Still Free

Yeah, Mr. Smiley. Made it through the entire Trump presidency without being enslaved. Imagine that.

Wednesday, May 04, 2011

US knew of UBL location in 2005

Saw this piece in CounterPunch this morning:

The unredacted Guantanamo files show clearly that the trail to Abbottabad was known to the US intelligence services at least since 2005, when al-Libi, another Abbottabad dweller, was captured.

Timing is everything. The US President announced killing of Osama bin Laden just as Wikileaks completed its publication of Guantanamo files. Was it coincidence? If not, what was the connection?


So being the skeptic that I am I went to look at the actual WIKILEAKS file that is here (http://wikileaks.ch/gitmo/prisoner/10017.html) and found the following:

: forces on 13 November 2001. This was detainee’s last face to face meeting with UBL where UBL discussed the logistical details of moving fighters out of Kabul to a safe haven. Detainee fled to Kandahar in late December 2001 and met his wife who was residing there. Detainee traveled to Gardez, AF to assist between 100 and 200 fighters move from Gardez to Kandahar. He spent the next nine to ten months in hiding with his family in Pakistan.11

(S//NF) In October 2002, Nashwan Abd al-Razzaq Abd al-Baqi, aka (Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi), ISN US9IZ-010026DP (IZ-10026), contacted and asked detainee to work with him in Peshawar. Detainee accepted the offer and spent the next five to six months working under IZ-10026 organizing the purchase of supplies for fighters including medicine, lights, batteries, food, and clothing. In July 2003, detainee received a letter from UBL’s designated courier, Maulawi Abd al-Khaliq Jan, requesting detainee take on the responsibility of collecting donations, organizing travel, and distributing funds to families in Pakistan. UBL stated detainee would be the official messenger between UBL and others in Pakistan.12 In mid-2003, detainee moved his family to Abbottabad, PK and worked between Abbottabad and Peshawar.13


Checking footnote number 12 we find:

12 TD-314/12435-06, TD-314/46042-05, TD-314/40102-05, Analyst Note: In TD-314/37025-05, detainee stated of early May 2005, he was responsible for facilitation within the settled areas of Pakistan, communication with UBL and external links. He was responsible for communicating with al-Qaida members abroad and obtaining funds and personnel from those al-Qaida members. In TD-314/54704-04, TD-314/54644-04, detainee met with Taliban Defense Minister Mullah Obaidallah to establish a formal chain for passing financial support to the Taliban.
My emphasis:

If that note is read the way I see it, then it says that OBL was in Pakistan and communicating with "external links" outside of Pakistan. If this guy was THE LINK between OBL and the outside and was KNOWN to be in Abbottabad and this is known in 2005 then......