Bin Laden Reportedly in Very Poor Health
Suspected terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden appeared weak and gaunt at a meeting of followers to discuss President Clinton’s visit to Pakistan, an Afghan at the meeting said, and a Western intelligence official reported that Bin Laden is seriously ill with kidney and liver disease.
Bin Laden has kidney failure and “his liver is going,” the official said on condition of anonymity.
Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban militia, however, insisted that Bin Laden is fine.
Despite his reported illness, it has been business as usual for Bin Laden, the Western intelligence official said Thursday. “He is still operating an enormous terrorist network around the world,” he said.
Bin Laden is an exiled Saudi millionaire accused of organizing the August 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
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