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Afghanistan/South Asia
US colonel says bin Laden ill: al-Hayat
2005-09-14
CAIRO (Reuters) - Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is in poor health and is seeking medical attention, the London-based Arabic newspaper al-Hayat said on Wednesday, quoting a U.S. officer in Afghanistan.
Is he...stable?
Can we run the vulture pic?
I think the vapor pic would do for now...
"Osama bin Laden is trying to obtain medical attention," Colonel Don McGraw, director of operations at the Combined Forces Command in Kabul, told a group of British reporters, including one from al-Hayat, it said. "He (McGraw) refused to say what the Qaeda leader is suffering from or whether it is the same kidney disease which Pakistani officials said in the past he was suffering from," the newspaper added. Al-Hayat said it was not clear how the U.S. military had obtained its information or where it thought bin Laden might be.
"We can say no more"
The Saudi-born militant is believed to have taken refuge somewhere on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan after escaping from U.S. troops and their Afghan allies who toppled the Taliban government that had hosted him in 2001. The United States holds al Qaeda responsible for many attacks, including the suicide hijack assaults on New York and Washington on September 11, 2001.
You mean the ones they took credit for?
Posted by:Steve

#9  I bet money that when they find him, he will smell like cat piss and be sick as a dog.
Posted by: closedanger   2005-09-14 22:58  

#8  Now US Military is in denial mode ... www.drudgereport.com
Posted by: Omort Gloluse2712   2005-09-14 14:11  

#7  Duh, I always knew he was ill.

Oh, you mean physically ill!
Posted by: mmurray821   2005-09-14 11:54  

#6  Ref #s 1&4. Hmmmm. Maybe he didn't clear it and is now back tracking. OTOH maybe Al-Hayat's reporter is full of sh*t.
Posted by: GK   2005-09-14 11:30  

#5  If the Colonial can give medical reports, why can't he make sure they are post mortem?
Posted by: Captain America   2005-09-14 11:12  

#4  KABUL (Reuters) - The U.S. military in Afghanistan denied on Wednesday that one of its officers had told reporters Osama bin Laden was seeking medical attention. The London-based Arabic newspaper al-Hayat, citing U.S. Colonel Don McGraw in a briefing with reporters in Kabul, said on Wednesday that the al Qaeda leader was in poor health and was trying to obtain medical attention.
But a U.S. military spokeswoman in Kabul said McGraw had not said that."Colonel McGraw did not say Osama bin Laden was trying to get medical attention," said the spokeswoman, Lieutenant Cindy Moore."We're working with the editor to correct the record," she said of the al Hayat report.
McGraw had been asked by a reporter about an Arabic Web site report several weeks ago saying bin Laden had been wounded. McGraw said he had seen the report, which security experts said lacked credibility, but had no information, Moore said.He was then asked about old reports that bin Laden had suffered from a kidney ailment and McGraw had said bin Laden might have, in the past, sought treatment but he didn't know about now, Moore said.
Moore said McGraw had presented the reporters with no new report about bin Laden.
Posted by: tu3031   2005-09-14 11:06  

#3  He's as Ill as a dodo.
Posted by: Jake-the-Peg   2005-09-14 10:57  

#2  I see a few possibilities here. His death is kept secret so the followers will still have him for a leader. Or would he marytr himself, for a 'big' disaster, thinking that he will die anyway. I can't see him just dying of natural causes huh. No virgins and all that right.
Interesting that it's a London based new source that is reporting on his health needs. Again seeking medical care away from the middle east.
Posted by: Jan   2005-09-14 10:35  

#1  This Colonel just didn't make this up...this had to have been cleared by higher ups.
Posted by: Grins Sluper5274   2005-09-14 10:23  

00:01