OBL 'fleeing to Somalia' ???

Bin Laden 'fleeing to Somalia'

Bin Laden 'fleeing to Somalia'
by Jeremy Campbell in Washington

US officials believe Osama bin Laden is preparing to leave Afghanistan to set up his terrorist operations in Somalia.

The officials also say Bin Laden was in communication with agents of the Iraqi government from his base in Afghanistan in the days before the suicide attacks on New York and Washington.

"This is the basis for signs of state sponsorship of terrorism," one official told the Washington Times.

Earlier this week the Pentagon said one of the hijackers of the suicide planes, Mohammed Atta, met an Iraqi intelligence agent in Europe earlier this year.

In the last few days intelligence officials in Washington have spotted evidence that Bin Laden is packing up and heading for Somalia. There are indications that he is making arrangements for his wives and other family members, now living in Afghanistan, to join him there.

If he does settle in Somalia, the country would automatically be placed on the list of targets for US military operations against the international terrorist network.

The Times points out that moving to Somalia would be a symbolic slap in the face for Washington. The US military pulled out of the country in 1993 after a disastrous battle in Mogadishu that resulted in the deaths of 18 US army rangers.

The operation was part of a humanitarian project that began as an operation to feed Somalis and became a search to capture Somali warlord Mohammed Farah Aidid.

Does anyone know where this turkey is?