Why Osama never used a phone or gadget?

BANGALORE, INDIA: Al Qaeda leader and the most wanted terrorist in the world, Osama bin Laden has been finally killed by the US forces after an almost 10 years search. But why did it take so long for the US forces, which have all the technology at its disposal, to track down the elusive terrorist?

The answer seems to be simple. Osama was quite successful in beating the US technology all these years. His mantra for success was not to use gadgets. He is also belived be have been highly cautions use of gadgets by people around him.

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Osama bin Laden is said to be once actively using the Inmarsat phone (Satellite phone). It is reported that even his phone number was published in a book entitled “Body of Secrets” by the intelligence expert James Bamford.

However, Laden is said to have discontinued the use of phones after the 1998 missile attack on camps in Afghanistan in which the fugitive narrowly escaped. According to reports, ever since then Laden has only relied on an elaborate system of human couriers and opted not to use electronic communications at all.

Also read: Osama bin Laden's residence now on Google maps 

Osama used to deliver video messages in open background after his men carried out terror attacks in US. In 2001, when U.S. agencies were said to have seeking help of geologists to try and glean clues about his whereabouts, videos with open background stopped.

Several reports in the past indicate that Osama never used to carry a cell phone or any electronic device with him, as he feared that would help the US forces to track him down. This policy he maintained even in the Tora Bora region of nort west Pakistan were he once was believed to be hiding.

The house in Abbotabad (Pakistan), where Osama was killed, did not have phone connection, Internet connection or even a television.

The multi-million dollar mansion that Osama bin Laden was living in at Abbotabad was "roughly eight times larger than the other homes in the area. It was built in 2005 on the outskirts of town," says MSNBC, quoting US intelligence sources.

Perhaps, Osama understood quite clearly that calls made or received by a landline/ cell phone can be tracked, intercepted by security agencies.

Though it was ground intelligence, as per US official statements, that played a major role in identifying the Osama aids to the mansion were Osama lived, interestingly, technology helped in pinpointing the activities at this highly secured compound also!

According to reports, CIA analysts spent several weeks examining satellite photos and intelligence reports to determine who might be living at the mansion, and a senior administration official said that by September the CIA had determined there was a "strong possibility" that bin Laden himself was hiding there.

The man who avoided technology never thought that the same would one day prove to be his nemesis. That is the irony of history!

Osama house on Google maps

According to Atlantic.com Bin Laden's compound is just north, as you can see in the map, of a hospital for women and children and a cinema. About 800 feet to the west is the Cantt Police Station.

It's unclear who added the hideout to Google Maps or when, but it's already there -- and labeled as an "amusement park."