Osama Bin Laden Captured!!

[RD]

U.S., Pakistan Deny Bin Laden Was Captured

Sat Feb 28,11:19 AM ET

By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Writer

TEHRAN, Iran - Pentagon (news - web sites) and Pakistani officials on Saturday denied an Iranian state radio report that Osama bin Laden (news - web sites) was captured in Pakistan's border region with Afghanistan (news - web sites) "a long time ago."

The claim came as Pakistan's army hunted terror suspects in a remote tribal region along the border, believed to be a possible hiding place for the al-Qaida's leader.

The director of Iran radio's Pashtun language service, Asheq Hossein, said the report was based on two sources — one of whom later told The Associated Press he was misquoted.

The report said bin Laden had been in custody for a period of time, but that President Bush (news - web sites) was withholding any announcement until closer to November elections.

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

Pakistani officials have denied knowing bin Laden's exact whereabouts, although there have been reports that military forces believe they know his general location and had him encircled.

The state radio report, quoting an unidentified source, said U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld's visit to the region this week was in connection with bin Laden's 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.

"Things are going well, and we believe we will eventually catch all the leaders of al-Qaida, but I know nothing of that report," he said.

Pakistani Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed called the report "baseless." "We have neither arrested Osama nor have we any information about him," he told AP.

Pakistani Army spokesman Gen. Shaukat Sultan also said the report was not true. "That information is wrong," he said.

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.

Hossein said he had a second source for the report but declined to identify him other than as "a man with close links to intelligence services and Afghan tribal leaders."

The report was carried by Iran radio's external Pashtun service, which is designed for listeners in Afghanistan and Pakistan where the language is widely spoken.

Iran state radio's main news channel — the Farsi-language service for Iranian listeners — did not carry the bin Laden report, nor did Iran state television.

The Iranian news agency IRNA was first to report the capture of ousted Iraqi leader 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 Pashtun service who confirmed the news.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=s ... _re_mi_ea/ bin_laden&cid=540&ncid=716

[RD]

apparently, the story has changed and they removed the bit that said bush was going to use osama for elections manouvring.

the last few days there have been stories about pakistan and america launching a new hunt for bin laden. also the americans claim they will probably arrest him within a few months. so it is possible he is indeed being used by bush for the elections and they already know where he is

[Guest John Kerry]

no..

[DD]

I heard this about 5 months ago. I heard Sadam was captured a while before the announcment. The Sadam capture was rumored by US Soldiers and there was supposed to be some leaked photos. I think it is a tool for his reelection but I still won't vote for him.

[Bic-B@ll]

THE MOON LANDING WAS FAKE

[Guest John Kerry]

and the vietnam war... 100% fake

[spine]

THE MOON LANDING WAS FAKE

Yeah I know is'nt that sad!? hmm?

But 3 bearded guys, like santa, osama and jesus, thats got

to have some connection is'nt it?

And well there's Kenny Rodger's aswell though, hmm well maybe

he is in on it aswell then, well let me think about this for a while

and get back to you...

[von*ferret]

wow get a life fellows. I'm sure bush doesn't sit at home thinking up ways to fool the american people. Flame me all you want now.

[Guest The_Postman]

ho ho ho...

[RD]

i agree with u ferret(¦)

[Mojo]

wow get a life fellows. I'm sure bush doesn't sit at home thinking up ways to fool the american people. Flame me all you want now.

lol, I can think of some pretty good exmaples of how he did and does

[DD]

Bush might not, he's probably not bright enough to, but people in his party would.

[Fletch]

osama is living on my couch. i promised to watch him for a few months.

[spine]

Kenny Rogers is living on my couch, jeez what a mess his making...

[mikezilla]

osama is said to be in good spirits in captivity. his daily diet consists of sour cream and onion pringles and some healthy excersise. He's also said to have grown quite fond of american tv and has been quoted as saying "the OC is the show for me!"