Report: Bin Laden is alive and will appear on TV soon

Jerusalem Post ^ | 10/13/02 | The Associated Press

[Mossad1967]

Oct. 13, 2002 Report: Bin Laden is alive and will appear on TV soon By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - Osama bin Laden is alive and will appear on a videotape soon, a man who identified himself as a senior al-Qaida member told an Arabic weekly.

"Sheik Osama is alive and in good health. He has gained more weight due to security precautions and his inability to move a lot as you will notice in his next appearance," Abdel Rahman al-Rashed told the London-based Arabic-language magazine Al Majalla in remarks published Friday.

Mahmoud Khalil, a correspondent for the weekly, told The Associated Press Sunday that he conducted the interview over a week in October through the Internet. He said it took him more than a month to arrange it.

Khalil, who is based in Dubai, said al-Rashed told him he was a Kuwaiti national.

"I used to send him one question every day and wait for his answer to send the other question," Khalil said. He refused to say how he got in touch with al-Rashed.

In the interview, al-Rashed said bin Laden, whose al-Qaida terror network is blamed for the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in New York and Washington, is alive and will appear soon on a videotape with a new statement. He didn't elaborate.

Al-Rashed was quoted as saying that bin Laden chose not to appear on a videotape on the first anniversary of the attacks, because he did not want people to "tie (his) victory to his character."

"Bin Laden is completely indifferent to all claims that he was killed. He does not choose the time of his appearances to deny such claims," al-Rashed said, according to the magazine.

Earlier this month, the Qatar-based satellite TV station al-Jazeera aired a voice tape in which a male voice attributed to bin Laden warned that the "youths of God" are planning more attacks against the United States.

Al-Jazeera said the voice was that of bin Laden, but there was no way to verify the claim.

US officials have said they don't know whether bin Laden is still alive.

Focusing on what he described as al-Qaida's media strategy, al-Rashed told Al Majalla that al-Qaida had set aside a budget for "a media department to address the Muslim people."

"Sheik Osama pays heed to the media ... we have a specialized department for print, audio and video production and a team of Internet experts," al-Rashed was quoted as saying.

In the interview, al-Rashed also denied US claims that al-Qaida has relations with the Iraqi regime, saying that the reason behind any US attack on Iraq would be to control the Iraqi oil.

US President George W. Bush has said al-Qaida had had high-level contacts with Baghdad for a decade and sent operatives to Iraq to learn to make bombs and use poison weapons. Bush said some al-Qaida leaders had fled to Iraq after their haven in Afghanistan was attacked by the United States in retaliation for Sept. 11.

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Will Elvis be appearing with him?

[DBtoo]

"It took them this long to find a look alike?"

My thoughts exactly.

[Lion's Cub]

Love that side mirror in #43 :)

Truck color is all wrong, though. Word is they like the white ones...

[Paulus Invictus]

Bali and the French tanker are possible starts of more actions by the murderers.

[TaRaRaBoomDeAyGoreLostToday!]

Yep it looks that way to me.

[jraven]

A fat look alike? What's this I hear about Al Gore being spotted in a costumer shop buying a scraggley beard?

[Northpaw]

[jgrubbs]

Did you see SNL last night, they had Sadam with a FAT look alike. I guess they found a fat look alike for Osamma.

I they the sleeper cells in the US are planning another atack and this "video tape" will have their orders.

[tubebender]

Bin Laden is alive and...LIVING IN IRAQ.

When that Abdul guy commited suicide by shooting himself 47 times I said to my wife there wasn't room in Iraq for Abdul and Binny.

[Miss Marple]

Please read this article. According to most reports I have read, bin Laden has a kidney disease and was undergoing dialysis.

If he has had a kidney transplant, would he not be put on prednisone, which causes swelling and weight gain?

I am not a doctor, and am only going on my lay knowledge. Please explain, if you don't mind, both the characteristics of late stage kidney disease and the effects of anti-rejection drugs after transplants. Thanks!

[F.J. Mitchell]

"Buying a 'scraggly' beard?"

Al can grow his own scraggly beard- just give him six or eight months.

[WarSlut]

While it is a shame more innocents will die, possibly even one or some of us, if this is what it takes for the "Religion of Peace" apologists to finally be convinced it is time to rid the earth of this filthy death cult, then so be it.

Amen.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

They'll probably have a camera sitting low and looking up, in the same way that they make Arnold Schwarzenegger look like he's 6'8" on camera.

[DWC]

I never laughed so hard with all that was written. You people are the best.

[OldFriend]

When the kidneys fail the weight gain is immense......this could be a look alike or a dying OBL............

[LurkedLongEnough]

If he has had a kidney transplant, would he not be put on prednisone, which causes swelling and weight gain?

You're onto something, Miss M. You're right about the prednisone.

Prednisone also promotes hair growth. By the time we see him next, 6'5" OBL may actually look like this:

[Tony in Hawaii]

The Jerry Lewis effect?

[Miss Marple]

Exactly: the Jerry lewis effect. As I said, I am not a medical professional, but it seems to me this is statement is an explanation for a live OBL with a massive weight gain. Either he has had a transplant (and let's not think about WHERE he got a kidney) OR he is in the last stages of kidney failure.

It is quite possible that by now he has entered the choir invisible, but I would really like the medically educated people to discuss what we should look for if a tape surfaces.

[ValerieUSA]

I think the DC sniper is part of the worldwide jihad. He stops on weekends to let the big international news stories have the media focus, and starts up again in the week to taunt the police and the public for maximum attention. The French tanker explosion and the bombing in Bali are more important to the overall cause than sniping around DC, so he doesn't detract from those stories.

The message from al-Qaeda leaders claiming Osama is alive that was talked about just before the shootings was a signal to launch new offensives.
This upcoming message will be for the next wave. Jihad goes on, whether or not we fight back. But they want us to fight back... Counterattacks (even arrests in Buffalo and Portand) give some cohesiveness and sense of purpose and unity to the general Muslim American population that has become comfortable in the West and really isn't all that anxious for a full-scale conflict. Jihad recruitment needs some stimulation, and counterattacks are the best bet to swell the ranks of these self-destructive indignant warriors for allah.

[Cobra64]

There are a lot of aguys named "Al" in that part of the world.