You all knew this...right?

[SHRED]

Although Shrub really never wanted to get him... IMHO.

---
July 4, 2006
C.I.A. Closes Unit Focused on Capture of bin Laden
By MARK MAZZETTI

WASHINGTON, July 3 — The Central Intelligence Agency has closed a unit that for a decade had the mission of hunting Osama bin Laden and his top lieutenants, intelligence officials confirmed Monday.

The unit, known as Alec Station, was disbanded late last year and its analysts reassigned within the C.I.A. Counterterrorist Center, the officials said.

The decision is a milestone for the agency, which formed the unit before Osama bin Laden became a household name and bolstered its ranks after the Sept. 11 attacks, when President Bush pledged to bring Mr. bin Laden to justice "dead or alive."

The realignment reflects a view that Al Qaeda is no longer as hierarchical as it once was, intelligence officials said, and a growing concern about Qaeda-inspired groups that have begun carrying out attacks independent of Mr. bin Laden and his top deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri.


http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/04/washington/04intel.html?ex=1309665600&en=3779ed9b98bb9d22&ei=5088

[babylonsister]

1. Yes, and I also remember being outraged. nt

[burythehatchet]

2. They were getting too close to Cheney

[whistle]

3. The bin Laden unit has been a scam since it was established

...almost as if it was set up as a front operation for other purposes.

<snip>
Bin Laden Issue Station
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Bin Laden Issue Station (1996-2005) was a unit of the Central Intelligence Agency dedicated to tracking Osama bin Laden.

Conception, Birth and Growth
The idea was born from discussions within the CIA's senior management, and that of the CIA's Counterterrorist Center (CTC). David Cohen, head of the CIA's Directorate of Operations, and others, wanted to try out a "virtual station", modeled on the Agency's overseas stations, but based near Washington DC and dedicated to a particular issue. The unit "would fuse intelligence disciplines into one office — operations, analysis, signals intercepts, overhead photography and so on".

Cohen had trouble getting any Directorate of Operations officer to run the unit. He finally recruited Michael Scheuer, an analyst then running the CTC's Islamic Extremist Branch; Scheuer "was especially knowledgeable about Afghanistan". Scheuer, who "had noticed a recent stream of reports about Bin Ladin and something called al Qaeda", suggested that the new unit "focus on this one individual". Cohen agreed.

The Station opened in January 1996, as a unit under the CTC. Scheuer set it up and headed it from that time until spring 1999. The Station was an "interdisciplinary" group, drawing on personnel from the CIA, FBI, NSA and elsewhere in the intelligence community. Formally known as the Bin Laden Issue Station, it was codenamed Alex, or Alec Station. (It is presumably the "Alex Base" referred to by Able Danger liaison Anthony Shaffer.<1>) By 1999 the unit's staff had nicknamed themselves the Manson Family, "because they had acquired a reputation for crazed alarmism about the rising al Qaeda threat".

The Station originally had twelve professional staff members. This figure grew to 40-50 employees by Sept. 11, 2001. (The CTC as a whole had about 200 and 390 employees at the same dates.)<2>

CIA chief George Tenet later described the Station's mission as "to track (bin Laden), collect intelligence on him, run operations against him, disrupt his finances, and warn policymakers about his activities and intentions". By early 1999 the unit had "succeeded in identifying assets and members of Bin Laden's organization ...".<3>
<MORE>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bin_Laden_Issue_Station

[stillcool]

9. For some reason..

I picture Bin Laden hanging out with Whitey Bolger, and Ken Lay...by the pool.

[flyarm]

4. yes and there was outrage here last summer when the unit was closed ..

and it was exposed Bin Laden was not on the FBI most wanted list!!

but reminders are always good for those who are new here or missed the story..thank you!

fly

[merh]

5. check the video linked in my sig line

they could have had him in early 2001, if they wanted him. He is a federally indicted defendant and on the 10 most wanted list. He was indicted in 1998 by the DOJ under Clinton for his involvement in the August 7 bombings of the US embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and for conspiring to kill Americans outside the United States. Talibian offered him and was trying to negitiate with bushco to lift sanctions and resolve issues in Afghanistan. bushco ignored/rejected the offer.

And the B*sh DOJ has yet to indict OBL for his involvement in 9/11.

Guess domestic politics are more important than terrorism. :shrug:

:grr:

[rasputin1952]

6. It is a sad state of affairs when a unit designated to find bin-Laden...

either dead or alive, is closed. This is like saying we won't look for nazi war criminals anymore.

bin-Lade was the basis for going to war in the first place, and by either capturing him, or bringing in an ID positive corpse, there is really no way to get out off this war w/less than just scooting, (which is fine by me, but getting bin-Lade would be infinitely better).

Just goes to show that this administration is as full of shit as a Thanksgiving turkey, they don't care as long as people are dying, they have tis thing about death, that to me, is just reprehensible...:grr:

[12string]

7. bin laden

  bin laden had as much to do with 9/11 as saddam hussein's
wmd's had to do with our invading iraq.he served his purpose
and now they will move on to the next set of lies.wake up.

[rasputin1952]

8. bin-Laden is a threat, as are many others, but he is the crux of

the present situation.

They used him, sure, but don't think that if bin-Laden is still out there, he's still a threat, not jsut to us, but many others as well...:(