A former White House spokesman has lashed out at the US government for using 'Osama bin Laden' as a pretext to continue its occupation of Afghanistan.
Sat Dec 25, 2010
"Since 2004, we have seen no new bin Laden videos," wrote ex-spokesman Robert Weiner and James Lewis, a US national security analyst at Robert Weiner Associates, suggesting bin Laden may be dead.
"We've only heard audios. One video released in 2007 could be a compilation of older videos. So why does the intelligence community continue to support the impression that he's alive?" read the article published in The Washington Times last Thursday.
"Last week, al-Qaeda issued its annual Christmas threat to the United States, promising suicide bombings during the holidays. Here's a better idea for a Christmas present from al-Qaeda: a video showing Osama bin Laden - or his grave," read the article.
"Is bin Laden dead or alive? Nobody seems to know for sure, or, if anybody does, he isn't saying. The White House's Afghanistan-Pakistan review this month didn't even mention him despite an ongoing, decade-long manhunt," said the two analysts in their article.
They also underlined that bin Laden is unlikely to be still alive due to his ill health.
"CIA reports, doctors and biographers have asserted that bin Laden had a range of diseases from typhoid to renal disease, Addison's disease, secondary osteoporosis and Marfan syndrome. Intelligence agencies think that in 2000, he had kidney-dialysis devices shipped to him in Afghanistan. His 1987 biography states that bin Laden was being treated with insulin for diabetes and suffered serious low blood pressure. Is it likely that the most wanted man in the world has been regularly receiving medical attention without detection for the past 10 years?" Weiner and Lewis wrote.
"In 2008, former CIA case officer Robert Baer asserted, 'Of course he's dead'," said the two analysts.
"In 2002 and 2009, Pakistani Presidents Pervez Musharraf and Asif Ali Zardari separately stated that bin Laden was dead. In 2002, FBI counterterrorism chief Dale Watson stated that bin Laden 'probably' was dead," read the article.
The two analysts also raised the possibility of bin Laden lookalikes or impersonators appearing in the videos.
"Everyone in America knows how spot-on impersonations can be. 'Saturday Night Live' ('SNL') has been doing them for years. Without the glasses, Tina Fey is herself; with them, she is Sarah Palin. Even the cast had difficult telling the difference and mixed them up when Mrs. Palin actually showed up. Amy Poehler's Hillary Clinton and Darrell Hammond's Bill Clinton have riveted late-night viewers for decades. Has Tina Fey met her match in al Qaeda?" wrote Weiner and Lewis in their article.
"Al Qaeda wants America and the world to believe bin Laden is still alive. His image is a specter of the horrors of Sept. 11, helping build public support for everything from troop surges a globe away to warrantless wiretaps at home," the article said.
"But the image of bin Laden is getting moldy, and there's little reason for his ghost to scare anyone anymore. If al Qaeda wants America to believe bin Laden is alive, it should put up or shut up," the analysts said.
Weiner and Lewis challenged al Qaeda to "send a new video that can be analyzed properly" to substantiate the terrorist group's claim that bin Laden is still alive.
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