Radio Iran says Bin Laden caught
Iran is saying in their statement that Pakistan will deny it until a war with Iraq begins. Pakistan vigoursly denies it and says they have no idea where he is.
This was doing the rounds last week - IIRC Rush Limbaugh had it on his site, saying it originated with the Jerusalem Post. Can’t find the cite, unfortunately.
Well…not really sure I can trust any statement coming out of Iran. Now, I mistrust all governments everywhere, but reserve particular mistrust for those founded on theology and/or totalitarian principles. Sounds like propaganda and may be linked to their support of one of the main Iraqi opposition factions. It would give them an excuse to ask for US withdrawal after the war (‘hey you got bin Laden even if you are not admitting it, so leave Iraq’) to allow this faction to gain control. Possibly to set up a shi’ite state?
I do not really trust the denial much more, but I think the Iranians have more to gain by fabricating a capture than the Pakistanis do by a denial
Given that analysis, Unwritten, how would it benefit Israel for the rumour to be propagated?
Uh HUH. :dubious:
Pakistan doesn’t want to admit that Bin Laden is in their country.
They would rather let him stay than admit how WRONG they were before.
I guess I don’t really understand why Pakistan would wait until an Iraq invasion started to announce this, if it were true.
Any ideas why that would be believable?
how does Iran benefit from a war between Iraq and whoever else?
Without beating the subject to death, Iran and Saddam Hussein are not exactly buddies.
First, I give you the Iran-Iraq War of 1980-1988, a very, very bloody affair. They’re actually still holding prisoners of war from that conflict: here’s a recent story about it.
Second, the current government of Iran came about as the result of a fundamentalist Islamic revolution, whereas the government of Iraq is a secular military dictatorship that occasionally pays lip service to Islam, but no more than that.
Third, Iran is primarily Shiite Moslem, whereas the Sunni Moslems predominate in Iraq. After the Gulf War, it was the minority Shiites in southern Iraq who tried to break away from Saddam’s rule, unsuccessfully.
Fourth, an American invasion and occupation of Iraq would strengthen the hand of the hard-liners in Iran, who are under some pressure from the more moderate elements of Iranian society. They’ll be able to point at the U.S. military government sitting in Baghdad and say, “See, we told you that the U.S. was the Great Satan, bent solely upon the destruction of Islam. And now here they are, the infidels, controlling the historic heart of the Islamic world! We were right all along!”
Finally, it diverts attention from them, while they quietly strive to build nuclear weapons.
Well, then. Sounds like we better get to the bombing!
Yeah. We don’t want OBL’s dialysis machine to konk out on us before he’s sentenced. His execution will be a huge PPV main event 
.