Osama bin Laden is the Taliban military commander-in-chief!?
September 13, 2001 10:23 AM Subscribe
Osama bin Laden is the Taliban military commander-in-chief!? Can anyone find alternate sources for this? From a comment by schlyer.
This sounds pretty silly. "He has been under surveillance for the past two years. Osama has been deprived from any communication means since then and the case is the same now too,'' [Taliban information minister Qudratullah] Jamal told Reuters from Kandahar. "He is now in an unknown location and, as before, has no means of contact with the outside world.''
posted by tranquileye at 10:37 AM on September 13, 2001
posted by tranquileye at 10:37 AM on September 13, 2001
This month, Russian media quoted Pakistan's Nation daily as saying that the Taliban had named bin Laden commander of their troops.
It's third-hand attribution from two very specious sources.
posted by briank at 10:51 AM on September 13, 2001
It's third-hand attribution from two very specious sources.
posted by briank at 10:51 AM on September 13, 2001
But I read it on the internet! It must be true!
Seriously, don't believe everything you read. In the first place, this would have been all over the networks, and it's not. In the second place, given the current political climate it would spell the death of the Taliban, and they have to know that. Besides, it's my understanding that, while both are Islamic fundamentalists (whatever that means), Bin Laden is more politically oriented than the religion-oriented Taliban. That may be wrong, though.
posted by gd779 at 10:55 AM on September 13, 2001
Seriously, don't believe everything you read. In the first place, this would have been all over the networks, and it's not. In the second place, given the current political climate it would spell the death of the Taliban, and they have to know that. Besides, it's my understanding that, while both are Islamic fundamentalists (whatever that means), Bin Laden is more politically oriented than the religion-oriented Taliban. That may be wrong, though.
posted by gd779 at 10:55 AM on September 13, 2001
But I haven't seen it on ABCNBCCBSFOXCNN so it must not be true! Seriously, don't so quickly discard everything you haven't read in major news sources.
posted by schlyer at 11:49 AM on September 13, 2001
posted by schlyer at 11:49 AM on September 13, 2001
Regardless of whether or not it has gotten attention from the major American media outlets (which, I agree with gd779, it would have given bin Laden's prominence), a story quoted this many levels down by questionable news sources with no direct attribution to a verifiable source (not the least of which being the Taliban itself) is bascially a rumor and nothing more.
posted by briank at 1:39 PM on September 13, 2001
posted by briank at 1:39 PM on September 13, 2001
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posted by zedzebedia at 10:27 AM on September 13, 2001