Jan 18 2006
Al Qaeda Chem Weapons Expert Killed In Air Strike
Turns out we did get at least one high valued prize in that air strike in Pakistan:
ABC News has learned that al Qaeda’s master bomb maker and chemical weapons expert was one of the men killed in last week’s U.S. missile attack in eastern Pakistan.
Midhat Mursi, 52, also known as Abu Khabab al-Masri, was identified by Pakistani authorities as one of three known al Qaeda leaders present at an apparent terror summit conference in the village of Damadola.
Mursi was involved in two well known plots
“This is extraordinarily important,” said former FBI agent Jack Cloonan, an ABC News consultant, who was the senior agent on the FBI’s al Qaeda squad. “He’s the man who trained the shoe bomber, Richard Reid and Zacharias Mousssaoui, as well as hundreds of others.”
Well I would consider this strike a success just for this one target. But there are 3-4 more who were killed that we have yet to hear about.
A Pakistani journalist on FOX said Monday that the rumor in the local Pakistani press is that Bin Laden and Al Zawahiri were also killed.
I report it as only a rumor.
Snapple-
Delicious rumor, but way too good to be true.
Missed al-Zawahiri, Got al-Masri
ABC News is reporting that at least one of those killed in the bombing in Pakistan was an al Qaeda bomb maker and chemical weapons expert with a $5 million reward for his capture.
Midhat Mursi, 52, also known as Abu Khabab al-Masri, was identified by…
CNN has been running the story but their headline questions the
“Day Room” crew’s words.
I have now seen 3 reports and they report
“might” have been killed
Doesn’t the putting of might in quotes negate the meaning – so
are Wooooof and David and Nick telling us it is true?
CNN is really more amusing than the Comedy Channel.
FNC reporting the bodies of 4 of the men buried after the raid were spirited away by thier cohorts.
I think that is the cover story Clarice.
This is only my personal opinion, but some eyewitnesses said there were flares on the ground or something that suggested that this was a bombing called in by our special forces on the ground. Not a drone.
So the special forces would have been on the ground near the house probably looking like Pakistanis.
These special forces may have taken away the bodies.
I have no inside scoop. It’s just my personal speculation.
I think we really also got Zawahiri. There are rumors in the Pakistani media that we also got OBL.
They might never tell just to keep things calm in Pakistan.
My point about the CNN reports putting “might” in quotes
to suggest that the story was really true.
They would do this if they were getting feedback/hints that
we were very successful, but didn’t want the information
to get out yet.(Normal procedure while we follow up leads from
their personal belongings, cell phones and pocket litter.)
Also, one report from Pakistan said that some were taken in for
questioning.
So CNN is giving us a wink to get the word out to their side.
Otherwise there is no reason for MIGHT to be in quotes.
Hellfire Househunting
The raid has apparently been much more successful than anyone realized – we may not have nailed Zawahiri, but we got someone nearly as good: According to ABC News, Midhat Mursi al-Sayid ‘Umar–also known as Abu Khabab al-Masri
Snapple, you may be right. A Pakistani paper reported a day after the strike on Damadola that two men were killed by a roadside IED in a village 5 kilometers away. I think Spec Ops has been busy.
Clarice–
I don’t have a government job. It is only my opinion. But these bodies were supposedly taken away real fast by the terrorists’ friends.
If special forces were calling in the target, they were right there and probably were the ones who got the bodies.
Perhaps even people were snatched who left early.
I think some of this story is true, but more is going on.
This seems to be an interesting story.
Also, that tape we just heard from Osama was made in December.