AP Exclusive: Bin Laden's top deputy escaped several near misses on combination of luck, guile

[Turborama]

Source: AP

WASHINGTON - The CIA has come closer to capturing or killing Osama bin Laden's top deputy than was previously known, during a nine-year hunt at the root of a devastating 2009 suicide bombing at an agency base in Afghanistan, The Associated Press has learned.

The CIA missed a chance to nab Ayman al-Zawahiri in 2003 in the northwest Pakistani city of Peshawar, where he met with another senior al-Qaida leader who was apprehended the next day, several current and former U.S. intelligence officials said.

The fugitive Egyptian doctor may also have narrowly survived a bombing by Pakistani military planes in 2004, the former and current officials said. And a well-publicized U.S. missile strike aimed at him in 2006 failed because he did not turn up at the attack site, they said.

Targeting al-Zawahiri — along with bin Laden — is a main goal of U.S. counterterror efforts, focused on a man who has retained control of al-Qaida's operations and strategic planning even as he has led an underground existence in Pakistan's rugged tribal border zone. "Finding senior al-Qaida terrorists — at a time when we're pursuing the most aggressive counterterrorism operations in our history — is of course a top priority for the CIA," said agency spokesman George Little.

Read more: http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/world/breakingnews/ap-exclusive-bin-ladens-top-deputy-escaped-several-near-misses-on-combination-of-luck-guile-110958769.html

[goforit]

1. Yada yada yada yada........How convenient. More CIA protection for

for Osama and his friends.

[Turborama]

4. The CIA are protecting Osama Bin Laden?

Wow, that's the first time I've heard that claim. Got anything to back that up with, other than infowars etc...?

[Roy Rolling]

2. soon

Give it another 9 years, they'll near-miss again.

[valerief]

3. Every time I see "Bin Laden" I think "Natalee Holloway."

The media uses both the same way. They must flip a coin when they need to use a standby diversion newspiece. "Well, Stanley, do we use a Bin Laden or a Natalee today?"

[bulloney]

5. OBL's top deputy? Are we talking about ANOTHER #2 from al Quaeda?

[Turborama]

6. Ayman al-Zawahiri is well known as Bin Laden's right hand man

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayman_al-Zawahiri#Fatwa_with_Osama_bin_Laden

[Mnemosyne]

7. Who'd a' thunk a dead guy could have deputies?

:shrug: