New Clues in the Hunt for bin Laden?
EmailPakistani officials say the arrest of a top al Qaeda commander could provide clues to the whereabouts of hidden terror cells around the world and to his superiors, Ayman al Zawahiri and Osama bin Laden. Pakistani police tell ABC News they arrested Matiur Rehman based on leads in the investigation of the foiled plot to blow up U.S.-bound airplanes from London. U.S. law enforcement officials say they have been notified by their counterparts in Pakistan that Rehman is in custody. U.S. intelligence officials say they cannot confirm his arrest and remain skeptical of the reports. Rehman is regarded as the connection between al Qaeda and a large network of Pakistani extremists in major cities around the world. He reportedly has the list of thousands of Pakistanis who trained in the al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan in the late 1990s. "If they found that piece of documentation, we will see hundreds, if not thousands, of arrests around the world," said Alexis Debat, an ABC News consultant and counter-terrorism fellow at the Nixon Center. Debat says Rehman would communicate with Zawahiri and bin Laden through couriers, but that he would have current information on their approximate whereabouts.
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Hello Brian you do such a wonderful investigative work that makes me really proud of ABC news…You and the Peter worked so well and i missed him so much; it breaks my heart to think that he left us so soon..
Posted by: regine | August 18, 2006, 4:18 pm 4:18 pm
I am wondering what damage, if any, reporting that Rehman has been captured may have on efforts to find Bin Laden. If I caught wind that an associate of mine who knew my approximate whereabouts were captured, well I’d probably pack up and move somewhere else. I’d rather hear nothing of Rehman’s supposed capture and wait for Bin Laden’s capture than to spoil the hunt.
Posted by: A. Baker | August 18, 2006, 5:28 pm 5:28 pm
catch this guy already!
Posted by: stephen | August 18, 2006, 5:37 pm 5:37 pm
sorry but this is exactly the kind of story we shouldn’t hear about until after BIN Laden is caught, why are we tipping our hand as to the info we have???
why not broadcast ” attn MR Bin Laden, We may know where you are so why not go ahgead and leave that area before we can track you down?? Same goes for tipping our hand on how we are going to execute a war strategy, We are TOO open, and don’t get me started on all these idiaots complaining we are monitoring calls of people with known terorists ties. Comon, lets let poeple do there jobs, what AlQueda doesn’t watch tv or read the newspapers??
Posted by: Kevin | August 18, 2006, 5:50 pm 5:50 pm
ABCnews *must* report *all* facts including any facts that allow bin Laden to escape. They have been very faithful in this regard. After all, ABCnews has no obligation to be patriotic, only to sell the advertised products on the top and bottom of this page.
Posted by: DP | August 18, 2006, 5:55 pm 5:55 pm
ABC News has to report this. You don’t think that Bin Laden knows that this guy has been captured? All it takes is one missed meeting/courier and he’ll figure it out. ABC News did the right thing here.
Posted by: FH | August 18, 2006, 6:26 pm 6:26 pm
Gee Brian, looks like you hit a grand slam. Why not take you above feedback and act accordingly.
Your friend and pal,
Sal Manella
Posted by: Sal Manella | August 18, 2006, 6:27 pm 6:27 pm
I, too, am waiting for Bin Laden to be captured with the help of his comrades, lets not prolong the issue by assisting with our public broadcasts of realtime search updates and troop locations. I’m also hoping he squirms and begs for life like his counterpart Saddam did when removed from his hole. His followers might then second guess their 77 virgin prize, or at least the gender, if Bin Laden reacts as Saddam did. I’d rather see the entire sequence of tracking down Bin Laden then capturing on Discovery Channel sooner that reading short articles that help him to elude capture thus extending capture.
Posted by: Sully | August 18, 2006, 6:36 pm 6:36 pm
I’ll bet Pakistan has a special water board with his name on it. Aahhh, ya that thought felt good to write.
Posted by: Tex Gilman | August 18, 2006, 6:43 pm 6:43 pm
It doesn’t make a difference if he’s caught or not. Th American Civil Liberties Union will get him off anyway
Posted by: gabriel sayeg | August 18, 2006, 6:44 pm 6:44 pm
I truly wish that the United States media would wait before reporting sensitive issues such as the arrest of Matiur Rehman. Giving our military and the CIA a chance of following up on any possible leads before reporting any sensitive issue could help us get out of the horrid dilemmas created by an administration that clearly does not have any follow-up plans.
Posted by: Carr54 | August 18, 2006, 6:47 pm 6:47 pm
I agree. Those who got captured are the most valuable resources for us to catch Bin Laden.
However, I still have some concern toward some arrogant acts toward those who are recently trying to rule out some illteligenct resources such as wiretapping policy. What for? We are now in war with terrorism. Why do we need to fight with one another for?
How are we going to catch the big fish if we do not have the right tool? It is about the legality of the National Security Agency’s program, which the White House said is a key tool for fighting terrorism that has already stopped attacks.
What I am concerning of is that such rule-out will be harder to our government surveillance program, government’s wiretapping policy. If such arrogant people like Ann Beeson and Anna Diggs Taylor ruled out that policy, then
the process of catching Bin Laden will indeed be burdensome for those intelligent officials who are trying to protect all American people from the bad guys; in which Ann Beeson and Anna Diggs Taylor indeed are also among those people who also need some protection from the those global terrorists.
The bottom line is that they need to think again. We are in a war!!!!
Posted by: Andy | August 18, 2006, 7:06 pm 7:06 pm
Well stated DP.
We must remember that Big Media today is really nothing more than another Advertising Agency!
Posted by: Shane Wilson | August 18, 2006, 7:16 pm 7:16 pm
If they thought the information would harm thier efforts you woul dnot have heard about it.+
Posted by: Robert | August 18, 2006, 7:56 pm 7:56 pm
ABCnews has no obligation to be patriotic, but the PEOPLE that work there and report SHOULD be patriotic and if they are not, they should at least respect the country they live in enough not to publicize possible leads to catch the deadliest known terrorist in the world.
Posted by: JH | August 18, 2006, 8:20 pm 8:20 pm
The relatives of 9=11 got rich. If I was at my job and got killed, or if I was driving to my job and got killed, do you think my family would get compensated? Living and dying is a way of life. Do you think my relatives could come up to the government and say a terrorist planted a cow in the rode and when I was going to work, I hit it and died? Like I said, Living has it’s risks and I don’t feel sorry for anyone.
Posted by: Robin | August 18, 2006, 8:49 pm 8:49 pm
we just do not get it, do we…do you read any of these comments?? Awesome wisdom from we the people… let these comments be your leadoff ….
Posted by: marie Parker | August 18, 2006, 8:57 pm 8:57 pm
When is the news media going to smarten up? How about we let intelligence sources cull the data before alerting every nook of the terrorist underground to the activities at hand. And the world wonders why it has taken so long to track Bin Laden’s whereabouts.
Posted by: Edward | August 18, 2006, 9:13 pm 9:13 pm
Well lets also look at it this way.. if we say we may have the whereabouts of bin laden he’ll be on the run.. and now we can spot him easier? maybe? i agree some stories are better left not told for now.. but maybe this will chase the rat from the hole and we’ll get him hopefully
Posted by: john | August 18, 2006, 9:51 pm 9:51 pm
Why are you making this type of information public? Wouldn’t it serve us all better if these known details were used to help capture Bin Laden and his cronies rather than warn them ‘We’re on to them”? These scoundrels rely on our openness and naivete to live to kill another day…
Posted by: Rodolfo | August 18, 2006, 10:19 pm 10:19 pm
Unless and until US military gets it’s boots on the ground in the lawless region bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan, US will never ever get a slightest clue about whereabouts of Bin Laden and Jawahiri. If US continue to “outsource” the job of hunting Bin Laden and Jawahiri to Pakistani military and continue to rely upon Pakistani intelligence service then may god really save US. It’s amazing that after 5 years of the sad events of 9/11, US still hasen’t got a slightest clue about whereabouts of Bin Laden and Jawahiri. Moreover the smartest people of US administration, FBI and CIA are still “day dreaming” that one day Pakistani military and it’s intelligence service will get Bin Laden and Jawahiri and hand over to US. Come on wake up you guys. It’s a high time for you guys to do something real for your country. The murderers of 3000 innocent american civilians are roaming in the lawless region bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan. Can’t you understand that there are hard-line islamic extremist elements in Pakistani military and their intelligence service, who will never ever get Bin Laden and Jawahiri to you. Please do understand that your technologically most advanced intelligence gathering equipments and tactics had failed to give you a slightest clue about these 2 islamic terrorists. You must infiltrate their network and organization using human intelligence. Ultimately infiltration of human intelligence of their network and organization will get you those 2 terrorists.
Posted by: Raju Vallamulai | August 18, 2006, 11:09 pm 11:09 pm
This is a great scoop. Nice job guys. You’ve done some great work on GWOT news.
Posted by: Mark | August 18, 2006, 11:16 pm 11:16 pm
US must understand that it’s very dangerous for US military to go into the lawless region bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan. Islamic hard-line elements and terrorists enjoy an overwhelming local support in that region. Further local population is very hostile to US. Moreover islamic terrorists there are very well trained, armed, equipped and funded by Saudi, UAE, Quatar and Iran’s “black gold, oil money”. Iran has been buying technologically advanced, modern and sophisticated warfare equipments from Russia and supplying to hesbollah as well as Al Quaida, so US military must be ready for harsh surprises of war. The terrain in that region is very well known to these terrorists, it’s their home ground and it’s perfect for their terrorist activities and gurrilla warfare tactics. US military’s conventional warfare tactics will not help US in any way. Most importantly US can’t rely upon Pakistani military or Pakistani intelligence service since both of them are infiltrated by hard-line islamic elements who are heavily sympathetic to islamic extremists and terrorist ideology of Bin Laden and Jawahiri.
Posted by: Raju Vallamulai | August 18, 2006, 11:18 pm 11:18 pm
Osama died in December of 2001 at Tota Bora. When are you folks going to pull your heads out of your third points of contact?
Never mind, live in fear. Osama is teh evil, and al Qaeda is not a thing dreamed up t prosecute OBL in absentia for the embassy bombings under existing RICO laws.
Nope, not at all.
Posted by: Howling | August 19, 2006, 12:19 am 12:19 am
What is your problem? Thanks for alowing Bin Laden to move his pieces. I love ABC News, but this reporting must stop immediately. How annoying must it be for those that are hunting him down. I can’t imagine.
Posted by: Hector Arteaga | August 19, 2006, 8:15 am 8:15 am
Vengeance breeds hatred and simply escalates the upward spiral of violence. Forget about bin Laden. We have already spent too much money looking for him and killing innocent Afghan and Pakistani men in search of him. America has this bounty hunter mentality about the whole of evil in the world. It’s so pathetically simplistic and harmful. Killing bin Laden will change nothing. The more attention he is given, the more power he retains.
Posted by: Marcus Jones | August 19, 2006, 10:41 am 10:41 am
I understand the sentiment expressed by some here about this type of information should not be released and I have criticized ABC News on similar issues before.
But we need to understand this was not released or uncovered by ABC News exclusively.
The Pakistanis have released this info and others pieces like it many times and wrongly so!
Either they are over eager to show the world they are fighting terror despite the fact everyone knows Bin Laden is in their country and they won’t go and get him or they release it with the intention of informing AQQ operatives that they have been compromised and should move so Pakistan can claim they got away.
In either case we should save the criticism of ABC for items that truly are created by ABC itself.
If we treat them in fairness and only chastize ABC for problems they actually create maybe they will listen and act more responsibly when they are the only source of information that should not be made public.
once the cat is out of the bag ABC has a right and an obligation to it’s viewers to report on it.
What we need ABC to do is to not be the first source that allows other news organization to report on information that should be not be made public.
If we want them to act as a responsible news organization we must also be responsible for not pinning the tail on the wrong donkey here!
Pakistan must be made to understand this information is better left unsaid until all of the leads it might provide have been followed and arrests are made!
they don’t seem to get this and if they are smart enough to make a nuke they should also be smart enough to know that this information should not get out!
Posted by: moleary | August 19, 2006, 10:49 am 10:49 am
No country has been more helpful in apprehending Al Qeda operatives than Pakistan.
Had it not been for Pakistan, we wouldn’t have had such an easy time occupying Afghanistan – just compare our casualties in Iraq to those in Afghanistan. 7000 US Marines landed on Pakistani shores and transited through Pakistan on their way to Afghanistan, and Pakistan Air Force turned over three of its bases to the US military for operations in Afghanistan. How many Pakistani soldiers would we be willing to allow into the US?
Pakistan has captured all the senior Al-Qaeda operatives who are now in our custody, and it has lost over 600 soldiers and hundreds more civilians in this effort.
In spite of all this if we still accuse Pakistanis of being extremists then it is us who has the problem, not the Pakistanis. It is this unappreciative attitude, and unjustified criticism that makes other countries reluctant to cooperate with us, and then we wonder why no one likes us.
Whatever your beef is against Pakistan, get over it. Put your back into supporting countries like Pakistan so that we can win this bloody war once and for all.
Posted by: Candid | August 19, 2006, 12:55 pm 12:55 pm
It’s amazing that most of the posters here turned off Fox News long enough to read this story. Maybe Fox carried the story and commanded the faithful to post here to show their displeasure at not being kept ignorant and happy.
Posted by: Mike Guidry | August 19, 2006, 4:00 pm 4:00 pm
No doubt Bin Laden will be caught in late October, just in time for the November election.
Posted by: Tom | August 20, 2006, 1:57 am 1:57 am
Hear,see, ask who,what,when, where, confirm, report then ask why.
Lead us only toward the truth. The rest is entertainment.
Tom
Posted by: tOM | August 20, 2006, 8:02 pm 8:02 pm
You guys who think the media is giving everything away? Pay attention. We STOPPED looking for Osama Been Forgotten in 2005.
Alec Station was shut down in 2005.
For Fox viewers, that’s the CIA group tasked with catching Osama Been Forgotten, whom Bush vowed to capture “dead or alive” (speech from 9/17/2001, whitehouse.gov) but yet later ended up “not that concerned about him.” (speech from 3/13/2003, whitehouse.gov).
Posted by: Sid | August 20, 2006, 10:40 pm 10:40 pm
Tom,
It is less likely that Osama will be caught and more likely that he will release a new video in an effort to crank of the voting publics’s fears so that they will keep the Republicans in power.
It is funny how we look to a bunch of talkers to protect us, when the vast majority of the hawkish, conservative right leaning, Republicans have never worn the uniform of their country. It is so much easier to send our boys to fight, to die, or to be maimed when your exerience is based on Hollywood movies. Most probably found “Saving Private Ryan” or “Band of Brothers” offensive.
Posted by: Boo Man | August 21, 2006, 2:10 pm 2:10 pm
Who cares about Bin Laden. Go after the money. No money= no organization.
Posted by: Dvd | August 21, 2006, 2:28 pm 2:28 pm
If the media seems to always know where Bin Lauden is, why should he not be caught by international troops?
Posted by: Sal Risoni | August 21, 2006, 3:48 pm 3:48 pm
U r all to busy blaming it on the press. How about your president who has failed to catch him. I wonder if they even want to get him. The fear of him out there is greater that in jail?
Posted by: jace | August 21, 2006, 6:03 pm 6:03 pm
Isn’t it time we (ie the US & the UK, Bush & Blair)got the message and got the hell out of Iraq and Afghanistan? Let’s leave these beleaguered countries to sort themselves out, even if that means civil war. This wouldn’t be giving in to the terrorists, it would be a victory for common sense. Let’s concentrate our efforts on rounding up the small minority of terrorists / fundamentalists / extremeists known collectively as AL Queda. Let’s try them in our courts and then lock them away for good. Let’s do it quickly before the entire Islamic populations of our countries become alienated completely and set back the multicultural / pluralistic clock by decades.
Posted by: Big John | August 21, 2006, 6:20 pm 6:20 pm
One may ask the question of the true intent of actually making this knowledge public. Are we trying to stir the rat out of its hiding place?
Posted by: Tommy 67 | August 22, 2006, 1:48 am 1:48 am
Lets face it, we’re really not that much closer at all to capturing Bin Laden then we were 4-5 years ago. Actually, we were closer then…
The only way we’ll catch him is probably if one of his own rats him out.
Posted by: ATTW | August 22, 2006, 2:51 pm 2:51 pm
I think we will never find him as long as bush is president. everybody knows it is all about the oil. my question is does bush thinks we are really that stupid! even though i vote every year i still think that not even voting can really help us with terrorist.
Posted by: phillip | September 26, 2006, 6:51 pm 6:51 pm
shes right
Posted by: saif | August 31, 2009, 5:25 pm 5:25 pm