The
Asia Times is reporting:
Asia Times Online has learned from an operative close to the al-Qaeda leadership that bin Laden languishes on a dialysis machine, in rapidly declining health.
That certainly explains why he's only been heard in audio tapes recently.
So where is Osama?
According to the article, Osama is in a city in northern Pakistan. The informant says:
"He [bin Laden] asked all of us to pray for his health. For the past many months he has been on dialysis and just cannot move. My father never told me where he was when he met Osama ... but he was worried about his fast-waning health."
In the wake of the latest Osama Bin Laden tape, Pravda has likewise reported that Osama Bin Laden is in poor health:
Over the past year and a half, al-Zawahiri has released the majority of statements from the jihadist network's inner circle, many of them in the form of videos. This could be a result of al-Zawahiri's greater ability to move around. Bin Laden, by contrast, uses primarily audio statements, sometimes accompanied by old video or still pictures. This suggests either his physical appearance has deteriorated significantly since he was last seen, or concerns for his security require him to limit statements to the more easily produced and transmitted audio format to reduce the chances of Western intelligence tracking his location. If bin Laden's health has deteriorated to the point that his appearance would give the impression of weakness or impending death, showing a video could damage al Qaeda's public perception. For these reasons, bin Laden is unlikely to be seen on video unless he determines that it is absolutely essential to further his goals.
Former CIA agent, Gary Schroen, has been saying for over a year that the Pakistani Intelligence Service (ISI), who were instrumental in the Taliban's rise to power in Afghanistan, know where Bin Laden is and are protecting him:
Schroen claims that Musharraf wasn't helping the U.S. forces to seriously crackdown on the Bin Laden. "He's hiding in Pakistan in the northern tribal areas above Peshawar - an area that is rugged, hilly, heavily forested. The U.S. government and the U.S. military are not authorized by the Musharraf government to enter there unilaterally. As long as he stays in place, it is going to be almost impossible to find him," Schroen was quoted by The Daily Times as saying...
..."I can only speculate, but it is based on almost 20 years of dealing with the Pakistani military and ISI officers. I think at some level, probably the colonel level, there are officers probably in ISI who know where Bin Laden is, "A man of that caliber (Bin Laden) could not be hidden out for that many years without word getting out in the community. So, I think some people probably know within ISI and the military."
As far back as 2004, the India Times was reporting that Bin Laden was regularly receiving dialysis treatment at a miltary hospital in northern Pakistan, near Peshawar.
Has the Bush Administration decided that the risk to Musharraf in going after Bin Laden in Pakistan is too great?