Deja Vu Watch -- Al CIA-duh's #2 al-Libi Killed

Uh, really?

WASHINGTON (AP) — The CIA has carried out a half-dozen drone strikes in Pakistan in less than two weeks, the latest targeting al-Qaida's second in command, as the U.S. pushes ahead with the controversial program despite Pakistani demands that it stop.

A CIA drone strike Monday targeted Abu Yahia al-Libi in Pakistan, but it was unclear whether he was among those hit, U.S. officials said.

U.S. officials say fewer than five people were hit, although Pakistani officials say more than a dozen people were killed in two days of strikes in Pakistan. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the classified drone program.

U.S. officials said they did not know yet whether al-Libi was among those killed, but said they were "optimistic."

Do they simply modify this basic story and keep putting it every 3 months or so? I *know* there were a couple of #2's killed previously, named al-Libi, but I can't find the article.

One odd phenomenon is that when the new article comes out on the supposed latest killing of the #2 al-CIA-duh man, a google search gets completely filled with all the new pieces on the "killing" and it's essentially impossible to find older pieces on #2's getting killed. It's amazing how many media outlets seem to regurgitate the same piece of news, uncritically.

Note The Onion, from 2006!!!!

Eighty Percent Of Al-Qaeda No. 2s Now Dead

February 1, 2006 | ISSUE 42•05


WASHINGTON, DC
—The Pentagon announced Monday that 80 percent of Osama bin Laden's seconds-in-command have been eliminated. "Nearly 1,600 al-Qaeda leaders ranked number two have been wiped out," Lt. Col. Mark Allison said. "That leaves only 400 of Osama bin Laden's right-hand men in the organization." Following the apparent failure to kill bin Laden's No. 2 man Ayman al-Zawahri in a missile strike on a Pakistani border town on Jan. 13, American forces intensified the search for al-Qaeda second-in-command Ahmed Al-Zahnami, or, failing that, No. 2 man Amman al-Zaharani, or No. 2 man Ahmed al-Zafarani.