Osama Bin Laden: Dead or Alive? [Paperback]

David Ray Griffin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 20, 2009

The US s political discourse and foreign policy in recent years has been based on the assumption that Osama bin Laden is still alive. George W. Bush promised as president that he would get Osama bin Laden dead or alive and has been widely criticized for failing to do so. The US s present military escalation in Afghanistan is said to be necessary to get Osama bin Laden. The news media regularly announce the appearance of new messages from bin Laden. But what if Osama bin Laden died in December 2001 which is the last time a message to or from him was intercepted?

In this book, David Ray Griffin examines the evidence for the claim made by everyone from former CIA agent Robert Baer to Oliver North that bin Laden is surely no longer with us. He analyzes the purported messages from bin Laden and finds that, as many have suspected, they do not provide evidence of bin Laden s existence after 2001. This leads naturally to the question: if Osama bin Laden did indeed die in 2001, how and why have dozens of messages from bin Laden appeared since then?

Griffin s meticulous analysis supports above all one simple and urgent conclusion: if Osama bin Laden is dead, the US should not be using its troops and treasure to hunt him down.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this cumbersome if intriguing extended essay, Griffin (The New Pearl Harbor) argues that Osama bin Laden is dead and that the tapes attributed to him are fakes designed by the U.S. to maintain support for antiterror initiatives and the Iraq war. Griffin sifts through a mountain of circumstantial evidence including statements from such officials as former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Afghan president Hamid Karzai, who have both stated that bin Laden may have been killed shortly after September 11. Keeping him alive serves propaganda purposes, Griffin contends, and he meticulously, if not entirely convincingly, dissects each message, of bin Laden's messages, from December 2001 to October 2008, to reveal how these communications have been conveniently timed and constructed to suit the needs of the Bush administration (particularly when it came to linking al-Qaeda to Iraq), going so far as to suggest they were fabricated with voice morphing technology. Griffin's research is worthy of consideration, but as the war in Afghanistan intensifies, the question of whether or not Osama bin Laden remains alive becomes an afterthought as newer challenges emerge. (Aug.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, one of the reasons for George W. Bush's invasion of Afghanistan was to uproot al Qaeda and "get" its leader, Osama bin Laden, "dead or alive." President Bush was widely criticized by his opponents, including presidential candidate Obama, for failing to achieve this objective. Why has the United States, with its massive intelligence apparatus and military might, not been able to apprehend bin Laden? In this provocative book, Griffin (codirector, Ctr. for Process Studies, Claremont Sch. of Theology: The 9/11 Commission Report: Omissions and Distortions), a leading conspiracy theorist on the subject of 9/11, seeks to solve this puzzle by asking, What if Osama bin Laden is no longer alive? He points out that the last time a message to or from bin Laden was intercepted was December 2001. Using a vast array of public statements and writings by public figures, military analysts, and former CIA officials and relying on publicly available data, Griffin deconstructs the report of the 9/11 Commission and highlights its omissions. He also examines purported messages from bin Laden since 2001 and finds little evidence that these in fact have come from bin Laden himself. VERDICT After presenting evidence worth pondering about bin Laden's possible demise, Griffin concludes more broadly by evaluating the policy implications of pursuing a debilitating war in Afghanistan. His highly recommended work is worth consideration by both general readers and students of 21st-century international affairs. Nader Entessar, Univ. of South Alabama, Mobile --Library Journal June 1 2009

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Product Details

• Paperback: 120 pages
• Publisher: Olive Branch Press; First Edition edition (May 20, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1566567831
• ISBN-13: 978-1566567831
• Product Dimensions: 0.4 x 5.8 x 8.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #930,381 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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69 of 72 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars OBL: The Eight-Year-Long Psychological Operation May 23, 2009

By Thomas C. Fletcher

Format:Paperback

OSAMA BIN LADEN: DEAD OR ALIVE? by David Ray Griffin is a crucially important and timely examination of the whole range of evidence bearing on the question, is Osama bin Laden still alive? The importance of this question for the present comes from the fact that the United States under its new president is escalating its offensive in Afghanistan and expanding the war into Pakistan, and has claimed that the "hunt for bin Laden" is one of its principal motivations for doing so. Either explicitly or implicitly, the US government and major media outlets such as the New York Times and Washington Post continue to assert that bin Laden is alive, hiding in the tribal territories on the "AfPak" border, posing an undiminished threat to US security.

In his gripping new book, Griffin strikes at the root of this pretext for war by closely examining all the evidence that has come out since September 11, 2001, either indicating that bin Laden is still alive or that he is in fact dead. His conclusion is that bin Laden is certainly dead, and that in all likelihood he died in very late 2001. Griffin shows that many US experts in counterterrorism and counterinsurgency came to this very same conclusion long ago, but their views, which do not support the continuation of what President Obama, borrowing the term from Dick Cheney, calls "the long war," have received very little media attention. Were they to do so, one of the main props for the war regime would be undermined.

In Chapter 1, "Evidence that Osama bin Laden is Dead", Griffin surveys in detail the many different indications published in the major media in late 2001 and early 2002 that bin Laden had been very ill and had died.... These included a December, 2001 video in which he appeared to be at death's door (as admitted by a Bush administration spokesperson), analyses by medical experts of the grave state of his health, the sudden and total cessation in December, 2001 of any surveillance intercepts of communications from him, and even reports of his funeral. In this early period, various high-level officials in the US and Pakistani governments, including Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and President Pervez Musharraf, speculated that he was dead. By mid-2002 many experts had concluded that he was dead, including FBI counterterrorism official Dale Watson, President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan, and Israeli intelligence officials. The conviction that he died in 2001 is held today by former intelligence operatives Robert Baer and Angelo Codevilla.

In Chapter 2, "Two Fake bin Laden Videos in 2001?", Griffin shows that two videos which purportedly showed bin Laden taking credit for the attacks of 9/11 and thus established his guilt for them, were not only very conveniently timed for the Bush and Blair administrations' legislative and military agendas, but also were highly suspect for other reasons. One of them was never actually released, but simply claimed by the Blair government. The other showed a bin Laden who did not physically resemble the genuine bin Laden of earlier videos, in which he in fact denied responsibility for the 9/11 attacks. Griffin presents strong arguments that both claimed videos were faked, suggests likely motivations behind such a risky undertaking, and cites the opinions of experts (including the FBI) who came to this conclusion long ago.

In Chapter 3, "Purported bin Laden Messages After 2001", Griffin argues that if fake bin Laden videos were produced in this early period, when he was probably still alive, then there is even stronger reason to be suspicious of "bin Laden videos" or other claimed "messages" that were released later, after all communications intercepts from him had ceased and many experts had concluded that he was dead. Yet, in subsequent years, a long series of such dubious "bin Laden messages" were released. Griffin presents an exhaustive survey of 19 of these, from an "email message" of March, 2002 to the "bin Laden audiotape" of January 14, 2009. For each and every one, Griffin identifies key indications of fakery or strong reasons to be suspicious of its authenticity. In the course of the discussion of the messages, he establishes that the technical capability to fabricate fake messages of the different types already existed.

In Chapter 4, Griffin turns to the important question "Who Might Have Been Motivated To Fabricate Messages?" He shows that the US military in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq in 2003 employed a psychological operations unit to produce bogus evidence of a link between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda, as a pretext for the invasion. The psyops unit produced a "letter" from a Jordanian in Iraq, Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, that was then "intercepted", purportedly enroute to Al Qaeda leaders in Afghanistan. The psyop was advanced after the invasion by the New York Times reporter Dexter Filkins, who wrote front-page stories presenting the "evidence" as genuine. Journalists at other organizations, including Newsweek magazine and The Telegraph of London, however, thought it highly likely at the time that the letter was bogus. Griffin concludes that the target of the psychological operation was the US public. He asks, could something very similar have been going on with the "bin Laden messages"? Does the US government desire to expand its war operations anywhere, say into the precise places it claims bin Laden is still living in? Based on the evidence Griffin presents, there is no reason to assume that comparable psyops would not be utilized to achieve this goal.

In Chapter 5, "The Convenient Timing of Many of the Messages", Griffin shows that another reason to suspect the inauthenticity of the "bin Laden messages" is that they frequently were released at key moments when they would benefit the Bush administration in the pursuit of particular objectives. In other words, the "messages" were almost always objectively detrimental to the enemies of the US, and beneficial to the Bush administration or the Blair government. Griffin lists 11 specific instances of this unusual characteristic of the "messages."

OSAMA BIN LADEN: DEAD OR ALIVE? by David Ray Griffin is a book to rally around - that is, a basis on which we can mobilize and organize resistance to yet another incalculably bloody war of aggression by the predatory military-industrial-financial elite that runs this country, and is running it into the abyss. Griffin has placed a strong weapon of truth in our hands with which to stop the brutal war in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Let's use it! Read more ›

34 of 36 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars "I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just" May 22, 2009

By David R. Wayne

Format:Paperback

"I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just"

--Thomas Jefferson

When you can no longer trust mainstream media for the truth (and at this juncture one cannot) it is reassuring to know that there are independent and highly virtuous researchers who will independently seek out the facts. David Ray Griffin has meticulously documented how we were lied to time and time again in the events leading to war -- WMD? -- Please! How many children died because of such lies?

He now focuses on further research that is also crucial in its nature, fundamental to Democracy, and of great import to anyone seeking truth.

36 of 39 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars What if Osama bin Laden died in December 2001? May 26, 2009

By E. Woodworth

Format:Paperback

The implications would be enormous.

But how could a regularly appearing, living legend be dead?

This little book begins by taking us back to the long-forgotten news reports of 2001, resurrecting the media confusion about the status of bin Laden's health, and uncovering reports of his death in December, 2001. At that time, even the White House was indicating that bin Laden might be dead.

If bin Laden died in 2001, it would mean that all his subsequent communications were bogus. If, on the other hand, the communications were not bogus, then the early reports of his death would have to be discounted as incorrect.

"Dead or Alive" is a quest to settle this issue. In a tightly knit, logically structured approach, Prof. Griffin provides an in-depth analysis of most of the purported OBL messages from 2001 to January 2009.

As the reader reviews these 19 communications in one or two sittings -- rather than over a period of nearly 8 years -- many strange discrepancies come to light.

For example, there is the problem of an early and ailing OBL, white-haired, with a limp left arm, and apparently close to death - reversing, within a period of weeks, into a vibrant, robust, black-beared figure on November 9, 2001, and confessing to the events of September 11th.

Closely examined, the later, robust figure, can be seen to have a broader nose, a wider face, and shorter and thicker fingers, than the earlier figure. And the November 9th figure wrote briefly with his right hand, whereas OBL was known to be left-handed.

Later communications also reveal a change in the pattern in bin Laden's use of Muslim religious language and ideas....

In addition to the broadcast messages from OBL, many press reports on both sides of the Atlantic are compared and contrasted. At times the press, particularly on the European side, mocked the video discrepancies, and experts consulted about authenticity were frankly dismayed by the bogus broadcasts.

Given the fact that no communications to or from OBL had been intercepted since 2001, a National Security Council member concluded in 2007 that "the only proof US Intelligence has that bin Laden is even alive are his own videos." However, because many of these videos used old footage, and did not conform to one another in important ways, there is seemingly no available proof that OBL is still alive.

Failing to find proof, Prof. Griffin turns to the question of who might have been motivated to fabricate these messages. Section Four uncovers damning evidence of US military intelligence agencies illegally issuing "strategic communications" from Iraq to spread propaganda to the "home audience". Griffin explains: "The aim was to bolster support for the US military effort in Iraq by portraying it as the US response to 9/11...If the American public were to become convinced that bin Laden is dead, support for this effort would surely dry up."

The timing of the OBL messages also points to fabrication: 11 of the 19 messages were aired at critical times when public opinion could make or break the Bush administration's foreign policy or election results.

Griffin concludes with a compelling 10-point summary that OBL is almost certainly dead, and by quoting CIA agent Robert Baer, that "this could be an eternal war if the goal is to capture this man dead or alive".

A war that might suit vested interests in the Middle East.

In the final analysis, there is no escaping the logic that if OBL is dead, the need to hunt him, which has been underlined by influential US voices in recent months (e.g. Rachel Maddow and Zbigniew Brzezinski Discuss the Future of Afghanistan, Feb. 18, 2009), must now be considered irrelevant.

And that leads to a critical question that is left to the reader to ask: If it is still so important to hunt OBL, how will policy in Afghanistan and Iraq change now that it has been demonstrated he is probably dead? Read more ›

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A few weeks after this book comes out, another fake "message"! June 3, 2009

By Anthony Flood

Format:Paperback

For the key to this morning's (03 June 09) manufactured "news," which takes the Jack-O'-Lantern out of the closet once again to scare the kiddies, turn off the TV and read this short book by the dean of 9/11 debunking, David Ray Griffin. Obama needs "anti-terror" creds (i.e. a pretext for extending the American empire), and the latest phoney "message" fills the bill.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The jig is up! July 1, 2009

By Debora

Format:Paperback

Thank you, Dr. Griffin, for this informative and important analysis. Your meticulous research and level-headed, logical approach to your findings make it perfectly clear that Osama bin Laden is no more. Any attempt to show us "proof" that he is still alive should immediately be rejected as propaganda, either created by the government itself or by its henchmen. You have without doubt made the lives of those individuals a lot harder. Everyone should read not only this book, but all your others so as to be able to see through the smoke screen the government continues to put up regarding 9/11. Thank you for all you have done.