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| Afghanistan/South Asia |
| CIA: Bin Laden will be caught |
| 2004-07-24 |
| Al-Qaedas leaders have faced increasingly aggressive Pakistani military operations in June and July, a senior CIA official said as the agency came under attack for failing to combat the threat from Osama bin Laden before September 11. US intelligence officials think bin Laden is hiding somewhere along the rugged Afghan-Pakistani border. Military and intelligence agencies from numerous countries, but most significantly Pakistan as of late, have assisted in the search for him over the nearly three years since the September 11 attacks. Acting CIA Director John McLaughlin has pledged recently that bin Laden will still be caught. "We have pins on a map. We have reports," said a second senior CIA official, speaking of bin Ladens whereabouts. The officials briefed reporters at CIA headquarters about a highly critical report released on Thursday by the presidential commission investigating September 11. Still, bin Laden remains elusive. The commissions report detailed a series of strategic and tactical mistakes made by the intelligence community, including missed opportunities to go after terrorist operatives and thwart the attack. Even today, intelligence veterans have said the agency has no useful idea where bin Laden is. Federal officials have warned of a heightened risk of attack leading up to this countrys November elections. The first CIA official said credible evidence suggests that bin Laden and other senior leaders called "al-Qaeda central" are thought to be currently planning attacks. Other groups sharing the same militant ideology are plotting as well. |
| Posted by:Mark Espinola |
| #4 "We have pins on a map." Can't the CIA afford a digital map? Doesn't matter anyway. Bin Laden is dead. |
| Posted by: Andrew Hagen 2004-07-25 12:32:27 AM |
| #3 Would you say that was a slam dunk? (Sorry.... couldn't resist....) |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2004-07-24 10:06:32 PM |
| #2 That is why he is so elusive. Died at Tora Bora, crushed in the rocks of a cave under some 2,000 lb. JDAMs. |
| Posted by: Brett_the_Quarkian 2004-07-24 8:25:18 PM |
| #1 How can you catch someone that is already dead? |
| Posted by: Destro 2004-07-24 7:55:07 PM |