July 27, 2008
US Special Operation raid on Damadola in 2006
This LA Times piece on how the US has been losing ground in Pakistan drops this bombshell buried deep on page three of the article. We know of TWO predator strikes on Damadola one in 2006 targeting Zawahiri.....but number three turns out to have been a SEAL TEAM 6 raid on an Al Qaeda compound...
In 2006, one of the nation’s most elite units, Seal Team 6, raided a suspected Al Qaeda compound at Damadola.Would the US risk one of its best counter-terrorism units on a compound with only mid-level operatives ....who did we suspect was there?At CIA headquarters in Virginia, a roomful of people watched on video streamed from a Predator surveillance plane, officials said. They included high-ranking officials such as Albert M. Calland III, then the deputy director.
“They choppered in, rappelled down and went into the compound,” said a former official familiar with the operation. “It was tactically very well executed.”
Several mid-level operatives were detained, according to the official. The raid was separate from the January 2006 Predator strike in Damadola that missed Al Qaeda’s No. 2, Ayman Zawahiri, the official said.
