Bin Laden 'On The Run,' US Official Says(Ambassador J. Cofer Black, counter-terrorism office)

VOA ^ | Feb 28 2004 | Michael Kitchen

[Dog]

Bin Laden 'On The Run,' US Official Says Michael Kitchen Islamabad 28 Feb 2004, 15:13 UTC

A top U.S. anti-terrorism official says al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden is on the run,<./b> amid what officials say is an intensifying hunt for fugitive members of the terror network. The U.S. official says he believes Osama bin Laden will be captured soon. Ambassador J. Cofer Black, coordinator for the State Department counter-terrorism office, say the United States and its allies will find Osama bin Laden.

"I feel confident that it will be sooner rather than later, although I'm not going to speculate on the exact date," he said.

In an interview with VOA, Ambassador Black said the United States knows Osama bin Laden is still in touch with other al-Qaida leaders, though on a limited basis.

"[The contacts are] infrequent, imperfect, but he still has contact. He has some limited form of contact," he said.

The U.S. government has blamed Osama bin Laden and his organization for the terror attacks on New York and Washington on September 11, 2001.

Ambassador Black says that, although Osama bin Laden still evidently takes a role in planning al-Qaida operations, the majority of his focus is now spent avoiding capture.

"He's on the run. He's hiding. He spends most of his time trying to keep from getting caught," he said.

Mr. Black was in Islamabad Saturday, meeting with Pakistani counterparts to discuss anti-terrorism issues.

Pakistan launched a military operation Tuesday aimed at flushing out suspected foreign terrorists in the semi-autonomous South Waziristan agency.

On Saturday, the Pakistan military says one of its checkpoints in the South Waziristan capital of Wana engaged in an early morning shootout with an unknown vehicle.

Eleven people were reportedly killed in the incident, including civilian bystanders.

Military officials report 16 arrests following the incident, and say an investigation is under way.

The military says the firefight coincided with a mortar attack on their forces in Wana.

South Waziristan is located along the Afghan-Pakistani border, where Osama bin Laden is believed to be hiding.

[FreedomCalls]

South Waziristan? is that just east of North Shitizstan?

No, but Chechnya really is right beside Ingushitia. Look it up on a map!

[MinuteGal]

I don't think OBL will off himself. Most meglomaniacs (Hitler excepted, of course, like to send their suicidal followers out to die, but are cowards themselves.

Bill, you mentioned Harp Lager. Is this something that will go good with my corned beef and cabbage on St. Paddy's Day? An inquiring part-Irish lassie wants to know!

Leni

[gatorgriz]

I hope we catch him alive, and get good fiilm of the dentist checking his teeth. Say "aghhh."

And a Dr. checking his beard for lice...

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Good idea, Lets drink to catching Bin Laden by St Paddy's day.

[Grampa Dave]

I have felt that the OBL went to hell in December 2001.

If Task Force 121 has left Iraq and is the Afghanistan/Pakistan area, he may be alive.

Is so, his days of so called freedom are numbered.

[Grampa Dave]

Below is the link to Task Force 121 threads on Free Republic:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/k-taskforce121/browse

[Seth1]

Can you imagine? The DUers would be heartbroken.

[Grampa Dave]

If Ole Sammy Been Laden and his Islaodumbos are still alive, the link below to Task Force 121 might be of interest.

http://search.yahoo.com/search?x=op&va=Task+Force+121&va_vt=any&vp=Task+Force+121&vp_vt=any&vst=0&vd=all&fl=0&vf=all&ei=ISO-8859-1&vm=p&n=20

Sammy, it doesn't do any good to run and try to hide.

[LibWhacker]

I hope he pulls a Saddam and spits on some special forces operator who can benchpress 500lbs.

[contessa machiaveli]

i think we've got him but we're waiting to put all the ducks in a row. meaning, we're on hyper-alert just in case he's given orders to his orcs to mount a terrorist attack.

we shall see. borrowinf the words from phil collins...i can feel something's in the air tonight.

[blam]

"I hope we catch him alive, and get good fiilm of the dentist checking his teeth. Say "aghhh." "

Maybe it will cause the Islamists to riot and we'll shoot more of them.

[TShaunK]

I hope to see OBL being de-loused from some 18 year old irish kid from Boston thats in the national guard.or some jewish kid from NY City thats in the guard.

[boxerblues]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=586&e=5&u=/nm/20040228/wl_nm/iran_alqaeda_report_dc


From Rueters
"US denies Bin Laden Capture"

[leftcoaster]

I've been in the Don't-count-your-chickens camp for a long time, and I've kind of thought that all this recent chatter was just our boys shaking the tree. But I gotta admit, this is starting to sound interesting. If it were all just hot air, W. would have told his people to put a sock in it by now.

Some thoughts to explain this:

1. The Bush Admin is trying to dispell the "They already got him on ice somewhere" theorists. They know it is just a matter of time before OBL is confirmed captured or dead anyway, and ginning up the chatter about the pursuit will lend credence to the capture. To not do this will allow the "October Surprise" false scenarios that will then be raised by the McCauliffs of the world to detract from the accomplishment. In fact, I think the false capture rumors are nothing but a scam to innoculate the Dems against the political results of the capture when it comes. They hope to get everyone involved in the capture to try to defend that it really happened how/when they said, much like Bush's National Guard service in Alabama.

2. The other possibility is that raising more awareness of the hunt is part of the plan to pressure OBL's gang into making some mistakes--perhaps flush him out to release a new tape to Al Jazerra to better narrow down his whereabouts, for example?

You are right that the chatter does not make sense due to its nature of raising expectations too high.

[lasereye]

The way I see it, if OBL is captured it actually helps Kerry. It makes terrorism seem less urgent.

[Capt. Tom]

South Waziristan? is that just east of North Shitizstan?

[johnb838]

Everybody knows we have Bin Ladin Like A Duck In A Noose. Boooosh is just waiting until October to trot him out.

[TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig]

What is this "the us govt. has blamed Osama for the 9-11 attacks" crap doing on the VOA?! Who writes for them now, F'in Reuters or F'in John Kerry?

[okie01]

"According the Black ...Bin Laden is still trying to communicate to other AQ leaders.....that is very interesting....have we picked up a SAT-Phone conversation......or is he talking thru email?"

Recall the al-Qaeda courier captured with a CD-ROM in Iraq? The one that contained the letter from Zarqawi, complaining about how the Americans weren't going away and that he was having difficulty recruiting?

While it didn't begin with "Dear Osama", the "you" that the letter was addressed to was obviously well above Zarqawi's pay grade. From context, it seemed evident that the "you" was more likely Osama than Zawahiri.

Accordingly, we can conclude that he remains in contact via courier. Doubtless, one known courier has been allowed safe passage and led our forces to Osama's lair.

[FreeReign]

Boooosh is just waiting until October to trot him out.

Everybody doesn't believe it -- you, John Kerry and Iranian State Radio believe it.