Drone Strike Killed No. 2 in Al Qaeda, U.S. Official Says

Again, more evidence being a part of Al Qaeda leadership does tend to shorten your life.

It would appear the number two slot in Al Qaeda is once again open after the rectal insertion of a missile into the seats former occupant. At this point, who wants the job?

It would appear that drone strikes are indeed proving effective in assuring that these terrorists meet their mythical maker. It would also appear that Pakistan is not winning the war on keeping these sorts out of their country.

So it goes. The war on terror marches on. Hopefully one day it will be over and these sorts of folks will cease to exist.


http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/06/world/asia/qaeda-deputy-killed-in-drone-strike-in-pakistan.html

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Al Qaeda’s deputy leader, Abu Yahya al-Libi, was killed in a drone strike in northern Pakistan, an American official confirmed on Tuesday, in the biggest single success in the controversial campaign’s eight-year history.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters, described Mr. Libi as one of Al Qaeda’s “most experienced and versatile leaders,” and said he had “played a critical role in the group’s planning against the West, providing oversight of the external operations efforts.”

The official did not give details about how Mr. Libi’s death had been confirmed. In past drone strikes against militant leaders, American intelligence officials have monitored cellphone and text and Internet messages to confirm the effects of the missions.

The drone strike occurred on Monday in a small village outside Mir Ali, a major hub of Pakistani and international militancy in North Waziristan Province. At the time, American officials announced that Mr. Libi had been the strike’s target, but could not confirm his condition. Pakistanis living in the area of the strike reported that he had been either killed or seriously wounded, and that 15 other people had been killed.

Mr. Libi, who was believed to be in his late 40s, moved up to become Al Qaeda’s deputy, behind Ayman al-Zawahri, after an American commando raid killed Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan in May 2011. He already had a high profile in the militant world: he escaped the American prison at Bagram, Afghanistan, in 2005, and went on to make a series of videos that established him as a leading voice calling for attacks on the United States — and as a charismatic focal point for a terrorist group that was widely seen as being in decline.

This is not the first time Mr. Libi has been reported to have been killed in an American drone strike: similar announcements were made in December 2009 after a strike in South Waziristan. But if the American report is borne out this time, it would be an important chapter in an airstrike campaign that has infuriated Pakistani officials but has remained one of the United States’ most effective tools in fighting militant leaders.

Characterizing what the loss would mean to Al Qaeda, the American official said: “Zawahri will be hard-pressed to find any one person who can readily step into Abu Yahya’s shoes — in addition to his gravitas as a longstanding member of AQ’s leadership, Abu Yahya’s religious credentials gave him the authority to issue fatwas, operational approvals, and guidance to the core group in Pakistan and regional affiliates. There is no one who even comes close in terms of replacing the expertise AQ has just lost.”

The drone strike on Monday was the third in Pakistan in three days, and the tempo of the strikes picked up greatly after American and Pakistani negotiations to reopen NATO supply lines to Afghanistan bogged down last month. American officials have said in recent days that the increase in strikes was because of improved weather and an increase in cross-border militant operations now that the Afghanistan fighting season had gotten fully under way, rather than serving as a political message to the Pakistani government.

Still, Pakistani officials openly perceive the drone strikes to be part of the American bargaining strategy, and have insisted that the attacks end.

A senior Pakistani security official said that Pakistani intelligence had no independent confirmation of Mr. Libi’s death. Even if it was proved, he added, his country’s opposition to the drone campaign would not change.

“Practically speaking, the drone strikes are a big success. But strategically they are a huge loss. They creates more polarization, more enemies, and are an attack on our sovereignty,” he said. “We have always told the Americans that if anyone should carry out these strikes, it should be us.”

 

Drones are definitely effective. This is more good news.

As to Pakistan, I'm not sure they're really even trying at this point. Keep up a "good enough" show for the dollars is about all i think they're doing.

 

I tend to agree with you on all counts.

 

So Obama pulls the trigger and then listens for death messages? "You got me Barak, , I mean they got al-Libi."

Good idea to tell them how to fake their own deaths.

 

Everyone knows how this works. Well I assumed everyone knew.

 

goodness....can you believe some want to go back to the incompetent GOP foreign policy of last decade?

 

Rummy will be along to call it a coffee break ...


Rumsfeld says bin Laden killing not ‘gutsy’ call

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/05/31/rumsfeld-says-bin-laden-killing-not-gutsy-call/

“It seems to me that it is a 15-minute decision and the first 14 are for coffee.
For me, not a complicated answer.
Do it,” he said.

 

right....everyone knows history remembers Jimmy Carters tough choice to try to rescue the hostages....not that it was a failure

 

I do think Pakistan does help, but on a limited basis. I certainly don't believe one moment they are committed to this, but I do think there is some value.

 

I don't think the pakistanis weep every time a Arab operative gets smeared by a drone, but they got a put on a brave face, and moan about sovereignty being violated. Plus, it kind shines poorly on their security apparatus for not even being able to control parts of their territory.

 

Obama is just following the same war mongering plan that bush was, Obama just has less of a problem with killing American citizens.

 

Another Bush policy Obama has continued..while denouncing Bush...

 

Drone strikes are just ANOTHER BUSH POLICY OBAMA has continued,and EXPANDED UPON, all the while denouncing Bush...

 

bush invented killing terrorists from the sky?...he just sucked at it.

 

he also wears pants to work...another Bush policy!

 

Other policies from Pres Bush Jr, let Afghanistan get away, and invade Iraq and waste away resources. Pres Obama, did the opposite and get bin Laden.

Then let's not forget how many years, not months, years it took to get the Pres Bush admin to admit things were going the wrong way in Iraq. Dumped Rumsfled, and replaced him with Gates, look how that turned out.

Now, Pres Bush required reinlistment during the heavy part of Iraq, to the point of serveral tours, now those same soldiers are exhausted. Their mental health will need to be addressed soon, that problem is going to rear its uglty head soon enough.

 

*Special OPS* in fact began with Carter (Iran Hostage Crisis Rescue) and has evolved most brilliant and effective ... Bush neocons claim to fame is to commit high-treason, war crimes, mass-murder & genocide ...

So you're full of it.

 

Actually, special ops did not begin with Carter.

Try again.

 

You want to get Pakistan's attention? Cut off foreign aid and then enter into an economic and military alliance with India.

 

I think this could be the smartest moves the United States Goverment could do, after the withdrawal of forces from Afghanistan is completed.

 

Gonna add some background to the above.

Back in the 90's, Clinton had a few pretty good chances to take out Bin Laden. Specifics are debatable, but what is not is that he chose not to launch because the chance of killing others was too high, and the political fallout would have been significant had there been collateral killing, especially if Bin Laden was not killed also. Agree or disagree, the point is that the international political environment was SOOOO much different then. Fault Clinton if you will, but the concern was legitimate.

Now, post 911 and other atrocities, we seem able to drop drone attacks on a soveriegn country, with whom we are not at war, and which has a significant Muslim population that would take issue with us, and its no big deal. The "outarge" of the Pakistani's is laughable. Don't know why they even bother, its so lame. Clearly they are OK with all of it, to include killing Bin Laden (they don't help, but they don't stop us either). That they locked up that doctor is just a token bone to themsleves to try to appear "sovereign" still.

 

Was this Executive Order ever repealed?

 

BS. Not faulting Carter for not having the proper special ops in place, although it was a terrible plan, but Eagle Claw failed because of a lack of a coordinated Special Ops response. We didn't start to really get our Special Ops in gear until the late 80's. It took time.

Special Ops does not start with a mission, btw. You are not full of it ... just clueless as hell.

 

According to the article, which appears in the magazine's January issue, the Sudanese government "made repeated efforts" to share with Washington "copious intelligence" on Osama Bin Laden and the Al Qaeda network. The information was collected by the Sudanese intelligence agency, Mukhabarat, from the early to the mid-1990s, when Osama Bin Laden was living in Sudan.

Straight from the Sudan Embassy.

 

We had 3-4 potential military operations against him as well. Clinton only launched one. Cruise missiles. Bin Laden was not there, but the meeting he was aiming for was in a remote place, and all there were Al Queada and Taliban. We definitiely had him pinpointed a couple of times, but there were "innocent" civilians around, so no launch.