Bin Laden Captured?

[stormchazer]

Pentagon Denies Report of Bin Laden Capture

Saturday, February 28, 2004



TEHRAN, Iran — Pentagon and Pakistani officials on Saturday denied an Iranian state radio report that Usama bin Laden (search) was captured in Pakistan's border region with Afghanistan "a long time ago."

The claim came as Pakistan's army hunted terror suspects in a remote tribal region along the border, believed to be a possible hiding place for the Al Qaeda's leader.

The director of Iran radio's Pashtun language service, Asheq Hossein, said the report was based on two sources — one of whom later told The Associated Press he was misquoted.

The report said bin Laden had been in custody for a period of time, but that President Bush was withholding any announcement until closer to November elections.

"Usama bin Laden has been arrested a long time ago, but Bush is intending to use it for propaganda maneuvering in the presidential election," the radio report said.

Pakistani officials have denied knowing bin Laden's exact whereabouts, although there have been reports that military forces believe they know his general location and had him encircled.

The state radio report, quoting an unidentified source, said U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's visit to the region this week was in connection with bin Laden's arrest.

Larry Di Rita, the chief Pentagon spokesman who traveled with Rumsfeld this week to Afghanistan, denied the report. "I don't have any reason to think it's true," he said Saturday.

Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty, a spokesman for the U.S. military in Afghanistan, also said he had no information to suggest bin Laden had been caught.

"Things are going well, and we believe we will eventually catch all the leaders of Al Qaeda, but I know nothing of that report," he said.

Pakistani Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed called the report "baseless." "We have neither arrested Usama nor we have any information about him," he told AP.

Pakistani Army spokesman Gen. Shaukat Sultan also said the report was not true. "That information is wrong," he said.

Speaking to AP in Tehran, the radio director identified one of the sources for the report as Shamim Shahed, whom was identified as editor of the English-language Pakistani newspaper The Nation. Hossein said Shahed told him Friday night that bin Laden was arrested "a long time ago."

But Shahed, who is The Nation's Peshawar bureau chief and not its editor, denied telling Iranian radio that bin Laden had been captured.

"I never said this," Shahed said in a telephone interview with AP's Islamabad bureau. "But I have for the last year been saying that he is not far away. He is within their (the Americans') reach, and they can declare him arrested any time."

"I have been misquoted. On this matter, we never talked, the last two months. I'm angry, because they've misquoted me," Shahed said in a separate interview with AP Radio.

Hossein said he had a second source for the report but declined to identify him other than as "a man with close links to intelligence services and Afghan tribal leaders."

The report was carried by Iran radio's external Pashtun service, which is designed for listeners in Afghanistan and Pakistan where the language is widely spoken.

Iran state radio's main news channel — the Farsi-language service for Iranian listeners — did not carry the bin Laden report, nor did Iran state television.

The Iranian news agency IRNA was first to report the capture of ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. IRNA also carried the state radio report about bin Laden's capture and said it had contacted a radio announcer at the Pashtun service who confirmed the news.

[Josephine96]

No Osama just yet huh lol Hope we get him

[BEER980]

Like I said last week when we discussed the same subject, I would not be shocked to find out we have him. Let alone captured for some time and hidden away.

[Stephanie]

It seems that the rumors are starting to be reported on the news now. I remember when it was first brought up on this board here.

Why would they want to conceal his capture?

[stormchazer]

It seems that the rumors are starting to be reported on the news now. I remember when it was first brought up on this board here.

Why would they want to conceal his capture?

The Liberals are saying that President Bush is holding him to gain an advantage come November by showing him just before the Election. I think it would be more likely that if we had him. we are keeping it a secret so as not to alert those which we might capture using information that Bin Laden may provide.

[Lindaloo]

Regardless of what the agenda is I am glad we caught him. If of course, this turns out to be true.

[Stephanie]

That sounds reasonable Jara.

[janswizard]

I'm with Beer on this one. I also think he's already in custody and that all these military maneuvers are part of a plan to catch the rest of his pals in his hierarchy.

[wx247]

Quick question... since when do we believe Iran? They are part of the "Axis of Evil".

I sincerely hope he already is in custoday.

[BEER980]

Stephanie keeping it secret would serve several things. It could be used to get Bush re-elected if we parade him out in October. OBL might have a plan in place to set off nukes or dirty bombs here if he is captured. Now that might not go over very good for re-election.

wx247 I would give some credit to Iran news sources. They would love to make Bush look bad and if they could provide proof that we had him, bingo. The first report I had about 4 months ago had our SF going into Iran and extracting OBL.

[mf_dolphin]

The opposition is positioning this story so they can take advantage of it either way. If we don't get Bin Laden they'll say the war on terror is a failure. If we have him then it's been delayed for political advantage. When we do get him I hope we squeeze him for evey drop of information he may have no matter how long it takes

[sunnyday]

On the practical side, where in the world could he be hidden so that nobody is aware? In addition, wouldn't somebody, anybody, involved in the so-called coverup, talk just to get attention? I can't believe the man is in custody.