Sarah Sanders Spreading Fake News: Bin Laden Phone Leak Is An Urban Myth

[kpete]

File the Bin Laden Phone Leak Under 'Urban Myths'
By Glenn Kessler
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, December 22, 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.

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.

The second time a news organization reported on the satellite phone, the source was bin Laden himself.

................

The Rest:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/21/AR2005122101994_2.html?noredirect=on

Link to tweet

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. 4 paragraphs, please - copyright rules.

[kpete]

2. even if it is 11 years old?

just asking,
kp

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. 70 years.

[kpete]

4. ok then

thanks,
kp

[Turbineguy]

5. At the time, the new in-thing was the Iridium phone

It was incredibly nice. I was on a ship going around the World and we given one to test and use for free. It was kept on the Bridge. Everybody was on that phone all hours of the day, calling all over the world. Regular MarSat phone calls ran $10 per minute then.

But at the time, cell phone networks were also expanding rapidly. I would suggest that bin Laden switched due to technology and cost rather than a newspaper article.

[procon]

6. If a suspect 20 year old tale is the best she could come up with to defend

Trump's attacks on the press, you know he's going to make it worse. Someone is going to get hurt because of Trump constantly inciting the mob to harass the media. Every Incident gets a little worse, and it won't take much to set one of those raging Trump fans off. It might be a fist, maybe someone throws a chair into media corral, or it might ne a gun next time, but trump will take no responsibility.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

7. That's not the way I remember the story. It was Orrin Hatch who blabbed.

Is this the incident to which she referred? From September 14, 2001:

Leak of CIA data angers officials

John Diamond and Jill Zuckman
Washington Bureau

September 14, 2001 | Washington

A senior senator's disclosure of highly classified information about the U.S. terrorism investigation has infuriated Bush administration officials and led to a clampdown on how much the White House will share with lawmakers.

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, told reporters hours after terrorists crashed hijacked jetliners into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon that U.S. intelligence had intercepted a telephone call from a suspect reporting to his handler that the targets in New York City and near Washington had been hit.

"They have an intercept of some information that includes people associated with {Osama} bin Laden who acknowledged a couple of targets were hit," Hatch told The Associated Press. He made similar comments to ABC News and said the information had come from officials at the CIA and FBI.

Electronic intercepts represent some of the most sensitive intelligence possessed by the government. U.S. officials rarely discuss their content because to do so would reveal to adversaries, including foreign governments, that American intelligence had penetrated their sensitive communications.

I had Osama bin Laden's phone number. It was easily Googled. I used to use it in forms I had to fill out when I didn't want my real number used. Let's see if it's still around.

{short break}

Well, some other time. I don't want to doxx somone unwittlingly.