Al Qaeda Watch: French Intelligence Service Reports Osama Bin Laden is DEAD

The article in the l’Est Republicain quotes a French intelligence service report that Osama bin Laden has died of typhoid. France is probing how the intelligence brief the report is based on came to be leaked.

AP: France Looks Into bin Laden Death Report

The French defense ministry on Saturday called for an internal investigation of the leak of an intelligence document that raises the possibility that Osama bin Laden may have died of typhoid in Pakistan a month ago but said the report of the death remained unverified.

“The information defused 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 daily newspaper for the Lorraine region in eastern France printed what it described as a confidential document from the French foreign intelligence service DGSE citing an uncorroborated report from Saudi secret services that the leader of the al-Qaida terror network had died.

The contents of the document, dated Sept. 21, or Thursday, were not confirmed by French or other intelligence sources. However, the DGSE transmitted the note to President Jacques Chirac and other officials, the newspaper said.

Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie “has demanded an investigation be carried out of this leak,” a ministry statement said, adding that transmission of the confidential document could risk punishment.

Defense Ministry spokesman Jean-Francois Bureau, clarifying the statement, said that the DGSE document exists but that its contents – that bin Laden is allegedly dead – cannot be confirmed.

Interesting but yet unconfirmed. The LEFT/Democrats are probably saying it is Karl Rove pulling the strings in the White House again.

The front page of the l’Est Republicain which published a report by the French intelligence services saying Osama bin Laden has died of typhoid. France is probing how the intelligence brief the report is based on came to be leaked.

And what does Jacques Chirac, the President of France say?

AP: Chirac: Bin Laden intel not confirmed

President Jacques Chirac said Saturday that information contained in a leaked intelligence document raising the possibility that Osama bin Laden may have died of typhoid in Pakistan last month is “in no way whatsoever confirmed.”

Chirac said he was “a bit surprised” at the leak and has asked Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie to probe how a document from a French foreign intelligence service was published in the French press.

The regional newspaper l’Est Republicain on Saturday printed what it described as a copy of a confidential document from the DGSE intelligence service citing an uncorroborated report from Saudi secret services that the leader of the al-Qaida terror network had died.

Officials from Afghanistan to Washington expressed doubts about the report.

Two American intelligence officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue said Saturday that U.S. agencies have no evidence to suggest a reason to believe that bin Laden is dead or dying.

The DGSE transmitted the document, dated Sept. 21 or Thursday, to Chirac and other top French officials, the newspaper said.

“This information is in no way whatsoever confirmed,” Chirac said Saturday when asked about the document. “I have no comment.”

Look for an audio recording of Bin Laden within hours.

Might this be an operation to find UBL and/or Dr. Ayman Muhammad Rabaie al-Zawahiri or other Al Qaeda operatives?

Doubtful

But, will Al Qaeda respond?

Stay tuned…….

Al Qaeda Flag

Blogosphere:

Allah

Mary K

Time is reporting that bin Laden may be very sick with a “serious water-borne illness,”Â from “credible Saudi sources:”

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.”

Â Dr. Rusty

Damn, it feels good to be a gangsta today! First, bin Laden is reportedly dead. Or dying. Or whatever. In any event, I don’t believe it. But it’s the kind of rumor I dig. Thanks to everyone that e-mailed it to me. The way I read the report, though, was not that bin Laden is dead, but that he is very sick. (knock on wood either way)

But a much bigger story is that the leader of Ansar al Sunnah, Muntasir al-Jibouri, has been captured! This is big news. And unlike the bin Laden ‘news’, this one seems likely to be true.

We should be shouting for joy that the leader of Ansar al Sunnah has been captured. This should just as big as when we got Zarqawi. It is that important.

Ansar al Sunnah’s organizational structure is not as well know as al Qaeda’s. It appears, though, that al-Jibouri’s voice can be heard on at least two hostage murder videos-and probably many many more (thanks to Mike for the reminder). Like Zarqawi, al Jibouri is said to have personally murdered many of Ansar al Sunna’s victims.

For awhile, Abu Musab al Zarqawi and the terrorist bastards at Ansar al Sunna appeared to be in a pissing match over who could behead the most civilians. Just this month the group posted a gruesome video of the beheading of 3 Iraqis.

Who are Ansar al Sunna, you say? I don’t blame you for not knowing, I blame the ignorant press. And the Democrats. The press because they speak of insurgents in Iraq, and not terrorists. And the Democrats because they speak as if any one who is not formally within al Qaeda is not a terrorist. Eg., Saddam did not support terrorists because there was no link to al Qaeda. Idiots.

Ansar al Sunnah is the second worst terrorist organization in Iraq. They are probably made up of the remnants of Ansar al Islam, and mostly operate in Iraq’s North. They are also Kurds. Occasional they pull off an operation in Kurdistan, but the Peshmerga (Kurdish fighters, secularists) have effectively wiped them out. The Kurds know what to do with Islamist terrorists. They kill them.