Bin Laden Report Denied Report In

Bin Laden Report Denied

The report in a provincial French newspaper that Usamah bin Laden had a tropical disease that killed him in August makes no sense. It said that his disease led to paralysis of the legs. It would have to be polio! Unlikely except in East Africa.

This report appears to be based on a single source. Single sources are famously unreliable.

The report was denied by Saudi Intelligence, which said that UBL was alive and well. It was also denied by Pakistani intelligence. US intelligence said that it didn’t have any such information.

In other reasons, there is no reason to believe this report whatsoever, as Peter Bergen on CNN also concluded.

I don’t think al-Qaeda woud disappear if UBL did. But it would be weakened for a while, and would lose a compelling symbol. Both would be all to the good.