...that's the argument explored in a fascinating post on LittleCountryLost, an superb blog focused on stories left out of the mainstream media. The discussion starts with the clip below, an excerpt of a November '07 interview with Benazir Bhutto, in which she names people who she thinks want to kill her. According to Bhutto, one of these people - Omar Sheikh - "murdered Osama Bin Laden." Watch for yourself:
LittleCountryLost offers a timeline of Bin Laden-related events, and points out a troubling change in Bush administration rhetoric regarding Bin Laden. If he did die some time in the 18 months after 9/11, the case for the war on terror would have suffered, right? In that time period, Bush & Co. certainly shifted the emphasis away from Bin Laden:
September 15, 2001 – President Bush says of bin-Laden, “If he thinks he can hide and run from the United States and our allies, he will be sorely mistaken.”
September 17, 2001 – President Bush says, “I want justice. And there’s an old poster out West, I recall, that says, ‘Wanted: Dead or Alive.’”
November 7, 2001 - Pakistani reporter Hamid Mir interviews Osama bin-Laden in person.
November 25, 2001 - Osama bin-Laden gives his last known public speech to his followers in Milawa, Afghanistan, a village located on the route from Tora Bora to the Pakistani border.
December 15, 2001- Osama bin-Laden's voice is reportedly intercepted for the last time communicating with his fighters in Tora Bora via his shortwave radio
December 17, 2001 - US Intelligence and Pentagon officials admit they have lost Osama bin-Laden
December 26, 2001 - Article about Osama bin-Laden's funeral is published in Pakistan and Egypt. The funeral allegedly takes place about 10 days earlier. The article is also discussed by Fox News.
December 28, 2001– President Bush says, “Our objective is more than bin-Laden”
January 18, 2002 – Pakistani dictator Pervez Musharraf tells CNN that he believes Osama bin-Laden to be dead
January 27, 2002 - Vice President Dick Cheney says that Osama bin-Laden "isn't that big of a threat. Bin Laden connected to this worldwide organization of terror is a threat."
January 27, 2002 – White House Chief of Staff Andy Card tells CNN, “"I do not know for a fact that he's alive. I happen to believe he's probably alive… Our overall objective is to defeat terrorism, wherever it is around the world. And so, our objective is not to get Osama bin Laden."
January 29, 2002 – President Bush delivers his first State of the Union address since 9/11. While he labels Iraq, Iran, and North Korea the “axis of evil”, he fails to mention Osama bin-Laden at all.
March 13, 2002 – President Bush says, “Deep in my heart I know the man is on the run, if he's alive at all… He’s a person who’s now been marginalized.… I just don’t spend that much time on him.… I truly am not that concerned about him.”
April 4, 2002 - Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Richard Myers says, "The goal has never been to get bin-Laden"
October 14, 2002 – President Bush says, “I don’t know whether bin-Laden is alive or dead”
October 16, 2002 – Middle East Newsline reports that Israeli Intelligence officials confirmed that Israel and the United States believe Osama bin-Laden was killed in mid-December 2001 during the Tora Bora bombing campaign.
This timeline, with Osama bin-Laden's death allegedly occurring in the middle of December 2001, makes it possible that Omar Sheikh could have committed the murder. From October 2001 through January 19, 2002, Omar Sheikh was living openly in his home in Lahore, Pakistan. His positions as leader of Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (a Taliban and Osama bin-Laden partner) and ISI agent (the source of funds for Harkat-ul-Mujahideen) would also have given him means for access to Osama bin-Laden.
