Osama bin Laden is dead: French paper

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AussieMark
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Osama bin Laden is dead: French paper

#1 Postby AussieMark » Sat Sep 23, 2006 4:55 am

PARIS - Saudi intelligence services have determined that terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden died of typhoid in August, the French regional daily L’Est Republicain reported on its website on Saturday.

The newspaper said it based its information on a document classified ‘defence secret’ originating in the French DGSE intelligence services. According to the story, the DGSE informed President Jacques Chirac of the Saudi report on Thursday.

The DGSE document, printed with the report, reads in part, ‘According to a usually reliable source, the Saudi intelligence services are said to have acquired the information that Osama bin Laden is dead. The information gleaned by the Saudis indicates that the head of Al Qaeda was a victim of a very strong attack of thyphoid... in Pakistan on August 23, 2006.’

The document goes on to say that bin Laden’s geographical isolation rendered all medical assistance impossible.

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#2 Postby Meso » Sat Sep 23, 2006 5:51 am

Oh my... Wonder if this will be verified... And I wonder the effects if it is true,besides for a big US party.
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#3 Postby sunny » Sat Sep 23, 2006 6:40 am

Unfortunately, I don't think this is true. Reports I have heard so far this morning are discounting this. But yeah, if it were I'd have one hell of a party!
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#4 Postby GalvestonDuck » Sat Sep 23, 2006 7:27 am

Having been born in Missouri, the Show-Me-State, I have but one thing to say about this -- show me the proof.
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#5 Postby x-y-no » Sat Sep 23, 2006 7:48 am

If this were true, I think there inevitably would have been substantial traffic on al Qaeda's communications channels expressing mourning, and I think we would have heard about that by now.

One can hope it's for real, but I'm very highly skeptical.
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#6 Postby brunota2003 » Sat Sep 23, 2006 9:08 am

in Pakistan eh? sounds like someone over there is trying to get us to invade...I agree with the others (haha...the others...:lol:) that I want solid proof that he is dead before partying...if the proof does come along...then block party at my house!!!
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#7 Postby Lindaloo » Sat Sep 23, 2006 9:50 am

Well where did this come from? Is the source credible? Someone knows something, I highly doubt that this was made up. We shall see and I SURE HOPE this turns out to be true.

Meso, you have NO idea what kind of partying we Americans will be doing!
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#8 Postby Brent » Sat Sep 23, 2006 9:51 am

This is interesting. Time Magazine(which is a bit more believable) is also reporting it.

Saudi sources tell TIME that credible reports suggest the fugitive Qaeda leader has contracted a serious 'water-borne illness,' and may have already died

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/ ... ml?cnn=yes

I've kinda thought he might be dead or seriously ill after he didn't appear in a new video around 9/11(a five year old tape of the hijackers was instead released).
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#9 Postby stormtruth » Sat Sep 23, 2006 10:33 am

It would be much better for us to catch him then for him to die of natural causes because then he dies having never been caught for his crimes. Not fair! :(

Chirac says there is no truth to the report
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14963302/
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#10 Postby TexasStooge » Sat Sep 23, 2006 11:04 am

Chirac says there is no truth to the report
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14963302/


Didn't think there will be any truth to that story.
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#11 Postby AussieMark » Sat Sep 23, 2006 11:24 am

that story sounds like Chirac trying to save face since the initial story was based on a leaked document
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#12 Postby Brent » Sat Sep 23, 2006 11:35 am

AussieMark wrote:that story sounds like Chirac trying to save face since the initial story was based on a leaked document


Yeah. Notice he didn't say the document didn't exist. That's telling to me...

I think this might be for real this time, HOWEVER, I have serious doubts we'll ever know with 100% certainty, unfortunately.
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#13 Postby JonathanBelles » Sat Sep 23, 2006 11:37 am

Rumors swirl over bin Laden's fate
POSTED: 12:27 p.m. EDT, September 23, 2006

PARIS, France (CNN) -- Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has a water-borne illness, a Saudi intelligence source told CNN on Saturday, a report that conflicts with an article in a French newspaper saying that the man who has been hunted by the United States for the past five years is dead.

The Saudi intelligence source told CNN's Nic Robertson that there have been credible reports for the past several weeks that bin Laden is ill, but there has been no word of his death.

The questions came in response to the publication of a report in the French regional newspaper L'Est Republicain on Saturday.

The article cited a confidential French foreign intelligence document dated September 21 in which a source said the Saudis had received confirmation that bin Laden died of typhoid in Pakistan on August 23.

Speaking in Compiegne, France, following meetings on trade with Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Jacques Chirac said he would investigate the leak of the confidential documents, and said that the information in them has been in no way confirmed.

"I was rather surprised to see that a confidential note from the DGSE (General Directorate for External Security) was published and I have asked the minister of defense to start an investigation immediately and to reach whatever conclusions are necessary," Chirac said. "Secondly, speaking of the source of the information itself, this information is in no way confirmed."

U.S. intelligence officials said Saturday they could not confirm the report suggesting that bin Laden might be dead, and White House spokesman Blair Jones added: "We have no confirmation of that report."

A senior administration official told CNN's John King that nobody he spoke to had any independent information on the report, and that CNN would be well advised to treat it with skepticism at this point.

"The official stressed that they certainly have not developed any intelligence worthy of putting it on the president's desk," King said.

Laid Sammari, the journalist who wrote the article, told CNN in a telephone interview he was confident of the authenticity of the confidential document cited in his report.

He said the only thing the Saudis were trying to confirm was the burial place of the al Qaeda leader, before making an official announcement.

Pakistani officials also said Saturday they have no information that confirms bin Laden's death. Friday, U.S. President George Bush and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said in a joint news conference that the hunt is still on for the leaders of al Qaeda.

The terror group was behind the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States that killed nearly 3,000 people in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington.

CNN terrorism analyst Peter Bergen said he is skeptical of the suggestion that bin Laden might be dead, saying it was not something the Islamist Web sites would keep quiet about.

He also noted that rumors of the al Qaeda leader's demise circulate every few months.

The report in L'Est Republicain said the Saudi secret service first got the reports of bin Laden's death on September 4.

CNN is trying to confirm the reports with Saudi officials in Washington, D.C., and in Saudi Arabia.

An official with the French defense ministry confirmed that an investigation into the leaked documents was already under way.

The last message from bin Laden was an audiotaped post on an Islamic Web site on June 30. The CIA confirmed the voice giving the message was that of the al Qaeda leader.

In the message, bin Laden names Abu Hamza al-Mujaher as Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's successor as leader of al Qaeda in Iraq.

The last videotaped statement from bin Laden was aired on October 29, 2004 on Al Jazeera.

CNN Producers Katie Turner in London and Pam Benson in Washington D.C. contributed to this report

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/09 ... index.html
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#14 Postby Cookiely » Sat Sep 23, 2006 3:43 pm

This might be a ruse to get him to produce a current video to prove if he is alive. Sounds fishy to me that he wouldn't have been vaccinated against typhoid. Maybe the Marfan Syndrome finally did him in.
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#15 Postby george_r_1961 » Sat Sep 23, 2006 5:32 pm

I will believe he is dead when his remains are found and DNA testing is done to confirm his identity. If he is dead thats too bad he died of natural causes instead of in front of a firing squad or better yet at the end of a rope.
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#16 Postby Janice » Sat Sep 23, 2006 5:57 pm

He could be dead and had his burial plans ahead of time. It would be unusual for him to be buried against Muslim burials, but he may not want the world to know he is dead, so he requested that his personnel bury him at the time of his death. This way, with no proof or body, his faithful followers will continue his terror on us. He, like Hitler, probably wanted or want to make sure no one gets their hands on his body for any kind of testing. I bet if he is dead, we will never know it.
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#17 Postby Stephanie » Sat Sep 23, 2006 8:26 pm

GalvestonDuck wrote:Having been born in Missouri, the Show-Me-State, I have but one thing to say about this -- show me the proof.


Exactly - kind of like the head on a silver platter thing would work for me... :wink:
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#18 Postby JonathanBelles » Sat Sep 23, 2006 9:35 pm

Officials, friends can't confirm Bin Laden death report
POSTED: 9:30 p.m. EDT, September 23, 2006

PARIS, France (CNN) -- A report that Osama bin Laden is dead has set off a flurry of denials from U.S., French and Pakistani officials, who say the newspaper report citing French intelligence cannot be independently confirmed.

A Saudi intelligence official, however, told CNN on Saturday that the al Qaeda leader is suffering from a waterborne illness. There have been credible reports that the most wanted man in the world is ill, but there is no intelligence indicating he is dead, the source said.

L'Est Republicain, citing a September 21 French foreign intelligence document, reported that Saudi officials had received confirmation that bin Laden died August 23 of typhoid fever in Pakistan. (Watch CNN's Nic Robertson reveal the latest intelligence on bin Laden's health -- 1:54)

"We believe this reporting to be unsubstantiated," a U.S. intelligence official said.

Other U.S. intelligence officials concurred, and White House spokesman Blair Jones said, "We have no confirmation of that report." (Watch a former CIA director explain how this report could be confirmed --3:34)

A senior White House official with access to intelligence reports added that he has made several calls to senior government officials and could not verify the report.

Across the Atlantic, French President Jacques Chirac said the report was "in no way confirmed" and that he was initiating an investigation into who leaked the confidential document to L'Est Republicain.

"I was rather surprised to see that a confidential note from the [General Directorate for External Security] was published, and I have asked the minister of defense to start an investigation immediately and to reach whatever conclusions are necessary," Chirac said after trade talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Compiegne, France.
Friend, family weigh in

Bin Laden's brother-in-law, Jamal Khalifa, who was the al Qaeda leader's best friend when they were university students in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, told CNN that he has heard no report of bin Laden's death. The Saudi-based businessman has been married to bin Laden's sister, Shaikha, since 1986.

Khaled Batarfi, a managing editor at the Saudi newspaper Al Madina and who was close friends with bin Laden when they were teenagers, said he remains in touch with bin Laden's immediate family in Jeddah. Family members said Saturday they had heard nothing to confirm the report, Batarfi told CNN.

Despite the fervent denials, journalist Laid Sammari, who wrote the article, said in a telephone interview that he was confident the classified document was authentic. His article states that Saudi secret service agents on September 4 received reports of bin Laden's death.

Saudi officials plan to make an official announcement after they confirm the burial site for the al Qaeda leader, Sammari said.

In Pakistan, officials said Saturday that they had no confirmation of bin Laden's death. On Friday, President Gen. Pervez Musharraf confirmed President Bush's earlier statement that the hunt for bin Laden is still on.

Al Qaeda was behind the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States that killed almost 3,000 people in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington. The U.S. State Department is offering a $25 million reward for information leading directly to bin Laden's arrest or conviction, according to the FBI.

The Airline Pilots Association and the Air Transport Association are offering an additional $2 million reward.

Bin Laden's most recent public message came June 30, when an audio recording was posted on an Islamic Web site. He stated that Abu Hamza al-Muhajer had replaced Abu Musab al-Zarqawi as leader of al Qaeda in Iraq. Al-Zarqawi was killed in a U.S. airstrike earlier in June.

The CIA confirmed the voice on the tape was bin Laden's.

The al Qaeda leader's most recent videotaped statement was aired October 29, 2004, on Al-Jazeera.

CNN's Katie Turner, Pam Benson, Peter Bergen, Elise Labott and Nic Robertson contributed to this report.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/09 ... index.html
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#19 Postby JonathanBelles » Sun Sep 24, 2006 1:56 pm

Bill Clinton: I got closer to killing bin Laden
POSTED: 2:25 p.m. EDT, September 24, 2006

NEW YORK (CNN) -- In a contentious taped interview that aired on "Fox News Sunday," former president Bill Clinton vigorously defended his efforts as president to capture and kill al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

"I got closer to killing him than anybody has gotten since. And if I were still president, we'd have more than 20,000 troops there trying to kill him," Clinton said, referring to Afghanistan.

"We do have a government that thinks Afghanistan is one-seventh as important as Iraq," he added, referring to the approximately 140,000 U.S. troops in Iraq.

In the interview, which was taped on Friday, Clinton also lashed out at Fox's Chris Wallace, accusing him of promising to discuss Clinton's initiative on climate change, then straying from the issue by asking why the former president didn't do more to "put bin Laden and al Qaeda out of business."

"So you did Fox's bidding on this show. You did your nice little conservative hit job on me," he said to Wallace, occasionally tapping on Wallace's notes for emphasis. "I want to know how many people in the Bush administration you asked this question of?

"And you've got that little smirk on your face and you think you're so clever. But I had responsibility for trying to protect this country. I tried and I failed to get bin Laden. I regret it," Clinton said.

Wallace said that the question was drawn from viewer e-mails.

Clinton asserted he had done more to try to kill bin Laden than "all the right-wingers who are attacking me now." In fact, Clinton said, conservatives routinely criticized him for "obsessing" over bin Laden while he was in office.

"They ridiculed me for trying. They had eight months to try. They did not try. I tried. So I tried and failed," he said.

The September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks occurred about eight months after Bush took office.

The former president said he authorized the CIA to kill bin Laden and overthrow the Taliban in Afghanistan after the bombing of the USS Cole in 2000, but the action was never carried out. Clinton said that was because the United States could not establish a military base in Uzbekistan and because U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies refused to certify that bin Laden was behind the bombing.

"The entire military was against sending special forces into Afghanistan and refueling by helicopter. And no one thought we could do it otherwise, because we could not get the CIA and the FBI to certify that al Qaeda was responsible while I was president."

Clinton also defended withdrawing U.S. forces from Somalia in 1993, after 18 servicemen were killed in Mogadishu when their Black Hawk helicopter was shot down.

Bin Laden told CNN in a 1997 interview that his followers were involved in that attack, which occurred eight months after the first attack on the World Trade Center.

"There is not a living soul in the world who thought Osama bin Laden had anything to do with Black Hawk down or was paying any attention to it," Clinton said.

In recent weeks, Clinton has responded to criticism of his administration's anti-terrorism efforts, sparked in part by the airing of an ABC docudrama miniseries called "The Path to 9/11."

The show, broadcast during the weekend before the fifth anniversary of the attacks, dramatized events leading up to the attacks in New York and Washington on September 11.

Former members of the Clinton administration protested in particular a scene that shows then-National Security Adviser Samuel Berger ducking a chance to have bin Laden killed or captured in a 1998 raid by CIA agents and Afghan guerrillas.

The scene contradicts the findings of the 9/11 Commission, upon which ABC had said the film was based.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/09/24/ ... index.html
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