I need verification of a bush quote

[Mortos]

I posted a quote on a conservative website attributed to bush:

"I don't know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and really don't care. It's not that important. It's not our priority."
- G.W. Bush, 3/13/02

The conservative prick on whose site it is says bush never said it. It was a made up quote. I searched whitehouse.gov and couldn't find it. It was definately not said verbatim during the press conference on 3/13/02. If it is not true, I have to retract. I don't want to do that because I am one of about 3 libs on this site dominated by cons.

Please help. I need concrete links and proof.

www.conservativefighter.blogspot.com

[mark414]

1. it's true

moore played the clip in F911...i can't think of any other sources though, give me a couple minutes and i'll be back

EDIT:

here you go

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A59518-2004Aug12.html?nav=rss_politics/administration/whbriefing

and from the whitehouse.gov link from the Post article:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/03/20020313-8.html

[NMDemDist2]

2. here's the White House link

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/03/20020313-8.html

snip>

THE PRESIDENT: Deep in my heart I know the man is on the run, if he's alive at all. Who knows if he's hiding in some cave or not; we haven't heard from him in a long time. And the idea of focusing on one person is -- really indicates to me people don't understand the scope of the mission.

Terror is bigger than one person. And he's just -- he's a person who's now been marginalized. His network, his host government has been destroyed. He's the ultimate parasite who found weakness, exploited it, and met his match. He is -- as I mentioned in my speech, I do mention the fact that this is a fellow who is willing to commit youngsters to their death and he, himself, tries to hide -- if, in fact, he's hiding at all.

So I don't know where he is. You know, I just don't spend that much time on him, Kelly, to be honest with you. I'm more worried about making sure that our soldiers are well-supplied; that the strategy is clear; that the coalition is strong; that when we find enemy bunched up like we did in Shahikot Mountains, that the military has all the support it needs to go in and do the job, which they did.

And there will be other battles in Afghanistan. There's going to be other struggles like Shahikot, and I'm just as confident about the outcome of those future battles as I was about Shahikot, where our soldiers are performing brilliantly. We're tough, we're strong, they're well-equipped. We have a good strategy. We are showing the world we know how to fight a guerrilla war with conventional means.

Q But don't you believe that the threat that bin Laden posed won't truly be eliminated until he is found either dead or alive?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, as I say, we haven't heard much from him. And I wouldn't necessarily say he's at the center of any command structure. And, again, I don't know where he is. I -- I'll repeat what I said. I truly am not that concerned about him. I know he is on the run. I was concerned about him, when he had taken over a country. I was concerned about the fact that he was basically running Afghanistan and calling the shots for the Taliban.

[JimmyJazz]

3. buzzflash.com has the same quote

on the same date, but I couldn't find more. However, a google search has other WH officials asserting the same thing - OBL is not the priority.

[noamnety]

4. it appears to be a misquote

according to this: http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/George_W._Bush

your quote is a paraphrase of the actual quote that's already been posted in this thread.