Tora Bora Said Captured, No Sign of Bin Laden

Yahoo/ Reuters via Drudge ^ | 12/7/2001 | Reuters

[ex-Texan]

Tora Bora Said Captured, No Sign of Osama Bin Laden

KABUL (Reuters) - Anti-Taliban forces have captured the main base of Osama bin Laden in the Tora Bora mountains of eastern Afghanistan, but failed to find the Saudi-born militant, a military spokesman said on Friday.

``The last and main base of Osama in Tora Bora was captured last night,'' Mohammad Habeel, a spokesman for the militarily dominant Northern Alliance, told Reuters, adding that there had been fierce resistance as the assault was pressed home.

``Our troops led by commander Hazrat Ali said that we have taken almost all of Tora Bora and its main caves. We have staged a mopping up operation to clear remaining parts of Tora Bora.''

He said Arab family members, including women, had been captured, along with weapons and vehicles, but there was no sign of bin Laden, leader of the mainly Arab al Qaeda network.

``Osama was not in Tora Bora during the past days of fighting and if he had been, he has probably slipped into Pakistan,'' Habeel said.

[ex-Texan]

Osama and Mullah Omar are on the run.

[Registered]

Can't be, Geraldo said otherwise.

[eureka!]

But, but, but the Clymers and armchair Generals said this cave system was inpenetrable and would result in same quagmire that befell the Russians....

[anniegetyourgun]

See that last sentence? I'm gonna win the pool prize...I just know it! BTW, what is the prize?

[sam_paine]

Maybe the bunker-busters have tilled up the mountains enough to plant crops??? "Nation building."

[blam]

"Osama and Mullah Omar are on the run."

This was reported last night before I went to bed. When I looked this morning, it seems, all reference of it was pulled?

[dirtboy]

Time to look for some 6'-5" chick in a burka trying to cross the border...

[Oldeconomybuyer]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/fr/585619/posts

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/fr/585460/posts

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/fr/585441/posts

 

[weikel]

Geraldo just said this was bull****

[MeekOneGOP]

Dear Osama:

All your virgins are belong to U.S.! ! !

[Steven W.]

DoD says this is bull

[HighWheeler]

Tora Bora Said Captured, No Sign of Bin Laden

Of course not, Osama bin Laden is Already Dead

[ex-Texan]

I did a search using "tora" .... Nothing showed up.

Sorry.

[seamus]

You mean about Osama not being in there? Or about the Tora Bora campaign now being in mop-up mode. I know we can't always trust Reuters, but please explain fully what the DoD has declared.

[marshmallow]

All the recent info about Bin Laden's whereabouts is garbage.

So too, IMHO, are the recent reports of al-Zawahiri's death and the deaths of Bin Laden's son, son-in-law etc, etc.

If there is one thing these goat-traders are good at, it's lying. I'll sit up and take notice when I start to see some stiffs.

[CPT Clay]

"Osama is dead already"

I hope no one will ever know.

Martyrless that way.

[MeekOneGOP]

what is the prize?

Taxidermist of your choice!:

[HighWheeler]

Click the link and read the piece. I hope you enjoy it, it discusses exactly what you mentioned.

[MeekOneGOP]

DoD says this is bull

Seriously? What is the source on this? Another FReeper says Geraldo says the same thing. . .I'd believe DoD. . .

[DJ88]

Just last night the B52's were still flying over the caves...how could they have (NA) gotten into the caves already? FNC was reporting that the NA fighters were going back up the mountains to the caves today. This story does NOT make any sense.

I'll believe it when I hear it from Rumsfeld.

[Syncro]

Maybe the bunker-busters have tilled up the mountains enough to plant crops???

Poppy production is now back in full swing. The Ag (drug) money will start flowing again.

[Badfoil]

Agreed. Fox reported this morning on the 6am news, this is a false report going over the wires. Geraldo was there telling it live.

[CPT Clay]

Good thread. I'llay it again a bullet and an unmarked grave no witnesses...... no martyr.

[BFO]

"...a spokesman for the militarily dominant Northern Alliance"

Does anyone have their Reuters decoder ring with them??

[geros]

"If you're going to Tora Bora, be sure to wear a turban in your hair. O, if you're going to Tora Bora, you're gonna meet some roughneck people there"

[ppaul]

pics?

[ppaul]

"Wintertiiiiime, won't be a love-in there."

[evad]

BEEEEEEEEutiful !!!!!

[GnL]

"Osama and Mullah Omar are on the run."

Time to start canvassing Berkeley and Madison.

[Revolting cat!]

Dudes, Tora Bora is not captured until King Heraldo says it has been captured, it's as simple as that. His Majesty King Heraldo will capture Tora Bora himself while bullets are flying. It will all be televised in prime time. Patience! King Heraldo's stage director is working on the script as we speak!

[angkor]

I'm inclined to agree with you that he's already dead. Your thesis make some excellent points, but the overriding issue is this: it would make no strategic sense whatsoever for us to declare his expiration. To do so would add fuel to the whacko Muslim extremists, which is not what we need.

On the other hand it make superb strategic sense to allow bin Laden (and Omar) to "live" so that we might pursue the rest of al Queda amd the Arab Taliban without restraint. "bin Laden" can die any time we choose via an explosion (grenade, B40, bomb) which leaves no identifiable body parts.I never thought for a moment that we Americans would ever obtain "proof" of bin Laden's death. If we do then the entire thesis falls apart, obviously.

Finally, it's not clear to me that getting intelligence assets into Afghanistan took a full 26 days. We've had assets there for a very long time. It is highly likely that in a country the size of Afghanistan we have known of his general whereabouts on an ongoing basis for several years.

[HighWheeler]

I may not have made this point explicitly, but I think 26 days also allowed the terrorists to ride their camels to meeting places and conglomerate around each other in tight groups to celebrate and plan their next moves. A simple smart bomb or two, with Apache backup, then takes out scores of them at a time.

The Active Zone around Osama took the heaviest bombardment so all possible witnesses were vaporized or buried.

[ex-Texan]

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