The story behind the Osama story
Few observers agreed with the authenticity of an Iranian Radio report that Osama bin Laden, the most wanted man today, was apprehended “some time before” from Pakistan.
A close monitoring of three reports issued by the Iranian Radio and official news agency on Saturday regarding Osama’s alleged capture showed that there were several contradictions within three reports.
One report said that he was captured from Pakistan’s “tribal areas” while second report said he was “held in no-man’s land”. The third report added that “he was arrested some time before” while initial report suggested that he was held “few days ago”. The third report issued by IRNA said that he was held “long time ago”. But in all dispatches it was suggested that he was “captured” from Pakistani territory.
The IRNA report also quoted Iranian Radio report as saying that “Rumsfeld trip to Pakistan on Thursday had been made in connection with the capture”. Pakistan and American officials have denied any knowledge of Rumsfeld’s visit to Pakistan. However, Secretary of Defence, Donald Rumsfeld did visit Afghanistan last week and there was no confirmation of his visit to Pakistan.
An Iranian Radio broadcast on Saturday in its Pushtu Service bulletin claimed that Osama bin Laden had been captured from “tribal areas of Pakistan”.
Observers here noted that the Iranian Radio report was carried out during afternoon but was not repeated thereafter in its more popular Farsi or Urdu language broadcast.
The Iranian official news agency, IRNA, later issued what it termed as “a confirmation report” and added that “radio’s external service, broadcast in Pushtun, said US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld`s trip to Pakistan on Thursday had been made in connection with the capture.”
The radio said, “the capture of the Al-Qaeda leader has been made sometime before, but US President George W Bush is intending to announce it when the American presidential election is held.”
The official news agency report claimed that “contacted by IRNA, an IRIB announcer at the Pushtun service, confirmed the news, which he said, they had got from a `very reliable source` in Peshawar, Pakistan.”
“Osama bin Laden has been arrested a long time ago, but Bush is intending to use it for propaganda maneuvering in the presidential election,” the broadcaster was quoted as saying.
“Osama`s head on a platter is believed to be a big boost to Bush`s presidential chances, which are increasingly being eclipsed by Democratic presidential front-runner John Kerry,” IRNA report added.
Some Western observers believe that the Iranian move could be a part of counter propaganda by Tehran against Washington. They also cited about “new moves by Tehran” to counter American strategy in the region. Tehran and Washington are at odds over Iraq policy, nuclear issue and Afghanistan strategy.
However, Pakistani sources have expressed their grave shock over such reports that appear to be aimed at “wrongfully implicating Pakistan”.
“Such claims, if taken seriously by some radicals, could have spark off a violent reaction by handful but die-hard fundamentalist believers and sympathizers of militant leaders”, warned an observer.
Independent experts monitoring the regional situation do not rule out the possibility that some “high profile leaders may have already been arrested from Afghanistan during recent days or weeks”. But they see little indication that could lead the experts to conclude that the top leader of Al-Qaeda had been nabbed during last week’s operations in Pakistan.
“Had Osama been arrested in Pakistan, the security situation in the country would have been quite different and VVIPs would not be moving so openly at least for now”, a security official requesting anonymity said.
Osama running may be caught soon. A senior most US anti-terrorism official on a special visit to Pakistan told selected group of journalists that Osama bin Laden “is on the run …He’s hiding. He spends most of his time trying to keep from getting caught.”
The senior US official was however, optimistic that “Osama bin Laden will be captured soon.”
Ambassador J Cofer Black, director of America’s counter-terrorism office, added “I feel confident that it will be sooner rather than later, although I’m not going to speculate on the exact date.”
In an interview Ambassador Black was quoted as saying that the United States “knows Osama bin Laden is still in touch with other Al-Qaeda leaders, though on a limited basis.”
Ambassador Black added that “although Osama bin Laden still evidently takes a role in planning Al-Qaeda operations, the majority of his focus is now spent avoiding capture. “
Ambassador Black also met Interior Minister Faisal Suleh Hayat and other senior was in Islamabad on Friday and Saturday and discuss further cooperation between the two states against terrorism.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The United States has struck a deal with Pakistan to allow U.S. troops to hunt for al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden this spring in an area of Pakistan where he is believed to be operating, the New Yorker magazine reported on Sunday.
Thousands of U.S. troops will be deployed in a tribal area of northwest Pakistan in return for Washington's support of President Pervez Musharraf's pardon of the Pakistani scientist who this month admitted leaking nuclear arms secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea, investigative reporter Seymour Hersh wrote in the issue that goes on sale on Monday.
Full disclosure of Pakistani scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan's activities would have exposed him as "the worst nuclear-arms proliferator in the world," an intelligence official is quoted as saying.
"It's a quid pro quo," according to a former senior intelligence official. "We're going to get our troops inside Pakistan in return for not forcing Musharraf to deal with Khan."
Musharraf has also offered other help in the hunt for bin Laden, accused of masterminding the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, according to the article.
"Musharraf told us, 'We've got guys inside. The people who provide fresh fruits and vegetables and herd the goats' for bin Laden and his al Qaeda followers," the intelligence official added.
The spring offensive could slow the tempo of U.S. operations in Iraq, the magazine said.
"It's going to be a full-court press," one Pentagon planner was quoted as saying. The article added that some of the most highly skilled U.S. Special Forces units would be shifted from Iraq to Pakistan.
Special Forces personnel have been briefed on their new assignments and in some cases have been given "warning orders" -- the stage before being sent into combat, according to a military adviser.