Has any one looked at the timing between Bush's announcement

that the hunt for Bin Laden was over and/or his dismantling of the CIA hunt with the construction of Bin Ladens' hideout?

"The bin Laden Issue Station, also known by it's code name Alec Station, was the CIA unit formed during the Clinton administration for the sole purpose of tracking Osama bin Laden.

The unit was disbanded by the Bush administration in late 2005, years after Osama bin Laden had become the most wanted fugitive in the world.

"Bush never gave a reason for closing down Alec Station."

and

There's an interesting overhead satellite image timeline posted that traces changes to the compound back to June 15, 2005: http://www.flickr.com/photos/digitalglobe-imagery/5680912037/

I just wrote in another post that Bush could have been providing a favor to a bin Laden (extended family) for exchange of something.

Which is why it would be awkward for him to show up at the photo op with Obama.

Hello... Thom Hartmann? Anyone out there listening who wants to do some digging?

But that started in 2003, I think.

further away from the main residence in order to gain precious time in observing and fleeing from a potential raid. I have to wonder if they would find underground and perhaps booby-trapped escape tunnel(s) leading to a concealed exit or exits outside of the compound.

I will not be at all surprised to learn that the place was always guarded by armed, uniformed Pakistani soldiers, and that their orders were to shoot anyone coming in or Osama, if he tried to leave.

Just a gut feeling about that.

but I'm tending that way myself on that.

"Call off the attacks within Pakistan, stay in your place, and we will leave you alone."

Not quite a prison, but not quite a hide-out, either.

The 'guards', however, would not be uniformed - that draws too much attention. Plainclothes ISI.

Not intentional.

I really think this may turn into the big story here....not that Obama caught Bin Laden but that Bush was actually protecting him.

Bin Laden was the head of the covert paramilitary arm of GID. His father was very close to King Faud. He was (and is still) beloved as a national hero by many within the Royal Family and the Court in Riyadh. A GID advance team negotiated Bin Laden's entry into Pakistan in 1991, and then in Khartoum, after he fell out of favor with the Americans and some of the Royals following the '93 WTC bombing.

UBL traveled freely in and out of Sudan on American procured business jets with American procured satellite phones for several years in the mid-1990s, as UBL commanded Saudi paramilitary in the CIA-led and Saudi-funded wars to grab oil areas in former Yugoslavia and the former Soviet southern republics. His usefulness and relationship with U.S. and other intelligence agencies did not end with the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1989, as is so often repeated.

He was apparently under ISI care and safekeeping in Pakistan after the White House and top American commanders let him slip out of Tora Bora back to Pakistan. It is not clear what happened to UBL or where he went from the border area in January 2002 until he shows up in Abbotabad.

I've traced this back and wrote about what is known about UBLs relationship with the GID/ISI and CIA up to 9/11 at DKos last year. Interesting, Erik Prince and others at Blackwater -- particularly former CIA/CTC chief Cofer Black who let the Flt. 77 hijackers into the US in January 2000 -- appear repeatedly throughout this episode, as well : http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/12/04/810764/-Erik-Prince:-American-Bin-LadenCIA-Asset,-MoneyGunmen

Not sure why UBL was finally put into comfortable safekeeping in 2005, but we may learn more about that.

cover for their oilgrabbing, MIC-enriching, global fascist agenda.

Sounds like a definite possibility. The military higher ups could keep an eye on him and have some forceful backup just in case.

I remember when the Bush administration announced Pakistan was getting billions to help in the GWOT and thought, "wtf"? Now, I wonder if there wasn't a pay-off to keep OBL under wraps....but not necessarily without ongoing communication with the AQ network. Because you need to keep fighting the wars in the ME to get OBL. And keep oil profits up and the MIC happy.

were called off on the night of the raid? Would show some kind of cooperation with the ISI for this? :shrug:

The same Pakistani money that helped start BCCI (which was brought to US in the 70s) was also funding global terrorism and armsdealing. What DID happen to that BCCI report anyway?

that the Bush Admnistration publicly announced it was commuting charges against Scooter Libby. Another interesting coincidence, as I remarked at the time. See, http://journals.democraticunderground.com/leveymg/278

and with Scooter Libby's commutation, the entire episode was finally put to bed. Valerie Plame, the global WMD expert was finally out. AQ Khan was back in biz. Scooter Libby's commutation made the American public believe the whole thing was behind us... (and of course Libby was Cheney/GHW Bush's man).

I can't shake the feeling that GHW Bush is involved in this. As the former head of the CIA, and a former president, and one of the PTB, he'd have the deep connections and ability to house OBL under those conditions. It would be possible for Poppy to do this for Junior, thus "saving face" for everyone.

1. The Bin Ladin and House of Saud families get OBL out of sight, yet still safe.

2. The Pakistanis get to be tough on the US about NOT going into Pakistan to search for OBL.

3. The Americans get to keep OBL on tap (or tamped down, whichever you prefer).

4. OBL, their convenient CIA ally in the Soviet years in Afghanistan "retires" comfortably with a lovely young bride while the other wives get shipped off.

I could go on and on but my tinfoil is already screwed on too tight! :tinfoilhat:

and funding sources go back to the "Safari Club" deal that G.H.W. made with Saudi Intel Chief Prince Turki in '75-76. Here's some stuff on that: http://journals.democraticunderground.com/leveymg/280

Follow the money.

Mere.....coincidence.

just musing.

about what went down during Reagan-bush and some of the same players who were involved in Little Boot's administration. Yeah, I wonder what happened with that BCCI report.

The timing is so very conveeenient. K&R.

I've probably read too many murder mysteries, sci fi's, etc., but . . .

I've seen reports that this push to get OBL was triggered by a Wikileaks' disclosure re- OBL's courier and his movements.

What if some in the Pakistani and US gov'ts DID know where OBL was and had cut some kind of deal to leave him alone, while floating rumors that he was already dead? Hence no need for a bunker or tunnel.

Then, WL outs the hide-out, and they become concerned re- exposure, so they stage the raid and fake his death.

Sorry if this is over the top; but it really bugs me that we apparently thought everything through so carefully yet failed to provide for any independent verification of the death.

A report that his daughter has confirmed his death is unpersuasive, since she'd have a motive to help protect him.

and this tidy compound's construction is far too close.

I'm thinking along the lines that the Pakistani government kept him contained in return for $$, and the US called off the manhunt in Pakistan (cough - or so deeply into Pakistan that the government had no cover), saying it was looking in Waziristan only (again cough).

I'm guessing elements in Pakistan's ISI knew that OBL was continuing his AQ activities but as long as Pakistan was left alone by AQ, it was okay.

If the trigger for the kill on OBL occurred because of Wikileaks, or because OBL's AQ activities were crossing some bright line in the sand, would be another interesting question to solve.

If I'm right, and UBL was in custody, the rising tensions between the US and the Pakistani military-intel complex in Rawalapindi would account for this. The Xmas Underwear Bomber, the Times Square attempt, and similar plots may also have finally tipped the scales.

That threw me for a loop at first. IF OBL and his men were armed, then it wasn't a holding pen.

But the fact that 4 US helicopters fly right next door to the military's top training institute and nobody came out to check on what was happening for 40 minutes??? He must have been in custody. If nobody was armed within that compound, and the Pakistani police, ISI or military didn't come check out what was happening there during that time, it appears pretty conclusive that the US did the kill with tacit approval.

Which means that both sides wanted this little deal to end.

The trigger could have been a combination of everything: the Wikileaks angle, the worsening relationships, AQ/OBL overstepping the line.

Or....another thing I just thought of is if Bush I and II and Cheney actually worked this deal out with Pakistan and the KSA GID, do you think it's possible that Obama knew or was told? Do you think he actually had to work this out for himself - once he got into office he "re-opened" the search and kill mission, and the facts came tumbling out? Perhaps he killed OBL to make a point to the Bush cartel that he's discovered this little shadow thug government.

Thanks for taking the time to answer my rambling train-of-thought posts. I'm thinking aloud here while I mow, stopping every now and then to check in.

I think its unlikely that Bush-Cheney would be running a completely independent operation. More likely, there is a combined unit that is under NOC that has been doing the dirty work. It could be associated with Blackwater/Xe, and Cofer Black and some other retired spooks could have been running the show until they were, in turn, outed by the Agency after the CIA Inspector General 9/11 report made the rounds in Washington during the summer of 2005. Whether that "coincidence" may have be the trigger or the result of UBL being put behind 18 foot walls, I don't know.

Personally, I believe, Blackwater is like the UBL compound - a comfortable holding pen while the real Powers That Be decide what the hell to do with the officers who had the greatest operational culpability and role in the 9/11 "intelligence failure".

If you look at 9/11 as a continuation of a series of attacks on Americans, going back to '93, the '98 embassy bombings, and the USS Cole attack in March, 2000, if any unit of the USG were publicly exposed as involved with UBL's merry band of Russian killers, that would have raised Holy Hell. That, and the role of Saudi intel, would explain the extraordinary lengths they went to keep UBL and his team in play for so long, despite the attacks on Americans.

With the news that Eric Prince is also CIA, and that he hightailed it to Dubai when his company got too hot, definitely makes the points in your post look even more plausible.

The two couriers that OBL used clearly had free access to come and go. OBL himself was never seen so either the ISI/GID would take him out of his pen covertly or he was in detention. Clearly OBL himself was providing some operational direction to AQ - that was a lot of gear they took out of there (assuming the list we've been provided is accurate).

Which means that his minders knew he was keeping on, keeping on.

Anyway, thanks for the information. I'm back out again. I got 15 acres of horse paddocks mowed today, yesterday was the 5 acre jump field and the 60 acre gallop track. If I can finish the rest of the cross country course this evening, I'm completely caught up since the barnyard and my house yard was finished last weekend. "Yard work" doesn't even begin to cover it. I'm dreading the weed whacking and have put off a lot of this for too long. It's getting harder and harder to stay motivated so coming in for frequent breaks to get a brain boost helps a lot.

Kick for the evening crowd.

Bin Laden put out a video addressed to the American people, which was quite different in style from everything else he had done. It did have an impact on the election. So, was there a quid pro quo? Help me win election, and I'll help you retire in safety? Pretty tinfoil, but that's ok here.

You'd think that they'd have had some serious leverage to use to get OBL to give himself up, no?

I think the Paki's were paid off to keep OBL under secure house arrest. Billions to enlist them in fighting the GWOT would provide plenty of money. Perhaps OBL had enough incriminating evidence to assure his continued existence...but also understood that was contingent on keeping a very low profile and self-imposed house arrest.

This GWOT thing has paid off pretty well for a lot of people. I wonder how the Bush's have fared this past decade?