http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2011/05/obama-to-release-intel-gleaned-from-obls-computer.htmlOBAMA RELEASES INTEL GLEANED FROM OBL'S COMPUTER
Why is the accidental president releasing intel from OBL's computers to the public? This Administration continues to exhibit its glaring incompetence in light of this latest news about Bin Laden.
It should release the photos of the dead OBL and close this case to the public. But no, Obama won't release the photo (which should have accompanied the news of his death) but he'll release the intel. The handling of the post-OBL op is one bad misstep after another.
Congress should act to block the release of any additional information. (hat tip van)
Public to Learn More Soon About DNA Match and Facial Recognition Analysis of OBL, as Well as Intel Gleaned from Computers Jake Tapper, ABC
A US official tells ABC News that the public will learn more in the next few days about the way officials identified that the corpse of Osama bin Laden, as well as other information gleaned from the trove of date taken from the compound.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, had previously said the new information would be provided today but that officials had to push back timing of the release.
After Navy SEALs took photographs of bin Laden, CIA officials used facial recognition analysis to confirm that the man SEALs shot was in fact bin Laden. DNA samples matched those of bin Laden's relatives with 99.9 percent certainty.
President Obama decided against releasing photographs of bin Laden, fearing their graphic and gruesome nature could be inflammatory and put Americans at risk.
The government will also release more information from the computers seized in the raid on bin Laden's compound. Yesterday ABC News reported on evidence of discussions about targeting US rail lines and a possible attack marking the 10th anniversary of 9/11.
And so it begins:
U.S. intelligence is now in possession of a veritable "playbook" of al Qaeda operations -- from potential terror attack targets to information on international safe houses and top commanders -- thanks to the Navy SEAL raid that took down Osama bin Laden Sunday, officials told ABC News today.
The cache of electronic and handwritten materials obtained by the SEALs includes numerous hallmark al Qaeda plots including attacks on infrastructure targets such as water supply and transportation including rail and air, in what one official described as a "strategic guide for how to attack the U.S." In the past, al Qaeda planned for attacks on water supplies have included an interest in mining dams and in poisoning water supply. Intelligence experts have also have found what appears to be information about safe houses around the world and about al Qaeda leadership.
It is unclear just how active bin Laden was in coordinating any operations or in blessing overall strategies and plots. One official said bin Laden appears to have thought of himself as something of a head coach to al Qaeda.
What is clear, officials said, is that intelligence analysts see weeks ahead of data mining and linking the cache of materials to past knowledge of plots that has come from detainees, cases and various forms of intercepts and surveillance.
While as yet no specific plots have been uncovered, there is a clear interest in attacks on the for most prominent U.S. cities such as New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.
The materials make clear that while at times in the past it has been suggested that dates are not a factor in Al Qaeda attack planning, in fact, one of the terror group's aspirations was to launch attacks on symbolic dates like Sept. 11, in hopes of giving even greater resonance to any success.
UPDATE: Oh yes, let's let him know we are on to him so he escapes before we can grab him: Raid intel yields leads on Ayman al Zawahiri...
Topic: Shalom (Read 851 times)