Not Having Captured Bin Laden: Have the Terrorists already Won?

Posted by Skycypher on Tuesday, January 22nd 2008

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Bin Laden: Goal is to bankrupt U.S.

Al-Jazeera releases full transcript of al Qaeda leader’s tape

Monday, November 1, 2004 Posted: 8:07 PM EST (0107 GMT)

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Osama bin Laden delivers a videotaped message broadcast on Arabic-language network Al-Jazeera.

(CNN) — The Arabic-language network Al-Jazeera released a full transcript Monday of the most recent videotape from Osama bin Laden in which the head of al Qaeda said his group’s goal is to force America into bankruptcy.

Al-Jazeera aired portions of the videotape Friday but released the full transcript of the entire tape on its Web site Monday.

“We are continuing this policy in bleeding America to the point of bankruptcy. Allah willing, and nothing is too great for Allah,” bin Laden said in the transcript.

He said the mujahedeen fighters did the same thing to the Soviet Union in Afghanistan in the 1980s, “using guerrilla warfare and the war of attrition to fight tyrannical superpowers.”

“We, alongside the mujahedeen, bled Russia for 10 years until it went bankrupt and was forced to withdraw in defeat,” bin Laden said.

He also said al Qaeda has found it “easy for us to provoke and bait this administration.”

“All that we have to do is to send two mujahedeen to the furthest point east to raise a piece of cloth on which is written al Qaeda, in order to 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,” bin Laden said.

Al-Jazeera executives said they decided to post the entire speech because rumors were circulating that the network omitted parts that “had direct threats toward specific states, which was totally untrue.”

“We chose the most newsworthy parts of the address and aired them. The rest was used in lower thirds in graphics format,” said one official.

U.S. intelligence officials Monday confirmed that the transcript made public Monday by Al-Jazeera was a complete one.

As part of the “bleed-until-bankruptcy plan,” bin Laden cited a British estimate that it cost al Qaeda about $500,000 to carry out the attacks of September 11, 2001, an amount that he said paled in comparison with the costs incurred by the United States.

“Every dollar of al Qaeda defeated a million dollars, by the permission of Allah, besides the loss of a huge number of jobs,” he said. “As for the economic deficit, it has reached record astronomical numbers estimated to total more than a trillion dollars.

The total U.S. national debt is more than $7 trillion. The U.S. federal deficit was $413 billion in 2004, according to the Treasury Department.

“It is true that this shows that al Qaeda has gained, but on the other hand it shows that the Bush administration has also gained, something that anyone who looks at the size of the contracts acquired by the shady Bush administration-linked mega-corporations, like Halliburton and its kind, will be convinced.

“And it all shows that the real loser is you,” he said. “It is the American people and their economy.”

As for President Bush’s Iraq policy, Bin Laden said, “the darkness of black gold blurred his vision and insight, and he gave priority to private interests over the public interests of America.

“So the war went ahead, the death toll rose, the American economy bled, and Bush became embroiled in the swamps of Iraq that threaten his future,” bin Laden said.

U.S. government officials said Friday that the tape appeared to be authentic and recently made. It was the first videotaped message from the al Qaeda leader in nearly three years.

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Skycypher Said,

January 22nd, 2008 @8:21 pm

Bush, lawmakers vow quick action on economy plan
Tue Jan 22, 2008 9:41pm EST

By Caren Bohan and Donna Smith

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush and leaders of the Democratic-led Congress vowed on Tuesday to move quickly to work out the details of a $150 billion stimulus package for the U.S. economy, as fears of a recession prompted a sell-off in global financial markets.

“I’m confident that we can get an agreement passed, and we can get an agreement passed in relatively short order,” Bush said after meeting at the White House with Democratic House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority leader Harry Reid.

“All of us want to get something done, all of us want to get something done that will be temporary and effective, and all of us want to get something done as fast as possible,” Bush added.

A vicious rout of global stock markets at the start of the week sent the Federal Reserve scrambling to slash U.S. interest rates on Tuesday by three quarters of a point, the largest cut in more than 23 years.

Global equities pulled out of their nose dive after the cut but U.S. stock prices ended the day weaker with the Dow Jones industrial average down 128 points, or just over 1 percent.

It was unclear if the Fed action or the talk of a stimulus package would be enough to stem the turbulence.

“We have an economy sliding toward recession. Hundreds of thousands of families at risk to lose their homes. The price of gas and heat skyrocketing to all-time highs,” Reid, a Nevada Democrat, said on the Senate floor before his visit to the White House to meet with Bush.

Later, Reid told reporters he hoped legislation could be finished and ready for Bush’s signature by mid-February.

“We talked about doing something as soon as is legislatively possible — something that is targeted and something that is temporary in order to inject stimulus into the economy,” Pelosi, a California Democrat, said as she Reid left the meeting with Bush at the White House.

“Now we see across the world that the state of the economy in the U.S. is having an impact as well. So the urgency we feel at home is now even more urgent as we see the impact of our markets on others.” Pelosi said.

The package, which would mark a rare instance of cooperation between Bush and the Democratic lawmakers, is likely to include tax rebates, incentives for business investment and assistance for low-income people who would be hardest hit by the downturn.

But lawmakers are still negotiating the details of who should benefit from the tax rebates and how much of the package should be directed to low income and poor people.

“I expect we’ll have a vigorous argument over that issue,” said House Republican Leader John Boehner of Ohio, who has been in negotiations with Pelosi on the package.

The president has said he thought a plan worth 1 percent of the economy size, or up to $150 billion, could give the economy a significant lift.

But the White House left the door open to the possibility of a larger package, saying Bush was “not closing any doors.”

“While the president is waiting to talk about more of the details, the size of the package is going to have to be worked out,” White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said. “But he does believe it has to be around 1 percent GDP in order to have an impact.”

Perino said the package could help “avoid a potential downturn” but she added that Bush’s advisers were not forecasting a recession.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson welcomed the Fed’s interest-rate cut.

“This is very constructive and I think it shows this country and the rest of the world that our central bank is nimble and can move quickly in response to market conditions,” Paulson said.

The meeting between Bush and the lawmakers had initially been scheduled as a session to discuss his recent trip to the Middle East but the two sides decided it would also be a chance to discuss the economic package.

Under discussion is a plan that would temporarily eliminate the lowest income tax rate of 10 percent and give people the money back in a rebate. That would result in tax rebates of up to $800 for individuals and $1,600 for families.

The proposal would also allow businesses to take faster tax deductions for investments in new equipment.

The two sides are also reviewing extensions of unemployment insurance and extra spending on food stamps.

Skycypher Said,

January 22nd, 2008 @8:25 pm

I say watch these bastards! Crashes are engineered.

Who benefits from an economic meltdown, and how?

Crisis is Opportunity. Ancient Chinese Proverb.

Skycypher Said,

April 11th, 2008 @4:19 am

The Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said the president had failed to answer key questions, including what conditions would allow troops to come home.

“The president has taken us into a failed war, he’s taken us deeply into debt and that debt is taking us into recession,” she said. “We need some answers from the president.”

He is just dragging this out so he can put it at the doorstep of the new president of the United States
Nancy Pelosi
Democratic Speaker of the House

Skycypher Said,

June 14th, 2008 @4:39 pm

Where is Osama Bin Laden? An analysis
Posted on Friday, June 13, 2008 6:40 AM PT
Filed Under: Terrorism

It isn’t a comforting assessment.

A “Western military analyst” was asked earlier this month about reports that Osama Bin Laden was seen on the slopes of K2, the world’s second highest mountain on the Pakistan-China border, or in the Khost Province of Afghanistan.

His response was stunning in both its honesty and its frustration.

“We don’t have a clue where he is or even may be,” the Western analyst said. “We have had NO credible intelligence on OBL since 2001. All the rest is rumor and rubbish either whipped up by the media or churned out in the power corridors of western capitals.”

In fact, say U.S. officials, the last time U.S. operatives saw Osama Bin Laden–other than in his own videos–was in the famous Predator video shot in August 2000 where he is seen walking with a security contingent near his compound at Tarnak Farms in eastern Afghanistan. The Predators had not been armed yet.

The last time the U.S. heard Osama Bin Laden was at the battle for Tora Bora, when an NSA operative overhead him giving orders on a frequency not normally monitored and not recorded. There were some initial concerns about the identification but the agency later learned from other sources and materials that indeed that had been him.

But that unfortunately is it.

There have been suggestions Bin Laden was wounded, and some speculation he has died. One piece of evidence that suggested he had been hurt was the long interval between videotaped messages from him, but those were a long time ago. A tape released around Christmas 2001–and thus after the Tora Bora battle–was later determined (through time references in the tape) to have been made about November 17, 2001. After that, there were no contemporaneous videos until the October 29, 2004, tape, the infamous one released just before the U.S. presidential election. (Don’t be surprised if he does that again; al-Qaida is very cognizant of election dates.)

Still, the US is confident about some aspects of Bin Laden’s life on the run, drawn from interrogations of other high value targets as well as notebooks and computer hard drives captured with al Qaeda officials or found after they were killed.

Where does he live?
Not in caves. The general belief, gleaned from interrogations of his compatriots, is that Bin Laden lives in one of the many mud-walled compounds that can be found along the border with Pakistan and Afghanistan. If you fly in a chopper, you will see them–large multi-walled buildings that are continually expanded. The largest ones are those of the clan leaders.

How often does he move?
Bin Laden is NOT believed to move that often, either. He does not normally change locations every night or even very frequently. He is believed to stay long periods of time–months in some instances–in one place. In some cases, al-Qaida security personnel have married into local tribes and clans, making them part of the extended family and giving Bin Laden and others additional protection. When he does move, it is not with a large convoy of trucks. (He used to be driven around in a white Mitsubishi Pajero, accompanied by white Toyota Tundras, but those days are long gone.) The latest information–and it is not current–is that he moves on motorbikes. One reason is that cars and trucks can be spotted by the roving “J-Stars” aircraft. Motorbikes cannot be as easily seen. According to Pakistani officials, Bin Laden and other al-Qaida officials move mostly late at night. In the hours after the sunset prayers, they will move into a village and take over a guesthouse in a large compound.

How is his health?
As for his health, he is 50 years old, turning 51 (according to the best estimates) in July. He does NOT have kidney failure and does NOT need dialysis. He has had kidney stones. He is also seen as somewhat of a hypochondriac. He is missing a toe, lost in a battle against the Soviets. He reportedly has an enlarged heart and chronically low blood pressure, which he treats with drugs. There is even some dispute over his height. Is he tall? Yes. Is he 6’5”? Maybe not. As one intelligence official told me, “If you see a guy who is 6’4” tall and looks like him, kill him.”

Who are his bodyguards?
His security personnel are directed by his brother-in-law and believed to include Chechen and Uzbeks as well as Arabs. And yes, there are reports that if he is about to be captured, his bodyguards have orders to “martyr” him. However, the default position of U.S. forces has always been to kill him, not capture him. Don’t expect heroic efforts to save him, as in the case of Abu Musab al Zarqawi. The same holds true for Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri, Bin Laden’s deputy. The U.S. has Bin Laden’s DNA, which the Saudis provided. It’s always helpful when you have 52 siblings.

How important is he now?
The U.S. believes that OBL is more of a titular, inspirational leader, with Zawahiri as CEO and the leading philosopher. There has been some tension, the U.S. believes, between their Saudi and Egyptian underlings. The Egyptians are in charge, but virtually every counter-terrorism official we talk to notes that North Africans, particularly Libyans, are rising within what they call al-Qaida Central.

Do Bin Laden and Zawahiri travel together?
OBL and Zawahiri have not traveled together since mid 2003, for security reasons. Although the U.S. does not have a clue where OBL is, they have been able to track and target Zawahiri multiple times, by his own accounts. The most recent targeting was January 13, 2006, in Damodola in Pakistan. The U.S. fired volleys of Hellfire missiles at two guesthouses, but Zawahiri had already left. U.S. and Pakistani officials have told us that they believe he was tipped off. Zawahiri himself has admitted he was there.

Who is the next most important leader?
The U.S. has deliberately put a high priority on taking out al-Qaida’s Number Threes, killing or capturing five of them since September 11. They are the directors of international operations, the men who would organize attacks against the United States and United Kingdom. The big prize in each takedown are the computer hard drives, phonebooks and notebooks. To maintain operational security, al-Qaida requires that new courier and computer networks be formed. This obviously slows down planning. Moreover, the U.S. believes such takedowns are one of the few things that can push OBL’s security team to pick up and move. The hope is that U.S. spy planes see some of that movement.

Al Qaida’s current No. 3 is Sayed Sheikh, an Egyptian confidante of Zawahari.