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| Terror Networks |
| Fernandes sez Binny's alive and living in Pakland... |
| 2002-07-30 |
| In an interview from New Delhi, Indian defense minister George Fernandes told Britain's Channel 4 News that he had received intelligence three months ago that bin Laden was alive in Pakistan, and that the country's spy agency, Inter-Services Intelligence, knew it. He said there was no reason to believe the situation had changed since then, and that India's information had been relayed to the United States. "We had information the man is around, and he is somewhere in Pakistan. We had it from unimpeachable sources," the defense minister was quoted as saying. "The point made by those who ... had access to this information, and we had reason to believe they had genuine access, is that he was moving from place to place, and Pakistanis were taking care of him." If he's alive, that's the most likely scenario. At the risk of repeating myself, maybe they should look under Fazlur Rehman's bed. But I still don't think he's up to running an international terror machine. The last time we saw him on tape he looked like he was a death's door. That tape lends as much credence to the story of Sonny taking over the family business as anything else. Fernandes said it was possible intelligence officials haven't told Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. "The ISI is capable of operating on its own in certain areas and in certain matters, so where exactly this particular issue is between the two of them, I won't be able to say," Fernandes said. That's a conclusion we've come to ourselves... Musharraf's spokesman, Maj. General Rashid Qureshi, denied Pakistani intelligence agents had any evidence bin Laden was in the country and dismissed the idea they would not have told Musharraf. "It is typical of Mr. George Fernandes to talk through his hat. This is a typical example of Indian propaganda which is meant just to discredit Pakistan," Qureshi told Channel 4 News. On the other hand, Qureshi's a clumsy liar, so it's difficult to accept anything he says as truthful unless there's evidence to back it up. And maybe not then. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |