Another OBL Death Rumor…

There have been so many of these now they’ve almost become uninteresting…
From Reuters and MyWay:

U.S. can’t confirm bin Laden death report: official

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. government is unable to confirm a French newspaper report that al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is believed to have died last month in Pakistan, a U.S. counterterrorism official said on Saturday.

“We cannot confirm the account,” said the official, who declined to be identified because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the issue. “It’s quite possible (that) there was some talk of this, but in terms of being able to confirm this, that I can’t do.”

The French regional daily L’Est Republicain reported that, according to a French secret service report, Saudi Arabia was convinced that bin Laden died of typhoid in Pakistan in late August. The French government has said it could not confirm the report and would investigate the intelligence leak.

The U.S. State Department had no immediate comment and was looking into the reports.

The French? You’ve got to be kidding me. The French?? I wouldn’t trust the French if they had credible intelligence that it was daylight outside, OK? When I think of countries with exceptional intelligence gathering abilities, France is nowhere on the list and they’re in no danger of being on it anytime soon.
I have a friend who is an avid comic book collector. He says there’s an unwritten rule in the world of comics that says “never believe someone is dead until you see the body.” That’s pretty much how Americans are going to feel about Osama bin Laden: they’re not going to believe he’s dead until they see photos of him on someone’s autopsy table.
Until then, all the reports in the world of Osama’s demise are simply “crying wolf.”
William Smith
ConservativeBlogger.com