CIA blew chance to kill bin Laden
The CIA had the opportunity to capture or kill Osama bin Laden in 2000, a year before the September 11 terror attacks.
Spy footage shot from an unmanned and unarmed Predator plane over Afghanistan in Autumn 2000 – aired last night by US television network NBC News – shows what appears to be bin Laden at Tarnak Farm, a known al Qaeda training camp.
At that time, bin Laden was wanted by security services for the 1993 World Trade Centre bombing, which killed six people and the 1998 bombing of two US embassies in Africa, which killed 224.
The footage appears consistent with the description of the six feet five inches tall Saudi-born leader.
Separately, a motorist was handed a suspended prison sentence yesterday after he a tried to run down “bin Laden” in Montpellier, France.
A 35-year-old artist was ordered to pay £340 to the unhurt victim.
Defence lawyer, David Mendel, said his client was traumatised by the Madrid terror attacks and was the “victim of a hallucination.”
Bin Laden is believed to be hiding in the remote border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
