CIA gave up the Osama hunt

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/07/04/cia.binladen.ap/index.html

Tuesday, July 4, 2006; Posted: 1:26 p.m. EDT (17:26 GMT)

NEW YORK (AP) -- A CIA unit that had hunted for Osama bin Laden and his top deputies for a decade has been disbanded, according to a published report.

Citing unnamed intelligence officials, The New York Times reported Tuesday that the unit, known as "Alec Station," was shut down late last year.

The decision to close the unit, which was created before the September 11, 2001, attacks, was first reported Monday by National Public Radio.

The officials told the Times that the change reflects a view that al Qaeda's hierarchy has changed, and terrorist attacks inspired by the group are now being carried out independently of bin Laden and his second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahiri.

The CIA said hunting bin Laden remains a priority, but resources needed to be directed toward other people and groups likely to initiate new attacks.

"The efforts to find Osama bin Laden are as strong as ever," said CIA spokeswoman Jennifer Millerwise Dyck.

"This is an agile agency, and the decision was made to ensure greater reach and focus."

A former CIA official who once led the unit, Michael Scheuer, told the Times that its shutdown was a mistake.

"This will clearly denigrate our operations against al Qaeda," he said.

"These days at the agency, bin Laden and al Qaeda appear to be treated merely as first among equals."

 

That's because bin Laden is very likely doing the robot dance with his 72 vestal virgins right now.

He's probably been dead for years. But this administration ain't ever going to tell you that.

 

Milerwise Dyck is a GOP hack who came in with Goss.
Be fair. These guys caught the No. 3 man in al Qaeda about nine times.

 

Where does it say they have stopped hunting him?

 

Lee, I think it's a plausible, yet unlikely, theory. Unless this guy recorded video/audio statements to account for every possible scenario, he's still out there.

I'm sure some of them were scripted and filmed/recorded years in advance, but I don't know if he'd even be able to predict everything that's gone down in recent years.

 

didn't bin laden recently release an audio tape? I thought it mentioned current enough events that we're pretty sure he's alive.

 

A clever artist was able to make Yoda fight. A geek with a computer was once able to take 20 years off Anthony Hopkins' appearance. And breathe life, even for a moment, into Marlon Brando. This recurring visage of Bin Laden could very easily be just flickers of light and sound -- a hologram with the intent to manipulate and intimidate. These people are a brutal lot, but they aren't stupid. And they aren't all stuck in the 7th century.

Bin Laden has/had severe renal dysfunction. He looked to be at death's welcome mat circa 2001. You don't just magically recover from that. It's usually Game Over. And that's if Bush's Grand Armee didn't bomb him back to the 7th century.

 

Um, yeah. Sure. The CIA quit. I'll play along. This isn't a political thing, but think about this - The most dangerous man alive is still out there, and the U.S. gov't says "fuck it". No way.

They'll keep hunting for the man as long as it takes.

And I find it hysterical that some lacky AP writer took what they said as gospel and got hustled. Yes, I'm saying the government lies. And yes, I'm saying that AP writer's a little naive. The current admin. hates the media, and vice versa.

The hunt continues.

 

Art Buchwald says, "I beg to differ."

 

The dialysis that Sammy needed is something reserved for patients in end-stage renal failure.

He's ass paste somewhere on a Tora Bora wall. Or his kidneys and liver turned to that sometime around 2002.