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US Counterterrorism Official Says Moving Closer to Capture of Bin Laden
AP ^ | Sep 4, 2004 | Matthew Pennington

Posted on 09/04/2004 12:09:12 PM PDT by Leroy S. Mort

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - The United States and its allies have moved closer to capturing Osama bin Laden in the last two months, a top U.S. counterterrorism official said in a television interview broadcast Saturday.

"If he has a watch, he should be looking at it because the clock is ticking. He will be caught," Joseph Cofer Black, the U.S. State Department coordinator for counterterrorism, told private Geo television network.

Asked if concrete progress had been made during the last two months - when Pakistan has arrested dozens of terror suspects including some key al-Qaida operatives - Black said, "Yes, I would say this."

Black, who briefed a group of Pakistani journalists after talks with officials here Friday, said he could not predict exactly when bin Laden and other top al-Qaida fugitives would be nabbed.

"What I tell people, I would be surprised but not necessarily shocked if we wake up tomorrow and he's been caught along with all his lieutenants. That can happen because of the programs and infrastructure in place," he told Geo.

Bin Laden and his top associate, Ayman al-Zawahri, are believed to be hiding some place along the rugged border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Officials have divulged no solid intelligence about bin Laden's precise whereabouts, and it's not clear if they have any.

Pakistan is a key ally of the United States in its war on terror, and Black's visit comes weeks after Pakistani security forces captured Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, a Tanzanian wanted for the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in east Africa, and Mohammed Naeem Noor Khan, a Pakistani computer expert allegedly linked to al-Qaida operatives around the world.

The arrests led to a terror warning in the United States, and arrests in Britain and the United Arab Emirates.

Black attended a meeting of the Pakistan-U.S. Joint Working Group on Counterterrorism and Law Enforcement in Islamabad on Thursday and Friday.

During the talks, Pakistan asked U.S. officials for more helicopters, surveillance and communications equipment to help Pakistani forces guard border areas near Afghanistan "more efficiently," a Pakistani official at the talks said.

"We got a positive response from the American officials," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Pakistan has deployed about 70,000 troops along the Afghan border and conducted several military operations this year in its lawless and largely autonomous tribal regions against al-Qaida suspects and their local supporters.

Black hailed Pakistan's efforts in counterterrorism - despite criticism from Western officials who say that elements of the former ruling Taliban regime in Afghanistan still operate inside Pakistan.

"In terms of national programs and effectiveness, I would put Pakistan up against anyone else ... If you look at the arrests they have made, the information they have developed and the lives that have been saved, Pakistan is doing a great job," he said.

He added, however, that, "you can always do more."


TOPICS: War on Terror
KEYWORDS: alqaeda; binladen
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Update of an article previously posted HERE
1 posted on 09/04/2004 12:09:14 PM PDT by Leroy S. Mort
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To: Leroy S. Mort

Timing, questioned, etc....


2 posted on 09/04/2004 12:11:19 PM PDT by So Cal Rocket (Fabrizio Quattrocchi: "Adesso vi faccio vedere come muore un italiano")
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To: Leroy S. Mort

I wish they'd quit saying stuff like that. Capture him, then boast about it.


3 posted on 09/04/2004 12:11:58 PM PDT by bin2baghdad
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To: So Cal Rocket
Timing, questioned, etc....

As usual. Qustioned or not, about 9:30 next Saturday morning would be just fine.

4 posted on 09/04/2004 12:13:10 PM PDT by tbpiper
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To: So Cal Rocket

YES! Capture him asap, and then Bush can announce it Monday November 1, 2004!


5 posted on 09/04/2004 12:13:36 PM PDT by LibFreeUSA
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To: Leroy S. Mort

October surprise......?


6 posted on 09/04/2004 12:14:51 PM PDT by EggsAckley (.......John Kerry suffers from delusions of adequacy........)
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To: Leroy S. Mort

If you really want a fun experience, go to DU to check out this story.


7 posted on 09/04/2004 12:15:05 PM PDT by umgud (speaking strictly as an infidel,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,)
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To: LibFreeUSA

Gee! And then Bush might even win in Massachusetts!


8 posted on 09/04/2004 12:18:03 PM PDT by MrChips (ARD)
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To: Leroy S. Mort

In my mind, timing is not questioned. It will be totally coincidental - and the result of U.S. perseverance - if we stumble across his headquarters, capture Osama and his entire staff on October 31.

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it. :o)

(God works in mysterious ways...)


9 posted on 09/04/2004 12:32:16 PM PDT by Rhetorical pi2
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To: Leroy S. Mort

It's all bovine scatology and I don't care to hear it. Like someone else on this thread said, just capture him and then crow about it. Until then, I maintain that the bastard is dead, has been dead for nearly two years, and will stay dead indefinitely (except that his soul will roast in the hottest quarter of Hell eternally). If I am ever proven wrong on this, I will stick my face full forward and invite the whole world to bitch-slap me silly.


10 posted on 09/04/2004 12:38:59 PM PDT by Migraine
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To: Migraine
If I am ever proven wrong on this, I will stick my face full forward and invite the whole world to bitch-slap me silly.

No WONDER you have a Migraine ;-)

11 posted on 09/04/2004 12:42:11 PM PDT by Leroy S. Mort
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To: Leroy S. Mort
"If he has a watch, he should be looking at it because the clock is ticking. He will be caught,"

You will excuse me if I pass on this one?

12 posted on 09/04/2004 12:46:16 PM PDT by RGSpincich
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To: bin2baghdad
I wish they'd quit saying stuff like that. Capture him, then boast about it.

I hear you....The wise hen cackles when the egg finally cracks....as per Abraham Lincoln...

13 posted on 09/04/2004 12:54:37 PM PDT by democrats_nightmare
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To: bin2baghdad

I agree.

I was about the post the same thing 'til I read your post.

Show us bin Laden wearing a pigskin strait-jacket and I'll be quite happy.


14 posted on 09/04/2004 1:00:19 PM PDT by MplsSteve
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To: bin2baghdad

Possibility of two reasons for putting this out IMHO:

1. Trying to flush Osama out and make him change his location.

2. Letting this dribble out to defuse the rats rhetoric of a capture close to the election.


15 posted on 09/04/2004 1:03:52 PM PDT by ClancyJ (Vote for President Bush - For our grandchildren. Democrats are not to be trusted with our country)
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To: umgud

Yeah, many of them think that we've had him in custody for at least a year now.


16 posted on 09/04/2004 1:05:23 PM PDT by Mr. Mojo
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To: Mr. Mojo
Yeah, many of them think that we've had him in custody for at least a year now.

Actually, most of the DUmmies don't even think OBL did it, they all think it was a conspiracy by Bush to start a war.

17 posted on 09/04/2004 1:55:22 PM PDT by wagglebee (Benedict Arnold was for American independence before he was against it.)
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"Capture him" during the Debates right when Kerry is about to answer his first question... then the news will break in and spare us all from having to listen to him talk about Vietnam again.


18 posted on 09/04/2004 2:11:02 PM PDT by oolatec
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To: ClancyJ

Of they could be doing this just to drive the dems even more crazy.


19 posted on 09/04/2004 2:15:16 PM PDT by CWOJackson
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To: oolatec

That'd be great if Bush announced it during the 1st debate.

Bush to MODERATOR: I'd be glad to respond to your question, Jim, but 1st I'd like to make an important announcement to the American people. WE GOT HIM!

KABOOOOM!!!

MODERATOR: Oh my god, ladies and gentleman, Senator Kerry's head just exploded!


20 posted on 09/04/2004 2:16:58 PM PDT by Neville72
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