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Title: CIA agent alleged to have met Bin Laden in July French report claims terrorist leader stayed in Dubai hospital
Source:
The Guardian UK
URL Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/waronterror/story/0,1361,584444,00.html
Published: Feb 22, 2006
Author: Anthony Sampson
Post Date: 2006-02-22 09:19:10 by Zipporah
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Keywords: terrorist, hospital, alleged
Views: 82
Comments: 10
Thursday November 1, 2001 The Guardian Two months before September 11 Osama bin Laden flew to Dubai for 10 days for treatment at the American hospital, where he was visited by the local CIA agent, according to the French newspaper Le Figaro. The disclosures are known to come from French intelligence which is keen to reveal the ambiguous role of the CIA, and to restrain Washington from extending the war to Iraq and elsewhere. Bin Laden is reported to have arrived in Dubai on July 4 from Quetta in Pakistan with his own personal doctor, nurse and four bodyguards, to be treated in the urology department. While there he was visited by several members of his family and Saudi personalities, and the CIA. Article continues The CIA chief was seen in the lift, on his way to see Bin Laden, and later, it is alleged, boasted to friends about his contact. He was recalled to Washington soon afterwards. Intelligence sources say that another CIA agent was also present; and that Bin Laden was also visited by Prince Turki al Faisal, then head of Saudi intelligence, who had long had links with the Taliban, and Bin Laden. Soon afterwards Turki resigned, and more recently he has publicly attacked him in an open letter: "You are a rotten seed, like the son of Noah". The American hospital in Dubai emphatically denied that Bin Laden was a patient there. Washington last night also denied the story. Private planes owned by rich princes in the Gulf fly frequently between Quetta and the Emirates, often on luxurious "hunting trips" in territories sympathetic to Bin Laden. Other sources confirm that these hunting trips have provided opportunities for Saudi contacts with the Taliban and terrorists, since they first began in 1994. Bin Laden has often been reported to be in poor health. Some accounts claim that he is suffering from Hepatitis C, and can expect to live for only two more years. According to Le Figaro, last year he ordered a mobile dialysis machine to be delivered to his base at Kandahar in Afghanistan. Whether the allegations about the Dubai meeting are confirmed or not, the wider leaks from the French secret service throw a worrying light on the rivalries and lack of coordination between intelligence agencies, both within the US and between western allies. A familiar complaint of French intelligence is that collaboration with the Americans has been essentially one-way, with them happy to receive information while giving little in return.
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#1. To: Zipporah (#0)
No wonder monkey boy says he's not looking for ben laden--he's known where is all this time and is protecting his friend. When will the rest of the world's governments wise up to the fact that america is everyone's enemy? Soon the only alies we'll have are the terrorists bushco claims to be fighting.
When will the rest of the world's governments wise up to the fact that america is everyone's enemy? Soon the only alies we'll have are the terrorists bushco claims to be fighting. Amazing isnt it?? I had read this some time ago.. but not from a major source like the Guardian.. so this pretty much confirms it .. Good point!! One problem is that there are so many world leaders that are US friendly.. And if those that are not.. speak out.. look what happens they're put on the enemies list..consider Chavez..
Le Figaro is known to be close to French intelligence.
Ah really? So this report is no doubt valid.. as I said I had read this someplace before.. sometime ago but w/o some confirmation I felt it was just something to take note of .. Now this is interesting from Wikipedia.. : In 1999 the Carlyle Group obtained a 40% stake in the paper, which it later sold in March of 2002. As of 2004, Le Figaro is controlled by Serge Dassault, a conservative businessman and politician best known for running the aircraft manufacturer Dassault Aviation. The ownership of a major national newspaper by a person who also controls a major military supplier, as well as being a mayor and senator from the ruling UMP party, and whose son Olivier Dassault is a member of the French National Assembly for the same party, was highly controversial inside and outside the newspaper. [1] In response, Dassault remarked in an interview on the public radio station France Inter [2], that "newspapers must promulgate healthy ideas", and that "left-wing ideas are not healthy ideas."
Both Le Figaro and Radio France International stand by the story.
Very interesting: During his stay, bin Laden is visited by “several members of his family and Saudi personalities,” including Prince Turki al Faisal, then head of Saudi intelligence. [Guardian, 11/1/01] On July 12, bin Laden reportedly meets with CIA agent Larry Mitchell in the hospital. Mitchell apparently lives in Dubai as an Arab specialist under the cover of being a consular agent. The CIA, the Dubai hospital, and even bin Laden deny the story. The two news organizations that broke the story, Le Figaro and Radio France International, stand by their reporting. [Le Figaro, 10/31/01; Radio France International, 11/1/01] The explosive story is widely reported in Europe, but there are only two, small wire service stories on it in the US. [Reuters, 11/10/01; UPI, 11/1/01] The Guardian claims that the story originated from French intelligence, “which is keen to reveal the ambiguous role of the CIA, and to restrain Washington from extending the war to Iraq and elsewhere.” The Guardian adds that during his stay bin Laden is also visited by a second CIA officer. [Guardian, 11/1/01] In 2003, reporter Richard Labeviere will provide additional details of what he claims happened in a book entitled “The Corridors of Terror.” He claims he learned about the meeting from a contact in the Dubai hospital. He claims the event was confirmed in detail by a Gulf prince who presented himself as an adviser to the Emir of Bahrain. This prince claimed the meeting was arrange by Prince Turki al-Faisal, Saudi Arabia's intelligence director. The prince said, “By organizing this meeting...Turki thought he could start direct negotiations between [bin Laden] and the CIA on one fundamental point: that bin Laden and his supporters end their hostilities against American interests.”
It would have been shortly after that meeting that Prince Turki was dismissed as head of Saudi intelligence.
Great thread you've got going here.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/gulf/turki-bin-faisal.htm "On 31 August 2001 Prince Turki departed from the Saudi Intelligence Services. The official announcement stated that "Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd bin Abdulaziz yesterday relieved Prince Turki Al-Faisal bin Abdulaziz, upon his own request, from his post as Chief of General Intelligence." The resignation came to some as a surprise, though others familiar with the Minister's situation expected the resignation eventually, after a quarter of a century on the job. The precise timing was said to derive from [unstated] circumstances in the Minister's immediate family." Considering the date of these meetings and Bush having said that he would have "The most important thing is for us to find Osama bin Laden. It is our number one priority and we will not rest until we find him." - G.W. Bush, 9/13/01 "I want justice...There's an old poster out West, as I recall, that said, 'Wanted: Dead or Alive,'" - G.W. Bush, 9/17/01, UPI Then says: I don’t know where he is. Nor — you know, I just don’t spend that much time on him really, to be honest with you. I....I truly am not that concerned about him. Something majorly odd about this.. more than odd. Do you recall Bush saying something about wanting bin Laden's head or something to that effect?? I'm unable to find that quote..
I finally found it: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4511943.stm Bring me the head of Bin Laden' The CIA sent a team to Afghanistan days after 9/11 with orders to kill Osama Bin Laden and bring back his head, a former agent has revealed. Gary Schroen flew out soon after the attacks on New York and Washington, helping to set up the 2001 invasion, he told US National Public Radio. He recalled his orders from the CIA's counter-terrorism chief. "Capture Bin Laden, kill him and bring his head back in a box on dry ice," he quoted Cofer Black as saying. As for other leaders of Bin Laden's al-Qaeda network in Afghanistan, Mr Black reportedly said: "I want their heads up on pikes." Contacted by the radio network, Mr Black would not confirm that these were his exact words but he did not dispute Mr Schroen's account. The agent told NPR he had been stunned that, for the first time in 30 years of service, he had received orders to kill targets rather than capture them. But he says he replied: "Sir, those are the clearest orders I have ever received. "I can certainly make pikes out in the field but I don't know what I'll do about dry ice to bring the head back - but we'll manage something." One more mission Mr Schroen, 59 when the planes crashed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania, had just begun the CIA's retirement transition programme but he was asked to put it on hold two days after the attacks of 11 September 2001. As a former station chief in both Kabul and Islamabad, he was considered to be ideally placed for the Afghan mission. According to NPR, there was no doubt at CIA headquarters that the 9/11 attacks were the work of Bin Laden. Mr Schroen was given a double brief, it reported: to liaise with anti-Taleban warlords on the ground as preparation for the overthrow of the regime, and to then assassinate Bin Laden and other top al-Qaeda figures. The agency allowed Mr Schroen to pick his own six-man team and, exactly one week after 9/11, they were on a plane flying to the region, equipped with laptops, hand-held radios, instant coffee and $3m in $100 bills. Mr Schroen has released memoirs called First In, a reference to the fact that he and his team were the first US government personnel on the ground. He says he is surprised that the CIA has still not managed to track down Bin Laden after nearly four years.
Whether the allegations about the Dubai meeting are confirmed or not, the wider leaks from the French secret service throw a worrying light on the rivalries and lack of coordination between intelligence agencies, both within the US and between western allies.
#2. To: fatidic (#1)
No wonder monkey boy says he's not looking for ben laden--he's known where is all this time and is protecting his friend.
#3. To: Zipporah (#2)
#4. To: aristeides (#3)
#5. To: Zipporah (#4)
#6. To: aristeides (#5)
#7. To: Zipporah (#6)
#8. To: Zipporah, aristeides (#6)
#9. To: aristeides (#7)
It would have been shortly after that meeting that Prince Turki was dismissed as head of Saudi intelligence.
#10. To: aristeides (#9)
I don't know what I'll do about dry ice to bring the head back - but we'll manage something 
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