U.S. Near Seizing Bin Laden

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - 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.

Asked if concrete progress had been made during the last two months - when Pakistan has arrested dozens of terror suspects including some key al-Qaida operatives - Black said, "Yes, I would say this."

Black, who briefed a group of Pakistani journalists after talks with officials here Friday, said he could not predict exactly when bin Laden and other top al-Qaida fugitives would be nabbed.

"What I tell people, I would be surprised but not necessarily shocked if we wake up tomorrow and he's been caught along with all his lieutenants. That can happen because of the programs and infrastructure in place," he told Geo.

Bin Laden and his top associate, Ayman al-Zawahri, are believed to be hiding some place along the rugged border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Officials have divulged no solid intelligence about bin Laden's precise whereabouts, and it's not clear if they have any.

Pakistan is a key ally of the United States in its war on terror, and Black's visit comes weeks after Pakistani security forces captured Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, a Tanzanian wanted for the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in east Africa, and Mohammed Naeem Noor Khan, a Pakistani computer expert allegedly linked to al-Qaida operatives around the world.

The arrests led to a terror warning in the United States, and arrests in Britain and the United Arab Emirates.

Black attended a meeting of the Pakistan-U.S. Joint Working Group on Counterterrorism and Law Enforcement in Islamabad on Thursday and Friday.

During the talks, Pakistan asked U.S. officials for more helicopters, surveillance and communications equipment to help Pakistani forces guard border areas near Afghanistan "more efficiently," a Pakistani official at the talks said.

"We got a positive response from the American officials," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Pakistan has deployed about 70,000 troops along the Afghan border and conducted several military operations this year in its lawless and largely autonomous tribal regions against al-Qaida suspects and their local supporters.

Black hailed Pakistan's efforts in counterterrorism - despite criticism from Western officials who say that elements of the former ruling Taliban regime in Afghanistan still operate inside Pakistan.

"In terms of national programs and effectiveness, I would put Pakistan up against anyone else ... If you look at the arrests they have made, the information they have developed and the lives that have been saved, Pakistan is doing a great job," he said.

He added, however, that, "you can always do more."

 

No need to seize,
Only need to KILL slooooooooooooow!

 

Yup.

I'll do it.

 

Just put a razor point on your pogo, Mr.P

 

I like your theory, and I hope they catch him. But as far as Sr., he lost because he didn't veto the Democrat's tax hike. Before he signed the piece of crap paper, he'd said "Read my lips, no new taxes." Of course the liberal media put the focus on that instead of the fact that it was legislated by the Democrat congress.

 

More importantly, the media was loudly encouraging him to SIGN the bloated budget, saying it was the right thing to do... THEN they castrated him for signing it. Fair and unbiased reporting.... right.

 

Propaganda more like. I do not read or listen to the news anymore. They exercise the greatest abuse of power known to man and are seldom if ever called to task for it. While I definitely believe in the freedom of the press, they should also be accountable.

 

True that. Last week's "60 Minutes" hit piece on Bush featured "newly discovered" documents from Bush's National Guard days. Said documents appear to have been written on a modern word processor, NOT on a 1970's typewriter (fonts are slightly different), the officer supposedly putting pressure on to "help" Bush had retired 18 months before the incident, and on and on... and as of today, 60 Minutes is still standing behind it's story. They have "featured" anti-Bush books that their own owners printed as news, not marketing, and have given no interviews whatsoever to any of the Vets opposing Kerry. They constantly refer to the guy backing the SwiftVets as a "rich Republican operative" rather thn just a rich supporter, but neglect to call the founder of MoveOn.Org, who is a billionaire Hungarian that'd neck deep in the Democratic party, and has donated 12 MILLION DOLLARS personally, anything whatsoever. Real balanced.

 

Must be elections in the wind, both in USA and OZ. Bazza

===

 

It is a shame that on a slow news day they cannot come out and say that, "There is just not much happening to report". So they "create" news. Sure, they are supposed to be unbiased, until they believe in a cause or candidate. Then they tweak the news with their scewed perspective to prove their point. Many people believe anything that Dan Rather spews out of his mouth, imagine the power in that to sway history. I do not like George Bush and will not vote for him; but he does not deserve the type of bashing and just plain bullshit that he has been getting. He is not getting my vote based on his record, not on some diatribe cooked up by the media.They got all excited about Kobe Bryant and his **** charge, do you see that kind of attention paid to Sally Doe from Timbuktoo? Hell no, it simply isn't sensational. Sad that is what the media is today in my book, sensationalists (is that a word?). This crap that is currently out about Kerry and Bush that happened 30+ years ago has nothing to do with how they can run the country TODAY, but it sure is sensational isn't it? Get viewers, readers, listeners...that is all the media cares about today. Of course they will hide behind their "reputation" as "investigative journalists". Crackpots the lot of them. As far as news goes these days, in this old man's opinion, if I did not see it then it simply didn't happen. Head in the sand attitude I know, but I also don't want to think I'm informed when I am really being "programmed". What crap.......

 

Only Kerry is trying to use his service as proof that he is qualified to be commander in chief. So, we have to scrutinize him.

 

According to the media, Kerry is trying to flaunt his...and Bush is trying to hide his. It does not mean squat. How they acted in the service does not tell me anything about how they will deal with the hungry, the poor, the elderly, the ever increasing tax burden, Social Security, health care costs, special interests in Washington, ad infinitum. As far as I can tell, it's a smoke screen to distract US from the real issues...which BOTH are ineffective at dealing with. I am quite afraid that the USA is in for some dark years either way the election falls. If we are are going to "scrutinize" them, let's start dealing with REAL issues.

 

How true this is. This is why I am voting third party. Both of these guys disgust me. At least my vote will tally against the two of them. Enough to get me to the polls.

 

IMHO, Bush and Kerry are collectively doing this country a service. They are presenting themselves as excellent examples of why we, the people, need to abolish the two party system and reclaim our country as well as our Government. We have for too long sat back complacently and just "watched" as this country is on the fast track to hell. It is time for the people of the United States to demand that we be heard and not be blown off with BS rhetoric. I am so tired of hearing these guys ( as well as all of the people that are running on local/state level) harping a party line that sounds so very unsincere, and when elected is forgotten. There is coming another civil war, and I really hope that I live to see it. It will not be fought with guns, but with obstinance from the people who finally get together and simply say no, and then stand behind it. Think about all of the BS we put up with...and then we condone it by our silence. Those that do take a stand and speak out are branded as radicals, or in this day and age, "Un-American". IMHO, they are exercising a shing example of what being American is all about. It is simply time, before it is too late. Oddly, look at Roman history and compare it to ours. We are on the same road, and I think that Bush or Kerry would play a fiddle because when it comes to administration that is just about all they know how to do.

 

Remember this: Jesus was crucified because the ones who wanted it screamed the loudest.

 

Our "two party system" isn't a system at all, it's just that only two parties have the numbers and strength to get their people elected at this time. There's nothing wrong with the system, but as you said, people have to get off their collective duffs and actually LOOK FOR, and WORK FOR viable alternatives. At the local and state grass-roots level. None of the "third parties" today have any hope of winning the presidency, or most of the state elections, but they've got to start at the bottom and build a base to take the brass ring at the top. Election day is too late to wake up & look around for somebody to vote for. How many people even KNOW who's running for the local positions, or how good/bad they are?

Politicians pay their dues (usually) just as many other professions. You start local, and if you do a good job there, you aim higher. Our hope for a better Washington starts in our own towns and states.

 

Therein lies the problem: If you take the feds to task they will "crucify" you, and everyone seems to be afraid of that. BUT they cannot crucify all of us. The day is coming, and I hope right soon, when these political gonzos will have to step up to the plate and play fair ball.
True story: I was walking down Broadway in San Diego many years ago when the "man in the street" TV cameras first came out. I had had a few drinks that day. The reporter approached me and asked me what I thought the best thing that the president could do our country. In my drunken sense of humor I replied, "He could step in front of a speeding bullet". I had read this somewhere and found it humorous. The reporter thanked me, took my name and address, and I went on my way. That evening there were two Feds at my door and they detained me for two days because they thought that I had a plan to assassinate him. Nothing could be farther from the truth. To this day I cannot get a Federal position due to the fact that I have a jacket that states that at one time I was under this suspicion. Free speech? Hardly. It has gotten much worse since then. Pretty soon you and I will be living in an open Autocracy, you and I live in a covert one now.
Senator Gordon Smith from our state is a good example. We, the people, voted on and passed a bill that allowed assisted suicide. When the feds raised a question about it, rather than follow the will of the people of Oregon, who elected his lame ass, he stood on the floor and stated that it was against his principles and also voted against it. His will, not that of the people. This kind of stuff happens all of the time and we, the people, are doing squat to stop it. That is why these charlatains can get away with this...we let them.
Bahhh...I'll shut up now...hot button.

 

You'll probably LOVE this. Just stumbled over it.

A Rather sad eulogy.

 

Too Funny (and sadly true) Lemoney Snickett would be proud.

 

Great find G.T. Thank you



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