September 14, 2001

8:21 AM

bin Laden has a mentor?
posted by redhead (5 comments total)

This was possibly the best article I've read this week. Very informative about the intelligence issues surrounding bin Laden. Frontline does great interviews...
posted by daver at 9:20 AM on September 14, 2001

Amazing interview. I'm fascinated by the issue of cultural differences between US intelligence groups and a network like bin Laden's. It crops up in the Atlantic piece as well. In some ways it's hard to figure out how the CIA, &c. failed to detect the plot, so explanations of cultural difference seem to fit.
posted by D at 10:22 AM on September 14, 2001

Excellent article. Long enough to have some depth as well. I had read an article several months ago regarding the 'new' cia and other intelligence orgs in the US not having operatives that could really be effective due to their lack of education regarding the world at large.

Maybe multilingual, well-traveled, technologically adept, ethnically diverse former dot commers will join up?
posted by th3ph17 at 10:58 AM on September 14, 2001

Excellent article, redhead. Great find. Very informative, not hysterical, with real information.

Um, one note, though - its such a good article that a slightly more elaborate explanation might have been in order. There are so many threads right now, that it may get lost in the shuffle, and your find really deserves attention.
posted by J. R. Hughto at 11:56 AM on September 14, 2001

Imad Mughniyah One time body gaurd to Yassar Arafat before joining Islamic Jihad Hezbollah
posted by redhead at 8:00 PM on September 14, 2001