US cannot confirm bin Laden death report -official

[sabra]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N23243000.htm

US cannot confirm bin Laden death report -official


WASHINGTON, Sept 23 (Reuters) - The U.S. government is unable to confirm a French newspaper report that al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is believed to have died last month in Pakistan, a U.S. counterterrorism official said on Saturday.

"We cannot confirm the account," said the official, who declined to be identified because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the issue. "It's quite possible (that) there was some talk of this, but in terms of being able to confirm this, that I can't do."

The French regional daily L'Est Republicain reported that, according to a French secret service report, Saudi Arabia was convinced that bin Laden died of typhoid in Pakistan in late August. The French government has said it could not confirm the report and would investigate the intelligence leak.

The U.S. State Department had no immediate comment and was looking into the reports.

[NOLADEM]

1. Ask us again in October

[Joe Bacon]

79. You have that right!

and watch Chris Wallace do another one of his anti-Clinton rants when that happens!

[babylonsister]

2. Amazing that all news OBL surfaces right before an election. nt

[DemoTex]

3. But the hunt is on for his corpse.

That corpse .. very valuable to KKKarl Rove. Imagine the possibilities.

[acmejack]

4. We need to be able to show our wild west post cards

Like we've done with all the other dead guys. Maybe for him W and gang will dress up like old time lawmen and pose with the corpse. Their adoring fans will eat it up!

[bluestateguy]

5. bin Laden dies of natural causes? Oooh, Bush wouldn't like that.

He wouldn't get to hoist Osama's head up onto a platter like a trophy as if Bush himself captured or killed him.

In another scenario, I think it would be funny if the French captured him. Watching the neo-cons eat all that crow would be funny.

[Eurobabe]

6. This blows the wind out of KKKarl's jib sail

LOL.

[goforit]

82. Yes, They will have to recreate new videos of scare tactics without OBL.

May France save us from the next MIHOP.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

7. Dead of natural causes? How boring, and how unuseful, if true.

What will Bush do for a boogeyman if Osama has inconveniently croaked? He won't even get to claim he killed him.

[LiberalFighter]

80. But they need to torture the body to see if it will talk

[katsy]

8. Happy Early October Surprise!

[chat_noir]

9. France investigates bin Laden 'death' leak

PARIS, France (CNN) -- French President Jacques Chirac said on Saturday he would investigate the leak of confidential French defense ministry documents containing a report that al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is dead, and said that report has been in no way confirmed.

"I was rather surprised to see that a confidential note from the DGSE (General Directorate for External Security) was published and I have asked the minister of Defense to start an investigation immediately and to reach whatever conclusions are necessary," Chirac said.

"Secondly, speaking of the source of the information itself, this information is in no way confirmed."

U.S. intelligence officials said Saturday they could not confirm the report suggesting that bin Laden might be dead.

http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/09/23/france.binladen/


A "leak" implies secrecy....why the secrecy????

[Eurobabe]

28. It's all over the news this morning, haha!!!

Whoever leaked this may save American Democracy this fall. I think the pricks were planning a huge homecoming party for OBL.

[TheCowsCameHome]

10. But we're working to say we gave him the typhoid germ. Details at 11.

[jhain]

26. Spew!!

You got me on that one. Sprinkled on some Freedom Fries, no doubt.

[woodsprite]

11. Maybe Mush has him on ice and he and * are brokering a deal n/t

[NoodleyAppendage]

12. Hmm...I seem to remember something about using the foreign press for PsyOp

Propaganda planted by the US in a foreign source, then fed back to the unquestioning idiots back home.

No thanks, you scumbag disgraces to democracy. Rot in hell fuckers.

J

[mcscajun]

13. "Can't"? Or..."I Don't WANNA!!!"

"WAH!!! He can't be proven dead yet! We still NEED him! WAH!!!"

Much more likely.

[DoYouEverWonder]

14. Seems the info came from the Saudis

Nice to see the Saudis so hard at work to influence the outcome of US elections.

Between this and the big cuts in oil prices we can now see who pulls the puppet strings.

[Berry Cool]

15. Wouldn't this make a great movie, though? "Weekend at Osama's"!

Osama dies of natural causes. His Al-Qaeda henchmen realize how incredibly valuable his corpse can be to them if they play their cards right, so they put it on ice. They secretly contact the White House through a third party and offer Karl Rove Osama's corpse to do with as they wish, for a price. Rove realizes his October Surprise is now within his grasp--all they have to do is pay up the money, collect the body, then save it for a month until they're ready to prop it up in a cave somewhere, riddled with bullet holes. It'll be the story of the year. The brave unit who found him and killed him will be showered with roses and tickertape parades and medals and will all get book deals. Repugs will win midterms in a landslide. And Dimson can give another speech in which he can say "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED."

[DoYouEverWonder]

16. Maybe that's why the French

decided to let it slip out?

[ovidsen]

23. Brilliant!

You beat me to it. It's an implausible, outrageous scenario. And it just might work. That is, if the Repugs actually did it. Which naturally they wouldn't because they're such patriotic Americans.

:sarcasm:

[DemoTex]

29. Or "The Big Chill II"

Subtitled: "My Weekend at Osama's Wake."

Music by the Stones: "You Can't Always Get What You Want .." (for Karl):

No, you can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
And if you try sometimes you find
You get what you need.

All Karl needs is a body. It's not exactly what Karl wants, but it can win another election for him.

[Andrushka]

89. Weekend at Osama's, you say...

[Berry Cool]

91. Thank you, Andrushka

for bringing my concept to such brilliant life! :rofl:

[janx]

19. Check this out!

http://www.upi.com/InternationalIntelligence/view.php?StoryID=20060923-091303-2145r

WASHINGTON, Sept. 23 (UPI) -- Osama bin Laden is dead. At least according to Saudi intelligence sources cited by a French newspaper, which in turn claims to have obtained a document leaked to them by French counter-intelligence services.

[DoYouEverWonder]

20. Viva la French!

They helped us out in 1774, maybe they're helping again?

[janx]

22. Dunno, but the Saudis didn't know anything about it.

If it weren't for French intelligence, they still would not know, if the article is correct.

Edited to add: If they did know it, they weren't about to say anything.

[rodeodance]

39. says the Fench intel leaked it to the Saudi intell. dah!

[cosmicdot]

78. of course, UPI is owned by News World Communications

which is owned by the Unification Church.

caveat emptor

just saying


I don't know what to believe in the corporate media anymore.

[wordpix2]

63. Saudis are definitely the puppetmasters, no doubt about it.

[HuffleClaw]

17. *snicker* but they'll 'confirm' a 'bin laden' tape in 12 hours.

idiots.

[lonestarnot]

18. Oh yeah that's right, looking more into his death report for reporting

his death than you did looking for the man himself. :rofl:

[dkofos]

21. Doing a heck of a job *

It took so long to find him he died of natural causes.

[Evergreen Emerald]

24. Dang: I was expecting a 12X14 glossy titled "captured"

What is plan-B Karl?

[yojon]

25. Maybe they can reanimate him for a little while on Halloween

Attack of the zombie bin Ladens. Show him on Fox eating some babies..

[kskiska]

27. Too bad * won't have his gun to display in the Oval Office

He still likes to pull out Saddam's gun from his desk drawer to fondle in times of stress.

[zonkers]

30. If there are Whitney Houston tunes in whats left of his Ipod, case closed.

[rodeodance]

31. check under the Oval Office desk again.

[Generic Other]

32. Was that funeral we didn't bomb Osama's?

Anyone have that photo from last week of Al Qs lined up in formation at a funeral?

[janx]

40. Here it is, but it's impossible to tell what's really going on.

It doesn't prove anything.

[Onlooker]

33. Wonder if this whole story is a ploy?

Maybe this is just a ploy by the French and Americans to get bin Laden to send another message?

[crim son]

36. My first thought too.

My second is that he's dead and the secrecy was necessary because we were planning to "kill" him again some time in late October.

[rodeodance]

34. Leeden said he was buried in Iran last Dec already. Lets of buzz

on the net over that statement.



http://www.nationalreview.com/ledeen/ledeen200601090808.asp

This historical moment is not easy to understand, since we are in transition from a relatively stable world, dominated by a handful of major powers, to something we cannot yet define, since it is up to us to shape it. It seems clear, however, that there is a greater rapidity of change, accompanied — inevitably — by the passing of the leaders of the old order. This is particularly clear in the Middle East, where seven key figures have been struck down in the past six years: King Hussein of Jordan in February, 1999. King Hassan of Morocco in July of the same year. Syrian dictator Hafez al Assad in June of 2000. Yasser Arafat of the PLO in April, 2004. King Fahd of Saudi Arabia in May of last year. Ariel Sharon of Israel was incapacitated by a stroke in early January. And, according to Iranians I trust, Osama bin Laden finally departed this world in mid-December. The al Qaeda leader died of kidney failure and was buried in Iran, where he had spent most of his time since the destruction of al Qaeda in Afghanistan. The Iranians who reported this note that this year's message in conjunction with the Muslim Haj came from his number two, Ayman al-Zawahiri, for the first time.

This remarkable tempo of change is not likely to diminish, as old and/or sick men are in key positions in several countries: Israel's Shimon Peres is 82. King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia is 82 (and his designated successor, Prince Sultan, is 81, and was recently operated for stomach cancer). Iran's Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, although probably in his sixties, is said to have serious liver cancer, and is not expected to survive the next year.

And, of course, the patient activities of the Grim Reaper are not the only source of revolutionary change in the region. Saddam was a relatively young man (mid-sixties) when he was toppled by Coalition forces; the deposed Taliban leaders were relatively young as well (Mullah Omar is barely 50); and the likes of Bashar Assad, the Iranian mullahs (Khamenei is probably in his early sixties), and even the legions of the Saudi royal family have to contend with mounting animus from the West, and mounting cries for freedom from their own people......

[Name removed]

35. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[crim son]

37. Yeah, and it explains why the Pretzel put him out of his

*mind* years ago. He doesn't really think about OBL any more. Why? Because he's been dead for four years!

[sarcasmo]

38. This came quicker than expected, I figured two weeks prior to the election

I had a post on this early in the week and just like a magician here it is, OBL Dead. What a joke. Kick and Nom

[RamboLiberal]

76. I don't find this any great victory for Rove, Bush or Repukes

If bin Laden is truly dead then to paraphrase TS Eliot - "He died not with a bang, but a whimper".

Reminds me of the War of the Worlds where all the miliary might could not kill the aliens, but took among the smallest life on earth to bring them down - bacteria.

Be amazing if this is what brings down one of our biggest "Boogeymen".

So now with Saddam in custody but the Iraq war descending more into the abyss daily and if bin Laden is dead what will Rove and Bush use to scare the American Sheeple?

Is the October Surprise bombing Iran? What if that backfires big time?

[rodeodance]

41. AP Chirac says no evidence bin Laden has died

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14963302/

Chirac says no evidence bin Laden has died
French newspaper published details of alleged intelligence memo


Updated: 20 minutes ago

PARIS - 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.
Story continues below ↓

[rodeodance]

43. ..Last date known is June 29

.......Last date known is June 29
Al-Qaida would likely release information of his death fairly quickly if it were true, said Venzke, whose organization also provides counterterrorism intelligence services for the American government.

“They would want to release that to sort of control the way that it unfolds. If they wait too long, they could lose the initiative on it,” he said.

The last time the IntelCenter says it could be sure bin Laden was alive was June 29, when al-Qaida released an audiotape in which the terror leader eulogized the death of al-Qaida in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was killed in a U.S. airstrike in Iraq earlier that month.

Chirac spoke at a news conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Compiegne, France, where the leaders were holding a summit.

[bhikkhu]

48. Perhaps the Al-Qaida press office was being remodelled

Or they were all attending a productivity seminar or a stress management camp somewhere.

[davsand]

42. Wasn't he in Kidney Failure a few years ago?

Wasn't he supposed to be dragging around a portable dialysis unit and living in a cave a few years ago? Am I right about that?

So let me get this straight--he was terribly ill before this entire mess started, he was trying to do a fairly advanced chemical process (dialysis) with a portable unit and no sterile facilities, and he was living in a CAVE while we had troops looking high and low for him...

...and NOW a few years later he dies of Typhoid.

Call me a skeptic, but I'm having some problems with all this. Seems to me somebody SOMEPLACE is lying like a bad rug and has been for a VERY long time.

I think if you really wanna find Osama Bin Forgotten you probably need to look in a safe house outside Langley or maybe on some pretty island beach someplace. I suppose he could be sitting in some nice apartment in the Middle East someplace under a new name, but I just can't see the CIA leaving their poster child to chance.

Regards.


Laura

[pitohui]

46. no that was disinformation

the kidney disease story seems to be something made up out of a whole cloth and spread around w.out any evidence whatsoever for years

similarly there is a very simple oral vaccine for typhoid, i've taken it myself

i do not seriously believe that a saudi arabian billionaire died of typhoid in a cave

they'd like us to believe it, just as they'd like us to believe the bogus kidney disease story, but it's all a load of horse hockey from beginning to end

it really takes the pressure off * for letting osama off the hook

well, i'm not falling for it and i'm not letting the pressure off

it is too convenient for usa, saudi arabia, and pakistan to continue their unholy alliance aga. the american people if they just pretend osama is dead and go on from there, keeps the profits flowing to exxon and halliburton and all the rest of the gang

[cosmicdot]

77. first time I've heard that that was disinformation

wouldn't have a helpful link per chance?


personally, I believe he's been dead since 2001 (December has been mentioned), but conveniently kept 'alive' as a political boogie man, and probably for unholy alliance reasons you stated ... using a dead man to scare fear into Americans doesn't help Bu$h much at all ... just makes him a bigger liar, fraud and failure

I think the Bu$h people knew he was on his last leg c. July 2001. Making him a convenient patsy.

Did a CIA agent visit him in the Dubai hospital in July 2001 or not?

To wheel him out now as dead is to take election heat off. The where's Osama concern really hasn't hurt Bu$h much among the kool aid drinkers due to other distractions and fear mongering, but, now, with the 2006 campaign and the only thing the GOP has is terra, the where's Osama concern comes back to haunt.

Osama's product marketability is on a downward curve.

Of course, the spin may be: Bu$h's policies isolated Osama causing his death.

[pitohui]

86. since every legitimate source from clinton and kerry on down...

says that osama is still out there

and since from the other side al jazeera (sorry spelling) say the same i think it is up to you to provide a link to someone other than "rense.com" reporting on the kidney disease story

you see, it works like this, i don't have to prove the non-existence of santa claus, you have to prove his existence -- when it's a "nice and convenient to believe" offered without evidence, the onus is on you to read the news and provide proof of your assertions

[goforit]

44. The US can't confirm if their ass is connected to their elbow.

[Kip Humphrey]

45. If true, Rove will have to resurrect him in October

[goforit]

83. And believe me he would.

[lovuian]

47. Did they run out of Osama tapes???

No more to play to Terrorize us??? His use is over... Bush Polls show that he isn't affect any more

no more use to them...

[hippiechick]

49. 'cuz if he's dead then the War on Terra can be over !!

:freak: And the Republicans just can't have that, now, can they ???????

[NYC]

50. How many other people died of typhoid in Pakistan in late August?

Just wondering. I didn't read about it. Maybe someone else did.

[Berry Cool]

60. I know what! Let's send Bill Frist the latest Osama tape!

"He certainly seems to respond to visual stimuli. That is not somebody who is dead...There just seems to be insufficient information to conclude that Osama bin Laden is dead. I question it based on a review of the video footage, which I spent an hour or so looking at last night in my office here in the Capitol."

[IndianaGreen]

51. Probe into 'Bin Laden death' leak (French President Chirac)

Probe into 'Bin Laden death' leak

President Jacques Chirac has ordered an inquiry into the leak of a French secret service memo claiming that Osama Bin Laden had died.

Mr Chirac told reporters he was surprised the memo had been leaked, and refused to comment on the claim itself.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/5374160.stm

[Applan]

52. Merde, vous were supposed to wait til Octobre you imbecile

[applegrove]

54. Aujourd'hui nous sommes tous francais!

[applegrove]

53. Oh My! Was it supposed to be the October surprise? And the french...

talked...about...it?

I'm sorry but if this is all true...just goes to show you shouldn't attack long term allies.

If it is all true!

IMHO

:shrug:

[IndianaGreen]

55. If the Saudis knew, and the French knew, then the US knew

How long were they planning to sit on this story, and why?

[HereSince1628]

57. Does anyone KNOW he's dead, yet?

I haven't heard any confirmation...although I admit it is very odd for any government to be keeping a secret about his non-death.

Attention could easily be diverted by saying something like claims of his death come in from time to time and can't be denied until OBL sends out a new video tape. Instead they are probing the leak of the memo? Hmm. Strange spin.

[Kagemusha]

58. This is not 'knew'. This is 'heard' and 'unable to confirm'.

That's emphatically NOT knowing, even if this is a legit rumor and not made out of thin air by the Saudi intel service itself. Keep in mind Osama being dead would be mighty convenient.

Edit: Or a cheap attempt to force Osama to reveal he is alive so he can be killed or captured. It's pretty pointless. Osama's a figurehead at this point - Bush is correct on that point, at least. The war will continue with or without Osama.

[VegasWolf]

56. Bush, tried to quiet them for another month, but nobody respects Bush

anymore anyway!

[Evergreen Emerald]

59. That is my thought too

The world has had enough of Bush. The heads of state / the democratic party have collaborated in his antics. Perhaps they are revolting against him, finally.

The way the world treated Chavez at the UN versus Bush gives an idea of how much he has destroyed America's good name.

[lpbk2713]

61. Allo?

Now remember Monsieur Armitage, you are to tell absolutely no one.

[Sam Odom]

62. I hope the BASTARD suffered !

[Pastiche423]

64. Why?

Even our FBI does not have enough evidence on him to put him on their top wanted list.

[onenote]

66. a bin laden defender?

:shrug:

[Sam Odom]

67. That's why I didn't reply

:patriot:

[Pastiche423]

68. lol

Are you calling the FBI an OBL defender?

[Sam Odom]

69. So you need the FBI to tell you

OBL is a bad guy ?

[Pastiche423]

71. Just reportin' the facts, Jack

On June 5, 2006, the Muckraker Report contacted the FBI Headquarters, [phone], to learn why Bin Laden’s Most Wanted poster did not indicate that Usama was also wanted in connection with 9/11. The Muckraker Report spoke with Rex Tomb, Chief of Investigative Publicity for the FBI. When asked why there is no mention of 9/11 on Bin Laden’s Most Wanted web page, Tomb said, “The reason why 9/11 is not mentioned on Usama Bin Laden’s Most Wanted page is because the FBI has no hard evidence connecting Bin Laden to 9/11.”

http://www.teamliberty.net/id267.html

[Sam Odom]

72. Sam, it's Sam not Jack

:)

[Pastiche423]

73. No matter what your name is, or is not

does not change the FACT that the FBI does not have hard evidence against OBL for the September 11, 2001 attacks.

[onenote]

81. try on these facts for size, pasty

http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/topten/fugitives/laden.htm

No, the 9/11 attacks are not specifically mentioned. But they weren't mentioned in Sam Odom's post either. You giving bin Laden a free pass for the more than 200 persons killed in the attacks that are specifically referenced by the FBI?

[Sam Odom]

85. Why argue with him/her

Avg people dont need the FBI to tell them OBL is a MF'er and you know what? If one wants to defend OBL then why would they believe the FBI? The FBI = Bushco

[Pastiche423]

87. Of course the 9/11 attacks are not specifically mentioned

BECAUSE the FBI does not have hard or any other type of evidence that OBL was involved in the September 11, 2001 attacks!

IOW, we were lied to by our government yet some citizens still cling to the belief that we were told the truth.

Btw, I am not pasty. My skin has a fine rosy color, despite my circulation problems due to paralysis.

[onenote]

90. okay, but the fbi does think osama's a "bad guy". Do you?

And are you going to acknowledge that you were wrong when you said that the FBI hasn't put osama on the 10 most wanted list? Just the facts, right?

[FastHorizon]

92. Are you sure?

FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives

[Clarkie1]

65. I've read the Time report and best guess is he's dead.

No way to know for certain at this point, though.....at least, apparently not.

[IndianaGreen]

70. Was this the photo of Bin Laden's funeral in Afghanistan?

US knew OBL died last month, but kept it quiet because the Bush regime was going to announce in late October that it had killed OBL in a Predator strike. Bush would have gotten a big boost in the polls, and no one would have been the wiser.

Makes me wonder about that Predator photo of the Al-Qaeda funeral in Afghanistan-Pakistan border that was published a week ago. They never said or speculated as to whose funeral it was. It could have been OBL's funeral.

The inconvenient truth is that Bush needed OBL to remain alive for a bit longer.

U.S. military to probe release of photo of Taliban funeral in Afghanistan



http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-09-13-taliban-photo_x.htm?POE=NEWISVA

[Up2Late]

75. I bet you're right, or it could be another high ranking Taliban leader...

...the only thing we know for sure is, our "government" will never give us the true answer unless they have to, or find it politically beneficial.

[Up2Late]

74. More from AFP: Report of bin Laden death unconfirmed: France, Pakistan, US

(Says he's been dead since August 2006, personally, I believe he's been dead MUCH longer (since December 2001 or January 2002), which is when we have the last REAL, undebatable evidence that he was alive. Plus, the CIA said recently that his trail has been stone cold for more than 2 years.)

Report of bin Laden death unconfirmed: France, Pakistan, US

23/09/2006 16h12

COMPIEGNE, France (AFP) - France, Pakistan and the United States have said a report Osama bin Laden has died of typhoid was unconfirmed, while Paris was probing how the intelligence brief it was based on came to be leaked.

French President Jacques Chirac stressed to journalists that "this information is in no way confirmed."

He added that he was "surprised" that the French newspaper l'Est Republicain had published an excerpt from a French secret service note relaying information from Saudi Arabia's intelligence service....

(clip)

...It said that "information gathered by the Saudis" from a source they considered reliable indicates that bin Laden "might have succumbed to a very serious case of typhoid fever resulting in partial paralysis of his lower limbs while in Pakistan on August 23, 2006....

(more at link) <http://www.afp.com/english/news/stories/060923161053.3cyhenb1.html>

[goforit]

84. Hmmm, do you think France is trying to prevent another Bush mihop?

They are pulling their ficticious and infamous puppet evil doer off center stage.

Saving us from the next WTC event.

[fob]

88. Oh No! What's asshat*gonna do now that October Bin Ladin is dead?

So much for that October Bin Surprise, eh kkkarl?

[IndianaGreen]

93. The West will not "confirm" until they have a DNA match (need OBL's body)

The report is based on an authenticated French intelligence document
\
The reason it has not been confirmed, and this is the language being used by the West, is because they don't know where OBL's body is buried. They will only confirm when they find OBL's grave and are able to make a positive DNA match. This may never happen!

The French intelligence report is based on a solid human intelligence source.

France's DGSE intelligence service has more credibility than our CIA, and if they say OBL is dead, he is dead.

Bush needs his Emmanuel Goldstein to remain alive for awhile longer.

Here is how the British The Independent reports the same story that the AP spins:

Bin Laden dead from typhoid, says rumour sweeping globe
By Raymond Whitaker
Published: 24 September 2006

A claim that Osama bin Laden, the elusive al-Qa'ida leader, may have died of typhoid in Pakistan last month touched off a storm of speculation around the world yesterday, followed by a stream of denials.

President Jacques Chirac of France, where the report originated, said it was "in no way whatsoever confirmed", and officials from Washington to Islamabad, the Pakistani capital, said there was no information to back it.

The French regional newspaper l'Est Republicain yesterday printed what was later confirmed as an authentic document from France's DGSE intelligence service. This said "according to a usually reliable source, Saudi security services are now convinced that Osama bin Laden is dead".

The chief of al-Qa'ida "was a victim of a severe typhoid crisis while in Pakistan on 23 August, 2006", it added. His geographical isolation meant that medical assistance was impossible, and his lower limbs were said to have paralysed. The Saudis were said to be seeking further information, including the place of Bin Laden's burial.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article1726058.ece