THE EVIL PANTOMIME MAGICIAN OSAMA BIN LADEN

Have you read this report on the 'leaks' in The Guardian today?

ObL seems to be one of those evil pantomime characters who appears from a cloud of smoke, conjurs up some evil, and then disappears into the mist with an evil laugh, stroking his beard. All the kids shout, "he's behind you", and boo their unwitting hearts out...all except an awkward few who shout, "Get off! You're already dead several times, and anyway, the good guys helped you to escape! Get off! This is bullshit!"

In the following 'report' ObL is
1. alive
2. in Pakistan and Afghanistan
3. consorting with Iran and North Korea, both named as members of the Axis of Evil, along with Iraq.

This is great 'intelligence'. It really is. Just a few years too late!!!

Just make it up now, lads. It's getting boring. We could all do with a good laugh. Make one of those films again, with an actor portraying ObL with a dodgy nose and the nose starts to slip and fall off so the actor has to push it back it into place. Yeah! That'd be great! Nominations for Oscars in Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Make-Up, and the new category of Best Bullshit!

These leaks are implying the following;
1. ObL is still alive
2. ObL is working with Iran and North Korea
3. Pakistan is assisting the Taliban
4. the 'infidels' have committed many many war crimes and covered them up

However, we know,
1. ObL is dead, or very very ill, requiring regular dialysis
2. he cannot therefore be working with Iran, and it would be suicide for Iran to do so anyway
3. Pakistan did create the Taliban, but with CIA money
4. NATO kills civilians, kids too, and covers it up, but revealing these war crimes will fuel the Jihad further, driving more to join the Jihad, particularly while Israel continues to play its part and blockade Gaza and commit other crimes en masse.

Regarding point 4, the war crimes have had to be covered up otherwise we'd be out of Dodge by now. There is increasing desperation with Afghanistan. Soldiers are dying in numbers out there, and the public are questioning their presence there. It's been nearly 9 years since 9/11. But a significant military presence in Afghanistan is required for an attack on Iran. Iraq is on Iran's Western border and Afghanistan is on Iran's Eastern border. There are US forces in Turkmenistan, and large numbers in Saudi Arabia of course. Pakistan does not have that many US military, so may be that's why the US is keen to get into Pakistan, because then Iran would be completely surrounded and isolated.

Or maybe by invading Pakistan a nuclear war could be started...

Anyway, it appears these 'leaks' are more than just leaks, and are serving an agenda. Whether it is to restrict the internet, or to throw more mud at Iran and ObL, we'll just have to wait and see.

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From http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/26/afghanistan-war-logs-osama-bin-laden


Afghanistan war logs reveal hand of Osama bin Laden

Many threat reports between 2004 and 2009 link elusive al-Qaida chief to full range of insurgent activities

The shadow of Osama bin Laden, mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, hangs heavily over the US-led coalition's campaign in Afghanistan. Again and again, the secret watchers of American military intelligence, whose furtive and often confused attempts at information gathering are collated in the 2004-2009 war logs, glimpse the hidden hand of the al-Qaida chief or catch a tantalising whiff of his whereabouts, only for the trail to turn cold and peter out.

Speaking last month, Leon Panetta, director of the CIA, said the last time US officials were in possession of precise information about Bin Laden's location was in the "early 2000s". Since then, there had been no firm leads. "He is, as is obvious, in very deep hiding," Panetta said. "He's in an area of the tribal areas of Pakistan that is very difficult … All I can tell you is it's in the tribal areas. We know that he's located in that vicinity."

Yet despite the CIA's self-confessed cluelessness, raw intelligence reports contained in the leaked war logs show that, every now and then, US forces believe they can see the mist surrounding Bin Laden briefly lift. One such moment came in August 2006, when a "threat report" generated by International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) regional command (north) zeroed in on suicide bombers recruited by al-Qaida.

"Reportedly a high-level meeting was held in Quetta, Pakistan, where six suicide bombers were given orders for an operation in northern Afghanistan. Two persons have been given targets in Kunduz, two in Mazar-e-Sharif and the last two are said to come to Faryab," the report claimed.

It went on: "These meetings take place once every month, and there are usually about 20 people present. The place for the meeting alternates between Quetta and villages (NFDG) [no further details given] on the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

"The top four people in these meetings are Mullah Omar [the Taliban leader], Osama bin Laden, Mullah Dadullah and Mullah [Baradar]. "The six foreigners who have been given the assignment have each been given $50,000 [£32,000] to conduct the attacks, and they have been promised that their families will be taken care of."

The report went on to detail the insurgents' discussions about where and how the suicide attacks would be carried out, and whether vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices (VBIEDs) or suicide vests would be used.

Pakistan-based Ahmad Murghabi, described as a close associate of Baradar and a former provincial military commander in Ghor province, is alleged to be the lead instructor in a self-governing al-Qaida/Taliban academy for murder. "Murghabi is the one who is responsible for the teaching of suicide bombers and also IEDs and guerrilla warfare. He has 12 students now."

This intelligence report may have had significant practical impact down the line. Dadullah, a former mujahideen leader and close associate of Omar, was cornered and killed the following May in a raid by US and British special operations forces. Baradar was captured by Pakistani security forces in Karachi earlier this year.

The war logs make clear that suicide bombing, normally carried out by non-Afghan, foreign fighters, is a growth business in this period – and claim that they are being carefully nurtured by Bin Laden.

A threat report generated as early as September 2004 stated that "three well-trained terrorists (NFI) [no further information] have been assigned by Osama bin Laden to conduct a suicidal attack against [Hamid] Karzai [the pro-western Afghan president].

"According to the source [unidentified], the three terrorists will pass Afghanistan border in 10 days with counterfeit journalist passports obtained from an Arab country, potentially Pakistan [sic]. They are planning to conduct the attack during a press conference or a meeting held by Karzai."

Another report, in September 2008, speaks of highly co-ordinated, multinational al-Qaida attack planning: "Seven Arabs and four Iranians have been seen in Siahvashan village, Gozareh district, Herat province five days ago. They have joined Gholam Yahya Akbary (GYA) group. The seven Arabs are tied with [US-born Abu] Mansour, one of the Osama bin Laden deputies.

"The Arabs are only charge[d] to carry out suicide attacks against US and Italian troops or, secondarily, whatever foreigners personnel [sic]. The four Iranians belong to 'intelligence' unit of Sepah-e-Pasdaran [Iranian Revolutionary Guards] and they are supporting GYA in the anti-Isaf/Afghan government actions through intelligence and as well co-ordinating the GYA group activities."

More suicide bombings, if the intelligence set out in the logs is accurate, are planned with al-Qaida's Afghan allies, such as the Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin (HIG) militia led by the notorious warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar.

Some raw intelligence pertaining to Bin Laden is downright sensational – and largely impossible to verify. In December 2005, under the banal title Threat to Aircraft in Helmand Province, Isaf headquarters in Kabul generated the following startling report based on information received from regional command (south):

"On 19 November 2005, Hezb-e-Islami party leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and Dr Amin (NLN) [no last name], Osama bin Laden's financial adviser, both flew to North Korea, departing from an [sic] Iran. They returned to Helmand on approximately 3 December 2005. While in North Korea, the two confirmed a deal with the North Korean government for remote controlled rockets for use against American and coalition aircraft.

"The deal was closed for an undetermined amount of money. The shipment of said weapons is expected shortly after the new year. Upon return from North Korea, Dr Amin stayed in Helmand and Hekmatyar went to Konar, Nuristan province."

Direct co-operation including weapons sales between al-Qaida, North Korea's regime, and the Afghan insurgents, apparently with a helping hand from Iran, could amount to Washington's worst security nightmare. But whether it happened, or is still happening, is a matter of speculation. The report of the North Korea visit was not followed up, at least not at the war-logs level of military intelligence, and no further information was forthcoming.

But while Hekmatyar is still very much at large, "Dr Amin" – his full name is Amin al-Haq or ul-Haq – was reportedly picked up by Pakistani security forces in Lahore in 2008.

According to the Long War Journal, Amin has a long pedigree as a Taliban, al-Qaida and HIG operative. Most often described as the security co-ordinator of Bin Laden's Black Guard (bodyguards), he was with the al-Qaida chief at the battle of Tora Bora in 2001. Said to be "under interrogation at an undisclosed location" after his arrest in January 2008, Amin has since disappeared from view.

Numerous threat reports link Bin Laden and al-Qaida to the full range of conventional insurgent activities, including rocket smuggling in Kandahar province. But in another, particularly alarming report, al-Qaida is also claimed to be mixed up in a plan to manufacture chemical weapons payloads for rocket-propelled grenades that are "intended to spread a poisonous gas on impact".

Dr Mohammad Hamzah Ahmadzai, identified in the logs as the scientist behind the plan, is said by the source to be interested in acquiring uranium for unspecified explosive purposes. Uranium was available from an unidentified factory in Lahore at a cost of approximately $538 for 10g, but Hamzah found the price too high, the source claimed. "Hamzah was thus seeking alternative means of creating a large explosion."

The overall impression gained from the war logs through 2009 is that Bin Laden's influence is pervasive and possibly growing.

Intelligence circulated in May 2008, for example, claimed a plot was afoot to poison coalition forces. A Taliban commander called Nasim in Nuristan province had, it was alleged, developed a powder that was to be added to food and drink consumed by coalition soldiers as their patrols passed through villages. According to the source, "the poison is called Osama Kapa in honour of Osama".

And a report in July 2007 suggests Bin Laden is willing and able to exercise the patronage of a great chief. Thus, in Kunduz province, it is reported that an insurgent called Abdullah won distinction and favour for his skill in making remote-controlled IEDs. His reward: an Arab wife presented to him by Bin Laden.

Despite his invisibility, Osama's message representing resistance, jihad and the inevitable triumph of the faithful seems ubiquitous. One intelligence report, filed in April 2004 and headlined Propaganda, describes how coalition forces found two lone white flags flying on a hillside along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

"On the flags was written, 'Long Live Taliban' … 'Long Live Omar', and 'Sheikh Osma' [Osama]," it said. And under the flags were five handwritten letters. In a chilling promise that echoes hauntingly across Afghanistan six years later, the letters said: "We are looking for coalition forces. If God is willing, we will get rid of them … Kill them wherever you find them."