Zawahri missed dinner that prompted U.S. strike

[sabra]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L15784948.htm

Zawahri missed dinner that prompted U.S. strike

ISLAMABAD, Jan 15 (Reuters) - A dinner invitation to al Qaeda's second-in-command triggered a U.S. airstrike in Pakistan but Ayman al-Zawahri failed to show up, Pakistani intelligence officials said on Sunday.

Pakistan condemned Friday's strike, which killed at least 18 people, including women and children, and summoned U.S. ambassador Ryan Crocker to protest.

There were anti-American demonstrations in several towns and cities on Sunday, and supporters of Islamist and secular parties mustered close to 10,000 people for a rally in the southern city of Karachi.

The Foreign Ministry said on Saturday that foreigners had been near the village of Damadola in the Bajaur region bordering Afghanistan and were the probable target.

[Straight Shooter]

1. Bad intelligence on the ground. The U.S. is being played. n/t

[JCMach1]

2. This is BS too!

They were completely fooled and don't want to admit the horror of their mistake...

Complete and utter idiots!!!

[DELUSIONAL]

3. Oh sure -- the one legged guy who grows a leg --

so now the excuse for killing women and children -- he had a dinner invitation.

I highly doubt, that if the guy does indeed even exist, that he would let anyone know where and when he is going to be so that he could be set up for assassination.

Fox viewers will be stupid enough to believe this.

[saigon68]

5. Fox viewers ARE stupid

They are like Trolls

[henslee]

19. Yes they are. I've been listening to AM radio lately and let me tell you.

Michael Medved who used to be a regular old movie reviewer now spews the most rancid propoganda.

[alcibiades_mystery]

9. The supposedly "one-legged guy" is Zarqawi, not Zawahiri

Just sayin...

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

30. Mr Al Zawahiri does exist indeed. He is Mr Bin Laden's Karl Rove.

(OK I stole that from Bil Maher)

[shaniqua6392]

4. This is the way George is trying to win friends

and influence people around the world. They just love Americans now more than ever.:sarcasm:

[fed-up]

6. I wonder who/when typed up the "dinner invitation" n/t

[trapper914]

12. Wonder if...

...it was typed on the same typewriter as the TANG document? Wonder if that typewriter is in Rove's attic?

[theHandpuppet]

32. I think it was the pork barbecue entree that gave them away

Methinks Al Qaeda just smoked out an informer.

[pinniped]

17. The same idiots who thought up that BS find of Jose Padilla...

and hundreds of other alleged al-Qaeda job applications.

[boobooday]

7. He found out it was Mac and Cheese again?

And so we generate some more anti-US hatred by killing a bunch of innocents.

It really seems that the Bush Administration is missing on purpose sometimes.

[HereSince1628]

8. Wouldn't this expose whoever was the squealer?

Seems to me if Al-Qaeda is as ruthless as claimed they would be busy delousing today.

[ldf]

33. maybe the "squealer" isn't with al-qaeda

maybe they are in our camp.

it seems like everytime we strike in this manner, they always fail to show up at the aforementioned target area. it happens too often.

we sure wouldn't want to eliminate our justification for war, would we?

this, however, just causes the terrorists to multiply.

how convenient.

:shrug:

[patdem]

10. See what can happen if you fail to include RSVP in your invitations!

Who 'invites' terrorists to dinner? Seems to me they just show up anytime they want and can eat at will and need not be 'invited'? At least that is the impression I am left with?

[OldLeftieLawyer]

18. See.......

this is why we've quit entertaining formally.

People are SO rude, not RSVPing, then showing up - or not showing up.

And then there are the air strikes.........

[alcibiades_mystery]

11. If they knew where he was gonna be

Why wouldn't they try to capture him rather than coming in with airstrikes? This is the same guy that was supposedly "surrounded" by Pakastani troops about a year and a half ago.

This story is ridiculous.

[CJCRANE]

23. Good point -

the neocons are kidnapping and torturing hundreds of innocents to try and extract "intelligence"...

they know where al-Qaida's #2 hangs out...

and yet they can't spare a few boots on the ground to go in and capture him..?!


:wtf:

[mogster]

13. Somehow I get the feeling this attack would never happened

if al-Zawahri really had been present.

Another possibility to stir up anti-American sentiment in a muslim country?

I'd trust an ISI spokesman as I'd trust Jerry Falwell's Sunday sermons.

[Mark E. Smith]

14. Pak(istan) Calls US Airstrike An Intelligence Failure

rediff.com

The United States missile strike intended to kill al-Qaeda's number two leader Ayman Zawahiri missed the intended target and the operation probably resulted from an intelligence botch-up, Pakistani officials have said.

"There is no indication that Zawahiri was there. Probably there was an intelligence botch-up," a senior Pakastani official based in Peshawar, was quoted as saying by local daily Dawn.

He said there was a tip-off that Zawahiri was invited to a village in the Bajur area, where his in-laws live but he was not present there when US spy planes hit three houses Friday.

Most of the victims of the air strike on the houses at the foothills of Damadola village, about 25 km northeast of Bajur regional headquarters, Khaar, were women and children. Offcials suspect the toll could be higher and some foreign militants might have been killed in the attack and buried elsewhere.

http://in.rediff.com/news/2006/jan/15pak.htm

"Intelligence failure" being an apt description for all Bush admin efforts.

[applegrove]

15. Well good. Let's hope they have not started to randomly bomb civilians

in hopes that they give up and hand over the leaders of al Qaeda. I doubt very much if more than three families know the whereabouts of al Qaeda's leadership. And - bombing to get people to make them turn on each other without any reason for suspecting them of anything - that would be terrorism.

I hope the pakistani people believe it was a mistake. And that there really was faulty information.

[LisaL]

20. Yea, that ought to cheer them up.

Sorry, we killed your loved ones by mistake. Ooops. We will try better next time.
:eyes:

[applegrove]

21. I was much more pessimistic than you. I had thought for a bit there -

that they had no proof. That they were bombing based on sattelite images or something else so vague & had opened up another front in the Wars in the middle east.

[EuroObserver]

27. I haven't heard them even say "sorry" yet, lizzy...

Apart from this kind of stuff, that is: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x144394

(Correct me when I'm wrong).

[LisaL]

31. I know. They are not even sorry. It boggles the mind.

When and how did we decide that we have a right to bomb any place on the globe?

[pinniped]

16. Obviously the idiots should've noted what was on the menu...

because the super-dooper terra mastermind doesn't like duck.

He prefers poached wild salmon.

Better luck next time, I suppose.

[applegrove]

22. I don't think the Pakistani people will let them get away with it.

[CJCRANE]

24. Bad choice -

I heard Zawahiri prefers coffee mornings and informal brunches.

[Corgigal]

25. I thought Bush made some slimy remarks

about this same thing when Clinton tried to target Osama. Bush mentioned he wasn't going to shoot a missile to hit a camels butt. Something along those lines.

Funny how the press forgot all about those remarks now.

[BrotherBuzz]

41. Empty tent - empty suit...

"When I take action, I'm not going to fire a $2 million missile at a $10 empty tent and hit a camel in the butt. It's going to be decisive." —George W. Bush, Washington, D.C. Sept. 19, 2001

His damn missile didn't hit $10 empty tent. He missed the camel butt, too. His million-dollar missile hit a house and killed eight men, five women, and five children between the ages of 5 and 10, all in a country that was supposedly our friend.

[leesa]

26. More crap.

[gulfcoastliberal]

28. Sounds like a terror bomb to me.

I'd sure be terrified if a bomb blew up my neighbors house killing them.

[acmavm]

29. Jeez, I thought my kid told some lame ass lies. Especially since just

Friday I had to prove to the officials at his school that I wasn't dead.

edit: lies not lives

[cliss]

34. There are some strange elements to this story.

It could be a sign that there are some deeper problems emerging.

1) According to another thread here in the LBN, it says that "the CIA conducted the air strike that turned out to be a mistake.

2) First, the White House issued a statement about the air strike. Then, when it was discovered to be a mistake, is now saying nothing.

3) It's my understanding that the US army or the Pentagon was not involved in this operation. Is this true?

4) I've read that the CIA and the Bush administration are at war with each other. I've read stories about how Cheney vowed to "take the CIA apart" for his own reasons. There are hundreds of disgruntled analysts who would like nothing better than to get revenge for what they've done.

5) The Bush administration has done the unthinkable: divulging the name of a CIA agent. That's what the Plame fight has been about.

Could this possibly be the CIA trying to undermine the Bush administration? Nobody believes the story about the "Dinner Invitation".

I would NOT put it past the CIA to try to sabotage Bush and Cheney.

We are looking at a system that is imploding on itself. We've unleashed these massive, unchecked forces where the powers behind them are unable and unwilling to control them. These forces are playing themselves out around the world. This is getting really dangerous.

[stillcool]

36. Now...there's a topic of conversation...

I would be interested in exploring. I mean, is there anyone starring on the world stage today, that does NOY have ties to the CIA?

[LisaL]

39. This is the same story they tell over and over again.

First, they kill #2. Then, it turns out #2 was not there, but a whole bunch of people that had no relationship to #2 were killed. Then , they kill #2....
How many times have we heard the same shit?

[Cocoa]

35. message: #2 got lucky

the public is supposed to think that #2 is only alive due to luck and that his luck is going to run out, and that it's only a matter of time, etc.

[daleo]

37. Yes, I think that's the meme.

He's on the run, one step behind him, etc.

[tedzbear]

38. Bullshit.

Another obvious lie to cover their ass.

[VegasWolf]

40. Exactly, explaining all those dead children is troublesome! nt

:sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm::sarcasm: