Osama introduced Nawaz Sharif to Saudi royals: ex-ISI officer

PTI 6 September 2009, 07:15pm IST

LAHORE: Osama bin Laden introduced Nawaz Sharif to the Saudi royal family in the late 1980s and during a meeting the former Premier had asked the Al Qaida chief to provide employment to Pakistanis in Saudi Arabia, former ISI officer Khalid Khwaja claimed on Sunday.

Khwaja, who was close to Sharif in the late 1980s and early1990s, made the claim in an interview.

"During his first visit to Saudi Arabia as Chief Minister of Punjab in the late 1980s, no one from the royal family had given Sharif importance," he said.

"Thereafter, on Sharif's request, Osama bin Laden introduced him to the royal family and that helped him in getting closer to the Saudis," said Khwaja, who was a squadron leader in the Pakistan Air Force before joining the ISI in 1985.

"A close aide of Sharif family and I arranged at least five meetings between Sharif and bin Laden in Saudi Arabia.

To read about it, please go here.

From Luke Ryland's blog Against All Enemies (links at original):

Former FBI translator Sibel Edmonds dropped a bombshell on the Mike Malloy radio show, guest-hosted by Brad Friedman (audio, partial transcript).

In the interview, Sibel says that the US maintained 'intimate relations' with Bin Laden, and the Taliban, "all the way until that day of September 11."

These 'intimate relations' included using Bin Laden for 'operations' in Central Asia, including Xinjiang, China. These 'operations' involved using al Qaeda and the Taliban in the same manner "as we did during the Afghan and Soviet conflict," that is, fighting 'enemies' via proxies.

As Sibel has previously described, and as she reiterates in this latest interview, this process involved using Turkey (with assistance from 'actors from Pakistan, and Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia') as a proxy, which in turn used Bin Laden and the Taliban and others as a proxy terrorist army.

Control of Central Asia

http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/07/27/world/worldwatch/entry5192238.shtml

CBS News consultant on terrorism Jere Van Dyk files an update on Osama bin Laden, conditions in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the Taliban and al Qaeda.

Osama bin Laden

I believe he is alive. I know Benazir Bhutto told David Frost on al-Jazeera (11/2/07) that he is dead. The most recent outside news suggesting bin Laden is still alive comes from Pakistan's The News where on 7/21 Rahimullah Yousafzai, the only reporter to interview OBL, Mullah Omar and al-Zawahiri, more than once, writes of OBL in the present tense. He has excellent jihadi and intel contacts.

On 6/3/09, on the eve of Obama's trip to Saudi Arabia, al Qaeda issued an OBL audio tape, which experts like Richard Clarke claim is valid.

His most recent video was 9/7/07. If you recall, in this one his beard was jet black. I didn't think at the time that he, a Wahhabi, most interested in jihad, would dye his beard to look younger. I have since been around Wahhabi fighters and have seen their vanity, their dyed beards; some men with young wives, like OBL, don't want to look old. He was 52 on March 10.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN

GUNS AND BUTTER with Bonnie Faulkner

Osama bin Laden: Dead or Alive? -- David Ray Griffin
Interview with David Ray Griffin about his new book, "Osama bin Laden Dead or Alive?". We examine all the evidence, both that indicating bin Laden died, and that suggesting he is still alive; the important bin Laden videos and audio recordings, the significance, if any, in the timing of their release; statements by significant political and intelligence figures; and why the hunt for bin Laden must proceed.

Clinton says 9/11 ringleaders are in Pakistan

Mon Jul 20, 1:22 pm ET

NEW DELHI – U.S. officials "firmly believe" that al-Qaida leaders who planned and carried out the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, are hiding in Pakistan near its border with Afghanistan, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday.

At a news conference concluding three days of meetings, Clinton said Washington has told the Pakistani government what it believes about the location of al-Qaida leaders on its soil.

"With respect to the location of those who were part of the planning and execution of the attack of 9/11 against our country, we firmly believe that a significant number of them are in the border area of Pakistan," she said when asked about the U.S. view.

"We are actively looking for additional information that would lead us to them," she added.

The Pakistani government denies that al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and his senior lieutenants are hiding on its territory.

Bin Laden is believed to have fled into Pakistan from Afghanistan weeks after the U.S. military invaded Afghanistan in October 2001 in retaliation for the 9/11 attacks.

June 30, 2009
Osama in America: The Final Answer

The question of whether Osama bin Laden has ever visited the United States, a subject on which I have expended an unhealthy amount of energy in the course of various journalistic and biographical research, has now seemingly been settled. Osama was here for two weeks in 1979, it seems, and he visited Indiana and Los Angeles, among other places. He had a favorable encounter with an American medical doctor; he also reportedly met in Los Angeles with his spiritual mentor of the time, the Palestinian radical Abdullah Azzam. All this is according to a forthcoming book by Osama’s first wife, Najwa Bin Laden, and his son Omar Bin Laden, to be published in the autumn by St. Martin’s Press.

First, some context for the book’s disclosures:

Tawfiq bin Attash, currently being held at Guantanamo Bay, is one of the many detainees that president Obama was referring to in his "prolonged detention" speech that cannot be prosecuted via any legal manner such as a US court of law or military tribunal. Bin Attash is said to be the mastermind behind the USS Cole attack and assisted with the 9/11 plot. According to this blog posting, he is a key link to Osama bin Laden and the 9/11 attacks.

Although this was my first time learning of this particular blog, I came across the article via a reference at Glenn Greenwald's salon.com opinion on president Obama's speech. The blogger is described by Mr. Greenwald as an "ardent Obama supporter." Why this particular article was referenced I am not sure as its conclusion did not have anything to do with Glenn's article that referenced it. However, it is the writers conclusion why I felt it should be posted here. The article is well sourced so I feel confident in its accuracy. Readers here may find the background information beneficial. The opening paragraph and link follow:

Eight years and counting ...

Osama bin Laden is believed to be in mountains on the Afghanistan/Pakistan border. But is he any nearer to being captured?

Julian Borger and Declan Walsh
The Guardian, Thursday 25 June 2009

He is still alive. That is the one thing that can be said about Osama bin Laden these days with any degree of certainty. At least, he was still alive at the beginning of the month, when an audio tape was delivered to al-Jazeera bearing words in a familiar voice.

The tape, aired by al-Jazeera on 3 June, is genuine, according to British and US intelligence, and his references to recent events are proof that it is contemporary. It is a muttered sermon, mainly devoted to decrying Barack Obama on the day the new US president arrived in Saudi Arabia on the start of a Middle East tour - to sow "seeds of hatred", Bin Laden claimed.

http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22867.htm

I never thought that I would be lauding the father of Reganomics, but here is another fine article from Paul Craig Roberts.

Regards
Mike Zimmer

The Waning Power of Truth by Paul Craig Roberts

June 19, 2009 "Information Clearing House" -- David Ray Griffin, the nemesis of the collection of disinformation known as the 9/11 Commission Report, has taken up the question of Osama Bin Laden, Dead or Alive?

On the basis of the available evidence, Griffin concludes that bin Laden died in December 2001, most likely of kidney failure. He has been kept alive in the media by US government PSYOPS as a useful bogyman to justify America’s illegal wars of aggression. The messages received from bin Laden since his death appear to be conveniently timed fabrications designed to advance US government purposes.

Osama bin Laden is likely to become a mythical person, like the Georgia Tech student, George P. Burdell, who will be sighted from time to time over a period that exceeds the length of a human life.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/11/cia-bin-laden-still-belie_n_214410.html

WASHINGTON — CIA Director Leon Panetta says he believes Osama bin Laden is still in Pakistan. The spy agency hopes to close in on the al-Qaida leader as Pakistan's military cracks down on the tribal area where he is thought to be hiding.

Panetta told reporters after a speech on Capitol Hill that finding bin Laden remains one of the CIA's top priorities. He said he hopes that the combination of increased CIA activity and the Pakistani military offensive will give the United States a better chance of nabbing him.

Panetta said in his speech that the CIA has increased the number of officers and agents in Pakistan who are providing targeting and other information to attack the al-Qaida network there.

I am trying to record my approval of reviews posted on Amazon of David Ray Griffin's new book on Osama Bin Laden, Osama Bin Laden: Dead or Alive?. I get the message indicating that my comment has been processed, but the counters do not increment. Elizabeth Woodworth has reported to me that others are telling her the same thing. Can some others try this and see if they get the same results? The link is

http://www.amazon.com/Osama-Bin-Laden-Dead-Alive/product-reviews/1566567831/ref=sr_1_1_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

Here is the interaction:

The question after each review is: "Was this review helpful to you?"
The response button I choose for each good review is "Yes"
The Amazon response is "Thanks for your feedback"
The counter at the top of the review does not increment.

Is this a computer glitch, a mis-understanding of what is supposed to happen, or someone gaming Amazon to keep favorable review counts down?

Regard
Michael Zimmer
http://www.TheProgressiveMind.info

a review of David Ray Griffin's new book, OSAMA BIN LADEN: DEAD OR ALIVE?

http://www.amazon.com/Osama-Bin-Laden-Dead-Alive/dp/1566567831/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1242912603&sr=1-2

by Tod Fletcher

OSAMA BIN LADEN: DEAD OR ALIVE? by David Ray Griffin is a crucially important and timely examination of the whole range of evidence bearing on the question, is Osama bin Laden still alive? The importance of this question for the present comes from the fact that the United States under its new president is escalating its offensive in Afghanistan and expanding the war into Pakistan, and has claimed that the "hunt for bin Laden" is one of its principal motivations for doing so. Either explicitly or implicitly, the US government and major media outlets such as the New York Times and Washington Post continue to assert that bin Laden is alive, hiding in the tribal territories on the "AfPak" border, posing an undiminished threat to US security.

http://sify.com/news/fullstory.php?a=jflw6Sjffdb&title=Osama_bin_Laden_was_US_operator_destabilising_Benazir_govt&tag=topn...

2009-05-11 22:32:55

Washington: Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari has alleged that elusive Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was a US operator who had tried to destabilise his late wife Benazir Bhutto's government back in 1989.

In fact, as premier Bhutto had "warned America about Osama bin Laden in 1989 with a call to then US president George H Bush", Zardari said on NBC's Meet the Press programme Sunday.

"She rang senior Bush and asked of him: 'Are you destabilising my government?' because he (apparently referring to bin Laden) paid the then opposition $10 million to overthrow the first woman elected (prime minister) in an Islamic country," Zardari added.

"So, we knew that he was your operator," said Zardari responding to a question about bin Laden's whereabouts.

"You'll have been there (in Afghanistan) for eight years. (So) you tell me. You lost him in Tora Bora, I didn't, I was in prison," he countered when asked where bin Laden was before hurling the allegation at Washington.

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20090408/ARTICLE/904081043/-1/NEWSSITEMAP

By Jeremy Wallace

Published: Wednesday, April 8, 2009 at 1:00 a.m.
Last Modified: Tuesday, April 7, 2009 at 8:42 p.m.

BRADENTON - U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson predicted Tuesday that the seven-year hunt for terrorism mastermind Osama bin Laden is nearly over.

"Within a year, we will have bin Laden," Nelson declared in a speech to about 200 people at a Manatee Chamber of Commerce event.

Nelson's prediction was surprising because it contradicted recent statements by the Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, who suggested it could be years before bin Laden is captured. Just three weeks ago, Gates likened the search to the FBI's 17-year hunt for convicted Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski.

It is unclear on what Nelson based his assertion.

Nelson left the area shortly after his speech.

Repeated requests by the Herald-Tribune to interview the senator were unsuccessful, with Nelson failing to return phone messages.