CIA spied on bin Laden from safe house (over a period of months)

[Turborama]

Source: Washington Post

By Greg Miller, Friday, May 6, 7:56 AM

The CIA maintained a safe house in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad for a small team of spies who conducted extensive surveillance over a period of months on the compound where Osama bin Laden was killed by U.S. Special Operations forces this week, U.S. officials said.

The secret CIA facility was used as a base of operations for one of the most delicate human intelligence gathering missions in recent CIA history, one that relied on Pakistani informants and other sources to help assemble a “pattern of life” portrait of the occupants and daily activities at the fortified compound where bin Laden was found, the officials said.

The on-the-ground surveillance work was part of an intelligence-gathering push mobilized after the discovery of the suspicious complex last August that involved virtually every category of collection in the U.S. arsenal, ranging from satellite imagery to eavesdropping efforts aimed at recording voices inside the compound.

The effort was so extensive and costly that the CIA went to Congress in December to secure authority to reallocate tens of millions of dollars within assorted agency budgets to fund it, U.S. officials said.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/cia-spied-on-bin-laden-from-safe-house/2011/05/05/AFXbG31F_story.html?hpid=z1

[Vinnie From Indy]

1. Sadly, we probably could have had Bin Laden

for FAR less money and death. The US should have simply offered a billion dollars for him in 2002. Somebody would have squealed for that kind of money. Instead we have spent TRILLIONS and seen hundreds of thousands dead.

[applegrove]

2. Not to mention that the Taliban volunteered to hand bin Laden over to the US

right after 9/11.

[Ter]

7. No, they refused

They said they would if he were proven guilty, but they had no evidence linking him to 9/11.

[PassingFair]

9. First they refused. Then they relented.

Bush wanted to get his war on.

Pre 9/11:

"Accept our offer of a carpet of gold, or we bury you under a carpet of bombs."

[KoKo]

3. More "Anonymous Officials" leaking info like this.

I trust the WaPo less than NYT's and whoever the "officials" are that leaked it are trying to make it seem that Bin Laden was shot in the back. This kind of stuff used to be classified. If we are going after Bradley Manning then we need to know the names of these "Officials" to be able to verify if they are credible or just some folks like Lieberman and Repugs on the House or Senate Intelligence Committees trying to get digs in and distort what went on. Maybe this is the truth...but if they don't want to go on the record with their names...how do we know?

--------------
From the article:

“The CIA’s job was to find and fix,” said a U.S. official, using Special Operations forces terminology for the identification and location of a high-value target. “The intelligence work was as complete as it was going to be, and it was the military’s turn to finish the target.”

The official, like others quoted for this article, spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak for the record. The CIA declined to comment.

U.S. officials provided new details on bin Laden’s final moments, saying the al-Qaeda leader was first spotted by U.S. forces in the doorway of his room on the compound’s third floor. Bin Laden then turned and retreated into the room before being shot twice — in the head and in the chest. U.S. commandos later found an AK-47 and a pistol in the room.

[cosmicone]

4. Kudos to the CIA n/t

[Honeycombe8]

5. Sounds like the CIA did a great job with this. Very careful. Spot on. Got tons of Intel, too....

invaluable. Much more valuable than info from waterboarding.

[Nihil]

8. That's what happens if you get behind on your rent ...

:hide:

[jberryhill]

6. Okay, everybody who has a house in Abottabad, fess up

Good gosh, someone should just walk the streets there shouting "Olly Olly Oxenfree!"

I must be the only person who doesn't have at least a condo there.

And the ISI didn't know WE were there, either?

Can you imagine being a real estate broker there? "We specialize in finding you a home in a nice anonymous neighborhood".

Has anyone looked for Amelia Earhart there?