Did Media Fall for False Claims About Death of Alleged Al-Qaeda Leader?

Published: December 05, 2005 1:00 PM ET

ISLAMABAD All weekend, the U.S. media trumpeted the death of a man in Pakistan said to be near the very top of al-Qaida's operations, allegedly ranking just below Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahri. But for a man reputedly at the forefront of al-Qaida's global terror operations - with one finger in plots to target America and another in attempts to assassinate Pakistan's president - Hamza Rabia kept a remarkably low profile.

The Egyptian wasn't on the FBI's list of the world's 15 most wanted terrorists, nor had he made Pakistan's most wanted list. In fact, there had been little public mention of Rabia--before he was apparently killed last week in an explosion at his tribal hideout.

U.S. officials haven't confirmed the death, despite claims by Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf that he is "200 percent" sure Rabia died. Yet officials in Islamabad and Washington have been quick to agree that Rabia's demise would be a major blow to Osama bin Laden's terror network, saying he ranked in the top five of its hierarchy.

U.S. national security adviser Stephen Hadley described Rabia as al-Qaida's head of operations, adding in an interview with "Fox News Sunday" that "we believe he was involved in planning for attacks against the United States."

How could a man so powerful, in such a critical position, escape attention for so long?

(rest of story @ link below)

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001614168

What-ever :eyes:

was #35. #34 doesn't know WHAT he's going to do without #35.

Just ahead of Irving...the fastest gun in the west.

When someone figures out who the hell "the terrorists" really are, wake me up.

We are simply daring more and more people to fight us. It's a childish wild-west mentality that only the moron-in-charge could relate to.

That's why there are an endless number of number three guys that get killed.

Forgive the indulgence but it seems obvious why they can't report the annihilation of the #2's anymore after they done him in twenty or thirty times in the last few of months :shrug:

You know the truth.

they just run with whatever Rove tells them to. As Krugman says, if * wer eto say that the Earth is flat, Big Media would blast out "Opinions Differ on Earth's Shape"

Showed dates of heavy US military deaths, the next day it's announced that we've captured/killed #____ in the AQ organization. No way can it be coincidental.