Just think of all of the intelligence found at that Pakistan location!

[FrenchieCat]

Betcha there was a treasure trove! Computers, documents, etc....
AlQeada plans would have certainly been in possession of Bin Laden.
Believe that!

So I don't think this is simply "symbolic" as the news media keeps saying....

What was symbolic was that Media stunt Saddam statue that the Media was panting over
back in 2003! Now that was some symbolic bullshit there!

This occurence....not so much.

[Swede]

1. Too bad they couldn't take that fuck alive.

But the loss of the cell phones,hard drives etc will have alot of these guys freaking out.

[FrenchieCat]

2. I'm thinking that Bin Laden had a list of names....etc.....

I don't think that he was going to let them take him alive.

[Swede]

3. His guards probably had orders to shoot him before captrue.

nt

[FrenchieCat]

6. Or something like that.

[boppers]

10. Cell phones? Hard drives? WTF?

Uhm, you can't stay hidden that long if you use a cell phone.

The site had *no* phone, *no* internet, *no* way of being technologically tracked.

Which, BTW, is how they found it.

[joshcryer]

11. The intelligence guys who figured that one out were brilliant.

Hmm, well, we can't find him through normal communications means, maybe ... wait a second, there's a big ass compound with no intelligence coming or going at all. Something ain't right there!

[boppers]

16. Of course, now they've tipped their hands in a very public way.

In the future, expect more folks to realize that having *no* signal is a unique signal in and of itself, so they have to generate false/useless traffic that appears normal... provided they think about that.

Also, since apparently this was led by CIA/NSA/JSOC with supposedly no knowledge (until the raid) by the ISI, it tips the hand of showing that US intelligence possibly has access to Pakistan's internet and phone records, as least as it related to this one property.

Of course, it could *also* just be a tip from a disgruntled phone service salesman, who got pissed off that he could never get them to buy a land line. In which case, he's possibly now 25 million dollars richer.

[Swede]

44. They found 10 to 12 harddrives,5 computers,thumb drives.

DVDs and cds. Who knows what else.

[Hutzpa]

25. Some people are right now looking at shadows

you can believe that.

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

4. guess the rumors of him as an invalid on dialysis were off

sounds like he was doing well and was well-connected to his organization

[FrenchieCat]

5. I didn't realize that he was only 54 years old!

That's quite young!

[lutherj]

7. No doubt they're having a shredding party. Target practice with the hard drives.

Soothing assurances passing through the back channels.

[RaleighNCDUer]

8. Too bad the place burned to the ground. nt

[FrenchieCat]

9. We shall see what they salvaged....

[Hissyspit]

21. Reports say there were no telephones or Internet connections in the house.

There may have been nothing to salvage.

[FrenchieCat]

24. I won't make the conclusion that there was nothing found.......

cause I'm not that knowledgable, cause I wasn't there.....
but I will surmise in the positive, cause I can. :)

[Raine1967]

29. I watched the press briefing w/ Security Advisor John Brennan

He said they took a LOT of stuff out of that compound. We have the paperwork. We have the video equipment, we have whatever was deemed worthy for further intelligence.


We got the goods. I for one am quite pleased.

[TTUBatfan2008]

12. Don't forget the fundraising aspect too...

The media is downplaying the impact of this, but Al Qaeda needs money to operate just the same as any other organization. Bin Laden and his family are worth billions of dollars. In addition, you can bet that Bin Laden had connections all over the world for financing. This is a huge blow to Al Qaeda's fundraising efforts. As Biden would say, "This is a big fucking deal."

[FrenchieCat]

13. How come the media can't come up with this shit,

and have to downplay this as being Symbolic only?
What's up with that?

[TTUBatfan2008]

14. Because...

people in the intelligence community have speculated in that direction for years. Turns out he wasn't in a cave like all the speculation said. He was in a fucking mansion and likely was still heavily involved in the operations of the organization. At the very least he was probably a major fundraiser for them, even if he wasn't operating the organization. On top of that, the media forgets that Al Qaeda recruits swear an oath to Bin Laden himself. The notion that it's not a big deal is ridiculous.

[RaleighNCDUer]

15. If Bin Laden and AQ were accessing millions, let alone billions,

wouldn't we actually see some results?

Face is, AQ has been effectively neutralized for years. What was the last big AQ attack? Some dumb kid who was trained in Afghanistan tried to fly into the country with a bomb in his shorts. That is the result of millions of dollars invested and meticulous planning?

I'm certainly not going to cry over OBL, but neither am I going to delude myself by saying this really changes anything.

[boppers]

17. "the last big AQ attack"

How many dead in Afghanistan, now?

Hundreds of thousands?

How many die in many countries besides the US, daily?

[Name removed]

19. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[boppers]

20. You need to study cell-based organization.

"Not every islamist, nor every terrorist in the world is Al Queda."

True. But ignoring attacks that don't happen on US soil doesn't make them non-existent.

Have a wikipedia article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_al-Qaeda_attacks

[TTUBatfan2008]

18. Who do you think has been engaging in guerilla warfare...

in both Afghanistan and Iraq? Al Qaeda was in on a lot of that crap.

[RaleighNCDUer]

22. Actually, no.

It's been proven that "Al Queda In Iraq" has virtually NO ties to Al Queda. They are just another local milita.

And in Afghanistan, the guerilla warfare is being conducted almost entirely by local warlords with no particular political affiliation, and by the Taliban - and there IS a significant difference between the Taliban and Al Queda.

You really need to stop watching Faux News.

[chowder66]

23. No internet, no phone, burning trash, used couriers. Probably won't find much. eom

[JaneQPublic]

26. A Rolodex? (nt)

[chowder66]

27. how 1980's :)

[FrenchieCat]

28. They had trash to burn......so obviously, unless they had destroyed everything

before the SEALS arrived, then I wouldn't doubt that yes, there's a paper trail.
This guy might have been backwards in some way, but I don't think he operated
as though he was in the 19th Century.

[tekisui]

31. I doubt it. The head boss wouldn't keep anything on him or near him.

That is a job for lower levels.

[FrenchieCat]

43. Sounds like they found plenty!

I should be a CIA agent....cause I think hard before I write these OPs. :)

[tekisui]

30. No doubt plenty of info to keep Obama's Wars going.

[FrenchieCat]

32. Classic.......

and you will be proven wrong.....
and you can say you want to be proven wrong,
but you will have been wrong nevertheless.

Till then.

[tekisui]

35. How will I be proven wrong? When we are still in Afghanistan in 2014?

2015? Beyond that?

When drone strikes continue in Pakistan? When we stay in Iraq past 2011?

I do hope to be proven wrong. But, I doubt I will be. Time will tell, but it may be you who is proven wrong.

[FrenchieCat]

37. Like I said...till then.

[tekisui]

38. Are you seriously suggesting we will be out of Afghanistan before 2014?

Seriously?

[GomezLives]

33. Why would he have a computer w/o an internet connection??

[DrToast]

34. Yeah, computers didn't exist before the internet!

[GomezLives]

36. What would he use it for??? To add up casualties??

[Vicar In A Tutu]

40. Have information...

...etcetera which he handed out / had given to him on physical media?

[formercia]

41. Data is encrypted and written to a CDROM ,or other media

then the courier delivers it to the recipient. High Tech very snail mail.

[Phx_Dem]

39. Yeah, they got a shitload. Some guy on Morning Joe said they

took lots of computers, papers and other info.

[FrenchieCat]

42. Hey folks......guess I was right! LOL!

Vast array of digital information recovered from bin Laden compound
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=433x666476