How the hell does Saudi Intellingence know Osama has been ill for

[Flabbergasted]

several weeks?

http://www.upi.com/InternationalIntelligence/view.php?StoryID=20060923-080515-8077r


snip
...But a Saudi intelligence source told United Press International: "We are not saying he is dead, but there is a lot of truth in the report." The Saudi source, who spoke on condition that his name not be revealed, confirmed that according to Saudi Arabian intelligence "bin Laden was very ill these past few weeks."

The Saudi intelligence source told UPI "There is no way we can prove that bin Laden is dead until we can see the body." But, he added, "A good portion of what is in the report is true."

For the moment, the source went on to say, "We do not confirm (the death). "We don't know."

Making the report all the more credible is the choice by the person or persons in French intelligence of where to leak the report, the regional L'Est Republicain, rather than one of the larger Paris-based dailies.

"There is a history with that paper," said the Saudi source.

The information is based on what the newspaper calls "a usually reliable source," stating that Saudi intelligence sources "are convinced" of bin Laden's death.

[Monkeyman]

1. Where does his family live that should tell you how they might know

[AnneD]

2. I have thought for the longest time that OBL...

is in SA. Don't have any reason-but it would explain a lot.

[Warpy]

3. I've said since March of 2002 that he's probably relaxing

at poolside in one of the bin Laden villas in Saudi Arabia.

[AnneD]

4. I mean seriously....

a 'tall' distinctive man 'on dialysis'. Folks that has to be done every few days and requires equipment, electricity, and time. In some parts of the world-that stuff is as rare as hen's teeth. Don't tell me they couldn't find him if they wanted too.
Warpy, I have had a gut feeling that was the time frame too. Once we were distracted into Iraq, he left the mountains.

[hippiechick]

6. Club Med, All expenses paid, courtesy of the Carlyle Group.

n/t

[FearofFutility]

17. He could be using continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis

which does not need electricity. http://www.nephrologychannel.com/rrt/peritoneal.shtml

That being said, they don't want to find him.

[lonestarnot]

21. His freedom has been part of the deal all along!

Peat and repeat here.

[dogday]

13. At the Palms Islands in Dubai

along with Ken Lay... Have you seen the world Islands they are building... You can own your own Island.....

[hippiechick]

5. We've known he's needed dialysis since '01 ...

... according to whatever-the-hell intelligence it was back in late '01, Special Ops were able to hone in on one of the 'Generals' so closely they knew what kind of wrist watch he was wearing.

Of course the US knows wtf OBL's condition is. And we're (we as in: Carlyle, CIA-workers-retirement-fund, and/or Halliburton) probably paying for whatever medical treatment he's getting/gotten.

[Warpy]

8. Actually, we haven't.

That may be part of the conventional wisdom, but it's "information" undoubtedly obtained under exteme duress, and therefore unreliable, to say the least.

I don't buy it for a minute.

Marfan's syndrome is another matter.

[Igel]

7. I'd expect that if anybody could worm himself into the AQ

network, or flip a high ranking AQer, it would be a Sa'udi. Both for clan/tribal reasons and for Islam/tribal reasons.

Second choice might be somebody from Jordan or possibly Egypt. Distant second.

[Gloria]

9. MMM....I posted recently an artcle for Asia Times Online which

mentioned that OBL's health had improved dramatically and that he was no longer on dalysis!

[Flabbergasted]

10. Its a question of source.

[catmandu57]

11. I've believed for some time now

That OBL is either dead or living in the bosom of his family in SA, I also would believe that he has had a transplant so he wouldn't need dialysis.
Of all his followers surely someone would give up a kidney.

[AnneD]

12. even if he HAD a transplant...

that would require a lot of drugs and medical follow up...I would follow a medical angle.

[Cleita]

15. Well, with all those Taliban dead bodies in the war surely

one of them would have been a match.

[Cleita]

14. Not only the Saudis but our White House has known Osama's

whereabouts, I'll bet, for quite awhile. As a matter-of-fact, he probably died in August a year or two ago, not this August and has been kept on ice or in an unmarked grave in Saudi Arabia so that Bush could keep using him as a bugaboo everytime his poll numbers went down.

I hope that one of these days we will be able to put this whole executive office on trial and wring the truth out of every single one of them lie per lie.

[gratuitous]

16. My guess

Osama's royalty checks have been forwarded to the Crawford Convalescent Home, and upon inquiry, the Saudis found that he had filed his change of address form with the U.S. Postal Service "several weeks" ago. Therefore, Osama has been ailing for "several weeks."

Simple skip-trace work; nothing all that special about it.

[Warren DeMontague]

18. My Psychic Prediction? He's going to get "sicker" and gas will get cheaper

...until about the 2nd week in November.

[AnneD]

22. I think he should go the way..

of the ld solviet leaders...he gets a cold that worsens into pneumonia. Or better yet, like Generalissimo Ferninand Franko on SNL he can be seriously dead.

[LynnTheDem]

19. Gee, I'd bet it's coz his mummy & daddy are Saudis.

Not everyday garden Saudis, but members of the creme de la creme.

[Imagevision]

20. 15 of 19 9-11 bombers were from saudi Arabia... (food for thought)