Posted on 10/22/2004 12:38:06 PM PDT by Smogger
CLAREMONT - The Pentagon knows exactly where Osama bin Laden is hiding in Pakistan, it just can't get to him, a member of the 9-11 Commission said Thursday. Commissioner John Lehman's remarks echoed those made Tuesday by Secretary of State Colin Powell, who asserted the al-Qaida terror kingpin was alive and operating in the western part of that country.
Bin Laden is living in South Waziristan in the Baluchistan Mountains of the Baluchistan Region, Lehman said, after delivering a keynote speech on terrorism at Pitzer College in Claremont to kick off the university's three-day writer's festival.
In the exclusive interview, Lehman said, "There is an American presence in the area, but we can't just send in troops. If we did, we could have another Vietnam, and the United States cannot afford that right now."
When pressed on why the United States couldn't send troops into the region to capture the world's No. 1 terrorist, Lehman said the Baluchistan Region of the country is filled with militant fundamentalists who do not recognize the legitimacy of President Pervez Musharraf, a close ally of the United States.
"That is a region filled with Taliban and al-Qaida members" he said, acknowledging that Pakistan's security services also are filled with many who agree with bin Laden's beliefs and would aid him if U.S. Special Forces entered the region.
"Look," he said, "Musharraf already has had three assassination attempts on his life. He is trying to comply, but he is surrounded by people who do not agree with him. This is not like Afghanistan, where there was no compliance, and we had to go in. We'll get (bin Laden) eventually, just not now."
Asked how bin Laden was surviving, Lehman said he was getting money from outside countries, such as the United Arab Emirates and high-ranking ministers inside Saudi Arabia.
"He is not a wealthy man," Lehman said. "We ran that information into the ground, and discovered he only receives about $1 million a year from his family's fortune. The rest of what he gets comes from radical sympathizers."
Department of Defense spokeswoman Capt. Ronnie Merritt confirmed that the U.S. military believes bin Laden is in Pakistan. However, she would not comment on Lehman's remarks, except to say that he normally didn't speak about these issues, and she was surprised he had.
Lehman is one of 10 members of the bipartisan commission that authored "The Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States," which is a New York Times bestseller. The ardent Republican also is the author of three books about military tactics.
Jim Mohr can be reached by e-mail at jim.mohr@sbsun.com or by phone at (909) 386-3891.
You're close. He isn't driving a cab--he changed his name to Kevin Brown and pitched 2 innings in Game 4 and less than that in Game 7.
Hummmm....
Candygram for Mister Mongo.
Lets attack a nuclear power!! Brilliant!!
In an interview to The Chicago Tribune Powell said, “Bin Laden is still out there, and we think he is alive. We think he’s operating in those western reaches of Pakistan or perhaps going back and forth across the border.
We think he's alive. We think he's in western Pakistan...
That's a far stretch from this report's claim that the Pentagon "knows exactly where he is".
There is no more evidence that he is alive than there is that he is dead.
Common sense says, that if he were alive then where is the tape? Where is the proof?
This is more of the same stuff that has been batted around since 9/11.
There is no there, there.
Just more Lehman self aggrandizement.
What the HELL is wrong with these self-serving people?
Agreed. If he really believed this line, he'd be stocking up on Tradesports contracts on Osama capture. You could earn something like 7 or 8 to 1 on the proposition that Osama is captured/neutralized by the end of the year!
Its a disease.
He was SECNAV when I was in the Army and seemed to be pretty sharp. I never had a bad word to say about him until this so called Commission.
My thought exactly. Whats with shooting his mouth off like that? If he wants to shoot his mouth off it should be that he didn't sign the V with the Silver Star thing on Kerry's website.
I think Bin Hiden is buried under a few hundred tons of mountain. I cannot believe a man with his ego and supposed importance would not have had a VIDEO out proving he is still alive in the past few years. All of his underlings have been heard from but not him. Dont' you think he would have tried to rub our noses in it by now? Don't you think he would be praising those responsible for the beheadings in Iraq? I would assume he would want his followers around the world to see he is alive and well!
Reading the article, I think we know "exactly" where he is meaning the region. Not his precise location. Therefore the need to eventually go in and clean the place out, but that is not tenable for Musharaf right now. If we knew the village he was in I'm sure we'd find a way to launch a raid. Also, this being a war it might be best to keep Osama in the loop for intelligence gathering reasons.
A-bomb, anyone?
No, he shaved his beard, changed one letter in his name, and is running as a RAT for U.S. Senator from Illinois...
I get a blank page via the source link.
Only $1M/year. Sound wealthy to me. Probably not to JFK.
All The United States has to do is follow Saddam's lawyer and they will catch Bin Laden.
Subject: Saddam’s lawyer met with Bin Laden.
Saddam’s lawyer met with Bin Laden. What was Bin Laden doing in Baghdad? It said that Bin Laden was in Baghdad in 1998 where the Saddam’s lawyer met him. What in the hell was Bin Laden in Baghdad for....a cruise up the Tigris? You couldn’t pass gas in Baghdad in 1998 without Saddam knowing about it, if Osama was there, Saddam had to have known it. Either way if Bin Laden was in Bagdad in 1998, it had to be with Saddam's approval.
Saddam would have been harboring terrorists as far back as 1998 according to his own attorney. We already KNEW from the 9/11 commission report that Saddam Hussein offered safe haven to Osama Bin Laden in 1998.
October 15, 2004
SADDAM’S ITALIAN LAWYER GIOVANNI DE STAFANO TOLD A LONDON-BASED DAILY THAT A MEETING WAS HELD BETWEEN HIMSELF AND OSAMA BIN LADEN AT THE RASHID HOTEL IN BAGHDAD IN 1998. (AL-SHARQ AL-AWSAT, LONDON, 10/15/04)
http://www.memri.org/ticker.html
Bin Laden, Al Qaeda, received assistance from Iraq.
http://www.warriorsfortruth.com/al-queda-iraq-connection.html
25. Bin Laden reportedly visited Baghdad for consultations in March 1998. Giovanni De Stefano, an international lawyer visiting Baghdad on business, had a chance encounter with Bin Laden in the lobby of the Al-Rashid Hotel, during which the two men introduced themselves and engaged in polite conversation. De Stefano did not, at the time, recognize Bin Laden’s name. Five months after the chance encounter, agents of Bin Laden and Al Qaeda attacked the American embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania.
Saddam’s lawyer, World's most controversial lawyer.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/hardtalk/3567653.stm
http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0%2C3604%2C818840%2C00.html
Osama-Saddam links:
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=31597
Iraqi intelligence trained at least two of bin Laden‘s suicide pilots on Boeing jetliners the Iraqis captured during the Gulf war.
http://www.intelmessages.org/Hack/ZKZ_Osama_and_Saddam_002.html
"He is not a wealthy man," Lehman said. "We ran that information into the ground, and discovered he only receives about $1 million a year from his family's fortune. The rest of what he gets comes from radical sympathizers."
Hey, 1 Mil is way more than 200k, and any terrorist making more than 200k is supposed to be rich. A President Kerry would no doubt send IRS agents to Pakistan with subpenas to seize his goodies...
LeBoutillier Pointed to bin Laden in Baluchistan ... a Year Ago
What's taking so long?
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