C.I.A. Closes Unit Focused on Capture of bin Laden

[solypsist]

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.

Agency officials said that tracking Mr. bin Laden and his deputies remained a high priority, and that the decision to disband the unit was not a sign that the effort had slackened. Instead, the officials said, it reflects a belief that the agency can better deal with high-level threats by focusing on regional trends rather than on specific organizations or individuals.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/04/wa...rssnyt&emc=rss

Wonder if they ever checked the royal palace in Saudi Arabia for him.

[Comrade Alexeo]

Suuuuuuuuuuure they disbanded it

[rory_20_uk]

IMO having the unit was more a PR stunt than a serious effort.

The unit would haev to be constantly asking for information from other, larger regional units - and as no one has a clear idea of where he is it'd be a search for a needle in a haystack.

Far better to focus on the strategic picture rather than on one individual who even if dea would not make that much of a difference.

[Aenlic]

Wonder if they ever checked the royal palace in Saudi Arabia for him.

He'll turn up, solypsist, probably not captured - just dead and with a nice set of face shots for the media to drool on. If things are looking really bad in a few months for the Republicans, then he'll turn up dead after an air strike. But my money is on him turning up just in time for the early fall political season in 2008. The third option is for him to turn up killed in a bomb strike just in time to affect the court proceedings, if the Democrats regain the Congress - either the impeachment proceedings or the later Hague war crimes trial.

(Please note: for all you insistent non-thinkers, the above was only as serious as solypsist's comment and was meant as such.)

/edited by solypsist to remove potential trolling comment