Iraq Connection Helped U.S. Find Bin Laden
In 2004, about six weeks after the capture of Saddam Hussein, Kurdish police nabbed a high-ranking al-Qaida operative named Hassan Ghul in a town near the Iranian border. It wasn't long before Ghul was telling CIA interrogators about one of the organization's couriers, who used the nom-de-guerre of Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti.
"Hassan Ghul was the linchpin" in finding and killing Osama bin Laden, a U.S. official told The Associated Press on Monday. Ghul told the United States that the Kuwaiti-born Pakistani now known to have been Sheikh Abu Ahmed, who was killed along with the terrorist chieftain he served on Monday by U.S. Navy SEALs, was a crucial figure within al-Qaida.
"Al-Kuwaiti" was close to Faraj al-Libi, who replaced the captured Khalid Shiekh Mohammed as al-Qaida operational commander, Ghul told the CIA.
When al-Libi himself was captured in May 2005, and the United States interrogated him, he reportedly covered up for Ahmed so protectively that it became clear Ahmed was a key asset. It took more than seven years, but following the trail that began in Iraq with Ghul's capture finally led to bin Laden's Pakistan compound.
Ghul may have been next-to-unknown to Americans, but not to Newsmax readers. As early as March 8, 2004, Newsmax featured a newswire story noting that Ghul was found with "a strategic memo from Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi, the mysterious terror leader allegedly behind the bombings of Shiites in Iraq." And that "Ghul also yielded intel on bin Laden's position."
Read more on Newsmax.com: Iraq Connection Helped U.S. Find Bin Laden
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In 2004, about six weeks after the capture of Saddam Hussein, Kurdish police nabbed a high-ranking al-Qaida operative named Hassan Ghul in a town near the Iranian border. It wasn't long before Ghul was telling CIA interrogators about one of the organization's couriers, who used the nom-de-guerre of Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti.
"Hassan Ghul was the linchpin" in finding and killing Osama bin Laden, a U.S. official told The Associated Press on Monday. Ghul told the United States that the Kuwaiti-born Pakistani now known to have been Sheikh Abu Ahmed, who was killed along with the terrorist chieftain he served on Monday by U.S. Navy SEALs, was a crucial figure within al-Qaida.
"Al-Kuwaiti" was close to Faraj al-Libi, who replaced the captured Khalid Shiekh Mohammed as al-Qaida operational commander, Ghul told the CIA.
When al-Libi himself was captured in May 2005, and the United States interrogated him, he reportedly covered up for Ahmed so protectively that it became clear Ahmed was a key asset. It took more than seven years, but following the trail that began in Iraq with Ghul's capture finally led to bin Laden's Pakistan compound.
Ghul may have been next-to-unknown to Americans, but not to Newsmax readers. As early as March 8, 2004, Newsmax featured a newswire story noting that Ghul was found with "a strategic memo from Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi, the mysterious terror leader allegedly behind the bombings of Shiites in Iraq." And that "Ghul also yielded intel on bin Laden's position."
Read more on Newsmax.com: Iraq Connection Helped U.S. Find Bin Laden
Important: Do You Support Pres. Obama's Re-Election? Vote Here Now!