American on alleged Laden hunt caught in Pakistan

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American on alleged Laden hunt caught in Pakistan
By CHRIS BRUMMITT and MUNIR KHAN, Associated Press Writers Chris Brummitt And Munir Khan, Associated Press Writers 1 min ago

ISLAMABAD – An American man armed with a pistol and a 40-inch sword was detained in northern Pakistan as he tried to cross the border into Afghanistan on a mission to avenge the 9-11 attacks and kill Osama bin Laden, police said Tuesday.

Police said Gary Brooks Faulkner, a 51-year-old construction worker, was also carrying Christian literature and a small amount of hashish.

Faulkner's sister, interviewed in Colorado, said her brother has polycystic kidney disease that has left him with only 9 percent kidney function and needs dialysis.

But Deanna M. Faulkner, of Grand Junction, Colo., told The Associated Press that she didn't think her brother's illness was his motivation in going to Pakistan.

"I don't believe this was, 'I'm dying and I'm going to do a hurrah thing.'" She said her brother is "very religious" but declined to elaborate.

Late Tuesday, the top police officer in the Chitral region declined to repeat his earlier statement that the American had said he was on a mission to kill bin Laden. Mumtaz Ahmad Khan did not retract his remarks, but said that they were not the American's "pure words." He put down the phone when asked to elaborate.

Khan did repeat earlier allegations that Faulkner was armed with a pistol, the sword and a dagger when he was arrested late Sunday. He declined to give more details, saying Faulkner was now in the hands of the country's all-powerful intelligence agencies.

The whereabouts of bin Laden is a very sensitive issue for Pakistan's military and intelligence establishment. Their officials generally deny the possibility that bin Laden is hiding somewhere along the Pakistan-Afghan border as Western intelligence agencies believe.

Bin Laden has evaded a massive manhunt since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, which he is accused of masterminding along with other attacks. Washington has offered a bounty of $25 million for information leading to his capture.

Faulkner was picked up in a forest in the Chitral region late on Sunday, Khan said.

"We initially laughed when he told us that he wanted to kill Osama bin Laden," said Khan. But he said when officers seized the weapons and night-vision equipment, "our suspicion grew." He said the American was trying to cross into the nearby Afghan region of Nuristan.

Chitral and Nuristan are among several rumored hiding places for bin Laden along the mountainous 2,400 kilometer long border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Faulkner was being questioned Tuesday by intelligence officials in Peshawar, the main northwestern city. He has not been charged.

Khan said the man told investigators that he was angry after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.

"I think Osama is responsible for bloodshed in the world, and I want to kill him," he quoted him as saying.

Khan said Faulkner was also carrying a book containing Christian verses and teachings.

When asked why he thought he had a chance of tracing bin Laden, Faulkner replied, "God is with me, and I am confident I will be successful in killing him," said Khan.

He said that police had confiscated a small amount of hashish, enough for a single joint, from Faulkner.

Faulkner allegedly told police he visited Pakistan seven times, and this was his third trip to Chitral, a mountainous region that attracts adventurous Western tourists and hikers. Unlike much of northwestern Pakistan, it is considered relatively safe for foreigners.

Faulkner arrived in the Chitrali town of Bumburate on June 3 and stayed in a hotel there.

He was assigned a police guard, as is quite common for foreigners visiting remote parts of Pakistan. When he checked out without informing police, officers began hunting for him, said Khan.

U.S. Embassy spokesman Richard Snelsire said the mission had received notification from Pakistani officials that an American citizen had been arrested. He said embassy officials were trying to meet the man and confirm his identity.

Deanna Faulkner said her brother usually gets dialysis every three days but can go up to two weeks without it.

"He was planning on getting back here before then," she said. She didn't know when he left the country.

"We contacted the State Department to let them know of his medical condition and that his family is here and we love him," Deanna Faulkner said.

She said family members haven't heard from him since he left the country.

"He's in a country where he can't get word out," she said.

She said Scott Faulkner was a construction worker who has lived in both Colorado and California, but she declined to say where he was living when he left for Pakistan. She said he will be 52 at the end of the summer.

"If this is your family member, there you go. What do you do?"

She said her brother isn't in danger of dying anytime soon unless he doesn't get dialysis in a week or two.

"People can live 20 years on dialysis," she said.

"I'm worried about him. I'm worried that in Pakistan they won't give him his dialysis and if he doesn't get it, he's in serious trouble."

Asked about Pakistani authorities saying Faulkner had made previous trips there, Deanna Faulkner said, "He has been all over the world many times."

"Obviously, we love and care for our brother, our family member. Without the treatment, healthwise, he's in serious trouble."

___

Associated Press reporter Dan Elliott in Denver, Colorado, contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2010 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reser

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American hunting bin Laden 'not crazy': brother

(AFP) – 2 hours ago

LOS ANGELES — An American construction worker arrested in Pakistan on suspicion of trying to hunt down and kill terror mastermind Osama bin Laden is "not crazy," his brother told CNN Tuesday.

Gary Brooks Faulkner, 50, was detained Monday in the remote mountains of Chitral, once a rumored hiding place of bin Laden, near Afghanistan's Nuristan province, armed with a pistol, dagger, sword and night-vision equipment.

The bearded would-be hitman -- quickly dubbed "the American Ninja" -- in US press reports Tuesday, was believed to be hunting down Al-Qaeda figurehead bin Laden, the subject of a 25-million-dollar bounty offered by the United States.

However Scott Faulkner said Tuesday that his sibling -- who suffers from kidney problems and high blood pressure -- was motivated by patriotism rather than the prospect of a multimillion-dollar payout.

"My brother is not crazy," Scott Faulkner told CNN. "He is highly intelligent and loves his country and has not forgotten what Osama has done to this country."

Scott Faulkner said his brother, an independent contractor who has lived in Colorado since 1968, was angered by the September 11, 2001 attacks and "taunts" by bin Laden against Christianity.

"When 9/11 happened, as a Christian we took that very personally, as did most of the country," Scott Faulkner said.

"It really messed up the psyche of America, and Osama had made some references to our god -- the god of the bible and in a poor light -- and the fact that he was taunting America and getting away with killing thousands of Americans, my brother took that very personally."

Scott Faulkner said his brother decided to take matters into his own hands after becoming frustrated at failure of US authorities to track down bin Laden.

"He's like a bulldog and when he got this idea to go after Osama he's not going to let it go," Faulkner said, adding that he had not done anything to deter his brother's mission.

"I did not discourage him. If he has a quest, a vision, a passion, then I encourage that. Is it my passion? Absolutely not, but this is his.

"He doesn't rob banks to support this, he doesn't go shooting people, he's not a terrorist and again, he's not crazy."

Police in Pakistan said Faulkner arrived as a tourist in the district of Chitral on June 3, checked into a hotel and was given the customary security escort, before he vanished.

US diplomats in Pakistan were notified that an American had been arrested.

"We are now working on getting consular access and meeting with the American citizen," said a spokesman for the US embassy in Islamabad.

Saudi-born bin Laden is now in his 50s and rumored to be in poor health.

Intelligence on his whereabouts is vague, but most reports suggest he is out of reach in mountains on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, which Washington says is Al-Qaeda's chief sanctuary and the most dangerous place on Earth.

Copyright © 2010 AFP. All rights reserved. More »

[Julie]

Two questions:

Why do American tourists have "security escorts?"

and

How did he acquire a pistol and a 40-inch sword?

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Why do American tourists have "security escorts?"

It's Pakistan

How did he acquire a pistol and a 40-inch sword?

It's Pakistan

The hash was probably thrown in to sweeten the deal

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Bin Laden hunter's family says he'll get dialysis
1 hr 59 mins ago


DENVER – An American who was detained in Pakistan while on a solo mission to kill Osama bin Laden has been moved to the capital city of Islamabad and will soon get dialysis for his failing kidneys, a family spokesman said Thursday.

Gary Brooks Faulkner, a 50-year-old construction worker from Greeley, Colo., was detained Sunday in northern Pakistan. Police say he had a pistol, a sword, night-vision equipment and other gear and claimed he was out to kill the al-Qaida leader.

Stuart Crespin, a spokesman for Faulkner's Colorado family, said they don't know when Faulkner will return to the U.S. Crespin said none of the family have immediate plans to go to Pakistan.

The family is getting its information from the U.S. State Department and hasn't been able to speak directly to Faulkner, Crespin said. U.S. Embassy officials met with Faulkner on Thursday.

Pakistani security officials said Faulkner claims he set off for Pakistan after God appeared to him in a dream and ordered him to kill bin Laden to avenge the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the U.S.

He was trying to cross into the nearby Afghan region of Nuristan, one of bin Laden's rumored hiding places, the Pakistanis said.

Faulkner's sister, Deanna M. Faulkner, has expressed concerns about her brother's health, saying he can't survive without dialysis.

Crespin said he didn't know whether Gary Faulkner had received any dialysis treatments in Pakistan.

Embassy spokesman Richard Snelsire declined to provide details about Faulkner's condition, citing privacy concerns.

Crespin said he had no details, either.

"His health is what it is," Crespin said. "He has problems with his kidneys. He needs dialysis."

Copyright © 2010 Yahoo! Inc. All rights res

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Bat shit crazy.

Bin Laden hunter: I had help
By Jim Spellman, CNN
June 25, 2010 12:57 p.m. EDT
Click to play
Alleged bin Laden hunter back in US
STORY HIGHLIGHTS

* Gary Faulkner spoke to CNN shortly after returning to the United States
* Faulkner claims others were helping him hunt for Osama bin Laden in Pakistan
* He said he got close to bin Laden, but he never actually saw him

Los Angeles, California (CNN) -- Fresh off the plane from Pakistan, Gary Faulkner speaks passionately about his mission to capture Osama bin Laden.

"There's a lot of people who talk," Faulkner told CNN. "I got off my butt, and I put my life on the line."

This wasn't some fly-by-night trip, according to the 50-year-old construction worker. He says it was his seventh trip to Pakistan, searching for the al Qaeda leader whose terrorist network was responsible for the September 11, 2001, terror attacks on the United States.

How close did he get to bin Laden?

"If I had a rifle, I could shoot him," Faulkner claimed.

He hedged a bit when asked if he had actually seen bin Laden.

"I haven't seen him personally but [he was] very close," Faulkner said.

He was equally vague when asked to describe how someone would go about finding the man who U.S. authorities have not been able to capture in nine years, despite a $25 million reward:

"You let the spirit [of God] guide you."

Faulkner, who is on dialysis for kidney disease, explained that his mission was not a one-man operation. He said he had a team of people in Pakistan helping him.
Video: Behind the scenes with bin Laden hunter

"There's still very many people that have helped me, and their lives are in danger," Faulkner said. "If anyone knew who actually gave aid, I could put their life in big-time danger."

In addition, he said he was being protected by Pakistani authorities.

"I was never arrested; I was never detained; I was never captured," Faulkner said. "For my protection, they had to bounce me around because somehow my cover got blown.

"So they helped me go from place to place to place only so no one could ... get an actual location on me until they were sure that the airplane in Islamabad could be boarded without someone seeing me.

"Because if someone saw me and you had a LAW's rocket, it's nothing to take a plane out."

There is no way to independently confirm Faulkner's account. He faces no pending criminal charges for his actions.

His brother, physician Scott Faulkner says Gary does not have any mental health issues.

"He doesn't meet any of the DSM -- that's the psychiatric manual -- he doesn't meet any criteria for psychosis. He is not schizophrenic. He doesn't have schizophrenia. He doesn't hear voices. God isn't telling him, 'Oh, Gary, go get him, go get him.' He's a normal person. He handles himself in society," Scott Faulkner said.

The widespread media coverage of Gary Faulkner's arrest triggered reactions of both praise and outrage.

Read about the internet reaction to Faulkner's mission

Faulkner dismissed both reactions, saying he was just standing up for his beliefs.
RELATED TOPICS

* Gary Faulkner
* Osama bin Laden
* Al Qaeda
* Pakistan

"You could say I'm a religious freak, you could say I'm a Rambo or a samurai or whatever," he said. "But ... I'm a person who said 'You know what, I'm going to get off my ass and do something.' And I'll be darned if I'm going to sit back and let anybody out there say 'Oh this or that' when they weren't there."

Faulkner blames media for giving the wrong impression for the Pakistani people and said he was treated very well.

"We may have differences in the way that we treat each other here and the way they treat each other there," he said. "I never felt threatened ... They've given me nothing but kindness and consideration."

He wouldn't say whether he plans to resume his hunt for bin Laden. But he said he left his pistol, sword and night vision goggles in Pakistan just in case.

============
A video

Video - Breaking News Videos from CNN.com

[Repatriated Canuck]

Haha awesome!

He's lucky to not have ended up in one of those video's of men in masks and a rusty knife though.

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Bin Laden hunter: I wanted to haul him to US alive
-6 hrs 1 min ago


NEW YORK – A Colorado man on a mission to hunt down Osama bin Laden says he wanted to capture him alive and bring him to justice.

Gary Faulkner said Monday on CBS' "Early Show" that he got help and inspiration from Americans, Pakistanis and others worldwide. He alluded to being helped in his search by the Pakistani government.

The out-of-work construction worker from Greeley was detained June 13 in the woods of northern Pakistan after being found with a pistol, a sword and night-vision equipment. Faulkner told officials he was out to kill the al-Qaida leader.

But on Monday, the 50-year-old Faulkner said he wanted to return to the United States with bin Laden in tow and alive.

Faulkner has said the Pakistanis treated him well and administered dialysis to treat his kidney disease.

Copyright © 2010 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved.

[JAD_333]

In a perverse way, he represents the attitude most Americans have about why we're fighting in Afghanistan. Lately, it would seem the US is doing everything but look for Bin Laden, hence perhaps the fall off in pubic support for the whole mission.