Al-Qaeda leader Bin Laden 'dead'. Again.

[Jan Klimkowski]

A mirror version of the Sunday Times article.

THE US Navy SEALs who killed Osama bin Laden were carrying a pocket guide to the occupants of his compound that was so detailed it suggests the CIA may have had a mole inside.

The document, left behind in the compound and obtained by The Sunday Times, lists the names and ages of those who were present, including bin Laden's wives, children and grandchildren.

It details where they lived in the compound and when some of them arrived. It also suggests bin Laden had fathered twins in the compound. It refers to "two unidentified children" born this year to his youngest wife Amal, 28.

Even the clothing worn by the 54-year-old al-Qa'ida leader is described. "Always wears light-coloured shawal (sic) kameez with a dark vest," it says. "Occasionally wears light-coloured prayer cap."

The document raises new questions about how bin Laden was tracked down in what President Barack Obama described as "one of the greatest intelligence successes in American history".

After the mission Mr Obama said he had been "only 45 per cent to 55 per cent sure that bin Laden was even in the compound". The document, which is said to have been carried by all the SEALs on the mission, indicates US intelligence was certain of his presence.

US officials have said that information on the compound was put together over months from a variety of sources, including a nearby CIA safe-house set up as a listening post, imagery from satellites and unmanned drones, and reports from their own agents.

But there is far more detail than seems possible from these methods - unless US drone technology is far more sophisticated than hitherto realised.

Some Pakistani officials say the briefing points to the presence of a mole in the compound.

"I think someone from inside may have given information," said Rehman Malik, the Interior Minister and former head of Pakistan's Federal Investigation Agency. "If the Americans didn't have definitive information, they couldn't have gone straight to the room where bin Laden was."

One side of the document is printed with a familiar photograph of the al-Qa'ida leader as well as a new picture of Amal - only the second known photograph of her - and an age-enhanced image of his son Khalid. From the other side stares the flabby courier Arshad Khan, looking older than the 33 years stated. There is also a description of his brother, another courier.

The two elder Saudi wives have accused Amal, who is from Yemen, of betraying bin Laden, either by supplying information or by allowing herself to be tracked to the compound.

However, Glenn Carle, a CIA officer who interrogated another senior al-Qa'ida figure before retiring four years ago, said it was more likely the information had come from a variety of sources.

"Is it possible there was a source inside? Yes," he said. "But it's also possible this was built up from a mosaic of painstakingly put together information."

The document also bears details that suggest there may be more to the story of how bin Laden was tracked down.

It reveals for the first time that the two courier brothers moved to Abbottabad in 2006 from Mardan, a city about 100km west, that is still home to thousands of Afghan refugees.

It was in Mardan that Abu Faraj al-Libbi, the al-Qa'ida No 3, was captured in May 2005. According to his Guantanamo detainee assessment published on WikiLeaks, he was caught while waiting for a courier. He had previously been living in Abbottabad.

The Sunday Times has learnt that an employee at Abbottabad post office was tracked after he received suspiciously large cash transfers. He led investigators to Umar Patek, one of the Bali bombers, arrested in Abbottabad in January. All these arrests in the same area seem more than coincidence.

"It is quite possible a false or partial narrative was given of how bin Laden was found," said a CIA official. "Intelligence can only function in silence and in the dark - protecting source and method is very important."

The garrison town of Abbottabad might seem an odd place to choose for a hiding place, given its proximity to the prestigious Kakul military academy. Bin Laden's presence there has led US officials to accuse Pakistan's intelligence services of "complicity or incompetence".

The accusations, along with outrage that the US sent commandos on a raid inside Pakistan without informing them, have prompted a tide of angry anti-Americanism, particularly in Pakistan's military barracks.

Pakistani officials fear that among the intelligence trove taken from the compound will be found something compromising.

Yesterday deputy CIA chief Michael Morell and Marc Grossman, special envoy to the region, were holding meetings in Islamabad to work out concrete steps to crack down on terrorism.

It smells like either a limited hangout, or an active psyop, to me.

One interpretation is that the "pocket guide" was a secret operational briefing document provided to the SEALs and not intended to fall into the public domain as it contains details which could be used: a) to identify the intelligence sources - human, signal etc - used prior to the raid by the US; b) embarrassingly for the White House, its existence suggests Obama lied about the extent of US knowledge of the compound (eg "Obama said he had been "only 45 per cent to 55 per cent sure that bin Laden was even in the compound".")

That interpretation would likely lead to various assorted "intelligence sources" being used to muddy the story in the Sunday Times article - as indeed such intel sources do.

A second interpretation is that this "pocket guide" was deliberately planted - leaked - to the Sunday Times, as part of the broader War on Terror psyop agenda which has Pakistan firmly in its sights for destablization and balkanization.

There are even existing examples of this precise psyop technique being used on British broadsheet hacks - ye olde intrepid hack with keen vision finds key casus belli document shining in the rubble and breathlessly publishes scoop to rapturous applause......

I present a fine example of this shameful form:

The proof that Saddam worked with bin Laden

By Inigo Gilmore
(Filed: 27/04/2003)

Iraqi intelligence documents discovered in Baghdad by The Telegraph have provided the first evidence of a direct link between Osama bin Laden's al-Qa'eda terrorist network and Saddam Hussein's regime.

Papers found yesterday in the bombed headquarters of the Mukhabarat, Iraq's intelligence service, reveal that an al-Qa'eda envoy was invited clandestinely to Baghdad in March 1998.

The documents show that the purpose of the meeting was to establish a relationship between Baghdad and al-Qa'eda based on their mutual hatred of America and Saudi Arabia. The meeting apparently went so well that it was extended by a week and ended with arrangements being discussed for bin Laden to visit Baghdad.

The papers will be seized on by Washington as the first proof of what the United States has long alleged - that, despite denials by both sides, Saddam's regime had a close relationship with al-Qa'eda.

The Telegraph found the file on bin Laden inside a folder lying in the rubble of one of the rooms of the destroyed intelligence HQ. There are three pages, stapled together; two are on paper headed with the insignia and lettering of the Mukhabarat.

They show correspondence between Mukhabarat agencies over preparations for the visit of al-Qa'eda's envoy, who travelled to Iraq from Sudan, where bin Laden had been based until 1996. They disclose what Baghdad hopes to achieve from the meeting, which took place less than five months before bin Laden was placed at the top of America's most wanted list following the bombing of two US embassies in east Africa.

Perhaps aware of the sensitivities of the subject matter, Iraqi agents at some point clumsily attempted to mask out all references to bin Laden, using white correcting fluid. The dried fluid was removed to reveal the clearly legible name three times in the documents.

One paper is marked "Top Secret and Urgent". It is signed "MDA", a codename believed to be the director of one of the intelligence sections within the Mukhabarat, and dated February 19, 1998. It refers to the planned trip from Sudan by bin Laden's unnamed envoy and refers to the arrangements for his visit.

A letter with this document says the envoy is a trusted confidant of bin Laden. It adds: "According to the above, we suggest permission to call the Khartoum station [Iraq's intelligence office in Sudan] to facilitate the travel arrangements for the above-mentioned person to Iraq. And that our body carry all the travel and hotel costs inside Iraq to gain the knowledge of the message from bin Laden and to convey to his envoy an oral message from us to bin Laden."

The letter refers to al-Qa'eda's leader as an opponent of the Saudi Arabian regime and says that the message to convey to him through the envoy "would relate to the future of our relationship with him, bin Laden, and to achieve a direct meeting with him."

According to handwritten notes at the bottom of the page, the letter was passed on through another director in the Mukhabarat and on to the deputy director general of the intelligence service.

It recommends that "the deputy director general bring the envoy to Iraq because we may find in this envoy a way to maintain contacts with bin Laden". The deputy director general has signed the document. All of the signatories use codenames.

The other documents then confirm that the envoy travelled from Khartoum to Baghdad in March 1998, staying at al-Mansour Melia, a first-class hotel. It mentions that his visit was extended by a week. In the notes in a margin, a name "Mohammed F. Mohammed Ahmed" is mentioned, but it is not clear whether this is the the envoy or an agent.

Intriguingly, the Iraqis talk about sending back an oral message to bin Laden, perhaps aware of the risk of a written message being intercepted. However, the documents do not mention if any meeting took place between bin Laden and Iraqi officials.

The file contradicts the claims of Baghdad, bin Laden and many critics of the coalition that there was no link between the Iraqi regime and al-Qa'eda. One Western intelligence official contacted last night described the file as "sensational", adding: "Baghdad clearly sought out the meeting. The regime would have wanted it to happen in the capital as it's only there they would feel safe from surveillance by Western intelligence."

Over the past three weeks, The Telegraph has discovered various other intelligence files in the wrecked Mukhabarat building, including documents revealing how Russia passed on to Iraq details of private conversations between Tony Blair and Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian prime minister, and how Germany held clandestine meetings with the regime.

A Downing Street spokesman said last night: "Since Saddam's fall a series of documents have come to light which will have to be fully assessed by the proper authorities over a period of time. We will certainly want to study these documents as part of that process to see if they shed new light on the relationship between Saddam's regime and al-Qa'eda.