Bin Laden could be dead: terrorism expert

[gulfcoastliberal]

An Australian terrorism expert says he has been given evidence, which could show Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is either seriously ill or dead.

Professor Clive Williams from Macquarie University says he has been provided with evidence, by an Indian colleague, to support the theory that bin Laden died of massive organ failure in April last year.

Professor Williams says Ayman al Zawahiri, bin Laden's deputy, has been making all statements on behalf of Al Qaeda for around a year.

snip

Professor Williams says even if Bin Laden was dead, it would not make that much difference as people would continue to fight for the things they believe he stood for.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200601/s1547926.htm

[bluestateguy]

1. If he's dead, I hope he suffered, and was in a lot of pain

nt

[rpannier]

2. Agreed 100% n/t

[The Stranger]

53. Recommended viewing.

The Power of Nightmares

[stepnw1f]

3. What an Expert Analysis, Huh? Wo-ow!!!!

Give this guy a gold star to paste on his forehead too...

[Dr.Phool]

12. Well, I'm a terrorism non-expert

And I think he could be alive. But I know about as much as that guy. Nothing.

[Brundle_Fly]

45. I have friends in canada

that back up your story!

[Solly Mack]

4. Gee, ya think? and it's 50/50 the expert could be right that

OBL is either dead or alive.

[LisaL]

7. Since Osama is wanted dead or alive, we should all apply for

reward.

[Solly Mack]

8. LOL No kidding

lololol

[gulfcoastliberal]

9. I say we split it 50/50 w/DU

My addiction must be fed.

[savemefromdumbya]

5. kind of gone quiet?

I'm sure he is still alive

[Journeyman]

22. If he were dead, Jihad websites would be extolling his martyrdom. . .

they'd be playing it up for all its worth, imho.

[savemefromdumbya]

35. you would think so

[Timefortruth]

54. If they knew

OBL is a better boogieman if the US believes he is alive.

He loved media attention, but we don't see him any more. In the last real tape of him he was paralyzed on one side and his hair had gone white both signs of end stage kidney disease. The media pretended not to notice his remarkable recovery in the tape released during the campaign in which OBL supposedly endorsed Kerry. Basic comparisons between the impostor in the tape and known OBL photos were obviously of different people.

[LisaL]

6. He could be dead, or he could be alive.

You don't have to be an expert in anything to make that statement.

[tocqueville]

10. use him instead of Schroedingers cat

so you'll test in reality if he is dead or alive....

[CJCRANE]

11. IMO Bushco don't want to know

if he's dead because it would be a step towards closure on 9/11.

[hippiechick]

13. umm ... duh ?

:freak:

[radwriter0555]

14. bin laden didn't perp 911... he specifically said so in his Oct 2001 inter

view. Read the transcript.

He knew about it, but didn't take part.

He died in late December 2001 of complications related to his fatal kidney disease. His death and the funeral on Dec 23, 2001 was reported by at least 2 newspapers, one in Pakistan and one in India.

You can't live for years in a cave with kidney failure.

[CJCRANE]

15. Um, but he was in the '04 "October Surprise" video! nt

[radwriter0555]

41. Consider the source.....

That's all I'm sayin'.

Come on, do you REALLY think OBL would do a campaign speech and video for george?

[CJCRANE]

50. The trick is in the SPIN: timing, editing + talking points.

Al-Jazeera was asked to hold the video back for several days and also to only release an edited version to western MSM.

Then the MSM interpreted it as saying that Bin Laden is scared of Bush (and wants you to vote for Kerry).

By the time the full version of the video and transcript comes out, no one's interested in what Bin Laden REALLY said. But it turns out that he actually LIKES what Bush is doing (this is part of huge chunk that was missed out of the CNN transcript):

"...those who say that al-Qaida has won against the administration in the White House or that the administration has lost in this war have not been precise, because when one scrutinises the results, one cannot say that al-Qaida is the sole factor in achieving those spectacular gains.

Rather, the policy of the White House that demands the opening of war fronts to keep busy their various corporations - whether they be working in the field of arms or oil or reconstruction - has helped al-Qaida to achieve these enormous results".

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/79C6AF22-98FB-4A1C-B21F-2BC36E87F61F.htm

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/10/29/bin.laden.transcript/

[Timefortruth]

55. LOL!

That tape was a testament to the fact that there is no independent investigative journalism left in the US.

[Crunchy Frog]

33. You can get yourself a new kidney though.

It would surprise me quite a bit if he didn't, given the robust market in human organ trafficking in that part of the world. He certainly could have done it easily enough.

In any event, there will always be a succession of new bogey men to take the place of the old ones as they die or retire.

[Moloch]

39. Uhm...

I don't think you should believe everything you read on whatreallyhappened.com

He certainly looked healthy in the video right before the 2004 election.

[radwriter0555]

42. I don't believe that was OBL for a single minute, come on! You bought

that?

Not a chance.

And I read those little articles before they were posted on WRH, in the papers they were printed in and posted on-line.

[The Magistrate]

43. It Was Him, Ma'am

This line is becoming a very tired wheeze....

[Moloch]

49. Of course..

9/11 and the invasion of Afghanistan was just a plot to build a natural gas pipeline through Afghanistan from the Caspian Sea. Hamid Karzai is a Unocal employee and the BFEE caused 9/11 because the Taliban refused to build the pipeline.

There's only one problem with that.

Four years after the Afghanistan invasion, the pipeline has not been built. Why not?

I hate the BFEE as much as you do. I don't understand why you would trivialize the KNOWN and VERIFIABLE offenses of this cabal by spouting ridiculous conspiracy theories based only on tangential evidence.

These wild conspiracy theories are doing a great deal to harm the Democratic cause.

[Algorem]

16. Bin Laden:terrorism expert soon to be dead

[Lori Price CLG]

17. Really? Where should Bush send his last paycheck? n/t

[Lori Price CLG]

18. Oops! Meant to reply to original post. n/t

[TheCowsCameHome]

19. Not likely if he called himself the #2 man...........

[electricray]

20. The worst part about bin Laden is

it doesn't matter if he is alive or dead at this point. He became a prophet long ago. If he is alive his followers will fight like hell to make his rhetoric truthful. Even if he is dead, the power of his message transcends death to those who have reason to believe in his rhetoric and its philosophical importance. America has to face the fact that we as a country have lost round one in the mythical "war on terror". bin Laden got everything he wanted. He launched a jihad, we pulled out of Saudi Arabia. He said that America would continue its war on Islam by moving into another Muslim nation, and we marched into Iraq as if bin Laden was the writer of the story. Al Quaeda will never have problems recruiting again regardless of bin Laden's health. Christians won't like this comparison, but Jesus has been dead for a long time and there is no shortage of "recruits" willing to spill blood in his name. bin Laden has in effect become immortal.

[CoffeeCat]

21. I love that headline (sarcasm)

...bin Laden could be dead.

Wow. What a hard-hitting, breaking jolt of news that is.

He could also be working at a Starbucks, disguised as Po--the red Teletubby.

Why is this news?

We all know he could be dead. Unless you roll out his carcass, hold off on the articles.

I'm tired of the media attempting to keep this boogie-man alive in our minds.

[koopie57]

23. I think he is very much alive

and shacked up in the Lincoln Bedroom

[Lori Price CLG]

24. Well, he'll be resurrected, prior to the 2006 'elections.' The GOP

needs Bush bin Laden almost as much as they need Diebold and ES&S.

Cheers,
Lori Price

[951-Riverside]

25. Sorry I'm not buying to story of a bunch of cave/mountain men....

who are bent on destroying us.

I think the whole thing is made up.

[DianeG5385]

26. If that's the case where did that videotape come from?

You know, the one that popped up two days before the election? I think he's been dead since 2001 but the Bushies keep him "alive" as a bogeyman. It worked to get Bush re-elected and still bugs me. I was sure it was fake.

[gulfcoastliberal]

27. Total agitprop - icing on the vaporvote cake!

Goodness, that was so obviously false!

[502ramjet]

28. Every few months..

Damn,According to Bush, he has died about 50 times now! I will believe it when I see it.

[xchrom]

29. the key phrase here is:

''Professor Williams says even if Bin Laden was dead, it would not make that much difference as people would continue to fight for the things they believe he stood for.''

because bush is an asshole and wouldn't know a legimately smart move if it bit him in the ass -- has made things worse on the terrorism watch.

oh and for you watching freep fucks -- bush = 911 -- it happened on his watch WITH forewarning.

[frylock]

30. experts agree: al qaeda leader is dead or alive..

[0rganism]

38. Which at least seems to rule out the possibility of his being a vampire...

so I'm going to read it as a positive analysis. In fact, it's directly confirmed by his exposure to sunlight in the televised image -- unless we posit some kind of "blue screen" special effects production. Anyway, it's bad enough that Osama bin Laden runs a big terrorist network responsible for thousands of deaths. Now if he were additionally able to transform into a bat, or hypnotize virgins and suck their blood, or not be killed except by a stake through the heart, that would certainly add to the danger he poses.

By the same reasoning, I think we can exclude from consideration other varieties of "undead", such as zombies, ghosts, and ringwraiths, for which we should all be glad.

[daleo]

40. Talk about going out on a limb.

These experts really know how to clarify a situation.

[robbedvoter]

48. Ha!ha! Is that a real headline?

[SlavesandBulldozers]

59. yes. it is.

:)

[Straight Shooter]

31. Besides bin Laden, I would like to see all his doubles dead, too.

They keep popping up in videotapes at the most con-veeeen-yent times for bush.

[two gun sid]

32. If OBL was dead wouldn't they use his martyrdom...

to their advantage? Besides Andrea Mitchell has information that OBL has been evading capture by riding motorcycles in the Hindu Kush.

[Geo55]

34. But , but.......

WE DIDN'T EVEN "SMOKE 'IM OUT" YET !!!!

NO FAIR ! NO FUN !

[Miss Chybil]

36. But, what about Elvis?

Seriously, I hope he is dead. Number one, he deserves it. Number two, we won't have to kill him every time Bush's poll numbers drop, like we kill al Zawahiri every couple of months. He's a cat, I tell you. A cat.

[ckramer]

37. Bin Laden would never die.

He's history.

[radfringe]

44. ....Yaaaaaaaaaawnnnnnn....

how many times have we heard this before?

He was supposed to be dead when we invaded Afghanistan.

Then he was suppose to be dead when we bombed some town/village in Afghanistan

Next, he supposedly died in some cave of an illness

more recently he was killed in a cave-in during the big earthquake

and now he's dead again

These reports of Bin-Laden, the #2 guy in Iraq, the #2 Al-queda guy all being killed on a daily basis smells as bad as the terra-lerts

You could predict a terra-lert by bush*'s poll numbers dropping, now you can predict Bin-Laden's (et al) deaths by the same numbers.

[bklyncowgirl]

46. ..or he could be alive, or he could play cards every Tuesday with Cheney.

We don't know. The man killed thousands of innocent Americans and our government seems to have not the slightest clue as to his whereabouts.

That says alot.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

47. If he ever dies, it will be from old age.

[superconnected]

51. So al zarquawi is making his statments, zarquawi who's been

reported killed what, in 4 different incidents in the last year.

Sure. I don't know if they are dead or a live, but I do know that this person doesn't know either.

[Javaman]

52. So what?

If he's dead, they (being the u.s. gov't)trot out someone else that's evil and mean and pissed off at our "freedoms".

What is escaping the general logic of most of the kool-ade drinking population is a simple fact. If we kill one there will be many more. Ergo, killing them doesn't stop them.

It's time we try a new tactic. Because the current one is fucked.

[DrZeeLit]

56. As Maher says: Doesn't matter. It's like Ray Kroc....

He died and McDonalds didn't.
The franchise has been vetted......

And we keep giving them plenty of reasons to order up those supersized jihads.
The pictures from Abu Grab (sic) will ring up quite a few served.

And meanwhile, it sure serves the BushCo. to have OBL alive, doesn't it?
They aren't in any way, shape, or form rushing to get him alive or dead.
Yep. Those guns have been holstered.

[apple_ridge]

57. The guy's been dead for years.

Simply put, any egomaniac like BL would have got his face in the news a dozen times if he was still alive.

He's the necessary bogeyman for all sides.

For more insight, see "The Power of Nightmares".

[Roland99]

58. I could be dead, too...

I could be posting from a higher state of being in an alternate universe.



Prove I'm not.


:P

[bleedingheart]

60. if I had a quarter for each time...