Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden 'may be dead,' says Pakistani President Zardari, April 27, 2009
Benazir Bhutto identified Omar Sheikh as the murderer of Osama bin Laden., November, 2007
According to several reports, Bin Laden died in December, 2001. That was also the time Bush yanked personnel and equipment out of Afghanistan and sent them to Iraq.
It's obvious that Bush, since, continually used the specter of Bin Laden only as a means to frighten everyone, for political expediency. To announce his death would have put the brakes on Bush's cowboy imperialism in Iraq.
Bush quotes about Bin Laden: "The most important thing is for us to find Osama bin Laden. It is our number one priority and we will not rest until we find him."
- G.W. Bush, 9/13/01
"I want justice...There's an old poster out West, as I recall, that said, 'Wanted: Dead or Alive,'"
- G.W. Bush, 9/17/01, UPI
"...Secondly, he is not escaping us. This is a guy, who, three months ago, was in control of a county . Now he's maybe in control of a cave. He's on the run. Listen, a while ago I said to the American people, our objective is more than bin Laden. But one of the things for certain is we're going to get him running and keep him running, and bring him to justice. And that's what's happening. He's on the run, if he's running at all. So we don't know whether he's in cave with the door shut, or a cave with the door open -- we just don't know...."
- Bush, in remarks in a Press Availability with the Press Travel Pool,
The Prairie Chapel Ranch, Crawford TX, 12/28/01, as reported on
official White House site
Notice what happened to Bush's rhetoric after December, 2001 passes:
"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
"I am truly not that concerned about him."
- G.W. Bush, responding to a question about bin Laden's whereabouts,
3/13/02 (The New American, 4/8/02)
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'll repeat what I said. I truly am not that concerned about him. ---
March 13, 2002 Gosh, I just don't think I ever said I'm not worried about Osama bin Laden.
It's kind of one of those exaggerations.
Of course we're worried about Osama bin Laden. We're on the hunt after Osama bin Laden. We're using every asset at our disposal to get Osama bin Laden. ----
October 13, 2004, in the third presidential debate with Senator John Kerry
America will never achieve catharsis of this plague in our history unless George W. Bush and Richard B. Cheney are prosecuted and punished.