Bin Laden Is 'Healthy, Giving the Orders' Says Terror Suspect
Michael Isikoff
A new FBI terrorism case provides a rare nugget of intelligence about Osama bin Laden: the Al Qaeda leader is alive, well, and personally “giving the orders” for the terror group’s operations, according to comments made by an alleged American Al Qaeda operative on a secret bureau recording.
The bureau’s case against the alleged operative, a Chicago cab driver named Raja Lharsib Khan, has so far gotten little attention. This is likely because there is no evidence that the cabbie’s alleged discussions about blowing up an American stadium with remote-control bombs this summer (secretly recorded by the FBI) had progressed beyond the talking stage. But contained in court documents made public shortly after Khan’s arrest on terrorism charges last Friday were some unexpected revelations about Al Qaeda's No. 1 leader....
Contrary to some intelligence reports in recent years, bin Laden was not ill nor was he isolated from his followers, according to the conversation that was secretly recorded between Khan and an undercover FBI agent at a Chicago coffee shop on Feb. 23. Instead, the Al Qaeda leader continues to be very much in charge of his organization and is personally directing terrorist operations, according to excerpts of the conversation that are recounted in the FBI affidavit. “I asked the Lala about him,” Khan said about bin Laden while describing his talks with Kashmiri. “And he says … he’s perfect, healthy, and he’s leading and he’s giving the orders … he’s OK, he’s in safe hands.”
-more-
http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/declassified/archive/2010/03/29/bin-laden-is-healthy-giving-the-orders-says-terror-suspect.aspx