CIA Director: 'Al Qaeda's Days Are Numbered'

FOX News: CIA Dir. to Al Qaeda on 9/11: 'If I Were Them I'd Count My Days'

CIA Director Mike Pompeo issued a warning to the Al Qaeda leadership 16 years after members of the terrorist group attacked the United States on 9/11.

"If I were them, I'd count my days," Pompeo said.

He said the CIA is "working diligently" to find the current supposed leaders of the organization, Usama bin Laden's son Hamza and former Usama confidant Ayman al-Zawahiri.

Pompeo said Al Qaeda's senior leadership is weaker than it was in 2001, but that the heightened threat from radical Islam remains due to groups like ISIS and Ansar al Sharia.

"The enemy gets a choice about whether this is over, and today, they have not concluded that they're defeated," he said.

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Update #1: Pompeo on Search for Senior Al Qaeda Leaders: 'If I Were Them, I Would Count My Days' (Washington Free Beacon)
Update #2: CIA chief: Senior al-Qaeda leaders' days are numbered (The Hill)

WNU Editor:  I am not sure if Al Qaeda's "days are numbered". It has been 16 years since 9/11, and they are still alive.

WNU Editor: Two excellent articles from CQ Politics. My comment after reading them ..... Could have. Would have. Should have.

CIA Agent Says Pentagon Botched Chance to Wipe Out al Qaeda in Iraq -- CQ Politics

Charles "Sam" Faddis, who led a CIA team into northern Iraq following the 9/11 attacks, says the Pentagon's "endless planning and delays" foiled a chance to wipe out a band of al Qaeda leaders who were fleeing American bombs in Afghanistan.

Faddis says the delays, beginning in 2002, also facilitated the escape of some "key" al Qaeda figures, including terrorist scientists who were working on chemical and biological weapons.

"Some died, some are still on the run," Faddis said in a telephone interview Tuesday, following his appearance on NPR's Diane Rehm Show to promote a new book, Operation Hotel California: The Clandestine War Inside Iraq.

"The site was physically destroyed ... but certainly the research wasn't destroyed."

Coming on the heels of similar revelations by a former Delta Force operative about scuttled missions to kill Osama Bin Laden, broadcast on 60 Minutes on Sunday, Faddis' accusations add form to a hardening portrait of the Pentagon's post-9/11 leadership as inept and overly cautious.





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Rumsfeld Spokesman, CIA Agent Skirmish Over 'Botch' Allegation
-- CQ Politics

Lawrence Di Rita, former spokesman for Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, escalated his attack today on a CIA officer's charge that Pentagon dithering wasted a chance to wipe out top al Qaeda figures in northern Iraq back in 2002.

In my original story, published late last night, I quoted Di Rita's objection to the allegation by Charles "Sam" Faddis, who led a CIA team into northern Iraq following the 9/11 attacks, that the Pentagon's "endless planning and delays" foiled a chance to wipe out a band of al Qaeda leaders who were fleeing American bombs in Afghanistan.

After reading that piece online, Di Rita had this further comment:

Faddis's recollections reflect an utter lack of awareness of what U.S. policy was at the time. In 2002, the president had not yet gone to the Congress, to the international community, etc. to present the case for military operations. At that period, a diplomatic approach was still being followed.