(Right around the final days of the republican convention would be a good time to announce the capture, don't you think?) U.S. military 'sure' of catching bin Laden this year STEPHEN GRAHAM, Associated Press Writer Thursday, January 29, 2004 ©2004 Associated Press URL: sfgate.com/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2004/01/29/international1522EST0673.DTL (01-29) 12:22 PST KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- The U.S. military is "sure" it will catch Osama bin Laden this year, a spokesman said Thursday, but he declined to comment on where the al-Qaida leader may be hiding. Bin Laden, chief suspect in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that sparked the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan, is widely believed to be holed up somewhere along the mountainous Pakistani-Afghan border with former Taliban leader Mullah Omar. Following last month's capture of ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, American commanders in Afghanistan have expressed new optimism they will eventually find bin Laden. Spokesman Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty said the military now believed it could seize him within months. "We have a variety of intelligence and we're sure we're going to catch Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar this year," Hilferty said. "We've learned lessons from Iraq and we're getting improved intelligence from the Afghan people." Hilferty declined to comment on where exactly bin Laden or Mullah Omar might be hiding, but his optimism coincides with comments from U.S. officials in Washington that the military is planning a spring offensive against Taliban and al-Qaida holdouts. American forces are pinning hopes for better intelligence from locals on new security teams setting up in provincial capitals across a swath of troubled southern and eastern Afghanistan near the Pakistani border. The security teams are supposed to open the way for millions of dollars in U.S. development aid and allow the Afghan government to regain control over lawless areas largely populated by ethnic Pashtuns, from which the Taliban drew their main support. This month alone, about 70 people have died in violence, including two international peacekeepers killed by suicide bombers in the relatively peaceful capital, Kabul. The Taliban claimed responsibility for those attacks. The spring offensive touted by U.S. defense officials Wednesday would come just when the new security teams are supposed to be up and running, and warmer weather opens the high passes through which insurgents slip. Hilferty declined to comment on the proposed plans, saying he could not talk about future operations. Pakistani officials said Thursday they would not allow American forces to use their territory for any new offensive. "As a matter of fact they (the United States) have not contacted us for this purpose," said Brig. Javed Iqbal Cheema, a senior Pakistani security official who coordinates with U.S. counterparts on counterterrorism. An intelligence official said Pakistani authorities also had no specific information about bin Laden's whereabouts. President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, a key U.S. ally, would face withering criticism from political opponents, particularly Islamic hard-liners controlling two key border provinces, if American forces were deployed inside Pakistan. Pakistan says it has arrested more than 500 al-Qaida men over the past two years and many of them have been handed over to the United States. In January, Pakistani forces raided a border village where al-Qaida fighters were believed to be hiding. The interior minister said 18 suspected terrorists were captured, but he did not identify them. The area is close to the Afghan provinces of Paktika and Khost, regions where the U.S. military says bin Laden loyalists are active. The 11,000-strong U.S.-led force hunting insurgents includes about 500 soldiers stationed at Khost airport and more troops at two smaller bases in Paktika. All three regularly come under fire. ©2004 Associated Press
BWAHAHAHAHA!!!! let this be a memory to the utter stupidity of the american war machine. so where is he? i attacked america on 9-11 and all i got was away with it!!!!!, luv, osama xxxx come on! bin laden is perhaps the most evil tinker out there - followed by his supporters george bush and donny boy. so where is he? why hasnt he been caught yet? clearly, the powers that be MUST want him to be free, otherwise they would have him by now right? so why do YOU think he is still at large? are you embarrassed by bush'd inability to get the job done. yeah bush - you sure did 'smoke him out' like you promised! fucking 2 bit jerk!!!
What's the matter, ART? Was your ZZzzzzzz alias wearing out its welcome, or are you trying to reach 10,000 posts in this guise as well?
Thanks, RM. Foolish me, thinking Zzzzzz would abandon his most successful alias. Also foolish for not recognizing it was just the Mad Brit posting his delusional prattle in yet another thread.
I'm laying odds OBL is holed up in NYC at the TRUMP PLAZA. ...........check all new rentals in last few years where some bozo rented an entire floor and paid in cash, BINGO................. What ever happened to all this super snooper stuff the Military is always bragging about. this guy is like 6 yards, 6 feet tall and they can not find him. I mean, Dick tracy, Elliot Ness or even Colombo would have solved this mystery by now...............
lol i can see it now. in 10-20 years time, this is going to be some massive hollywood blockbuster comedy....carry on up the taliban featuring steve martin as obl, and woody allen as bush (woody allen is great at playing dumb as pig shit!!!) it ends with allen chasing martin round and round the coffee table in the middle of his nyc apartment..... either that, or obl motoring it down the road with a stream of like 40 american cop cars all tailgating eachother, sirens going like they do in all us car chase scenes. of course, obl takes a sharp turn and like 10 of the cop cars get smashed up in the confusion of someone taking a sharp right!!! lol this is gunna be a great movie.
maybe obl will apear in the trump plazza alright - in the next series of THE APPRENTICE with donald trump they still wouldnt catch him though! hed walk in, claim assylum, get some welfare money, (well he could in the uk anyway) win the show, and chip off out of it before all the red tape has been figured out.