Bradley Manning and the Ghost of Osama bin Laden

Osama bin Laden's Ghost 

by Tim King - Salem-News.com

SACRAMENTO, CA - How many Americans know Osama bin Laden denied being connected to the attacks on the United States, Sept. 11th 2001? Is it possible to imagine a terrorist going to that much effort, knowing full well that the one and only result would be an attack on an unprecedented scale against two Middle eastern countries... and failing to claim it?

The man, bin Laden, didn't deny it once, he denied it over and over again but the United States media and press failed to divulge it in any meaningful way. George W. Bush told the public bin Laden claimed the act on the very same days that bin Laden issued statements saying he had nothing to do with it.

Then, as if on cue, he would materialize in the 'bin Laden tapes' and Bush and Cheney would release them, always at key times to deflect attention from real issues. Obama played along and secured his second election for having captured and killed bin Laden, don't believe it for a second.

"As a Muslim, I try my best to avoid telling a lie. I had no knowledge of these attacks, nor do I consider the killing of innocent women, children, and other human beings as an appreciable act." - bin Laden

Now prosecutors in the Bradley Manning trial say Manning had directly communicated with bin Laden. That's pretty interesting, did he use a seance? Regardless of the non-illustrious lies of the Bush and Obama administrations, Usama or "Osama" as the west likes to refer to him, has been a dead man walking for many years.

Strong evidence points to bin Laden having been killed during the Northern Alliance period in the final days of 2001. It happened in the caves at Tora Bora during a series of ferocious attacks at the onset of the long running war in Afghanistan.

I have spoken to two U.S. Army Special Forces operators who were there, and while neither positively identified the body of this most wanted terrorist, they strongly believed that they successfully targeted his location. The terrorist's remains were sealed up in a collapsed cave.

As you will note in the links below to past articles, there is another source that claims bin Laden's death was more recent, approximately six years ago.

I was in Jalalabad, Afghanistan in 2007, in bin Laden's former training camp that the Afghan National Army (ANA) controls today. Here I had a first hand opportunity to talk to people and learn what they knew about this notorious war lord who helped free the people of Afghanistan from a ten-year Soviet occupation that in spite of its brutality, failed to claim as many lives as the U.S. war on Iraq alone.

Real, documented, highly uncomfortable facts fail to properly boost political agendas of war. Usama bin Laden is a ghost. I find it beyond incredible that people don't take into account the fact that bin Laden clearly and unequivocally denied any role in the attacks. The first noted account of bin Laden's public communication about 9/11 came the day after September 11th, when a spokesman for bin Laden expressly denied his having any involvement in the attacks, as noted by History Commons. Their information about the particular statements from bin Laden below, are set in blue blockquotes.

September 12, 2001: Aide Says Bin Laden Denies Role in 9/11 Attacks

A close aide to Osama bin Laden reports that bin Laden denies any role in the previous day’s attacks on the United States, but has praised those responsible for them. [Associated Press, 9/12/2001] The aide, one of bin Laden’s senior lieutenants, speaks by satellite telephone with Palestinian journalist Jamal Ismail, who is the Islamabad bureau chief of Abu Dhabi Television. [Associated Press, 9/12/2001; Daily Telegraph, 9/13/2001] Ismail has long-standing ties with bin Laden and has conducted several interviews with him over the last few years. [Associated Press, 9/13/2001] The aide, who does not want to be publicly named, calls Ismail early in the day from a hideout somewhere in Afghanistan. He quotes bin Laden as calling the attacks on the US “punishment from almighty Allah” for America’s attempt to “control the entire world by force.” He tells Ismail, “Osama bin Laden thanked Almighty Allah and bowed before him when he heard this news [of the attacks].” But, the aide says, bin Laden has stated, “I have no information about the attackers or their aims and I don’t have any links with them.” [Associated Press, 9/12/2001; Daily Telegraph, 9/13/2001; Reuters, 9/13/2001; BBC, 9/14/2001] Yesterday it was reported that a million people have died from heroin overdoses since the U.S. launched its war in Afghanistan, the heroin capital of the world. It is the United States that brought crack to the streets of America during Reagan's years of supporting the Contra's in their quest to murder the peasants, reprented by the Sandinista's. The U.S. has not just blood dripping permanently from its hands, it also has the stain of being responsible for the very existence of deadly drugs. All of this plays into the bin Laden story and the years of occupational war in Afghanistan. A statement was issued by the Taliban on 13th Sept. 2001, confirming the same thing, that bin Laden was not involved in the 9/11 attacks. Remember that Taliban had relations with the United States, they were attempting to secure funds from Union 76 for the notorious, failed pipeline project, and Taliban leaders visited George W. Bush in Texas at his request, when he was the governor of that state. The Bush family knew the Taliban and through their oil fortunes, had a direct connection to the bin Laden family of Saudi Arabia.

September 13, 2001: Taliban Says Bin Laden Denies Role in 9/11 Attacks

Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef.
[Source: Robert Nickelsberg / Getty Images]


Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban says that Osama bin Laden has told them he played no role in the September 11 attacks on the United States. Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, the Taliban ambassador to Pakistan, tells Reuters, “We asked from him, [and] he told [us] we don’t have any hand in this action.” [Reuters, 9/13/2001] Zaeef says bin Laden has been cut off from all outside communication, including telephone and the Internet, and so it would have been impossible for him to have coordinated the attacks. [Reuters, 9/13/2001; Los Angeles Times, 9/15/2001] Zaeef says the Taliban is willing to cooperate with the US in investigating the 9/11 attacks, stating, “We are ready for any help according to [Islamic] Sharia law.” But he stresses that if America has any evidence against bin Laden, it should provide it to the Taliban, which has sheltered him as a “guest.” [Reuters, 9/13/2001]

The statement I have been most familiar with in recent years is the next, from al Jazeera, and consequently carried by the mainstream agencies like CNN and The BBC.

September 16, 2001: Bin Laden, in Statement Read on Al Jazeera, Denies Involvement in 9/11 Attacks

Osama bin Laden, the exiled Saudi multimillionaire considered by the United States to be the prime suspect for the 9/11 attacks, issues a statement through the Arabic satellite television channel Al Jazeera, in which he denies responsibility for those attacks. [CNN, 9/17/2001; Washington Post, 9/17/2001] In the statement, which is read out by an Al Jazeera announcer, bin Laden says: “The US government has consistently blamed me for being behind every occasion its enemies attack it. I would like to assure the world that I did not plan the recent attacks, which seems to have been planned by people for personal reasons. I have been living in the Islamic emirate of Afghanistan and following its leaders’ rules. The current leader does not allow me to exercise such operations.” The statement is signed “Sheik Osama bin Laden.” [Associated Press, 9/16/2001; CNN, 9/17/2001] President Bush dismisses bin Laden’s denial. Asked whether he believes it, Bush responds: “No question he is the prime suspect. No question about that.” [White House, 9/16/2001; Baltimore Sun, 9/17/2001] Vice President Dick Cheney says he has “no doubt that [bin Laden] and his organization played a significant role” in the 9/11 attacks. [NBC, 9/16/2001; Washington Post, 9/17/2001] On this day, bin Laden also faxes a statement to the Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) agency, in which he denies responsibility for the 9/11 attacks (see September 16, 2001). [Guardian, 9/17/2001] Previously, on September 12, he denied any involvement, according to a close aide of his (see September 12, 2001). [Associated Press, 9/13/2001] On September 13, Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban said bin Laden told them he had played no role in the attacks (see September 13, 2001). [Reuters, 9/13/2001] But in mid-December 2001, the Pentagon will release a video which apparently shows bin Laden indicating his complicity (see Mid-November 2001). [BBC, 12/14/2001; Fox News, 12/14/2001] However, there will be questions about the authenticity of this film (see December 13, 2001). [Guardian, 12/15/2001] This is an item that I discovered a few months ago and republished on Salem-News.com, it was an eye opening, more expanded version of bin Laden's denial of any connection to 9/11.

September 28, 2001: Bin Laden Again Denies Involvement in 9/11 Attacks

Osama bin Laden denies his involvement in the 9/11 attacks. In an interview with the Daily Ummat, a Pakistani newspaper, he says: “I have already said that I am not involved in the September 11 attacks in the United States (see September 16, 2001). As a Muslim, I try my best to avoid telling a lie. I had no knowledge of these attacks, nor do I consider the killing of innocent women, children, and other human beings as an appreciable act. Islam strictly forbids causing harm to innocent women, children, and other people. Such a practice is forbidden even in the course of battle.… The United States should try to trace the perpetrators of these attacks within itself; the people who are a part of the US system but are dissenting against it. Or those who are working for some other system; persons who want to make the present century as a century of conflict between Islam and Christianity so that their own civilization, nation, country, or ideology can survive. They may be anyone, from Russia to Israel and from India to Serbia. In the US itself, there are dozens of well-organized and well-equipped groups capable of causing large-scale destruction. Then you cannot forget the American Jews, who have been annoyed with President Bush ever since the Florida elections and who want to avenge him.… Then there are intelligence agencies in the US, which require billions of dollars worth of funds from Congress and the government every year.… They needed an enemy.… Is it not that there exists a government within the government in the United Sates? That secret government must be asked who carried out the attacks.” [Daily Ummat (Karachi), 9/28/2001] The newspaper says it conducted the interview with bin Laden by submitting questions for him to Taliban officials and then receiving written replies. [Ananova, 9/28/2001] There is no question that bin Laden applauded the attacks on the United States, he said that the United States would not know security until the Palestinians have it. What this means, is that the blind, endless support of Israel is what is at the root of all Islamic hatred of America. Israel took the land it possesses militarily, and has been in the ethnic cleansing business for years. Israel has separate laws for Jews and non-Jews. It even has Jewish-only roads for colonizing settlers. Similarly, criticism of Israel's treatment of the indigenous Palestinians was the last thing Saddam Hussein talked about before being executed.

October 7, 2001: Bin Laden Issues Video, Warning the US, but Does Not Claim Responsibility for 9/11

Bin Laden appears on Al Jareeza, in
a taped statement broadcast shortly
after US-led strikes on Afghanistan
begin. [Source: Al Jazeera]


In a recorded statement broadcast on television worldwide, Osama bin Laden issues a strongly worded message to the United States, but makes no claim of responsibility for 9/11. The recording is broadcast on the Al Jazeera television network within an hour of the first US strikes on Afghanistan, and is then shown by CNN. There is no date on the tape and no immediate way of determining where it was made. [New York Times, 10/8/2001] Bin Laden is shown sitting in a stone cave. His top deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, appears at his side. [Associated Press, 10/8/2001] Referring to the 9/11 attacks, bin Laden says, “What the United States tastes today is a very small thing compared to what we have tasted for tens of years.” He praises those responsible, saying, “I ask God Almighty to elevate their status and grant them paradise.” [BBC, 10/7/2001] It is the first time he has spoken publicly about 9/11. But he makes no claim in his statement of having been responsible for the attacks. [Associated Press, 10/8/2001] He has previously explicitly denied responsibility for 9/11 (see September 16, 2001 and September 28, 2001). Bin Laden concludes his message warning, “[N]either the United States nor he who lives in the United States will enjoy security before we can see it as a reality in Palestine and before all the infidel armies leave the land of Mohammed.” [BBC, 10/7/2001] The following day, White House press secretary Ari Fleischer will tell reporters that, after watching this message, President Bush concluded that bin Laden “virtually took responsibility” for 9/11. [CNN, 10/8/2001] It is such an easy ploy to see through. The U.S. government counts on the American public to simply refuse to believe such an act, bringing a dead terrorist's image to life over and over, because it is unconscionable. But the average Joe forgets that this government has lied over and over throughout history, because the 'government' is a body of people making decisions, and the ones made in small groups behind closed doors accomplish far more of a direction for this country than anyone would like to admit. America's reputation has been drug through the mud time and time again, and Usama bin Laden's alleged connection to 9/11 is the kind of deceit that could bring a nation to its knees, if the public ever truly grasped the idea, and all the while, as this article shows, we are literally swamped with information proving at minimum, that bin Laden did not in fact, claim to have anything to do with the terrorist attacks. He also vividly outlined how it was crucial that he not carry out any acts of this nature. Taliban leaders at the time offered to turn bin Laden over if the U.S. could provide any proof at all of this man's role in 9/11. Another item that would shock most Americans, is the fact that bin Laden was never officially named as a suspect in the Sept. th attacks.

Mid-November 2001: Bin Laden ‘Confession’ Video Made, according to US

Khaled al-Harbi (right) talking to Osama bin Laden
or one of his doubles.
[Source: US Department of Defense]


A conversation between Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda spokesman Suliman abu Ghaith, and Khaled al-Harbi, a veteran of al-Qaeda’s jihad in Bosnia, is videotaped. A portion of the taped conversation is later said to be found by the US and will be used as evidence of bin Laden’s involvement in 9/11. [Unknown, 2001; Guardian, 12/13/2001; Kohlmann, 2004, pp. 28-9] According to a translation released by the Pentagon, the man said to be bin Laden says: “[W]e calculated in advance the number of casualties from the enemy, who would be killed based on the position of the tower. We calculated that the floors that would be hit would be three or four floors. I was the most optimistic of them all… (inaudible)… due to my experience in this field, I was thinking that the fire from the gas in the plane would melt the iron structure of the building and collapse the area where the plane hit and all the floors above it only. This is what we had hoped for.” He continues: “We had notification since the previous Thursday that the event would take place that day. We had finished our work that day and had the radio on. It was 5:30 p.m. our time.… Immediately, we heard the news that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. We turned the radio station to the news from Washington.… At the end of the newscast, they reported that a plane just hit the World Trade Center.… After a little while, they announced that another plane had hit the World Trade Center. The brothers who heard the news were overjoyed by it.” [US Department of Defense, 12/13/2001 ]

The release of the tape, which is said to be found by US intelligence officers in Jalalabad, will be a major news story, and the tape will be taken by the media as proof of bin Laden’s responsibility for 9/11. President Bush will comment, “For those who see this tape, they’ll realize that not only is he guilty of incredible murder, he has no conscience and no soul, that he represents the worst of civilization.” British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw will add, “By boasting about his involvement in the evil attacks, bin Laden confirms his guilt.” [BBC, 12/14/2001; Fox News, 12/14/2001; CNN, 12/16/2001] However, the tape will later be disputed from three points of view:
The accuracy of the translation will be questioned (see December 20, 2001). For example, the man thought to be bin Laden does not say “we calculated in advance the number of casualties,” but “we calculated the number of casualties”;
An analyst will conclude that the tape was actually made earlier as a part of a US-run sting operation (see (September 26, 2001));
Some commentators will question whether the person in the video is actually bin Laden (see December 13, 2001). In mid-2002, Al Jazeera reporter Yosri Fouda will allegedly interview al-Qaeda figures Ramzi bin al-Shibh and Khalid Shaikh Mohammed (see April, June, or August 2002). In a 2003 book he will co-write, Fouda will claim that he asked an unnamed al-Qaeda operative who was setting up the interview if the bin Laden video was fake. This person will supposedly reply: “No. The tape, the brothers said—I am not sure whether they left it behind or not—but the Sheikh [bin Laden], yes, was talking to someone from Mecca.” [Fouda and Fielding, 2003, pp. 135] I've written before about how Jalalabad, Afghanistan is loaded with men who dress and look like the notorious terrorist leader. You just have to drive down the main street to see how remarkably similar so many men look to Usama bin Laden. This Mujahideen leader adopted the culture of this part of Afghanistan. A body double would be no trouble, there must have been many - and they weren't receiving pay from the CIA to perform the role.

December 13, 2001: Authenticity of Bin Laden ‘Confession’ Video Is Disputed

The man in the picture on the left is supposed to
be bin Laden in October 2001. The picture on the
right is undisputendly bin Laden in December
[Source: Reuters]


Following the release of a home video in which Osama bin Laden apparently confesses to involvement in 9/11 (see Mid-November 2001), some commentators question its authenticity, as a number of strange facts about the video soon emerge. For example, all previous videos had been made with the consent of bin Laden, and usually released to the Arabic television channel Al Jazeera. This video was supposedly recorded without his knowledge, found in a house in Afghanistan, and then passed to the CIA by an unknown person or group. Experts point out that it would be possible to fake such a video. So many people doubt the video’s authenticity that President Bush soon makes a statement, saying it was “preposterous for anybody to think this tape was doctored. Those who contend it’s a farce or a fake are hoping for the best about an evil man.” [Guardian, 12/15/2001] Some commentators will suggest that the person thought to be bin Laden is not actually the al-Qaeda leader. For example, arabist Kevin Barrett will say that the person in the video is “at least 40 or 50 pounds heavier, and his facial features [are] obviously different.” [Capital Times (Madison), 2/14/2006] The man said to be bin Laden also makes some questionable statements in the video:
“I was thinking that the fire from the gas in the plane would melt the iron structure of the building…” [US Department of Defense, 12/13/2001 ] The jet fuel spilled from the planes burned up about 10 minutes after impact (see 8:57 a.m. September 11, 2001), the towers’ structure did not melt (see September 12, 2001-February 2002), and the towers were not made of iron, but steel. [National Institute of Standards and Technology, 9/2005, pp. 6] Bin Laden had studied civil engineering at university and had experience as a construction contractor. [Burke, 2004, pp. 47; Laden, 2005, pp. xii-xiii] It is unclear why he would think the towers were made of iron.
“We did not reveal the operation to [the brothers who conducted the operation] until they are there and just before they boarded the planes.” [US Department of Defense, 12/13/2001 ] All the hijackers purchased tickets for the 9/11 flights about two weeks in advance (see August 25-September 5, 2001). The six plot leaders had flight training (see July 6-December 19, 2000, (June 28-December 2000), January-February 2001, and May 5 and 10, 2000), and some of the other 13 are thought to have assisted with target surveillance and casing flights (see May 24-August 14, 2001, August 1, 2001, June 2001 and August 2001).
“Those who were trained to fly didn’t know the others. One group of people did not know the other group.” [US Department of Defense, 12/13/2001 ] The opposite is true: the pilots intermingled with the muscle and the teams for the various planes mixed (see April 23-June 29, 2001, April 12-September 7, 2001, and June 27-August 23, 2001).
There are reports that bin Laden had from four to ten look-alike doubles at the time. [Agence France-Presse, 10/7/2001; London Times, 11/19/2001] Ask the question, "Why would anyone attack the United States, of all places, with a hot button president like George W. Bush in office?" You will not find any suitable answers. The only possible reaction to such an attack would be what it was, the unwarranted deaths of hundreds and hundreds of thousands of Middle eastern people. What kind of a war hero would bring that kind of wrath to the people of a place they adopted as their home? You are to believe that these massive 9/11 attacks were conducted from a cave, by a man dying from kidney failure - well documented at the time, who totally denied having anything to do with it. No way. Then you have the whole WMD fiasco in Iraq...

December 26, 2001: Bin Laden Again Denies 9/11 Involvement, but Praises Hijackers

Osama bin Laden making
his “Nineteen Students” speech.
[Source: Al Jazeera]


Osama bin Laden makes a new video statement about 9/11, again denying the US has enough evidence against him to warrant an attack on Afghanistan (see September 16, 2001 and September 28, 2001), which he calls “a vicious campaign based on mere suspicion.” However, in what Professor Bruce Lawrence calls “his most extended and passionate celebration of the hijackers of 9/11,” he praises the 19 who carried out “the blessed strikes against global unbelief and its leader America.” He says of the hijackers, “It was not nineteen Arab states that did this deed. It was not Arab armies or ministries who humbled the oppressor who harms us in Palestine and elsewhere. It was nineteen post-secondary school students—I beg Allah almighty to accept them—who shook America’s throne, struck its economy right in the heart, and dealt the biggest military power a mighty blow, by the grace of Allah Almighty.” He continues by saying that the hijackers “are the people who have given up everything for the sake of ‘There is no Allah but Allah.’” He also criticizes Israel’s occupation of Palestine, and suggests that Israel is trying to expand its borders to Medina, currently in Saudi Arabia. Bin Laden also attacks the sanctions against Iraq, which he notes have resulted in “the murder of over a million children.” [Laden, 2005, pp. 145-157] Bin Laden’s left arm appears to be injured in the video, fueling speculation he was wounded in the battle for Afghanistan [CNN, 7/23/2002] No new videotapes of Bin Laden speaking are released for nearly three years after this (see October 29, 2004). [BBC, 10/30/2004]


Lest we forget the bogus account of Navy SEAL's capturing and killing bin Laden in Abbotobad, Pakistan. There is a long list of reasons he could not possibly have been there, the man had a huge price tag on his head, people believe widely that he helped bring a major disruption to the region in terms of a U.S. military occupation, he was dying of kidney failure years earlier, and would have had to have received years of dialysis treatment in a cave to have survived very long after 9/11 at all.

Remember that the majority of the Navy SEAL's involved in that operation must have believed they were actually going to capture the man. Remember too that the majority of that SEAL team died in a helicopter crash in Afghanstan shortly after the alleged bin Laden killing, that was in fact, the largest loss of life in a single aircraft incident in the entire war, what were the odds? I don't think that their deaths were a coincidence. I have great respect for Navy SEAL's and in no way believe they are part of the deception.

The analogy of bin Laden attacking the most populated U.S. city and national capital, would be a person living in a gang neighborhood murdering a couple of members of the larger gang, knowing that retribution would be their own family and friend's imminent destruction.

I guess we have to assume that even bin Laden himself was baffled into believing that the 19 students were actually responsible for the tragedy of 9/11. I must admit it has been a journey, as the various articles I have written about this man over the years reflect.

Invoking the image of a dead man to wage what really amounts to WWIII, is one of the gravest evils in modern history.

http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a091201aidedenies#a091201aidedenies

Articles by Tim King about bin Laden:

May-01-2013: Rumsfeld Announced $2.3 TRILLION Was Missing from Pentagon One Day Before 9/11

Feb-21-2013: Waging War Over Natural Gas

Feb-03-2013: Another Navy SEAL, Another Violent Death

Dec-17-2012: 'Tere Bin Laden' is Paralyzingly Funny! (Unlike the True Story)

Sep-11-2012: SEALed & Delivered: Account of Abbottabad Ensnares Obama in Impossible bin Laden Scenario

Sep-11-2012: 9/11 Hijackers Passports were Issued by CIA - US Consulate Whistleblower

Jul-19-2012: Former CIA Agent Publicly States: Osama bin Laden Died Five Years Ago

Jun-19-2012: Bombshell: Newly Released CIA Documents Prove Bush Could have Killed Bin Laden; Prevented 911

May-07-2012: Abandoning Afghanistan, Great Job America

Sep-08-2011: Ahmad Massoud: the Lion in the Path of Understanding 9/11

Sep-03-2011: Gearing Up for 911

Jul-16-2010: The Tragic Red Sacrifice in Afghanistan

May-06-2011: 'Lion Sheik' bin Laden and the Confused American Public

May-01-2011: Osama Bin Laden's Death Claimed, But How Does One Kill a Corpse?

Jan-21-2011: Terrorism by the Numbers

Aug-01-2010: Great American Heroes: Ho Chi Minh, Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden

Jun-18-2010: A Colorado Ex-Con's Quest to Kill bin Laden

Sep-11-2007: Afghanistan: Is Osama bin Laden Alive and Well? (VIDEO)