About Osama bin Laden

**Rasputin** · 09-23-2006, 06:00 AM

Formation of al-Qaeda

By 1988, bin Laden had split from the MAK because of strategic differences. While Azzam and his MAK organization acted as support for the Afghan fighters and provided relief to refugees and injured, bin Laden wanted a more military role in which the Arab fighters would not only be trained and equipped by the organization but also be commanded on the battlefield by Arabic. One of the main leading point to the split and the creation of al-Qaeda was the insistence of Azzam that Arab fighters be integrated among the Afghan fighting groups instead of forming their separate fighting force.

After Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, bin Laden offered to help defend Saudi Arabia (with 12,000 armed men) but was rebuffed by the Saudi government. Bin Laden publicly denounced his government's dependence on the U.S. military and demanded an end to the presence of foreign military bases in the country. According to reports (by the BBC and others), the 1990/91 deployment of U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia in connection with the Gulf War upset Muslims because the Saudi government claims legitimacy based on their role as guardians of the sacred Muslim cities of Mecca and Medina. After the Gulf War cease-fire agreement left Saddam Hussein remaining in power in Iraq, the ongoing presence of long-term bases for non-Muslim U.S. forces in Saudi Arabia continued to undermine the Saudi rulers' perceived legitimacy and inflamed anti-government Islamist militants, including bin Laden.

Bin Laden's increasingly strident criticisms of the Saudi monarchy led the government to attempt to silence him. According to the 9/11 Commission Report, "with help from a dissident member of the royal family, he managed to get out of the country under the pretext of attending an Islamic gathering in Pakistan in April 1991."Hassan al-Turabi, leader of the National Islamic Front, had invited bin Laden to "transplant his whole organization to Sudan" in 1989. Bin Laden's agents had begun purchasing property in Sudan in 1990. When the Saudi government began putting pressure on him in 1991, bin Laden moved to Sudan. The Saudi government revoked his citizenship in 1994.

Assisted by donations funneled through business and charitable fronts such as Benevolence International, established by his brother-in-law, Mohammed Jamal Khalifa, bin Laden established a new base for mujahideen operations in Khartoum, Sudan to disseminate Islamist philosophy and recruit operatives in Southeast Asia, Africa, Europe, and the United States. Bin Laden also invested in business ventures, such as al-Hajira, a construction company that built roads throughout Sudan, and Wadi al-Aqiq, an agricultural corporation that farmed hundreds of thousands of acres of sorghum, gum Arabic, sesame and sunflowers in Sudan's central Gezira province. Bin Laden's operations in Sudan were protected by the powerful Sudanese NIF government figure Hassan al Turabi. While in Sudan, bin Laden married one of Turabi's nieces.

**Rasputin** · 09-23-2006, 06:00 AM

Refuge in Afghanistan

Sudanese officials, whose government was under international sanctions, offered to extradite bin Laden to Saudi Arabia in the mid-1990s. However, Saudi Arabia refused because of the political difficulties of accepting such a controversial figure into their custody. Consequently, in May 1996, under increasing pressure from Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United States, Sudan asked bin Laden to leave and he returned to Afghanistan. He chartered a plane and flew to Kabul before settling in Jalalabad after being invited by Abdul Rasul Sayyaf, leader of the Islamic Union for the Liberation of Afghanistan, a member of the Afghan Northern Alliance. After spending a few months in the border region hosted by local leaders, bin Laden forged a close relationship with some of the leaders of Afghanistan's new Taliban government, notably Mullah Mohammed Omar. Bin Laden supported the Taliban government with financial and paramilitary assistance and, in 1997, he moved to Kandahar, the Taliban stronghold.

Bin Laden is suspected of funding the November 1997 Luxor massacre in Egypt conducted by Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya, the largest Egyptian militant Islamist group. The Egyptian government convicted bin Laden's colleague, one of the leaders of Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya, Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri, and sentenced him to death in absentia for the massacre.

**Rasputin** · 09-23-2006, 06:01 AM

Attacks on United States targets

It is believed that bin Laden was involved with the December 29, 1992, bombing of the Gold Mihor Hotel in Aden, Yemen, which killed a Yemeni hotel employee and an Austrian national and seriously injured the Austrian's wife.

In 1998, Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri, (a leader of Egyptian Islamic Jihad), co-signed a fatwa (binding religious edict) in the name of the World Islamic Front for Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders, declaring:

He ruling to kill the Americans and their allies civilians and military - is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it, in order to liberate the al-Aqsa Mosque (in Jerusalem) and the holy mosque (in Makka) from their grip, and in order for their armies to move out of all the lands of Islam, defeated and unable to threaten any Muslim. This is in accordance with the words of Almighty Allah, 'and fight the pagans all together as they fight you all together,' and 'fight them until there is no more tumult or oppression, and there prevail justice and faith in Allah'.

In response to the 1998 United States embassy bombings following the fatwa, President Bill Clinton ordered a freeze on assets that could be linked to bin Laden. Clinton also signed an executive order, authorizing bin Laden's arrest or assassination. In August 1998, the U.S. launched an attack using cruise missiles. The attack failed to harm bin Laden but killed 19 other people.

On November 4, 1998, Osama bin Laden was indicted by a Federal Grand Jury and the U.S. offered a US $25 million reward for information leading to bin Laden's apprehension or conviction.

**Rasputin** · 09-23-2006, 06:03 AM

Criminal charges and attempted extradition

As a result of international pressure, Sudan asked bin Laden to leave the country in 1996. According to the 9/11 Commission Report, "Saudi officials apparently wanted bin Laden expelled from Sudan," but would not accept offers to extradite him to Saudi Arabia. Bin Laden chartered a plane and moved to Afghanistan that year.There are conflicting claims as to whether Sudan offered to extradite Bin Laden to the United States in 1996. President Clinton, his administration officials, and the 9-11 commission deny such an offer was made; businessman Mansoor Ijaz, former Sudanese officials, and former U.S. ambassador to Sudan Tim Carney claim that extradition offers were made "through unofficial channels" by Sudan.

On June 8, 1998 a United States grand jury indicted Osama bin Laden on charges of killing five Americans and two Indians in the 13 November 1995 truck bombing of a US-operated Saudi National Guard training center in Riyadh. Bin Laden was charged with "conspiracy to attack defense utilities of the United States" and prosecutors further charged that bin Laden is the head of the terrorist organization called al Qaeda, and that he was a major financial backer of Islamic terrorists worldwide. Bin Laden denied involvement but praised the attack.

On November 4, 1998 Osama bin Laden was indicted by a Federal Grand Jury in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, on charges of Murder of U.S. Nationals Outside the United States, Conspiracy to Murder U.S. Nationals Outside the United States, and Attacks on a Federal Facility Resulting in Death for his alleged role in the 1998 United States embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania. The evidence against bin Laden included courtroom testimony by former AL Qaeda members and satellite phone records . Attempts at assassination and requests for the extradition of bin Laden from the Taliban of Afghanistan were met with failure. In 1999, U.S. President Bill Clinton convinced the United Nations to impose sanctions against Afghanistan in an attempt to force the Taliban to extradite him. The U.S. Department of State currently offers a $25 million reward for information leading directly to his apprehension or conviction .

Claims as to the location of Osama bin Laden have been made since December 2001, although none have been definitively proven and some have placed Osama in different locations during overlapping time periods.

On September 23 2006 the French newspaper L'Est Républicain quoted a report from the French secret service (DGSE) stating that Osama Bin Laden had died in Pakistan on August 23 2006, after contracting typhoid. The alleged death was reported by Saudi Arabian secret service to Saudi Arabi government, which reported it to the French secret service. The French government, however, did not acknowledge the reception of any document.

**Rasputin** · 09-23-2006, 06:03 AM

France looks into bin Laden death report

PARIS — President Jacques Chirac said Saturday that information contained in a leaked intelligence document raising the possibility that Osama bin Laden may have died of typhoid in Pakistan last month is "in no way whatsoever confirmed."

Chirac said he was "a bit surprised" at the leak and has asked Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie to probe how a document from a French foreign intelligence service was published in the French press.

The regional newspaper l'Est Republicain on Saturday printed what it described as a copy of a confidential document from the DGSE intelligence service citing an uncorroborated report from Saudi secret services that the leader of the al-Qaida terror network had died.

The DGSE transmitted the document, dated Sept. 21 or Thursday, to Chirac and other top French officials, the newspaper said.

"This information is in no way whatsoever confirmed," Chirac said Saturday when asked about the document. "I have no comment."

In Washington, CIA duty officer Paul Gimigliano said he could not confirm the DGSE report.

The Washington-based IntelCenter, which monitors terrorism communications, said it was not aware of any similar reports on the Internet.

"We've seen nothing from any al-Qaida messaging or other indicators that would point to the death of Osama bin Laden," IntelCenter director Ben N. Venzke told The Associated Press.

Al-Qaida would likely release information of his death fairly quickly if it were true, said Venzke, whose organization also provides counterterrorism intelligence services for the American government.

"They would want to release that to sort of control the way that it unfolds. If they wait too long, they could lose the initiative on it," he said.

The last time the IntelCenter says it could be sure bin Laden was alive was June 29, when al-Qaida released an audiotape in which the terror leader eulogized the death of al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was killed in a U.S. airstrike in Iraq earlier that month.

Chirac spoke at a news conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Compiegne, France, where the leaders were holding a summit.

Putin suggested that leaks can be ways to manipulate. "When there are leaks ... one can say that (they) were done especially."

Earlier the French defense ministry said it was opening an investigation into the leak.

"The information diffused this morning by the l'Est Republicain newspaper concerning the possible death of Osama bin Laden cannot be confirmed," a Defense Ministry statement said.

The DGSE, or Direction Generale des Services Exterieurs, indicated that its information came from a single source.

"According to a reliable source, Saudi security services are now convinced that Osama bin Laden is dead," said the intelligence report.

There have been periodic reports of bin Laden's illness or death in recent years but none has been proven accurate.

According to this report, Saudi security services were pursuing further details, notably the place of his burial.

"The chief of al-Qaida was a victim of a severe typhoid crisis while in Pakistan on August 23, 2006," the document says. His geographic isolation meant that medical assistance was impossible, the French report said, adding that his lower limbs were allegedly paralyzed.

The report further said Saudi security services had their first information on bin Laden's alleged death on Sept. 4.

In Pakistan, a senior official of that country's top spy agency, the ISI or Directorate of Inter-Service Intelligence, said he had no information to confirm bin Laden's whereabouts or that he might be dead. The official said he believed the report could be fabricated. The official was not authorized to speak publicly on the topic and spoke on condition of anonymity.

U.S. Embassy officials in Pakistan and Afghanistan also said they could not confirm the French report.

Gen. Henri Bentegeat, the French army chief of staff, said in a radio debate last Sunday that bin Laden's fate remained a mystery.

"Today, bin Laden is certainly not in Afghanistan," Bentegeat said. "No one is completely certain that he is even alive."

**Rasputin** · 09-23-2006, 06:05 AM

France investigates bin Laden 'death' leak

PARIS, France (CNN) -- French President Jacques Chirac said on Saturday he would investigate the leak of confidential French defense ministry documents containing a report that al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is dead, and said that report has been in no way confirmed.

"I was rather surprised to see that a confidential note from the DGSE (General Directorate for External Security) was published and I have asked the minister of Defense to start an investigation immediately and to reach whatever conclusions are necessary," Chirac said.

"Secondly, speaking of the source of the information itself, this information is in no way confirmed."

U.S. intelligence officials said Saturday they could not confirm the report suggesting that bin Laden might be dead.

The leaked information was first published in a French regional newspaper Saturday. The article said that a French foreign intelligence document dated September 21 quoted a "usually reliable source" as saying that Saudi Arabian authorities were trying to confirm reports that bin Laden died of an acute case of typhoid in Pakistan August 23.

Pakistani officials say they have no information that confirms bin Laden's death. Friday, U.S. President George Bush and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said in a joint news conference that the hunt is still on for the leaders of al Qaeda.

The report in L'Est Republicain said the Saudi secret service first got the reports of bin Laden's death on September 4 and were trying to get more details, in particular about the exact location in which the death apparently took place.

CNN is trying to confirm the reports with Saudi officials in Washington, D.C., and in Saudi Arabia.

An official with the French defense ministry confirmed that an investigation into the leaked documents was already under way.

The last message from bin Laden was an audiotaped post on an Islamic Web site on June 30. The CIA confirmed the voice giving the message was that of the al Qaeda leader.

In the message, bin Laden names Abu Hamza al-Mujaher as Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's successor as leader of al Qaeda in Iraq.

The last videotaped statement from bin Laden was aired on October 29, 2004 on Al Jazeera.

**Rasputin** · 09-23-2006, 06:06 AM

French officials want probe of unverified bin Laden death report leak

PARIS (AP) — The French defense ministry on Saturday called for an internal investigation of the leak of an intelligence document that raises the possibility that Osama bin Laden may have died of typhoid in Pakistan a month ago but said the report of the death remained unverified.
"The information defused this morning by the l'Est Republicain newspaper concerning the possible death of Osama bin Laden cannot be confirmed," a Defense Ministry statement said.

The daily newspaper for the Lorraine region in eastern France printed what it described as a confidential document from the French foreign intelligence service DGSE citing an uncorroborated report from Saudi secret services that the leader of the al-Qaeda terror network had died.

The contents of the document, dated Sept. 21, or Thursday, were not confirmed by French or other intelligence sources. However, the DGSE transmitted the note to President Jacques Chirac and other officials, the newspaper said.

Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie "has demanded an investigation be carried out of this leak," a ministry statement said, adding that transmission of the confidential document could risk punishment.

Defense Ministry spokesman Jean-Francois Bureau, clarifying the statement, said that the DGSE document exists but that its contents — that bin Laden is allegedly dead — cannot be confirmed.

The DGSE, or Direction Generale des Services Exterieurs, indicated that its information came from a single source.

"According to a reliable source, Saudi security services are now convinced that Osama bin Laden is dead," said the intelligence report.

There have been periodic reports of bin Laden's illness or death in recent years but none has been proven accurate.

According to this document, Saudi security services were pursuing further details, notably the place of his burial.

"The chief of al-Qaeda was a victim of a severe typhoid crisis while in Pakistan on August 23, 2006," the document says. His geographic isolation meant that medical assistance was impossible, the French report said, adding that his lower limbs were allegedly paralyzed. On Sept. 4, Saudi security services had their first information on bin Laden's alleged death, the unconfirmed document reported.

In Pakistan, a senior official of that country's top spy agency, the ISI or Directorate of Inter-Service Intelligence, said he had no information to confirm bin Laden's whereabouts or that he might be dead. The official said he believed the report could be fabricated. The official was not authorized to speak publicly on the topic and spoke on condition of anonymity.

U.S. Embassy officials in Pakistan and Afghanistan also said they could not confirm the French report.

**Rasputin** · 09-23-2006, 06:10 AM

French Newspaper: Osama Bin Laden Is Dead

Som Patidar - All Headline News Staff Writer
Paris, France (AHN) - Referring to a document of French Foreign Intelligence Service (DGSE), a regional French newspaper reported Saturday that the Saudi secret services had proved that Al Qaeda head and the world's most wanted terrorist Osama Bin Laden is dead.

Quoting unnamed Saudi police sources, the newspaper said Osama Bin Laden died in Pakistan on August 23 of typhoid fever.

"According to a usually reliable source, the Saudi services are now convinced that Osama bin Laden is dead," the intelligence service's document reads.

On the other hand, Pakistani authorities said they do not have any information about Osama's death.

French defense authorities said said the news cannot be confirmed.

**Rasputin** · 09-23-2006, 06:11 AM

Bin Laden's Health Status Unknown

(CBS News) KARACHI, Pakistan Osama bin Laden's health has deteriorated in the past year, forcing him to curtail his movements, according to Arab diplomats in Pakistan who routinely track reports of his movements.

While Pakistani officials and diplomats stationed in the country on Saturday did not confirm a report in a French regional newspaper that claimed the world's most wanted terrorist had died of typhoid earlier this month, some spoke of reports in the past year suggesting that bin Laden's health had rapidly deteriorated, prompting speculation over his remaining life expectancy.

One Arab diplomat who spoke to CBS News on the condition that his identity would not be revealed said there were fewer reports in 2006 of bin Laden's possible sightings around the border region between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

"In the past, sometimes with a delay of two to three days, you would see reports which suggested he may be on the move somewhere, there have been fewer such reports this year," he said. "Does this mean, he is acutely ill, dying or has in fact died? There is no credible answer to that question. Unless there is a body, how can anyone say for sure that bin Laden is dead," added the diplomat.

The same diplomat said, bin Laden has had a history of illnesses that were first reported while the Taliban regime still ruled Afghanistan in 2000. One such report seen by the diplomat a year before the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, reported that bin Laden had to be hospitalized briefly in Kabul before he was brought to Pakistan for medical treatment, then believed to be a kidney-related ailment.

"If it is true that bin Laden had to have dialysis for his kidneys then — which is six years ago — his health must be far worse now. Especially the conditions that he lived in, being on the run from U.S. forces must also take its toll on him. I wouldn't be surprised if he is dead. Nobody is immortal," concluded the diplomat.

A senior source with an intelligence service friendly to the United States told CBS News that Saudi Intelligence has collected what it considers to be "very credible information" that bin Laden has been very seriously ill, and that the Saudi services are now suggesting, though not confirming, that they "have a pretty high certainty" that he is dead.

The source added that if he has died as a result of typhoid fever, which comes from exposure to contaminated water and food, it would confirm reports that he has been hiding in a remote area, under very harsh conditions with limited access to medical care.

Over the past 12 months, according to security and diplomatic sources in Pakistan and elsewhere, the Saudi services have greatly improved their intelligence gathering capacity, especially in southern Afghanistan, and the Pakistan border region.

The intelligence service source told CBS News that over the past weeks, a number of al Qaeda-linked figures left the Pakistan-Afghanistan region and returned to countries in the Arabian Gulf. Some of the returnees have been interrogated and provided important intelligence.

Another Arab diplomat said reports of bin Laden's death would have to be either confirmed if his body was found or through an official statement for there to be confirmation. "But if you look at just the history of the man, the probability of his survival for long is not that great," the second Arab diplomat said on similar condition of anonymity.

CBS News has been told the Saudis themselves have been very careful to say that while they believe the intelligence they have is credible, it will be impossible to confirm bin Laden's death without either recovery of a body, or the arrests of al Qaeda figures and others who are known to have been with him.

Pakistani officials expressed complete ignorance of the classified memo published by the French newspaper, l'Est Republicain, circulated to the French President and other senior figures. Written on Sept. 21 by the DGSE, the French exterior intelligence service, the memo reports intelligence gathered by the Saudi services, under the headline "Saudis Moving Towards Conclusion Bin Laden is Dead."

The French government has declined to comment on the contents of the document, but the Minister of Defense has ordered an investigation into the leaking of classified documents.

One former Pakistani official with prior responsibility for security affairs said there was speculation among Pakistani intelligence officials that al Qaeda had already undergone a leadership transition which has seen Ayman Al-Zawahiri, the group's second highest ranking leader, emerge as the key decision maker.

"If you just track the number of al Qaeda videos which have come out in the public, you see Ayman Al-Zawahiri in there mostly. Does this mean, Osama bin Laden has been in semi-retirement for a while because of his deteriorating health? That's a question which is worth asking" he said.

**Rasputin** · 09-23-2006, 06:25 AM

يك روزنامه‌ي محلي فرانسه به نقل از گزارش امروز (شنبه)‌ سرويس مخفي اين كشور اعلام كرد كه عربستان معتقد است اسامه بن لادن ماه گذشته بر اثر بيماري حصبه در پاكستان مرده است.

به گزارش خبرگزاري دانشجويان ايران (ايسنا)‌ به نقل از خبرگزاري رويتر، روزنامه‌ي فرانسوي لست ريپابليكن نسخه‌اي از گزارشي را كه تاريخ آن 21 سپتامبر است منتشر كرد و نوشت كه اين اين گزارش به ژاك شيراك رييس جمهور، دومينيك دوويلپن نخست وزير و وزيران كشور و دفاع فرانسه در همان روز نشان داده شده است.

در اين سند آمده است: براساس يك منبع معتبر، سرويس‌هاي سعودي در حال حاضر متقاعد شده‌اند كه بن لادن مرده است.

در اين سند آمده است: اطلاعاتي كه از سوي سعودي‌ها جمع آوري شده، نشان دهنده‌ي اين است كه رهبر القاعده هنگامي كه در تاريخ 23 اوت 2006 در پاكستان بوده به اين بيماري مبتلا شده و همين بيماري سبب از كار افتادن سيستم داخلي بدن وي شده است.

در اين سند كه برچسب محرمانه دفاعي بر روي آن خورده و اولين بار از سوي سرويس مخفي فرانسه تهيه شده، آمده است: عربستان سعودي براي اولين بار در تاريخ 4 سپتامبر از اين خبر مطلع شد و در انتظار ماند تا قبل از اعلام رسمي آن جزييات بيشتري به دست آورد.

مقامات دفتر شيراك و دوويلپن اظهار نظر فوري درباره‌ي اين گزارش نكرده‌اند.

يك مقام رسمي در وزارت كشور پاكستان نيز گفت: ما هيچ اطلاعاتي درباره‌ي مرگ بن لادن نداريم.

**Rasputin** · 09-23-2006, 07:56 AM

Report: Bin Laden dead in Pakistan

The French defense ministry on Saturday called for an internal investigation of the leak of an intelligence document that raises the possibility that Osama bin Laden may have died of typhoid in Pakistan a month ago but said the report of the death remained unverified.

"The information defused this morning by the l'Est Republicain newspaper concerning the possible death of Osama bin Laden cannot be confirmed," a Defense Ministry statement said.

The daily newspaper for the Lorraine region in eastern France printed what it described as a confidential document from the French foreign intelligence service DGSE citing an uncorroborated report from Saudi secret services that the leader of the al-Qaida terror network had died.

The contents of the document, dated Sept. 21, or Thursday, were not confirmed by French or other intelligence sources. However, the DGSE transmitted the note to President Jacques Chirac and other officials, the newspaper said.

Chirac, speaking to reporters at a summit in Compiegne, France, with the leaders of Russia and Germany, said he had ordered the Defense Ministry to investigate and that the reports "are not confirmed in any way."

Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie "has demanded an investigation be carried out of this leak," a ministry statement said, adding that transmission of the confidential document could risk punishment.

Defense Ministry spokesman Jean-Francois Bureau, clarifying the statement, said that the DGSE document exists but that its contents - that bin Laden is allegedly dead - cannot be confirmed.

The DGSE, or Direction Generale des Services Exterieurs, indicated that its information came from a single source.

"According to a reliable source, Saudi security services are now convinced that Osama bin Laden is dead," said the intelligence report.

There have been periodic reports of bin Laden's illness or death in recent years but none has been proven accurate.

According to this document, Saudi security services were pursuing further details, notably the place of his burial.

"The chief of al-Qaida was a victim of a severe typhoid crisis while in Pakistan on August 23, 2006," the document says. His geographic isolation meant that medical assistance was impossible, the French report said, adding that his lower limbs were allegedly paralyzed. On Sept. 4, Saudi security services had their first information on bin Laden's alleged death, the unconfirmed document reported.

In Pakistan, a senior official of that country's top spy agency, the ISI or Directorate of Inter-Service Intelligence, said he had no information to confirm bin Laden's whereabouts or that he might be dead. The official said he believed the report could be fabricated. The official was not authorized to speak publicly on the topic and spoke on condition of anonymity.

U.S. Embassy officials in Pakistan and Afghanistan also said they could not confirm the French report.

**Sepideh_UK** · 09-23-2006, 09:58 AM

Intresting...
Thanx

**Rasputin** · 09-23-2006, 10:57 AM

Did Bin Laden Die Of Typhoid In Pakistan?

leaked intelligence report indicates that there is a chance Osama Bin Laden may be dead. The report says he might have died of typhoid in Pakistan some time in August, 2006. French President, Jacques Chirac has asked Michele Alliot-Marie, his Defense Minister, to try to find out how this leaked intelligence found its way to L'Est Republicain, a French regional newspaper.

The L'Est Republicain article printed a copy of a DGSE intelligence document stating that Osama Bin Laden had died. The document states that the information has not been corroborated. According to the newspaper, top French officials, including the President, received the document on September 21.

The document stated that as Bin Laden had been hiding in a very remote area, his severe Typhoid crisis could not be treated by a doctor.

According to US intelligence, there is no evidence to indicate that Bin Laden has died. Senior officials in Afghanistan's Foreign Ministry doubt the information is correct. Intelligence officials in Pakistan say they have no information to indicate this.

Jacques Chirac stressed that the the information has not been confirmed in any way. When asked by reporters what comments he had on this, he answered 'I have no comment.'

Most intelligence experts believe Al-Qaeda would release information on Bin Laden's death quickly. They would not allow the news to come out from other sources and lose the initiative.

Several reports saying Bin Laden has died have surfaced over the years. So far, none of them have been true.

**Rasputin** · 09-23-2006, 10:57 AM

Rumors swirl over bin Laden's fate

Osama bin Laden has a water-borne illness, a Saudi intelligence source told CNN on Saturday, a report that conflicts with an article in a French newspaper saying that the al Qaeda leader is dead.

The Saudi intelligence source told CNN's Nic Robertson that there have been credible reports for the past several weeks that bin Laden is ill, but there has been no word of his death.

The questions came in response to the publication of a report in the French regional newspaper L'Est Republicain on Saturday.
The article cited a confidential French foreign intelligence document dated September 21 in which a source said the Saudis had received confirmation that bin Laden died of typhoid in Pakistan on August 23.

French President Jacques Chirac said on Saturday he would investigate the leak of the confidential documents, adding that the information in the documents has not been confirmed.

"I was rather surprised to see that a confidential note from the DGSE [General Directorate for External Security] was published and I have asked the minister of defense to start an investigation immediately and to reach whatever conclusions are necessary," Chirac said after meetings on trade with Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Compiegne, France.

"Secondly, speaking of the source of the information itself, this information is in no way confirmed."

CNN terrorism analyst Peter Bergen said he was told bin Laden's immediate family had had no reports that the al Qaeda leader was dead.

Bergen said Jamal Khalifa, bin Laden's brother-in-law and best friend when they were students at the King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, told him he had heard nothing to confirm the report.

Batarfi remains in touch with bin Laden's immediate family in Jeddah, and said he spoke to some of them about the report but they said they have heard nothing to confirm it, said Bergen who noted that rumors of bin Laden's death circulate every few months.

Bergen, who once interviewed bin Laden, said he was skeptical of the suggestion that bin Laden might be dead, saying it was not something the Islamist Web sites would keep quiet about.

U.S. intelligence officials said Saturday they could not confirm the report suggesting that bin Laden might be dead, and White House spokesman Blair Jones added: "We have no confirmation of that report."

A senior administration official told CNN's John King that nobody he spoke to had any independent information on the report.

"The official stressed that they certainly have not developed any intelligence worthy of putting it on the president's desk," King said.

Journalist: Burial site hunted
Laid Sammari, the journalist who wrote the article, told CNN in a telephone interview he was confident of the authenticity of the confidential document cited in his report.

He said the only thing the Saudis were trying to confirm was the burial place of the al Qaeda leader, before making an official announcement.

The report in L'Est Republicain said the Saudi secret service first got the reports of bin Laden's death on September 4.

Pakistani officials also said Saturday they have no information that confirms bin Laden's death. Friday, U.S. President George Bush and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said in a joint news conference that the hunt is still on for the leaders of al Qaeda.

The terror group was behind the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States that killed nearly 3,000 people in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington.

The last message from bin Laden was an audiotaped post on an Islamic Web site on June 30. The CIA confirmed the voice giving the message was that of the al Qaeda leader.

In the message, bin Laden names Abu Hamza al-Mujaher as Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's successor as leader of al Qaeda in Iraq.

The last videotaped statement from bin Laden was aired on October 29, 2004 on Al Jazeera.

About Osama bin Laden

About Osama bin Laden

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