A thread documenting the search for bin Laden.

[link|http://www.portal.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2001/10/03/wtal103.xml&sSheet=/news/2001/10/03/ixhome.html|We can find bin Laden in days, say guerrillas]

Excerpt:

If Western intelligence agencies are to be believed, locating bin Laden has proved enormously difficult. He is reported to travel each day to a new location, only revealing his itinerary at the last moment.

But Afghan commanders say such stories are exaggerated. They contend the country is awash with shepherds, nomads and spies that can locate the world's most wanted man in a matter of days.

Now the whisper from across the front line is that he may have taken refuge in a long, sweeping valley called Dara Kayan, which stretches south from Pol-e Komri. Locals say the rolling valley would afford bin Laden a high degree of protection and keep him away from inquisitive locals.

Former residents say the area has been cleared of its population and attempts made by the Taliban authorities to seal it. A refugee forced out of Dara Kayan said: "It is an open secret bin Laden went there in 1998 after America launched cruise missiles against al-Qa'eda bases near Kandahar."

Commander Momar Hasan of the opposition Northern Alliance, who controls the Dushti Qala front near the border with Tajikistan, said bin Laden had also used the valley as a refuge several times since. He said: "We know from the reports of our people that bin Laden was there much of last year.

"If the Americans want to know where he is they should come to us. We have spies, we have people who could find out. It is really not so difficult." But if the West can locate bin Laden, seizing him may prove harder.

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. They're like model airplanes, but way bigger and a lot more useful.

[link|http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/military_predator.html|Predator UAV]
[link|http://uav.wff.nasa.gov/|NASA's UAV page]
[link|http://www.af.mil/lib/afissues/1997/app_b_16.html|Air Force UAV page]
[link|http://nationaldefense.ndia.org/article.cfm?Id=402|UAV and coastal warfare]
[link|http://www.unmannedaircraft.com/|A site with lots of pictures]

[link|http://www.sundaymirror.co.uk/shtml/NEWS/P2S2.shtml|Asshole son proud of asshole father]

Excerpt:

For the whole interview, despite his determination to get his father's message across to the Western world, he never once acknowledges my presence.

The rules have been made very clear to us. I, as a non-Muslim, am not allowed to speak directly to Abdullah.

He does not shake my hand or look me in the face. There are no familiarities. My Muslim interpreter is offered green tea. But photographer Alban Donohoe and I are simply ignored.

The tense atmosphere and lack of refreshments is a far cry from the warm, even overbearing, hospitality we received from other leading Taliban figures and ordinary Muslims during our travels through Pakistan.

We can only assume it an expression of his personal contempt for all things Western.

What is clearly apparent as he speaks in the Afghan language, Pushto, and waits for his replies to be translated into English - is that 18-year-old Abdullah is a highly intelligent young man, and he is devoted to his father.

Our meeting produces a fascinating insight into the secret life of the man who has triggered the current world crisis.

ABDULLAH reveals that his father is living in a cave in the mountains of Afghanistan - where he fled on the day of the American attacks.

Like his father, he is unbowed by last week's ferocious bombing strikes by the Allied forces on Afghanistan.

He says: "I am not worried that my father will be caught. He has outsmarted the Americans for many years. But, in my heart, I do not know when I will see him again."

Abdullah is one of bin Laden's 42 children. His mother, Sabiha, 45, is the fifth of his five wives.

[link|http://abcnews.go.com/sections/world/DailyNews/STRIKE_MAIN.html|Here]

Excerpt:

Nov. 2 \ufffd The hunt for Osama bin Laden has narrowed to a few complexes of caves and tunnels, intelligence officials tell ABCNEWS, as U.S. bombs continue to pound Taliban troop positions in Afghanistan.

The United States has the suspected mountain hideouts of the alleged terror mastermind under 24-hour surveillance from the air and ground, sources say. Now, the debate is whether to go after bin Laden and other leaders of his al Qaeda terror network by using 5,000-pound "bunker buster" bombs, or to take the greater risk of sending in commandos.
The benefit of sending in special operations forces after bin Laden is the certainty of knowing his fate, experts say.

"I think there's a huge upside for the American and allied effort to actually capturing or very definitively confirming the killing of some of the al Qaeda leaders to include bin Laden," said John Hillen, who was in the U.S. special forces for six years.

Defense sources say that plans for raids against bin Laden's strongholds are constantly being revised and rehearsed. Military planners are waiting for the right information and conditions, and a decision by President Bush to make their move, they say.

[link|http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/article/0,,9002-2001531181,00.html|But he's uncomfortably near the border]

Excerpts:

A British defence intelligence source said he was believed to be "static" somewhere to the southeast of Kandahar. "For a variety of reasons we can be confident that he has not been able to move far." Last night the Taliban envoy to Pakistan refuted claims that Bin Laden had left the country with his wives and children. "Osama is inside Afghanistan but I don't know whether he is in our territory or the area controlled by the Northern Alliance," said Salam Zaeef.

Donald Rumsfeld, the US defence secretary, has warned that Bin Laden might have access to a helicopter that could try to leave Afghanistan for a possible rendezvous with a private jet in Pakistan. However, America has imposed what it calls a "total picture" over the region, meaning that a mixture of satellite, spy plane and special forces cover should enable it to trace any movement on the ground.

The special forces arrived near Kandahar 10 days ago to block off escape routes and engage the enemy. "It has been about aggression and surprise," said one source. "We want to send a clear message that there is no safe way out to the rear of the Kandahar position."

...The plans were thrown into confusion yesterday, however, when Alliance commanders suggested that no more coalition troops would be welcome in the country. Jack Straw, the foreign secretary, telephoned Dr Abdullah Abdullah, his Alliance counterpart, who said last night: "If you are talking about the presence of thousands of fighting troops from outside Afghanistan, this is a major issue which has to be discussed. The events of the past few days showed that the forces which were capable of doing the job on the ground were the forces of the [Alliance]."