http://www.americanthinker.com/prin...g/2011/05/did_wikileaks_force_the_attack.html
Did Wikileaks force the attack on Osama 18 months before the election? (updated)
Thomas Lifson
I confess to being such a cynic about Obama that when the death of Osama was announced Sunday night, the first question in my mind was, "Why so long before the election?" This is exactly he sort of event (like the financial crisis of 2008) that can swing several percentage points of the vote with its halo effect.
A potential answer to my question comes from the UK Daily Mail. Neil Sears writes:
WikiLeaks may have triggered the killing of Osama Bin Laden, it was suggested last night.
For although the CIA has thought since September that he was in hiding in Abbottabad, special forces stormed his fortress only days after the website published new secret documents.
These made reference to named ‘couriers' carrying Bin Laden's message to his followers, and also to Abbottabad as a possible Al Qaeda bolthole. (snip)
Although the document does not suggest Bin Laden has hidden in Abbottabad, it clearly identifies the city as known to the Americans as a possible Al Qaeda leadership bolthole, and identifies by name several couriers.
It is not yet clear whether the named couriers are those who did indeed lead the CIA to Bin Laden - but even so the document could have provided evidence for Al Qaeda that the net was closing in.
We will probably never know exactly why this particular moonless night was chosen, but it was the first such optimal evening to occur after Wikileaks let the cat out of the bag.
Julian Assange, hero to the anti-American left worldwide, may have forced Obama's hand in deploying "Cheney's Assassination Squad" (Seymour Hersh's term) for a "targeted assassination" prematurely.
Life is full of ironies.
Update from Dale T. Armstrong:
In addition to what Thomas outlines above with the Wikileaks document, there may have been several other incidents that when taken separately, slipped under the radar, but when taken together as a series, may have indicated to the US Intelligence Community that their identification of and stakeout of Bin Laden's Safe house in Abbottabad was about to be blown, and thus a critical mass had been reached, and it was time to act on the Intel that the White House had been sitting on since August of 2010.
The second incident, in addition to the Wikileaks document, was the arrest of CIA "Contractor" Raymond Davis in Lahore, back in February of this year. Davis was arrested in eastern Pakistan, in the city of Lahore, which coincidentally, 200 miles southeast of Abbottabad. Davis' cover-story, that he was keeping track of Islamic Extremists in Eastern Pakistan, never made much sense to begin with.
"The New York Times on Monday reported that Davis was part of a CIA operation tracking Islamist extremists in eastern Pakistan, such as Lashkar-e-Taiba, the virulently anti-Indian group blamed for the bloody 2008 siege of Mumbai."
The US has never targeted the Eastern Jihadis in Pakistan, those focused on Kashmir & India, and certainly never used Drone Attacks against them. I would propose, that Davis was in fact, part of the CIA undercover operation targeting Bin Laden's couriers, and scouting out Abbottabad!.
Thirdly, in March of this year, this in-depth article was published in the Asia Times, by well known Pakistani Journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad. The gist of the article, is that after years of no Intel on Bin Laden whereabouts, the US recently had become aware of major Bin Laden movement across the area and meetings with Taliban and Jihadi leaders.
Though the US Intel Community had supposedly not shared with any other Intelligence Service their belief that Bin Laden was hiding out in the Abbottabad safe house, Syed's article had to raise alarm bells inside the Beltway, as Syed is known not only for his well-placed sources inside the Taliban and probably Al Qaeda, but also for his obvious connections to the Pakistani Military and Intelligence/ISI networks as well. And though the Pakistani Military/ISI may not have known specifically about the US having identified the Abbottabad Bin Laden safe site, clearly, from the article, someone in the Pakistani Journalist's informant network, was privy to sensitive information that Bin Laden had had a recent surge of activity.
Syed's article, combined with the arrest of CIA contractor Raymond Davis, and the Wikileak Article, probably caused the US decision on whether to act on the Abbottabad issue to reach a critical mass, and ultimately forced the US' hand on the issue.
Did Wikileaks force the attack on Osama 18 months before the election? (updated)
Thomas Lifson
I confess to being such a cynic about Obama that when the death of Osama was announced Sunday night, the first question in my mind was, "Why so long before the election?" This is exactly he sort of event (like the financial crisis of 2008) that can swing several percentage points of the vote with its halo effect.
A potential answer to my question comes from the UK Daily Mail. Neil Sears writes:
WikiLeaks may have triggered the killing of Osama Bin Laden, it was suggested last night.
For although the CIA has thought since September that he was in hiding in Abbottabad, special forces stormed his fortress only days after the website published new secret documents.
These made reference to named ‘couriers' carrying Bin Laden's message to his followers, and also to Abbottabad as a possible Al Qaeda bolthole. (snip)
Although the document does not suggest Bin Laden has hidden in Abbottabad, it clearly identifies the city as known to the Americans as a possible Al Qaeda leadership bolthole, and identifies by name several couriers.
It is not yet clear whether the named couriers are those who did indeed lead the CIA to Bin Laden - but even so the document could have provided evidence for Al Qaeda that the net was closing in.
We will probably never know exactly why this particular moonless night was chosen, but it was the first such optimal evening to occur after Wikileaks let the cat out of the bag.
Julian Assange, hero to the anti-American left worldwide, may have forced Obama's hand in deploying "Cheney's Assassination Squad" (Seymour Hersh's term) for a "targeted assassination" prematurely.
Life is full of ironies.
Update from Dale T. Armstrong:
In addition to what Thomas outlines above with the Wikileaks document, there may have been several other incidents that when taken separately, slipped under the radar, but when taken together as a series, may have indicated to the US Intelligence Community that their identification of and stakeout of Bin Laden's Safe house in Abbottabad was about to be blown, and thus a critical mass had been reached, and it was time to act on the Intel that the White House had been sitting on since August of 2010.
The second incident, in addition to the Wikileaks document, was the arrest of CIA "Contractor" Raymond Davis in Lahore, back in February of this year. Davis was arrested in eastern Pakistan, in the city of Lahore, which coincidentally, 200 miles southeast of Abbottabad. Davis' cover-story, that he was keeping track of Islamic Extremists in Eastern Pakistan, never made much sense to begin with.
"The New York Times on Monday reported that Davis was part of a CIA operation tracking Islamist extremists in eastern Pakistan, such as Lashkar-e-Taiba, the virulently anti-Indian group blamed for the bloody 2008 siege of Mumbai."
The US has never targeted the Eastern Jihadis in Pakistan, those focused on Kashmir & India, and certainly never used Drone Attacks against them. I would propose, that Davis was in fact, part of the CIA undercover operation targeting Bin Laden's couriers, and scouting out Abbottabad!.
Thirdly, in March of this year, this in-depth article was published in the Asia Times, by well known Pakistani Journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad. The gist of the article, is that after years of no Intel on Bin Laden whereabouts, the US recently had become aware of major Bin Laden movement across the area and meetings with Taliban and Jihadi leaders.
Though the US Intel Community had supposedly not shared with any other Intelligence Service their belief that Bin Laden was hiding out in the Abbottabad safe house, Syed's article had to raise alarm bells inside the Beltway, as Syed is known not only for his well-placed sources inside the Taliban and probably Al Qaeda, but also for his obvious connections to the Pakistani Military and Intelligence/ISI networks as well. And though the Pakistani Military/ISI may not have known specifically about the US having identified the Abbottabad Bin Laden safe site, clearly, from the article, someone in the Pakistani Journalist's informant network, was privy to sensitive information that Bin Laden had had a recent surge of activity.
Syed's article, combined with the arrest of CIA contractor Raymond Davis, and the Wikileak Article, probably caused the US decision on whether to act on the Abbottabad issue to reach a critical mass, and ultimately forced the US' hand on the issue.
