Found this in my files Bin Laden Captured 2004

[shraby]

Don't have a link but I had stuck it away and just ran across it.

U.S., Pakistan Deny Bin Laden Was Captured
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Published: February 28, 2004


Filed at 11:18 a.m. ET

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Pentagon and Pakistani officials on Saturday
denied an Iranian state radio report that Osama bin Laden was
captured in Pakistan's border region with Afghanistan ``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 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. 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

[DURHAM D]

1. Behold - the October surprise. eom

[Whoa_Nelly]

2. Found this after searching using your archived headline

http://talkleft.com/new_archives/002064.html

Wednesday :: March 12, 2003
Has Bin Laden Been Captured?
Bump and Update: This from Iranian Radio:

In an interview with the Iranian Tehran radio, the deputy leader of the Islamic Awamy Tahrik Party the Pakistani National Islamic Movement Party , Murtaza Poyia names phonetic , has confirmed the arrest of the leader of the Al-Qa'idah network, Usamah Bin-Ladin. Quoting reliable sources, he added that Usamah Bin-Ladin is being held by the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence ISI and US troops at present.

Answering a question about why Usamah's arrest has not been announced, Murtaza Poyia said that it had been decided to announce his capture a few hours after America's attack on Iraq.

A high-ranking ISI official said some time ago that the information extracted from Khalid Sheikh Mohammad recently captured alleged Al-Qa'idah operative had brought them ISI and the USA closer to Usamah Bin-Ladin's capture .

Friends, the detailed interview with Murtaza Poyia will be broadcast later in this programme.

Source: Voice of the Islamic Republic of Iran External Service, Tehran, in Pashto 1230 gmt 12 Mar 03; Available on Lexis.Com