Article

2004-02-25

Archived material is restricted to Rantburg regulars and members. If you need access email fred.pruitt=at=gmail.com with your nick to be added to the members list. There is no charge to join Rantburg as a member.

Posted by Dan Darling 2004-02-25 2:03:39 AM|| || Front Page|| [11130 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 I'd love to know how senior these unnamed "U.S. intelligence officials" are. It has always seemed odd to me that bin Laden hasn't tried to put as much distance between himself and Afghanistan as possible. How tight a noose can we put around an area that is even 100 square miles? It seems to me that a determined, smart, and careful person could find a way out. Anyone with experience have any thoughts?

Posted by sludj 2004-2-25 2:24:25 AM|| 2004-2-25 2:24:25 AM|| Front Page Top

#2 I don't know. Why didn't Saddam leave Iraq and go spend his ill-gotten gains on some carribean island where noone would recognize him?

Posted by Phil Fraering 2004-2-25 2:28:39 AM|| [http://newsfromthefridge.typepad.com] 2004-2-25 2:28:39 AM|| Front Page Top

#3 If this is true the f****** are running from the hammer and ending up on the anvil.
The rumours of bin hidings plight are getting awfully persistent.

Oh and sludj, one or two persons should (with some luck offcourse) be able to slip from an area of a 100 scuare clicks, if they are traveling with 50 "fanatical" bodyguards in tow (according to most of the reports) things get a bit dicier.

Posted by Evert Visser 2004-2-25 3:20:26 AM|| [http://chinditz.blog-city.com/] 2004-2-25 3:20:26 AM|| Front Page Top

#4 Crikey! He was surrounded by the SAS in Pakistan at the weekend.. that's one supercharged donkey he's got. Conflicting accounts of his whereabouts are becoming numerous. Fingers crossed.

Posted by Howard UK 2004-2-25 4:21:38 AM|| 2004-2-25 4:21:38 AM|| Front Page Top

#5 I think the USA is preparing some credible deniability for the possibility that we might grab these two characters inside Pakistan.

Posted by Mike Sylwester 2004-2-25 8:39:44 AM|| 2004-2-25 8:39:44 AM|| Front Page Top

#6 it's getting pretty close to the election...maybe we already have them. :-)
Ya never know!!

Posted by B 2004-2-25 9:02:12 AM|| 2004-2-25 9:02:12 AM|| Front Page Top

#7 Be assured that before this latest operation is over, there will be several varying reports pertaining to the whereabouts of UBL et al. Some will be speculative and originate from local civilian or host nation government types. Others will come from the US/UK side of the coalition and will be in response to query --or-- and this is key...may be information planted deliberately by friendlies with the intention to deceive or confuse those being sought. This is one where we will have to wait and see what shakes out. However, this certain: following the two attempts on Musharraf, the Paks are much more motivated now to do more to bring this objective to completion. Funny what a little bit of explosives and automatic weapons fire near the boss will do to further alter his outlook on life. As for UBL traversing the vaunted 100 square mile area, never forget that -- large entourage or not -- he has the home field advantage here (in several ways). He has been and will remain difficult to locate and fix.

Posted by TerrorHunter4Ever 2004-2-25 9:46:05 AM|| 2004-2-25 9:46:05 AM|| Front Page Top

#8 I'm not holding my breath, but this does seem to fit the pattern of events leading to the capture of Saddam Hussein. For weeks, all we heard has "He was sighted in Tikrit. No, he's in Baghdad. US Forces have him surrounded. Nope, false alarm. Raid! Raid! Raid!" I don't think OBL is long for this world, but I'll wait and see.

Posted by BH 2004-2-25 9:56:05 AM|| 2004-2-25 9:56:05 AM|| Front Page Top

#9 "Marco."

Posted by Seafarious 2004-2-25 10:14:43 AM|| 2004-2-25 10:14:43 AM|| Front Page Top

#10 Ok, I'll bite. "Polo"

Posted by whitecollar redneck 2004-2-25 10:18:24 AM|| 2004-2-25 10:18:24 AM|| Front Page Top

#11 Asia Times Online has their usual wacked-out version of the hunt for Osama:

The war in eastern Afghanistan and the tribal areas in Pakistan is barely on, but the Pentagon's spinning machine is in high gear. Who will prevail: al-Qaeda's number two, Ayman "The Surgeon" al-Zawahiri, or Commando 121? The Pentagon's creative directors ruled that Commando 121, or Task Force 121, of General William Boykin - a self-described Islamophobe and a known Christian fanatic - was responsible for the capture of Saddam Hussein, when in fact the former dictator was arrested by Kurdish peshmerga (paramilitary) forces acting on a tip by one of his cousins and then sold to the Americans, according to Asia Times Online sources in the Sunni triangle.
This week, without a blip in many a strategic radar screen, Commando 121 transferred from Iraq to Pakistan. On October 25 of last year, Asia Times Online reported that Boykin had been appointed in charge of the hunt for Osama bin Laden. European intelligence sources tell Asia Times Online to expect the same scenario "Saddam" for the eventuality of the capture of bin Laden and Taliban spiritual leader Mullah Omar. Bin Laden will be "smoked out", probably on a tip by an Afghan tribal leader willing to make a cool US$25 million. And all credit will go to the secretive Commando 121, which is known to comprise navy Seals and commandos from the army's Delta Force.
----------------
The information minister insists that Pakistan has not received from Washington any satellite pictures of bin Laden, al-Zawahiri or the al-Qaeda top 50 hiding in Pakistani territory. But much more interesting is his current estimation that US forces "would never enter Pakistan". Pakistan may have "sealed the border" with Afghanistan, but how to unseal it for the Americans is a matter to be discussed face-to-face by Rumsfeld and Musharraf this week. For this meeting, Rumsfeld can draw on his experience of discussing touchy issues with former CIA asset Saddam back in Baghdad in 1983.
--------------------
And what if bin Laden decides not to follow the script? According to sources close to the Pakistani newspaper Khabrain, bin Laden has made his seven bodyguards take an oath to kill him in the event that he is in any danger of being arrested. He will try to blow himself up. Western diplomatic sources, on the other hand, prefer to insist that if bin Laden is arrested according to the current Pentagon plan, the whole operation will be kept secret - to be disclosed only a few weeks or days before the American presidential election in November.

The only thing they missed was Dick Chainy and Haliburton staging the attempt on Perv's life.

Posted by Steve 2004-2-25 10:33:14 AM|| 2004-2-25 10:33:14 AM|| Front Page Top

#12 I don't know, Steve. It is a bit convenient that they are telling us that BL left Pakistan and went to Afghanistan...and right after the heavy hitting rumors leaked out, no less.

Besides who cares - more power to the Bush admin if they pull that one off.

If I were going to stage his capture....hmmm...the rat hole's been used...I think I would.....find him in a bar in Florida, watching the dancing girls, drinking whiskey, driving a fast car and living large at the Penthouse mansion. heh, heh.

Posted by B 2004-2-25 11:14:36 AM|| 2004-2-25 11:14:36 AM|| Front Page Top

#13 and...(continued from above)..
for the photo-op I'd have the commandos storm in to catch a laughing, drunken, Binny giving Larry Flint a lap dance in his wheel chair,(with a backdrop of blonde dancing girls on stage exposing $1,000 bills in their g-strings)...and I'd get a good close up of Binny's face as it registers the surprise..

hahahahah. I can see it on the cover of the Enquirer now!!

Posted by B 2004-2-25 11:28:52 AM|| 2004-2-25 11:28:52 AM|| Front Page Top

#14 he in mexico playing soccer.

Posted by muck4doo 2004-2-25 11:30:54 AM|| 2004-2-25 11:30:54 AM|| Front Page Top

#15 B, you've got it all wrong. He'll be caught coming out of Iran with a suitcase containing a North Korean nuke, Saddam's missing anthrax and a check from Teresa Heniz Kerry. Oh, and he'll be wearing a Dixie Chick T-shirt.

Posted by Steve 2004-2-25 11:35:41 AM|| 2004-2-25 11:35:41 AM|| Front Page Top

#16 lol!

Posted by B 2004-2-25 11:36:37 AM|| 2004-2-25 11:36:37 AM|| Front Page Top

#17 LOL, Steve.

Headlines required for this one.
How about

Chicks Dick Coughs Up Kerry Flu, Heat to Come.
(BillBoard)

Posted by Shipman 2004-2-25 4:36:51 PM|| 2004-2-25 4:36:51 PM|| Front Page Top

22:15 smn1957
01:30 Lucky
01:25 Lucky
00:25 Old Patriot
00:00 mojo
23:56 Old Patriot
23:51 Old Patriot
23:38 Old Patriot
23:18 .com
23:16 Old Patriot
22:48 tu3031
22:37 Robert Crawford
22:34 tu3031
22:27 True German Ally
22:25 True German Ally
22:22 True German Ally
22:19 True German Ally
22:18 Cyber Sarge
22:17 tu3031
22:13 tu3031
22:07 tu3031
22:02 tu3031
22:01 phil_b
22:00 tu3031