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Bin Laden Phone Leak an urban myth
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Thu, 22 Dec 2005 09:36:02 -0500
Another urban myth by the USG -- just like WMD Begin forwarded message: From: Tim Finin <finin () cs umbc edu> Date: December 22, 2005 9:06:53 AM EST To: dave () farber net Subject: Bin Laden Phone Leak an urban myth Where was Snopes when we needed him? All week long I've been reading and hearing about how we were listening in on Bin Laden's phone conversations until he wised up when the Washington Times "leaked" the fact. Bad Press!! Now the Post reports this as an urban myth. I guess our leaders, even though they control tremendous intelligence assets, get some information the old fashioned way -- from a friend of a friend. --http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/21/ AR2005122101994.html
File the Bin Laden Phone Leak Under 'Urban Myths' Glenn Kessler, Washington Post, Thur 22 Dec 2005 President Bush asserted this week that the news media published a U.S. government leak in 1998 about Osama bin Laden's use of a satellite phone, alerting the al Qaeda leader to government monitoring and prompting him to abandon the device. The story of the vicious leak that destroyed a valuable intelligence operation was first reported by a best-selling book, validated by the Sept. 11 commission and then repeated by the president. A leak alerted Osama bin Laden to telephone surveillance, according to President Bush and others. A leak alerted Osama bin Laden to telephone surveillance, according to President Bush and others. (AP) Who's Blogging? Read what bloggers are saying about this article. But it appears to be an urban myth. The al Qaeda leader's communication to aides via satellite phone had already been reported in 1996 -- and the source of the information was another government, the Taliban, which ruled Afghanistan at the time. ... -- Tim Finin, Computer Science & Electrical Engineering, Univ of Maryland Baltimore County, 1000 Hilltop Cir, Baltimore MD 21250. finin () umbc edu http://ebiquity.umbc.edu 410-455-3522 fax:-3969 http://umbc.edu/~finin ------------------------------------- You are subscribed as lists-ip () insecure org To manage your subscription, go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/
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- Bin Laden Phone Leak an urban myth David Farber (Dec 22)