Osama says.....

[wildbilln864]

"I didn't do it!"
There was no debate whether or not this was the real Osama at that time.

a snip/
"In a statement issued to the Arabic satellite channel Al Jazeera, based in Qatar, bin Laden said, "The U.S. government has consistently blamed me for being behind every occasion its enemies attack it.

"I would like to assure the world that I did not plan the recent attacks, which seems to have been planned by people for personal reasons," bin Laden's statement said.

"I have been living in the Islamic emirate of Afghanistan and following its leaders' rules. The current leader does not allow me to exercise such operations," bin Laden said. "
link

[Diane_nyc]

1. You gave a link that doesn't work. Could you please provide an updated link? nt

[wildbilln864]

3. sorry bout that...

http://archives.cnn.com/2001/US/09/16/inv.binladen.denial/
:hi:

[Diane_nyc]

4. Thanks! nt

[Rosa Luxemburg]

2. he needs to be captured and then asked

[Ghost in the Machine]

5. He's dead, he *can't* be captured and asked...

[Rosa Luxemburg]

6. how do you know he's dead?

was there a real one in the first place?

[Ghost in the Machine]

7. Here ya go....

Fox News: "Bin Laden Already Dead"

Wednesday, December 26, 2001

Usama bin Laden has died a peaceful death due to an untreated lung complication, the Pakistan Observer reported, citing a Taliban leader who allegedly attended the funeral of the Al Qaeda leader.

"The Coalition troops are engaged in a mad search operation but they would never be able to fulfill their cherished goal of getting Usama alive or dead," the source said.

Bin Laden, according to the source, was suffering from a serious lung complication and succumbed to the disease in mid-December, in the vicinity of the Tora Bora mountains. The source claimed that bin Laden was laid to rest honorably in his last abode and his grave was made as per his Wahabi belief.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,41576,00.html

----------------------------------------------------------------------

The Death of bin Ladenism
By AMIR TAHERI
Published: July 11, 2002

Osama bin Laden is dead. The news first came from sources in Afghanistan and Pakistan almost six months ago: the fugitive died in December and was buried in the mountains of southeast Afghanistan. Pakistan's president, Pervez Musharraf, echoed the information. The remnants of Osama's gang, however, have mostly stayed silent, either to keep Osama's ghost alive or because they have no means of communication.

With an ego the size of Mount Everest, Osama bin Laden would not have, could not have, remained silent for so long if he were still alive. He always liked to take credit even for things he had nothing to do with. Would he remain silent for nine months and not trumpet his own survival?

Even if he is still in the world, bin Ladenism has left for good. Mr. bin Laden was the public face of a brand of politics that committed suicide in New York and Washington on Sept. 11, 2001, killing thousands of innocent people in the process.

What were the key elements of that politics?

The first was a cynical misinterpretation of Islam that began decades ago with such anti-Western ideologues as Maulana Maudoodi of Pakistan and Sayyid Qutb of Egypt. Although Mr. Maudoodi and Mr. Qutb were not serious thinkers, they could at least offer a coherent ideology based on a narrow reading of Islamic texts. Their ideas about Western barbarism and Muslim revival, distilled down to bin Ladenism, became mere slogans designed to incite zealots to murder.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9405EFDE1230F932A25754C0A9649C8B63

[Rosa Luxemburg]

9. so why didn't Bush tell us if he was dead

is this the perpetual Emmanuel Goldstein

[Ghost in the Machine]

11. Why would Bush give up the ghost of his number one boogeyman?

Who would he have to use to spread fear into the people? der Chimpenfurher & Company *need* their boogeyman. Notice how they've killed a bunch of "number 2" guys? This leaves their boogeyman, the mastermind, still out there somewhere.

The bigger question, in my mind, is "why haven't these stories been refuted or retracted"?

[Rosa Luxemburg]

14. perhaps someone should confront Bush on this

[Diane_nyc]

12. "bin Ladenism" is alive and well, thanks to Bush

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=125x210415#210483">A post by Ghost in the Machine quoted two news stories: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,41576,00.html">Fox News: "Bin Laden Already Dead", Wednesday, December 26, 2001, and http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9405EFDE1230F932A25754C0A9649C8B63">The Death of bin Ladenism by Amire Taheri, New York Times, July 11, 2002.

While the death of bin Laden himself sounds plausible to me, the "death of bin Ladenism" does not. I'm reminded of pundits who regularly claim that the religious right wing is dead here in the U.S.A. Yeah, right.

Bin Ladenism is alive and well and thriving, thanks to Bush administration policies. There wasn't an "Al Qaeda in Iraq" until after the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

10. Tim?

I guess anyone could dress up like UBL?

[Bassman66]

13. "He needs to be captured and asked"

didn't Bush say a while back that OBL and his whereabouts no longer concerned him.

I'm sure he did.

He's changed his mind again in the last few days, but it was a really crazy comment at the time.

[Ghost in the Machine]

15. "didn't Bush say a while back that OBL and his whereabouts no longer concerned him"

Q: Mr. President, in your speeches now you rarely talk or mention Osama bin Laden. Why is that? Also, can you tell the American people if you have any more information, if you know if he is dead or alive? Final part -- deep in your heart, don't you truly believe that until you find out if he is dead or alive, you won't really eliminate the threat of --

THE PRESIDENT: Deep in my heart I know the man is on the run, if he's alive at all. Who knows if he's hiding in some cave or not; we haven't heard from him in a long time. And the idea of focusing on one person is -- really indicates to me people don't understand the scope of the mission.

Terror is bigger than one person. And he's just -- he's a person who's now been marginalized. His network, his host government has been destroyed. He's the ultimate parasite who found weakness, exploited it, and met his match. He is -- as I mentioned in my speech, I do mention the fact that this is a fellow who is willing to commit youngsters to their death and he, himself, tries to hide -- if, in fact, he's hiding at all.

So I don't know where he is. You know, I just don't spend that much time on him, Kelly, to be honest with you. I'm more worried about making sure that our soldiers are well-supplied; that the strategy is clear; that the coalition is strong; that when we find enemy bunched up like we did in Shahikot Mountains, that the military has all the support it needs to go in and do the job, which they did.

And there will be other battles in Afghanistan. There's going to be other struggles like Shahikot, and I'm just as confident about the outcome of those future battles as I was about Shahikot, where our soldiers are performing brilliantly. We're tough, we're strong, they're well-equipped. We have a good strategy. We are showing the world we know how to fight a guerrilla war with conventional means.

Q But don't you believe that the threat that bin Laden posed won't truly be eliminated until he is found either dead or alive?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, as I say, we haven't heard much from him. And I wouldn't necessarily say he's at the center of any command structure. And, again, I don't know where he is. I -- I'll repeat what I said. I truly am not that concerned about him. I know he is on the run. I was concerned about him, when he had taken over a country. I was concerned about the fact that he was basically running Afghanistan and calling the shots for the Taliban.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/03/20020313-8.html

[Twist_U_Up]

16. aka Tim Osman ,CIA provided

Fact