Bin Laden 'surrounded'

The Sunday Telegraph ^ | February 22, 2004

[Patriot1998]

A BRITISH Sunday newspaper is claiming Osama bin Laden has been found and is surrounded by US special forces in an area of land bordering north-west Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The Sunday Express, known for its sometimes colourful scoops, claims the al-Qaeda leader has been "sighted" for the first time since 2001 and is being monitored by satellite.

The paper claims he is in a mountainous area to the north of the Pakistani city of Quetta. The region is said to be peopled with bin Laden supporters and the terrorist leader is estimated to also have 50 of his fanatical bodyguards with him.

The claim is attributed to "a well-placed intelligence source" in Washington, who is quoted as saying: "He (bin Laden) is boxed in."

The paper says the hostile terrain makes an all-out conventional military assault impossible. The plan to capture him would depend on a "grab-him-and-go" style operation.

"US helicopters already sited on the Afghanistan border will swoop in to extricate him," the newspaper says. It claims bin Laden and his men "sleep in caves or out in the open. The area is swept by fierce snow storms howling down from the 10,000ft-high mountain peaks. Donkeys are the only transport."

The special forces are "absolutely confident" there is no escape for bin Laden, and are awaiting the order to go in and get him.

"The timing of that order will ultimately depend on President Bush," the paper says. "Capturing bin Laden will certainly be a huge help for him as he gets ready for the election."

The article says bin Laden's movements are monitored by a National Security Agency satellite.

On Thursday last week, General Richard Myers, chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, said America had been engaged in "intense" efforts to capture bin Laden, who was believed to be hiding in the border area between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

[Arkinsaw]

B.S. If George Bush knew where Bin Laden was he would bin in an orange jumpsuit in about 5 minutes. The paper says the hostile terrain makes an all-out conventional military assault impossible. The plan to capture him would depend on a "grab-him-and-go" style operation.

B.S. There is no terrain on this earth too hostile for a US military assault to get Bin Laden. They could get enough volunteers to charge into an erupting volcano if Bin Laden was hiding in the crater.

[Quix]

Now that does have a certain attractiveness--providing we 'housed' him that way WITH a recently died big sow pig and maybe a few diseased pigs due to die in a few days. And perhaps the only clothing allowed would be pig leather with heads and feet still attached.

With a web cam, of course.

[sinkspur]

I could see us doing a snatch and grab on Bin Laden.......and pumping for info for a few days .......then ......and only break the news only after we got all the info we could from him.

Nope. That's the secret that's too big to keep. We'll know within 24 hours of his capture.

Besides, he's not going to tell us anything.

[Cold Heat]

The special forces are "absolutely confident" there is no escape for bin Laden, and are awaiting the order to go in and get him.

Give me a break!

if we know all that, he would be in custody or dead.

[RoseofTexas]

OH GEEZ FOLKS! Don't get your hopes up high! We've been there before only to be disappointed! IF we did have OBL surrounded, don't you think our military brass would have kept it hush-hush? Remember SaddEMON was a total black out until they knew for certain they had him! There something about the articles coming out on this that just don't jive!!

[lt.america]

The problem with that is we have to produce a body or else no one will believe we have taken him. There was a report several months ago that we had his location, but it was in a village with many women and children in this same area that this article suggests. Given this, we realized that if we leveled the area and went back to retrieve the SOB that his people would have already removed him and put the bodies of dead women and children in his place.

[leprechaun9]

I still think that OBL shaved his beard, got a YANKEE ball cap and is driving a cab in NY!

[KantianBurke]

"Besides, he's not going to tell us anything."

BS. Show him naked pics of this woman and he'll tell you if he wears lady's underwear.

[proust]

I can't believe how many hand-wringers there are on this thread "If Bush does this the press will say that, and the dems will say that." So what? They're going to be against Bush no matter what he does, so the best thing to do is ignore them and their spin and conspiracy mongering and just do what's right.

[Spruce]

Uff Da!
2 minutes for roughing!

[Cap Huff]

I pinged you to the link in reply #41 which is perhaps much more reliable than the Express. The article from the Seattle paper quotes the Boston Globe, I think. What some in this forum have been watching as closely as possible is now coming more out in the open --- probably by design.

[saquin]

"The Sunday Express, known for its sometimes colourful scoops. . ."

What does 'colourful' mean in this context?

The Sunday Express was the paper that printed that BS article (written by a former Al Jazeera reporter) that the Kurds had captured Saddam, drugged him and left him for US forces, and that the US military was lying about its role in the capture. That should give you some idea of their "scoops".

On the other hand, I certainly hope it's true that we have OBL surrounded.

[Excuse_My_Bellicosity]

...awaiting the order to go in and get him.

That sentence right there shows why this story is bogus. U.S. forces in the region have a standing order to capture bin Laden. This is like that bogus story about some JAG liuetenant vetoing a two-star general's order to hit bin Laden when he was in the crosshairs of a Predator drone armed with Hellfire missiles.

We probably are on the trail of bin Laden and will get him soon, but this particular story is fiction.

[VadeRetro]

It won't look so good if he waits until October.

If we don't have him by Sept 30th we'll wait until after the election to nab him.

[SauronOfMordor]

Saddam's sons' bodies didn't help a lot, it seems, among the locals. Parading Saddam in humiliating ways helped tons.

Radical Muslims are more afraid of humiliation than they are of death.

Make a video of Osama, bound a shackled, being forced to give head to a 500 pound hog while having his butt whipped by a pair of girls in leather bikinis. Put it on satellite broadcast.

[commish]

UGh now that was just totally uncalled for. To unleach the Helen on us without warning is just below the belt.

[grahm_crackers]

Ok, this is twice now in two weeks that we've had a story which talks about OBL's latest video. Everyone here keeps saying he hasn't put out any videos in 2 years, yet now two different reports mention his latest video. What the heck is going on.

"Bin Laden's whereabouts were discovered, according to the report, when US Central Intelligence Agency analysts – geographers and soil experts – studying the background in the al-Qaida boss's latest video suggested it matched rocks in the Toba Kakar ranges.

CIA agents, working with Pakistani guides, went from Afghanistan to the region to take photographs and bring out rock and soil samples.

These were flown to Washington where the CIA analysts electronically matched them to the video background."

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1082732/posts

[Jaguar Girl]

Please let this be true!!!!
Then I hope we can put him to
death once we find him.

[Quix]

Sounds like a clever, solid idea.

I could vote for it.

[GraniteStateConservative]

6-foot-4-inches of ugly and evil doesn't make for a very convincing chick.

: )