The New York Times article http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/26/international/asia/26LADE.html <I>High-Level Murmurings That bin Laden Is Dead By JOHN F. BURNS SLAMABAD, Pakistan, Dec. 25 - As the hunt for Osama bin Laden continues on both sides of the border between Afghanistan's Tora Bora district and the adjacent tribal regions of Pakistan, a succession of speculative and unsubstantiated reports have surfaced suggesting that the Qaeda leader may already be dead as a result of American bombing or even illness. Over the last three days, the suggestion has come from Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, from Gen. Tommy R. Franks, the American military commander for Afghanistan, and from Kenton Keith, the spokesman here for the antiterror campaign - as well as in today's issue of a Pakistani newspaper, The Pakistan Observer. In the case of President Musharraf, General Franks and Mr. Keith, the statements were conjecture, based on the intensity of the bombings at Tora Bora, not on any tangible evidence of Mr. bin Laden's death. Only The Pakistan Observer went further, with a front-page report under an Islamabad dateline that quoted an unnamed Taliban leader as saying that Mr. bin Laden "had a peaceful natural death in mid-December in the vicinity" of the Tora Bora mountains. The report said that his death was the result of a "serious lung complication." "He was laid to rest honorably in his last abode" in a grave prepared according to the beliefs of the fundamentalist Wahhabi sect of Islam to which the Qaeda leader belonged, the report said. Since Sept. 11, Pakistan's newspapers have rarely failed to produce a daily menu of reports claiming exclusive knowledge of events relating to the Taliban, Al Qaeda and Mr. bin Laden. Many of these accounts have later proved to be exaggerated, wrong or even invented. At the same time, some of the better-known newspapers here have broken major stories ahead of American and European newspapers covering the war, often on the basis of briefings from high-ranking Pakistani intelligence officials. A former Pakistani government official familiar with The Pakistan Observer said the newspaper has close ties with Inter- Services Intelligence, or I.S.I., the country's principal military intelligence agency. The agency backed the Taliban from 1994, when their Islamic hard-liners first emerged as a force, until Pakistan officially abandoned them after Sept. 11. The former government official said that the paper could have been provided information about Mr. bin Laden by the intelligence agency, but he cautioned that this might only mean that Taliban supporters in I.S.I. wanted to mislead the United States into thinking that Mr. bin Laden might be dead in order to confuse efforts to track him down. The Pakistan Observer's account included details on what purports to be Mr. bin Laden's funeral, but no specifics on where it occurred, or when, nor any information about the Taliban official who was the paper's supposed source. Nor did the article offer added information about Mr. bin Laden's alleged illness. "About 30 close associates of Osama bin Laden in Al Qaeda including his most trusted and personal bodyguards, his family members and some `Taliban friends' attended the funeral rites," the paper said. "A volley of bullets was also fired to pay final tributes to the `great leader.' "</I> ------------------------------------------------ The article from the Pakistan Observer <I>Osama has died a natural death Tariq Saeed PESHAWAR-Much dreaded Osama bin Ladin, the man on the top of the US list of most wanted men, had a peaceful natural death in mid-December in the vicinity of famous Tora Bora mountains, a Taliban leader who attended funeral of the Al-Qaeda leader confided to Pakistan Observer. "The Coalition troops are engaged in a mad search operation but they would never be able to fulfil their cherished goal of getting Osama alive or dead", the source added while referring to intensive operation launched by US and British troops to "smoke Osama out". Late Osama bin Ladin, according to the source, was suffering from some serious lungs complication and succumbed to the disease for lack of proper treatment. The source claimed that OBL was laid to rest honourably in his last abode and his grave was levelled even as per his Wahabi belief. About thirty close associates of OBL in Al-Qaeda including his most trusted and personal bodyguards, his family members and some "Taliban friends" attended the funeral rites. A volley of bullets were also fired to pay final tributes to the "great leader". The Taliban source who claims to have seen Osama's face before burial said "he looked pale and freak but calm, relaxed and confident". Asked whether Osama had any feelings of remorse before death, the source vehemently said "No". Instead, he said, Osama was proud that he succeeded in his mission of igniting awareness amongst Muslims about hegemonistic designs and conspiracies of "pagans" against Islam. Osama, he said, held the view that the sacrifice of a few hundred people in Afghanistan was nothing as those who laid their lives in creating an atmosphere of resistance will be adequately rewarded by Almighty Allah. When asked where are his last remains buried, the source said "I am sure that like other places in Tora Bora, that particular place too must have vanished".</I> http://www.pakobserver.com/december/25/front/fnews07.shtml
I wish we in the U.S. would just forget about Usama bin Laden and rout everyone else involved. He is a distraction that we don't need and unless we capture him alive, which is extremely unlikely, we will lose the propoganda war. We will never be credited with killing him in their world. He will have killed himself OR he will have slipped away behind a huge disinformation campaign sorrounding his death. Either way we will be portrayed as failing. I'm not saying to let him go... just make the search for him quiet and low-profile and relentless... just in case.
IMHO (and remember what that means), Osama bin Laden has been dead for a while. It is to the advantage of the administration to keep the public believing that he is alive. That way, any country can be attacked under the guise of "bin Laden is there and we must go after him". Next spring, we'll see a picture in the news of Osama bin Laden having a tea & crumpet party with Saddam Hussein, and POOF Baghdad will be obliterated.
HAHA! I agree. I posted a month or so back that the report back in October by Japan and other media outlets in that area that said that Osama bin Laden was dead was true. I feel they got him a while back. And if they didn't get him then they got him eventually. The Taliban's statement that Osama bin Laden died of natural causes and had an honorable burial tells me to things, 1.) The bombings killed bin Laden or 2.) They're trying to hide him. Kind of suspicious that he happened to die of "natural" causes near Tora Bora where the U.S. is bombing like every 15 minutes or so.
I doubt the Administration would hide his death if it knew Bin Laden was dead. Think about how long we've been after this guy. They get huge political bragging rights if they get him. Bush has already stated that this campaign is more than just Bin Laden and Al Queda. They don't need a phantom Bin Laden as an excuse to pursue their agenda in other countries. They're already going after Baghdad because of bio, chemical weapons rumors. Mind, I'm not taking a stance on what we should be doing, but I think the Administration has more reasons to announce Bin Laden's death than to hide it. Maybe he is already dead; I hope so. If nothing else; I want to get ahold of that $400 mil he's worth, but if the guy was such a good businessman, he's probably worked out a way for the money to go where he wants it when he's dead, unfortunately.
Think about it Relativist, if the administration announces tht bin Laden is dead then public sentiments will be "Well we got him, get the troops out of there!" No matter how many times you tell people that there are different terrorist in the world there will be people who think that it begins and ends with Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda. And you will always have people who will think that this is like Vietnam, you got the guy why stay over there right? The government has a ton to lose announcing that Osama bin Laden is dead because public support would go down. That's why they keep releasing tapes of bin Laden's confession, to keep the people's support of this war strong. They wouldn't show that tape if they knew they still had full backing of the American people.
Imagine the political implications if they managed to drag this out a couple years and suddenly Bin Laden appears dead a few months before election time. That would almost guarantee another term for Bush Jr...
Good point, BGM But don't underestimate the administration's ability to come up with a new bogeyman. All they have to say is "linked to Al Queda," and as long as it's a country Americans could care less about (like Iraq or Somalia), support's not going to go down significantly.
Apparently bin Laden's whereabouts have now been traced to Pakistan : http://www.msnbc.com/news/627086.asp
