Who was Osama bin Laden?

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In other words, backed by Pakistan's military intelligence (ISI) which in turn was controlled by the CIA, the Taliban Islamic State was largely serving American geopolitical interests. The Golden Crescent drug trade was also being used to finance and equip the Bosnian Muslim Army (starting in the early 1990s) and the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). In last few months there is evidence that Mujahideen mercenaries are fighting in the ranks of KLA-NLA terrorists in their assaults into Macedonia.

No doubt, this explains why Washington has closed its eyes on the reign of terror imposed by the Taliban including the blatant derogation of women's rights, the closing down of schools for girls, the dismissal of women employees from government offices and the enforcement of "the Sharia laws of punishment".20

The War in Chechnya
With regard to Chechnya, the main rebel leaders Shamil Basayev and Al Khattab were trained and indoctrinated in CIA sponsored camps in Afghanistan and Pakistan. According to Yossef Bodansky, director of the U.S. Congress's Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare, the war in Chechnya had been planned during a secret summit of HizbAllah International held in 1996 in Mogadishu, Somalia. 21 The summit, was attended by Osama bin Laden and high-ranking Iranian and Pakistani intelligence officers. In this regard, the involvement of Pakistan's ISI in Chechnya "goes far beyond supplying the Chechens with weapons and expertise: the ISI and its radical Islamic proxies are actually calling the shots in this war". 22

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Russia's main pipeline route transits through Chechnya and Dagestan. Despite Washington's perfunctory condemnation of Islamic terrorism, the indirect beneficiaries of the Chechen war are the Anglo-American oil conglomerates which are vying for control over oil resources and pipeline corridors out of the Caspian Sea basin.

The two main Chechen rebel armies (respectively led by Commander Shamil Basayev and Emir Khattab) estimated at 35,000 strong were supported by Pakistan's ISI, which also played a key role in organizing and training the Chechen rebel army:

"[In 1994] the Pakistani Inter Services Intelligence arranged for Basayev and his trusted lieutenants to undergo intensive Islamic indoctrination and training in guerrilla warfare in the Khost province of Afghanistan at Amir Muawia camp, set up in the early 1980s by the CIA and ISI and run by famous Afghani warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. In July 1994, upon graduating from Amir Muawia, Basayev was transferred to Markaz-i-Dawar camp in Pakistan to undergo training in advanced guerrilla tactics. In Pakistan, Basayev met the highest ranking Pakistani military and intelligence officers: Minister of Defense General Aftab Shahban Mirani, Minister of Interior General Naserullah Babar, and the head of the ISI branch in charge of supporting Islamic causes, General Javed Ashraf, (all now retired). High-level connections soon proved very useful to Basayev."23

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Following his training and indoctrination stint, Basayev was assigned to lead the assault against Russian federal troops in the first Chechen war in 1995. His organization had also developed extensive links to criminal syndicates in Moscow as well as ties to Albanian organized crime and the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). In 1997-98, according to Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) "Chechen warlords started buying up real estate in Kosovo... through several real estate firms registered as a cover in Yugoslavia" 24

Basayev's organisation has also been involved in a number of rackets including narcotics, illegal tapping and sabotage of Russia's oil pipelines, kidnapping, prostitution, trade in counterfeit dollars and the smuggling of nuclear materials (See Mafia linked to Albania's collapsed pyramids, 25 Alongside the extensive laundering of drug money, the proceeds of various illicit activities have been funneled towards the recruitment of mercenaries and the purchase of weapons.

During his training in Afghanistan, Shamil Basayev linked up with Saudi born veteran Mujahideen Commander "Al Khattab" who had fought as a volunteer in Afghanistan. Barely a few months after Basayev's return to Grozny, Khattab was invited (early 1995) to set up an army base in Chechnya for the training of Mujahideen fighters. According to the BBC, Khattab's posting to Chechnya had been "arranged through the Saudi-Arabian based [International] Islamic Relief Organisation, a militant religious organisation, funded by mosques and rich individuals which channeled funds into Chechnya".26

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Concluding Remarks
Since the Cold War era, Washington has consciously supported Osama bin Laden, while at same time placing him on the FBI's "most wanted list" as the World's foremost terrorist.

While the Mujahideen are busy fighting America's war in the Balkans and the former Soviet Union, the FBI --operating as a US based Police Force- is waging a domestic war against terrorism, operating in some respects independently of the CIA which has --since the Soviet-Afghan war-- supported international terrorism through its covert operations.

In a cruel irony, while the Islamic jihad --featured by the Bush Adminstration as "a threat to America"-- is blamed for the terrorist assaults on the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon, these same Islamic organisations constitute a key instrument of US military-intelligence operations in the Balkans and the former Soviet Union.

In the wake of the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, the truth must prevail to prevent the Bush Adminstration together with its NATO partners from embarking upon a military adventure which threatens the future of humanity.






Michel Chossudovsky is the author of the international best America’s "War on Terrorism"  Second Edition, Global Research, 2005. He is Professor of Economics at the University of Ottawa and Director of the Center for Research on Globalization.
To order Chossudovsky's book  America's "War on Terrorism", click here





Note: Readers are welcome to cross-post this article with a view to spreading the word and warning people of the dangers of a broader Middle East war. Please indicate the source and copyright note.

media inquiries crgeditor@yahoo.com

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Related article: Where was Osama on September 11, 2001?  by Michel Chossudovsky, 9 September 2006

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Endnotes

Hugh Davies, International: `Informers' point the finger at bin Laden; Washington on alert for suicide bombers, The Daily Telegraph, London, 24 August 1998.
 See Fred Halliday, "The Un-great game: the Country that lost the Cold War, Afghanistan, New Republic, 25 March 1996):
Ahmed Rashid, The Taliban: Exporting Extremism, Foreign Affairs, November-December 1999.
Steve Coll, Washington Post, July 19, 1992.
Dilip Hiro, Fallout from the Afghan Jihad, Inter Press Services, 21 November 1995.
Weekend Sunday (NPR); Eric Weiner, Ted Clark; 16 August 1998.
Ibid.
Dipankar Banerjee; Possible Connection of ISI With Drug Industry, India Abroad, 2 December 1994.
Ibid
See Diego Cordovez and Selig Harrison, Out of Afghanistan: The Inside Story of the Soviet Withdrawal, Oxford university Press, New York, 1995. See also the review of Cordovez and Harrison in International Press Services, 22 August 1995.
Alfred McCoy, Drug fallout: the CIA's Forty Year Complicity in the Narcotics Trade. The Progressive; 1 August 1997.
Ibid
Ibid.
Douglas Keh, Drug Money in a changing World, Technical document no 4, 1998, Vienna UNDCP, p. 4. See also Report of the International Narcotics Control Board for 1999, E/INCB/1999/1 United Nations Publication, Vienna 1999, p 49-51, And Richard Lapper, UN Fears Growth of Heroin Trade, Financial Times, 24 February 2000.
Report of the International Narcotics Control Board, op cit, p 49-51, see also Richard Lapper, op. cit.
International Press Services, 22 August 1995.
Ahmed Rashid, The Taliban: Exporting Extremism, Foreign Affairs, November- December, 1999, p. 22.
Quoted in the Christian Science Monitor, 3 September 1998)
Tim McGirk, Kabul learns to live with its bearded conquerors, The Independent, London, 6 November1996.
See K. Subrahmanyam, Pakistan is Pursuing Asian Goals, India Abroad, 3 November 1995.
Levon Sevunts, Who's calling the shots?: Chechen conflict finds Islamic roots in Afghanistan and Pakistan, The Gazette, Montreal, 26 October 1999..
Ibid
Ibid.
See Vitaly Romanov and Viktor Yadukha, Chechen Front Moves To Kosovo Segodnia, Moscow, 23 Feb 2000.
The European, 13 February 1997, See also Itar-Tass, 4-5 January 2000.
BBC, 29 September 1999.
 
 

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http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE5825VZ20090903

Website says to carry bin Laden "present" to Muslims
Thu Sep 3, 2009 5:02pm EDT

DUBAI (Reuters) - A website often used by al Qaeda supporters said on Thursday it would soon carry a "present" to Muslims from Osama bin Laden on the occasion of the holy month of Ramadan.

The Islamist website gave no further details, but messages by the al Qaeda leader have usually appeared within about 48 hours of being announced on the Internet.

In his latest message in June, bin Laden said U.S. President Barack Obama had planted the seeds of "revenge and hatred" toward the United States in the Muslim world.

Bin Laden's remarks were issued just before a major speech by Obama who said he sought a "new beginning" between the United States and the Muslim world.

Bin Laden's message in June and another recording issued by his deputy Ayman al-Zawahri appeared to be a drive by al Qaeda to pre-empt Obama's speech to the Muslim world.

Later in June, CIA Director Leon Panetta said the U.S. intelligence agency believed bin Laden was hiding in Pakistan and hoped joint operations with Pakistani forces would find him.

(Reporting by Firouz Sedarat)


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Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook approval by CIA, which requires fair CIA SPIN presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.

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Eight Years Later: Where In the World Is Osama bin Laden?

Eight Years After 9/11, the Trail Has Gone Cold



Posted By Jason Ditz On September 10, 2009 @ 2:40 pm In Uncategorized | 3 Comments

Coming up on the eight year anniversary of the largest single terrorist attack on American soil, Osama bin Laden remains close to the headlines, as the Obama Administration uses the specter of the reclusive leader’s al-Qaeda organization as the primary justification for continuing its war in Afghanistan.

But as for bin Laden himself, he hasn’t been heard from since June, and apart from a vague promise of a “present” for Muslims coming at some point during Ramadan, there appears to be no sign of him.

Eight years of war in Afghanistan have left the US no closer to capturing him, and officials continue to speculate that he is in Pakistan, though they appear to have no clue exactly where he might be found, and indeed most of the US drone attacks are targeting Paksitan’s own domestic insurgency rather than foreign militants.



Bin Laden and his organization appear quite capable of launching attacks, and to the extent that perception remains he will likely continue to loom large in foreign policy discussions. At the same time, it seems that nearly a decade of American warfare focused at least ostensibly around him has done little good, and created many new problems across the world.

Related Stories
September 10, 2009 -- Officials to War-Weary Americans: Al-Qaeda Still a Threat
June 3, 2009 -- Bin Laden Threatens Americans in New Tape

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Article printed from News From Antiwar.com: http://news.antiwar.com

URL to article: http://news.antiwar.com/2009/09/10/where-in-the-world-is-osama-bin-laden/

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Dead or Alive? Osama bin Laden: A Marketing Tool for US-NATO Military Operations


By Elizabeth Woodworth
 
Global Research, September 11, 2009



In 1961, upon leaving office, President Eisenhower warned of the danger of a military-industrial takeover of information, power, and resources in a democracy[1] .

His dark vision has been steadily unfolding. Since September 11, 2001, world, and particularly US military budgets, have grown enormously[2], when the focus of the entire planet should have been on the ecological crisis.

There is no time to lose in mounting effective worldwide action against global warming, and it is now essential that we have the correct information about the events underpinning the war on terror: 9/11 and the role of Osama bin Laden.

A recent survey of news reports covering Osama bin Laden from 2001 to 2009[3] has provided overwhelming evidence that the al Qaeda leader has been dead since December 13, 2001, and that all messages that have been aired since that time have been fabricated[4] [5].

A long-buried 2001 CBS Evening News report, researched by foreign correspondent Barry Petersen and presented by Dan Rather, featured two hospital staff witnesses who saw bin Laden escorted into a military hospital in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, on the evening of September 10, 2001. He was there to receive kidney dialysis [6].

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One witness reported, “they moved out all the regular staff in the urology department and sent in a secret team to replace them,” to treat a very special person. "The military had him surrounded," said another hospital employee, "and I saw the mysterious patient helped out of a car. Since that time, I have seen many pictures of the man. He is the man we know as Osama bin Laden. I also heard two army officers talking to each other. They were saying that Osama bin Laden had to be watched carefully and looked after."[7]

Yet seven years later, President Obama, relying on military intelligence, states that bin Laden is “almost certainly” hiding in the mountains bordering Afghanistan and Pakistan, the “most dangerous place in the world” for the American people[8].

However, only 25% of American want more troops in Afghanistan and almost twice that many want fewer [9].

Many Americans may recall that no messages have been intercepted between bin Laden and his followers since mid-December 2001, which was precisely the time of an unconfirmed funeral announcement, covered by Fox News, that bin Laden had died and been buried in the Tora Bora region of Afghanistan[10].

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A deeper question should be inspired by the fact that the US Department of Justice has never indicted bin Laden for the attacks, nor does the FBI's "Most Wanted Terrorist" page list him as wanted for 9/11. A spokesman openly admitted that “the FBI has no hard evidence connecting Bin Laden to 9/11.” [11]

It appears that bin Laden may be no more than a marketing tool for imperialistic military operations. A brilliant tool indeed, if the obsessive hunt for him were not blocking our response to the foundational issue of global warming.

It is vital to all nations that the many 2001-02 reports of bin Laden’s end-stage renal disease [12], and subsequent death, be resurrected to urge an investigation into who has been issuing fake audio and videotapes since 2001[13].

Indeed world governments should press the United States for an impartial, transparent investigation into the events of 9/11, with subpoena power to interview witnesses who were never called in the travesty that passes as the “9/11 Commission Report” (2004). The Commissioners themselves have publicly condemned C.I.A. obstruction to key witnesses [14].

Meanwhile, the United Nations should be given the responsibility and resources to protect the oil-rich Middle East from further imperialistic aggression. All national troops should be withdrawn and any efforts at stabilization should be led by the UN.

Then finally it might be possible to transform the global military economy into a cooperative alternative energy economy.

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Notes

[1] President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Military-Industrial Complex Speech, 1961. “In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.

We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.” (http://coursesa.matrix.msu.edu/~hst306/documents/indust.html).

[2] “World Wide Military Expenditures” shows current figures ( http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/spending.htm). “World Military Spending” shows expenditure increases from 1988 to 2007 in constant 2005 dollars (http://www.globalissues.org/article/75/world-military-spending).

[3] David Ray Griffin, Osama bin Laden: Dead or Alive? Olive Branch Press, Northampton, 2009.

[4] World Tribune.com, “Bin Laden may be dead, but living on through old sound bites.” Feb. 11, 2008 (http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/WTARC/2008/me_terror_02_11.asp)

[5] Mark Tran, “Bin Laden: the ultimate marketing tool,” The Guardian, Sept. 11, 2007 (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/sep/11/alqaida.september111).

[6] CBC Evening News, “Hospital Worker: I Saw Osama,” January 28, 2002 (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/01/28/eveningnews/main325887.shtml) Recovered video footage of the report was posted August 22, 2009 to .

[7] The full transcript is available at: Michel Chossudovsky . “Where was Osama bin Laden on 9/11? Bush Administration knew the Whereabouts of Osama,” November 16, 2003 (http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO311A.html).

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Notes

[1] President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Military-Industrial Complex Speech, 1961. “In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.

We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.” (http://coursesa.matrix.msu.edu/~hst306/documents/indust.html).

[2] “World Wide Military Expenditures” shows current figures ( http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/spending.htm). “World Military Spending” shows expenditure increases from 1988 to 2007 in constant 2005 dollars (http://www.globalissues.org/article/75/world-military-spending).

[3] David Ray Griffin, Osama bin Laden: Dead or Alive? Olive Branch Press, Northampton, 2009.

[4] World Tribune.com, “Bin Laden may be dead, but living on through old sound bites.” Feb. 11, 2008 (http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/WTARC/2008/me_terror_02_11.asp)

[5] Mark Tran, “Bin Laden: the ultimate marketing tool,” The Guardian, Sept. 11, 2007 (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2007/sep/11/alqaida.september111).

[6] CBC Evening News, “Hospital Worker: I Saw Osama,” January 28, 2002 (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/01/28/eveningnews/main325887.shtml) Recovered video footage of the report was posted August 22, 2009 to .

[7] The full transcript is available at: Michel Chossudovsky . “Where was Osama bin Laden on 9/11? Bush Administration knew the Whereabouts of Osama,” November 16, 2003 (http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/CHO311A.html).

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[8] The White House. Office of the Press Secretary. “Remarks by the President on a New Strategy for Afghanistan and Pakistan,” March 27, 2009 (http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Remarks-by-the-President-on-a-New-Strategy-for-Afghanistan-and-Pakistan/).

[9] Radio Free Europe, September 7, 2009. “Pentagon Defends Afghan Strategy As Public Support For War Ebbs” (http://www.rferl.org/content/Pentagon_Defends_Afghan_Strategy_As_Public_Support_For_War_Ebbs_/1814766.html).

[10] Fox News, December 26, 2001. “Report: Bin Laden Already Dead,” (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,41576,00.html).

[11] Muckraker Report, June 6, 2006, “FBI says, ‘No hard evidence connecting Bin Laden to 9/11’” (http://web.archive.org/web/20060610053720/http://www.teamliberty.net/id267.html).

[12] CNN correspondent and brain surgeon Dr. Sanjay Gupta, who declined to be Surgeon General to the Obama adminstration, assessed bin Laden’s medical condition based on the videotape released December 27, 2001, which was made sometime after November 16th. Gupta said that Bin Laden’s “grayness of beard, paleness of skin, very gaunt sort of features” is often associated with chronic kidney failure, and noted that bin Laden could not move his left arm, probably due to a stroke resulting from kidney failure. He explained that dialysis machines require electricity, clean water and a sterile environment. Without such a machine, a patient could only survive less than a week. “Dr. Sanjay Gupta: Bin Laden Would Need Help if on Dialysis,” CNN, 21 January 2002 (www.cnn.com/2002/HEALTH/01/21/gupta.otsc/index.html).

[13] The most obvious fabrication can be seen in a video dated November 9, 2001, known as the bin Laden “confession” video, which was released by the Pentagon December 13, 2001. Extracts may be seen at . Notice the broad nose, short fingers, and right-handedness. For comparative photos and analysis, see and http://www.welfarestate.com/wtc/faketape/

[14] Thomas H. Kean and Lee H. Hamilton, “Stonewalled by the C.I.A.”, New York Times, January 2, 2008. The commissioners of the 9/11 Commission concluded: “What we do know is that government officials decided not to inform a lawfully constituted body, created by Congress and the president, to investigate one the greatest tragedies to confront this country. We call that obstruction.” (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/02/opinion/02kean.html).