French Want Probe Into Bin Laden Leak

Chirac: Osama's Death 'In No Way Whatsoever Confirmed'

(CBS/AP) 
CIA duty officer Paul Gimigliano said he could not confirm the DGSE report.

The Washington-based IntelCenter, which monitors terrorism communications, said it was not aware of any similar reports on the Internet.

"We've seen nothing from any al Qaeda messaging or other indicators that would point to the death of Osama bin Laden," IntelCenter director Ben N. Venzke told The Associated Press.

Al Qaeda would likely release information of his death fairly quickly if it were true, said Venzke, whose organization also provides counterterrorism intelligence services for the American government.

"They would want to release that to sort of control the way that it unfolds. If they wait too long, they could lose the initiative on it," he said.

The last time the IntelCenter says it could be sure bin Laden was alive was June 29, when al Qaeda released an audiotape in which the terror leader eulogized al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was killed in a U.S. airstrike in Iraq earlier that month.

Chirac spoke at a news conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Compiegne, France, where the leaders were holding a summit.

Putin suggested that leaks can be manipulated. "When there are leaks ... one can say that (they) were done especially."

Earlier the French defense ministry said it was opening an investigation into the leak.

"The information published this morning by the L'Est Republicain newspaper concerning the possible death of Osama bin Laden cannot be confirmed," a Defense Ministry statement said.

The DGSE spy agency, or Direction Generale de la Securite Exterieure, indicated that its information came from a single source.

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

There have been periodic reports of bin Laden's illness or death in recent years but none has been proven accurate.

According to this report, Saudi security services were pursuing further details, notably the place of his burial.

"The chief of al Qaeda was a victim of a severe typhoid crisis while in Pakistan on Aug. 23, 2006," the document says. His geographic isolation meant that medical assistance was impossible, the French report said, adding that his lower limbs were allegedly paralyzed.

The report further said Saudi security services had their first information on bin Laden's alleged death on Sept. 4.

In Pakistan, a senior official of that country's top spy agency, the ISI or Directorate of Inter-Service Intelligence, said he had no information to confirm bin Laden's whereabouts or that he might be dead. The official said he believed the report could be fabricated. The official was not authorized to speak publicly on the topic and spoke on condition of anonymity.

U.S. Embassy officials in Pakistan and Afghanistan also said they could not confirm the French report.

Gen. Henri Bentegeat, the French army chief of staff, said in a radio debate last Sunday that bin Laden's fate remained a mystery.

"Today, bin Laden is certainly not in Afghanistan," Bentegeat said. "No one is completely certain that he is even alive."

[world-view]

RD1963: Another clueless American thinking the world ends at the U.S. border. Wonders "Why do they hate us so?" and guesses it has something to do with "freedom". Get a clue - the rest of the world is fed up with U.S. domination. All the good will you gained after 9-11 was squandered in your deceitful exploitation of that tragedy. You will not long survive by telling the rest of the world to kiss your *** or else.

[dargay]

WHAT A USELESS STORY!

[rd1963-2009]

This is so childish

People walking down the street with protests signs all over the world. You think they speak for everyone? WRONG!

They are a very small percentage of the population. You know knowing what the majority thinks. Obviously your head stuck deep, where you can see reality.

Your a punk. Your living in the 1960's.

The world doesn't care about protestors. Lock'm up and throw away the key, lol

Come on, be a big maucho man, with a tiny stick in your hand and waive it in my face. I'd love to teach you about life.

[rd1963-2009]

World-view, you only speak for yourself. Don't push your views on anyone. I know you from Adam, as you know me from nobody. You come here, spewing out claims that you only hear in the news. I'll tell you what. Not everyone participates in polls. You only are making false accusations. People that critsize my President, is not the majority as you like to think. This world is much bigger then any news poll. So, I'll tell you what, get off your high horse, and stop bashing President Bush, for doing such a great job. Why don't you get a life. I picture a person like you standing in front of a US Army recruiting office, with a sign, "PEACE NOT WAR" and people like you have no control whatsoever on any military action President Bush chooses to use.

I can't wait till you respond.

Your such a joke. No wonder I'm fed up with people like you. You try pushing your views on the world.

It has never, and will never ever work.

In my eyes, your the problem.

[world-view]

OBL is or was a vile murderer...

Doctorgraz for every American calling OBL a "vile murderer" there are many more non-Americans who can justifiably say the same of Bush. If the best we can do is be better at killing others than they are at killing us then we are doomed. Such thinking is inevitably self-destructive.

[doctorgraz]

Hey Abbgina ! You should be a fiction novelist. OBL knew nothing about 9/11 ? What a crock !!!!

[doctorgraz]

You are all wet World-View. OBL is or was a vile murderer who justified doing so as the will of Allah to foster his own personal ambitions for power. What a distorted creep !!!

[abbgina]

I hope he is not; in 2001 when the press cried for more videos in December and rumors surfaced that he might be dead, he said "our silence is our greatest propaganda" and he was quiet. He quietly made his way out of the madness at Tora Bora to continue his quest as a messenger of Islam. Those who don't know who he really is should read his words in his Letter To America at www.obs.gov.co.uk/worldview/story/0,11581,845725,00.html. It was published in the observer in London back in November 2002. In it are his feelings, his dreams, his grievances. It might also surprise you to know in his own interviews that HE gave 9.13.01 in the Afghan Islamic Press, 9.28.01 in Ummah News to his biographer Hamid Mir, he said he did not do 9.11 attacks. You probably never heard that. He was set up by the intelligence agencies and several governments.

[doctorgraz]

Let us not bring in the noble dog into these conversations. When it's my turn, I should die like my dog did a few months ago....with all who loved her around.

[stopwhining4]

Why is it all the bleeding heart liberals turn a simple comment page into a cry factory? They asked a simple question. Every opportunity they get, they try to turn it into whinefest...GROW UP !!!! So what if you lost in the last election, get over it...you should have campaigned harder. No I'm not a supporter of any political party. If you don't like things the way they are, do something about it. Join your local political party and ACTIVELY support them. Or leave the country if you don't like it. But quit your cryin'. It's very "Old Hat" and most people really dont want to hear your "Lame" Opinion. Geesh!!!!

[usaforever1]

I don't believe it. This is just another way to throw those looking for him off the beaten path. I won't believe he is dead until they produce a body.

[mgeiger]

If it were so easy to find the other killers after 9-11 why is it so difficult to find this bas****? He has been running like an animal for years. There are so many places you can hide. If he is dead I hope he suffered a living HELL just as our loved ones did. If he is alive I hope that we find him, torture him and throw him to the animals to eat him alive. He will feel right at home!

Wonderful, we diverged from our goal of finding bin Laden and spent billions of dollars on a war in Iraq along with countless lives, and then bin Laden, that bum, goes ahead and may have died on his own. To me this somehow seems that we just sort of lost the whole battle if he died on his own. There has been no justice at all for any of the American people, and now all we may have is the satisfaction that he may be dead.

[deadon61303]

Let's not get ahead of ourselves here. Just because the elusive figure of bin-Laden may finally be extinguished doesn't mean the end of all things from terrorism. Let us not forget about the soon-to-be power struggle that is sure to ensure. There will be a predecessor to the icon of American terror. Bin-Laden dead?! Just like that its over? Somehow I doubt it.

[long_rider]

Time for the Whitehouse to crank out another OBL tape! The chimp has to keep him alive; OBL is the focus of the so called terrorist threats in America. With out OBL who will the chimp have to blame when he blows up something else in America.

Does Chavez have WMD, does he have ties to al-Qaeda, does he have al-Qaeda training camps in his country?

Well I guess it is time for our "free and unbiased news media" (ROTFLMAO) to create another boogie man for the chimp to use.

[world-view]

In the wider world view, many people see Bin Laden as a hero who kicked the Soviets out of Afghanistan and then went on to challenge even the United States. Too many Americans can't understand this and probably never will. The vile words of hatred posted here are no different from the vile words others now aim at us. In our blind vengence we have killed more people and brought more harm on the world that Bin Laden ever did. For every person who desises Bin Laden there are many more who despise Bush. They say "make him drink the blood of very person he's sent too an early grave" and they are just as right. If clueless Americans continue to hold sway it will be the undoing of America. If we can't get beyond knee-jerk "America First" thinking, if we can't hold ourselves to the same standards we expect from the rest of the world, then we are doomed.

[rd1963-2009]

He's been like a rat hiding until the sun goes down. He has had no life for years. Running and hiding from public view, like a scared animal. He was nothing. He was a piece of ***, who needed attention like a child. He was a mistake at birth. Now the time has come and he will now pay for his dues. He made his bed, and he's sleeping in it. I wish I was there on his death bed, so I could've handed him a glass of blood to drink from each person whom he had sent them too an early grave. May you suffer in hell. May your days be unbearable. God will punish you forever, just like your followers.

[acns475]

I find it hard to believe that the bum is dead but since this claim comes from one of the French security services then it might be true. I mean they did warn us that something was going to happen in NYC six or seven moths prior to 9-11 but the Bush regime ignored it, and when the *** did hit the fan they stared palying CYA(cover you a-s) with a vengence.

That having been said I wish the ***'s body would be displayed like Il Duce's in the town square. That would be fun.

[renovation2]

when they find his body i beleave he is were he should be .DEAD

[iloveusa-2009]

He died as he lived: like a dog