As information surrounding the much trumpeted arrest of Al-Qaida leader Ramzi Bin Al-Shibah in Karachi has continued to be marred in controversy, an eyewitness account has emerged that finally confirms earlier reports that his capture was a public relations ploy and that Ramzi is not in the hands of the Americans.

Prior to the eye witness account, several facts emerged that now back up this latest confirmation. The first clue was that photos from the scene showed the alleged Ramzi with his face covered. This instantly sent up red flags considering the FBI, who where part of the raid team, had been under great pressure to show results in a year of calamities that produced little results in their efforts to capture Osama bin Laden or any senior Al-Qaida leaders for that matter. Had Ramzi actually had been captured, American and Pakistani forces would have saturated global media with close-ups and detailed shots of their trophy, showing their great catch American style. Instead FBI file photos and pictures showing an individual with almost all distinguishing features covered appeared sporadically throughout the press and not a single picture from the scene shows “Ramzi”s face uncovered.

In the hours following the raid, top intelligence officers from Pakistan and the United States were unable to confirm the identity of the person which they suspected was Ramzi – the person who had allegedly planned and financed the September 11 terror attacks in New York and Washington. This alone raises doubt as surely authorities know the face of this man they claim is a senior Al-Qaida figure and who they have pursued relentlessly over the past year. Shortly after, a spokesman from the Pakistan Foreign Office stated on the record that it was not hundred percent certain that the person they arrested from Karachi was in fact Ramzi bin Al-Shibah but rather “if the Americans say we have them then I guess we do”.

The family of Ramzi has also denied that the photograph published by the newspapers of the suspected covered was Ramzi Bin Al-Shibah. His brother said that there was no resemblance in the photograph to his brother. He also stated that the family has learned through credible sources that Ramzi was safe and that he was not among those who were arrested in Karachi. There is also the statement of the alleged captured “Ramzi” himself, who adamantly denied he was Ramzi, stating his name was Abdullah.

Meanwhile, contradictory statements of senior government officials about the extradition of Ramzi added further doubt to the situation. Pakistan Officials stated categorically at the time of the arrest that those captured, all foreigners, would be tried in Pakistani courts and they would then be handed over to their respective governments. No sooner did this announcement come but with the blink of an eye, the alleged “Ramzi” was being flown out of Pakistan by the US officials on a special plane to an unknown location and away from public scrutiny.

Another convincing piece of evidence came soon after Ramzi’s apparent arrest, when Mujahideen sources in phone conversations with the news agency Jehad Online said Ramzi Bin Al-Shibah "is with us" and that both he and Khaled Sheikh Muhammad were safe in an undisclosed location. Jehad Online, which has close contacts to the Mujahideen, challenged the authorities in a news report to show Ramzi in a video tape to disprove what they called “solid information” that Ramzi had not been captured. It comes as no surprise that this “proof” has not materialized.

But most telling fact of all until now is that the tip off to authorities to locate Ramzi came as the result of the Al-Jazeera documentary Top Secret - The Road to September 11th which the Arabic TV channel say they produced from an interview conducted by their reporter Yousri Fouda with the two men in person in Karachi. In close examination of the documentary, the faces of both Ramzi Bin Al-Shibah and Sheikh Muhammad are shadowed. The Mujahideen insist the short audio segments by Ramzi in the documentary were recorded independently and were sent to Al-Jazeera along with another tape which contained the last will of Abu Al-Abaas Al-Omari – one of the 19 hijackers in the September 11th attacks.

One only has to think about the logic of a face-to-face meeting to conclude its absurdity. If Ramzi is in fact one of the planners of 911, which all agree was planned meticulously, and has managed to evade authorities for an entire year even with a $25M bounty on his head, it is very hard to believe that Ramzi would have a meeting in person with an Al-Jazeera reporter.

This lack of tactical savvy doesn’t fit with the near perfect execution of Al-Qaida operations to date. Of course that fact seems to go right over the heads of the American public, with help from the propaganda machine that continues to portray Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaida network as backward, camel-riding nomads incapable of high level military planning which even previous operations that lead up to the 911 attacks sharply disprove.

And of course, Yousri Fouda himself has now denied the face to face meeting, saying in fact he obtained a video tape. He claims he didn’t get the video tape immediately as Al-Qaida wanted to remove the faces from the tape first. The person who handed him the video tapes after some weeks allegedly demanded money so Fouda refused. When Ramzi and Khaled Sheikh Muhammad came to know about this they supposedly sent him an audio tape of the interview instead.

With all this information omitted from main stream press, both American law enforcement officials and President Musharraf have basked in the glory of catching the “big fish” which of course furthers their political agendas. It is far too coincidental that this arrest occurred exactly one year after 911 just when congressional hearings were underway in the failure of the FBI to prevent the 911 attacks, when President Bush was desperately appealing to congress, the UN and the world at large for a preemptive strike on Baghdad that is pivotal in America’s pursuit of control of the Middle East and at a time when President Musharraf was lobbying his US friends for a payday for his support on harnessing terrorism that incidentally netted him $73 million in an aid package.

All these facts simply don’t add up to the “official” story.

Now finally, an eye witness has come forward in a sworn declaration that says Ramzi was not present during the Karachi raids. This eyewitness account, first appeared on the Arabic news board www.marsad.net and published here in full unedited and uncensored, leaves absolutely no doubt that Ramzi Bin Al-Shibah has not been captured and is actively continuing to operate.

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