Who Gave Up Bin Laden and Why?

Michael Ledeen has a very interesting theory.  Speaking to the spirit of James Jesus Angleton:

JJA: “And how! We can talk about it, love to. It’s a counter-intelligence playground, there are scads of different ways to interpret it. But the version from the White House is probably one of the least likely, and the fact that they’ve changed their story — including key details — suggests that they wanted to cover up the genesis of the operation.”

ML: “You mean you don’t believe the story about tracking the courier?”

JJA: “Well, duh, of course we tracked couriers. But unless you sit down and talk to the courier, and unless you decide to believe what he says, just watching a courier doesn’t give you operational intelligence, like the floor plan of the villa and the number of people inside, and the condition of the target and are there weapons there, blah blah.”

ML: “So you’re saying that we needed a human source?”

JJA: “At least one, maybe more. It’s best if you have more than one, it gives you some confidence that your information is accurate.”

ML: “And that source or sources? Who could they be?”

JJA: “Just to be precise, we should not be so antiseptic in our language. I’m saying that Osama was betrayed. Somebody who knew the details — or maybe several somebodies — delivered him to us. So the question is, who betrayed him? And why?”

The rest is fascinating.