The Kerry campaign discovered that Bush knew about the Bin Laden tape since the early a.m. of 10/29 - yet said nothing until late afternoon. Why? W's entire day was a carefully choreographed political manuever, with the OBL tape as its central "prop." The scheme backfired - the public sees the tape as proof that, thanks to Bush, OBL is still alive, well & free. But how could this tape be so well timed? The 'choreography' of 10/29 suggests Bush knew it was coming. Ponder the facts: 1. Bush has TWICE called the "dogs" off Bin Laden, once in July 2001 when FBI agent O'Neill was pressing for his capture, and the in 2002, when Bush turned his resources to Iraq. 2. The Bin Laden family has deep, close connections to the Bush family, and, as the Bushes have proven - you can be an evil son-of-a-b*, but still count on the "inner circle" to bail your butt out (G.W. being the main case in point). So....could it be that Bin Laden is now trying to help Bush?

As we have expected for about 3 years now, the capture of Bin Laden may happen right before this Nov. election. AP writes, "The United States and its allies have moved closer to capturing Osama bin Laden in the last two months, a top U.S. counterterrorism official said in a television interview broadcast Saturday. 'If he has a watch, he should be looking at it because the clock is ticking. He will be caught,' Joseph Cofer Black, the U.S. State Department coordinator for counterterrorism, told private Geo television network."

Dan Froomkin writes, "In his brand new campaign ad, President Bush vows to 'bring an enemy to justice before they hurt us again.' (Here's the video. Here's the text.) An enemy? Any enemy in particular? Although there are certainly lots of enemies out there, public enemy number one is obviously al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. But Bush didn't mention bin Laden -- who, just six days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks Bush said he wanted 'dead or alive,' and who, almost three years later, is still at large. Reader Frank Grunder e-mailed me a while back to ask: Just when was the last time Bush did actually speak about bin Laden explicitly?' He mentioned Bin Laden briefly on 7-22-04; on 7-14 he said 'He's on the run. He is -- he's, best guess, in the remote regions of Pakistan or Afghanistan, up there in kind of the -- in the mountainous regions there, best guess. I really don't know." For more years - of cluelessness?!

"Anonymous" is the CIA's top Bin Laden hunter. But he thinks surgical strikes on Al Qaeda are futile. "I think we've come to the place where the military is about our only option. We have not really discussed the idea of why we're at war with what I think is an increasing number of Muslims. Which -- it's very hard in this country to debate policy regarding Israel or to debate actions or policies that might result in more expensive energy. I don't think it's something that we wanted to do, but I think it's where we've arrived. We've arrived at the point where the only option is military. And quite frankly, in Iraq and in Afghanistan we've applied that military force with a certain daintiness that has not served our interests well." And how exactly has slaughter and torture of innocent Iraqis served our interests?

Bob Novak says in Afghanistan, there are "two commando units known as Black SOF (Special Operations Forces) and White SOF. Black SOF, by far the more numerous of the two, is assigned to capture Osama bin Laden. Nothing would do more to boost Bush's sagging popularity than getting the designer of the 9/11 attacks. The problem, however, is that nobody I have talked to in the military thinks his capture is likely or may even be possible. The American fighting men think 'UBL' (as he is called) is hiding in Pakistan, impossible to find. Most exasperating to the men in the field is the manpower and effort expended on what they consider to be a helpless [sic] cause."

Here's the official story via AP: "The U.S. military pulled back Saturday from an earlier prediction that Osama bin Laden would be captured this year, even while preparing its largest force to date for operations along the Pakistani border where the al-Qaida chief is suspected to be hiding.... now the military has followed Rumsfeld's lead in appearing to lower expectations that a top fugitive would be unveiled during an election campaign.".Our guess is that this is a double blind ploy. Rummy wants to make it look like he doesn't think OBL will be caught before the election so Bush & Co. can appear shocked and amazed when the "capture" goes off as planned in, say, mid-October!

Pakistan's leading news agency Jang reports: "The United States has struck a deal with Pakistan to allow US troops to hunt for Osama bin Laden this spring in the tribal areas, where he is believed to be operating, the New Yorker magazine reported on Sunday. Thousands of US troops will be deployed in return for Washington' support of President Pervez Musharraf' pardon of Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan, investigative reporter Seymour Hersh wrote in the issue that goes on sale on Monday. 'It's quid pro quo,' according to a former senior intelligence official. 'We're going to get our troops inside Pakistan in return for not forcing Musharraf to deal with Khan.'" So Bush says help us produce the 'Osama is Captured Show' and we'll ignore your Nuclear Blackmarket.

The Pentagon, White House, and Pakistan's (Bush-puppet) government were scrambling today to deny and suppress a potentially cataclysmic story leaked by Tehran radio: Osama Bin Laden was captured by the US some time ago and is being held in a tribal region on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. The same area, of course, where the "triumphant sweep" of US troops is supposed to be staged... er, take place...in the Spring. The same area where a big show is being made (after three years!) of methodically searching for OBL. What a hoot! No wonder OBL was able to make all those videos - they were probably produced by the Pentagon! Btw, the Pakistani foreign minister initially would neither confirm nor deny the radio claim. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/525998.cms

Waiting outside the studio at FOX news, MOR-ton "Kondracke said [former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright] approached him and asked, 'Do you suppose that the Bush administration has Osama bin Laden hidden away somewhere and will bring him out before the election?' Kondracke said that Albright didn't seem to be joking, explaining, 'She was not smiling.' He shot back, 'You can't seriously believe that.' Albright replied that she thought a bin Laden October Surprise orchestrated by Bush was 'a possibility.' Reacting to Albright's bizarre outburst, former Reagan administration drug [former 'morality'] czar Bill [disgraced compulsive gambler/hypocrite] Bennett told Fox News Channel's 'Hannity & Colmes': 'It's nuts. It's staggering. It's paranoid.'" LoL! "Nuts - staggering- paranoid" - that should be the official slogan of FOX News!

"Osama Bin Laden was a young Saudi student when he became one of thousands recruited, with the CIA's blessing, to fight with the Afghan Mujaheddin. In this excerpt from his book on the Taliban, veteran journalist Ahmed Rashid follows the man who helped make Afghanistan a haven for terrorists; the man many suspect is the culprit behind the worst act of terrorism in American history. 'He (Osama Bin Laden) brought in his company engineers and heavy construction equipment to help build roads and depots for the Mujaheddin. In 1986, he helped build the Khost tunnel complex, which the CIA was funding as a major arms storage depot, training facility and medical center for the Mujaheddin, deep under the mountains close to the Pakistan border. For the first time in Khost he set up his own training camp for Arab Afghans, who now increasingly saw this lanky, wealthy and charismatic Saudi as their leader.'"

In his traditional "exit interview" with the incoming pResident, Clinton warned Bush that Osama Bin Laden was the number one threat to national security. However, Bush, even then, was obsessed with Iraq. Clinton said Bush's failure to heed the warning was "one of the two or three of the biggest disappointments that I had'." A detailed assessment of the Al-Qaeda network and ways to disarm it was given to Condoleezza Rice in January 2001 and sat gathering dust until just a few days before the 9/11 attacks.

Knight Ridder reports: "The war against Saddam Hussein, however, may have hampered the pursuit of bin Laden and his Taliban allies. U.S. intelligence officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because intelligence matters are classified, said that as much as half of the intelligence and special forces assets in Afghanistan and Pakistan were diverted to support the war in Iraq."

UK Guardian reports: "'The intelligence agencies have totally failed with al-Qaida. They are such highly motivated people in al-Qaida that it is very difficult to break into the rank and file of the organisation'... But a Guardian inquiry has revealed that there are other [reasons why bin Laden has not been found]... The Pakistani president, General Pervez Musharraf, struck a deal with the US not to seize Bin Laden after the Afghan war for fear of inciting trouble in his own country; The al-Qaida leader is being protected by a three elaborate security rings which stretch 120 miles in diameter; and The Pakistani special forces looking for him are no closer than they were a year ago... The Saudi's last known hiding place was in the caves of Tora Bora in the Spin Ghar mountains of eastern Afghanistan. It was December 2001." In a PBS interview last February Seymour Hersh said that Rumsfeld, and possibly the White House, made the decision to let Bin Laden go during the battle of Tora Bora.

"When pRresident Bush took office in January 2001, the White House was told that Predator drones had recently spotted Osama bin Laden as many as three times and officials were urged to arm the unmanned planes with missiles to kill the al-Qaida leader. But the administration failed to get drones back into the Afghan skies until after the Sept. 11 attacks later that year, current and former US officials say... Top administration officials discussed the mission to kill bin Laden as late as one week before the suicide attacks on New York and Washington... In the month before that meeting, the Pentagon and CIA successfully tested an armed Predator on at least three occasions... The drones were one component of a broader plan devised in the final days of the Clinton administration to go after al-Qaida... Clinton officials decided just before Christmas 2000 to forward the plan to the incoming Bush administration rather than implement it during Clinton's final days."

"The Bush administration launched a war on terror because of the alleged acts of Osama bin Laden. Ironically, one of the companies the administration has picked to rebuild Iraq after the latest phase of that war has ties to bin Laden's family... Bechtel Corp., a private construction firm based in San Francisco, recently was awarded a State Department contract, potentially worth more than $600 million, to help rebuild Iraq's infrastructure after the recent U.S.-led war there." Bechtel has had a revolving door policy in hiring certain government officials, such as Caspar Weinberger and George Shultz. Government documents show that back in the '80's, Donald Rumsfeld was sent as an envoy by Reagan-Bush to offer military aid and support to Hussein, mainly for securing the Aqaba pipeline project for Bechtel. Those who argue that the "tilt policy" to Iraq was justified because Iran was the greater evil, should be reminded that Reagan-Bush also sold weapons to Iran (i.e. Iran-Contra).

"Now there is a new and demonstrable connection, but it is not the kind that the Bush Administration had in mind... It turns out that a money trail runs -- albeit rather circuitously -- from the lucrative business of rebuilding Iraq to the fortune behind Osama bin Laden. Bin Laden's estranged [?] family... is a substantial investor in a private equity firm founded by the Bechtel Group of San Francisco. Bechtel is also the global construction and engineering company to which the U.S. government recently awarded the first major multimillion-dollar contract to reconstruct war-ravaged Iraq... The bin Ladens have a ten-million-dollar stake in the Fremont Group, a San Francisco-based company formerly called Bechtel Investments, which was until 1986 a subsidiary of Bechtel." Reagan's Secretary of State George Shultz is a director for both Bechtel and Fremont. The bin Ladens also invested in BushDaddy's Carlyle Group. During the '80's, bin Laden's brother invested in Bush Jr.'s oil companies.

Reuters reports, "A grainy video purporting to show the arrest of two al Qaeda leaders has done little to deflect accusations that Pakistan may have staged this month's raid to give it leeway to abstain in a U.N. vote on an Iraq war. On Monday, ISI held an unprecedented news conference to show foreign journalists what it said were images of a March 1 raid in Rawalpindi that netted al Qaeda kingpin Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. But few of journalists present were convinced the video - which did not show Mohammed's face nor any sign of a struggle - was genuine. Many said it looked like a crude reconstruction. On Tuesday, a former ISI chief said he believed Mohammed was actually arrested some time ago in a different city. 'They are trying to cover up,' Lieutenant-General Hamid Gul told Reuters. 'I believe he was arrested before, probably in Karachi.' One intelligence source said Mohammed had been arrested three days before, from the Tench Batta suburb of Rawalpindi."

"After a four-hour gunfight [in Karachi Pakistan on 9-11-02], one al-Qaeda member, Ramzi Binalshibh, was in handcuffs and two other terrorists lay dead on the floor. A female fbi agent crouched down to examine the blood-smeared bodies. Suddenly, she smiled and, to the surprise of the Pakistani cop, bounded over and gave him a kiss. 'Do you know who you've got?' she asked. 'You've killed Khalid Shaikh Mohammed.'... But a fingerprint check later revealed that the dead man on the floor of the Karachi apartment wasn't Mohammed. The FBI was almost as crestfallen as the Pakistani cop dreaming of how he would spend his piece of the $25 million reward offered by the U.S. Government for Mohammed's capture." This bio of Mohammed connects him to terror networks all over the world - except Iraq. "His network of agents in Kuwait (where he was born to a Pakistani father) and in Qatar - two key staging posts for the U.S. command - are still intact, intelligence experts say." So, he wasn't killed?

WorldNetDaily writes, "Saudi Arabia has transferred $500 million to al-Qaida over the past decade and continues to finance Osama bin Laden's terror network in the wake of Sept. 11, according to a report prepared for the United Nations... [And] despite pressure from the United States and adamant claims to the contrary, Riyad[h] has failed to turn off the spigot. 'One must question the real ability and willingness of the kingdom to exercise any control over the use of religious money in and outside of the country,' investigator Jean-Charles Brisard concluded. Brisard was the expert on al-Qaida in France's intelligence service... A key obstacle to the Saudi pledge to stop financing al-Qaida is the lack of a definition of terrorism and legitimate charities. The report said prominent Saudi charities regarded as legitimate by the kingdom continue to finance groups deemed as terrorist by the European Union and the U.S."

Rohan Gunaratna is the author of "Inside Al Qaeda: Global Network of Terror." He writes: "Although Al Qaeda has suffered some heavy setbacks since the attacks on the United States in September 2001, its core leadership is intact and continues to provide ideological and strategic direction. As long as Osama bin Laden, the Al Qaeda leader, Ayman Zawahiri, the principal strategist, and Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, head of the Al Qaeda military committee, are alive, the United States is at risk of another serious terrorist attack. Al Qaeda is growing. For every Al Qaeda and Taliban member captured or killed in Afghanistan, the group has been able to recruit another one or two members. For every terrorist support cell detected and disrupted, even in Europe, Al Qaeda has been able to establish a new cell to disseminate propaganda, raise funds and recruit." Impeach Bush Now!

"My plan is working well. When I, Osama bin Laden, ordered the blessed events of Sept. 11, I hoped to provoke an apocalyptic conflict between the faithful and the infidels. And not only is that happening, but also the Americans and Europeans are breaking up their alliance. Indeed, the Americans are so desperate to destroy Iraq - a country that had nothing to do with the righteous destruction of the World Trade Center - that they don't care if they antagonize the major countries of all Eurasia. Happy is the man who watches his enemies fight each other. My audiotape, released Tuesday, has sealed the fate of that socialist apostate, Saddam Hussein. I see Colin Powell on CNN saying it proves a 'nexus' between my al-Qaida and his Iraq. Hah. As I said on that tape, the only connection between me and my enemies is my swordpoint hitting their neck." So writes Jim Pinkerton, BushDaddy's chief policy wonk. Even Republicans think W is insane!

Even though Osama's tape CLEARLY proves there is no relationship between Osama and Saddam, Ari Fleischer continues to insist they have an "unholy partnership." What is his factual basis? This quote: "O mujahideen brothers in Iraq, do not be afraid of what the United States is propagating." OK, so who exactly is Osama referring to? His own militant Islamist followers, if he has one or two in Iraq (which we doubt). Certainly NOT any members of Saddam's secular "socialist" Ba'ath Party! E-mail letters@nytimes.com and tell them to stop promoting Bush's Big Lie!

"First, showing good intentions. This means fighting should be for the sake of the one God. It should not be for championing ethnic groups, or for championing the non-Islamic regimes in all Arab countries, including Iraq... Regardless of the removal or the survival of the socialist party or Saddam, Muslims in general and the Iraqis in particular must brace themselves for jihad against this unjust campaign and acquire ammunition and weapons... Fighting in support of the non-Islamic banners [like socialism] is forbidden... Under these circumstances, there will be no harm if the interests of Muslims converge with the interests of the socialists in the fight against the crusaders, despite our belief in the infidelity of socialists. The jurisdiction of the socialists and those rulers has fallen a long time ago. Socialists are infidels wherever they are, whether they are in Baghdad or Aden."

Bush has persuaded the world that Osama Bin Forgotten was the ultimate mastermind of September 11. But 17 months after the attack, the 9-11 attack is NOT included on Osama's FBI rap sheet. "Usama Bin Laden is wanted in connection with the August 7, 1998, bombings of the United States Embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya. These attacks killed over 200 people. In addition, Bin Laden is a suspect in other terrorist attacks throughout the world." What gives?

"If Bush can't kill bin Laden in real life, he might as well have Rocky do it in the movies...Sylvester Stallone will once again bring the Rambo character to life, this time to fight the forces of evil, namely the Taliban and Osama bin Laden. Stallone was so keen to see bin Laden brought to justice -- something Bush is unable or unwilling to do -- he wrote the script himself...But why stop with Rambo in Afghanistan or Iraq making toast and just deserts of America's enemies? Miramax may want to hire a swarm of scriveners to write any number of 'prequels' to the bin Laden bedtime story. How about 'Bill Casey Goes to Afghanistan,' a movie about how the CIA and Pakistan's ISI single-handedly created the Mujahideen -- trained them by the thousands in the art of bomb-making (some lucky enough to make it to the CIA's retreat in Virginia) and financed them handsomely -- and then turned the wild-eyed Muslim fanatics loose not only on the hapless Soviets but the world of infidels at large."

"With U.S. forces closing in on him during the battle of Tora Bora in late 2001, Osama bin Laden employed a simple feint against sophisticated U.S. spy technology to vanish into the mountains that led to Pakistan and sanctuary, according to senior Moroccan officials. A Moroccan who was one of bin Laden's longtime bodyguards took possession of the al Qaeda leader's satellite phone on the assumption that U.S. intelligence agencies were monitoring it to get a fix on their position, said the officials, who have interviewed the bodyguard, Abdallah Tabarak." So Bush's team gets fooled with the oldest trick in the book; bin Laden escapes; we bombed the hell out of Afghanistan; Bush's oil buddies got their pipeline; Osama is still free; Bush makes Hussein the new bogeyman in the name of his war for oil (Osama bin forgotten); and Bush creates a police state at home to 'stop terrorism' - when bin Laden got away with a simple ruse. Bush fails at making us safe, but he is aces at oppressing us!

Swiss researchers have discredited the latest Bin Laden tape - which may also discredit the last one, as well, as both tapes were passed on by the same man, who spoke English with a Pakistani accent. The tape was handed over to an Al-Jazeera reporter in the middle of a public place in the Pakistani capital - not far from where Bush puppet Musharraf is ensconced as the nation's leader. But though both tapes were extraordinarily politically expedient for Bush in their timing and content, they have raised uncomfortable questions for Musharraf. We would like to have those same independent researchers examine all the other tapes and videos in the growing stack of convenient communications from bin Laden.

"Researchers at the Dalle Molle Institute in Lausanne Switzerland compared the audiotape with 20 others of Osama bin Laden that are believed to be genuine," reports Voice of America. "In a broadcast Thursday on the France 2 channel, the researchers reported that they were 95 percent certain that the voice on the latest tape is not Osama Bin Laden's. One of the researchers said the recent tape was considerably different from the earlier recordings and the voice could be that of an impostor." So, which CIA lab do you suppose produced this "Bush Special?"

WashPost reports, "An audiotape recording attributed to Osama bin Laden, the fugitive al Qaeda leader, extolled the recent attacks in Bali and Moscow in a bellicose statement that, if authentic, would be the clearest indication in almost a year that bin Laden is alive and determined to pursue his Islamic war on the United States. The statement, broadcast tonight around the Arab world on the al- Jazeera satellite television station, also hailed the fatal shooting of a U.S. Marine in Kuwait, the assassination of an American diplomat in Jordan and the attempt to sink a French oil tanker off Yemen, acts that it said were 'undertaken by the zealous sons of Islam in defense of their religion and in response to the call of their God and prophet, peace be upon him.' It went on to threaten further attacks on U.S. and other Western targets if the United States attacks Iraq." Hey George - how many terrorist attacks on Americans are you willing to accept as the price for stealing Iraq's oil?

Bush and the media do not want Americans to hear Osama's propaganda. Do they think we will be seduced by his hatred for America, or do they want us to focus our hate on Saddam, who has never attacked the US, but sits on 10% of the world's oil? Here is a translation of Osama's tape of 10-6-02, the first anniversary of the US invasion of Afghanistan.

Bush wants us to think Osama is dead, so he can attack Saddam - but Osama says he isn't dead yet. CNN reports, "The Al-Jazeera television network Sunday released an audiotape it said was made by Osama bin Laden and intended for an American audience... 'If we follow the act of these criminal bandits at the White House, the Jewish agents who are preparing to attack the Islamic world and dividing it up, without you opposing them, one would think that you don't understand the attacks at all,' the speaker says. ' That's why I tell you, as God is my witness, whether America increases or reduces tensions, we will surely answer back in the same manner, with God's blessing and grace, and I promise you that the Islamic youth are preparing for you what will fill your hearts with horror, and they will target the centers of your economy until you stop your tyranny and terror, until one of us dies. 'We ask God to give us help,' the speaker says."

Alan Elsner reports: "President [sic] Bush used to call him 'the evil one' but in recent months Osama bin Laden has become the unmentionable one, replaced by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein as the chief enemy of the United States. In the aftermath of the [9/11 attacks] Bush constantly described the Saudi-born militant as an incarnation of evil and said he was wanted 'dead or alive.' But since bin Laden disappeared late last year he is rarely if ever mentioned... 'They didn't find him, they don't know where he is and it's not in the administration's interest to keep reminding the American people of that,' said Michael Sherry... 'Every time bin Laden is mentioned, it's a reminder that they don't have a clue and it's a reminder of their failure to fulfill their own stated war aims and it's reminder that the war on terrorism has become directionless and not very effective,' Sherry said."

"By mid-December, 1,000 or more Qaeda operatives, including most of the chief planners and almost certainly Osama bin Laden himself, had managed to escape...Newsweek has interviewed two sources who gave plausible accounts of having seen bin Laden. One is a professional guide and former Taliban official, whose story seems to fit the known facts. He says he led bin Laden and an entourage of 28 people on horseback out of Tora Bora around the time of the supposed radio message [in mid-December]. They headed for the caves of Shahikot, another Afghan mountain stronghold, via a twisting route that led into Pakistan and back to Afghanistan. 'It was the hardest trip in my whole 23 years of jihad,' says the guide. 'We faced such a zigzag and complicated route and often had to get down from our horses.' Traveling at night, often through heavy snow, the group finally reached Shahikot after four or five days. 'Osama rarely got down from his horse, he was such an expert rider,' says the guide."

While Bush plans his invasion of Iraq - which had no connection to 9-11 - members of Al Qaeda and the Taliban are living as "honored guests" in Pakistan, according to filmmaker John Christopher Turner. The Pakistani province of "Baluchistan, Turner said, 'is where the Taliban and al Qaeda are comfortably living right now. There's nobody trying to run them off. In fact, they're honored guests.' 'I probably went to 10 hornets' nests,' he said, 'and there were always two or three al Qaeda in supervisory positions -- overseeing, I'd say; the last thing you can do is boss a Pashtun. But obviously they were conduits for money.' He added, however, that he met al Qaeda operatives elsewhere in Pakistan as well. 'There are madrassas right outside Karachi that are full of al Qaeda,' Turner said in a telephone interview from Kansas City, where he is doing construction work and waiting for the film, titled 'Hashassins,' to be edited. 'You go to any madrassa and the al Qaeda are out there.'"

Remember Osama? India's Defense Minister says "unimpeachable sources" told him Osama was alive and well in Pakistan as recently as April. The sources said bin Laden "was moving from place to place and Pakistanis were taking care of him." Remember how Bush promised to "smoke them out of their holes and bring them to justice"? Nah, you're not supposed to remember that. You're only supposed to remember what Bush says TODAY. And today's bogeyman is Saddam Hussein, because his country sits on a lot of OIL. How DARE Bush plan to appear on 9-11 commemorations with Osama quietly planning his next mass murder in Pakistan?

AP reports, "Osama bin Laden is alive and well and will soon make an appearance, a man introduced as the spokesman for his al-Qaida terror network says in an interview appearing as an audio file on two Islamic Websites... Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, the Kuwaiti-born spokesman for bin Laden, also claimed that al-Qaida was responsible for an April fire at a Jewish synagogue on the Tunisian island of Djerba, in which 19 people died, 14 of them German tourists."I want to assure Muslims that Sheik Osama bin Laden ... is in good and prosperous health and all what is being rumored about his illness and injury in Afghanistan Tora Bora has no truth," Abu Ghaith said. He said bin Laden will soon make a televised appearance."

ABC News reports, "A month ago, U.S. security first stumbled upon what was left of a portable anti-aircraft missile after it had apparently been fired at the main U.S. operating hub in Saudi Arabia, the Prince Sultan Air Base. The missile tube was found just outside the fence line. Sources told ABCNEWS the terrorist who fired the weapon has been captured, is in custody in Sudan and is talking. The sources said the suspect, who was trained by al Qaeda, was the head of a cell operating in Saudi Arabia. They said he and others cased U.S. air bases and one night easily evaded Saudi security forces while attempting to shoot down an American plane. The suspect says he fired one missile, but it failed to lock onto its target, according to the sources. He then became frightened, buried a second missile nearby and ran away. " Bush and Cheney prohibited the FBI from tracing Al Qaeda's funding sources in Saudi Arabia - impeach Bush & Cheney!

According to the Guardian, "The London-based Asharq al-Awsat quoted [Mullah Omar] as saying: 'Sheikh Osama is still alive, praise God, and this is causing anguish to Bush who promised his people to kill Osama, not knowing that lives are in the hands of God.' Striking a note of defiance, Mullah Omar is quoted as saying that the war in Afghanistan has only entered a new phase. 'We don't consider the battle ended in Afghanistan... the battle has begun and its fires are picking up. These fires will reach the White House, because it is the centre of injustice and tyranny for its war on Islam.' The interview was conducted in Afghanistan through an aide of the Taliban leader, said the Arabic newspaper, and its journalist did not meet Mullah Omar. The reporter, Badie Qorhani, received a tape purporting to carry Mullah Omar's answers about two weeks ago having submitted questions in writing to the aide, who acted as go-between."

In a Baltimore Sun article, the Brookings Institution's Michael O'Hanlon asks, "Was Osama bin Laden in the mountains of Tora Bora in the first half of December? And did the U.S. decision to rely on Afghan militias and Pakistani troops, rather than American forces, to seal off escape routes from those mountains permit bin Laden to escape during the intensive bombing campaign of that month?" Quoting from an LA Times article on 4/25/02, we earlier asked: "Did Bush REALLY want to get Bin Laden? One top commander's aide said 'I don't think the U.S. wants to capture Osama. We know where he is, we tell him, and they do nothing.' 'Around Dec. 7, the soldiers overheard Bin Laden on the radio. He was still in Tora Bora, but 'they were getting ready to move,' said Haji Zahir, another senior Afghan commander. The next morning, tribal scouts said they saw Bin Laden picking his way over the hills on horseback. The Saudi exile was flanked by four Al Qaeda guards, commander Haji Khalan Mir said.'"

"The Bush administration has concluded that Osama bin Laden was present during the battle for Tora Bora late last year and that failure to commit U.S. ground troops to hunt him was its gravest error in the war against al Qaeda, according to civilian and military officials with first-hand knowledge... Though there remains a remote chance that he died there, the intelligence community is persuaded that bin Laden slipped away in the first 10 days of December. After-action reviews, conducted privately inside and outside the military chain of command, describe the episode as a significant defeat for the United States. A common view among those interviewed outside the U.S. Central Command is that Army Gen. Tommy R. Franks, the war's operational commander, misjudged the interests of putative Afghan allies and let pass the best chance to capture or kill al Qaeda's leader... Franks continues to dissent from that analysis." So reports the Washington Post.

"Allah be praised, I'm still alive! I fully expected a backlash from the evildoers, but not on this scale. This moving around every night or two is exciting, but it gets old -- like me -- pretty fast. Still, there's the 'rush' from escaping the bombardments and the troops (thank Allah for our Afghan and Pakistani friends)." So writes Bernard Weiner.

Charles Sennott of the Boston Globe writes,"The path to understanding this culture which bore the hijackers - almost none of whom had any deep links to Islamic militant movements much before Sept. 11 - lies somewhere along this road. On maps it is 'Highway 15,' but to Saudis it is commonly known as 'The Road of Death.' Stretching south from the lowlands around Mecca ... and then climbing up to the mountains of Asir, it is considered the most dangerous road in a kingdom which officials say has an extraordinarily high rate of fatal car crashes. Highway 15 alone claims hundreds of lives every year, and thus its name. It has become known as a strip of asphalt where disaffected, middle-class Saudi youth climb into large American-manufactured Buicks and Chevrolets and race at speeds over 120 miles per hour. They say it is a way to vent their rage against the limited economic opportunities ... as well as the crushing boredom and confining strictures of life under Saudi puritanism."

"An analysis of suspected radioactive substances seized in Afghanistan has found nothing to prove that Osama bin Laden reached his decade-long goal of acquiring nuclear materials for a bomb, administration officials say. The analysis of suspicious canisters, computer discs and documents conducted by the government suggests, in fact, that Mr. bin Laden and Al Qaeda may have been duped by black-market weapons swindlers selling crude containers hand-painted with skulls and crossbones and dipped, perhaps, in medical waste to fool a Geiger counter, officials said. More than 110 government buildings, military compounds, terrorist camps, safe houses and caves in Afghanistan have been searched for clues about Al Qaeda's plans and development of advanced terror weapons." So reports the NY Times.

"With Mr. bin Laden remaining elusive, President [sic] Bush has recast his war aims. On Sept. 17, he declared that the capture or death of Mr. bin Laden was a prime objective. 'I want justice,' he said. 'There's an old poster out West I recall, that said 'Wanted Dead or Alive.' But in a recent televised interview the president [sic] said: 'Osama bin Laden is not my focus. My focus is terror at large.' And in his State of the Union speech he did not even mention Mr. bin Laden by name, simply delivering a general warning to terrorists that 'you will not escape the justice of this nation.' Although government rhetoric has shifted, many officials say they believe that it is too late for the Bush administration to alter the focus of the war, and play down the importance of finding Mr. bin Laden." Hey George -much as you try, you'll never separate yourself from your friend Ken Lay - or your enemy Osama Bin Laden.

Dear Diary: Allah be praised, I'm still alive! And more praise to Him: the Americans and their lackeys are even less intelligent than we imagined. Each time Omar and I and our lieutenants were nearly trapped, we'd have our folks "negotiate" a possible surrender or withdrawal with the Afghan commanders (and their U.S. liaisons) for a few days, during which we'd move out. Thousands of our soldiers were able to disappear into the mountains, back to their villages, and into Pakistan as well.

"The Bin Laden Group, the construction company owned and run by Saudi Arabia's Bin Laden family, is reportedly looking for a firm to handle international PR and respond to numerous requests from the world's media, according to The Guardian of London. Hullin Metz & Co. has handled media relations for the family in the U.S. BLG, one of the world's largest construction companies, held three meetings with London-based WMC Communications...Members of the Bin Laden family were flown out of the U.S. by the Saudi government, which feared reprisals against the family following the Sept. 11 attacks." That's right, they were jetted away without any questioning by US officials. Ashcroft would rather wantonly wiretap US citizens than question the bin Ladens, who until a few weeks ago held investments with BushDaddy's employer, the Carlyle Group. In the '80's, Bin Laden's brother allegedly invested in Bush Jr.'s oil ventures through his buddy James Bath.

"When [bin Laden] called on officials of the Taliban, according to a former minister, he often brought wads of cash and distributed it freely - sometimes taking out $50,000, even $100,000 at a time...Mohammed Khaksar said today that he also served as a clandestine contact for U.S. intelligence services while serving the Taliban. Agents disguised as journalists visited him to solicit inside information, he said. 'They came two or three times, and they knew about my policy and about my opinion,' he said. In Washington, CIA spokesman Tom Crispell said that the agency does not comment on such matters but that CIA policy is to not use American media organizations as cover for clandestine operations." Oh yeah, what about Operation Mockingbird, the CIA infiltration of the US and foreign media that was exposed by Congressional Committees in the '70's? We don't recall anything being done to change that practice. Why should we believe what a CIA spokesman says about the CIA?

"MI5 was warned more than two years ago that an Islamic cleric said to be Osama Bin Laden's 'European ambassador' was using his mosque in London to raise money for a Muslim holy war in Afghanistan and to issue decrees justifying the murder of women and children. A former MI5 agent claimed last week that intelligence chiefs failed to act after he told them that about 20 members of a group with links to Bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network were operating inside the mosque. The informer said several of the men were engaged in a counterfeit credit card ring that raised tens of thousands of pounds to fund terrorist activities abroad…Some of the profits went to buy communications equipment such as satellite telephones, computers and, it is believed, weapons in eastern Europe. The goods were then shipped to Islamic fighters in Algeria and Afghanistan." So reports David Leppard for the UK Sunday Times.

"The first clue came back in 1989, in a field outside New York City. There, within view of a secret Federal Bureau of Investigation surveillance camera, stood five Arab men taking target practice at a rifle range. At the time, the FBI wrote them off as harmless zealots, fired up to help the mujahedeen fighting the Soviet puppet government in Afghanistan. What the FBI didn't know was that the young Arabs had a special coach: a U.S. Army sergeant from Fort Bragg, N.C., named Ali Mohamed, who had been giving them paramilitary training in a nearby New Jersey apartment. And one other thing the agents didn't know, until much later: Mohamed was a longtime member of a radical Islamic militant group banned in Egypt for assassinating President Anwar Sadat..His new friends back home in California took for granted that Mohamed was helping the Central Intelligence Agency in its proxy war against the Soviets in Afghanistan." So reports the Wall Street Journal.

From the AP: "Hazrat Ali, security chief in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, said he received reports from trusted informants that bin Laden was seen as recently as Wednesday at an al-Qaida and Taliban mountain base called Tora Bora. 'He is riding at night on horseback, during the days he stays in caves,' Ali said. 'He goes to a different place every night.' There was no way to confirm Ali's claims. Ali said 500 to 600 Taliban and al-Qaida fighters have holed up in Tora Bora, 40 miles southwest of Jalalabad, which is near the Pakistani border. He said he used the base himself when he was fighting the Soviet army, and that it is virtually impossible to capture. U.S. planes have been bombing the mountain redoubt regularly. Bin Laden used Tora Bora as a base before the United States began its bombing campaign in Afghanistan on Oct. 7." Let's hope our forces can at last get the monstrous bin Laden, and bring an end to this bloody mess.

On Nov. 7, Pakistani editor Hamid Mir interviewed Osama Bin Laden face-to-face in an undisclosed location near Kabul, Bin Laden's first interview since Sept. 11. The interview provides considerable insight into Bin Laden, who is far more sophisticated than the cartoon terrorist the Bush administration wants Americans to imagine. Bin Laden says he is fighting the US government, not the American people, but still offered his Islamic justification for killing innocent civilians. He claimed his goal is to get the US and its allies to stop killing Muslims in Palestine, Chechnya, Kashmir, and Iraq. "This is a defensive Jihad. We want to defend our people and our land," he said, advocating a "formula of live and let live." He said he had chemical and nuclear weapons to use if attacked with such weapons, but refused to elaborate. He denied he had kidney disease or visited Dubai last year for treatment. Whatever his "justification", killing innocents is a Crime Against Humanity.

"During the cold war, the Soviets built an unknown number of portable nuclear explosives, small enough to be carried in a case 8 in. by 16 in. by 24 in. After the East-West thaw, Russia claimed to have secured all the weapons, but plenty of people have doubts. In 1996, Russian General Alexander Lebed claimed that his government had lost track of 134 mini-nukes, and stories have circulated that bin Laden himself bought 20 of them from the Chechens for $30 million and two tons of opium. Given the nature of post-Soviet record keeping... the truth of the claims is impossible to determine. Colonel-General Igor Valynkin... dismisses the talk as 'ravings,' and even if there is more to the stories than that, there is reason to believe the danger is not as great as it seems.. since the tritium triggers needed to ignite them have probably decayed... [but] even partial detonation of a weapon could cause a lot of damage--and release a lot of radioactivity."

The US has been concentrating its bombing - and its commando raids, which may have cost dozens of US lives - on Kandahar. Kandahar is not only home to Taliban leader Mullah Omar, according to an April report by the Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies in New Delhi, India. "Islamist terrorists, both Afghan and Arab Afghans under the guidance of Osama bin Laden and supervision of Pakistan's ISI have established well fortified facilities in Kandahar in Afghanistan for production of chemical, bacteriological and radiological weapon (perhaps) too." Bin Laden is reported to have bought more than 20 nuclear suitcase bombs for $30 million in cash and $700 million in heroin, and stored them in deep caves in Kandahar, as well as deep tunnels in Khowst.

The Hindustan Times reports, "There is now a nuclear dimension to the Afghan war. A second retired Pakistani atomic scientist was picked up by Islamabad on Tuesday night on the suspicion that he was developing a nuclear device for Osama bin Laden and the Taliban. The arrests followed tip-offs by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation to the Pakistani authorities. Sultan Bashiruddin Mehmood and Abdul Majeed, both scientists who had retired from the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC), were picked up after the FBI provided evidence of their links to jehadi outfits... Pakistan is increasingly seen as a possible source of such weaponry for the Taliban or Bin Laden. One reason is the large number of scientists employed by its nuclear programme. The other is the creeping popularity of the fundamentalist cause among educated, urban Pakistanis."

Our 10/14 newsletter had an item, "US Gun Industry Sold Weapons to Al Qaeda, bin Laden's Terror Network" based on a report published by the Violence Policy Center. Below is the rebuttal to these charges by Barrett Firearms named in the report. "Mr. Tom Diaz of the Violence Policy Center (VPC) has obtained information from the recent trial of a suspected terrorist and has taken several facts out of context to suit his anti-gun agenda...Officials of the US government…arranged the sale through the current manufacturer. The latter was the case for the Barrett rifles, but Mr Diaz omitted these facts. If cognizant U.S. Government officials request the support of an arms manufacturer in such cases, should we dispute their judgment?" A reader wrote us, "the sale of Barrett rifles to bin Laden's group took place in 1989 and were in conformance with all ATF rules and regulations." Barrett's role aside, we still question the Reagan-Bush policies that supported bin Laden, Hussein, Noriega.

"The seeds of US distrust in the Pakistani military establishment, which claimed the scalp of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Lt.-General Mehmood Ahmed, lie in leaking out of information about the US cruise missile attacks on the terrorist camps of Osama bin Laden in Khost (Afghanistan) on August 20, 1998. This enabled Osama bin Laden to escape. The fact that Osama left behind his satellite phone, otherwise his constant companion, before fleeing convinced the US that he had advance information about the attacks. The US had been able to pinpoint his position by using satellites to track his phone calls. Before firing the 75-odd Tomahawk Cruise missiles from ship and submarine platform in the Arabian Sea (the attacks were in retaliation for the August 7 bombings of the US Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, in which 224 people were killed), the US informed Pak that the missiles would be flying over its territory." So reports Hindustan Times.

As US bombs fell in Afghanistan, Osama Bin Laden dominated the airwaves in the Middle East and even the US, thanks to a pre-recorded videotape that was delivered to the Arab world's CNN, Al Jazeera. "This use of modern media to make his pitch fits neatly with what has by now become a familiar bin Laden tactic: turning the West's own modern technology against it. The timing, as well, was designed to deny President Bush a media monopoly for his declaration of war against terrorism... Perversely mirroring the president's division of the world into those who stood with America in rejecting terrorism and those who stood against her, Mr. bin Laden, too, divided people into the 'faithful' who side with him, and those who oppose him, the 'infidels.' What seemed a deliberate mockery of Mr. Bush's appeal made some in Washington uneasy. 'I'm a little disturbed that his press people may be as good as ours,' one official lamented."

Per Murdoch's Times of London, the FBI is offering $5 million for Muhammad Atef. "Atef was the likely 'mastermind' behind the meticulous planning of the operation, and conveyed the order for its execution." Atef's ties to Bin Laden "extend beyond a shared ideology: in January, in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, Bin Laden's eldest son married Atef's daughter. This was more than the union of two families. It was a fusion between two of the world's most wanted men." Atef is believed to be Bin Laden's military planner, "who guided the bombers who blew up the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, killing 224 people and injuring thousands more." Atef is one of 370 "suspects and vital witnesses" on the FBI's list, which the Times found on a Finnish web site. They come from 30 countries, including 53 from Saudi Arabia. Still, "All the clues lead to London... You find every faction of the Islamic fundamentalists in London."

"As Allied forces mobilise, the world's most wanted fugitive - the man President Bush says he wants 'dead or alive' - shows his defiance by sending film of himself with his terrorist henchmen at a mountain hideout in Afghanistan to Qatar's Al-Jazeera television station... At the sinister event, Bin Laden is filmed welcoming Islamic militant Ayman Zawahiri to the fold and marking the graduation of a group of newly trained fighters into al Qaeda... An Al-Jazeera journalist said the exclusive footage was believed to be 'a couple of weeks old'. Intelligence agencies will study copies of the tape as they attempt to pinpoint Bin Laden's whereabouts, but it will be widely assumed that he will have moved on." Watch the film for yourself.

"Investigators have discovered that three of the suicide hijackers returned a $15,000 surplus from the estimated $500,000 attack fund to a bin Laden contact's account in Dubai just 48 hours before the atrocities. They were obeying the orders of bin Laden, who is said to be penny-pinching despite his multi-million pound fortune... On September 9 the man, who has not been named by the UAE authorities, received three separate wire transfers from America totaling $15,000. UAE officials said the cash was left over from planning the US atrocities and was returned to finance new attacks... Sheikh Saeed, also known as Mustafa Mohamed Ahmad, was identified as a key financial manager for bin Laden, bankrolling terrorists preparing for the September 11 suicide attacks on New York and Washington." So reports Oonagh Blackman in the London Mirror.

The CIA "secretly began to send teams of American officers to northern Afghanistan about three years ago in an attempt to persuade the leader of the anti-Taliban Afghan opposition to capture and perhaps kill Osama bin Laden, according to American intelligence officials. The covert effort, which has not been previously disclosed, was based on an attempt to work with Ahmed Shah Massoud, who was then the military leader of the largest anti-Taliban group in the northern mountains of Afghanistan, and to have his forces go after Mr. bin Laden. Mr. Massoud was himself fatally wounded only two days before the attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center, and the C.I.A. believes that he was assassinated by members of Mr. bin Laden's organization." So reports the NY Times.

"British mercenaries have been trying to trace Osama bin Laden so they can claim the multimillion-dollar bounty put on his head by the United States. A former SAS soldier said last week that he knew of four attempts by former British servicemen to try to pinpoint bin Laden in his Afghanistan base. A second special forces veteran confirmed private operations have been mounted by British and U.S. bounty hunters. There is plenty of incentive. The reward 'for information leading directly to the apprehension or conviction' of the terrorist mastermind has been increased to $30 million US. U.S. President George W. Bush has made it clear he wants bin Laden 'dead or alive.'" So reports the Calgary Herald.

"If Osama bin Laden is now America's Public Enemy No. 1, then Ayman al-Zawahiri may now be Public Enemy No. 2. This week, Interpol issued an arrest warrant for al-Zawahiri, the man who has bin Laden's ear. He is already wanted by the United States for his alleged role in the embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998. 'Ayman al-Zawahiri is effectively Osama bin Laden's number two,' CNN terrorism expert Peter Bergen said. 'He is his closest advisor. They have known each other since 1987.'"

In 1998, Osama bin Laden said, "To kill Americans and their allies -- civilians and military -- is an individual duty for every Muslim who can do it in any country in which it is possible to do it." His networks are "concentrated in the Middle East, but include members in the Balkans, Chechnya, Southeast and Central Asia, Africa and the United States. They share resources and expertise, lending operatives for particular operations. They have become, in a sense, models of globalization." His vision "excludes any possibility of compromise. Its goal is not to negotiate with the West, as was the case for Palestinian extremists in the 1970s and '80s, but to destroy it." In 1998, bin Laden told ABC, "We anticipate a black future for America. Instead of remaining United States, it shall end up separated states and shall have to carry the bodies of its sons back to America."

In her profile of Osama Bin Laden, Judith Miller of the New York Times fails to mention a key fact - that the CIA financed and trained him during our covert war against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan (see http://www.msnbc.com/news/190144.asp). This certainly does not excuse Bin Laden's role (if true) in the September 11 attack, but if Bush wants public support in the struggles ahead, the official media - like the NY Times - need to tell the whole truth, and hold our intelligence agencies accountable when they lie or fail. Or did we learn nothing from Vietnam, where intelligence failures played such a crucial role? E-mail miller@nytimes.com and demand the truth about bin Laden and the CIA.

According to Yahoo News/Australia, "Afghanistan's ruling Taliban militia had placed alleged terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden under house arrest in the wake of the suicide attacks on the United States, an Arabic online newspaper reported. Quoting 'fundamentalist Arab sources', Ilaf said the 'Taliban have arrested Osama bin Laden before placing him under surveillance with several of his assistants,' including the head of the Egyptian branch of Al-Jihad Ayman Al-Zawahiri and bin Laden's military commander, Muhammad Atef Al-Makni. 'A number of Afghan fighters are under house arrest along with bin Laden,' said the report late Wednesday. But a diplomat at the Taliban's embassy in Abu Dhabi said he could not confirm the report."

Orrin Hatch and the Republicans are blaming Bill Clinton for the attacks on America. But two years ago, Orrin Hatch defended CIA training of Osama bin Laden in the 1980's, when he left Saudi Arabia to fight the Soviet Union. "To this day, those involved in the decision to give the Afghan rebels access to a fortune in covert funding and top-level combat weaponry continue to defend that move in the context of the Cold War. Sen. Orrin Hatch, a senior Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee making those decisions, told my colleague Robert Windrem that he would make the same call again today even knowing what bin Laden would do subsequently. 'It was worth it,' he said. 'Those were very important, pivotal matters that played an important role in the downfall of the Soviet Union,' he said."

Osama Bin Laden was recognized early on by the CIA as one of the most dangerous terrorists on Earth. Although charismatic to his desperate followers, beneath it all, he he is little more than a textbook case of a paranoid schizophrenic with sociopathic delusions of grandeur. But what makes Bin Laden such a vicious threat is his great wealth. He fires up others to a suicidal frenzy, then funds their attacks while he sits back in the safety of his hole in some hillside. Bin Laden apparently centered on Afghanistan as his base of operations because the country was war-ravaged, poverty stricken, isolated and full of desperate, angry young men. Once his crimes are committed, he disclaims any knowledge of them and hides in his cave or his private jet once more until the next time.