French paper says bin Laden died in Pakistan

[Owais]

French paper says bin Laden died in Pakistan


PARIS (updated on: September 23, 2006, 13:44 PST): A French regional newspaper quoted a French secret service report on Saturday as saying that Saudi Arabia is convinced that al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden died of typhoid in Pakistan last month.

L'Est Republicain printed what it said was a copy of the report dated Sept. 21 and said it was shown to President Jacques Chirac, Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin and France's interior and defence ministers on the same day.

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

"The information gathered by the Saudis indicates that the head of al Qaeda was a victim while he was in Pakistan on Aug. 23, 2006, of a very serious case of typhoid which led to a partial paralysis of his internal organs."

The report, which was stamped with a "confidential defence" label and the initials of the French secret service, said Saudi Arabia first heard the information on Sept. 4 and that it was waiting for more details before making an official announcement.

Officials contacted by Reuters in Chirac's and Villepin's offices had no immediate comment.

A senior official in Pakistan's interior ministry said: "We have no information about Osama's death."

Saudi-born Bin Laden was based in Afghanistan until the Taliban government there was overthrown by US-backed forces in late 2001. Since then, US and Pakistani officials have regularly said they believe he is hiding somewhere on the rugged border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The last videotaped message released by bin Laden was in late 2004, but there have been several low quality audio tapes released this year.

 

[Lahori paa jee]

Interesting news

 

[Srirangan]

Heard this on T.V. Any confirmation?

 

[Janbaz]

CNN says no intellengence reports on this either by ISI or CIA

 

[Awesome]

Yessss

Hopefully Saudis will be making an announcement soon.

Good riddance... To both of them.

 

[EagleEyes]

That means no more American troops in Pakistan? No more further operations?

 

[Kaiser]

That means no more American troops in Pakistan? No more further operations?

It most likely means no more US troops in pakistans territory's or they will be shot. Joint operation between US and Pakistani soilders will likely continue though

 

[Skeptic786]

The sole purpose of spreading such news is to cause a stir in UBL camp. If a sufficient stir is caused it can lead to tracking down where exactly UBL is. For example....if UBL camp issues a fresh video to crush these rumours....then CIA will have fresh graphics of UBL to feed to its computers abroad predator spy planes and spy sattalites that scan and take pictures of populations in Pak_Afghanistan to compare to its database held pictures of UBL. However the last graphics of UBL are now getting to be 2 years old.

Secondly if they make video they need to use electronics equipment....whose use can again be picked up....plus once the video is made it has to be transmitted for publication.....that chain once activated for delivering video from UBL to say Al Jazeera can be intercepted for tracking back to UBL.

 

[Lahori paa jee]

So far OBL / Al-Qaeda has been Bush's ticket into any country

 

[Neo]

Yessss

Hopefully Saudis will be making an announcement soon.

Good riddance... To both of them.

Saudi's have claimed that Bin Laden is sufferring from a water born desease but he's alive.
But the big Q is for how long since he needs proper medical attention to survive.
If not already, he'll be dead soon.

 

[Neo]

Reports Suggest Bin Laden Might Be Dead

(CBS News) KARACHI, Pakistan Osama bin Laden's health has deteriorated in the past year, forcing him to curtail his movements, according to Arab diplomats in Pakistan who routinely track reports of his movements.

A senior source with an intelligence service friendly to the United States told CBS News that Saudi Intelligence has collected what it considers to be "very credible information" that bin Laden has been very seriously ill, and that the Saudi services are now suggesting, though not confirming, that they "have a pretty high certainty" that he is dead.

The source added that if he has died as a result of typhoid fever, which comes from exposure to contaminated water and food, it would confirm reports that he has been hiding in a remote area, under very harsh conditions with limited access to medical care.

While Pakistani officials and diplomats stationed in the country on Saturday did not confirm a report in a French regional newspaper that claimed the world's most wanted terrorist had died of typhoid earlier this month, some spoke of reports in the past year suggesting that bin Laden's health had rapidly deteriorated, prompting speculation over his remaining life expectancy.

Time Magazine also reported that bin Laden "has become seriously ill and may have already died" from a "water-borne illness."

But U.S. sources are skeptical of the reports. A senior White house official tells CBS News White House correspondent Jim Axelrod, "I wouldn't hold your breath." French President Jacques Chirac said Saturday that the information is "in no way whatsoever confirmed."

"You should never say 'never,' but the source of the intelligence is not a very good one – Saudi intelligence can sometimes be an oxymoron," Michael Scheuer, who ran the CIA's bin Laden unit, said on the Saturday Early Show. "It almost sounds like between the French and the Saudis are trying to goad bin Laden into saying something to prove he is still alive."

One Arab diplomat who spoke to CBS News on the condition that his identity would not be revealed said there were fewer reports in 2006 of bin Laden's possible sightings around the border region between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

"In the past, sometimes with a delay of two to three days, you would
see reports which suggested he may be on the move somewhere, there have been fewer such reports this year," he said. "Does this mean, he is acutely ill, dying or has in fact died? There is no credible answer to that question. Unless there is a body, how can anyone say for sure that bin Laden is dead?"

The same diplomat said, bin Laden has had a history of illnesses that were first reported while the Taliban regime still ruled Afghanistan in 2000. One such report seen by the diplomat a year before the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, reported that bin Laden had to be hospitalized briefly in Kabul before he was brought to Pakistan for medical treatment, then believed to be a kidney-related ailment.

"If it is true that bin Laden had to have dialysis for his kidneys then — which is six years ago — his health must be far worse now. Especially the conditions that he lived in, being on the run from U.S. forces must also take its toll on him. I wouldn't be surprised if he is dead. Nobody is immortal," concluded the diplomat.

Over the past 12 months, according to security and diplomatic sources in Pakistan and elsewhere, the Saudi services have greatly improved their intelligence gathering capacity, especially in southern Afghanistan, and the Pakistan border region.

The intelligence service source told CBS News that over the past weeks, a number of al Qaeda-linked figures left the Pakistan-Afghanistan region and returned to countries in the Arabian Gulf. Some of the returnees have been interrogated and provided important intelligence.

Another Arab diplomat said reports of bin Laden's death would have to be either confirmed if his body was found or through an official statement for there to be confirmation. "But if you look at just the history of the man, the probability of his survival for long is not that great," the second Arab diplomat said on similar condition of anonymity.

"At the end of the day, if bin Laden is dead, al Qaeda will announce it," Scheuer said on the Saturday Early Show.

CBS News has been told the Saudis themselves have been very careful to say that while they believe the intelligence they have is credible, it will be impossible to confirm bin Laden's death without either recovery of a body, or the arrests of al Qaeda figures and others who are known to have been with him.

One former Pakistani official with prior responsibility for security affairs said there was speculation among Pakistani intelligence officials that al Qaeda had already undergone a leadership transition which has seen Ayman Al-Zawahiri, the group's second highest ranking leader, emerge as the key decision maker.

"If you just track the number of al Qaeda videos which have come out in the public, you see Ayman Al-Zawahiri in there mostly. Does this mean, Osama bin Laden has been in semi-retirement for a while because of his deteriorating health? That's a question which is worth asking" he said.

Pakistani officials expressed complete ignorance of the classified memo published by the French newspaper, L'Est Republicain, circulated to the French President and other senior figures. Written on Sept. 21 by the DGSE, the French exterior intelligence service, the memo reports intelligence gathered by the Saudi services, under the headline "Saudis Moving Towards Conclusion Bin Laden is Dead."

The French government has declined to comment on the contents of the document, but the Minister of Defense has ordered an investigation into the leaking of classified documents.

The newspaper that ran the story is a well-respected regional daily, but the journalist who wrote it, however, is a crime reporter rather than a specialist in intelligence matters, reports CBS News correspondent Elaine Cobbe from Paris.

http://cbs3.com/topstories/topstories_story_266093159.html

 

[A.Rahman]

So far OBL / Al-Qaeda has been Bush's ticket into any country

correction: only Islamic countries

 

[KashifAsrar]

Even if this guy is dead then Pakistan is not going to get a respite. The monster of Al-Qaida would still be kept alive by the US of A. It is interesting to see how Pakistan make this to its advantage or dis-advantage.
Kashif

 

[KashifAsrar]

No evidence of Osama’s death: Saudis




Washington: Saudi Arabia said on Sunday it had no evidence that Osama bin Laden had died of typhoid, as the world greeted with scepticism a secret document leaked in France that said Saudi secret services believed the Al Qaida leader had died last month.
The Saudi embassy in Washington issued a statement saying: “The kingdom of Saudi Arabia has no evidence to support recent media reports that Osama bin Laden is dead. Information that has been reported otherwise is purely speculative and cannot be independently verified.”
France, US, Britain and Pakistan said they were unable to confirm the report of death. AGENCIES


No knowledge, says US state dept on Osama ‘death’


Washington: A US intelligence source said Washington, which wants to capture Osama bin Laden, had no evidence the report was any more credible than earlier rumours of his death. French president Jacques Chirac told reporters that bin Laden’s death “has not been confirmed in any way whatsoever and so I have no comment to make” and that he was surprised a confidential note had been published. France has launched a probe into the leak. French regional daily L’Est Republicain had quoted France’s DGSE foreign intelligence service as saying the Saudi secret services were convinced the Al Qaida leader had died of typhoid in Pakistan in late August.
Time magazine separately posted an article on its website citing an unidentified Saudi source, who claimed bin Laden was stricken with a water-borne disease and may already be dead. “No comment, no knowledge,” said US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice. British PM Tony Blair, asked in a BBC interview if he could shed light on the report, said: “No, I can’t. I haven’t heard anything that indicates that might be the case.”
Pakistan’s interior minister Aftab Sherpao said in Islamabad: “No, we do not have any such information with us.” Security officials hunting Al Qaida in Pakistan rejected the report. A senior official said “no such information has been shared” by the Saudis and that it was “inconceivable that an event of this nature would remain unnoticed in Pakistan.” Bin Laden has several times been rumoured to have died in the past.

 

[Bull]

Its a fishing trip by the Americans.

nothing changes with OBL's death,AQ remains as menancing and dangerous as ever.