 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| . |  |
. |
More Rumors Of Bin Laden's Death
UPI International Editor Washington (UPI) Jul 17, 2007 Osama bin Laden, like Mark Twain, may complain that rumors of his demise have been greatly exaggerated. Assuming, of course, that he is still alive. Indeed, the mystery surrounding the question of whether bin Laden may have been killed, or possibly died of illness or injuries, persists today, six years after the U.S. government put a $25 million bounty on his head. Is the most wanted -- and the most hated -- man in the United States dead, as some analysts and officials speculate, and many hope? Or has the man responsible for the worst acts of terrorism in the United States managed to elude thousands of special forces from half a dozen countries, and survive hundreds of thousands of pounds of explosives dropped on him by the most sophisticated aircrafts and war machines in the world? Many believe him to have died. There has been no news of bin Laden in more than a year. During that time it was his Egyptian deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri who appeared in a number of video recordings on Islamist Web sites urging the group's followers to continue the struggle. The most recent of such messages was made a week ago during the siege of the Red Mosque in Islamabad by Pakistani troops, in which the deputy chief of al-Qaida asked Pakistanis to rise up against President Pervez Musharraf in retaliation for the storming of the militant-held mosque in which more than 100 Islamist extremists died. But a new video released over this past weekend on an Islamist Internet Web site shows the chief of al-Qaida looking very much alive, much to the delight of his supporters and to the great consternation of many others. Since the United States went on the offensive, trying to hunt him down, time and again there have been multiple reports of his death, some accompanied by detailed explanations; he has not been seen in years; the footage released of him shows him in the wrong season, and so forth and so on. And once again, after months of speculation and absence comes a new video recording showing bin Laden alive. The last recording from bin Laden -- an audiotape -- goes back to July 1, 2006. As with most bin Laden tapes, establishing a date when the new tape was made is difficult given that other than calling for more "martyrdom operations," bin Laden makes no mention of any specific event allowing analysts to place a time stamp on the recording. In the short, less than a 60-second segment taken from a longer piece, bin Laden praises those who die in the name of jihad, or holy war. "Even the Prophet Mohammed had been wishing to be a martyr," says bin Laden. "The happy (man) is the one that God has chosen him to be a martyr." You may call it a coincidence, but at about the same time as the release of this new message from bin Laden the U.S. Senate has just voted -- 87-1 -- to double the reward for the death or capture of al-Qaida's chief to $50 million. Congress may well double it again; the chances of bin Laden being turned in for money should certainly motivate more than one person with knowledge of his whereabouts, but with equal knowledge that they would most likely not live long enough to collect the first installment, let alone spend it. The tape surfaces at a time when the intelligence community is warning that bin Laden's terrorist outfit has regrouped and found new strength and new followers, and that the organization is now looking for ways to infiltrate agents into the United States, all the while plotting to strike at America. Indeed, as United Press International reported last week, a report from the 16 U.S. intelligence agencies shows that the al-Qaida terrorist network is still a potent enemy despite an all-out war waged against it almost everywhere in the world by the United States. The report, called a National Intelligence Estimate, stipulates that the terrorist group has actually grown beyond the point where it was on Sept. 11, 2001, gaining more recruits and sympathizers in a number of countries. Still according to the NIE, bin Laden and his followers have been able to find refuge in Pakistan's troubled Northwest Frontier territory. Appearing before members of Congress last week, intelligence analysts said that al-Qaida had created a safe haven in Pakistan's remote provinces. It is there, in the remote wilderness of Pakistan along the border with Afghanistan, that many intelligence analysts believe bin Laden has found refuge. Then again, that's assuming bin Laden is still alive. In which case, why does he choose not to put to rest the rumors of his premature death? Certainly his ego must be clashing with his inner voice -- and his security advisers -- calling for him to perpetuate the mystery.
Source: United Press International Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links National Intelligence Estimate The Long War - Doctrine and Application
New Method For Making Improved Radiation Detectors
Upton NY (SPX) Jun 05, 2007Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory, with funding from DOE's National Nuclear Security Administration*, have devised ways to improve the performance of radiation detectors, such as those used by law enforcement agencies to locate and identify radioactive material. |
|
|
| The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2006 - SpaceDaily.AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA PortalReports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additionalcopyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement |
