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Terror Networks

Binny is dead? Maybe...

2002-07-07

Amir Teheri, writing in Arab News, says that Osama bin Laden is dead, both physically and politically.

The news first came from sources in Afghanistan and Pakistan almost six months ago: the runaway died on Dec. 5, 2001 and buried the same day in the mountains of southeast Afghanistan. A few days later Pakistanâs President Pervez Musharraf echoed the information. This month an Al-Qaeda leader, held by the Americans, confirmed the news. The remnants of Osamaâs gang, however, remained silent, either because they have no means of communication or to keep his ghost alive.

This could be true. The dates and the circumstances are good for some sort of perturbation.

On December 13th, Christian Science Monitor claimed Binny had escaped around December 3rd. Escaped? Or dropped out of sight?

The same day, Zawahiri said that al-Qaeda would "fight on." This could have been because they had just had the snot kicked out of them at Tora Bora, or it could have been because their leader was in fact doorknob dead. Urging the troops to keep fighting would more logically be the job of the Head Cheese, which would indicate that he wasn't available at the time. Pushing up daisies, or on a bus to Peshawar? In the same statement, Zawahiri said that he, Binny, Abu Ghaith, and Mohammad Atef were all alive and well. Mohammad Atef had been dead for almost a month when he said that.

Four days later, Zain Al-Abedin Hasan was named as Binny's successor "just in case." Zain's nomme de guerre is Abu Zubaydah, which means we have the current annointed head of al-Qaeda in custody at this moment. Presumably he's the guy who "confirmed" that Binny had been toasted.

On the 22nd of December, Perv said there was a "great possibility" that Binny was dead. We would assume that he would be advised of such a thing, one way or the other, whether from the Americans or by ISI.

Two days after that, the U.S. was taking DNA samples from corpses at Tora Bora.

Two days later, we have Binny on tape, which was probably made a few days after November 16th. This is the tape where he looks washed out and half dead. Subsequent appearances seem to have been spliced from earlier tapes â there has to be a reason for that.

There was also a flurry of rumors at the same time that Binny was dead or had skipped.

Perv stated recently that Binny's personal guard hadn't been found in Pakland, and FoxNews stated that several members of his bodyguard had been found in other countries. And Newsweek is running a story on a mysterious skull recovered from an al-Qaeda grave at Tora Bora.

All this can be considered pretty good evidence that Binny is not still breathing in and out like the rest of us. There have been a few rumors of his appearance that could burst the cirumstantial bubble if they proved true. If he really has been worm food for the past seven or eight months, Abu Zubaydah becomes even more of a prize than we thought he was.

Posted by:Fred Pruitt

#1 So, does any one remember from our "OJ Trial" police criminology primer, how long does it take do to long chain polymerase DNA testing on a sample to determine its origin? I think I remember that it takes quite awhile( and I want to say 6 months - which puts us in the "NOW" timeframe -which is a possible non-john lecarre explanation for the dealy ).

or was the delay just to draw Al Gore into the camera to say something stupid like " Bush didnt get bin laden....." only to have John Ashcroft hold a press conference a week later, showing off his new pewter drinking mug to the white house press corp, you know, the one made out of Bin Ladens skull.

Put me down in the 'dead for some time' category.

Posted by: Varifrank 2002-07-07 22:02:10

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