Western intelligence agencies were able to form a detailed picture of Osama bin Laden's movements in the years after 9/11, and came closer to capturing or killing him than has so far been acknowledged, a former European intelligence official has disclosed.
The former official, who declined to be identified, told CNN that in 2003 and 2004 an informant in the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region with close connections to al Qaeda's top leadership provided a stream of reliable information on bin Laden's movements. But the information was never quite fresh enough for Western intelligence agencies to target al Qaeda's leader.
Nearly nine years ago, bin Laden and others in the al Qaeda leadership escaped as their haven among the caves and mountains of Tora Bora - close to the Afghanistan border with Pakistan - came under withering U.S. air attacks. Despite bin Laden being the world's most sought-after fugitive, to date very little has been reliably reported about his movements beyond a consensus that he is now likely hiding somewhere in the tribal areas of Pakistan.
The former official said that in the period after bin Laden left Tora Bora, under pressure and on the run, he and his lieutenants were little able to communicate with each other. But gradually, al Qaeda restored its communications and was able to resume meetings.
Bin Laden even met with 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed at some point before the latter's arrest in February 2003. Additionally, bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri were frequently in the same area and regularly in communication.
During this time, Western intelligence agencies were able to draw up a detailed map tracing bin Laden's movements, according to the former intelligence official.
In 2003-2004, bin Laden spent time in several areas - amid the rugged mountains of Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal areas and in Pakistan's North West Frontier Province, a more heavily populated area where Pakistan's security forces had a greater presence.
But according to the former official, bin Laden shunned big cities, preferring to stay in rural areas. The intelligence stream indicated that al Qaeda's leader also made several trips across into Afghanistan during this period, despite the presence of tens of thousands of U.S. troops.
In a high-stakes game of hide-and-seek, Western intelligence agencies were always playing catch-up as bin Laden moved from location to location. Tantalizingly at one point, according to the former official, information about his exact location was only one week old. But the intelligence stream on bin Laden's movements never resulted in what is known as "actionable intelligence" that could have led to his capture or assassination.
After 2004 the intelligence stream dried up, according to the former official, who did not elaborate why. But he said that despite the setback, information on al Qaeda's leaders' movements never completely dried up; and recent intelligence suggested bin Laden and al-Zawahiri were still in close geographic proximity and able to communicate with each other.
However, few al Qaeda followers get to meet them. European and American jihadists who joined up with al Qaeda in 2008 have subsequently told Western interrogators that for security reasons access for them to bin Laden was strictly off limits.
Bin Laden is now mainly concentrating on providing "strategic direction" to the al Qaeda organization, rather than involving himself deeply in the daily running of the terrorist organization, the former official told CNN. Raw intelligence reports leaked in July on the Wikileaks website suggesting bin Laden took part in detailed planning of operations should be treated with skepticism, said the former official.
U.S. intelligence officials play down the possibility that bin Laden might be captured soon. CIA Director Leon Panetta stated in June that very little hard information on bin Laden's movements had come to light in recent years.
But on Friday, President Barack Obama said that pressure on the al Qaeda leadership meant that "they have been holed up in ways that have made it harder for them to operate." He added: "Bin Laden has gone deep underground. Even Zawahiri, who is more often out there, has been much more cautious."
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Bin laden is at least 50 feet under ground some where.
Fuking Idiots. Stay Stupid It Works for you.
The myth of OBL's still being alive lines everyone's pockets. The Pakistani ISI, The Taliban, Al Quada, religious muslim fundamentalists world wide, the intel agencies of the West, and last but not least the US National Security State.
In my humble opinion.......Osama was killed shortly after 9/11...he was a patsy. The CIA has his body on ice somewhere and when ready they will pull it out and say " Hey look, Obama the great one found Osama!!!" ......Obama will guarantee his re-election and the war on terror will continue till all resources are secured.
now, YOU, were saying?
Iraq = Jihad.
Slit Their Fuking Throats.
Inshallah.
Mariah ? on top of you also still owe me 20 dollars,
The ONLY Thing I want To Hear come out of YOUR Mouth?
" ANY Thing YOU Want Honey Bear ",
you new x-mas song is "Oh Santa? wel lest look at My List, Have YOU been Naughty or Nice??,,
hmm,,naughty, naughty,naughty,naughty,naughty,naugty,naughty, hmm NOT Looking GOOD here,
hang on ,let me check my OTHER Lists,,,
blocked intercpted = `p`iss me off some more `c`.u.n,.t.s.
Now, Who is next?
which reminds me Denver city – countty? YOU also owe my ex wife Barbara Jeanettee Shaw 100 Million Dollars.
YOU were saying?
america Owes me 306 Million.
Feds &Jackson County Owes my ex wife Barb 3 Million Dollars. as well as also owes My daughter Jessi 3 million.
Springfield Or. and that pig edegar "Doc" Owes MY ex wife Anna and Daughter Jessi 100 million Dollars.
I been llooking for yOU smith in oregon. sukcks ot be YOU. or goernor ted kozinzky.
go spend 5 minutes finding out who i am. look up cars that run on water. engines that run on steam. explsoives. terroits. f.b.i, long list.
then come back here and suck MY dick.
To Many Big Words? no speak english? deaf ? retarded?
stupid? (no need to answer)
YOU can not even find ONE ArmY Nurse?
maybe im looking fo rthe wrong Ranked Nurse?
hey,, Anyone seen, General Deborah Christine D' Angelo? from Jersey?
now, YOU were saying?
oh im sorry,, YOU never heard of ME. so there fore I dont exist. YOU know EVERYONE. YOU KNOW EVERYTHING.
YOU dont see me so,,,
Idiots.
now i have GOOD News, BAD News, and Worse News, Which do YOU want First?
hey idiot, Guess What , IM a REAL 5 Star General.
Inshallah.
smart off some more.
blocked interecpted = now tell your self im not real some more, u c~ock smoker. its ok you are a qu~eer now.
now tell your self im not real some more, u c~ock smoker. its ok you are a qu~eer now.
Now,,Wheres Waldo? and MY Nurse? and Mariah ?
Nice to see that not too many ppl are rly taking this STORY seriously and that even less ppl are reading it. This story is just a load of BS. Ppl know this is bout money/ oil not Osama. He's just another excuse to stay there.
which Testament are you?
A Funny thinh Happened on the Road To Kashmir,,,Wheres Mariah? "we " "meme and i = we" neeed to have a Little "chat",
Next.
message blocked.
Osama is not dead. The terrorist world would rejoice if he had died, knowing the U.S. was never able to capture or kill him.
I have heard this story in different forms since 2001. In short, "we" were close to capturing him. Big deal.
I heard OBL is hanging out in Tel Aviv beaches....all shaved and clean....he is a toursit guide there
rotflmfao !!!!!!
Osama moved to Mexico, crossed our border illegally and now we can't touch him!! He's amongst us man!!!
well Factully, mexico now goes all the way to camp white side in oregon. pretty much every thing south is now mexico.
texas is also now mexico, i was born in "New Mexico, "wizard = WAllhummper ",
Witch "Wizzard" are you?
Osama Bin Laden the American CIA trained & weapons supplied terrorist is either dead or is in a safe house either in white house or the undergroud vaults of the Pentagon thats why he cannot be found, so its nessassary to raid the White House or Pentagon if this terrorist is to be arrested
hmm mayeb he is under obamas new 500 milion doallar desk,,,did obam buy more then one of those "Rugs", he does know to buy at least 3- 5 of them dont he? some stains you just cant get out,,
Such false flag propaganda as 'we are still searching for Osama bin Ladin and we got this close' is simply bait to see how many react to the false flag propaganda. Osama bin Ladin is either long dead in a unmarked grave or living fat off of American taxpayer Billions given to Pakistan inside a sweet Pakistani ISI safe house with his numerous wives and children.
By casting Osama into the role of the shadow bogeyman, the CIA can extort unlimited funding from the US Congress and US Senators that are gullible enough to be sold there pack of lies and crafted fiction.
Right smith in oregon. Bait For Me, not working real well for them.
do you have a firt name and home town?
want mine again?
do YOU have an extra Fire Truck for Butte Falls Or.?
keep running coward.
hey smith GAS bag in Oregon? YOU the same one who ripped off 150 million from jobs from MY Children to buy a fuking amtrac train car?
are YOU THAT Smith?
Yup.
well then,it sucks to BE YOU.
YOU owe MY children 13 Trillion Dollars and A Fire Truck. And I want it. Now.
D.R. Shaw Butte Falls Or. Regestered Independent.
how do you tell a punjabi from a hindu from a pile of S.H.I.T ?
The S.H.I.T Smells Better. I m not your hindu gurlfriend paki dog. go hump a leg , inshallah.
go lay down with your pups, inshallah,
go set your underwear on fire, inshallah
guess again you son of a pig.
i heard Ayatollah Bn Laden had the Hots for Whitney huston. and i heard she and Bobby Brown Broke up, maybe you can use her ass for bait, or something. or trade her for prisoners or something, inshallah.
Wheres waldo?
hey punjabi dog, these kaffur want to know why i dont kill you for them? hey american dog,,,this punjabi trash wanst ot know why i dont kill you for them,,
Wrong Answer.
Now that is funny!!!
ROTFLMFAO !!!!
Breaking News: Osama is indian agent according to Pakistani Intelligence......
"Pakistani Intelligence" That is an oxymoron.
are hindus really filthy? Osama is indian agent working for sare gama raaaaaaaaaa
"After 2004 the intelligence stream dried up, according to the former official, who did not elaborate why"
The intelligence stream dried up because the NY Times published our methods of tracking UBL and AQ. As a result UBL and AQ change their methods of communications, relying on messengers instead of technology. NY Times committed treason against the United States.
Right.
now add Murdoch and turner and,,,
and clinton, and obama,and bush,and cheany,and rove,
rumsfeild, mc chrystall,petray,mullen,
We had to retaliate...look how many people here died on 9-11-01. I pray for our military and our government.
This Guy that is using My Old Name must be a real Idiot!!! Because everyone can see that it isn't me...
OMG... do you mean... the 9/11 conspiracy... is a goverment conspiracy?
This is too big a mystery for me, I think we'd better call the Hardly Boys.
That would give me a raging stonker.
Binhidin is the boogieman for the official big lie 9/11 story.
The only liar here is you, Mr. Conspiracy Theorist!
As an old navy radioman, i know atmospheric desturbense occour. Maybe he was at Bora Bora, not Tora Bora.
blah blah blah
That sounds like a typical Tea Partier when they're not using their favorite Sunday School words.They never say anything intelligent anyway.
As opposed to you, who constantly blathers his conspiracy theories about the MIC.
Is dead.
Claim of MooHamMad.
Another propaganda piece. Osama bin Ladin is now nothing but a huge Cash Cow for the US Military complex.
Osama bin Ladin is either long dead and various sightings of him along with alleged tapes are simply false flag propaganda releases by the CIA to continue to milk the Cash Cow OR
Osama bin Ladin is living in a Pakistani ISI safe house, fat from American taxpayer provided Billions of free cash America has provided the Pakistani Government. Recent Pakistani ISI statements indicate the ISI have a great many of the top Taliban Commanders living largely in ISI safe houses.
Quite true,Smith.Thank you.
Keep your own opinion to yourself i can speak for myself perfectly well.
I see that this jerk just stole your ID,Smith since I know that it wasn't you.He steals mine,too!
The only reason that you would call this war obscene is because we are taking out all the obscene people like the Taliban and terrorists alike that have no concern for life, just for power and control over the people and if you ask these extreme Islamic radicals they would be telling you that would not stop at just power and control over their own people but all people!
Sorry folks,I didn't post that stupid statement above.This war is obscene because the Afghans are suffering from it far more than the Americans are and the right-wing thugs in Washington don't care as long as it serves ther selfish agenda!
And the ones doing all the killing are taliban and their supporters the ISI.
I wish I wasn't too stupid to realize the left wing thugs control Washington. But hey, what can I do? I live beneath power lines in my parents' basement and my tinfoil hat doesn't give much protection from the radiation emanating from MIC's black helicopters.
There goes Ernie Beatty again,trying to make Dan look like a fool in the last two blogs.I suppose he'll do it to me next.
I don't think so, you are not of any interest.
Only those who have the best interest for the entire nation of Afghanistan will win this war! And when we leave when the Afghan security forces can do it alone I hope they kill every one of you and your murderous terrorists of truth 360 degrees!
God created Muhammad and therefor Islam is a false religion. Do not worship false prophets like Muhammad. It is written, it is so.
How much sense does it make to justify taking life – by saying they don't care about life....doesn't sound very pro-life.... The fact that by perpetrating an unprovoked war doesn't sound like terror to you?
As if they're going to find the remains of Osama bin Laden who in most probablity has been dead for the past 8 years.More right-wing propaganda just to keep the support for this obscene war going.
Yabba-dabba-doo!!!
Either He is dead are He is living with The Bush's in Texas!!!
Yeppers! If they catch him they'll have to call this whole war (strengthening the military industrial complex) thingy off... and what capitalist making weapons wants that?
Why is America so set on fighting the Tailban? I thought America was after al Queada teorrists? Taliban had nothing to do with 9/11.
We're so 'obsessed' with fighting the Taliban because we're in Afghanistan. The Taliban technically control the country because after we helped the Taliban fight of the soviets back in the 80's we left them with a lot of weapons and control over the country.
The Taliban is reffered to as an Islamic fundamentalist group aiding al-quida in afganistan...the truth is...The Taliban is nothing but a drug cartel, suppliers of 80% of the herion sold in the world. Most of them could care less about Allah and the muslim faith. Their interest is in the cash from enslaving their fellow countrymen to raise and distribute their crop.