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by CBS News
"They military had him surrounded. I
have seen many pictures of the man. He is the man we know as Osama bin
Laden." -- Hospital employee
(CBS) Everyone
remembers what happened on Sept. 11 and, reports CBS News Correspondent
Barry Petersen, here's the story of what may have happened the night
before.
In a tale as
twisted as the hunt for Osama bin Laden, CBS Evening News has been told
that the night before the Sept. 11 terrorists attack, Osama bin Laden
was in Pakistan. He was getting medical treatment with the support of
the very military that days later pledged its backing for the U.S. war
on terror in Afghanistan.
Pakistan
intelligence sources tell CBS News that bin Laden was spirited into a
military hospital in Rawalpindi for kidney dialysis treatment.
"On that night,"
said a medical worker who wanted her identity protected, "they moved out
all the regular staff in the urology department and sent in a secret
team to replace them." She said it was treatment for a very special
person and "the special team was obviously up to no good."
"They military had
him surrounded," said a hospital employee who also wanted his identity
masked, "and I saw the mysterious patient helped out of a car. Since
that time," he said, "I have seen many pictures of the man. He is the
man we know as Osama bin Laden. I also heard two army officers talking
to each other. They were saying that Osama bin Laden had to be watched
carefully and looked after."
Those who know bin
Laden say he suffers from numerous ailments — back and stomach problems.
Ahmed Rashid, who
has written extensively on the Taliban, said the military was often
there to help before Sept. 11.
"There were
reports that Pakistan intelligence had helped the Taliban buy dialysis
machines and the rumor was that these were for wanted for Osama bin
Laden," said Rashid.
Doctors at the
hospital told CBS News there was nothing special about that night, but
they declined our request to see any records. Government officials
reached Monday night denied that bin Laden received any medical
treatment that night.
A U.S. official,
speaking on condition of anonymity, said Tuesday the United States has
seen nothing to substantiate the report.
It was Pakistan's
President Pervez Musharraf who said in public what many suspected: that
bin Laden suffers from kidney disease, saying he thinks bin Laden may be
near death.
His evidence —
watching the most recent video, showing a pale and haggard bin Laden,
his left hand never moving. Bush administration officials admit they
don't know if bin Laden is sick or even dead.
"With respect to
the issue of Osama bin Laden's health, I just am...don't have any
knowledge," said Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.
The U.S. has no
way of knowing who in Pakistan's military or intelligence supported the
Taliban or Osama bin Lade, maybe up to the night before Sept. 11 by
arranging dialysis to keep him alive. So the U.S. may not know if those
same people might help him again — perhaps to freedom.
©MMII, CBS
Worldwide Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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