US says bin Laden sometimes slips into Afghanistan

US says bin Laden sometimes slips into Afghanistan
By ROBERT BURNS
AP National Security Write
Dec 7, 6:26 AM EST

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden may periodically slip back into Afghanistan from his remote hideout in neighboring Pakistan, a senior White House official says, adding a new twist to the mystery of the elusive terrorist's whereabouts.

President Barack Obama's national security adviser, James Jones, said bin Laden, believed hiding mainly in a rugged area of western Pakistan, may be spending some time in Afghanistan, where he was based while plotting the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.

But Obama's Pentagon chief, Robert Gates, said the U.S. has lacked good intelligence on bin Laden for a long time - "I think it has been years" - and did not confirm that he'd slipped into Afghanistan.

Jones and Gates spoke Sunday on separate TV interview shows as part of an administration effort to explain and defend Obama's new Afghan war strategy, which Gates said includes a focus on preventing al-Qaida from again gaining a foothold inside Afghanistan. A concern is that the Taliban, if permitted to regain power in Kabul, could facilitate a return of al-Qaida's leadership.

The failed hunt for bin Laden has been one of the signature frustrations of the global war on terrorism that former President George W. Bush launched after the Sept. 11 attacks. When U.S. forces ousted the Taliban regime in late 2001, bin Laden fled into Pakistan from his mountain redoubt. Despite being isolated, bin Laden has managed to periodically issue audio messages.


Rest of article at: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_US_AFGHANISTAN?SITE=DCSAS&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

"Despite being DEAD, bin Laden has managed to periodically issue audio messages."

in the remote, rugged areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan, since, you know, bin Laden needs dialysis to, well, live.

Live, if he isn't dead, which in all probability, he is.


:eyes: