CIA: ABCNEWS is Lying About Bin Laden Escape to Pakistan

Central Intelligence Agency ^ | January 15, 2002 | Bill Harlow

[Timesink]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
15 January 2002

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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.

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[Ymani Cricket]

or how about a really unusual twist.. Maybe ABC wants to make Bin Laden think Bin Laden has left Afghanistan. Maybe if they report it enough as such, Bin Laden will start to quetion his own whereabouts and accidentally expose himself (no pun intended) to his real whereabouts. Perhaps through his hashish brained haze he may just not know where he is at!

[Demidog]

LOL. Sure. Then where is he?

[Squantos]

Whorealdo go to work for ABC ??????

[MeekOneGOP]

BUMP!

[Thebaddog]

Maybe it's the case that Bin Laden is in Saudi Arabia and not able to be grabbed. The tape thing sounds too James Bondish to be real. But the Saudis are a potential problem given his roots and their slimyness.

Hmm. Time will tell on this one but it is fun to screw the networks. Noone else is biting are they.

[cantfindagoodscreenname]

LOL! I like it!

[Lady In Blue]

Bin Laden could be in Saudi Arabia OR Yemeni.I mean,if he was in Pakistan,he could have headed south east to the sea and got a boat and made it to Yemeni.

[Urbane_Guerilla]

LIB:

Re #46: It seems that US intelligence, by the time December rolled around, had to be extremely attuned to OBL's whereabouts. We kept on getting affirmative statements from the gov't that we knew where he had been a couple days ago, or a week ago. Those staements are not inconsistent with the fact that we also knew where he was currently.

My guess is that we know where he is, and -- as you point out -- are truthfully saying "we'll get him." But we dont want to "get him" or announce that he has been gotten for several reasons: 1) to protect sources who are giving or have given information; 2) to keep track of where he goes and who he meets, for intelligence purposes; 3) to keep the focus on the bigger picture, which is the long and exhausting war we still have to fight; 4) to lull him into a sense of security; 5) and to be able to interrogate him without distraction when we do get him.

Other than the propaganda value, there presently does not seem to be a good reason to let people know what we know about OBL, or even to capture him, until we have exhausted the avenues served by having him "at large."

What I find interesting, is that OBL, or OBL's people, seem to have decided the same thing. They see no profit in clarifying the circumstances. From their pov, news of his death would be a great propaganda loss. And news (with proof) of his life removes a purported doubt we might have. From their pov, better to leave us in the dark.

My own hope about the matter is that he is alive, that we extract every last bit of information from him when he is captured, and that we later announce he was discovered dead in a latrine, where he had been dumped by unknown individuals and had drowned in the sewage.

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[anniegetyourgun]

I know - you just come here to get away from demidog and that strange newbie, BluesMan.....and I wouldn't blame you!