Where Is Osama Bin Laden?

Sources Tell CBS News U.S. Intelligence Believes Al Qeada Leader Is In Chitral District Of Northern Pakistan

(CBS)  As Osama bin Laden urges Americans to convert to Islam in a new video released Friday, the al Qaeda leader's location remains a mystery.

But informed sources tell CBS News U.S. intelligence believes Osama bin Laden is hiding out in the Chitral district of northern Pakistan. A number of reports from human sources, including some alleged sightings, have put him there, reports CBS News national security correspondent David Martin.

None of the reports has been independently confirmed, but there are enough of them to persuade intelligence analysts that it's his most likely location.

Chitral is a remote, rugged area governed by tribes that will not allow even the Pakistani army to operate there.

"They have a code of hospitality for guests, and they've probably also gotten a fair amount of money from bin Laden," says Daniel Benjamin of the Brookings Institute, who tracked bin Laden during the Clinton administration. He believes bin Laden is surrounded by body guards armed with surface-to-air missiles and good intelligence.

"I think it's quite likely he has a very good early warning system (and) that there are perimeters set up so people know who's coming and going in the area that he's living," Benjamin said.

Before 9/11, bin Laden's deputy Ayman al Zawahiri always seemed to be at his side. But no longer.

"They're separated for good reasons," says Benjamin. "Most countries don't let their top two people travel together or undertake anything that would be risky together."

Last year, a U.S. missile strike narrowly missed Zawahiri after the CIA tracked him to a meeting of senior al Qaeda operatives south of Chitral. Al Qaeda seems willing to risk Zawahiri in order to protect bin Laden.

"It seems like they've made a decision that bin Laden will have a much higher level of operational security," Benjamin says. "Zawahiri will take more risks and is probably in a more accessible place."

So far, it's working. The only proof U.S. intelligence has that bin Laden is even alive are his own videos.

[bill1049]

Although it is unknown if by now Osama Bin Laden dead, FBI have found Osama in Northern Afghanistan, and have been surveilling him with their satellites since 2007.

[bill1049]

FBI found Osama Bin Laden. FBI found him in Northern Afghanistan and now surveilling him with their satellites.

It is unknown whether by now Osama Bin Laden is dead or captured.

[gorakzai]

My problem is with the facts of the story. Where did the "author" get the idea that Chitral is a rugged country with Tribals gverning thir land with the ancient codes of hospitality etc.?
Nothing could be farther from the truth.
Chitralis are a different melieu from tribal Pukhtoons (of Waziristan, Tirah, even Peshawar) who have alledgely hosted Bin Laden at various times, neither are they bound by the code of "Pukhtoonwali." Their history is different from the rest of Pakistan, and their chemistry, habits, custome, approach to religion and issues of security have always been quite at variance with the more aggressive Pukhtoons.
They are the most peaceful, fun-loving, romantic people in the North, and have faithfully followed the laws of the land, dating back to the colonial era.
While others beyond the Lowari Pass, and Arandu engaged in the militant struggle against Soviets and Americans, as a perceived "Muslim cause", Chitralis remained largely aloof and unimpressed by the "Jihad''.
They seemed to have a clear understanding of the game that was played by the "super powers" and their boy-toys, the mujahedeen or Taliban. They always knew who was pulling the strings.
The long and short of it is, Osama Bin Laden would think many times before he heads in that direction. While Chitralis may not jump over each other to host him or hand him to the CIA, they would dutifully present him to the Pakistani government, no matter who is in power.

[photogeezer]

"...because Bush and associates do not want to catch him"

You may be right. As brazen as this administration has been about lying - to soldiers, to Congress, to all of us - they would have lied about catching Bin Laden by now. They could have paraded around the shot-up body of some tall, thin goatherd with a pubic hair beard and claimed that they killed him, and that all later appearances were faked.

[samsel3]

OBL and Adolf Hitler have the same birthday July 31st.

[xzavierbrown]

Posted by klifton2 at 12:02 AM : Sep 09, 2007
+ report abuse

*******

you forgot the martians..you cannot have a good conspriacy without any martians..i think osama and bush are both martians..they are working so they can take over the world.

oh dont forget that we never really landed on the moon..and if yuo look at a one dollar bill you can see a secret sentence saying "YOU ARE A MORON THAT SHOULD HAD BEEN ABORTED BY YOUR PARENTS"

[klifton2-2009]

Has it ever occurred to anyone that the main reason why OBL is not caught is because Bush and associates simply do not wish to catch him. Bush without OBL is irrelevant both as a man and most all as prez. Even if OBL does not exist, Bush and his gang have to invent him just to justify the invasion of Iraq for his oil buddies who put him in the WH. The whole American society is so corrupted that nothing is impossible. Remember, it is the same society that assassinated two of its presidents, dropped 2 atom bombs on civilians, worked with the Nazis, refused to have anything to do with the Jews, buttressed foreign dictators to serve and then have them disposed, segregated the blacks from society and referred them as half a person, fired and killed students at Duke University, and use biological weapons in V''nam.

[thisjustin2]

Have you not a clue of how dependent of crude all of modern Western culture is? Honestly - think of something with out an once of crude involve - Church - no - electricity and water is used among other crude dependent items.

We are dependent on crude. Our partners that help to keep competition up and our prices down are dependent on crude making us dependent also.

We all need to convert to keep our economy growing, people working, fed, clothed and shelter and add convenience to life as well as save life. All things for emergency response use crude - from the manufacturing of the different products, to the use of them. The ambulance to the IC ward uses crude to keep people alive. There is no alternative fuel being used in the process and for now that keeps the price down. If hospitals converted over now, while prices are too high - we''d all suffer for it.

We are dependent on crude for now and we''ll yes it to weed ourselves off it eventually, but now its impossible. So the Middle East is of interest for our own interests.

[thisjustin2]

Name a part of modern society that doesn''t use crude.

The cleaner air, the tap H20, anything manufactured, anything transported to a store by vehicle, flying, taking the bus or train, driving, reading a book(printing press), electricity, the phone(land and mobile), banking, commerce and much much more.

All use crude in one way or another and in multiply ways. Get off the internet - stop using crude!

You''d have to give up modern society to five up crude or convert all of modern society to alternative fuels now(no one can afford that right now - know something about economics and conversion of large scale systems)!

You will also have to convert our partners around to world else you are still using crude!

Have you bot a clue of how dependent of crude all of modern Western culture is? Honestly - think of something with out an once of crude involve - Church - no - electricity and water is used among other crude dependent items.

[xzavierbrown]

Posted by samsel3 at 10:45 AM : Sep 08, 2007
+ report abuse
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************

guess who is bush''s and the big oil''s best friend??


YOUR DUMB ARSE FOR BUYING THIER OIL...YOU ARE TOO STUPID AND TO UNDERSTAND WHERE YOU STAND IN YOUR OWN EQUATION OF DEATH..

[oakishpines]

'' ... if dirt is compost, and compost with air and water and less density and more surface area becomes sort of super compost, i wonder if just removing density and adding surface area to desert gardens can improve the ability of the terrain to support life despite low water levels, or if it would make it worse? ... ''


'' ... giving away free advertising to the many entreprenuers for small tips from a few is the ultimate capitalist adventure ... ''

'' ... don''t dance porno hike naked dance dressed get sick tax world get well feed world songs rallied round the tens millions sick beds drifting the tens millions farm trail groups ... ''


'' ... god said dare the u.s. kids, jihad the u.s. kids, yee haw the u.s. kids, shock and awe the u.s. kids, and then he said: just teasing, what idiots took me seriously ... ''


'' ... it''s really funny to see them stand up and pledge someday to cure death and live eternal and then turn around and laugh and scream at those what think that eternity came before the earth ... ''

'' ... jupiter / saturn was forged in quite the mighty fire, and to think i was forged in that fire but a flicker of motion filled dust cradled in defiance of those mighty fires ... ''

'' ... eternal storyboards swimming infinite oceans of eternal storyboards ... ''

[samsel3]

Republican7 GW is that you? Kinda sounds a little like that thar comedian John Stewart...imitatin you..oh I guess it is''nt GW you said Nuclear not Nukular ...

[aicohnx2]

I''m just waiting for OBL to show up on TV doing an american express commercial... "You know who I am...".

But seriously, I have never understood why we try walking the high road when dealing with these scorpions. If we''re in a battle for our national survival, in my scheme of things you adopt the methods of your foes & then some. Say target 25% of our strategic nuclear force on that tiny little district in Pakistan. Level it. Knock the mountains to the ground. Render it uninhabitable for a century. And let it be known that this is what happens to those who harbor american enemies. Ideally we should have done this in the hours after 9/11 while OBL & Al-zawahiri were together. Now it may be too late.

For those who abhor such a barbaric act, what''s they''re alterative?? Wait for those guys to unleash a pocket nuke on NYC, LA, Denver, Houston, and Seattle simultaneously??

[zameer4mino]

dear sir
my comments regarding usama bin ladens if is in chitral or not. possible. i belong to the same district and an ismaili muslim living in ontario canada for the last 4 yrs. the people over there (sunni muslims) consider him as the hero...
now what are the steps we need to take ?
what i m not agreed here is if the people wont allow army to operate there.. if even they dont want but they can''t stop the army to operate.
regards
zam
ontario canada
0016478804090

[dargay]

everytime Bin Laden releases an audiotape "US inteligence" starts to believe all sorts of things.

oh and btw: Chitral isnt tribal territory.

[cosmicfluke]

Bush on bin Laden:
%u201CI truly am not that concerned about him.%u201D

And, why would he be? If he were interested in getting the man behind 9/11, all he has to do is turn around and grab D*ck Cheney.

[photogeezer]

A brief stay in Antibes, in the south of France, got me to wondering. Since most of the super-yachts I saw were probably bought with oil money, maybe Osama is sitting on the deck of one, with a cool drink, in the company of his attending physician and his wives, as we speak, laughing up his sleeve. We gave him the holy war he wanted, on a silver platter.

[samsel3]

The sick thing is that Bush and his cowboys are laughing about this around the campfire at the ranch next to Wacko, Texas, and laughing it up with their Saudi friends at Walker Point up in Maine.

[jn122736]

The gullibility of so many Americans never ceases to amaze me.

"Fighting terrorists in Iraq will prevent them from attacking us here on American soil" is, undoubtedly, the most ludicrous assertion ever made, and yet it is being bought by so many people.

Not only has the Iraq fiasco depleted our financial resources, doubled our national debt, weakened our military capability (making it questionable if we can defend ourselves from a real attack), it has made it FAR EASIER for ANY terrorist to attack us here because all of our defenses, especially the national guard, are stuck in Iraq.

Bush recently opened our highways to international trucking. How does that make sense considering the destruction of so many of our constitutional freedoms in the name of national security, wire tapping, et al?

Couple the above with all of the contradictory facts leading up to 911 and the subsequent Iraq invasion.

IMO, Americans are scared all right, but they are more scared of admitting even the possibility of a conspiracy by some or all in this administration than they are of terrorist attacks.

[samsel3]

BIG OIL put up 150-million dollars to get GW in office...When he got elected it was payback time.Remember he is a Texan and was in the oil bussiness, failed at that too until the Saudis bailed him out. That''s why they are friends. They are also involved in a web of multi-national corporations which include the Saudis making a lot of money. They could care less about you and me. The USA willnot leave Iraq and protesting in the streets will not change Bush or the Congress. They are in control.