C.I.A. Drone Is Said to Kill Al Qaeda’s No. 2

[teko]

WASHINGTON — A drone operated by the Central Intelligence Agency killed Al Qaeda’s second-ranking figure in the mountains of Pakistan on Monday, American and Pakistani officials said Saturday, further damaging a terrorism network that appears significantly weakened since the death of Osama bin Laden in May.





Atiyah Abd al-Rahman











An American official said that the drone strike killed Atiyah Abd al-Rahman, a Libyan who in the last year had taken over as Al Qaeda’s top operational planner. Mr. Rahman was in frequent contact with Bin Laden in the months before the terrorist leader was killed on May 2 by a Navy Seals team, intelligence officials have said.

American officials described Mr. Rahman’s death as particularly significant as compared with other high-ranking Qaeda operatives who have been killed, because he was one of a new generation of leaders that the network hoped would assume greater control after Bin Laden’s death.

Thousands of electronic files recovered at Bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, revealed that Bin Laden communicated frequently with Mr. Rahman. They also showed that Bin Laden relied on Mr. Rahman to get messages to other Qaeda leaders and to ensure that Bin Laden’s recorded communications were broadcast widely.

After Bin Laden was killed, Mr. Rahman became Al Qaeda’s No. 2 leader under Ayman al-Zawahri, who succeeded Bin Laden.

There were few details on Saturday about the strike that killed Mr. Rahman. In the months since Bin Laden’s death, the C.I.A. has maintained a barrage of drone missile strikes on mountainous redoubts in Pakistan, a bombing campaign that continues to strain America’s already turbulent relationship with Pakistan.

The C.I.A almost never consults Pakistani officials in advance of a drone strike, and a Pakistani government official said Saturday that the United States had told Pakistan’s government that Mr. Rahman had been the target of the strike only after the spy agency confirmed that he had been killed.

The drone strikes have been the Obama administration’s preferred means of hunting and killing operatives from Al Qaeda and its affiliate groups. Over the past year the United States has expanded the drone war to Yemen and Somalia.

Some top American officials have said publicly that they believe Al Qaeda is in its death throes, though many intelligence analysts are less certain, saying that the network built by Bin Laden has repeatedly shown an ability to regenerate.

Yet even as Qaeda affiliates in places like Yemen and North Africa continue to plot attacks against the West, most intelligence analysts believe that the remnants of Al Qaeda’s leadership in Pakistan have been weakened considerably. Mr. Rahman’s death is another significant blow to the group.

“Atiyah was at the top of Al Qaeda’s trusted core,” the American official said. “His combination of background, experience and abilities are unique in Al Qaeda — without question, they will not be easily replaced.”

The files captured in Abbottabad revealed, among other things, that Bin Laden and Mr. Rahman discussed brokering a deal with Pakistan: Al Qaeda would refrain from mounting attacks in the country in exchange for protection for Qaeda leaders hiding in Pakistan.

American officials said that they found no evidence that either of the men ever raised the idea directly with Pakistani officials, or that Pakistan’s government had any knowledge that Bin Laden was hiding in Abbottabad.

Mr. Rahman also served as Bin Laden’s liaison to Qaeda affiliates. Last year, American officials said, Mr. Rahman notified Bin Laden of a request by the leader of Al Qaeda’s affiliate in Yemen to install Anwar al-Awlaki, the radical American-born cleric, as the leader of the group in Yemen.

That group, known as Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, apparently thought Mr. Awlaki’s status as an Internet celebrity, for his popular video sermons, and his knowledge of the United States might help the group’s fund-raising efforts. But according to the electronic files in Abbottabad, Bin Laden told Mr. Rahman that the group’s leadership should remain unchanged.

After Bin Laden’s death, some intelligence officials saw a cadre of Libyan operatives as poised to assume greater control inside Al Qaeda, which at times has been fractured by cultural rivalries.

Libyan operatives like Mr. Rahman, they said, had long bristled at the leadership of an older generation, many of them Egyptian like Mr. Zawahri and Sheikh Saeed al-Masri.

Mr. Masri was killed last year by a C.I.A. missile, as were several Qaeda operations chiefs before him. The job has proved to be particularly deadly, American officials said, because the operations chief has had to transmit the guidance of Bin Laden and Mr. Zawahri to Qaeda operatives elsewhere, providing a way for the Americans to track him through electronic intercepts.

Mr. Rahman assumed the role after Mr. Masri’s death. Now that Mr. Rahman has died, American officials said it was unclear who would take over the job

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/28/world/asia/28qaeda.html?_r=1

[R Glass]

Both Saddam and Bin Laden was taken down because of tips.

[MrsPincince]

C'mon. You gotta respond..lol

[brice1967]

LOL..... Too funny to even comment on.

[teko]

Seeing that Bush didnt think it a priority and disassembled the team that was looking for him, and Obama fulfilled his campaign promise to re assemble that team and make it a priority. Then he did actually do it.

Yep.... HUGE!

[MrsPincince]

"Obama is not a Great Military Strategist because he made a Common Sense call."

What a way to down play a Victorious plan. How come Bush couldn't make that common sense call over the 8yrs he served our country....Didn't Bush and his advisors know where Osama was at one time and just simply ignored it??

I've noticed most republicans or people who vote republican refuse to give President Obama credit when it's due. they just downplay whatever he's done or try to make it look insignificant.. It's all good though. Once he wins in November, we'll see how the right spins that victory......

[teko]

Yes, it happened on his watch and the facts are the facts. And Obama never once claimed to run out in the middle of the night in his jammies and go get the guys himself.

[R Glass]

Like I said before, it happened under his watch so he has bragging rights, but let’s be realistic about this. Obama is not a Great Military Strategist because he made a Common Sense call.
Military Advisers- Mr. President, where pretty sure we know where Bin Laden is and here are the 3 options.
1. We can do nothing, the Public finds out and your Presidency is over.
2. We can Bomb the Compound, killing everyone in it which could possibly be innocent Women and Children and the possibility that Laden will not be there at the time of the Bombing. This would cause uproar in both the US and the Middle East, and your Presidency is over.
3. We can send in are Military which will minimize innocent casualties but would put the Soldiers at risk. If he is not there, it will show you made a gutsy attempt to get him even if he wasn’t there. If he were there you would get the credit and have all Bragging Rights.
4. Do you want to give us your option now are should we Call “Smarter than a 5th Grader”?

[MrsPincince]

He had a vision for how he wanted to capture Osama Bin Laden and his goons and gave the orders and command that Bush couldn't in 8 yrs which led to the death of Osama and his #2

[R Glass]

   He is the President so I guess he’s entitled to bragging rights but what exactly did he do? Was he operating The Remote Control or Something?

[MrsPincince]

Nice!!!.....Al-quaeda's #1 and #2 are both dead but yet people still believe President Obama's not doing anything in office and he has failed America.....