Posted on 08/04/2002 3:51:31 PM PDT by blam
Sunday, 4 August, 2002, 16:13 GMT 17:13 UK
Taleban chief 'spotted on the run'
Mullah Omar's precise whereabouts are still unknown
Taleban leader Mullah Omar is regularly spotted on the run, eight months after his fundamentalist Islamic regime was toppled by US-backed forces, a senior Afghan official has said. President Hamid Karzai's brother Ahmad Wali told Reuters news agency the rarely-photographed one-eyed cleric has been seen across a wide swathe of southern and central Afghanistan.
"He is travelling by motorcycle or by foot," said Ahmad Wali - the president's special representative for the south.
Mullah Omar fled Kandahar before it fell in December
"The guy is on the run, and spends 24 hours a day planning how to run and where to run," he said.
Mr Karzai added however, that the cleric was not able to organise any opposition to the government.
The US and the interim Afghan government are still looking for Mullah Omar in connection with the attacks carried out on 11 September last year.
Bin Laden connection
Mullah Omar has been seen as far apart as Zabul province in the south-east, central Uruzgan province and his birthplace at Deh Rawud, and Helmand province in the south-west, Mr Karzai said.
A US airstrike in the area last month seemed to have been partly prompted by the idea that Mullah Omar could be sheltering there, Reuters said.
The American raid killed at least 46 people and injured more than 100 others - many of them wedding guests.
Ahmad Wali Karzai added that he had "no idea" whether al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden - blamed by the US for the 11 September attacks - was still alive or inside Afghanistan.
Bin Laden was granted refuge in Afghanistan by its Taleban leaders after he was expelled from Sudan in 1996.
Despite pressure from the UN and US, the Taleban repeatedly refused to hand him over but did say they had asked him to leave the country voluntarily.
LOL! The one-eyed lunatict on a motorbike, robes blowin' in the wind. Now there's a visual!
The U.S. military failed to kill Taliban leader Mullah Omar when he was in its sights during the first night of the war, the NEW YORKER is planning to report on Monday.
According to publishing sources, Seymour Hersh has filed a story quoting top intelligence-community members claiming to be 'crestfallen' about the incident.
MORE Reaction in Washington to the failure to strike immediately was fierce, Hersh reports.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was "kicking a lot of glass and breaking doors," one military official said.
An unmanned Predator reconnaissance aircraft operating in the Kabul area identified a convoy carrying Mullah Omar as he fled the capital.
The Predator is armed with two anti-tank missiles, but under the rules of engagement in effect Sunday night the C.I.A. could not order such a strike. Although the precise sequence of events could not be fully learned, Hersh reports, General Tommy R. Franks, the commander in charge at the United States Central Command in Florida reported that 'Judge Advocate General, a legal officer', doesn't like this, so we're not going to fire.'
It was decided to target a few cars in front of the building to perhaps scare Mullah Omar out of the building to take a look. Omar did leave the building, but not immediately. Soon after he left, Hersh reports, the building was targeted and destroyed by F-18s, too late to kill Omar.
Everyone was furious at the time. It was reported here on FR extensively.
I hope I didn't imply it was new. I thought it was relevant to this discussion and we should be reminded we had a chance and blew it.
Not everyone reads every thread on FR. You read it I read it but I am sure some missed it.
I thought someone would be reprimanded for that omission but I never heard about anyone being reasingned or demoted.- tom
Looks like the New Yorker missed the news that was widely reported about this right after it happened. The Predator had him in it's sights and was armed with a Hellfire missle, but by the time a decision to fire was passed down the chain of command he was gone. Shame on you New Yorker because this is not new news.
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