Did WikiLeaks Kill Osama bin Laden?

[inactive]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/03/osama-bin-laden-abbottabad-hideout

The US may have obtained a clue three years ago that Osama bin Laden was hiding in Abbottabad, according to information gathered by interrogators at Guantánamo.

Buried in a document from 2008 released by WikiLeaks last week are notes from the interrogation of a Libyan, Abu al-Libi, who had apparently been with Bin Laden in Afghanistan.

According to the document, Libi fled to Peshawar in Pakistan and was living there in 2003 when he was asked to become one of Bin Laden's messengers. The document says: "In July 2003, detainee received a letter from [Bin Laden's] designated courier, Maulawi Abd al-Khaliq Jan, requesting detainee take on the responsibility of collecting donations, organising travel and distributing funds for families in Pakistan. [Bin Laden] stated detainee would be the official messenger between [Bin Laden] and others in Pakistan. In mid-2003, detainee moved his family to Abbottabad (Pakistan) and worked between Abbottabad and Peshawar."

Libi was captured in Pakistan in 2005. The CIA says it tracked Bin Laden by tracing the network of couriers, in particular one especially trusted by the al-Qaida leader and who died with himin the US raid on Sunday. The US has not yet named the courier.

Senior members of the Bush administration claim evidence gained in Guantánamo has provided important information, in this case supposedly leading to Bin Laden.

WikiLeaks released the report last week, prompting speculation that the US, afraid that its planned raid might be pre-empted, brought forward its attack.

This is interesting news. If we had known where he was since 2008, do you think we were surveilling him covertly for longer than has been admitted? And the assassination only came when it the information was leaked that we had zeroed in on his location years ago?

 

[Oklahomabassin]

Perhaps intel gathered from waterboarding.

 

[inactive]

I agree that is how we tracked him down.

What the article is speculating is that our intel had us watching him for quite some time, but it was the leaking of that intel last week that caused us to swift;y move in (out of fear he would run) rather than continue to monitor him. I don't really have a opinion on the leaking of classified documents at this point, but the more fascinating this is wondering how long we knew where he was and what he was up to before we were possibly forced to move in for the kill. We likely could have learned much more the longer we were able to watch.

 

[CamaroMan]

I remember someone saying monday that they had some information pulled from interogations about where he may be hiding as early as 2007. But I believe they also said it was 2010 before they found out everything they needed to plan an operation. I still don't think they knew %100 for sure if he was there.