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The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency says the compound in Pakistan where Osama bin Laden was killed by American commandos on Monday was an active command and control center for al-Qaida, and that bin Laden was not just a strategic or inspirational leader for the terrorist group. A senior intelligence official made the comments at a briefing at the Pentagon Saturday, during which he also released five video clips of bin Laden that were captured during the raid.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, says the material gathered by the assault team amounts to the largest trove of information ever captured from a senior terrorist leader.  He says there is so much material that officials are still cataloguing it.
                                                
The official says the material is already providing what he called "some golden nuggets" of information and "important insights" into al-Qaida’s operations.  He would not provide specifics, but he said the information indicates that bin Laden was involved in generating ideas for terrorist attacks on the United States and around the world, provided tactical and operational guidance, and directed daily operations. He says bin Laden was not only a figurehead or strategist, as some people had thought.
In a written statement, the CIA director, Leon Panetta, said that "further confirms how important it was to go after bin Laden."

The official who spoke on condition of anonymity said bin Laden continued to have a particular interest in attacks on transportation facilities and other types of infrastructure, the type of targets al-Qaida has hit in the past.  He says bin Laden managed to run his organization through couriers, like the one who unwittingly led U.S. investigators to the compound, which had no telephone or Internet service.

One of the released video files, apparently shot during an unguarded moment, shows a gray-bearded bin Laden watching television.  He is wearing a black knitted cap and has a brown blanket over his shoulders.  He gestures to the camera operator to focus on the television, where he is selecting various channels that are broadcasting some news about himself.  The CIA deleted the audio from the video clips.

Another clip is a message to the United States, which the intelligence official says includes familiar criticism of U.S. policy and the capitalist economic system.  In that clip, the beard is black, indicating, the official says, that bin Laden had dyed it to maintain his public image. The official says bin Laden’s beard was gray when he was killed. The official says that video was recorded late last year, but there are no dates on the other excerpts. The three other clips show rehearsals or outtakes from video messages.

The senior U.S. intelligence official says the team also took digital and paper copies of personal correspondence to and from bin Laden.  He said such videos and documents would not likely be in the possession of anyone other than bin Laden himself.
The official also provided some details about the formal identification of bin Laden’s body after he was killed by the commandos. He says sophisticated facial recognition software provided a 95-percent match from photos of bin Laden. And he reported that two separate analyses of DNA from the body matched the genetic profile gathered from several known bin Laden family members, with what he called only a one in 11.8 quadrillion chance of error.  In the American system, a quadrillion is a million billion.

The official says a U.S. government team will take some time to go through all the material, looking particularly for information about al-Qaida members, plans and finances.  In addition, he says the team is looking for links to other terrorist groups around the world and any information about possible efforts to acquire weapons of mass destruction.  He says some of the information is being shared with other countries, but he would not say which ones.

The official also said the CIA believes it is significant that in acknowledging bin Laden’s death, al-Qaida did not name a successor.  He says that would appear to add credibility to the view that the number-two al-Qaida leader, Ayman Zawahiri, is not popular with all segments of the movement.  The American intelligence official described Zawahiri as a controlling, micro-manager who is not charismatic, like bin Laden was.

The official called the nearly 10-year effort to find bin Laden perhaps "the greatest intelligence success..of a generation."  He said it was based on years of relentless, precision work on the U.S. intelligence community’s top priority.
Source

The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency says the compound in Pakistan where Osama bin Laden was killed by American commandos on Monday was an active command and control center for al-Qaida, and that bin Laden was not just a strategic or inspirational leader for the terrorist group. A senior intelligence official made the comments at a briefing at the Pentagon Saturday, during which he also released five video clips of bin Laden that were captured during the raid.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, says the material gathered by the assault team amounts to the largest trove of information ever captured from a senior terrorist leader.  He says there is so much material that officials are still cataloguing it.
                                                
The official says the material is already providing what he called "some golden nuggets" of information and "important insights" into al-Qaida’s operations.  He would not provide specifics, but he said the information indicates that bin Laden was involved in generating ideas for terrorist attacks on the United States and around the world, provided tactical and operational guidance, and directed daily operations. He says bin Laden was not only a figurehead or strategist, as some people had thought.
In a written statement, the CIA director, Leon Panetta, said that "further confirms how important it was to go after bin Laden."

The official who spoke on condition of anonymity said bin Laden continued to have a particular interest in attacks on transportation facilities and other types of infrastructure, the type of targets al-Qaida has hit in the past.  He says bin Laden managed to run his organization through couriers, like the one who unwittingly led U.S. investigators to the compound, which had no telephone or Internet service.

One of the released video files, apparently shot during an unguarded moment, shows a gray-bearded bin Laden watching television.  He is wearing a black knitted cap and has a brown blanket over his shoulders.  He gestures to the camera operator to focus on the television, where he is selecting various channels that are broadcasting some news about himself.  The CIA deleted the audio from the video clips.

Another clip is a message to the United States, which the intelligence official says includes familiar criticism of U.S. policy and the capitalist economic system.  In that clip, the beard is black, indicating, the official says, that bin Laden had dyed it to maintain his public image. The official says bin Laden’s beard was gray when he was killed. The official says that video was recorded late last year, but there are no dates on the other excerpts. The three other clips show rehearsals or outtakes from video messages.

The senior U.S. intelligence official says the team also took digital and paper copies of personal correspondence to and from bin Laden.  He said such videos and documents would not likely be in the possession of anyone other than bin Laden himself.
The official also provided some details about the formal identification of bin Laden’s body after he was killed by the commandos. He says sophisticated facial recognition software provided a 95-percent match from photos of bin Laden. And he reported that two separate analyses of DNA from the body matched the genetic profile gathered from several known bin Laden family members, with what he called only a one in 11.8 quadrillion chance of error.  In the American system, a quadrillion is a million billion.

The official says a U.S. government team will take some time to go through all the material, looking particularly for information about al-Qaida members, plans and finances.  In addition, he says the team is looking for links to other terrorist groups around the world and any information about possible efforts to acquire weapons of mass destruction.  He says some of the information is being shared with other countries, but he would not say which ones.

The official also said the CIA believes it is significant that in acknowledging bin Laden’s death, al-Qaida did not name a successor.  He says that would appear to add credibility to the view that the number-two al-Qaida leader, Ayman Zawahiri, is not popular with all segments of the movement.  The American intelligence official described Zawahiri as a controlling, micro-manager who is not charismatic, like bin Laden was.

The official called the nearly 10-year effort to find bin Laden perhaps "the greatest intelligence success..of a generation."  He said it was based on years of relentless, precision work on the U.S. intelligence community’s top priority.
Source

President Barack Obama slipped into New York City Thursday to meet quietly with first responders and the families of victims of the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center and mark the death of the attack’s mastermind, Osama bin Laden.

While careful to avoid the appearance of a victory lap, Obama laid a wreath at ground zero and delivered a clear message about his resolve - and the country’s - in pursuing bin Laden until U.S. forces finally located and killed him in Pakistan over the weekend.
“What happened on Sunday, because of the courage of our military and the outstanding work of our intelligence, sent a message around the world, but also sent a message here back home that when we say we will never forget, we mean what we say,” Obama said during his first stop - a visit with firefighters at Engine 54, Ladder 4, Battalion 9 in midtown, which lost 15 men on Sept. 11, 2001.

“It didn’t matter which administration was in,” added the president, who plans to make no public remarks during his visit. “It didn’t matter who was in charge, we were going to make sure that the perpetrators of that horrible act — that they received justice.”

After stops at the fire house and a police station, Obama traveled to ground zero, where he placed a wreath of red, white and blue flowers at a memorial where the twin towers once stood. He greeted firefighters and cops, and shared a few words with several victims’ family members. He left, to cheers from the crowd, to meet with more relatives of victims.

“It’s been such an emotional roller coaster this week but after having time to really digest the chain of events i feel relieved,” said Mary Fetchett, whose 24-year-old son Brad was killed in the attacks.

“There’s been a lot of anxiety over the last ten years wondering if [bin Laden] was dead or alive, so I wanted to express my appreciation to President Obama,” said Fetchett, who was invited to the meeting with the president. “There is a sense of unity I think about the announcement of bin Laden’s death.”

The president’s helicopter landed near Wall Street shortly after 11 a.m., and was met by former mayor Rudy Giuliani.

Giuliani – a frequent critic who has praised Obama’s actions in hunting the terrorist leader - accompanied him on the trip to a midtown Manhattan firehouse, where he shook hands with firefighters and made brief remarks.

Obama observed a rite of passage for politicians commemorating the attacks, viewing a memorial plaque at the station and lunching privately with about a dozen firefighters in the cluttered kitchen, chowing down on homemade eggplant Parmigiana with sundried tomatoes and more.

“He loved the shrimp, he loved the veal,” said one of the firefighters.

“For him to come here really meant something… I could see that the president was clearly touched,” said New York City Fire Chief Edward Kilduff, who said that the mood lightened when the plates got heavy.

“We talked a little about the Mets, a little about the Yankees, a little about the Cubs, a little about the White Sox,” Kilduff added.

Obama then paid a similar visit with policemen at the First Precinct station in lower Manhattan, several blocks north of the World Trade Center site.

The visit to ground zero, the first since Obama laid flowers on a memorial there as a presidential candidate in 2008, came the day after Obama refused requests to release gruesome photographs showing the bullet-ridden body of bin Laden.

“We don’t need to spike the football,” Obama told “60 Minutes,” in explaining his decision – and that desire to maintain some balance in celebrating bin Laden’s death was evident in the low-key visit.

White House press secretary Jay Carney, speaking to reporters on Air Force One on the flight to New York, said the trip was intended “to perhaps help New Yorkers and Americans everywhere to achieve a sense of closure with the death of Osama bin Laden.”

Obama’s visit has drawn comparisons to President George W. Bush’s tour of the rubble a few days after the attacks on September 11, 2001 – when he grabbed a bullhorn and promised “the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon!”

Obama invited Bush to join him at ground zero but he declined, citing a desire to dodge the post-presidential spotlight.
POLITICO

President Barack Obama slipped into New York City Thursday to meet quietly with first responders and the families of victims of the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center and mark the death of the attack’s mastermind, Osama bin Laden.

While careful to avoid the appearance of a victory lap, Obama laid a wreath at ground zero and delivered a clear message about his resolve - and the country’s - in pursuing bin Laden until U.S. forces finally located and killed him in Pakistan over the weekend.
“What happened on Sunday, because of the courage of our military and the outstanding work of our intelligence, sent a message around the world, but also sent a message here back home that when we say we will never forget, we mean what we say,” Obama said during his first stop - a visit with firefighters at Engine 54, Ladder 4, Battalion 9 in midtown, which lost 15 men on Sept. 11, 2001.

“It didn’t matter which administration was in,” added the president, who plans to make no public remarks during his visit. “It didn’t matter who was in charge, we were going to make sure that the perpetrators of that horrible act — that they received justice.”

After stops at the fire house and a police station, Obama traveled to ground zero, where he placed a wreath of red, white and blue flowers at a memorial where the twin towers once stood. He greeted firefighters and cops, and shared a few words with several victims’ family members. He left, to cheers from the crowd, to meet with more relatives of victims.

“It’s been such an emotional roller coaster this week but after having time to really digest the chain of events i feel relieved,” said Mary Fetchett, whose 24-year-old son Brad was killed in the attacks.

“There’s been a lot of anxiety over the last ten years wondering if [bin Laden] was dead or alive, so I wanted to express my appreciation to President Obama,” said Fetchett, who was invited to the meeting with the president. “There is a sense of unity I think about the announcement of bin Laden’s death.”

The president’s helicopter landed near Wall Street shortly after 11 a.m., and was met by former mayor Rudy Giuliani.

Giuliani – a frequent critic who has praised Obama’s actions in hunting the terrorist leader - accompanied him on the trip to a midtown Manhattan firehouse, where he shook hands with firefighters and made brief remarks.

Obama observed a rite of passage for politicians commemorating the attacks, viewing a memorial plaque at the station and lunching privately with about a dozen firefighters in the cluttered kitchen, chowing down on homemade eggplant Parmigiana with sundried tomatoes and more.

“He loved the shrimp, he loved the veal,” said one of the firefighters.

“For him to come here really meant something… I could see that the president was clearly touched,” said New York City Fire Chief Edward Kilduff, who said that the mood lightened when the plates got heavy.

“We talked a little about the Mets, a little about the Yankees, a little about the Cubs, a little about the White Sox,” Kilduff added.

Obama then paid a similar visit with policemen at the First Precinct station in lower Manhattan, several blocks north of the World Trade Center site.

The visit to ground zero, the first since Obama laid flowers on a memorial there as a presidential candidate in 2008, came the day after Obama refused requests to release gruesome photographs showing the bullet-ridden body of bin Laden.

“We don’t need to spike the football,” Obama told “60 Minutes,” in explaining his decision – and that desire to maintain some balance in celebrating bin Laden’s death was evident in the low-key visit.

White House press secretary Jay Carney, speaking to reporters on Air Force One on the flight to New York, said the trip was intended “to perhaps help New Yorkers and Americans everywhere to achieve a sense of closure with the death of Osama bin Laden.”

Obama’s visit has drawn comparisons to President George W. Bush’s tour of the rubble a few days after the attacks on September 11, 2001 – when he grabbed a bullhorn and promised “the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon!”

Obama invited Bush to join him at ground zero but he declined, citing a desire to dodge the post-presidential spotlight.
POLITICO