Perhaps the most incredible element in this story is
that because the Bush cabal has no credibility at
all on anything related to the so-called "war on
terror," the Iranian radio's Pashtun language service
is probably a more reliable source than a
"spokesperson" from the White House or the Pentagon.
Of course, this story is quite plausible. As you know
from the LNS, Saddam Hussein's capture by US soldiers
was staged, as was Jessica Lynch's rescue....The
bounce from the "capture" of Saddam was not impressive
and the uptick in approval rating it gave the
_resident has been lost in the weeks since then. Of
course, Osama's "capture" will have more of an impact,
because a significant number of Americans have already
figured out that Saddam really had nothing at all to
do with 9/11 and was not an imminent threat to this
country or even to its interests in the region...Yes,
expect the "capture" of Bin Laden, but do not expect a
trial under international law. Too many embarrassing
questions could be raised...If it comes out that they
have held him for awhile, they will simply say they
were trying to get information on terror cells and
planned attacks out of him before it became common
knowledge. The problem with that otherwise sensible
response, of course, is as I said the Bush cabal has
NO CREDIBILITY...Yes, expect the "capture" of Osama --
especially now that Wesley Clark (D-NATO) publicly
spoke of how it should have happened already and how
it should be done...BUT do not be surprised if it is
only a corpse (the LNS still does not believe they
wanted Saddam *alive*), or even if he is NEVER
found...Remember, these men would have planted WMDs in
Iraq, if they felt they could get away with it or even
find anyone in the US military or intelligence
communities willing to fo their dirty work for
them...No, their position is weaking. It is getting
more and more difficult to stage such events, and the
desired effects (i.e. better poll numbers) are also
getting increasingly difficult to generate...But
somehow they have to change the subject, somehow they
have to take the edge off the story of their
stonewalling of the 9/11 commission and the 9/11
families demanding real answers to real questions. But
there will still be 500+ US soldiers (and counting)
dead in the _resident's foolish military adventure in
Iraq, there will still be a $500+ billion federal
deficit, there are still millions of jobs
gone, our geopolitical alliances will still be in
shambles, the struggle against the very real national and global security issues of Global Warming and AIDS in Africa will still be languishing leaderless, many very distrubing questions about the Plame affair, the Gun affair, the Kelly affair, the ramp up to the war in Iraq and of course 9/11 itself will still be left to answer, the Middle East peace process will still have been hopelessly trashed, and there will still be a $7 trillion national debt...What will the "US mainstream news media" do? What will the US
electorate do?
Associated Press: 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 (news - web sites) was withholding
any announcement until closer to November elections.
"Osama 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...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.
Repudiate the 9/11 Cover-Up and the Iraq War Lies,
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http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&e=2&u=/ap/20040228/ap_on_re_mi_ea/bin_laden
U.S., Pakistan Deny Bin Laden Was Captured
1 hour, 53 minutes ago
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Writer
TEHRAN, Iran - Pentagon (news - web sites) and
Pakistani officials on Saturday denied an Iranian
state radio report that Osama bin Laden (news - web
sites) was captured in Pakistan's border region with
Afghanistan (news - web sites) "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-Qaida'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 (news - web
sites) was withholding any announcement until closer
to November elections.
"Osama 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-Qaida, but I
know nothing of that report," he said.
Pakistani Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed
called the report "baseless." "We have neither
arrested Osama nor have we 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 (news -
web sites). 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.