Tuesday, October 26, 2004

Osama allegedly located

According to John Lehman, a member of the 9/11 Commission, the US knows where Osama Bin Laden is, but it cannot go after him at this moment.

As Jim Mohr of the San Bernardino Sun reports,

Bin Laden is living in South Waziristan in the Baluchistan Mountains of the Baluchistan region [of Pakistan], Lehman told the San Bernardino Sun after delivering a keynote speech on terrorism at Pitzer College in Claremont.

In the interview, Lehman noted, "There is an American presence in the area, but we can't just send in troops. If we did, we could have another Vietnam, and the United States cannot afford that right now."

When pressed on why the United States couldn't send troops into the region to capture the world's No. 1 terrorist, Lehman said the Baluchistan region of the country is filled with militant fundamentalists who do not recognize the legitimacy of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, a close ally of the United States.

"That is a region filled with Taliban and al-Qaida members," he said, acknowledging that Pakistan's security services also are filled with many who agree with bin Laden's beliefs and would aid him if U.S. Special Forces entered the region.

"Look," he said, "Musharraf already has had three assassination attempts on his life. He is trying to comply, but he is surrounded by people who do not agree with him. This is not like Afghanistan, where there was no compliance, and we had to go in.

"We'll get (bin Laden) eventually, just not now."