Andrew

Osama bin Ladin most likely died in December 2001. Here is some of the evidence I’ve been able to gather that supports this claim. Back in 2001, western intelligence officials reported bin Laden was seriously ill with kidney and liver disease (he was suffering from renal deficiency), and as such, was periodically undergoing dialysis treatment in a Peshawar military hospital with the knowledge and approval of the Inter-Services Intelligence, (ISI) if not of Gen. Pervez Musharraf himself. It was reported that bin Ladin arrived in Dubai (from Quetta in Pakistan) on July 4, 2001 with his own personal doctor, nurse and four bodyguards, for additional treatment. While there he was allegedly visited by several members of his family, Saudi personalities, and the CIA. In December 2001, the New York Times reported that he was likely dead, and then sometime between late December 2001 to March 2002, bin Laden's "Death Video" was released and after reports of bin Laden's funeral, a new video appeared, depicting a gaunt, sickly bin Laden. At the time, the London Telegraph reported, "The recording was dismissed by the Bush administration yesterday as sick propaganda, possibly designed to mask the fact the al-Qa'eda leader was already dead." In March and April 2002, U.S. officials downplayed the threat of bin Laden, with Rumsfeld stating he had been "neutralized." Even Bush, called out for rarely mentioning bin Laden in 2002, admitted: "We haven't heard from him [bin Laden] in a long time... I don't know where he is. I really just don't spend that much time on him, to be honest with you." In July 2002, CNN reported that bin Laden's close bodyguards were captured in February 2002, but not him. The article also quoted high-level officials: "Some high-level U.S. officials are already convinced by such evidence that bin Laden, who has not been seen or heard from in months, is dead." Then in October 2002, intelligence officials confirmed bin Laden is dead, and his will was released. In the same month, the Washington D.C.-based news service The World Tribune, citing Israeli intelligence sources, reported that the United States and Israel have concluded that bin Laden died in Afghanistan in December 2001. They noted that additional bin Laden messages are "probably fabrications," and that bin Laden's heir had been chosen. Intelligence officials obtained Osama bin Laden's will, which was dated December 14, 2001 (approximately the same date that his funeral took place in Tora Bora, as reported at the time by Fox News and other outlets). CNN also reported that there seemed to be no evidence of bin Laden since December 2001. In 2004, the LA Times quotes Donald Rumsfeld as admitting: "We've not seen him [bin Laden] on a video since 2001." In 2006, the New York Times reported the CIA had officially closed down the unit focused on capturing bin Laden the previous year. Also in 2006, U.S. and Pakistani officials stated that they have not received any information about bin Laden in years: "no tips from informants, no snippets from electronic intercepts, no points on any satellite image." The referenced article rehashed the December 2001 video of bin Laden as the most recent evidence (other than a second-hand claim from 2003) of bin Laden's existence. Linked below is a compilation of archived articles reiterating these points. Therefore, if it’s true that he really did die of renal failure in December 2001, the following questions need to be answered: 1) Why did Obama order the raid [May 1-2, 2011] (aka Operation Neptune’s Spear) if they already believed he was dead for nearly a decade? Was this a cover for another target? 2) Given that the 2012 presidential election was only months away, it begs the question…was this operation just a political ruse designed to boost Obama’s approval rating ahead of the general election? (or did his administration just fabricate the story around a real, unrelated raid against another target?) 3) What, if any, connections were there between the August 2011 shoot-down of the Army Chinook helicopter carrying 22 Navy SEAL Team 6 members (most of whom participated in the Osama raid) and the failed bin Laden raid? Is there any possibility that this was an attempt to tie-up potential loose ends concerning the truth of what really happened during the raid? [**According to those familiar with this tragic event, there are way more questions than answers about what happened that evening. I will explore in a follow-up post.**] Various links: web.archive.org/web/20210621… archive.ph/ylrV0 web.archive.org/web/20010917… archive.ph/uL4DT