Used To Be Big News

US Special Forces raided a house in Somalia and killed an Al Qaeda leader purportedly linked to the African Embassy bombings in 1998.

Helicopter-borne US special forces carried out a revenge raid in Somalia that killed a top al-Qaida commander high on the FBI's most wanted terrorist list, US officials in Washington said last night.

Saleh Ali Nabhan, 28, a leader of al-Shabab, a group closely linked to al-Qaida, was alleged to have been involved in the bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 that killed 229 people. He is also accused of involvement in attacks in 2002 on a hotel in Mombasa, Kenya, popular with Israelis, in which 15 people died, and a botched missile attack on a plane carrying tourists from Mombasa to Israel.

A US official said two men travelling in a car in Somalia were killed when helicopters opened fire yesterday, and two others were wounded and captured. Another official said it was most likely that Nabhan, who had been on the FBI wanted list for several years, had been killed.

Also yesterday, the FBI rolled up a terror cell in New York City with swift action, obtaining an emergency warrant and briefing the relevant committees in Congress while arresting members of the cell.

I seem to remember a breathless day of news reports every time the Bush Administration captured or killed the #3 in Al Qaeda, which they claimed to do with regularity. Also, the media would get alerted about some major terrorist event thwarted, which would quickly fall apart upon scrutiny (they were trying to blow up the Sears Tower! I mean, talking about it. I mean, they couldn't afford to get from Miami to Chicago. I mean, never mind).

Doesn't seem that the Obama Administration uses these arrests or raids for political purposes, just to carry out orders. There may be issues with their methods, but they aren't being exploitative. I don't think the 9-12ers will be satisfied that the Administration is doing what pretty much everyone wanted to do on 9-12; that is, capture suspected terrorists and stop attacks before they happen.