“We don't know for a fact where Osama bin Laden is. If we did, we'd go and get him." – Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Dec. 6.
Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaida, has evaded capture by the United States for more than a decade. And although his public utterances are few, his capture or death remains a top U.S. priority.
On Tuesday, General Stanley McChrystal acknowledged as much. He told the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing that while he doesn’t think it would help defeat al-Qaida if bin Laden were captured or killed, he doesn’t believe the United States can defeat the terrorist organization until he is captured or killed.
Over the past few years, there have been reports of sightings in locations in Pakistan as widespread as Chitral in the north to South Waziristan, a swath of territory equivalent in size to New England and Mid-Atlantic states.
Here’s what we know, based on information from U.S. intelligence sources.
Bin Laden is believed to stay in one location for months, moving only when security requires. He is believed to stay not in caves but in the large-walled compounds typical of the region, the guest of friendly natives. Typical of an event that would cause him to move: the capture or killing of a high-ranking al-Qaida figure, like the organization’s director of international operations. There were reports in mid-2005 that the capture of Abu Faraj al-Libi in May 2005 caused him to move from a location where he had long stayed.
Bin Laden is suspected of receiving some financial support from members of his large Saudi family. He has 53 siblings.
It is known that other al-Qaida leaders have chosen locations near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. In early 2005, for example, the CIA believed it had found the “winter headquarters” of al-Qaida in Pakistan’s Bajaur province. The location, again a walled compound, was eight kilometers from the border with access across the border via six mountain passes. Al-Qaida operatives were accompanied by their families. However, bin Laden was NOT at the headquarters, nor was Ayman al-Zawahiri, his No. 2. Surveillance of the camp led to the capture a few months later of Abu Faraj al Libni, the Libyan who is suspected of being al-Qaida’s operations chief.
By Robert Windrem
Senior investigative producer
NBC News
updated 8:16 a.m. ET Dec. 9, 2009
Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaida, has evaded capture by the United States for more than a decade. And although his public utterances are few, his capture or death remains a top U.S. priority.
On Tuesday, General Stanley McChrystal acknowledged as much. He told the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing that while he doesn’t think it would help defeat al-Qaida if bin Laden were captured or killed, he doesn’t believe the United States can defeat the terrorist organization until he is captured or killed.
Over the past few years, there have been reports of sightings in locations in Pakistan as widespread as Chitral in the north to South Waziristan, a swath of territory equivalent in size to New England and Mid-Atlantic states.
Here’s what we know, based on information from U.S. intelligence sources.
Bin Laden is believed to stay in one location for months, moving only when security requires. He is believed to stay not in caves but in the large-walled compounds typical of the region, the guest of friendly natives. Typical of an event that would cause him to move: the capture or killing of a high-ranking al-Qaida figure, like the organization’s director of international operations. There were reports in mid-2005 that the capture of Abu Faraj al-Libi in May 2005 caused him to move from a location where he had long stayed.
Bin Laden is suspected of receiving some financial support from members of his large Saudi family. He has 53 siblings.
It is known that other al-Qaida leaders have chosen locations near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. In early 2005, for example, the CIA believed it had found the “winter headquarters” of al-Qaida in Pakistan’s Bajaur province. The location, again a walled compound, was eight kilometers from the border with access across the border via six mountain passes. Al-Qaida operatives were accompanied by their families. However, bin Laden was NOT at the headquarters, nor was Ayman al-Zawahiri, his No. 2. Surveillance of the camp led to the capture a few months later of Abu Faraj al Libni, the Libyan who is suspected of being al-Qaida’s operations chief.
By Robert Windrem
Senior investigative producer
NBC News
updated 8:16 a.m. ET Dec. 9, 2009
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