.com

Source

How bin Laden emailed without being detected by US

Posted 5/12/2011 4:19 PM ET

By Matt Apuzzo And Adam Goldman, Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Despite having no Internet access in his hideout, Osama bin Laden was a prolific email writer who built a painstaking system that kept him one step ahead of the U.S. government's best eavesdroppers.

His methods, described in new detail to The Associated Press by a counterterrorism official and a second person briefed on the U.S. investigation, served him well for years and frustrated Western efforts to trace him through cyberspace. The arrangement allowed bin Laden to stay in touch worldwide without leaving any digital fingerprints behind.

The people spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive intelligence analysis.

Bin Laden's system was built on discipline and trust. But it also left behind an extensive archive of email exchanges for the U.S. to scour. The trove of electronic records pulled out of his compound after he was killed last week is revealing thousands of messages and potentially hundreds of email addresses, the AP has learned.

Holed up in his walled compound in northeast Pakistan with no phone or Internet capabilities, bin Laden would type a message on his computer without an Internet connection, then save it using a thumb-sized flash drive. He then passed the flash drive to a trusted courier, who would head for a distant Internet cafe.

At that location, the courier would plug the memory drive into a computer, copy bin Laden's message into an email and send it. Reversing the process, the courier would copy any incoming email to the flash drive and return to the compound, where bin Laden would read his messages offline.

It was a slow, toilsome process. And it was so meticulous that even veteran intelligence officials have marveled at bin Laden's ability to maintain it for so long. The U.S. always suspected bin Laden was communicating through couriers but did not anticipate the breadth of his communications as revealed by the materials he left behind.

Navy SEALs hauled away roughly 100 flash memory drives after they killed bin Laden, and officials said they appear to archive the back-and-forth communication between bin Laden and his associates around the world.

Al-Qaida operatives are known to change email addresses, so it's unclear how many are still active since bin Laden's death. But the long list of electronic addresses and phone numbers in the emails is expected to touch off a flurry of national security letters and subpoenas to Internet service providers. The Justice Department is already coming off a year in which it significantly increased the number of national security letters, which allow the FBI to quickly demand information from companies and others without asking a judge to formally issue a subpoena.

Officials gave no indication that bin Laden was communicating with anyone inside the U.S., but terrorists have historically used U.S.-based Internet providers or free Internet-based email services.

The cache of electronic documents is so enormous that the government has enlisted Arabic speakers from around the intelligence community to pore over it. Officials have said the records revealed no new terror plot but showed bin Laden remained involved in al-Qaida's operations long after the U.S. had assumed he had passed control to his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri.

The files seized from bin Laden's compound not only have the potential to help the U.S. find other al-Qaida figures, they may also force terrorists to change their routines. That could make them more vulnerable to making mistakes and being discovered.

Source

Pakistan suicide bombs kill 80 to avenge bin Laden

Posted 5/13/2011 7:26 AM ET

By Riaz Khan, Associated Press

SHABQADAR, Pakistan — A pair of suicide bombers attacked recruits leaving a paramilitary training center in Pakistan on Friday, killing 80 people in the first retaliation for the killing of Osama bin Laden by American commandos last week.

The blasts in the northwest were a reminder of the savagery of al-Qaida-linked militants in Pakistan. They occurred even as the country faces international suspicion that elements within its security forces may have been harboring bin Laden, who was killed in a raid in Abbottabad, about a three hours' drive from the scene of the bombing.

"We have done this to avenge the Abbottabad incident," Ahsanullah Ahsan, a spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban, told The Associated Press in a phone call. He warned that the group was also planning attacks on Americans living inside Pakistan.

The bombers blew themselves up in Shabqadar at the main gate of the facility for the Frontier Constabulary, a poorly equipped but front-line force in the battle against al-Qaida and allied Islamist groups like the Pakistani Taliban close to the Afghan border. Like other branches of Pakistan's security forces, it has received U.S. funding to try to sharpen its skills.

At least 80 people were killed, including 66 recruits, and around 120 people were wounded, said police officer Liaqat Ali Khan.

Around 900 young men were leaving the center after spending six months of training there. They were in high spirits and looking forward to seeing their families, for which some had brought gifts, a survivor said.

Some people were sitting inside public minivans and others were loading luggage atop the vehicles when the bombers struck, witnesses said.

"We were heading toward a van when the first blast took place and we fell on the ground and then there was another blast," said 21-year-old Rehmanullah Khan. "We enjoyed our time together, all the good and bad weather and I cannot forget the cries of my friends before they died."

The scene was littered with shards of glass mixed with blood and flesh. The explosions destroyed at least 10 vans.

It was the first major militant attack in Pakistan since bin Laden's death on May 2, and the deadliest this year.

Militants had pledged to avenge the killing and launch reprisal strikes in Pakistan.

The Taliban spokesman also suggested the attack was aimed as punishment against Pakistani authorities for failing to stop the unilateral U.S. raid that killed bin Laden, something that has sparked popular nationalist and Islamist anger.

"The Pakistani army has failed to protect its land," Ahsan said.

In its communications, the Taliban often tries to tap into popular sentiments in the country, where anti-Americanism is often stronger than feelings against Islamist militants. This is despite militant attacks over the last four years claiming the lives of many hundreds, if not thousands, of civilians.

Some 350 lawyers sympathetic with Islamists attended special prayers for bin Laden on the premises of the provincial high court in the eastern city of Lahore on Friday. The lawyers cursed the May 2 raid, chanting "Down with America."

The explosive vests used in Friday's attacks were packed with ball bearings and nails, police said.

Police official Nisar Khan said a suicide bomber in his late teens or early 20s set off one of the blasts.

"The first blast occurred in the middle of the road, and after that there was a huge blast that was more powerful than the first," said Abdul Wahid, a 25-year-old recruit whose legs were wounded in the blasts.

He said he was knocked to the ground by the force of the explosions.

"After falling, I just started crawling and dragging myself to a safer place ... along the wall of a roadside shop," he said.

The Sept. 11 mastermind and at least four others were killed by U.S. Navy SEALs who raided bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, a garrison city not far from the capital. Bin Laden is believed to have lived in the large house for up to six years.

Pakistani officials have denied knowing he was there but have criticized the American raid ordered by President Barack Obama as a violation of their country's sovereignty. To counter allegations that Pakistan had harbored bin Laden, the officials have pointed out that many thousands of Pakistani citizens, and up to 3,000 of its security forces, have died in suicide bombings and other attacks since Sept. 11, 2001, when Islamabad became an ally of the U.S. in taking on Islamist extremists.

Many of the attacks in Pakistan have targeted security forces, but government buildings, religious minorities, public places and Western targets have also been hit.

___

Associated Press writers Ashraf Khan and Deb Riechmann in Islamabad, Babar Dogar in Lahore and Ishtiaq Mahsud in Dera Ismail Khan contributed to this report.

I certainly don't have anything against porn. But the religious folks who condemn porn are often hypocrites who view porn just as much as the rest of us.

I am not sure if Osama bin Laden actually had this porn or if the US government is making up the whole thing to make bin Laden look bad in the eyes of his fellow Muslims.

Source

Report: Osama bin Laden kept pornography

by Jennifer Epstein - May. 13, 2011 12:36 PM

POLITICO.COM

Among the materials confiscated from Osama bin Laden's Pakistani compound was a cache of pornographic materials, U.S. officials say.

Investigators examining the digital materials taken from the Al Qaeda leader's hideout during the U.S. raid earlier this month have found a "fairly extensive" collection of modern pornographic videos, Reuters reported Friday, citing U.S. officials who discussed the find on the condition of anonymity.

The officials said they are not sure where in bin Laden's compound the videos were found or whether bin Laden had acquired or viewed them.

Pornography has been found in some past raids of Islamic militants' homes, officials said.

I wonder, will Obama's gang of thugs torture Osama bin Laden's wives?

Source

Pentagon: U.S. questions bin Laden widows

May. 13, 2011 11:38 AM

Associated Press

WASHINGTON - U.S. authorities are using interviews with Osama bin Laden's wives and video of the assault on his Pakistan compound to piece together details of the raid that killed the terrorist leader.

After days of wrangling with Pakistani leaders, U.S. intelligence officials were finally given access to bin Laden's three wives and were allowed to question them in an effort to gather more information about life in the compound, Pentagon officials said.

U.S. defense officials, meanwhile, are considering measures to ensure the security of the Navy SEAL team that stormed the walled fortress in Abbottabad on May 2 and killed world's most wanted terrorist.

The three bin Laden widows who survived the raid were taken into Pakistani custody. The White House has said it was important that the U.S. be allowed to interview them as they could provide information about bin Laden's life in his compound.

But the Islamic practice of segregating women from men means the wives probably would not have been present for meetings or discussions about al-Qaida operations.

Still, with bin Laden's trusted couriers dead, the women could offer rare details about bin Laden, particularly his life over the past few years as the manhunt for him wore on.

U.S. intelligence and military analysts have also been examining footage from cameras mounted in the helmets of the Navy SEALs, capturing a minute-by-minute account of the operation.

The video will provide a more detailed and accurate picture of the raid, compared to early information that relied on the first reports from members of the elite team, both during the operation and interviews with them afterward.

U.S. military officials have cautioned that the initial reports can often be wrong, blurred by the fog of battle and conclusions based on split second sighting or sounds.

That proved true in this case as details pouring out in the first 48 hours after the raid - including who was in the compound, who was killed, and how much resistance the commandos met - were repeatedly refined and corrected.

Pentagon spokesman Col. Dave Lapan and White House press secretary Jay Carney would not discuss what the wives said during the questioning. It was not clear whether the interviews will continue.

The sparse details about those interviews reflect a growing concern by military officials about the flood of information that has come out about the raid and the secretive Navy SEALs who made it all possible.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said during a meeting with Marines at Camp Lejeune, N.C., that when he met with the team last week they expressed concerns about the security of their families.

"Frankly, a week ago Sunday, in the Situation Room, we all agreed that we would not release any operational details from the effort to take out bin Laden," Gates told Marines. "That all fell apart on Monday - the next day."

Gates added, "We are looking at what measures can be taken to pump up the security."

He said there has been a consistent effort to protect the identities of those who participated in the raid - which also included elite Army pilots who flew the daring mission. They are members of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, known as the Night Stalkers.

Source

DOD nixes fast review of bid for bin Laden photos

Posted 5/14/2011 6:34 AM ET

By Richard Lardner, Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The Defense Department is refusing to do a speedy review of a Freedom of Information Act request for graphic photos of Osama bin Laden's corpse, setting the stage for a protracted battle over access to the images.

In a letter to The Associated Press, the department said the AP did not demonstrate an urgent or compelling need for the photos or show that the information has a particular value that would be lost if not provided in an expedited manner. As a result, it is not clear when or if the photos will be provided.

The AP received the letter Friday, 11 days after it requested the photos and other material stemming from the May 2 raid by a team of Navy SEALs on bin Laden's compound in Pakistan.

President Barack Obama has promised to make his administration the most transparent in American history. The push by the AP and other news organizations to make the bin Laden photos public could put that commitment to a key test.

In 2010, the Defense Department granted expedited processing of FOIA requests nearly 40 percent of time, a far better rate than agencies such as the departments of State and Homeland Security.

Whether the photos should be made public has been a constant source of debate since the stunning announcement of bin Laden's death. Obama decided last week not to release the death photos of bin Laden so as not to "spike the football" and possibly inflame anti-American sentiment overseas.

U.S. government officials have described the photos as gruesome. Bin Laden was killed by two bullets, with the fatal shot going through his head.

Dan Metcalfe, executive director of the Collaboration on Government Secrecy at American University's Washington College of Law, said it would be difficult for the government to label death photos of bin Laden as classified unless there were a person or a piece of equipment in the photo that needed to be kept secret.

"It's hard to see how such a photo in and of itself could properly be classified, and with that decision ultimately sustained in court, on the basis of national security harm," said Metcalfe, former head of the Justice Department's Office of Information and Privacy.

Members of the House and Senate Intelligence and Armed Services committees have been allowed to see the death photos in a secure room at CIA headquarters in Langley, Va. Lawmakers are not permitted to take copies of the photos with them.

Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, viewed the photos Wednesday and said one of them showed brain matter coming out of bin Laden's eye socket. Others, however, were taken as the body was being prepared for burial at sea and are less jarring, said Inhofe, who favors releasing at least a few photos to dispel any claims bin Laden wasn't killed.

The disclosure that the photos were at CIA headquarters could mean the spy agency and not the Pentagon controls the records. The AP has also filed a Freedom of Information request with the CIA that seeks expedited processing. The CIA has not said how it will handle that request.

The Defense Department's decision not to expedite the AP's request for the photos isn't a rejection but puts the request on a much slower track. Under the open records law, federal agencies have 20 days to respond to FOIA requests, a deadline that is rarely met.

In a related development, Judicial Watch, a public interest group, filed a FOIA lawsuit against the Defense Department on Friday after the department said it would not meet the 20-day deadline for meeting the group's own request for the photos.

"The American people have a right to know, by law, basic information about the killing of Osama bin Laden. Incredibly, the Obama administration told us that it has no plans to comply with the Freedom of Information law, so we must now go to court," Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said.

This is kind of odd! I always thought George W. Bush got his jollies using the power of government to murder people he considers scum.

I am surprised that he doesn't claim to be overjoyed with the American government's murder of Osama bin Laden.

Source

LAS VEGAS (AP) — George W. Bush says he was "not overjoyed" when President Obama told him Osama bin Laden was dead because the campaign to track down the al-Qaeda leader was done not "out of hatred, but to exact judgment."

ABC News reports Bush made his first candid public comments on bin Laden's killing Wednesday at a hedge fund conference in Las Vegas.

The former president says he was at a restaurant when he got Obama's call. Bush says Obama described the secret mission in detail.

Bush says he told Obama, "Good call," and noted "the intelligence services deserve a lot of credit."

Bush has kept a low profile since bin Laden's death May 1. He has declined interview requests and Obama's invitation to join him at Ground Zero.

Source

Wary of security, Navy won't talk about bin Laden

Posted 5/15/2011 9:36 AM ET

By Jim Gomez, Associated Press

ABOARD THE USS CARL VINSON — American servicemen aboard the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier, which buried Osama bin Laden's body at sea, basked in their history-making mission Sunday but refused to discuss the attack that killed him, reflecting concerns over possible retaliation.

U.S. defense officials are taking measures to ensure the security of the operatives involved in the May 2 assault on a walled compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, particularly the Navy SEAL team that killed the world's most-wanted terrorist.

The massive aircraft carrier dropped anchor under heavy guard at Manila Bay on Sunday at the start of a four-day routine port and goodwill visit. It's the first break for Carl Vinson's 5,500 sailors, pilots and crew after months of war in Iraq and Afghanistan that was capped by their support to the commando strike that killed bin Laden.

All those aboard the warship were ordered not to discuss operational details as they come into contact with the public for the first time since the covert strike, officials said.

Philippine President Benigno Aquino III, accompanied by senior members of his Cabinet and military chief of staff, were flown to the Carl Vinson on Saturday as it traveled in the South China Sea toward the Philippines, a key Asian anti-terrorism ally. Then a group of journalists were invited the next day.

Discussions about the slain al-Qaida leader were taboo in both visits. American servicemen did not show any overt sign of celebration over their triumph.

Asked how he felt being a part of the history-making mission in Pakistan, Rear Admiral Samuel Perez, who headed the carrier strike force that included the nuclear-powered Carl Vinson, refused to be drawn in.

"You know I'm not going to comment on that," Perez told journalists aboard the 97,000-ton carrier, but added that "everyday that you're a sailor in the U.S. Navy, you're a part of history."

Filipino-American Navy Corpsman Liberty Raposas said morale was "very high" among her colleagues.

Perez said hundreds of servicemen and women who trace their roots to the Philippines welcomed Aquino, who was given a tour of the ship and an exhibition of fighter jets landing and taking off.

Aquino, at one point, sat in the cockpit of an F/A-18E Super Hornet fighter jet in a hangar bay as sailors snapped pictures.

But the one thing on everybody's mind -- bin Laden's burial from the Carl Vinson just 12 days earlier -- was not raised by either side, Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin said.

"We did not ask for a briefing because it was too sensitive," Gazmin told The Associated Press on Sunday. "It was a friendly visit and we let it stay that way."

In impromptu remarks on the ship, Aquino reaffirmed the "historic, defense and cultural ties" between the United States and the Philippines, his spokesman, Ricky Carandang, said.

U.S. forces have been training and arming Filipino soldiers battling al-Qaida-linked militants in the south.

The Carl Vinson came from the North Arabian Sea, where it had received the SEAL team that carried bin Laden's body after his death in his compound near a Pakistani military academy.

Pentagon officials have said that on the carrier, bin Laden's body was placed in a "weighted bag," an officer made religious remarks and the remains were put on a flat board and tipped into the sea.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates has said that during a recent meeting with SEAL members who attacked bin Laden, they expressed concerns about their families' security.

American officials agreed shortly after bin Laden was killed not to release any details on the commando assault, Gates said, but added "that fell apart -- the next day."

"We are looking at what measures can be taken to pump up the security," Gates said.

The U.S. Embassy said Carl Vinson's servicemen will take part in sports events and civic projects with Filipino counterparts.

Philippine police have stepped up security in the capital, where left-wing groups have threatened to stage anti-U.S. military protests and al-Qaida-linked militants have previously staged bombings.

I figured socialist movie make Michael Moore would be mad about the murder of bin Laden, sadly I was wrong. Sounds like Michael Moore is just as bad as Bush or Obama.

Source

Final thoughts on death of bin Laden

Posted: Wednesday, May 18, 2011 3:30 am

By Michael Moore, guest commentary East Valley Tribune

Last week, President Obama fulfilled a campaign promise and killed Osama bin Laden. Well he didn't actually do the killing himself. It was carried out by a very brave and excellent team of Navy SEALs. Not only does Mr. Obama have the overwhelming support of the country, I think there are millions who gladly wish it could have been their finger on the gun that took out bin Laden.

When I heard the news a week ago Sunday, I immediately felt great. I felt relief. I thought of those who lost a loved one on 9/11. And I was glad we finally had a president who got something done.

Being near Ground Zero that night, I decided to head over there and join with others who saw this event as a chance to have some closure.

But before leaving to go to the former World Trade Center site, I turned on the TV, and what I saw was a frat boy-style party going on, complete with the shaking and spraying of champagne bottles over the crowd.

I can completely understand people wanting to celebrate - like I said, I, too, was happy - but something didn't feel right. It's one thing to be happy that a criminal has been captured and dealt with. It's another thing to throw a kegger celebrating his death at the site where the remains of his victims are still occasionally found. Is that who we are?

I remember my parents telling me how, on the day it was announced that Hitler was dead, there was no rejoicing in the streets, just private relief and satisfaction. The real celebration came six days later at the announcement that the war in Europe was over. THAT'S what the people wanted to hear - not just the demise of one evil madman, but the end to all the killing.

We are a different people now, aren't we? Well, sort of. There was no bloodlust euphoria on the day Timothy McVeigh was executed. We were silent. The families of the Oklahoma City dead were silent, relieved. What is the difference between McVeigh and bin Laden, other than the number they slaughtered? I wonder. I think we know the answer.

Meanwhile, we - me, included - get lost in the weeds of how this one madman was killed. The official story from the Pentagon changed four times in the first four days! It went from bin Laden firing on the troops with one hand and using his wife as a human shield with the other, to, by the fourth day, not a single person in the main house, including bin Laden, being armed when killed. Instantly, this created a lot of suspicion about what really happened, which itself was a distraction.

In a perfect world, I would like the evildoers to be forced to stand trial in front of that world. I know a lot of people see no need for a trial for these bad guys, and think trials are for sissies. Well, that is the exact description of the Taliban/al-Qaida/Nazi justice system. I don't like their system.

In fact, the reason I like a good trial is to show these people how it's done in a free country that believes in civilized justice. It's good for the rest of the world to see that, too. Sets a good example.

The other thing a trial does is establishes a very public and permanent historic record of the crimes against humanity. This is why we put the Nazis on trial in Nuremberg. We didn't do it for them. We did it for ourselves and for our grandchildren so that they would never forget these horrors and how they were committed. And we did it for the German people so they could see the evidence of what their elected leaders had done. Very helpful. Very necessary. Very powerful.

And for those who wanted blood back then - well, the majority of the Nazis all hanged in the end. So, it doesn't mean the bad guys get away - they still swing from the highest tree.

In the end, we did exactly what bin Laden said he wanted us to do: Give up our freedoms (like the freedom to be assumed innocent until proven guilty), engage our military in Muslim countries so that we will be hated by Muslims, and wipe ourselves out financially in doing so. Done, done and done, Osama. You had our number.

If we really want to send bin Laden not just to his death, but also to his defeat, may I suggest that we reverse all of that right now. End the wars, bring the troops home, make the rich pay for this mess, and restore our privacy and due process rights that used to distinguish us from any other country. Right now, our democracy looks like Singapore and our economy has gone desperately Greek.

Hideki Tojo killed my uncle and millions of Chinese, Koreans, Filipinos and a hundred thousand other Americans. He was the head of Japan, the Emperor's henchman, the man who was the architect of Pearl Harbor. When the American soldiers went to arrest him, he tried to commit suicide by shooting himself in the chest. The soldiers immediately worked on stopping his bleeding and rushed him to an army hospital where he was saved by army doctors.

He then had his day in court. It was a powerful exercise for the world to see. And on December 23, 1948, after he was found guilty, we hanged him. A killer of millions was forced to stand trial. A killer of 4,000 (counting the African embassies and USS Cole bombings) got double-tapped in his pajamas. Assuming it was possible to take him alive, I think his victims, the future, and the restoration of the American Way deserved better. That's all I'm saying.

Good riddance Osama.

Come back to your ways, my good ol' USA.

• Michael Moore is the Oscar and Emmy-winning director of "Roger & Me," "Bowling for Columbine," and "Fahrenheit 9/11." He can be reached at his website MichaelMoore.com.

Source

Stealth drones monitored bin Laden

May. 18, 2011 12:00 AM

Washington Post

WASHINGTON - The CIA employed sophisticated new stealth drone aircraft to fly dozens of secret missions deep into Pakistani airspace and monitor the compound where Osama bin Laden was killed, current and former U.S. officials said.

Using unmanned planes designed to evade radar detection and operate at high altitudes, the agency conducted clandestine flights over the compound for months before the May 2 assault in an effort to capture high-resolution video that satellites could not provide.

The aircraft allowed the CIA to glide undetected beyond the boundaries that Pakistan has long imposed on other U.S. drones, including the Predators and Reapers that routinely carry out strikes against militants near the border with Afghanistan.

The agency turned to the new stealth aircraft "because they needed to see more about what was going on" than other surveillance platforms allowed, said a former U.S. official familiar with the details of the operation. "It's not like you can just park a Predator overhead - the Pakistanis would know," added the former official, who, like others interviewed, spoke on the condition of anonymity, citing the sensitivity of the program.

The monitoring effort also involved satellites, eavesdropping equipment and CIA operatives based at a safe house in Abbottabad.

Source

CIA flew stealth drones into Pakistan to monitor bin Laden house

By Greg Miller, Published: May 17

The CIA employed sophisticated new stealth drone aircraft to fly dozens of secret missions deep into Pakistani airspace and monitor the compound where Osama bin Laden was killed, current and former U.S. officials said.

Using unmanned planes designed to evade radar detection and operate at high altitudes, the agency conducted clandestine flights over the compound for months before the May 2 assault in an effort to capture high-resolution video that satellites could not provide.

The aircraft allowed the CIA to glide undetected beyond the boundaries that Pakistan has long imposed on other U.S. drones, including the Predators and Reapers that routinely carry out strikes against militants near the border with Afghanistan.

The agency turned to the new stealth aircraft “because they needed to see more about what was going on” than other surveillance platforms allowed, said a former U.S. official familiar with the details of the operation. “It’s not like you can just park a Predator overhead — the Pakistanis would know,” added the former official, who, like others interviewed, spoke on the condition of anonymity, citing the sensitivity of the program.

The monitoring effort also involved satellites, eavesdropping equipment and CIA operatives based at a safe house in Abbottabad, the city where bin Laden was found. The agency declined to comment for this article.

The CIA’s repeated secret incursions into Pakistan’s airspace underscore the level of distrust between the United States and a country often described as a key counterterrorism ally, and one that has received billions of dollars in U.S. aid.

Pakistan’s spy chief, Lt. Gen. Ahmed Shuja Pasha, last week offered to resign over the government’s failures to detect or prevent a U.S. operation that he described as a “breach of Pakistan’s sovereignty.” The country’s military and main intelligence service have come under harsh criticism since the revelation that bin Laden had been living in a garrison city — in the midst of the nation’s military elite — possibly for years.

The new drones represent a major advance in the capabilities of remotely piloted planes, which have been the signature American weapon against terrorist groups since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

In 2009, the Air Force acknowledged the existence of a stealth drone, a Lockheed Martin model known as the RQ-170 Sentinel, two years after it was spotted at an airfield in Kandahar, Afghanistan. The aircraft bears the distinct, bat-winged shape of larger stealth warplanes. The operational use of the drones has never been described by official sources.

The extensive aerial surveillance after the compound was identified in August helps explain why the CIA went to Congress late last year, seeking permission to transfer tens of millions of dollars within agency budgets to fund intelligence-gathering efforts focused on the complex.

The stealth drones were used on the night of the raid, providing imagery that President Obama and members of his national security team appear in photographs to have been watching as U.S. Navy SEALs descended on the compound shortly after 1 a.m. in Pakistan. The drones are also equipped to eavesdrop on electronic transmissions, enabling U.S. officials to monitor the Pakistani response.

CIA flew stealth drones into Pakistan to monitor bin Laden house

View Photo Gallery —  The long-hunted al-Qaeda leader and chief architect of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks was killed by U.S. forces May 1 in a surgical raid.

The use of one of the aircraft on the night of the raid was reported by the National Journal’s Marc Ambinder, who said in a tweet May 2 that an “RQ-170 drone [was] overhead.”

The CIA never obtained a photograph of bin Laden at the compound or other direct confirmation of his presence before the assault, but the agency concluded after months of watching the complex that the figure frequently seen pacing back and forth was probably the al-Qaeda chief.

The operation in Abbottabad involved another U.S. aircraft with stealth features, a Black Hawk helicopter equipped with special cladding to dampen noise and evade detection during the 90-minute flight from a base in Afghanistan. The helicopter was intentionally destroyed by U.S. forces — leaving only a tail section intact — after a crash landing at the outset of the raid.

‘A difficult challenge’

The assault and the months of surveillance leading up to it involved venturing into some of Pakistan’s most sensitive terrain. Because of the compound’s location — near military and nuclear facilities — it was surrounded by Pakistani radar and other systems that could have detected encroachment by Predators or other non-stealth surveillance planes, according to U.S. officials.

“It’s a difficult challenge trying to secure information about any area or object of interest that is in a location where access is denied,” said retired Air Force Lt. Gen. David Deptula, who served as head of intelligence and surveillance for that service. The challenge is multiplied, he said, when the surveillance needs to be continuous, which “makes non-stealthy slow-speed aircraft easier to detect.”

Satellites can typically provide snapshots of fixed locations every 90 minutes. “Geosynchronous” satellites can keep pace with the Earth’s rotation and train their lenses on a fixed site, but they orbit at 22,500 miles up. By contrast, drones fly at altitudes between 15,000 and 50,000 feet.

In a fact sheet released by the Air Force, the RQ-170 is described as a “low observable unmanned aircraft system,” meaning that it was designed to hide the signatures that make ordinary aircraft detectable by radar and other means. The sheet provides no other technical details.

Stealth aircraft typically use a range of radar-defeating technologies. Their undersides are covered with materials designed to absorb sound waves rather than bouncing them back at sensors on the ground. Their engines are shielded and their exhaust diverted upward to avoid heat trails visible to infrared sensors.

Unlike the Predator — a cigar-shaped aircraft with distinct wings and a tail — the RQ-170 looks like more like a boomerang, with few sharp angles or protruding pieces to spot.

The Air Force has not explained why the RQ-170 was deployed to Afghanistan, where U.S. forces are battling insurgents with no air defenses. Air Force officials declined to comment for this story.

Strikes along the border

Over the past two years, the U.S. military has provided many of its Afghanistan-based Predators and Reapers to the CIA for operations in Pakistan’s tribal region, where insurgent groups are based. The stealth drones followed a similar path across the Pakistan border, officials said, but then diverged and continued toward the compound in Abbottabad.

U.S. officials said the drones wouldn’t have needed to be directly over the target to capture high-resolution video, because they are equipped with cameras that can gaze at steep angles in all directions. “It’s all geometry and slant ranges,” said a former senior defense intelligence official.

Still, the missions were regarded as particularly risky because, if detected, they might have called Pakistani attention to U.S. interest in the bin Laden compound.

“Bin Laden was in the heart of Pakistan and very near several of the nuclear weapons production sites,” including two prominent complexes southeast of Islamabad, said David Albright, a nuclear weapons proliferation expert at the Institute for Science and International Security.

To protect such sites, Pakistan’s military has invested heavily in sophisticated radar and other aircraft-detection systems. “They have traditionally worried most about penetration from India, but also the United States,” Albright said.

Largely because of those concerns, Pakistan has placed strict limits on the number and range of CIA-operated Predators patrolling the country’s tribal areas. U.S. officials refer to the restricted zones as “flight boxes” that encompass North and South Waziristan.

Staff writers Craig Whitlock and Greg Jaffe and staff researcher Julie Tate contributed to this report.

Source

Osama Bin Laden audio praises Arab protests

May. 18, 2011 07:58 PM

Associated Press

WASHINGTON - Shortly before his death, Osama bin Laden recorded a message praising the Middle East protest movements and predicting that revolutions would spread across the region.

"I think that the winds of change will blow over the entire Muslim world, with permission from Allah," bin Laden said in the 12-minute message released online Thursday.

The message was released as a video, but it contains only an audio track and a photo of the terrorist leader.

Though both bin Laden and the West have generally supported protest movements in Egypt, Tunisia and elsewhere, their goals are very different. The West hopes the protests will lead to democratic reforms. Bin Laden and his followers saw many Middle East governments as corrupt and hoped their collapse would lead to government based on their interpretation of Islamic law.

In the recording, Bin Laden accused rulers of building themselves into idols and manipulating the media to stay in power.

"So, what are you waiting for?" he implored listeners. "Save yourselves and your children, because the opportunity is here."

Bin Laden was killed by Navy SEALs in a daring May 2 raid. U.S. intelligence officials were aware that the recording was in the pipeline. The video was released to jihadist websites by al-Qaida's media arm and was obtained and translated by SITE Intelligence Group.

Bin Laden was known to record many of his thoughts, and intelligence officials are poring over the recordings discovered in his Pakistani compound. But it's unclear whether he released any other recordings prior to his death or whether this is the final sermon from the terrorist mastermind.

Source

Standoff at Pakistan Naval Base Ends

By SALMAN MASOOD and DAVID E. SANGER

Published: May 23, 2011

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pakistani security forces cleared a major Pakistani naval base of heavily armed insurgents on Monday after a 17-hour gun battle, finally quashing a coordinated attack that destroyed two American-made aircraft and left at least 12 security officers dead, officials said.

Rehman Malik, the country’s interior minister, told reporters on Monday that there were at least six attackers, four of whom were killed and two who escaped.

The attackers used rocket-propelled grenades, “two rocket launchers and light machine guns,” Mr. Malik said, calling the attack on the base in the southern city of Karachi coordinated and well planned. “One of the attackers blew himself up” during the firefight, he said.

The attackers wore dark clothes to avoid detection in the night, cut barbed wire at the backside of the naval base and used two ladders to jump over a wall into the base, Mr. Malik said. “They were wearing Western dress — black trousers and shirts and not shalwar qameez,” he said, referring to the traditional Pakistani dress.

He said 17 foreigners were on the base when the attack began, including 6 Americans military trainers and 11 Chinese equipment technicians. They were quickly moved to another location for safety, he said.

The attack was the most significant against a Pakistani military facility since the takeover in 2009 of parts of the army headquarters in Rawalpindi, near the Pakistani capital. But in this case the insurgents were reported to be well inside the naval base, where American-supplied P-3C Orion patrol aircraft and Harpoon antiship missiles are located, according to a classified cable sent to the State Department in October 2009.

Two P-C3 Orion aircraft were destroyed and a third damaged in the attack, Pakistani officials said.

The Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack on Monday, saying it was to avenge the May 2 killing of Osama bin Laden, Reuters reported. In recent weeks, Pakistani intelligence officials have said they were bracing for retaliatory attacks by militants sympathetic to Bin Laden.

Mr. Malik said intelligence intercepts had indicated that Taliban in the Waziristan tribal region planned an attack on the military and security forces installations across the country in revenge for the Bin Laden killing.

Local television news networks broadcast images of an aircraft caught in flames and thick smoke billowing out of the naval base as staccato of gunfire echoed in the background.

The attack was bound to revive questions of how the militants penetrated the facility, Naval Station Mehran, which the Pakistanis contend is a highly secure and guarded installation, about six miles from Jinnah International Airport in Karachi.

While an important base, it is far from the most vital military installation in the teeming city. About 15 miles away, near the Masroor Air Base, Pakistan is believed to keep a large depot for nuclear weapons that can be delivered from the air. There were no reports of attacks there.

President Asif Ali Zardari condemned the attack on the base, and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani ordered Mr. Malik to immediately travel to Karachi.

Both officials have been under extraordinary pressure since the killing of Bin Laden, largely because the American attack on the Bin Laden compound was not detected by Pakistan until the Navy Seal team that conducted it was already flying out of the country.

Troops belonging to the Pakistan Rangers, a paramilitary force, cordoned off the naval base as the attackers exchanged gunfire with Pakistan Navy commandos for more than three hours. The attackers breached the security around the base with automatic weapons, rockets and grenades around 10:40 p.m. Sunday.

Military installations in Karachi have been attacked before by militants affiliated with Taliban insurgents and Al Qaeda, and Pakistan’s navy in particular has been attacked in recent months with roadside bombs aimed at navy buses.

Amir Rana, a terrorism and security expert, said that Sunday’s attack in Karachi may not have been the work of the Pakistani Taliban alone. “We need to look at local groups, which are active in Karachi and have links with Al Qaeda,” he said. “They have used sophisticated techniques in the past. So, it can be a nexus of local groups with Al Qaeda.”

Mr. Rana said that militant groups maintain their presence and influence in Shah Faisal Colony, a sprawling lower- and middle-class neighborhood, adjacent to the naval base, adding that the possibility of an inside job could not discounted.

For the residents of Karachi, the country’s largest city and commercial and financial hub, the assault fueled deep frustration with the security forces for failing to thwart attacks by insurgents.

“The attack on P.N.S. Mehran has promoted the fear that the city is completely out of control,” said Rafia Zakaria, a columnist for Dawn, the country’s leading daily.

“This bold attack, in the immediate aftermath of the Abbottabad operation, proves that the Pakistani military is neither as formidable or capable as Pakistanis have believed for decades,” said Ms. Zakaria, who is based in the United States but is currently visiting Karachi.

Salman Masood reported from Islamabad, and David E. Sanger from Washington.

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