9-11 panelist says
bin Laden located

Former Navy Secretary and 9-11 commissioner John Lehman says the U.S. knows where al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden is hiding but can’t reach him because he is in a region of Pakistan controlled by Islamic extremists opposed to President Pervez Musharraf.

Lehman spoke to the San Bernardino Sun yesterday after delivering a keynote speech on terrorism at Pitzer College in Claremont, Calif.

He said the terrorist leader is in South Waziristan in the Baluchistan Mountains of Pakistan’s Baluchistan region.

“There is an American presence in the area, but we can’t just send in troops,” Lehman told the Sun. “If we did, we could have another Vietnam, and the United States cannot afford that right now.”

The paper said Department of Defense spokeswoman Capt. Ronnie Merritt confirmed the U.S. military believes bin Laden is in Pakistan. Also, Secretary of State Colin Powell said Tuesday bin Laden was alive and operating in the western part of the country.

Merritt, who declined further comment on Lehman’s remarks, expressed surprise that the former Navy official spoke out on the issue.

In the Sun interview, Lehman explained that Baluchistan is “filled” with Taliban and al-Qaida members and said many members of Pakistan’s security services also are sympathetic to bin Laden’s beliefs.

They do not recognize the authority of U.S. ally Musharraf.

“Look,” he told the paper, “Musharraf already has had three assassination attempts on his life. He is trying to comply, but he is surrounded by people who do not agree with him. This is not like Afghanistan, where there was no compliance, and we had to go in.

“We’ll get [bin Laden] eventually, just not now.”

Lehman told the San Bernardino paper that high-ranking Saudi officials and countries such as the United Arab Emirates are supplying funds to help keep bin Laden alive.

Lehman said the al-Qaida leader receives only about $1 million a year from his family’s fortune and the rest comes from radical sympathizers.