Officials in several countries are scrambling to confirm a report that Al Qaeda terrorist chief Osama bin Laden is dead.
The report that has gotten biggest play has come from a French newspaper. But Time Magazine now also has a report, also quoting Saudi sources, who say the same thing.
A French regional newspaper quoted a French secret service report on Saturday as saying that Saudi Arabia is convinced that al Qaeda 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 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.”
The report, which was stamped with a “confidential defence” label and the initials of the French secret service, said Saudi Arabia first heard the information on September 4 and that it was waiting for more details before making an official announcement.
Fugitive Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, believed to be on the run in rugged terrain in the Afghan-Pakistani border region since the September 11 attacks five years ago, has become seriously ill and may have already died, a Saudi source tells TIME, echoing earlier reports in the French media.
The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, says that Saudi officials have received multiple credible reports over the last several weeks that Bin Laden has been suffering from a water-borne illness. The source believes that there is a “high probability” that Bin Laden has already died from the disease, but stressed that Saudi officials have thus far received no concrete evidence of Bin Laden’s death.
“This is not a rumor,” says the source. “He is very ill. He got a water-related sickness and it could be terminal. There are a lot of serious facts about things that have actually happened. There is a lot to it. But we don’t have any concrete information to say that he is dead.”
On Saturday, the French newspaper L’Est Republicain cited a report by the French intelligence service, Direction Generale des Services Exteriors (DGSE), saying that Saudi intelligence officials “seem to have become convinced that Osama bin Laden is dead.” The report quoted by the newspaper said the Saudis believe bin Laden “might have succumbed to a very serious case of typhoid fever resulting in partial paralysis of his lower limbs while in Pakistan on August 23, 2006.”
According to Reuters, the U.S. can’t confirm anything yet:
The U.S. government is unable to confirm a French newspaper report that al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is believed to have died last month in Pakistan, a U.S. counterterrorism official said on Saturday.
“We cannot confirm the account,” said the official, who declined to be identified because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the issue. “It’s quite possible (that) there was some talk of this, but in terms of being able to confirm this, that I can’t do.”
The French regional daily L’Est Republicain reported that, according to a French secret service report, Saudi Arabia was convinced that bin Laden died of typhoid in Pakistan in late August. The French government has said it could not confirm the report and would investigate the intelligence leak.
The U.S. State Department had no immediate comment and was looking into the reports.
Note that this is NOT the first time an unconfirmed report has come out saying bin Laden has died or been killed. And, in the past, videos would be selectively released that ultimate led to the conclusion that he was very much alive and issuing fresh threats.
Each time a report comes out, there are big headlines around the world that consume a news cycle and wipe other matters from newscasts.CTV:
French President Jacques Chirac said the report “is in no way whatsoever confirmed”
He said he was “a bit surprised” by the leak, and has asked Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie to investigate how a document from France’s DGSE intelligence agency was published in the press.
L’Est Republicain printed what it described as a copy of a confidential document from the DGSE (Direction Generale des Services Exterieurs).
It cited an uncorroborated report from Saudi secret services that the leader of the al Qaeda terror network had died.
The DGSE transmitted the document, dated Sept. 21, to Chirac and other top French officials, the newspaper said.
The report added that Saudi security services were pursuing further details, notably the place of bin Laden’s burial.
“The chief of al Qaeda was a victim of a severe typhoid crisis while in Pakistan on August 23, 2006,” the document says according to the report, adding that the leader’s geographic isolation meant that medical assistance was impossible and 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.
CBS has a report from two of its correspondents with the reaction from Arab diplomats to the news reports. Here’s part of it:
One Arab diplomat who spoke to CBS News on the condition that his identity would not be revealed said there were fewer reports in 2006 of bin Laden’s possible sightings around the border region between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
“In the past, sometimes with a delay of two to three days, you would
see reports which suggested he may be on the move somewhere, there have been fewer such reports this year,” he said. “Does this mean, he is acutely ill, dying or has in fact died? There is no credible answer to that question. Unless there is a body, how can anyone say for sure that bin Laden is dead,” added the diplomat.The same diplomat said, bin Laden has had a history of illnesses that were first reported while the Taliban regime still ruled Afghanistan in 2000. One such report seen by the diplomat a year before the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, reported that bin Laden had to be hospitalized briefly in Kabul before he was brought to Pakistan for medical treatment, then believed to be a kidney-related ailment.
“If it is true that bin Laden had to have dialysis for his kidneys then — which is six years ago — his health must be far worse now. Especially the conditions that he lived in, being on the run from U.S. forces must also take its toll on him. I wouldn’t be surprised if he is dead. Nobody is immortal,” concluded the diplomat.
If this is never confirmed and bin Laden turns up in
future videos, then it’ll be one more false media alarm. But if it is confirmed, it will be the equivalent of the CEO of a big company passing: Al Qaeda will not vanish and nor will its threat. And bin Laden will gain more of a mystique among his followers because he’ll be the one who truly got away.
But until the reports are confirmed, they’re just some more, highly intriguing interesting reports of what some people are telling some reporters.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.