There have been a lot of conflicting statements and a fake photo designed to suggest that that the Damadola strike was clumsy and ineffective in getting the target and that anger in Pakistan and innocent victims were the principal result of the effort. But the fog is clearing. It appears that this was a well- conceived joint US-Pakistani intelligence operation which was very effective.

A Pakistani official who is unnamed in the story gives us some detail:

Ayman al-Zawahri, the apparent target of the U.S. attack Jan. 13, met his deputy, Abu Farraj al-Libbi, in Damadola last year, the security official said.

Al-Libbi, a Libyan, had confessed to Pakistani interrogators after his capture in May 2005 he met al-Zawahri at Damadola, near the Afghan border, earlier in the year. Al-Libbi was captured after a shootout in another remote hamlet in northwestern Pakistan.

Another high-ranking intelligence official confirmed al-Libbi’s account of the meeting, which took place a few months before his arrest. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

“His statement was later verified and we were able to confirm that al-Zawahri visited Damadola,” the first official said.

The home was among three destroyed in the pre-dawn airstrike Jan. 13, which killed 13 villagers.

U.S. and Pakistani intelligence — with the aid of local tribesmen and Afghans — began monitoring the home after al-Libbi’s confession, the officials said.

...This was a well-surveilled site. And the intelligence apparently sound. I think Zawahiri died in that operation . Either we know this and are keeping it quiet for operational reasons or his was one of the four or five bodies reportedly removed from the site by unknown persons to preclude a solid identification without which it would be imprudent to announce he was killed.

Excellent analysis. Go read the rest, if I can get the $#@$@$#ing link to work...

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