NEWS: Iranian Radio Reports Bin Laden Captured, US Denies

As of 20 minutes ago Yahoo News has printed a report stating "The state radio said a reporter for its Pushtun service in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar "confirmed the news" that bin Laden had been captured in a tribal region in Pakistan. He said the news was from "a very reliable source in Peshawar, Pakistan," but the source was not identified."

"Osama bin Laden has been arrested a long time ago, but Bush is intending to use it for propaganda maneuvering in the presidential election," he said.

Pakistani Army spokesman Gen. Shaukat Sultan told The Associated Press that the report is completely untrue. "That information is wrong," he said."

news.Yahoo.com

If this turns out to be true, all I have to say is, "There goes any chance of getting Bush out of the White House!" Though I can't say I didn't see this coming.







[Edited on 1-3-2004 by SkepticOverlord]

U.S. and Pakistani officials have denied the report.

"The report said that U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's visit to the region this week was in connection with the arrest...

Larry Di Rita, the chief Pentagon spokesman who traveled with Rumsfeld this week to Afghanistan, denied the report. "I don't have any reason to think it's true," he said Saturday.

Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty, a spokesman for the U.S. military in Afghanistan, also said he had no information to suggest bin Laden had been caught.

The report was carried by Iran radio's external Pushtun service. The director of Iran radio's Pushtun service, Asheq Hossein, said he had two sources for the report that bin Laden had been captured.

The Iranian news agency IRNA was first to report the capture of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites). IRNA also carried the state radio report about bin Laden's capture and said it had contacted a radio announcer at the Pushtun service who confirmed the news. "
story.news.yahoo.com.../ap/20040228/ap_on_re_mi_ea/bin_laden

This is interesting. It could be OBL, but the pattern with Saddam was some mideastern radio report would say "Saddam Captured" then we'd turn up with a "TOP AIDE". We did that a few times.

Nothing on cable news yet either way.

Bush will akways deny it because he wants to show the world that he's all that, and that he's catching all the terrorists. He even kied about Saddam; he didnt catch him. He's doing all of this just to win the election; and if Iran cought Bin Laden then he can't fake that one so he cant get even more votes. #ing asshole

wasnt the IRNA the same news source that was the first to say saddam has been captured?

I dunno. I jst dont belive all the bull#t Bush told us.

Oh man, I really hope this is true.

But it's probably not....#!

This could well be true. Sure the fact it's got out now isn't good. I'm sure Bush administration would have prefered it to come out nearer the election. Kerry seems to be doing rather well. Bush was going to use Bin Laden capture to steal his thunder and win the election.

Synical, ya dam right.

Article says that IRNA sources report that Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden might have been caught in a tribal area of Pakistan. Unclear is the time, date and location of his capture. Suggestions are made that refer to a early capture, from a month up to a year ago. The IRNA source also suggests that the Bush goverment is waiting for the presidential elections before they make it a headline.

Ofcourse, even in my opinion the IRNA source shouldn't be taken too seriously.

Reuters story: www.reuters.com...;jsessionid=CH4AJIU1CUUL0CRBAELCFFA?type=topNews&storyID=4460037§ion=news

Maybe Iran is making all of this up. They're biggest enemy right now is Bush, and if Bush is put out of office, then they won't have to worry about their security and threat of being invaded anymore. Bush is going to lose a lot of credibility because of this, even if it's true or not.

We hear these reports over and over at least once a week, wake me up when something actually happens.

Originally posted by Nerdling
We hear these reports over and over at least once a week, wake me up when something actually happens.

No, you're getting it wrong. We always hear reports of the US closing in on Osama and getting ready to capture him, but we never hear reports on Osama being captured with out us knowing, and then used for propaganda.

Originally posted by Slayer

Originally posted by Nerdling
We hear these reports over and over at least once a week, wake me up when something actually happens.

No, you're getting it wrong. We always hear reports of the US closing in on Osama and getting ready to capture him, but we never hear reports on Osama being captured with out us knowing, and then used for propaganda.

Thats funny, Since december i can count at least 15 instances of "we've got him".

No, even the capture of Bin Laden wont save Monkey Bush from getting his eveiction notice from 1600 Pennsylvania. I really think Kerry is gonna waste him.

But its interesting. Bin laden has not been captured from his CIA safehouse, he is still sitting there, waiting to be "captured" just like Saddam was. Dont worry, Kiddies. We know where to find him when he is needed.

But I think its too late for Bush. Capturing saddam didnt do anything to improve Dubyas standing, I dont even think Bin Laden will either.

Although this may or may not have any credence - I do believe that his location is known and at the right politically motivated moment he will be captured...
Just in time for November elections...

Here's the link to the Iranian News Agency announcement should you be interested...

www.irna.ir...

Originally posted by intelgurl
Although this may or may not have any credence - I do believe that his location is known and at the right politically motivated moment he will be captured...
Just in time for November elections...

I agree with both with you and Skadi, I see Bush symbolically walking down every street in America with OBL on a leash. But it not may not be enough to save him from the mess he has created.

Peace,
BG

This article is the second announcement mentioning Bin Laden's capture and the US denying it in the past week or so.

What is interesting here is that Iran has a somewhat vested interest in proclaiming that Bin Laden has been captured. It takes the focus of their being high on the "Axis of Evil" list and their recent voting scam which is causing some major internal, domestic power struggles. This supposed announcement by Iran shifts the focus of attention off destabilization.


Then again, the DoD, State Department, or any other agency or department involved would would deny this. The honor of making such as confirmation or announcement, pertaining to the capture of Bin Laden, would belong solely to the President.



regards
seekerof

Just as an FYI:
The IRNA news source trumped all other agencies by 1 hr when reporting the capture of Saddam. That is why most of the news agencies take their reports seriously now. They seem to have strong sources.

Speaking to AP in Tehran, the radio director identified one of the sources for the report as Shamim Shahed, whom was identified as editor of the English-language Pakistani newspaper The Nation. Hossein said Shahed told him Friday night that bin Laden was arrested "a long time ago."

But Shahed, who is The Nation's Peshawar bureau chief and not its editor, denied telling Iranian radio that bin Laden had been captured.

"I never said this," Shahed said in a telephone interview with AP's Islamabad bureau. "But I have for the last year been saying that he is not far away. He is within their (the Americans') reach, and they can declare him arrested any time."

"I have been misquoted. On this matter, we never talked, the last two months. I'm angry, because they've misquoted me," Shahed said in a separate interview with AP Radio.

www.usatoday.com...

Looks like they got the guy's job discription wrong, and he was also misquoted...