Many doubt bin Laden death report

by editor2
September 24th, 2006

PARIS — A leaked French intelligence memo reporting that Osama bin Laden died of illness last month caused a flurry of speculation Saturday, but skeptical French, U.S. and Arab officials said they had no information confirming the report.

French President Jacques Chirac told journalists that the intelligence report “has by no means been confirmed.” And a French security official cautioned that the memo was based on uncorroborated intelligence from a single source.

“We are not confirming whatever has been said in this report because we consider it a source among other sources,” said the French security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “Our services, like others around the world, don’t use just one source for reaching such a conclusion. They need multiple sources. We don’t think this is a reliable report at this stage.”

The latest rumblings about the elusive al Qaeda leader came from an unlikely source. A small regional newspaper. L’Est Republicain, based in the eastern city of Nancy, published an article Saturday along with a copy of a confidential Sept. 21 memo from France’s foreign intelligence agency, which is overseen by the Defense Ministry and known by the initials DGSE.

The memo informed the president’s office and the defense minister that Saudi intelligence had “become convinced” that bin Laden is dead, according to the newspaper.

“The data gathered by the Saudis indicates that the chief of al Qaeda would have been a victim, while in Pakistan on Aug. 23, 2006, of a very strong attack of typhoid,” the intelligence memo stated, according to the newspaper. “His geographic isolation, caused by his permanent fugitive status, made any medical care impossible. On Sept. 4, the Saudi security services obtained the first intelligence about his death.”

U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters, “We don’t have any confirmation of that report.”

For years, bin Laden has been rumored to be suffering from a debilitating kidney disease, perhaps requiring dialysis.

Bin Laden was last seen in a videotape released in 2004. His voice was last heard in an audiotape released June 29, in which he mourned the slaying by U.S. forces of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq.

Spy agencies have not detected any chatter among al Qaeda operatives or other traditional indicators of a momentous event such as bin Laden’s death, U.S. officials said.

Source : http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/15598539.htm