法拉盛的小留是一年不如一年 (转载)# Joke - 肚皮舞运动
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_bin_laden_hunt_for_bin_laden
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 monitored 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.
Shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, detainees in the CIA's
secret prison network told interrogators about an important courier with the
nom de guerre Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti who was close to bin Laden. After the
CIA captured al-Qaida's No. 3 leader, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, he confirmed
knowing al-Kuwaiti but denied he had anything to do with al-Qaida.
Then in 2004, top al-Qaida operative Hassan Ghul was captured in Iraq. Ghul
told the CIA that al-Kuwaiti was a courier, someone crucial to the terrorist
organization. In particular, Ghul said, the courier was close to Faraj al-
Libi, who replaced Mohammed as al-Qaida's operational commander. It was a
key break in the hunt for in bin Laden's personal courier.
"Hassan Ghul was the linchpin," a U.S. official said.
Finally, in May 2005, al-Libi was captured. Under CIA interrogation, al-Libi
admitted that when he was promoted to succeed Mohammed, he received the
word through a courier. But he made up a name for the courier and denied
knowing al-Kuwaiti, a denial that was so adamant and unbelievable that the
CIA took it as confirmation that he and Mohammed were protecting the courier
. It only reinforced the idea that al-Kuwaiti was very important to al-Qaida.
If they could find the man known as al-Kuwaiti, 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 discuss al-Kuwaiti while being subjected to the simulated
drowning technique known as waterboarding, former officials said. He
acknowledged knowing him 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 before the CIA identified the courier's real name:
Sheikh Abu Ahmed, a Pakistani man born in Kuwait. 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.
Ahmed was identified by detainees as a mid-level operative who helped al-
Qaida members and their families find safe havens. But his whereabouts were
such a mystery to U.S. intelligence that, according to Guantanamo Bay
documents, one detainee said Ahmed was wounded while fleeing U.S. forces
during the invasion of Afghanistan and later died in the arms of the
detainee.
But in the middle of last year, Ahmed had a telephone conversation with
someone 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. Ahmed 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 Ahmed.
In August 2010, Ahmed 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."
Brennan told CNN Tuesday that "there was no single piece of information that
was an 'ah-hah' moment." He said officials took "bits and pieces" of
intelligence gathered and analyzed over a long period of time to nail down
the leads they needed.
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. A
firefight ensued, Brennan said.
Ahmed and his brother were killed, officials said. Then, the SEALs killed
bin Laden with a bullet just above his left eye, blowing off part his skull,
another official said. 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, who was wounded, 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
."
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 monitored 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.
Shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, detainees in the CIA's
secret prison network told interrogators about an important courier with the
nom de guerre Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti who was close to bin Laden. After the
CIA captured al-Qaida's No. 3 leader, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, he confirmed
knowing al-Kuwaiti but denied he had anything to do with al-Qaida.
Then in 2004, top al-Qaida operative Hassan Ghul was captured in Iraq. Ghul
told the CIA that al-Kuwaiti was a courier, someone crucial to the terrorist
organization. In particular, Ghul said, the courier was close to Faraj al-
Libi, who replaced Mohammed as al-Qaida's operational commander. It was a
key break in the hunt for in bin Laden's personal courier.
"Hassan Ghul was the linchpin," a U.S. official said.
Finally, in May 2005, al-Libi was captured. Under CIA interrogation, al-Libi
admitted that when he was promoted to succeed Mohammed, he received the
word through a courier. But he made up a name for the courier and denied
knowing al-Kuwaiti, a denial that was so adamant and unbelievable that the
CIA took it as confirmation that he and Mohammed were protecting the courier
. It only reinforced the idea that al-Kuwaiti was very important to al-Qaida.
If they could find the man known as al-Kuwaiti, 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 discuss al-Kuwaiti while being subjected to the simulated
drowning technique known as waterboarding, former officials said. He
acknowledged knowing him 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 before the CIA identified the courier's real name:
Sheikh Abu Ahmed, a Pakistani man born in Kuwait. 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.
Ahmed was identified by detainees as a mid-level operative who helped al-
Qaida members and their families find safe havens. But his whereabouts were
such a mystery to U.S. intelligence that, according to Guantanamo Bay
documents, one detainee said Ahmed was wounded while fleeing U.S. forces
during the invasion of Afghanistan and later died in the arms of the
detainee.
But in the middle of last year, Ahmed had a telephone conversation with
someone 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. Ahmed 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 Ahmed.
In August 2010, Ahmed 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."
Brennan told CNN Tuesday that "there was no single piece of information that
was an 'ah-hah' moment." He said officials took "bits and pieces" of
intelligence gathered and analyzed over a long period of time to nail down
the leads they needed.
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. A
firefight ensued, Brennan said.
Ahmed and his brother were killed, officials said. Then, the SEALs killed
bin Laden with a bullet just above his left eye, blowing off part his skull,
another official said. 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, who was wounded, 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
."
