The author confirms a leak that we were listening in: "It was not until Sept. 7, 1998 -- after bin Laden apparently stopped using his phone -- that a newspaper reported that the United States had intercepted his phone calls and obtained his voiceprint."
Just exactly when/why bin Laden stopped using his phone we don't really know.
The prohibition of aiding the enemy is not conditioned on whether the enemy actually benefits from the aid on a given traitor's schedule.
D'OH!
Battery died........
Hmm. Let's see now. Should I believe the Washington Post or my son's Commander in Chief whom he has the highest respect for.
Gee, not even a contest. Thank you President Bush for everything you are doing for us with little thanks from those that benefit.
The Washington Post is using bloggers to verify their positions now?
I believe that there was a story about the Isrealis in the papers around that time. They used a missile that was guided by a cell phone to kill a terrorist leader.
There are too many leaks of information that is under investigation. Although the successes are nice to know from a morale standpoint, there are a lot of reports in a variety of cases and instances that are being leaked.
And not just the War on Terror, but other criminal investigations and pre-investigations.
Exactly who can be trusted with a secret anymore? Certainly not the media.
Why is there not more prosecution of those sources if the leaks are so damaging? Or could some of the info be spoon fed misinformation to shake out the bad guys?
The groundwork for libs has been laid.
All data comes from Bush.
Bush lies about the data.
Everything that supports Bush is a lie.
One thing we do know..... You can't believe the Compost
Your thoughts on this story?
ping
The Left's response to anything Bush says: Bush lied.
March 10, 2003
The New York Times
By SIMON ROMERO
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/10/technology/10GEAR.html
(just a snip from this article, pertaining to Iridium Satellite phone company)
Perhaps the most striking example of the military's adaptation of a civilian communications technology is the Iridium global phone network, a satellite-based wireless communications system. Motorola and other investors spent more than $5 billion during the 1990's to build Iridium into a commercial global satellite telephone system, only to have the company file for bankruptcy protection in 1999 after it failed to sign up many customers.
The Defense Department salvaged Iridium in 2000 by negotiating a two-year, $72 million agreement with the company's new owners, Iridium Satellite of Leesburg, Va., to have unlimited access to its network, which allows users to place calls or send and receive text messages almost anywhere in the world. The Pentagon hired General Dynamics to develop special encryption services and built a $200 million ground station in Hawaii to use as a gateway for connecting Iridium calls.
The Defense Department renewed its $36 million annual airtime contract with Iridium last December, allowing about 20,000 government workers to continue using the system. Warren Brown, an Iridium spokesman, said the Defense Department remained the company's largest customer, but large contracts with civilian customers were an increasingly important part of Iridium's revamped business.
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The bankruptcy resulted in a bargain-basement sale, and the company has been owned largely by Saudis.....I dount that they aquired the DoD gateway in Hawaii, though. The following is a thumbnail of the sale....I recall contemporaneously reading that the bin laden family was in on this deal.......Motorola (the tech/financial force behind Iridium) and the DoD slept together every night along the way of the Iridium story.....but the original stockholders are the only ones that got screwed........lots of people wondered what might have been quietly piggybacked into the Iridium system for intelligence reasons,.....In the end, arabs got it at a price they couldn't refuse, and the DoD had/has the DoD gateway.....now the press is full of bin'laden stories about him chucking his satphones
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Iridium Taken Over by Brazilian, Australian and Arabian Investors
Brazil/April 9, 2001/Satnews/ -- The company which took over Iridium is shared by Brazilian, Australian and South Arabian investors with 61% stake. Iridium is a telephone services company which holds a satellite communications network and provided cell phone services worldwide. The former Iridium was controlled by Motorola Inc. and other investors including Inepar. The owners of the new Iridium Holding LLC also own an affiliated named Iridium Carrier Holdings.
The Brazilian partner is Inepar, through the Panama-based subsidiary Milport Associates which holds a 8,9% stake in Iridum Carrier. In Brazil, Inepar operates in communications and electric power sectors. The Australian hold 26,9% of the company and the Arabian other 24,3%. The new owners paid US$25mil for Iridium which launching costed almost US$6bil to Motorola and other investors.
The filing seeks the transfer of mobile-phone handset and other U.S. licenses used by a bankrupt predecessor company to the fleet's new owners, Iridium Satellite LLC.
The foreign investors own a combined total of 61 percent of Iridium Holdings LLC, the parent of the new Iridium Satellite. They own a similar percentage of an affiliated company which is seeking the handset license transfer.
The new owners argued that ownership by citizens of Brazil and Australia should not be an issue for the FCC because both countries are members of the World Trade Organization.
The remaining foreign owner, Baralonco N.V., is a Netherlands Antilles corporation ultimately owned and controlled by Prince Khalid bin Abdullah bin Abdulrahman, a Saudi citizen, the application said. A cousin of King Fahd, he controls the Saudi holding group Mawarid, which owned 8 percent of the old Iridium.
Saudi Arabia is not a member of the WTO. Baralonco would hold a 24.3 percent stake in Iridium Carrier Holdings, which is seeking the handset license. Iridium Carrier is controlled by the same six parties who control affiliated Iridium Holdings, Iridium Satellite LLC's parent.
"The shareholders in the new Iridium organization are familiar faces," said Greg Lucas, managing partner of McLean, Va., commercial space consultancy FCCFilings.com. He said they were getting a second bite at access to the system for a "steal" through direct equity stakes in the new parent company.
http://www.satnews.com/stories/3apr2001-6.html
here's a little more on the subject linking bin laden family to Iridium.......
Can't you just hear the newsroom chat? Here is a chance to wrap those right wing blogger's asses around the axle. Let's just quote a few of them and that will do the trick.
bump
It's odd that they should use this approach to attempt to delegitimize the leak - the leak was real, no question about it. The timing of it and bin Laden's reaction to it are the only matters of question.
It was not until Sept. 7, 1998 — "after bin Laden apparently stopped using his phone — that a newspaper reported that the United States had intercepted his phone calls and obtained his voiceprint."
So the media DID report it and it's ok because "apparently" Bin Laden had stopped using the cell phone. Uh and how do they know that, and even IF he hadn't placed a recent call how do they know he wouldn't??
And everything else revealed about Bin Laden's phone use was revealed by the press as well, as stated in the story. So the story disproves its own premise.
BTW the fact that Bin laden previously mentioned that he used a satellite phone indicates he didn't think it could be tracked. Duh.
Why is is an urban myth only after President Bush repeats it?
This is NOT an "urban legend".
The MSM would like to make it that, to justify their continuing leaks, which result in aiding the enemy.
Several members of the Bush administration mentioned it and I believe them.