TOP PAKISTANI ANTI-TERROR OFFICIALS BELIEVE BIN LADEN HOLED UP IN AFGHANISTAN WITH LESS THAN 10 MEN

Drudge Report ^ | September 23, 2005 | Matt Drudge

[West Coast Conservative]

The Pakistani military officers battling al Qaeda along the border with Afghanistan who have the latest first-hand information about Osama bin Laden believe he is hiding with a small cadre in Afghanistan and is no longer an effective leader for the terrorist group. Steve Kroft's report from Pakistan will be broadcast on the 38th season premiere of 60 MINUTES Sunday, Sept. 25 (7:00-8:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS television Network.

I think now [bin Laden] is being protected or assisted by a very short number, which keeps his profile very low, the counter-terrorism head of Pakistan's Intelligence Service, ISI, tells Kroft. [He is someplace along the border, probably in Afghanistan] is what my assessment says, opines the brigadier who goes by the name Ali and whose true identity is known by only a few government officials.

Ali tells Kroft his forces have diminished bin Laden's power by capturing 594 al-Qaeda members and crippling the group's communications, including infiltrating their courier network. We have been able to effectively break the communications network from top to bottom. We do not allow these people to communicate with each other, says Ali.

The information gleaned from the captives and given to coalition officials has helped to prevent planned terror attacks against financial buildings in the U.S., planes and buildings at London's Heathrow airport and has assisted in the capture of al-Qaeda operatives in Great Britain. The mere fact that there has not been a replication of 9/11 speaks volumes of what we shared with the world, boasts Ali.

Finding bin Laden doesn't matter at this point, believes Lt. Gen. Safdar Hussain, in charge of Pakistan's anti-terrorism operations along the Afghanistan border. If [bin Laden] is hiding in a hole, neither the electronic nor the human intelligence can find him, he tells Kroft. Is it all that important to find him? If he's taken out tomorrow, his ideology is not going to come to an end. I don't think that it's important if he is captured. This is my personal view says Hussain.

Kroft also spoke to the Pakistani leader, Gen. Pervez Musharraf. These troops are not certainly on the trail of one man and that's all they are doing, notes Musharraf. We are fighting terrorism wherever it is. If Osama happens to be there incidentally, he will be killed or captured, he tells Kroft.

Developing...

[Criminal Number 18F]

There are a lot of misunderstandings here in this forum.

Let me make a few points, please.

1. Pervez Musharraf has gone way out on a limb for us (for himself too, but he's out on that limb, we're not).

2. More Pakistani soldiers than Americans have died in the GWOT. Most of them fighting Pashtun tribesmen.

3. You just cannot believe how rugged the terrain is there till you walk it yourself.

4. The border betwen Afghanistan and Pakistan, the Durand Line, is entirely an artificial construct, and it follows no natural terrain features, nor does it follow borders between tribes or ethnic groups.

5. The elite of Pakistan's army have always come from the Pathan minority.

I'm not saying that Pak is a garden spot, or Musharraf suddenly became the Platonic ideal of philosopher-king on September 11th. But the leader, and the majority of his people, side with us.

Now, as far as Bint Laden is concerned,

1. He ain't stupid, just evil. That's why he's reduced his signature from the 2001/02 motorcades. The turn of the century approach will get him killed.

2. It is a mistake to assume that people are not watching for OBL and other high-value targets (such as Mullah Mohammed Omar and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar). Yes, there are some problems (mostly related to the humongous bureaucracy that is part and parcel of deploying conventional Army forces).

3. Sometimes it takes a decade or two to hunt a guy down. It took 17 years to get Ted Kaczynski, and that was in the middle of our own country! We had Japanese intelligence officers still coming out of the woodwork in the 1970s in the Phillipines and Okinawa.

The bottom line is, Bin Laden is a dead man walking. And he is walking around in a very circumscribed area. He can hide indefinitely there -- as long as he doesn't do anything.

The room-temp IQs of TV news actresses think that this means he's winning -- that's because they were raised on a diet of straight television where everything is wrapped up before the last commercial break and the titles.

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F

[democrats_nightmare]

BREAKING....BIN LADEN FOUND WALKING AIMLESSLY ALONG GALVESTON SEAWALL.....CHANTING OATHS TO ALLAH TO BLESS HURRICANE RITA.

[JustDoItAlways]

Anyone wanna bet that this is more of a hit piece on Bush rather than a where is Bin Laden story.

Anyway, "Where is Bin Laden?" He's hiding and no one, other than his biggest supporters, know where he is, that's where.

[TADSLOS]

So when's the Last Supper?

[eeriegeno]

IMHO, bin Laden is dead and has been for several years!!!

[Republican Wildcat]

Jim McDermott should be on the list.

[sam_paine]

Finding bin Laden doesn't matter at this point, believes Lt. Gen. Safdar Hussain

Tis true! If OBL is apprehended, then it will be either "took too long," or else "Boosh had him all along and just trotted him out to prop up sagging numbers."

[SevenMinusOne]

IMHO, bin Laden is dead and has been for several years!!!

Well you are flat out wrong - UBL is very much alive and everyone from the CIC to the NCO's hunting his as$ are 100% assure of this -

There was a short period of time between late Nov 2001 and March of 2002 when the possibility of UBL being dead was seriously thought - However late in the spring of 2002 undeniable evidence was obtained (?) which verified UBL was very much alive - (as is Al Zawahiri, Mullah Omar and another four or five HVT's in the Afghan/Pak border region).

Additionally UBL put out an 2 hour long video prior to the 2004 Presidential election speaking clearly of this election and John Kerry (UBL didn't have a clue who John Kerry was in 2001-2).

UBL is very much alive and very much being hunted -

[sam_paine]

Look at it this way.... We can't even tell if we knew where Muhammad Atta was before 9/11....in Florida. It's not hard to believe that the US government is too slow to nab a fast moving one legged thug in a huge city (Zarqawi), and a slow moving thug in a remote cave (UBL.)

[ASA Vet]

is ASA Vet the "he's dead, Jim" guy?

No, I'm not. I don't believe I ever posted a "he's dead, Jim."

I have issued several Elvis Bin Laden Posting Awards, but not many recently.

[HassanBenSobar]

I try to tell people the same and get mostly blank stares. How long did it take to get the Unabomber? How many fugutives on the US Marshals 15 most wanted have been on the lam for over ten years? Or Rudy what's his name, the loon who bombed the Atlanta olympics? These are folks in our own backyard, for pete's sake, but oh, woe is us, we haven't gotten Osama yet. We must be such doofuses. Fact is, if you're careful and determined, and have even a handful of people to help you, you can disappear. Period.

Nevertheless, I'll be celebrating when Dead has to give up his tagline ("I've got my eye out for Mullah Omar").

[Cougar66]

Heres what he should do: http://usmilitary.about.com/library/milinfo/affacts/big-bomb.mpa

[PatriotGirl827]

Thank you DevSix. Great post.