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Saturday, May 13, 2006
The Gulf News based in Dubai ran a online poll asking readers of their website where they thought Osama Bin Laden was the survey although unofficial and only a on-line readers poll says on May 7th that 51% of readers who voted say Osama is America with a number of people leaving comments. Some saying he is Texas. Also on the list Pakistan 30% Afghanistan 12% and 7.20 per cent say 'elsewhere'.
http://www.gulfnews.com/polls/results/previous.html
From the Gulf News: Dubai: If you ask people where they think Osama Bin Laden was hiding, the answer would inevitably be Afghanistan or Pakistan. But for some reason, a large number of readers surveyed online believe he is hiding in the United States. In the Gulf News online survey done on May 7, 30 per cent of the responders said Pakistan was the terrorist's likely hiding place. Only 12 per cent said Afghanistan, while 51 per cent said it was the United States.
To double check whether people on the streets are equally paranoid and think on the same lines, Gulf News caught some unwary shoppers and asked them the question. While some people said they would rather not comment on the subject, a large number also believe he is in the United States, as according to them, Bin Laden was once "created" by America. A Dubai resident said people think he is in the United States, "because he was working for them before", said Daniella Paderi. "And now he has gone back home." The expatriate said catching Osama was not important.
"There are more important things to worry about, as the war in Iraq," she said. Hassan Ali, an Egyptian expatriate in Abu Dhabi, said Bin Laden was most probably in Texas (home of US President George Bush). "That's where he is running his family business now," he said. "All the media fuss is make-believe. He probably has coffee daily with American officials." Khalid Ahmad in Abu Dhabi also believes Bin Laden is in America.
"I am sure they already know where he is," he said. The response changes when an European or a non-Arab expatriate is asked the same question. Welma Williams said it is highly unlikely Bin Laden is in the United States.
She said the online response was to create a feeling of fear and insecurity among the American people. "He is moving around all the time. He can't be in one place," she said. "Catching him is important. We have to examine the whole school of thought behind the terrorist acts. It is more important to understand why it happened," she said.
One expatriate who did not wish to be identified, said she does not think about such things. "Life has to go on. You can't live in fear all the time," she said. Andy Sheekey said people thought Bin Laden was in the United States because of paranoia. He also felt it was because of a "complete lack of trust in the judicial system.
Cracking down on poverty is probably the major thing that needs to be done (rather than hunting him down)". Asked where in the United States would the terrorist likely be, he said "Washington". John Churchill Jnr. from England felt people were "misinformed" when they said he was in America. "I can't think why he would be there when he is on their number one wanted list.
He would be among his people," he said. Yasmin Ali, an American, felt Bin Laden was in Pakistan because reports say so. "If he was in the United States, he would be somewhere in the backwaters. People probably wish he was in the United States." Gary Hansard had no idea why people would think such a thing.
"It's important for the Iraqi people that he is caught," he said. Hussain Al Saeedi, an Egyptian teacher living in Abu Dhabi, said Osama was is in Afghanistan. Sana Shaikh, a teacher from Pakistan, said he is in Afghanistan while Larry from the Philippines said he was in Pakistan. Mohammad Junad, a 26-year-old bank employee from India, felt that Bin Laden is most probably dead. "All the videos we see of him are all fake."
