France: Bin Laden Nearly Caught in Afghanistan

[rodbarnett]

PARIS (Reuters) - Osama bin Laden (news - web sites) has escaped capture in Afghanistan (news - web sites) several times and may be linked in some way to the Madrid train attacks that killed 200 people, France's chief of defense staff said Monday.


Gen. Henri Bentegeat said about 200 French troops were operating with U.S. forces in southeastern Afghanistan against the Taliban and bin Laden's al Qaeda. The Saudi-born militant is thought to be there or just across the border in Pakistan.


"Our men were not very far. On several occasions, I even think he slipped out of a net that was quite well closed," he told Europe 1 radio. He did not specify a time frame.


Bentegeat, who spoke as if he were sure bin Laden was in Afghanistan, said the country's difficult terrain explained why it was so hard to catch the world's most wanted man.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&e=2&u=/nm/20040315/ts_nm/security_france_binladen_dc

[trumad]

1. Wow what a guess.

He thinks Osama may have been linked to Madrid... LOL

[0007]

2. Sounds like Benny's capture is imminent

[LionInWinter]

3. Wouldn't the chimp freak ...

if bin Laden was caught by THE FRENCH?!!

[Catch22Dem]

4. You stole my post

I was gonna say the exact same thing.

[saigon68]

23. Le Français ne mentira pas au sujet de ceci. !!!!!

Si les autorités Françaises avaient Osama, elles nous auraient indiqué. Elles ne sont pas des menteurs comme Bush et ses amis

[smirkymonkey]

41. I would laugh my ass off for days!!!

Vive la France!!

[The Zanti Regent]

5. Why do I have the feeling the US has Osama locked up?

Why do I have a feeling the October Surprise will be that Chimp will say we got him, while the truth is we had him locked up for ages??????

[truthisfreedom]

6. well if that's true, the CIA is operating a fake osama who is even better

at evading capture than the real one.

of course that would be believeable if he was a ghost...

[DarkSim]

8. I have talked with journalists and politicians about this....

...and the general feeling in the business seems to be that Osama has been caught.

[kysrsoze]

12. Exactly - I'm sure they've had him for awhile.

All they have to do is leak info that says he's in a particular spot or they have him surrounded. Of course, if he's conveniently not there he will have miraculously escaped capture yet again.

[Teaser]

13. Unlikely.

There is no way this could be kept under wraps. For one, there are too many people at the CIA who are pissed at the Bushies and would leak it to the mainstream press.

Secondly, If bin Laden were already captured, Al Qaeda would be using that fact for propagandistic purposes. A near-mahdi in western hands? The rallying point would be too intense for AQ to pass up.

I stand by my assertion that bin Laden is dead. Which would explain nicely why Ayman Al-Zawahiri is running things now and why we've seen no knew video nor heard any unambiguous new messages from bin Laden in a long time.

[hang a left]

16. I think it already has been leaked to the press.

Remember the article out of Iran that sourced an unnamed Pakistani official.

[Teaser]

18. It wasn't a nameless pakistani official

It was a pakistani journalist who later denied the substance of the story. And it wasn't a mainstream press organ. It was a local media outlet in one provice of Iran. IRNA, the iranian news agency, never picked it up because it was denied so quickly by one of its principal sources.

[hang a left]

19. OK sorry, I couldn't remember exactly

No short term memory......long term is shot as well. But, if I remember correctly there have been other stories that have reported the rumour. So much so that it has been the subject of American political cartoons.

[Aussie_Hillbilly]

43. I agree

***I stand by my assertion that bin Laden is dead. Which would explain nicely why Ayman Al-Zawahiri is running things now and why we've seen no knew video nor heard any unambiguous new messages from bin Laden in a long time.***

I think Bin Laden died and his followers destroyed the body. Like with Hitler. As long as there is no proof of his death, he will always be a figurehead to inspire radical Islamists.

The Bush regime needs him on the loose forever for the same reason. Like "Goldstein" in Orwell's book 1984 - Agents of OBL have disrupted voting! The election result is invalid! Love Big Brother!

***A near-mahdi in western hands***

That would be humiliating - like Saddam's capture. The Mahdi is a Shi'a concept, but I know what you mean.

[ScottInFlorida]

27. Everyone knows...

I thought everyone knew that OBL was working at the 7-11 in the Newark, NJ mall?

Regards,

S>

[NJCher]

7. will the real Ossama please stand up?

wouldn't it be funny if the U.S. caught one and France caught one?


Cher

[radwriter0555]

9. LOL Like all the fake saddams the USA said were wandering around iraq?

This is all bullshit.

Bin laden died in december 2001.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

10. Maybe I'll win....

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=1195625#1195711

[hang a left]

17. Then again........maybe I will :- )

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=1195625#1195711

Bin Laden shall be reportedly caught alive,

the day before the Plame indictments. April 22, 2004. I guess the time it will be announced will be at 7:45 AM Pacific Standard Time.

The nation he will be reportedly captured in shall be Afghanistan.

edit to put date in subject line.

edited one more time for coherency

On edit for linky and text

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

28. Why guess 2004 if you just claimed he was already dead?

I guess I sense a disconnect.... :shrug:

[hang a left]

38. I didn't guess he was dead. My guess is cut and pasted in #17

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

39. My bad.

It was radwriter0555 who said he was dead. Sorry.

[xchrom]

11. gleefully rubbing my hands together

oh if he isn't dead -- please, please, please let the french catch him.

[dArKeR]

14. From what we've seen the American Military do in the last 3 years,

thousands of Cruise missiles, fire bombing, carpet bombing... do you think George aWol Bush would spare any murderous weapon if we knew even to 200 sq. miles of the area Bin Laden was in? And it seems to me by these reports they know within a few miles of Bin Laden's location. Why isn't this addresses with the Media Whores?

[Moderator]

15. Le Kick

..

[phoebe]

20. here we go again with the fear mongering. What is the point of saying that

he has escaped capture many times? It certainly doesn't put the French in a good light admitting that they failed to catch him. Why, if OBL is such a fiend, would they want to make him out to be so wily and clever and able to evade escape? Surely this makes the French look even more ridiculous?

The whole point of this story is to keep the "people" on edge and to willingly conform to the "maternalism" of the French government who knows what's best for them. Pure BS is what this is..

[Dover]

21. If the French DO capture bin Laden and he's also charged with bombings

in Europe, then it would seem they wouldn't have to send him to the U.S. for trial...at least not immediately.

I would really like to hear what bin Laden has to say (providing he's even alive), and that seems likely only if he faced trial somewhere other than in the U.S.. As far as I know, there is still no definitive proof that bin Laden and al Qaeda committed the crimes they are charged with, and so far the U.S. has managed to kill the purported al Qaeda leaders/chiefs rather than bring them to trial.

[daleo]

22. Proof, what a quaint concept

Perhaps fat Ossama can testify to provide this "proof" of which you speak.

[Ravy]

24. Go France! (n/t)

[saigon68]

25. Mais naturellement N/T

[ronnykmarshall]

26. Go FRANCE!

I would love it if the French caught him.


Neo cons would freak.

[0007]

34. Hannity would leap into Rush Limbaugh soul, thus killing both

instantly - Ann Coulter would have doctor Biber in Trinidad Colorado give her a prick implant.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

37. Are you sure she doesn't already have one?

[Khephra]

29. kick

[leesa]

30. Oh brother! Those guys on dialysis are sure hard to catch!!

What a bunch of BS this whole OBL thing is. Booga Booga!

[Almost_there]

31. I saw Bin Laden at my local chinese buffet!

He had shaved his beard and looked suspiciously like Groucho Marx. Who writes these articles? And who buys them? I am not a conspiritorialist thinking that we've already got him, (sorry, if the White House can't keep a damn thing secret for more than a week, you really think they'll keep the fact they've got him quiet for 6 months?), but, let's stop with the "Ohhh! That was so close! We had him on the crapper at 6.37 Tora Bora time, but, we Jjjjjjjjuuuuust missed him!"

PUH-LEASE!

Although it would be funny to see a French soldier parading Bin Laden out of the mountains... Holding a French flag and a nibbling on some of them good ol' Freedom Fries! (BARF!)

[newyawker99]

40. Hi Almost_there!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Dr Fate]

32. But- but- Bush said the French, I mean, "Freedomen" were Cowards...

...Remember when Bush/media told us that those from the country we now apparently call "Freedom" were cowards or whatever for not supporting Iraq?

Looks like these "beret wearing sissies" are actually doing their job in the place where the real terrorists are..

[Rochambeau]

33. OBL captured by the French? Unlikely....

I've talked about that issue with friends in the military months ago and they all agree on a point. The french forces in Afghanistan are so spyied a french officer can't go to the toilets without a US agent writing it on his agenda. They perfectly know the situation but can't do much about it due to technical situation created by "cooperation".
French intelligence is almost entirly based on human sources and infiltration on the contruary of the US intelligence there. The good point is that it works, the bad thing is the US sometimes use those informations by spying their own allies, french and brits. The guys there are sure that if they ever manage to locate OBL the US will use the trickiest methods to be there first. They spy the other forces there specifically to prevent such kind of "bad surprise".

[goforit]

35. A favor for France in Haiti = A favor for the US with OBL.....interesting

Hmmmmm......

[Rochambeau]

36. Maybe, very possible.

The freepers when they talk about France always mention "apeasement" (toward terrorists) but if there is "apeasement" in the french governement today it's all about the US. It seems the right-wing government of France really doubt Kerry can win :shrug:. I don't know what to think about it and it scares me a bit since I believe my government should have informations, about the chimp plans maybe or secret Bushco achievements (OBL?) maybe, secret pact between the two governments maybe, the public don't have. Many signs of that "apeasement" strategy toward the Bushco can be seen if you know where to look and read "between lines" and I don't like that at all !!! Not at all !!!:mad: :mad:
If ever the rightist french government decide to help Bushco against Kerry it could be very dangerous!! (something like to "kill" Kerry in the US in telling stories about his roots and links in France or lies about phone calls to the french family before taking decisions in Capitol or whatever, their evilish imagination has no limits).:scared: :scared:

[peacetalksforall]

42. I kind of also think he died, but they can't announce his capture because

they are still growing his look-alike.