Title :
Mystery of Osama's year of
silence
By :
Date : 20 December 2005 0604 hrs (SST)
URL :
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/184518/1/.html
PARIS : He has not issued any public statement all year.
Speculation has grown over his influence, health and even possible
death. Where is the Western world's most wanted man, Osama Bin
Laden?
The Al-Qaeda leader's period of silence is the longest since the
September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, offering no clues
to the whereabouts or fate of a man who this year appears to have
quietly slipped off the radar.
Bin Laden has not been heard of since a December 27, 2004 audiotape
in which he anointed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Iraq's most wanted man,
as Al-Qaeda's leader in the war-torn country.
Just before, on December 16, 2004, a video surfaced where he also
called on his fighters to strike Gulf oil supplies and warned Saudi
leaders they risked a popular uprising.
Since then -- silence. Regular interventions by Al-Qaeda's number
two Ayman al-Zawahiri, seen as the ideological brains of the
network, has only served to feed feverish speculation on what has
happened to bin Laden.
Zawahiri claimed in an videotape released in September that bin
Laden was still alive and leading "jihad" or holy war against the
West.
"Al-Qaeda for holy war is still, thanks to God, a base for jihad.
Its prince Osama bin Laden, may God protect him, still leads the
jihad," said Zawahiri.
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said recently he did not know
whether bin Laden was dead or alive, adding that he would not like
to speculate over his fate.
The commander of US troops in Afghanistan, General Karl Eikenberry,
has insisted that bin Laden was still considered alive, and that US
forces continue their hunt for him.
Seemingly more candid was CIA director Porter Goss, who recently
told ABC news channel that bin Laden's hideout was known and
implied that the CIA knew more than it could reveal.
The total eclipse of bin Laden also gave rise to various
speculation on Islamist websites, with some admirers of the terror
chief already contemplating that he might be dead.
"Bin Laden, tracked by the intelligence services who are on his
heels, is hiding somewhere along the mountain frontiers between
Pakistan and Afghanistan," opined one blogger.
Another claimed that "Abu Abdullah (bin Laden) has deliberately
decided to stop all communications to avoid being located by
gigantic US surveillance devices."
"O my beloved. I know that you are mortal. No body can oppose the
will of God. But the thought of seeing you taken captive fills me
with fear," said another in a "letter of affection" addressed
online to bin Laden, following a rumour claiming that Al-Qaeda
chief had perished in the October 8 earthquake which ravaged
Pakistan.
But the editor of the Islamabad-based "Mediawatch", Yaqoub
McLintock, who is also an expert on Al-Qaeda, appeared confident as
to bin Laden's safety.
"I think he is alive and well. Admittedly, bin Laden is not in
great health, but he is not at the point of death. All that we hear
about his fate is nothing but media speculation. His death would
certainly be announced by Al-Qaeda, in conformity with Sharia
(Islamic law)," he told AFP.
He also claimed that bin Laden avoids making any appearance "as a
safety measure, knowing that he is being traced by intelligence
services."
Abdul Bari Atwan, the editor-in-chief of the London-based daily
Al-Quds Al-Arabi, agreed.
"Bin Laden has said it all and has nothing to add," he said.
"The man could well be preparing a large-scale operation in the
United States," added Atwan, the first Arab journalist to interview
bin Laden, who has a 25-million-dollar bounty on his head.
"Dead or not? This is not the question," said Yasser Sirri, the
director of the London-based Islamic Observatory.
"Admittedly, bin Laden is a strategic symbol, but Al-Qaeda is now a
decentralized multi-national jihadist (movement) capable of
generating thousands of bin Laden," he said. - AFP /dt
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Ooi, Osama, where are you?!