The $1 million compound had no phone or Internet lines. CIA analysts, working with National Security Agency eavesdroppers and the U.S. Geospatial Intelligence Agency, which analyzes satellite imagery, studied the compound and its coach outlet storeoccupants. It “was consistent with what our experts had expected bin Laden’s hideout would look like,” a U.S. official said. “No other candidate fit the bill as well as bin Laden did.” Confidence grew that it was a good target. President Obama ordered the strike a day earlier. It was postponed a day because of weather. And then, before dawn, the Americans arrived at bin Laden’s door.The revelation that intelligence from the CIA’s so-called black sites helped kill bin Laden was seen as vindication for intelligence officials who were for a program that involved harsh interrogation methods.“We got beat up for it, but those efforts led to this great day,” said Marty Martin, a retired CIA officer who for years led the hunt for bin Laden.The CIA finally identified the courier’s real name: Sheikh Abu Ahmed, a Pakistani born in Kuwait.Last year, a phone conversation monitored by U.S. intelligence pinpointed Ahmed. He was watched, and unwittingly led them to bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad.Shortly after Sept. 11 attacks, detainees in the CIA’s secret prison network told interrogators about a courier close to bin Laden called Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti. After the CIA captured al-Qaeda’s No. 3 leader, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, he confirmed knowing al-Kuwaiti but denied he had anything to do with al-Qaeda.In 2004, top al-Qaeda operative Hassan Ghul was captured in Iraq. Ghul told the CIA that al-Kuwaiti was shop online 2011key to al-Qaeda.In May 2005, Faraj al-Libi, al-Qaeda’s operational commander, was captured and said when he was promoted to succeed Mohammed, he received the word from a courier. But he denied knowing al-Kuwaiti. The CIA believed he was protecting the courier, and if they could find al-Kuwaiti, they’d find bin Laden.
Commentaires