Posted on 08/18/2007 7:18:33 AM PDT by seanrobins
Has he really died of typhoid? robert fox weighs the claim and its implications
Osama bin Laden, charismatic founder of al-Qaeda, died of typhoid earlier this month in Pakistan, according to a highly classified intelligence brief given to the King of Saudi Arabia and President Chirac this week, and leaked to the French newspaper L'Est Republicain.
The chief of the terror group was known to have been suffering from acute typhoid and seeking treatment in Pakistan in mid-August. This was picked up and tracked by Saudi intelligence services. The same sources, said by the French to be very reliable, believe he later died.
The powerful Pakistani intelligence agency the ISI - at times virtually a parallel government, instrumental among other things in founding the Taliban - has not confirmed the report. "We have no information on Osama's death," a senior Pakistan Interior Ministry official said on Saturday morning.
Bin Laden last appeared on video in 2004. A few poor-quality audio tapes purporting to be of his voice surfaced earlier this year - but it was impossible to say when the original recordings were made.
The reaction of the bin Laden command cell of al-Qaeda to the fifth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks was surprisingly muted and unfocused. It said al-Qaeda would attack "American targets" again, and that all Americans should "convert to Islam".
It is now clear that most of the talking, and broadcasting, by the old command cell has been done by Dr Ayman al-Zawahiri, spokesman and ideologue for bin Laden and always seen as his Number 2. The highly articulate doctor came to the surface in the security operations following the assassination of Egypt's President Anwar Sadat in October 1981. He can only exist in the shadow of the magnetism of bin Laden and is not seen as a leader or strategist in his own right.
Much the same goes for the al-Qaeda movement as a whole. Like other, admittedly smaller, terrorist groups such as Italy's Red Brigades, it has found it hard to reprise its big spectacular. It has never done anything like 9/11 since. Attacks like the Bali and Mombasa bombs, the train and transport bombings in Madrid in 2004 and London in July last year may have been carried out in the name of Islamic revolution - adopting the al-Qaeda logo as it were - but they were not under bin Laden's direct command.
The attacks appear to be loosely linked homegrown efforts whose ideological and operational roots are in Pakistan and Bangladesh as much as in the bin Laden training camps in Waziristan and Kashmir.
The death of bin Laden, if it is confirmed, will be cloaked in the propaganda of martyrdom, mourning and revenge. It could also trigger a major rethink of such notions as "Global War on Terror", which is long overdue. It will be a blow to the sloganising of the neo-conservatives - and their notion of the "clash of civilisations" - and to the high-flown rhetoric of President Bush and Prime Minister Blair.
It is likely to mean not so much "back to basics" in tackling terrorism, but back to the practicalities of how to deal with terrorists in the real world.
The last time I posted that I thought bin Laden was dead, a few weeks back, I got jumped by multiple FReepers who let me know that I was pretty much un-American for believing that. I still believe it.
That's a new one on me.... I thought it was only poor quality audio since about Dec 2001.
“I think Bin Laden died at Tora Bora”
Maybe, but the question is when. In, for example, 2002, 2004, 2007?
It’s not nice to ask questions. The boys from Yale running the “big picture” know what they are doing. Just sit back, relax, and turn on the television.
Don’t say “dead”. Say “carbon neutral”.
Osama has achieved carbon neutrality, all the more reason for the left to adore him.
Are you sure you should be posting what is obviously classified info. on a message board? I mean, I’m sure you have direct access to all of this information you are sharing (/sarcasm). Where do you weirdos come up with this stuff?
Maybe he is. Maybe he isn’t.
Little Known Fact: Bin Laden is a prisoner of Karl Rove, kept in Dick Cheney’s undisclosed location. If the capture were known, we’d have to withdraw from the war, and Bush doesn’t want that.
/s
Typhoid Fatima...... Rove you Magnificant Bastard!!
>>>Is Osama bin Laden Dead?<<<
No, I believe he is still working for the democrats, supplying them with their talking points and surrender strategies.
Why is that, anyway? Meanwhile, Al Qaeda broadcasts fake Osama bin Fak’in releases. Why is that?
Everyone loves a boogyman?
Excuse me!, am I the only one who remembers those terrible pictures of the planes flying into the WTC, the Pentagon and that hole in the ground Shanksville, PA. Was that not a "clash of civilizations"? The Presidents approval rating was, I believe, in the high 80's or low 90's after he stood on the pile of debris that had been the WTC and announced that we would bring to justice the perpetrators. My short term memory is hampered by a stroke but I certainly can remember that awful sight and the feeling of dispair I felt at the realization that this sort of thing had been brought to our shores. We would and will NEVER be the same. Just because people have shorter memories than even I do, doesn't mean it didn't happen.
notion)(?) of the "clash of civilisations" - and to the high-flown rhetoric of President Bush and Prime Minister Blair. "Notion" be damned. I think not; no way, just the opposite is true. They spoke it like it is and will be until the perps are brought to justice (def: killed - my preference)or the Democrats get in ultimate power (shudder) and sweep it all under that round rug in the Oval office.
Don't you think future generations will ask what those two huge towers in downtown Manhatten were that they see in the movies? Great zot.
Believing or not believing that OBL is dead has nothing to do with being American or Unamerican. I can’t begin to see the connection. However, I do believe that if our government became aware of OBL’s demise, they’d plaster his face on the front of every newspaper and magazine in a heartbeat with “OSAMA BIN LADEN IS DEAD !!!!” as a caption. For reasons I can’t fathom, it would boost the ratings of our government’s popularity with Americans. There’s no logic in that, but that’s the way of the land. Remember the hideous faces of Saddam’s sons when they were killed? There was no getting away from those pictures.
Typhoid? Osama really couldn’t have been living that large to catch typhoid.
How many times has this guy been dead in the last few years.
[He is dead. The U.S. government knows it for a fact, too. They tested some remains found in Tora Bora. DNA doesn’t lie. ]
Your proof of this comment is where? I wish it were true and suspect it is but ‘knows it for a fact’ is based on what?
Has he really died of typhoid?
Well ... since it's not a good idea health wise to poop & pee where you eat and drink, and considering most caves don't have toilets I'd say its very possible.
(They didn't reverse the flow of the Chicago River for nothing. Typhoid was killing thousands.)
Ditto Elvis.
If you do not believe FOX News, perhaps you would like read other reports? Nothing classified about what happened. Retired military and CIA types give interviews all the time.
Personally, I believe everybody loves a boogey man.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.