International Media Fuel bin Laden Speculation
Scott Hogenson
Executive Editor
(CNSNews.com) - The international media are raising speculation that Osama bin Laden, thought to bear ultimate responsibility for the Sept. 11 attacks, may be in custody or is near to being apprehended.
The Jerusalem Post, citing an Israel Radio dispatch, reported that intelligence agencies in the U.S. and Pakistan were closing in on bin Laden in an area along the Pakistan-Iran border.
The report also stated that President Bush, who is scheduled to conduct a news conference at 8:00 p.m. EST Thursday, would use the event to announce the capture.
The BBC also reported that the apprehension of bin Laden may be at hand but included an un-attributed denial from the White House that Bush was preparing to announce a capture.
That same BBC report also noted that Pakistani officials were "playing down speculation" that authorities were closing in on bin Laden.
Speculation on bin Laden's status follows the arrest this weekend of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, considered by U.S. and foreign intelligence sources to be the operational mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks; and Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi, who is believed to have played a significant role in financing the terrorists who attacked the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
Along with Mohammed and al-Hawsawi, authorities also captured a variety of documents and computer files that may shed light on al Qaeda operations and possibly the whereabouts of bin Laden.
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer Thursday morning said Bush would open the evening news conference with remarks covering the war on terrorism and developments in the Middle East concerning the prospect of military action against Iraq.
FMILT THIS CLEARLY SHOWS THERE WAS an orignal report from the bbc, after they reported it they included the washington denial, i don't make things up, u may not agree with me but i report what i see, now i clearly think in the days or weeks ahead we might hear of his capture, if the u.s. is holding the news good for them, i am not saying they are wrong, they are smart, why let his soldiers get the call to arms, if it is true let the higher ups call the soldiers and further endanger their missions exposing them to arrest
AI
