U.S., Pakistan denies Iran report of bin Laden's capture
If this is true, it is wonderful news. Let's consider the source before we go off the deep end, shall we??
The United States and Pakistan on Saturday denied reports by Iran's official IRNA news agency on Saturday that al Qaida leader Osama bin Laden has been been captured.
The U.S. Department of Defense denied the Tehran Radio report that the bin Laden had been captured in a border region between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
A senior U.S. defense official denied the report, telling Reuters it was "another piece of stray voltage that's passing around out there."....
Citing "knowledgeable sources," Tehran Radio reported that Osama bin Laden was captured, but the official Iranian media outlet did not specify when he was captured, and the report has yet to be confirmed elsewhere.
It said that Bin Laden was apprehended "some time ago" in a tribal region along the border between the two countries, adding that U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld visit to Pakistan on Thursday was related to capturing the al-Qaida leader. It also said that U.S. President George W. Bush "is intending to use it for propaganda maneuvering in the presidential election."
The report was broadcast on the station's external broadcast, in the Pashtun language, which reaches Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Now, I'm usually a charter member of the "Where there's smoke there's fire" school, but even I have to reign in my cynicism on this one. It's not that I would put it past the Bushies to hold bin-Laden and use him for maximum political leverage, but keeping that sort of thing a secret would not be easy.
When I see this sort of report come from a more objective source, I'll get excited. For now, though, I'll just hope for the best. Capturing bin-Laden would be a delicious coda to cap the war that began on 9.11.01. I'm just not sure that I want to get my news from the Iranians on this one.
