posted by Chris @ 10/30/2005 07:52:00 PM  
Where's Osama?

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The recent devastating earthquake in Pakistan represents the best opportunity in some time for the United States to find bin Laden. It's not clear if bin Laden was even in the area of the 7.6 magnitude earthquake, but U.S. and coalition partners are likely leaving no stone unturned.

There's not much in the media about U.S. Military efforts to find Osama during earthquake relief efforts. There is this from the Daily Times, a site with news and information about Pakistan:

"PESHAWAR: An MI6/SAS team has joined US Special Forces in earthquake-devastated Balakot to search for Osama Bin Laden among thousands of victims still buried, British newspaper the Sunday Express reports. US President George W Bush approved a full-scale surveillance operation along the remote Afghan-Pakistan border where extremists have training camps. The team, flown in from a high-security base in Afghanistan, is equipped with imagery and eavesdropping technology, high-tech weapons systems and MI6 linguists to try to locate the most wanted "terrorist" in the world."

Whether the above is true information, or an assumptive fabrication, you can bet the U.S. is employing every available asset to locate Osama:

- Before the earthquake, Pakistan was publicly reluctanct to allow U.S. Military forces inside Pakistan to search for bin Laden. Now, during the chaos of the situation, the U.S. could be mounting clandestine operations inside Pakistan under the guise of earthquake relief efforts. These operations could target suspected areas that were off limits to the U.S. before the earthquake.
- Electronic eavesdropping: Most likely, the Department of Defense is working overtime to capture and translate electronic communications in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and perhaps elsewhere.
- Osama's kidney ailment could be his Achilles' Heel. Without electricity, his supposed dialysis machine won't operate.
- The earthquake devastation may force Osama to relocate. Likely, the U.S. has stepped up surveillance efforts along smugglers trails, etc.
- The CIA has likely stepped up efforts to track known associates of al Qaeda and bin Laden. One tantalizing tidbit: A doctor who treated bin Laden after 9/11 has resurfaced and has been helping with earthquake relief efforts in Pakistan.

But is bin Laden already dead? A Pakistani newspaper reports that bin Laden died four months ago:

"The Pakistani newspaper 'Ausaf' which is based in the city of Multan in the Punjab Province is reporting that Osama bin Laden died last June in a village near Kandahar in Afghanistan. According to the newspaper report, Bin Laden was campaigning at Bamiyan, fell very ill, returned to Kandahar where he died and was buried in the Shada graveyard in the shadow of a mountain."

Osama's last video message was over a year ago, right before the presidential elections. It will be interesting to see if there's another video!

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