Reply #44: You have all missed the key to this article

[lazarus]

And that's this bit here:

Mir describe al-Zawahri as "the real brain behind Osama bin Laden."

"He is the real strategist, Osama bin Laden is only a front man," Mir was quoted as saying during the interview. "I think he is more dangerous than bin Laden."

So just ignore bin Laden. Ignore the fact that we haven't caught him yet. We'll be getting this guy real soon.

How many "masterminds" have we caught already?

Oh, wait, here it is:

DNA tests on corpse will reveal if it is Bin Laden's deputy

....(General Safdar Hussain, the Peshawar corps commander) said he believed the “gentleman” (al-Zawahiri) was hurt while trying to escape in one of three armoured vehicles that had attempted to break through a Pakistani cordon on Tuesday.

Two of the cars were shot at and crashed, but a third escaped in a cloud of dust. Safdar admitted, however, that the injured person might also be Thuraya, an Uzbek leader.

A senior American official involved in the hunt for Bin Laden said that al-Zawahiri may already be dead. According to his version of events, the Egyptian was in the escaping car and was shot by Taskforce 121, the shadowy rapid reaction force comprising special forces and CIA agents that had helped to capture Saddam Hussein last December.

The body, he said, had been retrieved from the wreckage and was undergoing DNA tests to confirm whether it was that of al-Zawahiri. In deference to the US forces’ hosts, any announcement was being delayed to make it look as if it were a Pakistani-run operation, as well as to have time to use any information garnered to capture other fighters....


http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2089-1046028,00.html