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.
no ...... not this...
its better......
October surprise?
HMmmmmmmmmmmm interesting
Bring it on!
And now bin LAden knows we know if Lehman is correct. And if Lehman is correct, he should keep his damn mouth shut.
He's dead, Jim.
I have no doubt he is in Pakistan. The problem is OBL likely training his replacements as well. This is going to be a long hard battle and we must be determined. Yet the liberals are compromising that determination. Bombing a Sudanese pharamceutical is not going to do the job.
what could be better?
He's hiding under 300 tons of rock and dirt in the bottom of a cave at Tora Bora.
Perhaps revelations regarding Kerry's original discharge, or social security taxes on Mother T's minions?
I don't trust anything any of the 9-11 commission clowns say, even the Republican ones.
Powell says he's not dead. I think Powells informed opinion is probably better than ours.
BTW, I've thought he was dead for a while now but evidently I was wrong.
smile .......
SHOCK AND AWE..... WE GOT THIS COVERED MEN FINISH IT IN IRAQ...... WE HAVE YOUR BACK..... FINISH IT .
USA....
I'm not so sure. This strikes me as plausible. If we--or the Pakis --were to get UBL in the days just before the election, I think it could hurt the president because it would like we had him hidden and it was an election ploy. This prepares us for the possibility... I think that the Pakis have been searching high and low for UBL ever since those assassination attempts on their president. But it's true that there are some regions in which even they cannot go. Of course, that's the type of place UBL would flee to.
If this is true, can't someone there say Cruise Missile!
Drop one of those bunker busters on him.
Osama on the move, intelligence on alert
Abhigyan Hans in New Delhi
Oct. 21. — Central intelligence agencies are on alert following a report in a Pakistani newspaper, quoting unnamed US intelligence agency sources, that Al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden has left Afghanistan and entered the rugged terrain around the Sino-Indian border.
http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=1&theme=&usrsess=1&id=57704
He could cause an awful lot of trouble in Kashmir...
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