CIA Afghans Tracked OBL (1998-01) + Bush's Pre-9/11 War Plans

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CIA Afghans Tracked OBL (1998-01) + Bush's Pre-9/11 War Plans
CIA Paid Afghans To Track Bin Laden
Team of 15 Recruits Operated Since 1998
By Bob Woodward
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, December 23, 2001; Page A01


For four years prior to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the CIA paid a team of about 15 recruited Afghan agents to regularly track Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan, according to well-placed sources.

The team had mixed results, ranging from excellent to total failure. Once every month or so, the team pinpointed bin Laden's presence in a specific building, compound or training camp, and that location was then confirmed by the CIA through communications intelligence or satellite overhead photography. On two occasions, the team reported firing on bin Laden's caravan, though the agency could not independently validate this.

On some rare days, the team provided a specific location, and the CIA was able to obtain three or four verifications from other intelligence sources, confirming bin Laden's whereabouts. For other periods, the team would lose track of him. "There would be a week or two when he would be out of pocket," said one person with firsthand knowledge of the team's work.

The existence of the tracking team was one of the most tightly held secrets in the CIA over the past several years and suggests that the U.S. search for bin Laden in Afghanistan was more concentrated and aggressive than previously disclosed.

snip.....

In fact, Bush was considering an even more ambitious plan to destroy bin Laden and his al Qaeda network in the summer before the terrorist attacks on New York and the Pentagon, well-placed sources said.

The National Security Council drafted a proposal for a new CIA covert action program that would have cost as much as $200 million a year. It would have had two main components. First, the CIA would have been authorized to destabilize the Taliban leadership of Afghanistan. Second, the CIA would have launched a program to destroy bin Laden's organization worldwide.

The plan was almost ready to be presented to Bush when the terrorists struck on Sept. 11, officials said.

MORE..................

http://www.udel.edu/global/agenda/2002/readings/wp-ciatrackedbinladen.html

[JackRiddler]

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