EDMOND —
“I am with the same one as before,” Ibrahim Saeed Ahmed said in a phone conversation in Abbottabad, Pakistan, in June 2010 that was tapped by the CIA. Ahmed was the al-Qaeda operative who served as Osama bin Laden’s courier. And as detailed in the recently published, “The Finish: The Killing of Osama bin Laden” by Mark Bowden, that information allowed the CIA to locate the walled compound in that community in which bin Laden was living with three of his wives.
Abbottabad is an affluent suburb of the Pakistani capital of Islamabad. “He can run, but he can’t hide,” President George W. Bush had said about Osama bin Laden after the al-Qaeda leader had taken credit for the destruction of the World Trade Center in 2001 in a video that was distributed to his followers. But as Bowden details, bin Laden managed to escape from his base in Tora Bora in Afghanistan after the U.S. invaded that country, and he had successfully avoided capture since that time despite the fact that the U.S. State Department had promised a $25 million reward for anyone who could locate him.
New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd had written toward the end of the Bush presidency that bin Laden was the man who apparently could “both run and hide,” and Bowden theorizes that the Bush Administration’s focus on the war in Iraq did not leave much energy for the hunt for bin Laden.
But the pursuit of the al-Qaeda leader became a goal of the Obama Administration, and the author documents how the CIA pursued the clues that eventually led them to the compound in Abbottabad. The initial surveillance of that site revealed that it was home to Ahmed and his brother and their families as well as another family whose members included a tall man who occasionally was seen pacing in a partially covered garden adjacent to the structure in which he lived. While the two brothers occasionally left the compound the tall man never did.
But confirmation that the individual was in fact the al-Qaeda leader would not take place until after the Navy Seals who raided the compound obtained a DNA sample from his bloody corpse. Efforts made to obtain more information regarding that family were not successful. Surveillance revealed that no trash was taken from the compound and that its refuse was burned on the grounds. The CIA contracted with a Pakistani physician to conduct free inoculations for childhood diseases for children in Abbottabad in an effort to obtain a DNA sample from the children in the compound. The author details how the doctor’s efforts were enthusiastically received by most parents in that community, and many children received inoculations as a result, but when he knocked on the gate of the site in question no one responded.
Bowden credits President Obama for his decision to authorize the raid on the compound despite the fact that several of his advisers were against it. The site was located a mile from a Pakistani military academy, and Vice President Biden worried that a raid could result in the Navy Seals having to fight members of the Pakistani military. Other high-ranking administration officials were hesitant because there was no proof that bin Laden was in the compound.
The author details that after the Navy Seals returned to the U.S. that President Obama addressed them and said that “Early on in the process I came to terms with the fact that there was always going to be a fifty-fifty case on the intelligence side. I made the decision I did because I had one hundred percent confidence in your ability. You are the finest small fighting force in the history of the world.”
WILLIAM F. O’BRIEN is an Oklahoma City attorney.
Opinion
Book details successful bin Laden raid
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Witnesses missing; Behenna case could be heard at Supreme Court
The film “Breaker Morant” was nominated for an Oscar for the best screenplay in 1980. It told the story of Harry “Breaker” Morant, an Australian who served in the British Army and was court-martialed for alleged war crimes during the Boer War in Southern Africa in the early years of the last century.
That conflict pitted the British Army against the descendants of the Dutch settlers who had migrated to what is now South Africa in the 17th and 18th centuries. The majority of them were farmers and in their language of Afrikaans were known as “Boers.” -
Don’t leave Oklahoma!
May is graduation season. As I have done every year as lieutenant governor, I have given multiple commencement speeches. Advice flows freely during this time and it usually runs the gamut. What to do, what not to do, how to do ‘x’, be sure not to do ‘y.’ Too often commencement speakers speak in big generalities. So general, the message is frequently lost or forgotten.
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Last-minute funding proposals not in state’s best interest
All indications point to this being the last week of this year’s legislative session. The Legislature will go home a week early. This is good news for Oklahomans as not only will there be cost savings but all Oklahomans should breathe a sigh of relief when the Legislature stops making new laws a week ahead of schedule.
As usual, the Legislature will take a number of important votes during the last week. Some will be forced due to attempts to introduce and pass far-reaching, new policies that should have been introduced much earlier in the year. -
BY THE NUMBERS: Oklahoma still needs to invest in its economy
After six months of stagnation, the Oklahoma economy finally appears to be expanding again albeit still weakly. Unfortunately, our leaders aren’t making the investments we need to give our economic prospects a boost.
Last week the Oklahoma Office of Management and Enterprise Services reported that in April state General Revenue fund collections were 5.2 percent above the estimate and 14.7 percent higher than last year’s collections. Under normal circumstances, such a report would indicate that the Oklahoma economy was very strong. But this isn’t a normal circumstance, and April isn’t a normal month. -
Americans deserve the truth on Benghazi
Lately, the media has been consumed by the controversies surrounding the White House. Among these controversies is the horrific terrorist attack on the United States’ diplomatic compound in Benghazi that took place Sept. 11, 2012. As more people come forward with additional information regarding the attack on the consulate, many Americans, including myself, are still asking for the truth.
The Obama Administration and the State Department have been less than forthcoming with key information on Benghazi and recent information points toward a major cover-up. -
Seizure of AP phone records insult to independent press
Distrust of government secrecy has been elevated to an exceptional level with the disclosure the Justice Department covertly examined two months of Associated Press phone records to determine who leaked details to the AP about a foiled terrorist plot.
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HEY HINK: Some people just are not cut out for command
Recent headlines cause me to remember an incident that occurred on an army base some years ago. Warning here: I’m taking some liberties with names and details, but the basic outline of events is accurate.
A certain company commander, let’s call him Captain Duntz, had command of a motor pool on a large army base in the continental U.S. -
We’ve become our own worst enemies
The past couple months have been marked by a seeming unprecedented number of man-made tragedies, as distinct from those caused by violent outbursts of the natural world, such as earthquakes, hurricanes and tsunamis.
You don’t want to dwell too long on the negative, but we do have to take notice of horrific human events and we owe it to ourselves to respond to them in some way. We don’t always agree on those responses, however, and that usually exacerbates the problem. -
Let’s reimburse higher ed for remediation costs
The good news: Oklahoma schools are teaching phonics. The bad news: It’s in college.
Students at Tulsa Community College, for example, can take a college English course called “Spelling and Phonics,” which “helps students master basic spelling literacy, principles of phonics and decoding skills.”
This sort of higher education brings to mind former Boston University president John Silber’s quip: “Higher than what?” -
AGAINST THE GRAIN: Department of Commerce highlights Main Street successes
The 24th annual Oklahoma Main Street Awards Banquet was at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum last week. Oklahoma Department of Commerce Secretary Dave Lopez addressed the gathering, and spoke of how the Commerce Department works with Main Street organizations throughout the state that are working to improve their downtown areas. Lopez pointed out that the partnership between his department and those local organizations has brought new life to those communities and that the attendees would see some of that revitalization in a video presentation. Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin also addressed the gathering, and said the Main Street program has resulted in more than $1 billion in investments in the state and more than 1 million volunteer hours in its 24 years of operation.
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Witnesses missing; Behenna case could be heard at Supreme Court
