Bin Laden fled in December, says CIA

Wales and ABC News ^ | January 15, 2002 | Wales.co.uk Staff

[t-shirt]

Bin Laden fled in December, says CIA

Jan 15 2002

Osama bin Laden not only escaped the US bombing of eastern Afghanistan, but has reportedly fled the region by sea, according to a CIA report.

In a major setback to the war on terrorism, CIA analysts have said bin Laden escaped from the Tora Bora cave complex around the first week of December.

CIA officials told America's ABCNews that one captured al-Qaida fighter claims to have witnessed, in one of the Tora Bora hiding places, bin Laden handing control to one of his deputies

"I think that most intelligence analysts are absolutely convinced at this point that bin Laden has slipped the noose and has left Afghanistan and Pakistan," said Vince Cannistraro, a former CIA counter-terrorism chief.

To fool US forces in the area, the CIA believes, bin Laden left behind a video message that was transmitted only after had escaped.

Asked about bin Laden's whereabouts, Secretary of State Colin Powell said he did not know where bin Laden was but that US forces were in "hot pursuit" of him. "I can't say he is out of that immediate region. I have seen nothing that suggests we know where he is, whether it's in Afghanistan, Pakistan or somewhere else," Powell said.

US, British, German and French forces have been searching dozens of ships in the Arabian Sea for the last two months and the CIA have concluded that bin Laden most likely fled by sea to Pakistan.

[WRhine]

He's worth more to the warmongers at large than he is captured. In fact I predict they'll never capture him.

Is warmongers how you refer to our military people that are combating the Muslim international terrorist networks that brought 9/11 down on us?

[BJClinton]

...to this government...

Actually, 1996 would have made it the last government, my namesake's.

We said no.

We weren't in power. The original BJC said no.

[Sabertooth]

Osama Paki-pool Update: Osama bin DEAD-pool Pick a day! Any day! Or flag me for a QikPik! Update
In the past week, sightings of Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan have surpassed those of Elvis in Vegas. Is it almost over for the Scumbeard of the Year? Or are these all wild goose chases? What day do you think he's learn the truth about the 72 virgins and the 28 little boys? Or are you even in the game? Still plenty of open dates, so flag me on this thread (not my mailbox) if you want in. As you've noticed, since he doesn't look like he'll make it to Pakistan, I went ahead and changed the name of the pool. Sue me. KayEyeDoubleDee raised a good question a while back... What's the effective time zone for the pool? I should have established this earlier, so I think the only fair thing to do is say that it's whatever Time Zone bin Laden is killed in (or appears in Pakistan, which seems increasingly unlikely.) In the event that bin Laden turns out to have been killed already, we'll wait until a reliable forensic report (meaning, the stage of maggot development on his rotten carcass) before declaring a winner.
ANNOUNCEMENT from Recovering_Democrat SABERTOOTH'S POOL IS NOW GOING TO BE CONSIDERED THE POOL FOR THE WINNER. RECOVERING DEMOCRAT WILL DONATE $25 TO FR IN THE NAME OF THE WINNER OF **SABERTOOTH'S** POOL! (sorry folks. I didn't know there was a pool already going! I meant to do something ORIGINAL. No need to have two going at once, so I'll rely on Sabertooth to provide the name of the winner! Thanks ST! rd)
Hey, thank YOU, RD! As far as I'm concerned, if you thought of it yourself, it's original. And I doubt I was the first But it was your great idea to give $25 in the name of the winner to Free Republic. If you don't mind, I think I'll match that, in addition to posting a glory thread with the winner's name on it. henbane… Sabertooth
ANNOUNCEMENT from henbane: and glock rocks have both chipped $25 pledges into the DEAD-pool. That's $100 in the Free Republic kitty when this is all done!
November, 2001 November 16: First day of Ramadan! November 17: 68-69TonkinGulfYatchClub - Nope. November 18: johniegrad - Nope. November 19: OPEN November 20: OPEN November 21: OPEN November 22: Azzurri -- Thanksgiving - Nope. November 23: Sabertooth - Nope. November 24: Jefferson Adams - Nope. November 25: Victoria Delsoul - Nope. November 26: airborne - Nope. November 27: harpseal - Nope. November 28: snippy_about_it - Nope. November 29: Tunehead54 - Nope. November 30: Travis McGee - Nope.						December, 2001 December   1: alancarp - Nope. December   2: onyx - Nope. December   3: AfghanAirShow - Nope. December   4: Straight Vermonter - Nope. December   5: Pokey78 - Nope. December   6: proudofthesouth - Nope. December   7: null and void -- Pearl Harbor Day - Nope. December   8: MaeWest - Nope. December   9: justlurking - Nope. December 10: glock rocks - Nope. December 11: KayEyeDoubleDee - Nope. December 12: Washi - Nope. December 13: FreedomFarmer - Nope. December 14: irish guard - Nope. December 15: hattend</b- Nope. Not sure when Ramadan ends, but around here somewhere. December 16: nunya bidness - Nope. December 17: abner - Nope. December 18: anniegetyourgun - Nope. December 19: Collier - Nope. December 20: mdittmar - Nope. December 21: Nick Danger - Nope. December 22: okie01 - Nope. December 23: peteram - Nope. December 24: RasterMaster - Nope. December 25: Go Gordon -- Christmas Day - Nope. December 26: Loyalist - Nope. December 27: Brian Allen - Nope. December 28: Snow Bunny December 29: Alabama_Wild_Man - Nope. December 30: CIApilot - Nope. December 31: Miss Marple - Nope.
January, 2002 January   1: Freeper 007 -- New Year's Day - Nope. January   2: spectr17 - Nope. January   3: lainde - Nope. January   4: Woodman - Nope. January   5: Semper911 Day - Nope. January   6: be-baw Day - Nope. January   7: aruanan Day - Nope. January   8: PoisedWoman -- Elvis's Birthday - Nope. January   9: Diogenesis. Day - Nope. January 10: JeanS Day - Nope. January 11: is_is Day - Nope. January 12: garycooper Day - Nope. January 13: Torie Day - Nope. January 14: JohnHuang2 Day - Nope. January 15: coteblanche -- King's B'day. - Nope. January 16: Sunshine55 - Tick… tick… tick… January 17: lmr - On the bubble. January 18: eastforker January 19: LibWhacker January 20: Gritty -- Anniversary of Dubya's Inagural January 21: bwteim January 22: Mike Darancette January 23: Shooter 2.5 January 24: kylaka January 25: butter pecan fan January 26: itwasntme January 27: WRhine January 28: nevergore January 29: veronica January 30: InfraRed January 31: Ernest_at_the_Beach						February, 2002 February   1: mvonfr February   2: afuturegovernor -- Ground Hog Day February   3: JennysCool February   4: deadhead February   5: VietVet February   6: Slyfox February   7: GeronL February   8: Calpublican February   9: OnAMission February 10: gwmoore February 11: EaglesUpForever February 12: nonliberal - Lincoln's Birthday February 13: America's Resolve February 14: beowolf - Valentine's Day February 15: I_Had_Enough February 16: vinci February 17: aquawrench February 18: 2Jedismom February 19: ScottK February 20: b4its2late February 21: My Favorite Headache February 22: Amore - Washington's Birthday February 23: katze February 24: HAL9000 February 25: YaYa123 February 26: cajungirl February 27: Slicksadick February 28: Poohbah
March, 2002 March   1: abclily March   2: womanvet March   3: The Raven March   4: WhatWouldReaganDo March   5: jrewingjr March   6: illbenice March   7: SunnyUsa March   8: DKNY March   9: lilsparky March 10: Pablo64 March 11: VRWC For Truth March 12: Sungirl March 13: katnip March 14: Bloody Sam Roberts March 15: X-FID March 16: Happygal March 17: Hillary's Lovely Legs - St. Patrick's Day March 18: AFVetGal March 19: Lancey Howard March 20: GOPJ March 21: Bogey78O March 22: Abn1508 March 23: Tex-Con-Man March 24: seeker41 March 25: JerseyHighlander March 26: CJ Wolf March 27: Apple Pan Dowdy March 28: JerseyHighlander March 29: bvw March 30: Rainbow Rising March 31: Darth Sidious						April, 2002 April   1: mlocher April   2: Big Guy and Rusty 99 April   3: Grizzfan April   4: WIMom - Brady Boomer Founder April   5: CheneyChick - Brady Boomer Founder April   6: vikingchick - Brady Boomer Founder April   7: fhayek April   8: kmiller1k - Brady Boomer Founder April   9: one_particular_harbour - Brady Boomer Founder April 10: rintense April 11: Fighting Irish April 12: HiTech RedNeck April 13: MattinNJ April 14: Faraday April 15: LLAN-DDEUSANT April 16: BOBTHENAILER April 17: newzjunkey April 18: rockfish59 April 19: Dan from Michigan April 20: 4TheFlag April 21: OPEN April 22: OPEN April 23: OPEN April 24: OPEN April 25: CounterCounterCulture April 26: OPEN April 27: Michael2001 April 28: operation clinton cleanup April 29: dennisw April 30: henbane
And here are a few of Freepers who think that they know something that the rest us don't… October 10, 2001: susangirl - She's actually got a cool theory, which you can read HERE. May   1: Free Vulcan May 17: Flipyaforreal September 11, 2002: terilyn October 26, 2004: kixx September 5, 2011: widgysoft
If you're unsure what the whole "Paki-pool" idea was about, click this link to a thread posted by Travis McGee on October 25th... Will Osama Appear In Pakistan? The operating theory is was that Osama bin Laden had a plan all along to show up in Pakistan, have himself declared the "Imam al-Mahdi" (a long-prophesied Islamic savior-figure), and start a civil war in an attempt to gain control of Pakistan's nukes. Sound crazy? So is he. Crazy evil. It's still an interesting read.
Here's another:    Black Flags of Islam   Portents of the Imam al-Mahdi, the Moslems' prophesied deliverer of Jerusalem? Click on the Black Flags for the link

[anniegetyourgun]

I still think I am right. He's dead.

[Gorzaloon]

Agree..he is probably puzzled down there in the flames.

But:

Bin Laden fled in December, says CIA Wales and ABC News | January 15, 2002 | Wales.co.uk Staff

Well, (IMO) Wales is one of the most beautiful places on Earth, and all, but when I saw this header, I thought to myself, "Yn a pygg's bwm he has!"

:-)

[anniegetyourgun]

ROFL!

BTW, I LOVE your screenname. Wish I had thought of it myself! It's just...well...so TRUE!

[SolitaryMan]

I like this one....

[Howlin]

This report has been OFFICIALLY DENIED by the CIA, which they NEVER do. It's not true.

[Howlin]

I should have known you'd get here before me........LOL.

[Timesink]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
15 January 2002

---

Statement by CIA Spokesman Bill Harlow on ABC News Report

ABC News reported on the evening of January 14 that the CIA believes that Usama bin Laden has "escaped from Afghanistan and has gone beyond Pakistan," most likely by sea.  This is incorrect.  We have reached no such conclusion.  ABC did not contact the Agency about this allegation before airing it.

---

[anniegetyourgun]

I know. I love it when the CIA sends out conflicting messages and/or allows for them in the media. That's the way it should be. Keeps everyone guessing!

[Go Gordon]

What should be more damaging to this government than anything is that Sudan offered to extradite bin Laden to the U.S. in 1996. We said no. So he went to Afghanistan unmolested.

He's in a class all his own. He's one of very few during the Clinton adminstration that went UNMOLESTED.

[classygreeneyedblonde]

[Victoria Delsoul]

[BOBTHENAILER]

Great poem.

[Demidog]

Do you have "never" on that list? I'll put 20 dollars on that date.

[Illbay]

How can we be in "hot pursuit" of someone when we have no clue as to his whereabouts? I thought "hot pursuit" meant "We've got 'im in our sights and we're closing in!"

[Illbay]

What "nation building"? We've done no such thing. The U.N. has been solely involved in any "nation building" efforts. The U.S. has--for the most part unilaterally--been solely concerned with tracking down terrorists.

You possess some of the most stubborn, idiotic templates of any functioning(?) human mind I've come in contact with. "Everything U.S. government do BAD! Don't matter details, BAD BAD BAD!"

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the heads up!