How did ObL get his dialysis?

[Hotler]

I want to see the machine that was in the house that was raided. I want to see the body so I can see the shunt where he was hooked up every other day. I want to see the scars from the kidney transplant if he had one. How dose one that needs dialysis live so long hiding in the mountains. I myself think he has been dead since Tora Bora. If not, maybe Pakistan was keeping him alive.

[Zen Democrat]

1. The dialysis was only ever a rumor. It was reported that he had kidney trouble, but ....

one report was that he had kidney stones.

[Renew Deal]

9. I agree

I never saw anything more than a rumor about that. It started after 9/11.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

2. OBL's medical issues were never confirmed. He denied them in person

[Poll_Blind]

3. Reasonable request. You may get that request sooner than you think because...

...the video of him being prepared for burial at sea is far less grotesque and may include some images of the body which would reveal such medical procedures, if they had been done.

PB

[dipsydoodle]

4. Just another fairy story

similar in nature to some of the fabrications of the past few days.

[riderinthestorm]

5. I posted another thread yesterday asking about the forensics on OBL's body

(that sank like a stone).

I believe he's dead, and that the Navy Seals did it, but it boggles the mind that no forensics were done on him. Fibers, his medical condition, the state of his teeth (rural care vs. city care)... none of that was done (so they say).

It indicates to me that he was perhaps in custody instead of hiding out. There was no need for forensics because his care for the past few years was already understood completely.

[Poll_Blind]

11. Yours is not unreasonable conjecture.

I would add that in 8-12 or so hours there may have been quite a lot of forensic metrics done on his corpse. And also, nobody is saying that there weren't tissue samples, organs or other bits and pieces of bin Laden which did not make it into the sea as part of the "burial".

The apparent fact that bin Laden had no weapon, that the woman in the room with him had no weapon and the possibility that there were no guns of any sort in the compound leads me to believe he was in custody or house arrest of some sort. Or maybe he was simply under protection from higher up in the ISI and didn't feel the need for personal bodyguards.

But c'mon, he's bin Laden. You'd kind of imagine that AK-47 he carried around with him everywhere he went, and which appeared in just about every video he posted, would probably have been with him when the SEALS stormed in- unless it had been taken away or there was some reason why he felt he didn't need any sort of protection at all.

PB

[Schema Thing]

6. Wait.... you believe the dialysis story uncritically?

[WilliamPitt]

7. No dialysis.

He drank pure unicorn blood.

It's true. I read that somewhere.

[TK421]

18. That's good stuff....keeps me regular n/t

[pipi_k]

8. Did someone say he was getting dialysis?

If they did, I missed it.

It's possible to have kidney disease for a long time and not require dialysis.

[NICO9000]

10. He was certainly rich enough to have a set-up and doctor living with him

I thought it was a fact that he definitely needed dialysis, but maybe I'm wrong?

[Poll_Blind]

12. I think the only person who was not a member of either of the 3 families was....

...a female Yemeni doctor. So it seems at least having a doctor present was covered.

PB

[librechik]

14. the dialysis story was just a story

obviously, or he couldn't have survived this long. I have also heard Bin Ladin experts debunk it.

[Poll_Blind]

15. But isn't your story as much a story as the story you say is a story?

I don't mean to be rude but I don't know how one gives precedence over the other?

PB

[librechik]

20. no, becasue they didn't find a dialysis machine. Therefore it is unlikely that he had one.

The question has arisine becasue, even tho it was thought he needed dialysis, there was no equipment at the compound. So people wondered.

[Poll_Blind]

21. There is of course the possibility that he was able to travel to the machine.

Or that the machine (because there are very portable versions, nowdays) could travel to him, when needed. That entire town is filled with retired military so I imagine the medical facilities are probably pretty good, especially in comparison to the rest of the country.

PB

[librechik]

22. seriously, this idea has been debunked by others more familiar with the facts than I

but believe whatever you want--in the end, he died from lead poisoning, not kidney failure. And no one will ever know what really happened there in the compound.

[Hotler]

13. Food for thought.

Pakistan intelligence sources tell CBS News that bin Laden was spirited into a military hospital in Rawalpindi for kidney dialysis treatment.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/01/28/eveningnews/main325887.shtml

[Cleita]

17. I remember that when it happened. n/t

[Cleita]

16. If he survived Tora Bora and went into hiding in

Pakistan, and if he in fact had end state kidney disease, he probably got a transplant. There were plenty of dead bodies around in those days to get an organ from and he had the money to buy the doctors and the officials in Pakistan to not disclose his location.

[aquart]

19. I'm sure the Easter Bunny will tell you if you leave him a jelly bean.

Wait. Is Easter over? Then you'll have to wait and ask the Great Pumpkin. Or the Wizard of Oz.

[LynneSin]

23. I question the people who were claiming he was on dialysis - Bush admin

I mean Bush already said he wasn't interested anymore in OBL. What better way to support your lack of effort in finding terrorist #1 is to claim he's some feeble old man dying in a cave.

[WinkyDink]

24. How do billionaires get things?

[Vehl]

25. He lived about 1000 yards away from a MIlitary Hospital

come to your own conclusions.

[moondust]

28. It's awfully suspicious.

I suppose we'll never know for certain if he was in fact under the protection and medical care of the Pakistani military/ISI (like other military retirees living in the area).

[Fire1]

26. Don't know, don't care. n/t

[former9thward]

27. He had a doctor come in every few days.

The Wall Street Journal had an article in today's paper (I don't have a link, I read the hard copy) about daily life in the compound based on interviews with city neighbors. They said a doctor would come in every few days and administer dialysis treatment.