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NATO official: Bin Laden living comfortably in Pakistan
Osama bin Laden is living comfortably in northwest Pakistan, protected by local tribespeople and some members of the , a NATO official has told CNN. The news undercuts the U.S. government's depiction of the al-Qaida leader as on the run, one terror expert tells The Upshot. U.S. intelligence officials have long believed that bin Laden is living in the of northwest Pakistan. But at times, the government has also claimed that the al-Qaida leader has had to move frequently from one safehouse to another, impairing his ability to plot attacks.
The NATO official's comments undermine that claim, Michael Scheuer, a former special adviser to the chief of the CIA's bin Laden unit, told The Upshot. "It exposes the lie that have been telling us since 9/11, that he was running from rock to rock and cave to cave," Scheuer said.
[Photos: More images of al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden]
"Nobody in al-Qaida is living in a cave," said the unnamed official.
Scheuer, who has been an outspoken critic of the U.S. approach to fighting al-Qaida, said it's unlikely that the comments reflect any valuable new piece of information. "If this were genuine intel, they would not go public with it," he said. "They would try to kill him." Instead, he said, the NATO official's goal is probably to put pressure on Pakistan to move its army into North Waziristan as part of the fight against the Taliban -- something NATO has been urging the Pakistani government to do for weeks now.
Brian Catulis, a national security expert at the Center for American Progress, also downplayed the comments. "There's always been a sharp focus on how do we close the chapter by capturing or killing ," Catulis told The Upshot. "I don't know that [the NATO official's comments] are based on anything new or real."
NATO official: Bin Laden living comfortably in Pakistan | The Upshot Yahoo! News - Yahoo! News
The NATO official's comments undermine that claim, Michael Scheuer, a former special adviser to the chief of the CIA's bin Laden unit, told The Upshot. "It exposes the lie that have been telling us since 9/11, that he was running from rock to rock and cave to cave," Scheuer said.
[Photos: More images of al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden]
"Nobody in al-Qaida is living in a cave," said the unnamed official.
Scheuer, who has been an outspoken critic of the U.S. approach to fighting al-Qaida, said it's unlikely that the comments reflect any valuable new piece of information. "If this were genuine intel, they would not go public with it," he said. "They would try to kill him." Instead, he said, the NATO official's goal is probably to put pressure on Pakistan to move its army into North Waziristan as part of the fight against the Taliban -- something NATO has been urging the Pakistani government to do for weeks now.
Brian Catulis, a national security expert at the Center for American Progress, also downplayed the comments. "There's always been a sharp focus on how do we close the chapter by capturing or killing ," Catulis told The Upshot. "I don't know that [the NATO official's comments] are based on anything new or real."
NATO official: Bin Laden living comfortably in Pakistan | The Upshot Yahoo! News - Yahoo! News