Bergen: Bin Laden, CIA links hogwash

CNN ^ | August 15, 2006 | CNN, Peter Bergen

[GeorgiaYankee]

Q: If it's true that bin Laden once worked for the CIA, what makes you so sure that he isn't still? Anne Busigin, Toronto, Canada

BERGEN: This is one of those things where you cannot put it out of its misery.

The story about bin Laden and the CIA -- that the CIA funded bin Laden or trained bin Laden -- is simply a folk myth. There's no evidence of this. In fact, there are very few things that bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri and the U.S. government agree on. They all agree that they didn't have a relationship in the 1980s. And they wouldn't have needed to. Bin Laden had his own money, he was anti-American and he was operating secretly and independently.

The real story here is the CIA didn't really have a clue about who this guy was until 1996 when they set up a unit to really start tracking him.

Q: How is it the richest country with the most powerful military machine ever to walk this Earth cannot locate and eliminate a single man? Steven Harper, Arlington, Washington

BERGEN: A good response to that is Eric Rudolph, the Atlanta Centennial Olympic Park bomber, evaded capture for five years and he was captured about five miles from where he was living in the first place -- meaning if you have somebody who is motivated and you have a support network and you don't make stupid mistakes, you can evade capture anywhere inside the United States.

Bin Laden, of course, isn't in the United States. He's most likely in Pakistan, where the U.S. military isn't even allowed to go in. So, the problem of finding one person is much harder than you might imagine.

[GeorgiaYankee]

from CNN, of all places!

[GeronL]

The DUmmies will likely pooh pooh this story as coming from just another corporate media shill. Thats what they usually do.

[traditional1]

We can't "locate" 20 million illegals in this country, either, and they have a POLITICAL support group in place that won't even enforce existing law. How can we find ONE man among BILLIONS, when we can't find 20 million amongst about 300 million?

[postaldave]

it's the be like fox or go out of business model.

also called the tell the truth in your news and people might believe what your saying business model.

[Calpernia]

>>>>The story about bin Laden and the CIA -- that the CIA funded bin Laden or trained bin Laden -- is simply a folk myth. There's no evidence of this.

Um, not quite.

Ask John Murtha about the Defense Appropriation Funds he signed to finance Charlie Wilson's war.

No, OBL was not an official Federally recognized creation. But our ROGUES with agendas knew and financed the Taliban.

[KC_Conspirator]

These people are rotten, hate-America filth, repeating lie after lie in fits of mania.

[Ken522]

Earlier posts have mentioned that Oliver North told a congressional committee that he was fearful of Bin Laden back in the 80s ... I cannot source this, though.

[justshutupandtakeit]

Since throwing around numbers is a popular sport are we sure it isn't 100 million?

[justshutupandtakeit]

That is another falsehood. Did not happen.

[Calpernia]

It wasn't OBL. That is a Net legend.

[Lurker]

That was Abu Nidal.

He was later taken in by the Iraqi government where he mysteriously caught 7 or 8 bullets.

L

[ASA Vet]

[ASA Vet]

Elvis Bin Laden Ping

[Calpernia]

Here is an FR thread on that too:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1564281/posts
Lt.Col. Oliver North - contras - OBL/Abu Nidal

[donmeaker]

The Pashtun dominated Taliban was created by the Pashtun dominated Pakistani Intelligence service, AFTER the Soviets were thrown out. The Pashtuns in Pakistan were upset that Uzbeks and Tajiks had "too much influence".

Our ally in the 1980s was the "Northern Alliance" which was the enemy of the Taliban.

[ndt]

"These people are rotten, hate-America filth"

Did you actually read this? What "hate-America filth" are you talking about? That the CIA DID NOT hire OBL?

[Calpernia]

Are you saying this is not true?

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1489385/posts
My Enemy's Enemy by George Crile

[traditional1]

"are we sure it isn't 100 million?

If you count the anchor-illegals-offspring (those "persons", per the Constitution, vs. Citizens), it might be closer to 100 million, I think. About 20 million is the number usually ascribed to "illegals", but the supposedly legal "anchor persons/offspring" would approach at least double that number.

[vbmoneyspender]

No, OBL was not an official Federally recognized creation. But our ROGUES with agendas knew and financed the Taliban.

Please. The Taliban didn't even come into existence until 5 years after the Soviets had left Afghanistan.

[spinestein]

I'm tired of listening to ignorant boobs ask the question, "How come the richest country in the world can't locate one man, Osama Bin Laden?"

Answer:

1) It's self evident that it's easy for any person with access to foreign countries which are off limits to most westerners, to hide in those countries without being caught by Americans.

2) It's tough to find and identify a single, mangled, rotting corpse in one of thousands of unidentified caves somewhere in the remote mountains of Afghanistan.