Group's leaders pleaded for bin Laden to come to rescue.
Under constant pressure in Pakistan and Afghanistan by CIA operatives, al Qaeda appears to have been thrown into disarray, with top leaders heading deeper into hiding, according to CIA Director Leon Panetta. A recently intercepted message even shows one al Qaeda lieutenant begging Osama bin Laden to send help. "It's pretty clear from all the intelligence we are getting that they are having a very difficult time putting together any kind of command and control, that they are scrambling," Panetta told The Washington Post. "And that we really do have them on the run." Panetta's comments came on the heels of United States' forces killing a man who was among al Qaeda's top 20 leaders and responsible in part for the Dec. 30 suicide bombing at a CIA base in eastern Afghanistan.
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