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| India-Pakistan |
| US unusually optimistic about reports out of Pakistan |
| 2006-01-14 |
| A U.S. airstrike on a suspected Al Qaeda compound in a remote region of Pakistan targeted Osama bin Laden's second in command, U.S. officials said Friday, adding that they were investigating the possibility that the Egyptian militant had been killed. The CIA and other counter-terrorism agencies would not comment officially on speculation that Ayman Zawahiri was among a handful of suspected senior Al Qaeda militants killed in the airstrike in the Bajaur region near the Afghan border early Friday. Nor would they say on the record whether U.S. warplanes or unmanned Predator drones had fired precision-guided missiles on at suspected militant hide-outs in the area, as reported by Pakistani officials and eyewitnesses. A senior U.S. counter-terrorism official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information, said a compound that had been attacked was known to be frequented by Zawahiri and other top Al Qaeda operatives. Pakistani military sources told officials in Washington that they believed Zawahiri might have been among the dead, the official said. The official said that U.S. authorities had been monitoring the location for months in hopes of striking at Zawahiri and that drones were sent to kill him when intelligence indicated he was there. Although it was too early to tell whether Zawahiri or any other key Al Qaeda operative had been killed, the official called reports coming out of Pakistan encouraging, saying U.S. intelligence and counter-terrorism authorities view them with unusual optimism. The official acknowledged that false reports of Zawahiri's death have been made from time to time. "There is something different about this one," the official said. "This seems to have validity." U.S. counter-terrorism officials said Washington was eagerly awaiting more information from Pakistan after daybreak today. They said identifying the bodies could take several days. For years, Zawahiri and Bin Laden were inseparable, several U.S. counter-terrorism officials said. But the two are believed to have been physically separated for some time, in part to make it harder for their pursuers to kill them simultaneously. The U.S. counter-terrorism official said they probably were not together Friday. "They have been separated. Not too far away, but separate," the official said. Many counter-terrorism officials believe that the Al Qaeda terrorist network has become a much more decentralized organization than it was before the 2001 attacks, when it ran training camps in Afghanistan. U.S. officials said killing Zawahiri would be the biggest success so far in Washington's war on terrorism, but it could also spark a backlash from Al Qaeda sympathizers around the world. Bin Laden has not been heard from publicly since December 2004, and some U.S. officials suspect that he is incapacitated. Other U.S. authorities say Zawahiri has long been the true mastermind of Al Qaeda. Area residents and a member of parliament from the Bajaur region told reporters Friday that that four U.S. aircraft entered Pakistani territory from Afghanistan about 3 a.m. and attacked residential compounds in the village of Berkandi. The area borders Afghanistan's Kunar province, where U.S.-led forces are battling Taliban and allied insurgents. The tribal area is about 70 miles north of Peshawar in northwestern Pakistan. "I saw four aircraft enter the area from Kunar province, which circled over the area for half an hour," resident Mohammed Rafiq said. "The planes made several sorties and fired missiles, which caused loud explosions." Witnesses said 14 of those killed in the blasts belonged to one family. Haji Haroon Rashid, the Bajaur lawmaker, said he witnessed the attack and alleged that a spy plane had been seen flying over the area for days. "I left my bed immediately after hearing the loud noise of planes. Thousands of other people were also watching the aircraft for half an hour, which fired nine missiles," Rashid said. "They killed innocent children and women who have absolutely no connection with terrorism." In Kabul, the Afghan capital, U.S. military spokesman Lt. Mike Cody told Associated Press that he had no report of an attack. Army Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan, a Pakistani spokesman, said he did not know the cause of the blasts, but he confirmed that they caused casualties. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasneem Aslam said it was unclear whether the explosions were caused by a cross-border rocket attack or whether they originated inside Pakistan. She and Sultan said the incident was under investigation. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #19 I sense the ice getting thinner. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2006-01-14 19:59 |
| #18 I'm waiting for the first reference to the mark inflicted by He Who Must Not be Named ... but this guy is no Harry Potter. |
| Posted by: lotp 2006-01-14 19:37 |
| #17 heh heh - Inshal'lah |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-01-14 19:13 |
| #16 Frank G: I thought it was a 'target' birthmark gift from Allan. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2006-01-14 19:08 |
| #15 pressing your forehead to the ground during praying doesn't do that. Having it pressed for years to the prison floor (while on all fours) may. Explains his nickname in Egypt: Dr. Sweet Cheeks |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-01-14 15:38 |
| #14 Lots of the terrorists have ugly forehead thingies, from all the praying they do with their foreheads pressed to the ground, so just finding such debris isn't that helpful... |
| Posted by: Flerert Whese8274 2006-01-14 15:27 |
| #13 Claiming it was a UAV hit does several things for the Pakistanis. It means there were no US citizens over their territory in a fighter/bomber, it puts this in the same category as the hit on the dude in Yemen a while back - or in the same category as the Israeli assasinations. |
| Posted by: lotp 2006-01-14 14:40 |
| #12 "Thousands of other people were also watching the aircraft for half an hour" Yeah, sure Haji, like we'd give the Z-man a half hour of warning. Sure. |
| Posted by: Darrell 2006-01-14 13:06 |
| #11 49 pan Amen to the message. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2006-01-14 12:08 |
| #10 You can hear the UAV's but the jets are much higher, further away and usually out of hearing range thus making the mistake of thinking the UAV's fired the missles understandable. The message our IO guys need to get out to the Pak villagers is "if you provide sanctuary to Zaw or Zark or any AQ you and your family will die in the hit". |
| Posted by: 49 Pan 2006-01-14 11:48 |
| #9 Also, the UAV's are generally high and quiet enough to be undetectable - except to highly sensed Paki lawmakers, of course. I call multi-BS on the Paks and the villagers...anything over two missiles was a multi-aircraft strike, probably set up by a UAV watching (and undetected...). If they find a forehead with an ugly knotty thing on it, we got him |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-01-14 11:40 |
| #8 Accurate counting is taught in the higher grades over there, 6. Most of the tribesman never get to that point. ;-) (Besides, I can't imagine worrying about counting stuff, when the world is suddenly going boom! around me. But I'm a bit of a wimp that way.) |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2006-01-14 10:53 |
| #7 fired nine missiles 4 drones? Maybe an engine upgrade or something entirely new or Paki BS? |
| Posted by: 6 2006-01-14 10:46 |
| #6 Haven't seen this much speculation in a long time. Half the threads say we missed him (wishfull thinking from the left maybe) and half the threads say we got him. Either way stuff like this must freak them out, when a dozen missiles come out of nowhere in the middle of the night, in the middle of the desert. |
| Posted by: bigjim-ky 2006-01-14 10:35 |
| #5 #3 - "but it could also spark a backlash from Al Qaeda sympathizers around the world." is not editorializing but rather a weird (although widely accepted) distortion designed to divert people's attention in the information front of WWIV. It's another effort to get the US to think that if we ignored al-Qaeda, they would leave us alone. < /FAT CHANCE> |
| Posted by: Whutch Threth6418 2006-01-14 09:46 |
| #4 I hope this is true if so this is a huge huge sucess at just the right time too. Zarwahiri was the AQ man to Iran(AKA phase 3 WOT) and he was the smart one. By that I mean Zarwahiri leads with his brain not emotion like Zark. This will cripple AQ in Afghanistan badly and at the same time make Zark the top dog. Zark while he probably makes a great foot soldgier his making decisions on emotion of the moment with a especially brutal aspect for the sake of well being brutal makes his promotion a victory for US in the WOT. Although I hate to say it but if this is true and Zark moves up I would expect the LA times editoral to be true old Zark is going to be pissed and with full control his first order I would imagine would be full frontal assualt with maximum death anywere they can get the numbers. Of course these kind of offenses cant be held, loses hearts and minds, and burns the resources up but I dont think Zark sees that far out and is exactley why I think he would be a great leader for AQ well at least for our benefit. |
| Posted by: C-Low 2006-01-14 08:15 |
| #3 U.S. officials said killing Zawahiri would be the biggest success so far in Washington's war on terrorism, but it could also spark a backlash from Al Qaeda sympathizers around the world. When read quickly, the second part of the sentence seems to say that the 'U.S. officials' said a backlash would occur; then I looked at the link and realized it's the L.A. Times editorializing yet again in a news article. |
| Posted by: Raj 2006-01-14 07:30 |
| #2 Time to revisit: http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/the_dilbert_blog/2005/12/best_and_worst_.html |
| Posted by: Lone Ranger 2006-01-14 05:30 |
| #1 Who's the top guy now, then? |
| Posted by: Jake-the-Peg 2006-01-14 05:19 |