You have commented 339 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
Afghanistan
Mullah Omar Captured?
2010-05-11
Updated with link. 48 hr rule applies.
Through key intelligence sources in Afghanistan and Pakistan, I have just learned that reclusive Taliban leader and top Osama bin Laden ally, Mullah Omar has been taken into custody.

At the end of March, US Military Intelligence was informed by US operatives working in the Af/Pak theater on behalf of the D.O.D. that Omar had been detained by Pakistani authorities.
According to the State Departments Rewards for Justice Program there is a bounty of up to $10 million on Omar for sheltering Osama bin-Laden and his al-Qaeda network in the years prior to the September 11 attacks as well as the period during and immediately thereafter.

At the end of March, US Military Intelligence was informed by US operatives working in the Af/Pak theater on behalf of the D.O.D. that Omar had been detained by Pakistani authorities. One would assume that this would be passed up the chain and that the Secretary of Defense would have been alerted immediately. From what I am hearing, that may not have been the case.

When this explosive information was quietly confirmed to United States Intelligence ten days ago by Pakistani authorities, it appeared to take the Defense Department by surprise. No one, though, is going to be more surprised than Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. It seems even with confirmation from the Pakistanis themselves, she was never brought up to speed
Posted by:airandee

#16  A lot of doubt for the capture of MULLAH OMAR, but even iff true it may be more "Protection" of Omar than per se "Capture" or "Detainment" of same by PAK Govt-Police, espec given PAK recent successful test firing of TWO NUCLEAR BALLISTIC MISSLES + DEMANDS FOR INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION OF PAK AS A NUCLEAR = NUCWEAPONS STATE [Nuke Club].

IOW, ISLAMABAD > WANTS MULLAH OMAR, TALIBS, + OTHER [major]PAK-BASED MILTERR GROUPS UNDER TIGHT CONTROL WHILE IT DEVS STRATEGIC NUCWEAPS = ICBM ARSENAL. Ditto IRAN = reports of OSAMA being there.

Lest we fergit, POTUS BAMMER'S TIMELINE FOR SCHEDULED WITHDRAWAL OF US MILFORS FROM AFPAK.

FORMER SOVIET SSRS > also desire NUCREAX TECHS + EVENTUALLY THEIR OWN NUCWEAPONS.

SUB-IOW, RISE OF ISLAMIST NUCLEAR ASIA = SOVEREIGN OR MIL-CONTROLLED NUKE ENCLAVES TO OCCUR while the US intentionally downsizes 2011 thru 2016???
Posted by: JosephMendiola   2010-05-11 22:51  

#15  If they have him, we can force them to give him up to us. We dont have to ask. Give him to us ...or we will hurt you. It is better to be feared than loved. Or doesnt the US do anything that isnt limp?

When we have him. He disappears. Say what? Never had him. Keep movin'.

Next stop an island in the middle of no where. Somewhere in the Indian Ocean say. Then we get everything he knows any way we please and when he's absolutely empty.... we feed him to the fish.

Omar who?

Sure we can. It all a matter of simply having no compunctions about killing people who are a danger to the United States. Sure they are human. Do it anyway. Sure they have "rights". Do it anyway.
Sure we will be as bad as they are? Yeah? Do it anyway.

Slit his belly open and put a cement block around his neck.
Posted by: Strelnikov   2010-05-11 21:34  

#14  Omar caught? I think the Morton salt girl speaks. I'm pessimistic about such stories. If true, I guess there would be a lot of diddling around time spent trying to figure out what to do with him. Should we read him his rights? Should we bend over backwards to make sure he has better treatment than his captors. Should we try him in NYC? We then have to make certain he doesn't get bitch slapped silly or his feelings hurt. Got make sure he has the Koran and a place to worship facing Mecca. Got to make sure he has the right kind of food and yada yada yada. Of course he would have to be obtained from the Pakis. I guess I'm in a pissy mood today--maybe for the last 30-40 years about these jerks.
Posted by: JohnQC   2010-05-11 16:49  

#13  To underline lotp's point about protective custody, there's this op-ed in the Washington Post:

...just a few months before Shahzad attempted to blow up a car bomb in the heart of Manhattan, U.S. and Pakistani officials captured the highest-ranking Taliban leader ever detained in the war on terror -- Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar. Could Baradar have warned us about the Times Square attack?

Baradar is second only to Mullah Omar in the Taliban hierarchy. Newsweek described him as "arguably the most important terrorist suspect captured since the detention of Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed in spring of 2003." But unlike KSM, Baradar has not been taken into American custody for interrogation by the CIA. Instead, he has been held and questioned by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency.

Baradar is running the show in his interrogation. Only in the past several weeks have American officials finally been given regular, direct contact with Baradar. He has now reportedly begun providing information on the "the inner workings of the Taliban" but still "is not revealing details of Taliban combat operations, yielding little that American commanders would like to know as they prepare for a military operation around Kandahar." Translation: Baradar is the one deciding what information he will share and what he will withhold.

It would be a different story in a CIA black site. But President Obama shut down the CIA's black sites and dismantled the agency's interrogation program. In its place, he created something called the High-Value Interrogation Group (HIG) -- a less controversial alternative for questioning senior terrorist leaders like Baradar and KSM. Yet according to multiple media accounts, the HIG has not been deployed to participate in Baradar's interrogation.
Posted by: trailing wife   2010-05-11 15:56  

#12  Quick!!!
Read him his rights!!
And call his lawyer!!!


The show trial in New York will commence in 7 years.
Posted by: bigjim-CA   2010-05-11 12:05  

#11  Bin Laden is the last person Pakistan will give up. They'll wait until they've extracted every dime in aid money and every high tech weapon they can. As long as they have Bin Laden they can attack India as much as they want and the US State Department will be their bitch.

Everything I've heard about Mullah Omar is that he's a creation of the ISI. His only appeal was a large bag of money from the ISI. His capture (or not) will have no effect on the Taliban.
Posted by: Frozen Al   2010-05-11 11:24  

#10  Khan is almost certainly under the protection of Pakistan. He is not the only high-ranking terrorist linked with Pak protection. If true, this could be the price exacted on Pakistan for the Times Square attempt.

if true, Bin Laden is also sheltering with Pakistani/ISI assistance. He's the price for a "successful" attack on American soil. Hilary's comments stressing "a successful attempt" make more sense in this light.
Posted by: Swanimote   2010-05-11 10:29  

#9  I would not put it past some "out of the loop", enthusiastic Pakistani military officer to put the bag on him, without permission.

This would either be followed up with passionate denials, as he is let go, under US pressure; or he is so sick he has to get major medical care, so has turned operations over to a subordinate and retiring.

Cynical?
Posted by: Anonymoose   2010-05-11 10:21  

#8  as of now no one else is reporting this

no one
Posted by: lord garth   2010-05-11 08:12  

#7  lotp may be on the right track. A.Q. Khan is in "protective" custody too. How much access have we had to him?
Posted by: Spot   2010-05-11 08:00  

#6  I'll check this today and try and get back w/ you
Posted by: armyguy   2010-05-11 07:41  

#5  I could well believe that the Paks took Omar into protective custody. Whether we'll get any access to him, or any useful access, would be another matter.
Posted by: lotp   2010-05-11 05:47  

#4  It would seem to me that the story is wrong or it's Alice in Wonderland as to how the US government and its various organs communicate with each other. At the very least, Obooboo should have known. And it seems unlikely that he wouldn't have told his Secretary of State, since she at least seems to be able to keep a secret.
Posted by: gorb   2010-05-11 01:33  

#3  ION NEWS KERALA > US DOES NOT RULE OUT HEADLEY- SHAHZAD LINK? 26/11-Mumbai-versus-Times Square.

*** cough *** cough ***....@ = D *** NGED SUNSPOTS!

* ALso from NEWS KERALA > EXPERTS: LETHAL
"ELECTRONIC PEARL HARBOR" CYBER-ATTACK COULD DESTROY/CRUSH US IN 15 MINUTES, ala Computer-, Information-depedent Regional andor Nationwide US Grids. E.G. USDOD to FAA to NASA to SPRINGFIELD NUCLEAR [Homer Simpson], STreet Lights.... @. Approximatley 150 US Cities icluding Major Centres under sudden BLACKOUT???

* TIMES.UK > HINDU EXTREMISTS OFFER REWARD TO KILL CHRISTIANS [+ destroy Christian-owned Properties], AS BRITAIN REFUSES TO BAR MEMBERS.

* PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUM > [BBC Report] BNP TRIES TO STIR/FOSTER MUSLIM-SIKH TENSIONS IN UK.
Posted by: JosephMendiola   2010-05-11 01:17  

#2  So Friday we should know if this is correct. Pak govt must be scared of losing the US due to these aholes their terrorism trainers keep turning loose, if they are willing to force the ISI to turn over one of its main clients (Omar).

Waterboarding would be a good start to quickly break him and see if they can get a bead on Osama (if he's not already assumed ambient temperature).

Its a shame we don't do that anymore.
Posted by: OldSpook   2010-05-11 01:01  

#1  i don't believe it and if it is true then the Pakis never would have told us
Posted by: chris   2010-05-11 01:00  

00:00