U.S. general optimistic about bin Laden capture (HMMMMM Very interesting!)

Reuters ^ | 2/3/04

[areafiftyone]

KABUL, Feb 3 (Reuters) - The U.S. military's top general in Afghanistan expressed optimism on Tuesday that al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and Taliban chief Mullah Mohammed Omar would be captured this year.

At a ceremony marking the shift of the U.S. headquarters in Afghanistan to Kabul, Lieutenant-General David Barno gave the most optimistic assessment yet by a U.S. commander on prospects for capturing bin Laden, the world's most wanted man.

"Their day has ended and this year will decisively sound the death knell of their movements in Afghanistan," Barno said.

"We are clearly focused on the leadership," he added at a news conference later. "This is important year, Afghanistan is coming out of a long difficult period, and I think this is going to be very very critical year for us here."

Asked whether he was optimistic about capturing bin Laden, Omar and allied militant leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar this year, he said moving the headquarters to Kabul from Bagram air base to the north of the capital would help coordinate intelligence work.

"So I am optimistic," he said.

The whereabouts of bin Laden and Mullah Omar have remained a mystery since U.S-led troops toppled the Taliban regime in 2001 for harbouring the al Qaeda network blamed for the September 11 attacks on the United States.

U.S. and Afghan officials have said that the men are thought to be hiding out in the mountains of the rugged tribal belt between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Barno's comments came ahead of presidential elections in Afghanistan due to be held in June as well as U.S. President George W. Bush's bid for re-election in November.

He said the aim was to hold Afghan elections on time, despite warnings from the United Nations and aid agencies that the process will be hampered by militant violence or hijacked by powerful regional leaders in President Hamid Karzai's U.S.-backed government.

The period since August has been the bloodiest in Afghanistan since the Taliban's fall, with more than 500 people killed in clashes around the country.

Barno said the 12,000-strong U.S.-led force in Afghanistan would confine its activities to Afghanistan, while the Pakistani army would pursue the same objectives on its side of the border.

[philosofy123]

Show me the money!

[latrans]

Such optimism!

[InvisibleChurch]

dead or alive, it must stink to be obl

[Dead Corpse]

"General! FETCH!!!"

That'd be bigger than nailing Saddam. Tie 'em both to the same post and let the fireants have them.

[Cap Huff]

This keeps coming up. They could easily side-step any off-the-cuff assessments. This is at least the second or third time in the last week or so that this much has been said.

[areafiftyone]

I just have this gut feeling that they either have him in custody or they know exactly where he is.

[mikegi]

At a ceremony marking the shift of the U.S. headquarters in Afghanistan to Kabul...

I wonder how long it'll be before a truck bomb goes off at the new HQ?

[Cap Huff]

That's what I'd like to think, but I prefer not to get my hopes up too high. But I just can't imagine them saying things like this without real good reason.

[George W. Bush]

It's about time. He was the one who staged 9/11, not Saddam. We need to get him.

[pt17]

Well, you wouldn't expect the General to be pessimistic and still keep his post/job, would you?

[Dog]

They have some intel..

[bonfire]

"dead or alive, it must stink to be obl"


Literally!

[reagan_fanatic]

Another couple of reports like this and OBL will be tied with Elvis.

[twigs]

I heard Bob Bevalaqua(sp?) on FNC address this over the weekend. He's a straight shooter and does not hesitate to say when he thinks something is wrong. He didn't seem to know what's going on here, but he knows the officer who keeps saying this. Says he speaks very carefully and if he's saying this, he must know something.

I also think this has something to do with Musharev (sp?), president of Pakistan. He's allowing troops to get involved in the search, something that until now he has not done. There's been a lot said that he's doing this because of the assassination attempts on him. Maybe that's true and that has spurred us to double our efforts to get UBL. Without the current pres. of Pakistan, we will have a much harder time carrying out our war on terror.

[Huck]

But I just can't imagine them saying things like this without real good reason.

It doesn't take much to rationalize optimism. Quality staff, motivated troops, resources. What's he supposed to say?

Q: General, do you think we'll get Osama?

A: How the hell should I know? Maybe we will, maybe we won't.

That probably wouldn't fly.

[Dog]

Cap remember that mystery capture in Karachi last month.....wonder who that was..

[Lance Romance]

A capture of that magnitude would stop the mewling over WMD's in Iraq.

[gdyniawitawa]

I agree with you. They probably know now totally his movements and where he is. General would not make that statement without a reason. I think reason why spring offensive was released was not coincidence.