how do we know?

Working on a post, but someone asked me how I know that bin Laden is dead. Granted, I was unable to whip the death certificate out of my purse, which I freely admitted.

First of all, common sense tells us that he must be dead or, if not, on the payroll, to account for the fact that the US military with all it's amazing and largely secret technology has not been able to shake him out for nine years.



But here are a few sources that took just a few minutes to track down, to help answer this question. If anyone has any favorite links on Osama, please feel free to leave them in the comments. Many thanks.

Tim Osman aka Usama/Osama document, via WRH -- click to enlarge

Bin Laden was met in July 2001 at the American hospital at Dubai

Source: AFP via Babelfish, Le Figaro (Paris)

http://www.afp.com/ext/francais/compuserve/der/011031025142.8ryyfvvb.html

AFP via Babelfish translation (with corrections)

Wednesday October 31 2001 - 2h51 GMT

PARIS, Oct. 31 (AFP) - Osama Bin Laden was treated in July at the American hospital in Dubaï where he met a person in charge of the CIA, the French daily newspaper the Barber and Radio International France (RFI) reported on Wednesday.

The two medias quoted "a witness, professional partner of the administrative direction of the hospital", as confirming that the man that the United States suspects of having financed the attacks of September 11 arrived on July 4 at Dubaï by plane coming from Quetta, in Pakistan.

Osama was immediately transferred to the hospital for a renal processing (Kidney Dialysis). He left the establishment on July 14, adds the Barber.

During this stay, reports the daily newspaper, the local representative of the CIA was seen going in the room of Bin Laden.

"A few days later, the CIA man bragged in front of some friends that he had visited the billionaire saudi".

According to the Barber and RFI who quote an "authorized source", the representative of the CIA was recalled to Washington on July 15.

Bin Laden is sought by the United States for terrorism since the attacks against the American embassies of Kenya and Tanzania in 1998. But Osama's links with the CIA are older and go up back to the time where Bin Laden took part in the combat in Afghanistan against the Soviet forces.

According to the Barber, Bin Laden was accompanied in Dubaï by his personal doctor and faithful lieutenant, tentatively identified as the Egyptian Ayman Al-Zawahari, by bodyguards, and an Algerian male nurse.

Osama was treated by urologist Doctor Terry Callaway, a specialist in the renal calculi (kidney problems) and male infertility. Contacted by telephone on several occasions, the doctor did not wish to answer questions.

Several sources had already given a report on a serious renal infection of Bin Laden, who has installed a mobile dialysis machine in his Afghan den of Kandahar during first six-month period 2000, according to "authorized sources" quoted by the French daily newspaper and RFI.

Bush Administration knew the whereabouts of Osama on September 10, by Michel Chossudovsky, 11/16/03

If the CBS report by Dan Rather is accurate and Osama had indeed been admitted to the Pakistani military hospital on September 10, 2001,  courtesy of America's ally, he was in all likelihood still in hospital in Rawalpindi on the 11th of September, when the attacks occurred.  In all probability, his whereabouts were known to US officials on the morning of September 12, when Secretary of State Colin Powell initiated negotiations with Pakistan, with a view to arresting and extraditing bin Laden. (read more)

Fox News: Report: Bin Laden Already Dead, 12/26/01

Usama bin Laden has died a peaceful death due to an untreated lung complication, the Pakistan Observer reported, citing a Taliban leader who allegedly attended the funeral of the Al Qaeda leader.

"The Coalition troops are engaged in a mad search operation but they would never be able to fulfill their cherished goal of getting Usama alive or dead," the source said.
Bin Laden, according to the source, was suffering from a serious lung complication and succumbed to the disease in mid-December, in the vicinity of the Tora Bora mountains. The source claimed that bin Laden was laid to rest honorably in his last abode and his grave was made as per his Wahabi belief.

About 30 close associates of bin Laden in Al Qaeda, including his most trusted and personal bodyguards, his family members and some "Taliban friends," attended the funeral rites. A volley of bullets was also fired to pay final tribute to the "great leader."
The Taliban source who claims to have seen bin Laden's face before burial said "he looked pale ... but calm, relaxed and confident."

Asked whether bin Laden had any feelings of remorse before death, the source vehemently said "no." Instead, he said, bin Laden was proud that he succeeded in his mission of igniting awareness amongst Muslims about hegemonistic designs and conspiracies of "pagans" against Islam. Bin Laden, he said, held the view that the sacrifice of a few hundred people in Afghanistan was nothing, as those who laid their lives in creating an atmosphere of resistance will be adequately rewarded by Almighty Allah.

When asked where bin Laden was buried, the source said, "I am sure that like other places in Tora Bora, that particular place too must have vanished."

Software called capable of copying any human voice, NYT, 7/31/01