Report: Bin Laden Already Dead

UPDATED POST

This story is posted at Fox News under their section that lists the most read and most emailed stories but carries an original date date of December 26, 2001. I am not sure why this would still be listed as "a most read/emailed story" at this time.

FOXNews.com

"Usama bin Laden has died a peaceful death due to an untreated lung complication, the Pakistan Observer reported, citing a Taliban leader who allegedly attended the funeral of the Al Qaeda leader.

'The Coalition troops are engaged in a mad search operation but they would never be able to fulfill their cherished goal of getting Usama alive or dead,' the source said.

Bin Laden, according to the source, was suffering from a serious lung complication and succumbed to the disease in mid-December, in the vicinity of the Tora Bora mountains. The source claimed that bin Laden was laid to rest honorably in his last abode and his grave was made as per his Wahabi belief." Continue reading......

I, for one, believe he is dead and has been for quite some time now.

There have been numerous news accounts of his passing like this one for example from arabicnews.com:

Pakistani paper: Bin Laden is dead
Regional-USA, Politics, 10/26/2002

"The Paris based 'al-Watan al-Arabi' issued yesterday said that Pakistani sources confirmed the death of the leader of al- Qaida organization Osama Bin Laden as a result of the American air bombardment against his forces in the Pakistani city of Toura Bora, noting that the US hid the news of his death for fears of the escalation of voices which call for halting the international campaign against terrorism and the withdrawal of the American forces.

The same sources, in exclusive statement to the magazine in its recent issue, attributed the reasons behind Washington's hiding news on the death of Osama Bin Laden to the desire of the hawks of the American administration to use the issue of al-Qaida and international terrorism to invade Iraq, expecting that the death of Bin Laden will be only announced after completing the plan of attacking Iraq."

Over at What Really Happened they list some other accounts of Bin Laden's demise.

One question is: "Does it really matter?" Is there a benefit to our government perpetuating his existence? Some think so. Me? I'm not so sure. It certainly would give Bush's low approval ratings a shot in the arm - at least temporarily. But if we are really determined to fight this GWOT, it certainly would not end just because Bin Laden is room temperature.

Quite some time ago I posted an article by Michael Ledeen wherein he stated that his middle east sources claimed Bin Laden was no longer of this world.

The reason for this new round of excitement over Bin Laden's health and whereabouts is driven by a recent release of a purported "new video" of him. This video of OBL is being vetted in the blogosphere and indications are that it is not "new." Check out the vetting here.