24/7 Osama Hunt launched

[usa320]

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- U.S. forces searching for al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden along the mountainous border between Pakistan and Afghanistan will soon implement high-tech surveillance tactics in the region, enabling them to monitor the area 24 hours a day, seven days a week, CNN has learned.

It's believed that the constant surveillance of the border region and the "squeeze play" by U.S. and Pakistani forces surrounding the mountainous frontier will present the best chance ever to net the world's most-wanted terrorist, who has eluded capture since U.S. troops launched a search for him in late 2001.

Top administration officials believe bin Laden may begin to feel the heat from the troops now hunting him and might start to move.

"We are putting the pieces in place to throw the net over him," one official told CNN.

Among the devices that will be in place within days are U-2 spy planes flying at 70,000 feet, taking pictures, using radar and intercepting communications.

Unmanned Predator drones, flying closer at 25,000 feet, are equipped with cameras that can spot vehicles and people and special radar that can operate through clouds. Some of the Predators may also carry Hellfire missiles.

Ground sensors may also be placed along mountain passes to listen for vehicles.

Data from the planes and sensors will be sent via satellite to analysts for quick action. The U.S. military has bought up satellite transmission capacity in the region, to ensure it can respond quickly.

But none of the measures are being acknowledged officially.

"Of course you've heard and seen in the press that Osama bin Laden is surrounded, we have him cornered and we know where he is, etc., etc. And of course, we don't know that," said Gen. John Abizaid, commander of the U.S. Central Command, in an interview with PBS' Jim Lehrer.

Abizaid added that there are no U.S. troops on Pakistani soil, and said U.S. efforts with the Pakistanis are focused on cooperation and coordination.

When asked if he thought bin Laden would be captured this year, the general said he had no way of knowing.

But, he said, "I think that we will make it very painful for al Qaeda between now and the end of the year."



Were gonna get that guy... woot

[scm77]

I can't wait for the day when I'm watching tv and they interupt with breaking news to show Osama's ugly ass being checked out with a flashlight.
It's gonna be awesome if american sf's capture him alive. You know they're gonna beat the crap outta him. :bash: woot

[SeanAshi]

He would eat a bullet rather then being taken alive.

He would eat a bullet rather then being taken alive.

true, he will not go down withought a fight

[Minjin]

I agree he will not likely be an easy capture...but I don't understand why he would stay in the Afghanistan/Pakistan border region...If I had that type of force arrayed to find me I would definitely slip as far as I could away from there...but then I don't know his situation, maybe he couldn't do so. Or maybe he already has. One thing is for sure, there will be a lot of smiles, cheers and friendly brews being had on the day he is found.

[crazyman]

thats what they said about saddam too. when the time comes all the BS about not being taken alive might just take a nosedive. orr maybe he'll figure going on TV in a war trial will afford him the chance to spout of his rhetoric to a national audience.

[George W. Bush]

We might kill him but he's not going to kill himself

I can just imagine, President Bush sitting down with Saddam and Usama.... "You guys have been bad lately"

[Argyll]

The difference between Saddam and OBL,is that OBL has lots of BodyGuards with him,Saddam had less than a handfull!

OBL's are nutters,Saddams bottled it!

Both are fully aware of their fate,if OBL goes down fighting or is killed,he will be a Martyr in their eyes,and therfore will score a moral victory over the US Forces

OBL will have already passed his powers onto his Lieutenants,and his "Jihad" gainst the USA will continue,it's called a contingency plan,and he and his Orginisation are not that stupid as not to have a doomsday scenario.

Getting OBL will be great,but if you're naive to think that it will mean the end of AQ then you're in for a rude awakening!

[Groove]

I hope they get him, but wasn hu haunted already 24/7 ? Im wondering....

[spyguy]

"Getting OBL will be great,but if you're naive to think that it will mean the end of AQ then you're in for a rude awakening!"

This is undoubtedly true however i feel that the impact of the US catching OBL will underscore the fact that we would be able to catch anyone we wanted. I think it goes without question that hiding OBL is taking AQ's best effort. If we show them that their best is not good enough, i don't see how they could ever hope to rebuild any kind of serious strength. I predict AQ then (after possible capture of OBL) going through severe "fractioning" with most of the small resistance groups lacking the capability to launch anything large scale.

I'm as hopeful as anyone about finding OBL but there was an article today 3/4? in the WSJ (Hide and Seek) about A teams in A-stan looking for OBL ally Jalaluddin Kaqqani, and it outlined some of the real difficulties they were having. The article was a wake up call to the difficulties we're still having trying to work that porous region and the problems with persuading locals to help us. Granted i've got to assume far more resources are being exhausted on finding OBL himself.


SG

"It's honestly just a matter of time, as long as we don't stop looking for him"

[Argyll]

What I'm concerned about is that this may end up a huge Anti climax for the American people,if he does get killed,even if he does get captured,his resulting trial will end in his death,again he will be seen as a Martyr to the cause,once he is gone there will be almost a void,sure I'd think that 99% of the American public want him dead,a trial will cost Billions,if it's held in the US,then the whole thing about getting a fair trial will rear it's ugly head,not that he deserves one.
But once he's gone there will be no figurehead to apportion blame for subsequent terror attacks,so who will they turn to point the finger at,once OBL has gone?
A 25 cent 9mm to the base of the skull is far cheaper than a multi million dollar showpiece trialwho's outcome is inevitable,that many may feel they'll get shortchanged,the more he's seen on TV the more it plays in his favour,the more coverage his network(AQ) will recieve,and he will be scoring propaganda points over anything the US will hit him with.

I honestly think there's a catch 22 with this,shoot him on Loc and he's Martyred,and the US public will feel cheated ,Try him and have him seen as a a figurehead of the most deadly terror network in the world,he gets even more noteriety,or try him and execute him behind closed doors,and again the US public will feel "cheated"

[Nizark]

welll there was a recent poll put out talking about %age's of Americans willing to watch osama being executed, and those patying to see it. I would pay 49.95 to see him killed slowly. I almost lost a fam member at the pentagon, so i would love it. I hope TF121 focks him up some fierce before he is on TV. We could say he, "slipped"

[Argyll]

Showing his execution on TV,IMHO is a very bad and dangerous Idea,it would play right into Muslim fanatics hands world wide,it would open up the floodgates to Foreign Nationals being captured beaten and executed on stations such as Al Jazeera......is this what the Human race has come to ?

[Truthsayer]

Before you start flaming Al Jazeera for everything again, remember that they are a very agitative station that often get into clinch with several of the arabic nations due to their critisism.

Some people here think they are allied with the states in the region, but nothing could be further from the truth.

The bin laden-tapes was shown since the recieved them. CNN and several other american sites showed the tapes too, but stopped when the am. goverment told them too. So much for the freedom of speach and so on. ^^

(And for this, Al Jazeera-reporters got thrown out of the UK and so on...wonderfull.)

[usa320]

He wont be a martyr when he ends up being cellmates with Hussein, assuming he doesnt get shot dead on the spot.

Ive said it time and time again, i doubt we will capture him alive, and i know he wont kill himself. Like saddam he is selfish- if he really wanted to be a "martyr" he would be fighting like the rest of his nutters. He will either be found cowering in a cave and shot by SF, or the more likely scenario involves a Predator drone and an AGM-114. He wont have time to kill himself, or even realize hes about to die.

[mustamato]

This is getting tiresome. Wake me up when he has died.

[Argyll]

For someone who was "supposed" to need Kidney Dialysis once a week he sure as hell has done a good job in staying alive has he not?

Correct me if I'm wrong here ,but Dialysis machines are not in abundance in the Mountains are they?

I'm no medical expert,but don't these things require Power to function?
and they are not Portable either are they?

[usa320]

Maybe he doesnt need kidney dialysis????

Or maybe hes living comfortably in a hospital in an unnamed Middle eastern hospital.

[Argyll]

Maybe he doesnt need kidney dialysis????

Or maybe hes living comfortably in a hospital in an unnamed Middle eastern hospital.

Yep,we just don't know for sure,I'd much prefer he was buried in a shallow grave where the Vulture pecked his fokin eyes out!!

[NcDeuce]

thats what they said about saddam too. when the time comes all the BS about not being taken alive might just take a nosedive. orr maybe he'll figure going on TV in a war trial will afford him the chance to spout of his rhetoric to a national audience.

Yeah...when the day comes where some U.S. or U.K. or Canadian or Australian, whatever, discovers the man's hiding spot...Osama is the one saying, "Oh shi*!"

[usa320]

Ya know as unsure as everyone is about Bin Laden, if US and allied intel says they have an idea of where he is, im lead to believe them, because they have the best intelligence network there is, and now we are finally starting to concentrate a bit more on HUMINT. Had clinton not been busy getting jobs in the oval office he could have established a HUMINT network within Al Queda. he had the time and the resources.

[Mr Gently Benevolent]

It was not Clintons fault that the CIA did not gain a significant HUMINT foothold if any at all in Al-Q , the problem all along is that the penetration of Al-Q its not easy there is no text book play for the infiltration of this kind of group. Egypt is the only country that has placed an agent in Al-Q and even only at the 3rd tier of command. If Bush's presidency ends without capturing OBL or breaking Al-Q I would not call him a failure either, for they are not easy tasks. Although the ultimate blame for the failure of US intelligence agencies to counter militant Islam and Al-Q lies with the President I think it would be unfair to let the directors of these agencies of the hook as they share a portion of the blame for their own and their agencies failures.

[usa320]

No...this problem doesnt lie with George W. Bush...it lies with Clinton.

AL Queda was a serious threat to US and US interests abroad as early as 1992. Following the first WTC bombing, the African Embassy bombings, the attacks on US Forces in Somalia, the Khobar towers and the USS Cole attack, Clinton should have taken a serious stance on terrorism, but he didnt. His administration's response was to put up crime tape and treat it like a murder investigation. W. Bush is the first president who has actually taken the fight to the terrorists with success. Sure, clinton lobbed a couple cruise missiles, but he had the means to capture Osama Bin Laden, but he decided not to.

And that move came back to bite us, and cost LIVES.