by Jason Ditz, April 27, 2009
www.antiwar.com
Since his March broadcast on al-Jazeera, al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has seemingly vanished off the face of the earth, with neither US nor Pakistan spy agencies detecting a single trace of him. This has added to the speculation that he may have died.
“The question is whether he is alive or dead,” Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari said, “there is no trace of him.” Zardari also said his advisers feel there is substance to the rumors of bin Laden’s failing health, and that “they obviously feel that he does not exist any more but that’s not confirmed.”
US State Department spokesman Robert Wood likewise admitted that they likewise “have no information that indicates that Osama bin Laden is … frankly dead or alive.” He insisted in the meantime the US would continue to operate under the assumption that he was alive and keep looking for him.
The enigmatic Saudi has been on the FBI’s ten most wanted list for over a decade, and US officials have repeatedly speculated that he is located somewhere along the mountainous border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. At this point though, that seems to be nothing more than a guess.
punditman says...
Remember this guy? Public enemy number after 9-11. The whole issue of bin Laden's whereabouts and the apparent inability of the most sophisticated security and surveillance apparatus in the history of the world—to capture him or to prove definitively of his demise—always leaves Punditman mystified. Punditman has heard about or read most of the theories surrounding his fate: he died in the battle of Tora Bora in 2001; he was wounded at Tora Bora but escaped; he died of massive organ failure in April 2004; he died in Pakistan in August 2006 after contracting a case of typhoid fever; his videos are faked; he's a CIA stooge; he's camped out in a teepee at the end of an old logging road in Wawa, Ontario, living on moose meat and trying in vain to hitch a ride out of there...
None of it ever adds up. They can land on the moon, read your license plate from space as they peruse your email and tap your cell phone, but they can't find some 6' 4" bearded dude who lives in caves and huts and who—from many reports—is not exactly the picture of perfect health? Punditman has always thought that somebody was up to something when it comes to Osama bin Laden. What do you think?
