Bin Laden Caught...?

[quietman1920]

A friend told me they just heard a blurb on BBC News 24 that The Bearded One has been caught. Has anyone heard anything...?

[Horatio]

Nothing on CNN or Sky News [img]smile.gif[/img]

Nothing on the BBC website.

[Dreamer128]

Lets keep our fingers crossed [img]smile.gif[/img]
Edit: I sure hope he isnt arrested in Europe. We cannot send him to the US, and that guy is like a magnet for terrorists...

[ 03-06-2003, 12:57 PM: Message edited by: Dreamer128 ]

[Jorath Calar]

Not likely.

[johnny]

Is it April foolsday yet ?

[Charlie]

Nope, there is some speculation and rumour (I stress rumour, apparently from Washington). Apparently B.L's number 3 is singing like a bird....more rumours?
It'd be GREAT if they had/have caught him (I personally can't see it but you never know I guess). What worries me is that they could actually be inches away but these rumours alert him.

Is it all propoganda?

[Timber Loftis]

Bin Laden is alive, well, and was recently seen by the Muslim paparatzi vacationing in Pakistan.

Today's NY Times:

Pakistanis Say Suspect Described Recent Meeting With bin Laden
By RAYMOND BONNER with DAVID JOHNSTON

SLAMABAD, Pakistan, March 5 — Osama bin Laden was in Pakistan as recently as last month and met there with his chief operational lieutenant, Pakistani security officials said today.

The officials said material seized on Saturday during the arrest of the lieutenant, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, showed that Mr. Mohammed met with Mr. bin Laden sometime in February, possibly in Rawalpindi, the city adjacent to Islamabad where Mr. Mohammed was discovered on Saturday.

"There is now no doubt that he is alive and well," a senior Pakistani government official said of Mr. bin Laden in an interview. "We have documents that show he is alive and in this region."

Officials in Washington said today that they knew of no specific information that would show the two men had recently met. But they saw a meeting between the terrorist leader and his main lieutenant as plausible and said it would suggest not only that Mr. bin Laden remained in charge of the terror organization but also that planning was under way for a major attack.

Mr. bin Laden has eluded a worldwide manhunt for more than a year. American authorities have been uncertain of his location since the American bombing of his hideout in Tora Bora, a mountainous region of Afghanistan, in late 2001 — though he is believed to have escaped the attack. American intelligence officials have ascribed two recently released audiotapes to Mr. bin Laden, but firm proof of his survival has remained elusive.

The senior Pakistani official said the information that Mr. bin Laden and Mr. Mohammed met in February came from documents, CD-ROM's and a computer discovered at the time of Mr. Mohammed's arrest.

In a separate interview, a second Pakistani official said that Mr. Mohammed had told his captors during the raid of meeting with Mr. bin Laden a month ago at a site that Mr. Mohammed refused to specify.

"Praise be to Allah, our sheik is alive," the official quoted Mr. Mohammed as saying. "I met him only one month ago."

In the past, Mr. bin Laden's subordinates have sought him out for meetings in which they obtained his approval of terrorist actions and were given a personal statement of support — especially in "martyrdom operations," in which his followers were likely to die.

Mr. Mohammed was arrested with Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi, who Western intelligence officials say helped arrange the financing for the Sept. 11 plot. They are in American hands at an undisclosed location outside Pakistan, officials said. American authorities have sought to detain senior leaders of Al Qaeda outside the United States as enemy combatants, a status that denies them access to American criminal courts.

Since Mr. Mohammed's arrest, American officials have said he may shed light on Mr. bin Laden's whereabouts as well as on impending Qaeda attacks worldwide.

Today they confirmed that information about Mr. bin Laden was found in the material seized during the arrest. So far, they said, it is not clear how much the information will help in finding him.

The officials also said Mr. Mohammed had begun to cooperate with his captors, although it was not clear whether he had given up any significant information about Mr. bin Laden, other Qaeda leaders or terror strikes being planned inside the United States or elsewhere.

Officials are hoping that the items found at the house in Rawalpindi will help provide information on those subjects. Material seized in the raid have been shipped in boxes to Washington, where investigators are poring over it. Experts consulting in the case include translators, computer specialists, fingerprint examiners and other scientific analysts.

Among the items sent to Washington were cellphones and address books with the names, addresses and phone numbers of people inside the United States and overseas who are now being urgently sought by the F.B.I. and the security services of other countries, according to Americans familiar with the material.

Much more material was found in the raid than authorities have been willing to acknowledge in public. American officials said that even though the processing of documents had just begun, they were optimistic that it would lead to the disruption of terror plots and help in the capture of other Qaeda leaders.

[Sir Taliesin]

I've heard this rumor too! I was told that it was reported on Israeli Radio, but I can't find anything on the net about it. DEBKA.com is reporting it either. I understand that Rush Limbaugh also reported that it was a rumor going around Capital Hill today as well. I hope it's true and that Bush will announce it tonight in his address to the nation. But I don't hold out much hope of it.

[SecretMaster]

If Osama was caught, it would be all over the news. That, and regular broadcasts probably wouldn't be on, every single channel would be having reports on the catching of Osama.