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Claims of the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden seem to be as common as sightings of David Duchovny at porn shops. It is tempting to dismiss all such accounts as hearsay and rumors, but current reports focus on three areas of the world as the most likely hideout for the globe’s most wanted man: Parachinar, Pakistan; Chitra, Pakistan; and most shockingly, the Islamic Republic of Iran. While it is often argued bin Laden would never receive harbor on Iranian territory, this is the location most identified by eyewitness reports available to the public, allowing for a detailed chronology of his...

Osama bin Laden’s passion for falcon hunting may have come close to doing him in two years ago, when an American falconer working with a Tajik smuggler and a team of former special forces operators planned to kidnap the fugitive terrorist during a hunt in northeastern Iran, according to one of the people involved in the scheme. The plan was scuttled when FBI officials in Boston threatened to arrest members of the snatch team for violating the Neutrality Act — even though the State Department has been running a “Rewards for Justice” program offering private citizens up to $25 million...

If the audio message purportedly from al Qaeda's deputy leader is authentic, we have finally heard from a representative of the terror organization about the American election. It was wholly expected that there would be such a tape, though the content, with its references to Malcolm X might be considered somewhat surprising --although in recent tapes al Qaeda's leaders have occasionally referenced critics of American society and foreign policy such as Noam Chomsky and Malcolm X. On the tape, the deputy leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, seeks to make President-elect Barack Obama seem like an apostate for his support of Israel and...

War On Terror: Halloween came and went this election year with no "October surprise" from Osama bin Laden. Is he busy preparing an attack? More like too frightened to rear his ugly head.The reason al-Qaida's kingpin issued no videotaped message this time — or at least during October, as many presumed he would — has more to do with the pressure we've finally brought to bear on his redoubts inside Pakistan. U.S. forces have launched 19 drone-fired and other missile strikes against al-Qaida and Taliban targets within the past eight weeks alone. One of them took out the No. 4-ranking...

MIRANSHAH/ WANA: A total of 33 people, majority of them foreigners, were killed in two separate U.S. drone strikes in Pak-Afghan bordering areas of North and South Waziristan late Friday. In the first attack two missiles were fired that destroyed a vehicle and a house in Mir Ali, a town in the troubled North Waziristan tribal region that is a known hub of Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants, sources said. The latest targeted an Al-Qaeda operative, possibly an Iraqi, but officials citing local intelligence reports said he was not believed to be among the dead. Officials gave the targeted militant's name...

ISLAMABAD (AFP) — An Egyptian Al-Qaeda operative described by the United States as the terror network's propaganda chief was killed in a missile strike in Pakistan, security officials said Saturday. Abu Jihad al-Masri was among several rebels killed when two missiles fired by a suspected US spy drone hit a truck in the North Waziristan tribal region bordering Afghanistan on Friday night, they said. The United States has offered a one-million-dollar bounty for the death or capture of al-Masri, who has appeared in an anti-Western video introduced by Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden's number two. "The strike was aimed at...

U.S. intelligence agencies expect al-Qaida to release a message from Osama bin Laden just before or after next week's presidential election, ABC News reports. Sources told ABC that intelligence analysts believe bin Laden's followers may consider him irrelevant if he is not heard from at such a critical time.

ISLAMABAD: World's most wanted fugitive, al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden is reportedly writing a book on the struggle of his terrorist network that dispenses money, logistical support and training to radical groups in over 50 countries. The book, being written in Arabic, will later be translated into English. Bin Laden decided to write the book to counter "propaganda" against al-Qaida, Geo News channel reported. Bin Laden is writing the book with the assistance of a "young man with a Middle Eastern background who will later translate the text into English", the channel reported. The book will reportedly highlight atrocities...

PST, Friday, October 24, 2008     KARACHI: Al-Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden is busy these days writing a book in Arabic language on the so-called struggle of his outfit, according to al-Qaeda sources. The book will be later translated into English, the sources said, adding that Bin Laden decided to pen a book on his organization as a response to the ‘negative propaganda and insufficient information’ about al-Qaeda. “He is writing the book with the assistance of a young man with a Middle Eastern background who will later translate the text into English,” sources said. In the book, Osama has...

KHAR, Pakistan — Pakistan's army said Saturday that it has captured a key militant stronghold near the Afghan border, a breakthrough in an offensive against the Taliban and Al Qaeda that has sent nearly 200,000 civilians fleeing for safety. Maj. Gen. Tariq Khan said government forces captured Loi Sam, a strategic town in the Bajur tribal region, earlier this week "and killed the militants who were hiding there."

LAPD Chief William Bratton warns that Osama Bin Laden and al-Qaeda could be preparing an attack to disrupt or influence the U.S. elections. Bratton said in a New York Daily News opinion piece, "Bin Laden probably realizes it could become markedly more difficult to paint the United States as the great Satan with a new president who is admired internationally."

A senior al Qaeda operational commander is believed to have been killed recently in Pakistan's South Waziristan region, several U.S. officials told CNN Wednesday. The officials identified the man as Khalid Habib, who is considered to have been an operations coordinator for al Qaeda in the tribal region along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border where al Qaeda leaders, including Osama bin Laden, are believed to be hiding. One official described him as the "chief of external operations" for al Qaeda. Officially, the U.S. intelligence assessment is that Habib was "probably" killed last Thursday, because there is no final DNA match, but there...

I have, from good and reliable sources, information suggesting that the Hon. R. Barclay Surrick will come down with an order and memorandum either on Thursday or Friday.... Common sense, for the past two months, has told me that Philip Berg's case will be eventually dismissed on grounds of lack of standing. Nevertheless, I have had a gut feeling that Judge Surrick may very well just surprise us all -- the information I have been getting over the past 24-36 hours reinforces that gut feeling. Thank you, and keep your fingers crossed for not only a decision, but a favorable...

Los Angeles Police Chief William J. Bratton announced Wednesday that he believes Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden might try to influence next month's U.S. presidential election through a terrorist attack or some less dramatic tactic. "With so much at stake in these elections, Bin Laden will probably attempt to make his opinion count," wrote Bratton in an article published on the opinion page of the New York Daily News. Bratton co-wrote the article with R.P. Eddy, former director of counter-terrorism at the National Security Council.

Appearing on "Meet the Press" Sunday, Colin Powell claimed one reason he is endorsing Barack Obama is that fellow Republicans are spreading falsehoods about him. Specifically, Powell claimed Republicans are spreading the claim that Obama is a "Muslim." "I'm also troubled by, not what Sen. McCain says, but what members of the party say, and it is permitted to be said such things as: 'Well, you know that Mr. Obama is a Muslim,'" Powell said. He quickly continued: "Well, the correct answer is: He is not a Muslim. He's a Christian. He's always been a Christian." But Powell's statement is...

Accused terror suspect Jack Thomas heard Osama bin Laden tell an al-Qaeda training camp before the September 11 attacks that "something big was going to happen," a Melbourne court heard on Wednesday. Former Melbourne taxi driver Joseph Terrence Thomas told ABC current affairs program Four Corners in 2005 that he did not know the al Farouk camp in Afghanistan he attended was an al-Qaeda training camp. In the unedited version of the Four Corners interview played to a Victorian Supreme Court jury on Wednesday, Thomas, 35, says he travelled to Afghanistan to help the country get back on its feet...

The U.S. military says the No. 2 leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq has been killed by Coalition forces during an Oct. 5 operation in the northern city of Mosul. The military has positively identified the insurgent leader as a Moroccan known as Abu Qaswarah or Abu Sara.

CBS) Shortly after 9/11, the Pentagon ordered a top secret team of American commandos into Afghanistan with a single, simple order: kill Osama bin Laden. It was America's best chance to eliminate the leader of al Qaeda. The inside story of exactly what happened in that mission, and how close it came to its objective has never been told until now. The man you are about to meet was the officer in command, leading a team from the U.S. Army's mysterious Delta Force - a unit so secret, it's often said Delta doesn't exist. But you are about to see...

(CBS) Shortly after 9/11, the Pentagon ordered a top secret team of American commandos into Afghanistan with a single, simple order: kill Osama bin Laden. It was America's best chance to eliminate the leader of al Qaeda. The inside story of exactly what happened in that mission, and how close it came to its objective has never been told until now.

Despite the lies told by the press and by John Kerry, special forces did in fact try to kill Bin Laden at Tora Bora. The biggest challenge in the operation was in fact the terrain. Afghan fighters who were to actually lead the charge ended up turning on the US forces during a cease fire they had with al Qaeda. Then there is the big issue as told by the officer,

Howie just posted that a Al Qaeda tape is out featuring Adam Gadahn...it is recent as it mentions the resignation of Mushy and the new Pakistani leader Zardari. Link Jawa Report

Al-Qaeda's second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri narrowly escaped arrest by the Pakistani military, according to an Islamist militant leader. Naji Ibrahim, leader of the Islamist militant organisation, Jemaah Islamiyah made the claim in an interview with Egyptian daily al-Misriun. The Pakistani military had reportedly located al-Zawahiri's hiding place in the lawless tribal areas controlled by the Pakistani Taliban, also thought to be a haven for Al-Qaeda leader, Osama Bin Laden. The US State Department has offered a 25 million dollar reward for the Egyptian-born doctor, who has delivered numerous audio and video messages urging militants to continue the fight against the United...

Taliban leader Mullah Omar has urged United States and NATO forces in Afghanistan to withdraw or face a similar defeat to occupying Soviet troops a generation ago. In a rare message posted on militant websites and monitored by the US-based SITE intelligence group, Omar offered a bargain to the US-led forces that drove the Taliban from power in 2001 but are now fighting a fierce insurgency by the Islamist militia. "Reconsider your wrong decision of wrong occupation and seek a safe exit to withdraw your forces," said the message, which the Taliban said came from Omar. "If you leave our...

Pakistani police capture al Qaeda's Karachi commander By Bill RoggioSeptember 26, 2008 10:57 AM Pakistani police detained a senior leader af al Qaeda's network in Karachi during raids in the southern city as more information on al Qaeda's network inPakistan comes to light. Police captured a senior terrorist leader named Rahimullah during a early morning raid in the port city. Rahimullah's capture led to a follow-on raid that targeted a suicide bombing cell. Three terrorists were killed during the raid after throwing hand grenades at the police. A gun battle and an explosion was reported. Police indicated the bombers blew...

The number of Muslims around the world who say suicide attacks are acceptable has fallen sharply in the past six years, as has Muslims' confidence in Osama bin Laden, a survey by a US think-tank showed Thursday. But, the Pew Research Center warned in its Global Attitudes Project, significant minorities of Muslims in eight countries surveyed continue to endorse suicide bombings and support the Al-Qaeda leader. In Lebanon, the number of Muslims who said suicide attacks can be justified often or sometimes in defense of Islam fell by 42 percent between 2002 to this year, the study showed. But although...

The U.S. – Pakistan relationship is in crisis. Tensions continue to mount between the Bush Administration and a fractured Pakistani government over violations of Pakistan’s sovereignty by American military forces, and Pakistan’s commitment to the war on terror is growing more tenuous by the day. Because Pakistan either cannot or will not secure its side of the border with Afghanistan, the United States has increasingly felt compelled to act. There is some justification for U.S. actions. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy defines sovereignty as “supreme authority within a territory.” In no way, shape, or form does the Pakistani government have...

DUBAI: The elusive al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden’s literary work will be published soon by an Oxford-educated academic expert in Arabic, according to media reports. Bin Laden's recitals at wedding banquets and other feasts during the 1990s were recorded on tapes recovered from his compound in Afghanistan in 2001 after the 9/11 attacks in the US. They were studied by Professor Flagg Miller, who teaches Arabic poetry at University of California, Davis, the report said. Bin Laden is a skilled poet with clever rhymes and metres, which was one reason why many people taped him and passed recordings around,...

Pakistani authorities both confirm and deny the incident that took place near Angoor Adda where a US raid against alleged terrorist on 3 September resulted in the death of women and children. Pakistani general says his country is ready to defend its territory against anyone. Islamabad (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Pakistani troops fired at US military helicopters forcing them to turn back after they crossed into South Waziristan near Angoor Adda, a village some 30 kilometres from Wana, the region’s largest town. “Our troops did not spare them, opened fire on them and they turned away,” a Pakistani security official said in...

Pakistani troops fire on intruding U.S. choppers By Augustine Anthony 36 minutes ago Pakistani troops fired on two U.S. helicopters that intruded into Pakistani airspace on Sunday night, forcing them to turn back to Afghanistan, a senior Pakistani security official said on Monday. It was the second such incident in a week, and reflects frayed relations with the United States over Pakistan's failure to act more forcibly against Islamist fighters in the tribal lands bordering Afghanistan. The number of missile attacks by U.S. drone aircraft in the remote tribal areas has multiplied in recent weeks. The helicopters violated the border...

(CNN) -- In a video marking the seventh anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks, al Qaeda's top leader in Afghanistan vows more "large-scale" attacks against the United States and its allies. Mullah Omar, chief of the Taliban, is shown in this undated headshot photo. In another segment, the personal adviser to Taliban leader Mullah Omar says al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is alive and well. Al Qaeda leaders featured on the video promise more violence against their enemies... Also on the video is a reading from the will of Saeed al Ghamdi, one of the 19 hijackers involved...

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — DEVELOPING: Pakistan's army spokesman says its forces have orders to open fire if U.S. troops launch another raid across the Afghan border. Pakistani officials issued sharp protests to Washington after helicopters ferried U.S. commandos into Pakistan's South Waziristan region on Sept. 3 for a highly unusual ground attack into a militant stronghold. Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas told The Associated Press that, after the raid, the military told its field commanders to prevent any similar raids. Abbas said that if it was clear that troops had crossed the ill-defined border into Pakistani territory, either on the...

NPR has learned that the raid by helicopter-borne U.S. Special Operations forces in Pakistan last week was not an isolated incident but part of a three-phase plan, approved by President Bush, to strike at Osama bin Laden and top al-Qaida leadership. The plan calls for a much more aggressive military campaign, said one source, familiar with the presidential order, which gives the green light for the military to take part in the operations. The plan represents an 11th-hour effort to hammer al-Qaida until the Bush administration leaves office, two government officials told NPR. "Definitely, the gloves have come off," said...

The Pakistani Army has been given orders to retaliate against any unilateral strike by the Afghanistan-based US troops inside the country. Army Spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas confirmed the orders in a brief interview with Geo News on late Thursday night. The decision was made on the first day of the two-day meeting of Pakistan's top military commanders to discuss the US coalition's ground and air assault in Waziristan region which killed dozens of civilians.

Frustrated by repeated dead ends in the search for Osama bin Laden, U.S. and Pakistani officials said they are questioning long-held assumptions about their strategy and are shifting tactics to intensify the use of the unmanned but lethal Predator drone spy plane in the mountains of western Pakistan. The number of Hellfire missile attacks by Predators in Pakistan has more than tripled, with 11 strikes reported by Pakistani officials this year, compared with three in 2007. The attacks are part of a renewed effort to cripple al-Qaeda's central command that began early last year and has picked up speed as...

McCain says knows how to capture bin Laden 03 Sep 2008 23:44:01 GMT Source: Reuters ST. PAUL, Sept 3 (Reuters) - Republican candidate John McCain said on Wednesday that if elected president, he will capture al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. "President Clinton had opportunities to get Osama bin Laden. President Bush had opportunities to get Osama bin Laden. I know how to do it and I'll do it," he told ABC's "World News" in an interview. "I understand and I have the knowledge and the background and the experience to make the right judgments. Senator Obama does not," McCain...

Pakistan's security forces have missed the opportunity to capture al-Qaeda's second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, a senior government official has said. Rehman Malik, the adviser to Pakistan's prime minister on security affairs, said on Monday they also received a report al-Zawahiri's wife had been in the tribal region of Mohmand. Pakistani forces stormed the location but did not find the couple, he said, without indicating when the raid took place. He said al-Zawahri moved between Mohmand and the Afghan provinces of Kunar and Paktika."We certainly had traced him at one place, but we missed the chance. So he's moving in Mohmand and,...

The Dutch intelligence service, the AIVD, has called off an operation aimed at infiltrating and sabotaging Iran's weapons industry due to an assessment that a US attack on the Islamic Republic's nuclear program is imminent, according to a report in the country's De Telegraaf newspaper on Friday. The report claimed that the Dutch operation had been "extremely successful," and had been stopped because the US military was planning to hit targets that were "connected with the Dutch espionage action." The impending air-strike on Iran was to be carried out by unmanned aircraft "within weeks," the report claimed, quoting "well placed"...

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistan's army claimed Monday to have routed Taliban militants in a stronghold near the Afghan border but turned up no sign of Osama bin Laden or al-Qaida No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri.

The US has targeted an al Qaeda safe house inside Pakistan's tribal areas for the second day in a row. A missile strike hit a home near the town of Miramshah in the Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan. Six people were reported killed in the attack. A woman, a child, and several unidentified "foreigners" were among those killed in the attack. Eight were reported wounded. The North Waziristan strike is the ninth confirmed cross-border strike by the US against al Qaeda and Taliban safe houses in the tribal areas this year, and the third such attack since Aug. 20....

(CNN) -- An airstrike by Pakistani fighter jets killed more than 30 Taliban fighters, including an alleged high-ranking Taliban commander, a government spokesman said Saturday.

Let's face it. John McCain's a loner with a stern, "it's-a-dangerous-world" message and fairly cold eyes. He isn't charismatic. And no one can accuse him of being a sunny guy. In fact, he's better known for his short, hot temper. So how's McCain going to overcome America's infatuation with Barack Obama - a man who has bewitched voters with his smile, enchanted youth with the novelty of his candidacy, and lured war-weary Americans with his message of "change" and promises of free, universal everything? The answer is clear. McCain needs Alaska's Gov. Sarah Palin, who will connect with voters as...

GENEVA - Switzerland's foreign minister told top diplomats on Monday she favours direct talks with Osama bin Laden to tackle the threat of terrorism. Micheline Calmy-Rey, who has raised both eyebrows and hackles with her controversial style, told Swiss ambassadors gathered in the capital Bern that they needed to talk to "heavyweight political figures" on the world stage even if they are considered persona non grata by other powers. "This even goes as far as sitting down at the same table as Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden," she said. Switzerland does not have any list of banned organisations to which...

TRANSLATION FROM BABELFISH The Swiss Foreign Minister lends “to sit down with the table of Bin Laden” LEMONDE.FR with AFP | 25.08.08 | 21:11 evant nearly 170 ambassadors at this meeting in Bern, the Swiss Foreign Minister, Micheline Calmy-Rey, declared themselves lends, Monday August 25, “to sit down with the table of the Al-Qaida Usama Bin Laden leader” to engage a dialogue. The Swiss minister breaks a taboo thus, while becoming the first responsible for the diplomacy of a democratic country to consider a direct dialogue with the chief of an terrorist organization. “The refusal of the dialogue is in...

SENIOR AL QAEDA COMMANDER ABU SAEED AL-MASRI KILLED IN PAKISTAN - SECURITY OFFICIAL

C.I.A. Outlines Pakistan Links With Militants By MARK MAZZETTI and ERIC SCHMITT WASHINGTON — A top Central Intelligence Agency official traveled secretly to Islamabad this month to confront Pakistan’s most senior officials with new information about ties between the country’s powerful spy service and militants operating in Pakistan’s tribal areas, according to American military and intelligence officials. The C.I.A. emissary presented evidence showing that members of the spy service had deepened their ties with some militant groups that were responsible for a surge of violence in Afghanistan, possibly including the suicide bombing this month of the Indian Embassy in Kabul,...

GUANTANAMO BAY U.S. NAVAL BASE, Cuba (Reuters) - Osama bin Laden wanted to introduce himself to America with an ABC television interview months before al Qaeda bombed two U.S. embassies in Africa, the interviewer testified on Tuesday. Former ABC correspondent John Miller, testifying at the first Guantanamo war crimes trial, also recalled comparing bin Laden with U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt as he made small talk during filming of the May 28, 1998, interview at an Afghanistan mountain hideout. It was a rare opportunity for an American journalist, and Miller detailed a movie-thriller route to get to bin Laden, complete with...

He told CNN's Wolf Blitzer, "We have various options. The Nuremberg Trials are certainly an example of the kind of tribunal that we could move forward with. I don't think we'd have any difficulty in devising an international -- internationally supported mechanism that would mete out justice. There's no problem there." McCain said it would be a "good thing to reveal to the world the enormity of this guy's crimes, and his intentions, which are still there."

Hundreds of Nato troops took positions across North Waziristan Tuesday, creating panic among the already terrified tribesmen. Nato troops started arriving near the border Monday night. “Some of them had been brought in choppers and others by armoured personnel carriers. The troops had also shifted heavy arms and ammunition including tanks, heavy machineguns and artillery to the border,” said Haji Yaqub, of Ghulam Khan. The troops deployed near Ghulam Khan, Saidgai, Shawal and Mir Safar. “They started setting up bunkers very close to the border while gunship helicopters are continuously hovering over the border,” said Roohullah, of Saidgai. He said...

On this morning's "Morning Joe" on MSNBC, co-host Tiki Barber asked guest Dan Rather about his feelings regarding the recent Jesse Jackson imbroglio -- his "off mike" comments about Barack Obama. In the middle of praising Jackson, Rather referred to Barack Obama as "Osama bin Laden" -- and none of the four "Morning Joe" co-hosts reacted (nor did Rather). Question: Will the media pick this up? That one of America's longest-serving network news anchors referred to one of the two presidential candidates as the world's most wanted terrorist -- and no one in the room seemed to notice? While you...

Bin Laden happy with September 11 toll, war court told Wed Jul 23, 2008 1:58pm EDT By Jim Loney GUANTANAMO BAY U.S. NAVAL BASE, Cuba (Reuters) - Osama bin Laden's driver overheard the al Qaeda leader saying he was happy about the death toll in the September 11 attacks and thought the hijacked plane that crashed in Pennsylvania was shot down, according to one of the driver's interrogators. The evidence by Ali Soufan, a former FBI agent, was meant to support the case by prosecutors at the Guantanamo Bay war crimes tribunal that the driver, Salim Hamdan, was close to...