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Terror Networks
Binny's alive and well and we're gonna get it...
2002-07-30
Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network plans a major anti-US attack, possibly in August, after which its leader will re-appear on television, a newspaper reported on Tuesday.
Yup. As though risen from the dead...
The Saudi pan-Arab daily Asharq Al-Awsat, which on Monday reported that Bin Laden might have been killed or seriously injured in US raids on Afghanistan, quoted "sources linked to aides" of the Saudi-born Islamist militant via the Internet.
Well, make up yer goddamned mind!
Bin Laden "is alive and will appear in a TV videotape after the operation is carried out to confirm that he is alive and will go on fighting America", the sources said. They did not say whether the planned attack would target US forces in Afghanistan or elsewhere, but said it might be carried out in August. Asharq Al-Awsat pointed to speculation that al-Qaeda might strike before the first anniversary of September 11.
Or next Thursday...
The same newspaper had reported on Monday that Bin Laden's eldest son, Saad, had taken over the command of al-Qaeda "since the US offensive against al-Qaeda bases in Afghanistan", which began on October 7, and the organisation's pullout from its main hideouts in the country. Quoting "informed sources", it said this disclosure "substantiates the theory that Bin Laden was killed or seriously wounded" in the US-led military campaign. The sources cited by the paper on Tuesday said Bin Laden would, during his forthcoming TV appearance, speak of "al-Qaeda's success in containing the US attacks, reorganising on the basis of engaging in guerrilla warfare inside Afghanistan, and staging attacks against US interests in various countries".
Any time, now...

There are two possibilities: he's alive or he's dead. If he's dead, these are bull droppings. If he's alive, he's either well or he's incapacitated, in which case these are bull droppings. Has he been recuperating from wounds/kidney transplant/major surgery for eight months? Possibly.

The Islamic heroes making up al-Qaeda are trying to psywar the bin Laden subject, but it really doesn't matter if he's alive or dead. If he's alive, all we need is a set of grid coordinates and it's daisycutter time, wedding or no wedding, residential area or no residential area. If he's dead, Zawahiri's probably next on the list, though I'm sure we'd settle for young Sod, and then for his successor, and then for his.
Posted by:Fred Pruitt

#2  Perhaps we ought to offer the chance to trade current snapshots of Bin Laden and Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef.
Posted by: Tom Roberts   2002-07-30 12:26:49  

#1  Maybe they're still trying to get the kinks out of the new animatronics.
Posted by: Craig Schamp   2002-07-30 11:29:54  

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