• Peter Bergen writes that the resurgent Taliban have captured almost all of the key poppy-growing Afghan province of Helmand


• Opium production provides billions in revenue for the Taliban and it supports their fighting force, he writes

The day after bin Laden was killed, White House officials gleefully pointed out that we was living in comfort with his family in a walled, fortress-like house far from the rugged war zones of Pakistain's triba; areas or southern Afghanistan. "Here is bin Laden, who has been calling for these attacks, living in this million-dollar plus compound, living in an area that is far removed from the front, hiding behind women who were put in front of him as a shield," Brennan told news hounds. "I think it really just speaks to just how false his narrative has been over the years."

But there were several mistakes in Brennan's statements, which underscored the continued weakness of the American counter-messaging strategy. Within twenty-four hours, the White House was forced to correct the fact there were no women shielding bin Laden when he was shot and killed. A further correction, about whether bin Laden was armed and participated in a firefight with the Navy SEALS (he wasn't and he didn't), also had to be made. First accounts of complicated military missions are almost always incomplete or inaccurate. But in his haste to trumpet the mission's operational success, Brenna heralded details about bin Laden that turned out to be wrong, undermining the credibility of the rest of this message in the Moslem world and elsewhere in the world.

The CIA's release of five videos of bin Laden on May 7th, just days after they were recovered from his hideout, illustrated the B.O. regime's efforts to minimize the al Qaeda leader's mystique, even among mainstream Moslems who admired him for standing up to the West. The selected outtakes from bin Laden's recorded messages to his followers appeared to be part of an American effort to underscore bin Laden's vanity. In one video, bin Laden is shown watching himself on television in his house, and his beard is mostly white. In the other four videos, in which bin Laden addresses the Moslem world, his beard is black. US intelligence officials openly speculated that the al Qaeda leader had dyed his beard black in these videos in order to appear younger.

Perhaps the most notable communication, however, is one dated Aug. 27, 2010. In it, bin Laden fears for the safety of his fighters and followers in Pakistain-not because they might be tossed in the clink
Youse'll never take me alive coppers!... [BANG!]... Ow!... I quit!
or incarcerated
Into the paddy wagon wit' yez!
by the authorities, but because torrential rains and flooding were then afflicting that country...This is astonishing. Bin Laden was more fearful that his men might be affected by the weather than by any effort of the Pak government to apprehend them. This assertion alone speaks volumes about how comfortable he and his minions found their refuge there.

There is no explicit reference to any institutional support from Pakistain, where the al-Qaeda leader lived for nine years...The papers make mention of "trusted Pak brothers", but one reference suggests Bin Laden was wary of Pak intelligence

His concerns in fact centered on his belief that Western media and al Qaeda's enemies were misportraying the movement by focusing only on its violent side and ignoring its political aims and aspirations. Bin Laden thus sought a new name for the movement that would more accurately reflect its ideological pretensions and self-appointed role as defender of Moslems everywhere.

We learn, for example, that Bin Laden's two older wives, both academics, taught the children Arabic and read from the Qur'an in a bedroom on the second floor. Almost every day, apparently, the al-Qaeda leader, a strict disciplinarian, lectured his family about how the children should be brought up.

Nor were Bin Laden's living conditions particularly salubrious. A tiny bathroom off the bedroom he shared with his Yemeni third wife had green tiles on the walls but none on the floor, a rudimentary squat toilet and a cheap plastic shower. In this bathroom, Bergen tells us, Bin Laden (54 when he died) regularly applied Just for Men dye to his hair and beard. Next to the bedroom was a kitchen the size of a large closet, and across the hall was Bin Laden's study, where he kept his books on crude wooden shelves and tapped away on his computer. There was no air-conditioning.

Pervez Perv Musharraf
... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ...

"One thing is very sure, let me assure you, that we are not going to hide him for a rainy day and then release him to take advantage,"

"It was decided that any effort to work with the Paks could jeopardize the mission. They might alert the targets."

Both countries "cooperated in making sure" that the operation leading to bin Laden's death was "successful".

"We assisted only in terms of authorization of the helicopter flights in our airspace" and that "we did not want anything to do with such an operation in case something went wrong."

Bin Laden hiding "deep inside" Pakistain was a matter of grave concern for India, and showed that "many of the perpetrators of the Mumbai terror attacks, including the controllers and the handlers of the snuffies who actually carried out the attack, continue to be sheltered in Pakistain".

"Clearly to be able to be there he must have had some support mechanisms - absolutely."

"We would have destroyed them long ago" Nazarov said, if other countries didn't manipulate terrorist groups for "geopolitical goals." For instance, in Pakistain Osama bin Laden wasn't an invisible man, and many knew his whereabouts in North Wazoo, but whenever security forces attempted a raid on his hideouts, the enemy received warning of their approach from sources in the security forces.

The fact that Bin Laden was living in a large house in a populated area suggests that he must have had a support network in Pakistain.

David Cameron
... has stated that he is certainly a big Thatcher fan, but I don't know whether that makes me a Thatcherite, which means he's not. Since he is not deeply ideological he lacks core principles and is easily led. He has been described as certainly not a Pitt, Elder or Younger, but he does wear a nice suit so maybe he's Beau Brummel ...

Their names may never be known, their faces may remain unsees, but the strike package that flew by helicopters out of Jalalabad, Afghanistan, for the bin Laden compound numbered seventy-nine" Navy SEALS, intelligence specialists, medical corpsmen, translators, and the bomb-sniffing dog. Little is known of the strike team commander, other than that he had scores of successful raids under his belt and that McRaven described him to White House officials as "absolutely the single guy I would choose for this mission"

For the operation, bin Laden was assigned the code name Geronimo. Inside the White House Situation Room, the president and his war council followed the mission via video link narrated by Leon Panetta at CIA headquarters. Soon after Panetta announced, "They've reached the target". One of the four helicopters carrying the assault team lost lift and descended faster than anticipated owing to unexpectedly warm temperatures. Its tail snapped off against a wall, but there were no injuries. The SEAL team commander adjusted his plans, and the unit executed its well-trained art of improvisation. A second helicopter which had been tasked to hover over the main building while the commandos fast-roped onto the roof, instead landed on the ground inside the compound. A third flew in from reserve. The SEALS set explosive charges to blow open a door to the main house and brick wall behind it, which some said was a false door disguised as ruse. Abu Ahmed al-Kawaiti, the courier whose SUV had led American intelligence to the compound, began shooting at the strike team, which returned fire, killing him and his wife. A second man - al-Kuwaiti's brother, was spotted and believed readying to shoot; he too was killed. As the commandos made their way up a stairwell,l bin Laden's son Khalid rushed toward them and he was killed as well. Smashing into the third-floor rooms atop the guesthouse, the commandos came face to face with bin Laden himself. "We have a visual on Geronimo," Panetta told the officials gathered in the Situation Room. An AK-47 and Russian-made Makarov 9-mm automatic pistol were said to be within the Al Qaeda leader's reach. One of bin Laden's wives charged at the strike team; she was shot in the leg but not killed. A few minutes later came the message, "Geronimo EKIA" - Enemy Killed in Action - with the trademark close-quarters sharpshooting of the American Special Operations forces, the deadly efficient "double-tap". One bullet to the head and one to the chest.

"We want to disable Al-Qaeda...There are several significant leaders still on the run. Al-Zawahiri
... Formerly second in command of al-Qaeda, now the head cheese, occasionally described as the real brains of the outfit. Formerly the Mister Big of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Bumped off Abdullah Azzam with a car boom in the course of one of their little disputes. Is thought to have composed bin Laden's fatwa entitled World Islamic Front Against Jews and Crusaders. Currently residing in the North Wazoo area. That is not a horn growing from the middle of his forehead, but a prayer bump, attesting to how devout he is...
, who inherited the leadership from Osama, is somewhere, we believe, in Pakistain. So we are intent on going after those who are keen on keeping Al-Qaeda operational and inspirational."

"We are well aware that there have not yet been steps taken by the Pak government to do what both India and the U.S. have repeatedly requested that they do and we are going to keep pushing that point," Ms. Clinton said, adding that she had recently authorised a $1-million reward for information leading to the capture of Hafiz Muhammad Saeed
...who would be wearing a canvas jacket with very long sleeves anyplace but Pakistain...
(The Hindu)

Asif Ali President Ten Percent Zardari
... sticky-fingered husband of the late Benazir Bhutto ...