« Previous | Main | Next »

New Clues in the Hunt for bin Laden?

August 18, 2006 3:20 PM

Bin_laden_pakistan_nr_1Pakistani officials say the arrest of a top al Qaeda commander could provide clues to the whereabouts of hidden terror cells around the world and to his superiors, Ayman al Zawahiri and Osama bin Laden.

Pakistani police tell ABC News they arrested Matiur Rehman based on leads in the investigation of the foiled plot to blow up U.S.-bound airplanes from London.

U.S. law enforcement officials say they have been notified by their counterparts in Pakistan that Rehman is in custody.  U.S. intelligence officials say they cannot confirm his arrest and remain skeptical of the reports.

Rehman is regarded as the connection between al Qaeda and a large network of Pakistani extremists in major cities around the world.

He reportedly has the list of thousands of Pakistanis who trained in the al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan in the late 1990s.

"If they found that piece of documentation, we will see hundreds, if not thousands, of arrests around the world," said Alexis Debat, an ABC News consultant and counter-terrorism fellow at the Nixon Center.

Debat says Rehman would communicate with Zawahiri and bin Laden through couriers, but that he would have current information on their approximate whereabouts.

August 18, 2006 | Permalink | User Comments (40)

User Comments

Feed You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.

Hello Brian you do such a wonderful investigative work that makes me really proud of ABC news...You and the Peter worked so well and i missed him so much; it breaks my heart to think that he left us so soon..

Posted by: regine | Aug 18, 2006 4:18:31 PM

I am wondering what damage, if any, reporting that Rehman has been captured may have on efforts to find Bin Laden. If I caught wind that an associate of mine who knew my approximate whereabouts were captured, well I'd probably pack up and move somewhere else. I'd rather hear nothing of Rehman's supposed capture and wait for Bin Laden's capture than to spoil the hunt.

Posted by: A. Baker | Aug 18, 2006 5:28:40 PM

catch this guy already!

Posted by: stephen | Aug 18, 2006 5:37:32 PM

sorry but this is exactly the kind of story we shouldn't hear about until after BIN Laden is caught, why are we tipping our hand as to the info we have???
why not broadcast " attn MR Bin Laden, We may know where you are so why not go ahgead and leave that area before we can track you down?? Same goes for tipping our hand on how we are going to execute a war strategy, We are TOO open, and don't get me started on all these idiaots complaining we are monitoring calls of people with known terorists ties. Comon, lets let poeple do there jobs, what AlQueda doesn't watch tv or read the newspapers??

Posted by: Kevin | Aug 18, 2006 5:50:01 PM

ABCnews *must* report *all* facts including any facts that allow bin Laden to escape. They have been very faithful in this regard. After all, ABCnews has no obligation to be patriotic, only to sell the advertised products on the top and bottom of this page.

Posted by: DP | Aug 18, 2006 5:55:33 PM

ABC News has to report this. You don't think that Bin Laden knows that this guy has been captured? All it takes is one missed meeting/courier and he'll figure it out. ABC News did the right thing here.

Posted by: FH | Aug 18, 2006 6:26:20 PM

Gee Brian, looks like you hit a grand slam. Why not take you above feedback and act accordingly.

Your friend and pal,
Sal Manella

Posted by: Sal Manella | Aug 18, 2006 6:27:55 PM

I, too, am waiting for Bin Laden to be captured with the help of his comrades, lets not prolong the issue by assisting with our public broadcasts of realtime search updates and troop locations. I'm also hoping he squirms and begs for life like his counterpart Saddam did when removed from his hole. His followers might then second guess their 77 virgin prize, or at least the gender, if Bin Laden reacts as Saddam did. I'd rather see the entire sequence of tracking down Bin Laden then capturing on Discovery Channel sooner that reading short articles that help him to elude capture thus extending capture.

Posted by: Sully | Aug 18, 2006 6:36:21 PM

I'll bet Pakistan has a special water board with his name on it. Aahhh, ya that thought felt good to write.

Posted by: Tex Gilman | Aug 18, 2006 6:43:31 PM

It doesn't make a difference if he's caught or not. Th American Civil Liberties Union will get him off anyway

Posted by: gabriel sayeg | Aug 18, 2006 6:44:53 PM

I truly wish that the United States media would wait before reporting sensitive issues such as the arrest of Matiur Rehman. Giving our military and the CIA a chance of following up on any possible leads before reporting any sensitive issue could help us get out of the horrid dilemmas created by an administration that clearly does not have any follow-up plans.

Posted by: Carr54 | Aug 18, 2006 6:47:39 PM

I agree. Those who got captured are the most valuable resources for us to catch Bin Laden.

However, I still have some concern toward some arrogant acts toward those who are recently trying to rule out some illteligenct resources such as wiretapping policy. What for? We are now in war with terrorism. Why do we need to fight with one another for?

How are we going to catch the big fish if we do not have the right tool? It is about the legality of the National Security Agency's program, which the White House said is a key tool for fighting terrorism that has already stopped attacks.

What I am concerning of is that such rule-out will be harder to our government surveillance program, government's wiretapping policy. If such arrogant people like Ann Beeson and Anna Diggs Taylor ruled out that policy, then
the process of catching Bin Laden will indeed be burdensome for those intelligent officials who are trying to protect all American people from the bad guys; in which Ann Beeson and Anna Diggs Taylor indeed are also among those people who also need some protection from the those global terrorists.
The bottom line is that they need to think again. We are in a war!!!!

Posted by: Andy | Aug 18, 2006 7:06:57 PM

Well stated DP.

We must remember that Big Media today is really nothing more than another Advertising Agency!

Posted by: Shane Wilson | Aug 18, 2006 7:16:20 PM

If they thought the information would harm thier efforts you woul dnot have heard about it.+

Posted by: Robert | Aug 18, 2006 7:56:20 PM

ABCnews has no obligation to be patriotic, but the PEOPLE that work there and report SHOULD be patriotic and if they are not, they should at least respect the country they live in enough not to publicize possible leads to catch the deadliest known terrorist in the world.

Posted by: JH | Aug 18, 2006 8:20:03 PM

The relatives of 9=11 got rich. If I was at my job and got killed, or if I was driving to my job and got killed, do you think my family would get compensated? Living and dying is a way of life. Do you think my relatives could come up to the government and say a terrorist planted a cow in the rode and when I was going to work, I hit it and died? Like I said, Living has it's risks and I don't feel sorry for anyone.

Posted by: Robin | Aug 18, 2006 8:49:54 PM

we just do not get it, do we...do you read any of these comments?? Awesome wisdom from we the people... let these comments be your leadoff ....

Posted by: marie Parker | Aug 18, 2006 8:57:28 PM

When is the news media going to smarten up? How about we let intelligence sources cull the data before alerting every nook of the terrorist underground to the activities at hand. And the world wonders why it has taken so long to track Bin Laden's whereabouts.

Posted by: Edward | Aug 18, 2006 9:13:50 PM

Well lets also look at it this way.. if we say we may have the whereabouts of bin laden he'll be on the run.. and now we can spot him easier? maybe? i agree some stories are better left not told for now.. but maybe this will chase the rat from the hole and we'll get him hopefully

Posted by: john | Aug 18, 2006 9:51:40 PM

Why are you making this type of information public? Wouldn't it serve us all better if these known details were used to help capture Bin Laden and his cronies rather than warn them 'We're on to them"? These scoundrels rely on our openness and naivete to live to kill another day...

Posted by: Rodolfo | Aug 18, 2006 10:19:45 PM

Post a comment