Osama dead?

[irishgrl]

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France unable to confirm report bin Laden is dead

By Anna Willard1 hour, 3 minutes ago

France said it could not confirm a report on Saturday that al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden had died in Pakistan last month.

The French regional daily L'Est Republicain, published in Nancy, quoted a document from the DGSE foreign intelligence service as saying the Saudi secret services were convinced bin Laden had died of typhoid in late August.

French President Jacques Chirac told reporters after a summit with leaders of Germany and Russia that bin Laden's death "has not been confirmed in any way whatsoever, and so I have no comment to make."

Officials in Pakistan and the United States, which has made capturing bin Laden a priority, were unable to confirm the account.

"It's quite possible there was some talk of this, but in terms of being able to confirm this, that I can't do," said a U.S. counterterrorism official who declined to be identified.

In Paris, Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie ordered a probe into the leaking of the classified DGSE document.

A senior Pakistani government official said Islamabad had not received any information from any foreign government that would corroborate the story.

The Saudi Interior Ministry was not available for comment.

"If anyone was in the picture, I doubt it would be Saudi intelligence," said a Western diplomat in Riyadh.

"Even if Saudi Arabia had information, they'd pass it on to the United States, not France. It doesn't ring true."

"RELIABLE SOURCE"

The French newspaper printed what it said was a copy of the report, dated September 21, and said it had been passed on to Chirac and Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin the same day.

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

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

The report, which was stamped "confidential defense" and with the initials of the French secret service, said Saudi Arabia had first heard the information on September 4 and was waiting for more details before making an official announcement.

Another U.S. intelligence official, who declined to be named, said bin Laden had long been rumored to be suffering from kidney ailments and receiving dialysis:

"We have believed him to be in declining health for some time and there have been other rumors of his demise."

He said bin Laden had "minimal operational involvement at this time" in al Qaeda.

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

His last videotaped message was released in late 2004, but several low-quality audio tapes have been released this year.

Senior U.S. intelligence figures have cautioned against assuming that bin Laden's death or capture would automatically have a substantial impact in the war on terrorism.

They note that the death in June of al Qaeda's leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, has failed to lead to any let-up in the violence there.

(Additional reporting by Islamabad bureau, Mark Trevelyan in London and Andrew Hammond in Riyadh)

(stupid copyright stuff taken out.)

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I wonder if it could be true? and does it really change anything? Im sure he's got a plan in place for power transfer if/when he dies....

[estranged4life]

Originally Posted by irishgrl

France unable to confirm report bin Laden is dead

I wonder if it could be true? and does it really change anything? Im sure he's got a plan in place for power transfer if/when he dies....

I saw a CNN reporter on HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher", Who reported that OBL recently had been giving blessings of those Radical Muslim leaders to kill 10,000,000 people using a WMD.

Until they show his dead body I wont believe a word of his demise.

[gypsysoul]

There have been false reports like this before but somehow this one rings true.

[MacMan]

If he is in fact dead, they will probably withhold the info until it's advantageous politically - to garner some votes when they are going to need them.

[irishgrl]

Originally Posted by MacMan

If he is in fact dead, they will probably withhold the info until it's advantageous politically - to garner some votes when they are going to need them.

what a thoroughly revolting idea, and I bet you're right