Pakistan's president believes Osama bin Laden may have died from a kidney ailment.

Ananova ^ | 1/18/02

[Interloper]

Bin Laden 'may have died from kidney ailment'

Pakistan's president believes Osama bin Laden may have died from a kidney ailment.

General Pervez Musharraf told CNN that bin Laden may have died because he was unable to get treatment during the US bombing campaign.

Musharraf did not indicate whether he had intelligence reports to back up his suspicions. He added that, if bin Laden is still alive, he is still in Afghanistan.

Musharraf said: "I think now, frankly, he is dead for the reason that he is a patient, a kidney patient.

"We know that he donated two dialysis machines into Afghanistan. One was specifically for his own personal use."

Bin Laden last appeared in a video tape broadcast on December 26 by the Arabic language television station Al-Jazeera, during which he praised the perpetrators of the September 11 attacks.

Bin Laden looked pale and gaunt. He occasionally smiled as he spoke and, although clearly thinner than in past tapes, his voice was strong and slightly raspy.

Musharraf added: "I don't know if he has been getting all that treatment in Afghanistan now. And the photographs that have been shown of him on television show him extremely weak."

Last month, Musharraf told Chinese television there was a "great possibility" that bin Laden was dead.

He suggested that bin Laden could have been killed in the US bombing of the Tora-Bora camp in eastern Afghanistan. A search of the area by U.S. special forces turned up no trace of bin Laden.

Story filed: 18:41 Friday 18th January 2002

[Go Gordon]

Wasn't it shortly after the last video release that someone in Al Quaeda stated that OBL shouldn't do any more videos because he looked horrible and it didn't give a good impression to Jihad wannabies? If so, maybe that was our first clue that OBL was on his last leg or already dead (remember, the video was release about 2 weeks after it was filmed). Anyhow, makes you think the possibility, that he's already dead, is a good one.

[nocommies]

well, i for one would wish that, and more, on bin laden

[DJ88]

Let's see...he's a multimillionaire, has more links to different people which include doctors, pilots, head of state, etc etc etc and you think this could not be done?

Right.

However, I still hope he's dead. But there's nothing here to prove that he is or isn't. Mushareff is playing a game of CYA.

[DJ88]

Apparantly. I wonder what law school his lawyer went to...cause if I ever want one, I want his name so I don't get him. ;-)

[LADYAK]

I keep wondering how this guy slipped out so quietly into another country. I have read previously about his kidney condition. He probably had a doctor in attendance. He has over 50 children, how many wives? At this point we have only one wife that we are questioning. Where is the rest of his entourage? I also had heard previously that he moved around in vehicles? Just seems like we would have seen something unusual? Even in all of Geraldo's photos of the caves you see no evidence of food items or where folks were cooking stuff...I thought they had lived there for awhile. I also remember one report of Geraldo Rivera's that he had stumbled upon a grave and he said that it must have been an important person as they had taken the time to bury the guy? Seems like our military would have dug this thing up? We obviously are not getting the full picture.

[Scott from the Left Coast]

Bomb shrapnel in the kidneys really ails them.

[Francohio]

Say Scott, what's with ObL not using that left arm at all in the last videos? He is a leftie (bad form in world of Islam). Also his trusty polished Kalashnikov has switched from left to right. Even when he is walking and talking, he's not using his left, even using the right to hold the microphone.

Is this a signal code? Are we looking at doubles? Something ain't exactly right here...

[Post Toasties]

How ironic that, if lack of access to a dialysis machine caused bin Laden's death, that he essentially brought it on himself.

So, count him a self-inflicted casualty of his jihad on the post-Medieval world.

Bin Laden - a martyr to his own Islamist stupidity.

[mikeIII]

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking you're thinking? Ya think?"

No! I thought I was thinking what I thought you were thinking, but I changed my mind now!

I am glad we got that cleared!

[be131]

This is an old story.

[angkor]

Perhaps he was able to get his dialysis in Kandahar, which explains the bloating.

"People with kidney failure produce very little urine and depend on the dialysis treatment to balance fluid levels in their bodies. Sometimes, hemodialysis can result in bloating and fluid overload due to too much fluid being retained in the body. Symptoms of fluid retention include swollen ankles, puffy eyes, weight gain, and shortness of breath."

http://www.helioshealth.com/kidney/kf_04_01.html

In the last tape - presumably when he had not been able to have his dialysis - his face was pasty and white.

"Symptoms of kidney failure occur, including loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, an unpleasant taste in the mouth, and possibly the development of intestinal ulcers and bleeding. The skin may be discolored, turning a yellowish-brown or developing a white powdery deposit on the surface from urea crystals (uremic frost)."

Question is, has anyone turned up a dialysis machine in Afghanistan?

[Blood of Tyrants]

Wouldn't it be fitting that this creep drowns in his own urine?

[Dan Day]

Are you thinking what I'm thinking?

"I think so, Brain, but this time, you put the trousers on the chimp."

[Dan Day]

General Pervez Musharraf told CNN that bin Laden may have died because he was unable to get treatment during the US bombing campaign.

Whatever works...

[mikeIII]

The only thing this article confirms is that OBL is alive and well and living in Pakistan.

Either that or, he must to have a poor habit of dying in a variety of ways!!

[Bonaparte]

We've been treated to innumerable rumors about OBL's status over the past month. He's alive, no he's dead. He's still in the caves, no he's made his way out of Afghanistan. He's buried under rubble, no he's still kicking. He went east, no, south, no, north, no, west. He took a boat ride to China. He had plastic surgery. On and on. And now we get a "medical opinion" from Musharraf.

Without a body and DNA confirmation, all of this is just a lot of loose talk.

[Capt. Tom]

Funny, but after 4 months of high level media attention, this is the first I've heard that OBL was on dialysis.

Excerpts from

From 'Le Figaro' [1 November 2001] Translated by Tiphaine Dickson ===========================

By Alexandra Richard (Page 2, October 31st, 2001)

Having taken off from the Quetta airport in Pakistan, bin Laden was transferred to the hospital upon his arrival at Dubai airport. He was accompanied by his personal physician and faithful lieutenant, who could be Ayman al-Zawahari--but on this sources are not entirely certain--, four bodyguards, as well as a male Algerian nurse, and admitted to the American Hospital, a glass and marble building situated between the Al-Garhoud and Al-Maktoum bridges.

Each floor of the hospital has two "VIP" suites and fifteen rooms. The Saudi billionnaire was admitted to the well-respected urology department run by Teerry Callaway, gallstone and infertility specialist. Dr Callaway declined to respond to our questions despite several phone calls.

As early as March, 2000, 'Asia Week,' published in Hong Kong, expressed concern for bin Laden's health, describing a serious medical problem that could put his life in danger because of "a kidney infection that is propagating itself to the liver and requires specialized treatment". According to authorized sources, bin Laden had mobile dialysis equipment shipped to his hideout in Kandahar in the first part of 2000. According to our sources, bin Laden's "travels for health reasons" have taken place before. Between 1996 and 1998, bin Laden made several trips to Dubai on business.

[marshmallow]

He'll be on al-Jazeera again in another couple of weeks, waving his finger at us and mouthing all those cliches about holy war.

This guy will only die when they drive a stake through his heart.

[epluribus_2]

then I guess we better scour and clean out every rat hole on the planet just to make sure he's really dead. Would suit our purposes just fine if he is alive or his supporters claim him to be elvis-style. Just an invitation for a local show date of the Infinite Justice World Tour!

[MEGoody]

I agree. The U.S. should consider it bull until they find his cold, dead body somewhere (and verify it's actually him through DNA testing).