September 27, 2001

9:01 AM

Taliban miraculously finds bin Laden!Afghan authorities have delivered a message to Osama bin Laden advising him of a decision by the country's clerics recommending that he leave Afghanistan voluntarily, the Taliban ambassador to Pakistan said Thursday.
posted by madreblu (14 comments total)

So Rumsfeld was right. They did know where he was...
posted by madreblu at 9:02 AM on September 27, 2001

how can u find something that u never lost
posted by monkeyJuice at 9:11 AM on September 27, 2001

Today I found a cool website, but I never lost it. There u go ;)
posted by jragon at 9:20 AM on September 27, 2001

<arms folded and turn head>grhh !</arms folded and turn head>
posted by monkeyJuice at 9:38 AM on September 27, 2001

If the Afghans used Oracle, they could keep better track of which terrorists they have in inventory.
posted by username at 9:40 AM on September 27, 2001

I believe I saw this first reported in "Duh" Magazine.
posted by UncleFes at 9:43 AM on September 27, 2001

maybe he has a satellite phone?

i was under the impression that the spooks were monitoring this? maybe i dreamt it.
posted by asok at 9:45 AM on September 27, 2001

this could be a flutter. By sending a "message" to bin laden, the...other side may be able to ascertain how we would intercept that message. Since we dont know how message was sent, it is safe to assume this was a flutter.
posted by newnameintown at 10:04 AM on September 27, 2001

Of course I can't find the article now... but I read either via Yahoo or CNN that they didn't know exactly where he was, so the message was delivered via "word of mouth" or something to that effect.
posted by clang at 10:21 AM on September 27, 2001

All bin Laden needed was your basic $5 radio. Pick up BBC World Service or the VOA ... no sticky electronic signatures to be slurped up by the posse of sigint birds no doubt double parked over Aghanistan right now.

Or who knows, maybe they sent out a guy on a donkey with a note. But somehow I doubt it.
posted by sacre_bleu at 10:27 AM on September 27, 2001

What, doesn't he have a Hotmail account and Passport yet?
posted by adampsyche at 10:58 AM on September 27, 2001

For those who still think that the Taliban can't find bin Laden, check this out.

The Afghan ruling militia had initially asserted they could not find bin Laden to inform him of the recommendation, made Sept. 20 by a council of Muslim clerics, or the Ulema. U.S. officials had dismissed the claims that bin Laden, the top suspect in the Sept. 11 terror attacks, was missing.

and

``Osama has now received the Ulema council's recommendations and their endorsement'' by Omar, he said. ``We have not lost Osama, but he is out of sight of the people.''


Then again, maybe it was the Tooth Fairy who delivered the message via $5 radio and they don't actually know his location...
posted by madreblu at 11:09 AM on September 27, 2001

The U.S. Department of Justice released on September 27, 2001 the following names with pictures of the hijack suspects.
posted by bjgeiger at 4:14 PM on September 27, 2001

It may be convenient and entertaining to believe this 'Taliban are just a bunch of meddling extremist clowns' line that we're being fed by the media and no doubt by the White House. But why bother? This 'lost/not lost' story isn't important: it's micro-news, nano-news. It's soap opera tittle-tattle. It's a diversion. So the question is... what is our attention being diverted *from*?
posted by skylar at 12:54 AM on September 28, 2001