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Galactic Empire vs 40K -> Off Topic -> Bin Ladens Death Not Confirmed
Post Info TOPIC: Bin Ladens Death Not Confirmed
Cpl_Kendall


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Bin Ladens Death Not Confirmed
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CBC.CA


PARIS (AP) - President Jacques Chirac said Saturday that information contained in a leaked intelligence document raising the possibility that Osama bin Laden may have died of typhoid in Pakistan last month is "in no way whatsoever confirmed."

Chirac said he was "a bit surprised" at the leak and has asked Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie to probe how a document from a French foreign intelligence service was published in the French press.

The regional newspaper l'Est Republicain on Saturday printed what it described as a copy of a confidential document from the DGSE intelligence service citing an uncorroborated report from Saudi secret services that the leader of the al-Qaida terror network had died.

Officials from Afghanistan to Washington expressed doubts about the report.

Two American intelligence officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue said Saturday that U.S. agencies have no evidence to suggest that bin Laden is dead or dying.

The DGSE transmitted the document, dated Sept. 21, to Chirac and other top French officials, the newspaper said.

"This information is in no way whatsoever confirmed," Chirac said Saturday when asked about the document. "I have no comment."

A senior official in Afghanistan's Foreign Ministry said he was "very skeptical of the truthfulness" of the document, noting past false reports of the death of bin Laden. He declined to be identified because he was not authorized to discuss the issue publicly.

In Washington, Blair Jones, a presidential spokesman, said Saturday that the White House could not confirm the accuracy of the report that bin Laden may have died.

CIA duty officer Paul Gimigliano also said he could not confirm the DGSE report.

The Washington-based IntelCenter, which monitors terrorism communications, said it was not aware of any similar reports on the Internet.

"We've seen nothing from any al-Qaida messaging or other indicators that would point to the death of Osama bin Laden," IntelCenter director Ben Venzke told The Associated Press.

Al-Qaida would likely release information of his death fairly quickly if it were true, said Venzke, whose organization also provides counterterrorism intelligence services for the American government.

"They would want to release that to sort of control the way that it unfolds. If they wait too long, they could lose the initiative on it," he said.

The last time the IntelCenter says it could be sure bin Laden was alive was June 29, when al-Qaida released an audiotape in which the terror leader eulogized the death of "al-Qaida in Iraq" leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was killed in a U.S. air strike in Iraq earlier that month.

Chirac spoke at a news conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Compiegne, France, where the leaders were holding a summit.

Putin suggested that leaks can be ways to manipulate. "When there are leaks . . . one can say that (they) were done especially."

Earlier the French defence ministry said it was opening an investigation into the leak.

"The information published this morning by the l'Est Republicain newspaper concerning the possible death of Osama bin Laden cannot be confirmed," a Defence Ministry statement said.

The DGSE, or Direction Generale des Services Exterieurs, indicated that its information came from a single source.

"According to a usually reliable source, Saudi security services are now convinced that Osama bin Laden is dead," said the intelligence report.

There have been periodic reports of bin Laden's illness or death in recent years but none has been proven accurate.

According to this report, Saudi security services were pursuing further details, notably the place of his burial.

"The chief of al-Qaida was a victim of a severe typhoid crisis while in Pakistan on August 23, 2006," the document says. His geographic isolation meant that medical assistance was impossible, the French report said, adding that his lower limbs were allegedly paralyzed.

The report further said Saudi security services had their first information on bin Laden's alleged death on Sept. 4.

In Pakistan, a senior official of that country's top spy agency, the ISI or Directorate of Inter-Service Intelligence, said he had no information to confirm bin Laden's whereabouts or that he might be dead. The official said he believed the report could be fabricated. The official was not authorized to speak publicly on the topic and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Pakistan's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Tasnim Aslam, called the information "speculative," saying that Pakistan like other countries was "clueless" about bin Laden.

Gen. Henri Bentegeat, the French army chief of staff, said in a radio debate last Sunday that bin Laden's fate remained a mystery.

"Today, bin Laden is certainly not in Afghanistan," Bentegeat said. "No one is completely certain that he is even alive."

I know there is no way this will ever get confirmed but lets hope it's true.

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BGTom


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Every time I hear Osama is dead, he always resurrects. But, it makes little difference now if we nab him. His organization is decentralized enough to surrvive without him. Add in the fact more Americans are converting to Islam than ever before and Osama will soon have his goal of an Islamic US. Mainly because the converts say Christianity is too liberal.

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What is it with soldiers wives that makes them mindless jingoistic retards? Guess what I was a soldier and I don't blindly follow government foreign policy. Sit down, shut up and engage your brain. (Cpl. Kendall)
Cpl_Kendall


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BGTom wrote:

Every time I hear Osama is dead, he always resurrects. But, it makes little difference now if we nab him. His organization is decentralized enough to surrvive without him. Add in the fact more Americans are converting to Islam than ever before and Osama will soon have his goal of an Islamic US. Mainly because the converts say Christianity is too liberal.


Indeed, he was always more of a spiritual leader anyways. Others did the real planning while he offered idealogical guidance and funding.

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They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old; Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning We will remember them.
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