France investigates bin Laden 'death' leak

PARIS: French President Jacques Chirac said on Saturday he would investigate the leak of confidential French defense ministry documents containing a report that al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is dead, and stressed the report had been in no way confirmed.

"I was rather surprised to see that a confidential note from the DGSE (General Directorate for External Security) was published and I have asked the minister of Defense to start an investigation immediately and to reach whatever conclusions are necessary," Chirac said.

"Secondly, speaking of the source of the information itself, this information is in no way confirmed."

U.S. intelligence officials said Saturday they could not confirm the report suggesting that bin Laden might be dead, and a Saudi intelligence source told CNN's Nic Robertson that there had been credible reports in the past few weeks that bin Laden was ill with a water-borne disease, but that he was not dead.

The leaked information was published in the French regional newspaper L'Est Republicain Saturday.

The article said that a French foreign intelligence document dated September 21 quoted a "usually reliable source" as saying that Saudi Arabian authorities had received confirmation that bin Laden died of an acute case of typhoid in Pakistan August 23.

Laid Sammari, the journalist who wrote the article, told CNN in a phone interview he was confident of the authenticity of the confidential document.

He said the only thing the Saudis were trying to confirm was the burial place of the al Qaeda leader, before they would make an official announcement.

Pakistani officials also said on Saturday they have no information that confirms bin Laden's death.

Friday, U.S. President George Bush and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said in a joint news conference that the hunt is still on for the leaders of al Qaeda.

The report in L'Est Republicain said the Saudi secret service first got the reports of bin Laden's death on September 4.

CNN is trying to confirm the reports with Saudi officials in Washington, D.C., and in Saudi Arabia.

An official with the French defense ministry confirmed that an investigation into the leaked documents was already under way.

The last message from bin Laden was an audiotaped post on an Islamic Web site on June 30. The CIA confirmed the voice giving the message was that of the al Qaeda leader.

In the message, bin Laden names Abu Hamza al-Mujaher as Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's successor as leader of al Qaeda in Iraq.

The last videotaped statement from bin Laden was aired on October 29, 2004 on Al Jazeera.

CNN

I this report is true then It is really amazing and interesting. The world's biggest (so called terrorist ) Died like this, when almost every country is searching for him.
Lets see how the investigation goes about the authentication of the report.

The Saudi government has denied a French newspaper report saying France's secret services believe Osama Bin Laden is dead.

The newspaper quoted the Saudi secret services as saying the al-Qaeda leader had died of typhoid in Pakistan.

But, in a statement, the Saudi government said it had "no evidence" that Bin Laden was dead.

The French president has ordered an inquiry into the leaked French secret service memo containing the claim.

'Speculation'

"The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has no evidence to support recent media reports that Osama Bin Laden is dead," the Saudi government said.


"Information that has been reported otherwise is purely speculative and cannot be independently verified."

French newspaper L'Est Republicain quoted a document as saying that the Saudi secret services were convinced the al-Qaeda leader had died of typhoid in Pakistan in late August.

Officials in Pakistan and the US said they could not confirm the account.

Pakistan's ambassador to the US, Mahmud Ali Durrani told BBC News 24 that he doubted the claims were true:

"It would be very nice to confirm that he is dead - in Pakistan, Afghanistan, New York or wherever, but I think such claims are unsubstantiated."

Saudi-born Bin Laden was based in Afghanistan until the Taleban government there was overthrown by US-backed forces in 2001 after the 9/11 attacks.

Since then, US and Pakistani officials have regularly said they believe he is hiding in the lawless border area between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

His last videotaped message was released in late 2004, but several audio tapes have been released this year - the last at the end of June, in which Bin Laden praised Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, who was killed in an American air strike.

'Paralysis'

In its report, the French regional daily said it had obtained a copy of a DGSE foreign intelligence service report dated 21 September.

"According to a usually reliable source, the Saudi services are now convinced that Osama Bin Laden is dead," it read.

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

Mr Chirac said: "I am surprised that a confidential memo from the secret services has been published, therefore I've ordered the defence minister to start an inquiry.

"As far as the information itself is concerned, it's not confirmed in any way. Therefore I have no comment at all."

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," director Ben Venzke told the Associated Press news agency.

BBC News

A senior official in Pakistan's interior ministry said: "We have no information about Osama's death." Pakistani officials have doubts about the report of Osama's death.
Pakistan has received no information from any foreign government that would corroborate a French newspaper report on Saturday that al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden died of typhoid in Pakistan, a senior government official said.

"No government has shared any such information with us so far, which is the normal thing to do under such circumstances," the official, who has close knowledge of intelligence matters, said on condition of anonymity.

A US counterterrorism official was also unable to confirm the report. "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 US State Department had no immediate comment and was looking into the reports. US officials have suggested that his death would be accompanied by a surge of e-mail and telephone chatter among bereaved al Qaeda members, if not an actual announcement from the militant network. But officials said they were not aware of any such chatter in recent weeks.

The French government has said it could not confirm the report and would investigate the intelligence leak.

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-Qaida messaging or other indicators that would point to the death of Osama bin Laden," IntelCenter director Ben N. Venzke told The Associated Press.

Al-Qaida 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.

L’Est Republicain reported on its website on Saturday that it based its information on a document classified ‘defence secret’ originating in the French DGSE intelligence services. The DGSE document, printed with the report, reads in part:
"According to a usually reliable source, the Saudi intelligence services are said to have acquired the information that Osama bin Laden is dead. The information gleaned by the Saudis indicates that the head of Al Qaeda was a victim of a very strong attack of thyphoid... in Pakistan on August 23, 2006."
The document goes on to say that bin Laden’s geographical isolation rendered all medical assistance impossible.

Now let's look at an alternate view.

Let's say Osama did die. Al Qaeda is already distributed around the globe and acting independently of centralized command and control, and the death of its original organizer isn't going to affect them much beyond a personal sadness over his passing among his followers. It will have no effect on their activities.

We should, in fact, hope that this is true for one reason. His dying of 'natural' causes rather than being roasted with a Hellfire or obliterated with a Tomahawk at US hands eliminates the revenge factor. The added incentive to strike against the Great Satan just might make the difference between success and failure for a terror operation.

But note that the rumors originate from the Saudis. Could this rumor of bin Laden dying just be a psy-op means by which an aging and ailing Osama can covertly return to Saudi Arabia and live a life of quiet and anonymous retirement? It wouldn't be the first time he was let off the hook by the US. Remember his escape from Tora Bora when he was supposed to be surrounded?

The Saudi Government has enough clout with Washington, both officially and through its long-term business ties with the Bush family, to ensure that such a retirement could happen. The bin Laden family itself has extensive ties to the Bush business interests, so it isn't much of a stretch to suggest that Osama's family might well be pulling a few strings to protect a prodigal son who has returned home.

Guillaume Dasquie
\September 23, 2006