Where in the world is Osama bin Laden?

Rumors run rampant over Al-qaeda leader's fate
AFP

He has not issued any public statements all year. Speculation has grown over his influence, health and even possible death. Where is the Western world's most wanted man, Osama bin Laden?

The Al-Qaeda leader's period of silence has been the longest since the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, offering no clues to the whereabouts or fate of a man who this year appears to have quietly slipped off the radar.

Bin Laden has not been heard of since a December 27, 2004, audiotape in which he anointed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Iraq's most wanted man, as Al-Qaeda's leader in the war-torn country.
Just before, on December 16, 2004, a video surfaced where he also called on his fighters to strike Gulf oil supplies and warned Saudi leaders they risked a popular uprising.

Since then - silence. Regular interventions by Al-Qaeda's number two Ayman al-Zawahiri, seen as the ideological brains of the network, has only served to feed feverish speculation on what has happened to bin Laden.

Zawahiri claimed in a videotape released in September that bin Laden was still alive and leading jihad against the West.

"Al-Qaeda for holy war is still, thanks to God, a base for jihad. Its prince Osama bin Laden, may God protect him, still leads the jihad," said Zawahiri.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said recently he did not know whether bin Laden was dead or alive, adding that he would not like to speculate over his fate.

The commander of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, General Karl Eikenberry, has insisted that bin Laden was still considered alive, and that U.S. forces continue their hunt for him.

Seemingly more candid was CIA director Porter Goss, who recently told ABC news channel that bin Laden's hideout was known and implied that the CIA knew more than it could reveal.

The total eclipse of bin Laden also gave rise to various speculations on Islamist Web sites, with some admirers of the terror chief already contemplating that he might be dead.

"Bin Laden, tracked by the intelligence services who are on his heels, is hiding somewhere along the mountain frontiers between Pakistan and Afghanistan," wrote one blogger.

Another claimed that "Abu Abdullah (bin Laden) has deliberately decided to stop all communications to avoid being located by gigantic U.S. surveillance devices."

"O my beloved. I know that you are mortal. Nobody can oppose the will of God. But the thought of seeing you taken captive fills me with fear," said another in a "letter of affection" addressed online to bin Laden, following a rumor claiming that Al-Qaeda chief had perished in the October 8 earthquake which ravaged Pakistan.

But the editor of the Islamabad-based Mediawatch Yaqoub McLintock, who is also an expert on Al-Qaeda, appeared confident as to bin Laden's safety.

"I think he is alive and well. Admittedly, bin Laden is not in great health, but he is not at the point of death. All that we hear about his fate is nothing but media speculation. His death would certainly be announced by Al-Qaeda, in conformity with Sharia (Islamic law)," he said.

He also claimed that bin Laden avoids making any appearances "as a safety measure, knowing that he is being traced by intelligence services."

Abdel-Bari Atwan, editor in chief of the London-based daily Al-Quds al-Arabi, agreed.

"Bin Laden has said it all and has nothing to add," he said.

"The man could well be preparing a large-scale operation in the United States," added Atwan, the first Arab journalist to interview bin Laden, who has a $25 million bounty on his head.

"Dead or not? This is not the question," said Yasser Sirri, the director of the London-based Islamic Observatory.

"Admittedly, bin Laden is a strategic symbol, but Al-Qaeda is now a decentralized multi-national jihadist (movement) capable of generating thousands of bin Ladens," he said.