Iranian Radio Reports Bin Laden Captured reported on Yahoo

[still_one]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040228/ap_on_re_mi_ea/bin_laden&cid=540&ncid=716

[Qanisqineq]

1. I feel like a really shitty person

for being kind of relieved that the Pakistani Army said it was false.

I'm letting my hate for * cloud my thinking.

[Bombtrack]

21. You should

Bin Laden needs to be brought to justice

[muchacho]

36. Justice for all

>>Bin Laden needs to be brought to justice

and so should his current and past supporters and benefactors...namely us.

[underpants]

42. I completely agree

I gives a rat's a** what the political ramifications are.

And don't be surprised to see W parading around Ground Zero with his head on a stick. Fine.

[saskatoon]

65. gives a rat's a** what the political ramifications are.

Did you say FINE, surely my friend you meant "Stupendously super fine( re the head on stick) Ciao!

[ThoughtCriminal]

48. Bringing OBL to face justice

is good. Using it for political gain is wrong.

So yes, it would be good news to find out he was captured, but finding out they were keeping him on ice until the ideal political moment would be an outrage.

[bluestateguy]

2. This quote is particularly important

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

I'm going to bed now.

[Qanisqineq]

3. I read it too quickly the first time

and missed that the first time. It's good to see others see through Bush's shit.

[still_one]

4. sorry about posting the story

I didn't mean to upset anyone with a questionable story

[Qanisqineq]

6. I hope you didn't think I was referring to you!

I edited my post... I meant Bush's shit. And I was referring to quotes from Pakistani journalists in the article.

[still_one]

7. No, I was concerned about spreading rumors

I suspect that this may be the Bush and company strategy, especially when their poll numbers are going down, to plant rumors or questions with sources that cannot be traced to them.

Bush has already tried to scare people by indicating that this election is critical to our security, so there is a definite element of fear factor going on.

I just hope people are not fooled by this ploy, and hold him accountable for the destruction of our freedoms...

"Those that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."

[TruthIsAll]

5. If OBL was captured a long time ago, what about the recent tapes?

More disinfo manufactured by BushCo.

[PCIntern]

8. Long-time reader - first-time poster

Up early this AM and following this closely on Yahoo and DEBKA - the story on Yahoo is changing - alleging that Rumsfeld's visit was in connection with this siuation. As that moron Drudge would say...Developing rapidly...

PS You guys here are terrific - I can't stand sitting on the sidelines anymore.

[still_one]

12. BBC has reported this story

Obviously, something is happening because the BBC has this headline:

"Eleven die in Pakistan shooting"
Pakistani soldiers have opened fire on a minibus, killing 11 people, after it failed to stop at a road block near the Afghan border.
The shooting came shortly after rockets were fire on a military camp in the tribal region of South Waziristan.

But there are conflicting reports about whether those killed were civilians or militants.

The Pakistani army this week launched a fresh offensive against al-Qaeda and Taleban suspects in the area.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3495502.stm

[SmileyBoy]

15. Nothing about Bin Laden.

The guy (Shahed?) from the Peshawar newspaper said that he had a backup source.

[DoYouEverWonder]

24. What's happened

is that the US and Pakistan launched a huge military operation last week in the border region of SE Afghanistan.

The US has launched similar operations, numerous times over the last two years. Each time it has been to get Osama and each time they've come up empty handed. The sad part is that everytime they do this they manage to kill mostly civilians and rarely find or kill any al Qaeda members. With the shooting of the bus that's being reported, my guess is we are maintaining our perfect score for killing only civilians in these 'operations'.

[SmileyBoy]

13. Welcome to DU!!!

:hi:

[R Hickey]

14. Welcome aboard

I couldn't sleep either.

[PCIntern]

16. Thanks...great to be aboard.

One can only wonder what will/could happen if it were to become known, or even surmised, that they have been holding this guy for PR purposes. I guess Matthews will be spitting on his guests even more than he does now.

[Qanisqineq]

17. HA!

(Imagine that sounding like his laugh) That cracked me up. Thanks, I needed a laugh!

[hang a left]

25. Welcome to DU PC.

:->

[PCIntern]

26. Thanks again...

I am a progressive, liberal, medical sub-specialist, who is offended by just about everything I've read, heard, or otherwise absorbed from the mainstream press for the last 25 years. You know you're in enormous trouble when the only person you hear on the radio with whom you somewhat agree is Kevin Phillips.

I resent letters from other medical professionals and associations which begin, "Dear Doctor, We hope that you will join other conservatives...blah blah blah."

I have never, ever 'gotten past' the recount and am still angry as anything over the abrogation of the civil rights of those who were not permitted to vote, or whose vote did not count.

I look forward to being enriched by the dialogue and hope to be able to offer something in return.

[Zhade]

67. Your intelligent posts prove you've got something to offer!

Welcome aboard!

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

33. Welcome to DU!

[Mari333]

39. Welcome to DU and being off the sidelines

If I didnt have here to come listen to reason and some truth, I dont think I could get thru the day, with all the lies we live in in this country.
=)

[loftycity]

57. Welcome to DU

:hi:

[Media_Lies_Daily]

11. The tapes were a joint production effort by the NeoCons and OBL...

...actually pretty plausible when you think about it.

[Athame]

32. I rated the story a 5 on Yahoo for just that sentence

We have to use whatever means we can to get people thinking about the lies of this administration. The more who read this story, the more will question when OBL is trotted out.

But, personally, I don't think he would ever be caught alive and he may be dead already.

Ma

[rooboy]

9. For an organization fixed on martyrdom...

we sure seem to get a lot of these Al Qaeda guys alive, don't we?

[SmileyBoy]

10. Don't know if this is true or not.

I'll keep my eyes on this.

[PCIntern]

18. DEBKA now reporting:

Iranian media confusion over reported capture of Osama bin Laden. Saturday, Iran�s state radio in Pushtun announced his capture by US forces in Pakistan. Iran's Al-Alaam Arabic station followed with denial of first report from its Kabul correspondent

[PCIntern]

20. Follow-up

Sorry for the multiple posts, but things are moving in the brain quickly.

It's strange - Bushboy's responses to Russert's questions about what he would do if he lost the election and whether they would capture UBL was eerily reminiscent of his statements in the hotel room on "election" night when he stated unequivocally that he had won FL - that his brother was on the case. The fix is in and he's not enough of a poker player to bluff successfully.

He had the same inflection to his voice - like the deck was stacked and the cards simply had to be dealt - the outcome was predetermined.

If this comes true, it will be most interesting to see the media hoors' spin on it.

[Skidmore]

19. This story was just referred to by Pedro on Washington Journal

on C-SPAN just now.

[Nomad559]

22. They changed the page

At the top of the page It said ...

Iranian Radio Reports Bin Laden Captured

It now says ... U.S. Denies Report of Bin Laden's Capture

[PCIntern]

23. This is the problem...

The copy reads:


"The report said that U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's visit to the region this week was in connection with the arrest. In Washington, a U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, denied early Saturday that bin Laden was captured."

Gee, if it weren't true, you'd think someone would say so on the record. Or maybe they wouldn't even if he weren't captured, because that would be admitting...failure. You can't get a straight answer from anyone because their agendas are utterly confusing and antithetical, not only to the American people, but self-referentially.

[Robb]

34. Here's some more clarification

...if you can call it that:

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nation/terror/20040228-0325-binladen.html

(snip)

Speaking to the AP in Tehran, Hossein identified one of the sources as "Shamim Shahed, editor" of the English-language Pakistani newspaper The Nation in Peshawar. 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 the Iranian radio station that bin Laden had been captured.

"I never said this," Shahed said in a telephone interview with the 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."

(snip)

Hossein said he had a second source for his report that bin Laden had been captured, but he declined to identify him except to say he was "a man with close links to intelligence services and Afghan tribal leaders."

(more)

[joeunderdog]

41. Get the impression OBL is being tracked GPS until the time is right?

All of the above statements could be true, more or less, if we knew the whereabouts of Bin Laden and just followed him until his capture could guarantee the Shrub the most political capital. I put NOTHING past the Chimp and his whores.

I often wonder why they don't just call the Bin Ladens. The Bush Family has been good friends with them for so long...
http://www.cbc.ca/fifth/conspiracytheories/saudi.html

[plumbnsquare]

27. Iranian Radio!

Ha! I wouldn't trust anything coming out of Iran. I'll believe it when I see it.

[spinbaby]

40. Iranian radio...

...was the first to report the Saddam capture.

[jamesinca]

28. This idea of him being caught and brought out in late Oct

has been expressed in the past. Madeline Albright even said that she felt that he has already been captured and they are waiting to bring him out and get the needed bump in the polls. Remember these are the same people that said, in the Top 10 Conservative idiots this week, they had Sen. Wellstone killed to get their guy in office. These are the same people that have been stonewalling the 9/11 investigation. these are the same people that outed Valeri Plame. These are the same people that deny global warming. These are the same people that just go on and on with the lies and evil.

[PCIntern]

29. Didn't Saddam

look more like a P.O.W. than a fugitive?

One can only imagine what was going on with that...

[jamesinca]

30. Part of it with Saddam may have been disguise

A beard and uncut hair will hide him pretty well. All of the other pictures of him that we ever saw were of somebody who was clean cut etc.... Although they did put out pictures of him as having a beard and long hair as a possible disguise, somthing that the soldiers need to look for.

[maggrwaggr]

47. they planted Saddam in that "spider hole"

they'd probably had him for months, then they staged the whole "spider hole" thing so they could have the stories from the soldiers who "found" him, giving the whole thing the ring of truth.

Once again, we can believe absolutely nothing we're told regarding any of this. They tell us what they want us to hear.

[Zhade]

49. I'm STILL trying to figure out what the hell a "spider hole" is!

Which member of Operation Make It Look Like We Captured Saddam (Even Though The Kurds Did) came up with THAT stupid term?

I thought spiders lived in webs, not holes...?

[sam7]

63. He was interviewed by the International Red Cross

But I guess they're in on the conspiracy too.

[Teaser]

31. Why I think bin Laden is dead as a doornail.

An organization under such attack as Al Qaeda would not like to admit that it's leader is dead. It'd be *really* bad for morale.

However, it is intersting that there have been *no videos* anywhere of Bin Laden since late 2001. The one video that was released was pretty clearly pasted together from older ones. And most of the audio tapes have been of indeterminate date as well. The only audio tapes that have been clearly *new*, sound like bin Laden, but his flowery style of rhetoric is gone. He no longer quotes favorite Koranic metaphors. He just makes blunt statements.

Also, it is interesting to note that all these stories about him being captured keep popping up...Because *no one* has actually seen the guy. So, because Al Qaeda keeps claiming bin Laden is alive, but no one has seen him, well, the regular folk are starting to suspect
he is captured.

More evidence...

Just yesterday, Pakistani intelligence intercepted a Qaeda satellite phone call claiming that "the Sheikh is in good health." If this refers to bin Laden, that was an incredibly boneheaded thing to broadcast, unless its simply info you *want* people to listen to. Right now Qaeda types are under real pressure in Pakistan, so what better way to get Pakistan to shift the resources of its offensive to another quarter, but by broadcasting something you know will get picked up. Which is exactly what happened. Assuming of course, that "sheikh" refers to bin Laden and not Ayman al Zawihiri.

[maggrwaggr]

45. and you believe this story from Pakistani intelligence because ....

Not to dis you, but I heard the same story reported like it was some kind of a fact, but there's absolutely no reason to believe that anything we're being told at the moment is true.

Something to constantly keep in mind.

[Vas Liz]

50. Uhhh

"no videos* anywhere of Bin Laden since late 2001."

What about the one just recently where he was bitching about the French head scarf ban?

[Teaser]

52. That was Ayman al Zawihiri, not Bin Laden.

Zawihiri has always been the brains behind Al Qaeda. But he wasn't the public face.

That he is now the one making the most salient points only supports my hypothesis.

I mean, I could be wrong. But I hope I'm not. Bin Laden's already being dead is a best-case scenario for all of us. Except Bush. Bush needs him alive at this point.

[Zhade]

53. Are you referring to the alleged AUDIOTAPE of bin Laden's LIEUTENANT?

"The decision of the French president to issue a law to prevent Muslim girls from covering their heads in schools is another example of the Crusader envy that the Westerners have against Muslims," the voice said in the tape broadcast on the pan-Arab Al-Arabiya satellite channel.

The Dubai-based al-Arabiya identified the voice on the tape as that of al-Zawahri. An official at the station, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the tape was received Tuesday, "just minutes before taking it to air."

The official said the tape was not aired in its entirety, "only what was newsworthy and what we thought was new."

The al-Arabiya official said the voice was believed by the station to be that of al-Zawahiri because of analysts' opinions, and mainly because of the source from which they received the tape, which he would not disclose. Its tone and rhetoric sounded like previous audiotapes also believed to be from al-Zawahri though it was not possible to independently confirm the speaker's identity.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/02/24/qaeda.headscarves.ap/

I am aware of no video of ObL on the subject. If you've got a source, though, I'd be interested in looking at it.

[Zhade]

51. Not to mention that the "9/11 Confession" tape is clearly a fake.

That's definitely NOT Osama bin Laden in that video.

[sam7]

64. what evidence do you have for that

besides your fevered brain. No arab/islamic authority that I'm ware of has denied that it was OBL and they'd be the first to want to shift blame. Oh, it's the "fat Bin Laden/thin Bin Laden" thing. Well, I'm convinced.

What is it with you conspiracy nuts?

[Zhade]

66. What is it with you sheeple?

See how constructive an ad hominem attack is?

[sam7]

70. I'm sorry but the tinfoil hat tales

don't deserve beter. The faked tape line is no better than the Arabs blaming 9/11 on the jews or that french idiot who claims the pentagon was never hit by the 3rd plane.

Nessie lives and Elvis is my lawn boy.

[muchacho]

35. From China

TEHRAN, Feb. 28 (Xinhuanet) -- Osama bin Laden has been captured ina tribal region in Pakistan, the IRNA news agency quoted Iran'sstate radio as saying on Saturday.
The radio's external service, broadcast in Pushtu, said USSecretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld's trip to Pakistan on Thursday had been made in connection with the capture.

"The capture of the al-Qaida leader has been made sometime before, but (US President George W.) Bush is intending to announceit when the American presidential election is held," the radiosaid.

Contacted by IRNA, an Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting(IRIB) announcer at the Pushtu service confirmed the news, saying that they had got it from a "very reliable source" in Peshawar, Pakistan.

The Saudi-born dissident has been accused of masterminding the Sept. 11 terror attacks on American landmarks in New York and Washington in 2001, which killed thousands of people.

The United States has offered 25 million dollars' bounty on hishead.

The capture has not been confirmed by US and Pakistani officials. Enditem



http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2004-02/28/content_1336744.htm

[Teaser]

37. Xinhua needs to update its news more often..

Because not only has the event been commented on by US and Pak officials, its been vigorously denied.

[muchacho]

38. Osama in the House?

Published on Wednesday, February 25, 2004 by the Stanford Daily / California
Osama in the House?
by Kathryn Wallace

Have U.S. authorities captured Osama Bin Laden? If certain international papers are to be believed, he is currently surrounded by U.S. forces and will be taken into custody at the soonest politically expedient moment. No, you haven’t seen this reported in the U.S. press — not even the story that other press organizations are reporting an Osama capture. But does that mean the story is pure fiction?

Since I took a few swipes last week at the press, everyone’s favorite whipping boy, why stop now? The Osama rumors may be equal parts conspiracy theory and overseas anti-U.S. propaganda — but the weak one-source only coverage of the war in Iraq leaves a few questions about the independence of America’s “Fifth Estate.”

I’ll get to the Osama story in a second, but first let’s take a look at the ineffectiveness of an “embedded” press during the war. It sounded like a good idea at the beginning of the war last year, but consider the trouble of suiting journalists up for war alongside soldiers, arming them and even asking them to set down notebooks and pick up stretchers or stand guard over an enemy.

The Pentagon’s plan of folding thousands of would-be war correspondents into military units during the Iraqi war allowed journalists to report from the frontlines with some degree of safety and gave them a more realistic idea of the life of a soldier.

But embedded journalists confuse the role of the press. The idea is that there must be some kind of free press to oversee the government’s use of tax dollars and power. If a reporter is buried too deep, where’s the oversight?

In my mind, this was a Pentagon trick to leverage and control journalistic access to the news. Reporters that didn’t toe the official line in war coverage lost access, and journalistic free agents in Iraq were lost and lonely — ignored by the military and on their own for protection. Just ask Geraldo Rivera — a war zone is a pretty scary place to have no friends. Not surprisingly, most news outlets went the embedded-journalist route.

Poor coverage, however, had started even before the war commenced. Remember the rock star treatment Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld received from the media? Press conferences felt like love-ins rather than what they should have been — a confrontation of the people with the powers-that-be.

All the questions that should have been asked then are coming up now, of course, but wouldn’t they have been more appropriate before the country sacrificed so many sons and daughters and destroyed the potency of the United Nations? The press didn’t check power; they were a little drunk on the idea of playing soldier in the desert.

<snip>

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0225-12.htm

[reprobate]

43. Osama bin Missing is most probably dead the last two years.

Does no one else recall that he was being treated for advanced kidney disease in a Dubai hospital in June, 2001? As far as I know, you don't spontaneously remit from advanced kidney disease, you just get sicker until you die. Unless you get a transplant. Anyone imagine that Bin Ladin was able to get a transplant and the necessary follow on treatments without the world knowing of it?

The alternative I think is more to the * junta's MO. The bushes and the bin ladins have been business partners for many years. Osama has been a cia employee for a couple of decades. If your good friend and agent were deathly ill wouldn't you do what you could to help him?

I think it's possible that what happened was this: Bin Ladin carried out the cia mission of 9/11 (remember that the PNAC documents called for a "new american pearl harbor"). He was then 'brought in from the cold', treated for his illness, given cosmetic surgury, and retired. Either that, or they just 'disappeared' him.

No I don't think we'll ever see him again.

[maggrwaggr]

46. yeah, but they'd still be happy to betray him and trot him out

to stay in power.

These people have no loyalty to anybody. It's like the Sopranos. Everybody who's not Italian who does business with the sopranos usually ends up killed.

Hussein was an asset for a while, until they needed him for a "boogeyman" so they could put bases in Iraq, keep him from switching to Euros, and steal his oil.

[Zhade]

55. Par for the course on the part of the generational traitors.

Remember Noriega? Poppy Bush put him BACK on the CIA payroll after he was removed for illegal activities.

[watercolors]

59. Iv'e often wondered about that

kidney problem. he certainly would have to be where he can get proper treatment and dyalysis. He might be in a very civilized area getting treatment and in diguise, hell he in probably in Saudi amoung his own family. I can't see medical treatment of that sort in the mountains and on the run!

[Logansquare]

44. Important!-Oct. surprise rumors are getting into mainstream press

The media is getting fed up with being played. A year ago this would never have made it to AP.

[spinbaby]

54. U.S. Hunt for Bin Laden Gathers Steam

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=514&e=1&u=/ap/20040228/ap_on_re_as/us_bin_laden_2

Interesting how, in the space of a few hours, the story has gone from "Iranian radio says Bin Laden is captured" to "No, no, it's all a rumor, we don't have Bin Laden" to "But we're getting close."

[Malva Zebrina]

61. I noticed that also

past couple of days--the suspense is unbearable--we are closing in--we have him surrounded,and blah blah blah--we captured him months ago--nah--get those guys off of there, they are screwing up our suspense laden, dramatic headers as we close in on him. They will keep it up for a couple of more days, and then, voila--announce they have captured Bin Laden.

I don't believe a think anymore.

[loftycity]

56. Everyone has to read Kevin Phillips book "American Dynasty"

Dynasty puts all of this together. A Must read.

[Merlin]

58. Rummy's spokesman's comment makes it all the more compelling.

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.


That's doublespeak for saying "I am not allowed to confirm this report."

[Crachet2004]

60. I believe Iranian Radio, before I believe the Bush WH;

that is how cynical I am. Maybe I am just getting older, but I don't believe a damn thing they say!

If the WH says they don't have him, I figure he's tied up in the Pentagon basement...that's how much faith I have in them.

Nixon, Reagan, Bush sr. (Ford was ok...what a republican SHOULD be): I didn't like them, but I didn't actively dislike them like I do this guy we have now.

But maybe I should have, come to think of it. Every damn one of them broke the law (except Ford-and he may have just not got caught).

I think it's because of forums like this where information is so readily available. The minute one person knows of some new atrocity, the whole world knows. Too bad for future republican presidents, huh?

[plumbnsquare]

62. Iran

I wouldn't believe anything coming out of Tehran.......

[Logansquare]

69. Normally I'd agree...but the Iranians scooped the Saddam capture

The same agency now reporting on the Osama capture.

[Jack Rabbit]

68. This is starting to sound like the WMD discoveries from last Spring

Therefore, I will check it the same way that I checked those last year -- namely, by looking at the BBC home page.

BBC banners as of 3:30 pm PST:

Man blows himself up outside mosque in Pakistani city of Rawalpindi
Saudi Arabia steps up controls on overseas charity work
African leaders announce plans for multi-national military force
King of Morocco arrives for much delayed visit to quake-hit region. More soon.

Lead stories:

Haiti Rebels halt capital assault
Splits delay Iraq basic law deal
Missile raid kills Gaza militant

Where's Osama? Not on the BBC home page.