I would not rule out that it could be OBL in custody REGARDLESS of any alleged messages from him.
Madeleine Albright's comments as reported by WorldNetDaily on December 17, 2003 indicated that she felt that Washington knew the whereabouts of OBL and would not announce it until it would serve a political advantage to Pres. Bush.
Around the same time were posts on the Arabic forums:
It is seen did the United States manage Osama Ben Ladin, for the realization of Washington a new victory, in its war on what names it the terrorism, after Saddam Hussein 's detention took place last week . A lot indications point to that Washington a relative she will declare Ben Laden 's fate, this if is an action has NOT detained it, and she waits for the moment suitable to the declaration of its detention of political and security reasons .
Its saying was been informed about the previous American Foreign Minister Madeleine Albright : Pres. Bush 's administration, detained Ben Laden and that it thinks about the method of this event exploitation on the interior front level and the coming presidential elections considerations, before she declares officially its detention . No upsets an a lot that a Mister Albright retreats from its statement this under the pretext of that it is a kind of the joking and the slip of the tongue, and if she took the precedence of the declaration about this event .
The American president, when, late was asked, a direct question did Ben Laden 's detention take place, answered that do not know ..! He did not deny the news, and if he have confirmed it indirectly . If he was the American president does not knowing a thing about what he is its first occupant, then from he knows therefore ..!? He was with the ability of the American president that he says any thing he denies by it its knowledge about the first bitter enemy fate, an allowance that he confirms with the stealing the knowledge of its certain fate .
A late a great American official declared that it no finds there a place can that in it Ben Laden hides later on ..! Do a meaning is that that the concealment stage have ended for to Ben Laden .. And the place of its presence is known at the Americans ... If not are they who a Bkhbounh a wait of the declaration moment about the arrest on it decisive ..!? And if we knew that the statement of this American official kept up with a wide combing operation to the southern and southern eastern regions from the borders between Pakistan and Afghanistan, where the specification of presence site took place Ben Laden, in a certain way and to for the first time from the end of the war on Afghanistan, since nearly two years .
A last this warning announcement that was issued the day before yesterday and based on it the federal authorities of security raised the readiness degree to the high level ( the orange ) the one that follows the danger stage ( the red ) which means that there is a danger a terrorist and a cheque on the United States . He appeared therefore the advertisement reasons and preventive motives, for the readiness for the declaration reactions about Ben Laden 's fate .. Or he, as usual, reflects a security analysis of intelligence information about the preparation for such attack . The first probability is the strongest probability if what took is in the consideration eye the previous introductions who show that there at least, information at the security authorities and the American intelligences about Ben Laden 's fate, if is the arrest operation has NOT taken place on it .
Ben Laden is considered a precious game to the president Bush and its administrations, surpasses that that managed it at their detention of Saddam Hussein . Ben Laden, first of all, he is the first required political and security at the American administration and at Pres. Bush, in particular the . Then that the arrest of Ben Laden or the knowledge of its fate bestowed toward the Americans, forms a security danger, from a special kind on the American administration, because Ben Laden 's operations theatre is in the confrontation with the United States the whole world it, by what are in it the United States lands, herself, an advantage was not by it Saddam Hussein and its regime, that was not exceeding Iraq enjoying .
The time will not lengthen until we know Ben Laden 's fate . But the fate of the Al-Qaeda leader it appears that it became not representing a great obsession to the American administration, as was in the past, perhaps because the security authorities and the American intelligences know the place of its presence, or that it knows the knowledge of the certainty that it became not chased at least .
Little days and each thing ends, and Ben Laden 's surface is folded as he happened before and folded Saddam Hussein 's surface ... But America problems, have started, more than belief that it ended, with the specification of fate of the more required men in the sight of the American justice .
Ï . are Telal Saleh Bannan
AND this from Reuters, although I did a big no-no (trying to break this habit), I did not date it:
According to Reuters, "Treasury prices dipped briefly on Thursday as whispers that Osama bin Laden had been caught sparked some selling, but the talk was quickly discounted.
Traders had been highly skeptical all along, noting that according to rumors, bin Laden had been caught a dozen times in recent weeks, but still marked down prices just in case.
In another related story, Reuters also reported, " There is no truth to a rumor in the foreign exchange markets that al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has been captured, a U.S. official said on Thursday.
"It's not true," the official said when asked about the rumor.
AND from Dawn Newspaper on October 26, 2003, they reported the arrest of a top AQ leader with a ransom on his head, but did not release that persons name:
http://www.dawn.com/cgi-bin/dina.pl?file=top6.htm&date-20031026