French paper says bin Laden died in Pakistan

[texasleo]

PARIS - A French regional newspaper quoted a French secret service report on Saturday as saying that Saudi Arabia is convinced that al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden died of typhoid in Pakistan last month.

L’Est Republicain printed what it said was a copy of the report dated Sept. 21 and said it was shown to President Jacques Chirac, Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin and France’s interior and defense ministers on the same day.

“According to a usually reliable source, the Saudi services are now convinced that Osama bin Laden is dead,” the document said.

“The information gathered by the Saudis indicates that the head of al-Qaida was a victim while he was in Pakistan on Aug. 23, 2006, of a very serious case of typhoid which led to a partial paralysis of his internal organs.”

The report, which was stamped with a “confidential defense” label and the initials of the French secret service, said Saudi Arabia first heard the information on Sept. 4 and that it was waiting for more details before making an official announcement.

more at:
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14963302/

[BootinUp]

1. Wheres the body. n/t

[yorgatron]

3. on ice,that's where.

waiting for October...

[JerseygirlCT]

23. LOL, exactly nt

[LifeDuringWartime]

92. October isn't too far away

n/t

[Canuckistanian]

106. What about Muslim burying custom?

The body must be buried within 24hrs of death. I would imagine Osama and his followers would observe that custom.

Even Ayatollah Khomeini was buried within a day.

There are no exceptions.

[fooj]

4. That's right.

PROVE it.

[Virginia Dare]

61. Between the Sasquatch and the Loch Ness monster...n/t

[hvn_nbr_2]

83. In a secret CIA ice box. He's too valuable to Chimpenfuehrer "alive" nt

[BootinUp]

84. Correct.

Else, why was it the French that came out with this instead of BushCo?

[keopeli]

2. Does this mean the War On Terror is over?! Yeah! We win!

Everyone come on home now.

Sept 4 - just before all the Emporer Bush spectacle started, as I recall.

[bilgewaterbill]

5. Is he dead again? Or still? Or not yet? nt

[dolo amber]

76. Yes

[area51]

79. Dead again

Yeah, that was my response too. I forget how many times bin Forgotten has been declared dead.

[mom cat]

90. It does not matter. We will still get a "tape" from him

right before the election whether he is alive, dead, or somewhere in between.

[Ethelk2044]

6. French paper says bin Laden died

French paper says bin Laden died in Pakistan
Saudi Arabia is convinced al-Qaida leader died of typhoid,
paper says


It this going to be the October Surprise?

[Jack Bone]

8. I think it would have...until

this pesky lil' paper in France breaks the story and takes all of the wind out of Rove's sails...another reason why I'm so jubilant right now!! WHEW WHO!!! but who knows...they might try to spin this..like ahhh....we don't need clean water...see, dirty water kills terrawrists!!
That's why were proposing legislation to do away w/ water treatment facilities in rogue states that support Terrawrists!! Dirty Water Kills!!

[The Backlash Cometh]

28. Rove is going to be pissed.

He was probably negotiating a deal to buy the dead body so he could prop it up in a chair, stick a gun in his hand and let Georgie come in for a photo op.

[Virginia Dare]

62. I've thought for a while...

that Osama's dead body has been dragged around for a while a la the movie "Weekend at Bernie's".

[The Backlash Cometh]

95. LOL!

They have remote control spy drones, so, why not?

[lildreamer316]

105. "Weekend at Bushie's"!!

Oh, now I'm getting all sorts of ideas....

[Eurobabe]

13. BWAHHAAHA!

This is great, that'll teach KKKarl & Co. to denegate "fries & toast."

OBL's on ice somewhere, just waiting to pop out of his box in October.

[zonkers]

7. If so, shame on Bush. Maybe less $ to Haliburton and more $ on intel

would have been a better idea.

[canetoad]

9. Leaked French Intel. document claims OBL dead

French Foreign Intelligence Document Claims that Osama Bin Laden is Dead
23 September 2006 | 11:35 | FOCUS News Agency
Paris. A document of the French Foreign Intelligence Service (DGSE), cited by l'Est Républicain claims that the Saudi secret services had proves that Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden was dead, Reuters announced. More details were expected from Riad so that they could spread the news. The French authorities refuse to comment the news but last week the Chief of French Armed Forces General announced that he was not sure whether Osama Bin Laden was alive. According to the information of the Saudi services Bin Laden died on 23rd August from typhus while in Pakistan. The French intelligence thought the information was quite reliable and that was why they had sent it to the President, the Prime Minister and to the ministers of interior and defense, the publication points out.

http://www.focus-fen.net/index.php?id=n96380

[NoodleyAppendage]

70. Just as likely as a certain "leaked" doc about Yellow Cake - PSYOPS PEOPLE

How short they must assume our memory must be...this is nothing more than a foreign-media planted propaganda piece for domestic consumption.

The criminals in our government are getting REALLY worried about November. Expect more of the same...if not another LIHOP on domestic soil.

J

[catbert836]

74. That's right!

bin Laden can't POSSIBLY have died on his own without the BFEE fudging up his death or knowing beforehand for an "October Surprise" scenario.

[Botany]

10. HMMMMMMM?

[xchrom]

11. lol -- this -- to me -- is funny if true.

amazing -- the u.s. for all of it's billions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of pounds of bombs couldn't do what typhoid did{if true}.

if this turns out to be true -- it's just another bush failure.

[TroglodyteScholar]

15. You honestly believe the Bush admin was trying to catch Bin Laden?

Bush made it VERY clear on several occasions that Bin Laden was not a significant target in his war on terror.

[xchrom]

40. not my point -- but -- what ever.

[Stella_Artois]

12. Again ?

More lives than a cat.

Eventually old age will get him, and the right wing will claim their victory like the command the forces of time themselves.

[Senator]

14. His Timing is Impeccable -- As Usual

Wouldn't want the failure to capture him having an undue effect on the election. (Like it does in focus groups.)

And if the Saudis says so, well, good enough for "Bandar Bush" should be good enough for anyone.

The only thing that still puzzles me is how al Zawahiri knew that Rove would be starting the "political season" a week before Labor Day.

All the pundits said they were surprised, but his video popped up right on schedule. Just like all that "old" bin Laden footage.

---

[rodeodance]

16. SHUCKS no pics of de-licing

[yasmina27]

17. French revenge?

If true, could France be pre-empting the "october surprise" planned by KKKarl??

Gee, I can't imagine why!?

[Demeter]

18. France Has Always Been A True Ally

In spite of the contumely heaped upon them every time a GOP spokesman needs to kick something.

[BattyDem]

35. An ally of the US ... but that doesn't mean an ally of Bush.

[Lasher]

63. France wouldn't toe the line for the neocons

Neocons were mad at France because they wouldn't go along with Junior's adventure in Iraq like Blair did. That's where most of the 'freedom fries' anti-France sentiment came from. Funny thing, but I don't remember Germany being part of the smear campaign. Maybe they got a pass, what with being such good pals with Prescott Bush during WWII.

And you'll never hear Darth Cheney or Rummy admit the obvious, that the French were right and we were wrong. Hell, Cheney says to this day he had it to do all over again he wouldn't change a thing. Know why? It was never about WMD or any of that other BS. It was, and is, about world conquest. The neocons said so in their PNAC statements. And Iran is next.

There's a lot at stake in this election.

[merh]

72. don't forget, the French were also investigating Cheney

and his Haliburton dealings, they wouldn't give up the investigation and might even have an indictment waiting on Cheney.

[Eugene]

19. AP: France Looks Into bin Laden Death Report (IOW, who leaked?)

France Looks Into bin Laden Death Report


Saturday September 23, 2006 12:46 PM

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.

-snip-

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.

-snip-

Full article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6100253...

[sueragingroz]

21. Bushies are petrified that he is dead of nat causes

So they are trying to put as much speculation out there as possible on this.

UNCONFIRMED reports that he is dead etc etc.

Trust me, they didn't want him dead of typhoid....

[Jeroen]

20. Perhaps they try to provoke Bin Laden and people around him...

[JerseygirlCT]

22. Rove's Oct. surprise? "Oh we got him -- or er, um, something did"

[Karenca]

24. FRENCH INTELLIGENCE: BIN LADEN DEAD

Now on MSNBC - Died of thyroid cancer last month
Info came from French Secret Service

Link to followhttp://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N23243000.htm

[Greeby]

25. The boogeyman is gone?

What the hell is Shrub gonna do now?

[Karenca]

26. THATS What I was thinking!

[Virginia Dare]

65. Yeah, and they've killed all of his number twos...n/t

[KoKo]

27. CNN says he died of Typhoid...from the water in Pakistan.....

[AngryAmish]

67. Musaraff's revenge?

BTW, I found out that Musharaff is related to my girlfriend. A distant cousin or something. Her Dad has kept in touch with his brother who is lives in Oak Brook.

[ronnykmarshall]

78. But, but .... BUSH put typhoid in the water!

Yeah! That's it!

[dweller]

29. expert on CBS morning news confirms

'he is either dead, or he's not'


hrmmm.
dp

[SammyWinstonJack]

30. 50/50 chance either way.

[texasleo]

34. 60% of the time, it works all the time

[BootinUp]

88. wow. good reporting eh?

[BattyDem]

32. Can't wait to see how the GOP spins this and takes the credit

"We just proved that we are the only party that can protect this country. We ignored Bin Laden for 5 years and made absolutely no effort to capture or kill him and because of that, he died ... of cancer (or typhoid). The liberals claim that 'stay the course' is not a plan, but now it's clear that ignoring a problem is the best strategy of all because eventually - after thousands of people have died - the problem will simply disappear."

[spinbaby]

38. Thyroid cancer sounds more likely than typhoid

Typhoid is a very treatable disease.

My thoughts on hearing the news this morning were that ...

A) Bin Laden's value as a boogyman has run out.

B) They're expecting extreme Ramadan violence in Iraq and Bin Laden's death will be convenient to blame it on.

[Virginia Dare]

66. Sounds reasonable...

they didn't get much of a bounce from dragging him out last month did they?

[lpbk2713]

31. Hilarious how the French intel services trumped BushCo intel.

Naturally BushCo will say "Hey, we knew all about it all the time".

[rasputin1952]

33. IF this is true:

Typhoid Fever

Systemic disease characterized by fever, prostration, abdominal pain and a rose colored rash.


Typhoid bacilli are shed in the feces of asymptomatic carriers or in the stool or urine or those with active disease. Inadequate hygiene after defecation may spread S.typhi to communal food or water supplies.


Onset is gradual, with fever, headache, joint pain, pharyngitis, constipation, anorexia, abdominal pain and tenderness.

Fever rises to 103-104F, and prolonged fever accompanied by prostration, and CNS symptoms such as delirium, stupor or coma in sever cases.

Easily treated with antibiotics that reduces the death rate from 12% to <1%.

It all comes down to contaminated water and food.

HAND WASHING and other hygienic procedures are an absolute necessity.

It is a painful and miserable way to die.


Edited for forgetting Spell-Check...

[many a good man]

36. One down, two to go

[kurtyboy]

37. OMG!!!!! A thousand different guys just moved up to Number 1!!!!!!

Jeez, how many #3 Al Quaida will there be?

[Ranec]

39. I don't buy it.

This sounds like a smokescreen being put up by the Saudis.

I'll sit on my hands until we get more information. I remember when OBL died of kidney failure a few years back which was surprising because we thought he was killed at Tora Bora the year before.

[LongTomH]

41. Schrodinger's Cat has nothing on bin Laden

He's neither dead or alive -- until you open the box!

[cmd]

42. Musharrah and Bush met this week

Any one here think this wasn't discussed at the meeting or did they just talk about books?

[lonestarnot]

44. Particularly The Pet Goat!

[leesa]

43. Amazing how he lived without kidney function all these years.

How convenient for Bush as the pressure was building for him to actually find OBL. Somehow this doesn't ring true...wonder if he's been on ice for years in SA. His obituary was published in December 2001.

[brainshrub]

45. Osama bin Laden reported dead [English Version from Reuters]

Apparently Bin Ladin died in August of Typhoid.

France to probe bin Laden death report leak

The newspaper printed what it said was a copy of the report dated September 21 and said it was shown to President Jacques Chirac, Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin and France's interior and defence ministers on the same day.

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

"The information gathered by the Saudis indicates that the head of al Qaeda was a victim while he was in Pakistan on August 23, 2006, of a very serious case of typhoid which led to a partial paralysis of his internal organs."

[spotbird]

46. The official release

of this news along with a photo will be around 11/2.

[HeeBGBz]

47. Haul him out to the deep freeze

Because you gotta keep him fresh for the October Surprise.

[ShortnFiery]

48. Sure

Bullshit!

Can we say republican election talking-point for 2006?

[DoYouEverWonder]

49. The Saudis are bending over backward

to make sure the Bush Team wins the election.

Nice to see who runs our country.

[xultar]

50. Include this with the lowering of gas prices...man the saudis really

know their stuff.

[DoYouEverWonder]

51. We need to thank France

for let this info 'slip' out before Bush got a chance to pull Osama out of a hidey hole.

[Caution]

52. Be glad if this is true

regardless of the timing this asshole dropping dead can only make the world a better place.

[Frustratedlady]

53. Time to replace KK

Rove's modus operandi is becoming too obvious. Time for him to go and bring in a new playwright.

[Human Torch]

54. I really enjoyed "Eddie And The Cruisers II: Eddie Lives."

That movie about the famous guy who's dead, who faked his own death because things just got too complicated, but he couldn't stay out of the spotlight so he decided not to be dead anymore.

You know, where we spent an hour and 25 minutes watching a guy who looked EXACTLY like Eddie Wilson, but with a mustache (talk about a MASTER OF DISGUISE), who sounded EXACTLY like Eddie Wilson, who joined a crappy bar band and started writing new Eddie Wilson songs, and who came out on stage at the end of the movie and introduced the band, saving himself for last, saying..."I'm...EDDIE WILSON."

The crowd goes WILD! Eddie lip-syncs to a crappy John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band faux-Springsteen "anthem," and everybody shakes their groove thang.

Yeah, I really liked that movie.

But I think the Osama bin Laden movie will be even BETTER.

[Land Shark]

55. Why is this good news? Osama dies of NATURAL causes!!?

ON EDIT: should have been caught, captured or killed long ago.

[brainshrub]

59. It isn't.

Agreed that this isn't an ideal situation, but it's good that he wasn't made a martyr by getting killed by a bomb or electric chair.

[mourningdove92]

56. Bullshit!

I don't believe this for one moment.

Convenient isn't it? Bush is finally having to answer to the fact that Bin Laden has not been captured. He sticks his flip flop wearing foot in his mouth about whether or not he would go in to Pakistan to get him. And last but not least, the information manages to come from France instead of one of our allies..hmmmm.

[lonestarnot]

57. Who cares, no one was looking for him.

[BootinUp]

58. So the Bushies have been keeping this

a secret. They do talk to the Saudis and they must have had this information.

[janx]

68. No--the Saudis didn't know anything.

They got their info. from the French! Look:

WASHINGTON, Sept. 23 (UPI) -- Osama bin Laden is dead. At least according to Saudi intelligence sources cited by a French newspaper, which in turn claims to have obtained a document leaked to them by French counter-intelligence services.

http://www.upi.com/InternationalIntelligence/view.php?S...

[BootinUp]

75. I read it differently

"...which in turn..." refers to the French newspaper. The original source is the Saudi intelligence sources.

[janx]

87. I don't think so. It looks as if the original source is French

counter-intelligence.

French counter-intel talks to Saudis, who in turn leak to the French newspaper, no?

The news of the death of al-Qaida's chief was reported in the Saturday edition of l'Est Republicain, a respected regional daily. The French paper cites a memo they claim was obtained from the French counter-espionage agency, the Direction Générale des Services Extérieurs, or the DGSE.

[BootinUp]

89. I'm pretty sure the second paragraph

confirms my reading of the first, look at it again.

[janx]

93. Let's wait to hear what Chirac has to say. n/t

[bluestateguy]

60. I hope it is true

It is good because 1) this asshole is dead, and suffered in the process, and 2) Bush gets no credit because he never caught him or killed him.

[glitch]

97. No martyrdom. Tsk tsk, that will not play well with his cult.

A dirty ignomious death, ouch.
Or, he's carousing with Ken Lay at Rev Moons compound in Paraguay.

[Virginia Dare]

64. I hope he left behind a manuscript...

detailing his full and true relationship with the Bush family, along with all of the specifics behind the planning and execution of 9/11. Talk about a bestseller! His family would be set for life, as if they already aren't.

[Renew Deal]

69. That would be nice.

That may explain why they backed off of hunting him, but I think this is bullshit.

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

71. Joy. NOW we can look forward to a "deathbed tape"

If there's an October surprise, that'll have to be it.

Curses, foiled again!

[ButterflyBlood]

73. ahahahaha, what awful news for Bush

He vowed to hunt down that guy, and fails and now this guy ends up dying of NATURAL CAUSES.

[OregonBlue]

77. The Saudis trotted this out. Time for OBL to make another tape

that will be shown over and over and over during the first week of November. Remember, OBL WANTS Bush and the Repukes in office. Don't trust this source. We're being set up again. It worked last time, no reason it won't work again!!

[janx]

80. See #68. n/t

[BootinUp]

85. Also #75....

Its a badly written sentence for one thing but read what I said in 75

[OregonBlue]

99. Oops, guess I didn't read very carefully. I'm just don't trust anyone

anymore!

[janx]

100. It's very confusing. Did the French get info. from the Saudis,

or did the Saudis get information from the French and then give it to French media?

It's enough to make your head spin, but Chirac is looking into it.

[MindMatter]

81. This could boomerang on Bush

1) If true, Bush had nothing to do with killing him -- and accomplished nothing in that regard for 5 years -- and now he never will "capture bin Laden and bring him to justice"

2) As we have seen in Iraq, with the so-called #1 man goes down, the crap just keeps going. How many times have we heard of the top one or two guys being killed in Iraq?

[Gregorian]

82. Call a taxidermist and have him mounted in the Oval office.

Don't get me started.

He's taken up residence in Dick Cheney's coffin.


I don't believe it. But the timing does coincide with the recent proclamation that Bin Laden would not be prosecuted.

[Peace Patriot]

86. The source is the Saudis--the people who bailed out Harkin Energy,

one of Junior's other disasters; the sultans who hold hands with him, and drop in on WH war parties; they who spawned OBL and AQ in the first place, with considerable help from Bush Sr.'s CIA: the highly authoritarian, rightwing Islamic fanatics to whom the Bush Junta sold our country.

"A usually reliable source," my ass.

This smells to high heaven. And just because France pisses on Bush Junta war plans doesn't mean they don't have any fascist/Bush loving operatives in their secret service or gov't.

One less issue for the Democrats--in Rove's pre-written, post-election "narrative" of their miraculous "comeback victory," via Diebold/ES&S, this fall. 40% or less approval ratings for two years now; massive disagreement between government and the people, on all issues, as well as govt' performance--overwhelming trend of the polls--beginning way back before the invasion of Iraq (56% disapproval of the Iraq war, Feb. '03). If you're going to shove an unjust, illegal war down peoples' throats, in a democracy, you have to rig the elections. That's what they've done--with the complicity of the Corporate Democrats and the war profiteering corporate news monopolies.

------------------------------

Bust the Machines--Vote by Absentee Ballot this November!

Citizen revolt! If enough people vote by AB--if everyone who despises the Bush Junta (60% to 70%) votes by Absentee Ballot--the reign of these diabolical machines is OVER!

[stepnw1f]

91. LOL.... Surrre He Did. (nt)

[olddad56]

94. Now we will spend billions searching for the body.

[rodeodance]

96. new headline: Chirac says no evidence bin Laden has died

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14963302 /

Chirac says no evidence bin Laden has died
French newspaper published details of alleged intelligence memo


Updated: 20 minutes ago

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.
Story continues below ↓

[VegasWolf]

98. New Headline: Bin Laden dies of old age. Bush still looking. nt

[ddeclue]

101. People get vaccinated against typhoid..sorry...doesn't sound real..

Bin Laden came from a wealthy Saudi family, not a poor Paki family...I would be pretty sure that he got vaccinated against typhoid as a child...

This doesn't sound likely...

Wouldn't he be more likely to die from his kidney problems?

Doug D.
Orlando, FL

[Andrushka]

103. Typhoid vaccinations

wear off after some time, though, don't they? Dunno - I am no immunologist!

No, my bet is that his dialysis machine got jammed on a rock on a walk outside his "lair" and fell on him, crushing him to death some time back.

[ddeclue]

104. Awesome!

[krispos42]

102. Oh, this is not good for BushCo, not at all

BushCo fumbled the ball hunting for Osama bin Laden long enough for him to die peacefully with his loyal followers. He probably had a last meal, said whatever ritual prayers required by his religion, and passed peacefully in a warm bed. There were no bars surrounding him. He was breathing free air when he died, and any information he had locked in his brain died with him.

Kudos, Bush. Good job on smoking him out of his caves. Really. I'm sure all the American soldiers who died in Afganistan are pleased that their vital essences were terminated so you can let bin Laden run free long enough to die in peace.

[MGD]

107. There will never be closure until his dead body is seen laying in a casket

as far as I'm concerned. This may not be a popular view here but I want to see his dead body. I want DNA tests performed. I want to know for sure that he's dead. I don't want him to be "sighted in South America" like Hitler was for the next 30 years or whatever.