Pakistan Denies C.I.A. Is There Seeking bin Laden

[seemslikeadream]

By SALMAN MASOOD

Published: December 14

SLAMABAD, Pakistan, Dec. 13 - Pakistani officials on Monday denied a report about the presence of a Central Intelligence Agency search mission for the terrorist leader Osama bin Laden in their country, and they rejected the agency's conclusion that he was hiding in Pakistan's northwestern tribal area near the border with Afghanistan.

The New York Times reported on Monday that American officials had said that the C.I.A. had established a series of small covert bases in the semiautonomous tribal area of Pakistan in late 2003 and concluded that Mr. bin Laden was being sheltered there by local tribesmen and foreign militants. The officials also said the effort was being hindered by strict supervision from Pakistani officials.

But Pakistan strongly rejected those assertions in news briefings on Monday. "We do not know any whereabouts of Osama, nor is there any question of carrying out a search operation for him by the U.S. forces on our territory," said Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao.

In a separate briefing, Masood Khan, a Foreign Office spokesman, said, "Osama bin Laden has not been sighted in Chitral or any other part of Pakistan," referring to the mountainous northwestern tribal area.

On a recent trip to Latin America and the United States, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's president, announced that Mr. bin Laden's trail had gone cold, and said that his government had broken the back of the Qaeda network in Pakistan.

more
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/14/international/asia/14osama.html

[pinto]

1. Wish the US press would refer to Musharraf as a dictator.....n/t

[agincourt]

2. To be fair,

they'd have to refer to chimp as one too, and then they would have to admit we have no free press. Just a shrub adorin' , corporate lovin' choir.

[DeepModem Mom]

3. Are we searching for OBL or not? Link to post of yesterday's story:

"A Hostile Land Foils the Quest for bin Laden"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=1066828&mesg_id=1066828

[DeepModem Mom]

4. kick