U.S. Officials Differ on Bin Laden Intel

(CBS/ AP)  Al Qaeda 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 Mr. 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 Mr. Obama's new Afghan war strategy, which Gates said includes a focus on preventing al Qaeda 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 Qaeda's leadership.

CBSNews.com Special Report: Afghanistan

The president's advisers are sure to face even more questions this week as Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who is charged with overseeing the war in Afghanistan, and Karl Eikenberry, the U.S. Ambassador, appear on Capitol Hill this week, reports CBS News senior White House correspondent Bill Plante.

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.

The main explanation given by both the Bush and Obama administrations for not getting bin Laden is that they simply don't know where he is.

"If we did, we'd go get him," Gates said Sunday.

Gates on "Face the Nation": U.S. will not abandon Afghanistan

Jones, a retired Marine general, stressed the urgency of targeting bin Laden and spoke of a renewed campaign to capture or kill him.

Asked on CNN's "State of the Union" whether the administration has reliable intelligence on bin Laden's whereabouts, Jones replied, "The best estimate is that he is somewhere in North Waziristan, sometimes on the Pakistani side of the border, sometimes on the Afghan side of the border."

Jones did not comment on the intelligence behind that estimate, nor did he cite a time period or describe more specifically bin Laden's apparent border crossings.

Gates told ABC's "This Week" that "we don't know for a fact where Osama bin Laden is," although he agreed that his likely location is North Waziristan.

That's part of the loosely governed Federally Administered Tribal Areas of northwest Pakistan where the border with Afghanistan is largely unrecognized and unmarked. There is little Pakistani government or military control in this remote region, and militants affiliated with al Qaeda can move freely across the frontier into Afghanistan.

The U.S. has targeted North Waziristan and other areas on the Pakistan side of the border with drone-launched missile strikes, killing substantial numbers of militants as well as Pakistani civilians. The Pakistani army has undertaken an offensive against Taliban militants in South Waziristan but it has not expanded the effort into North Waziristan.

Obama administration officials have often asserted, as did the Bush administration, that they believe bin Laden is being sheltered on the Pakistani side of the border, along with other senior al Qaeda leaders. But Jones broke new ground by saying publicly that the al Qaeda chief may at times have slipped back into Afghanistan.

Sen. John McCain made a somewhat similar, if less specific, remark Sunday about bin Laden's movements. He told NBC's "Meet the Press" that knowledgeable people have told him that bin Laden "moves back and forth."

Two Afghan provinces in the country's northeast held particular attraction for bin Laden in the 1990s: Kunar and Nuristan. The towering mountains there hid bin Laden training camps that date back to the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s. A longtime bin Laden ally, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, holds sway in the area. U.S. troops have targeted Hekmatyar's security chief, Kashmir Khan, in Kunar.

During his years in Afghanistan as a guest of the Taliban, bin Laden operated mainly in the southern region around Kandahar.

Gates said he does not blame a lack of Pakistani cooperation for the absence of intelligence on bin Laden.

"No, I think it's because if, as we suspect, he is in North Waziristan, it is an area that the Pakistani government has not had a presence in, in quite some time," Gates said, adding that although the Pakistani government has its own priorities, any pressure it brings on the Taliban is helpful because it is in league with al Qaeda.

During a visit to Pakistan in late October, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton caused a stir by chiding Pakistani officials for failing to press the hunt for al Qaeda inside their borders. She said she found it "hard to believe" that no one in Islamabad knows where the al Qaeda leaders are hiding and couldn't get them "if they really wanted to."

Gates said he could not confirm recent news reports that bin Laden had been seen in Afghanistan earlier this year. BBC News reported last week that a Taliban detainee in Pakistan claimed to have met in January or February with an unidentified associate who said he had seen bin Laden just days earlier in Afghanistan, possibly in Ghazni province.

[BonnieTierney]

At this point, with so many years between those mountains, he could be anywhere, but I've always maintained the Pakastani's have hidden him and I still believe that to be true. Call it a camel's hunch or hump?

[tibu987]

I saw Bin Laden driving a bumper car at Disneyland in Florida.

[tibu987]

My question is; Why aren't they on the same page?

[hungry1968-17]

That truly is THE question. Shouldn't there be a consensus?

[ibsteve2u]

One of the big-wheels in this Administration should do our Marines and soldiers a favor and announce that bin Laden is in Hawaii.

Those men and women could use a break.

[RedWings_ninety_one]

nice one.

[renonv5]

It seems that every time there is a lull in the action they pull this name out of the hat. It has gotten so very old................

[RedWings_ninety_one]

Osama's name has gotten old, well I guess so has those lost on 9/11 thanks mainly to him.

[timdgrim]

The realy enemy is 'Osama' Dick and his secret government goons that have fooled the American people with their 'boogey man' war profiteer oil company thugs. They continue to steal the resources of other countries and let the American tax payer foot the bill on their dinosaur industry.

[bubbadubba]

2006

"Osama bin Laden died within days of contracting typhoid fever in Pakistan last month, according to unnamed law enforcement sources quoted today in the French daily L'Est Republicain.
"According to a commonly reliable source, the law enforcement source believes that Osama Bin Laden has died," said a Sept. 21 confidential note transmitted by the Directorate-General of External Services."

He's dead, the martyr issue is bogus. Bin Laden is more of hero alive since many of his followers worship him and cannot die or be killed. It is common to Muslims to believe heros and leaders are prophets and cannot be killed. Al Qaida would never admit Bin Laden is dead because the organization would fall apart quickly without their hero. Notice how Al Qaida is getting more and more ineffective each day as compared to before 2006.
No new videos, new real audio, nothing to prove he is alive as compared to before.
Think Bin Laden is not dead if you want to, he is dead and so are a lot of the top leaders because we are not seeing them either.
The world will finish off Al Qaida, they are dead men walking.

[wyodutch]

The myth and legend of Bin Laden makes for a fine Enemy of the State.
.
When the people get too restless or begin to question the amount of blood and treasure being poured out on the sands on Iraq and Afghanistan... Simply wave the Bin Laden scarecrow. As Herman Goering said... "It is after all, the government who sets the policy and it is a simple matter to drag the common people along... That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country."
.

[NowBeWithThat]

"Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden may periodically slip back into Afghanistan from his remote hideout in neighboring Pakistan, a senior White House official says"
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Speaking of fake intelligence, this is all part of a concerted effort by the Obama Administration and his journalist minions to garner American support for the surge in Afghanistan.

Let's revisit this 'new strategy' in 2011 when American troops have evaporated along with billions of American dollars.

[afmcalax]

My bet is he is back in Saudi Arabia with his rich family. They are connected and could easily hide him there. I don't really think the Saudis would go after him if he promised to lie low and not cause them any problems.

My second choice would be Southeast Asia. There are plenty of sympatizer who would hide him. He has outsmarted our military and intelligence communities for decades why should he stop now.

[finkfurst]

by afmcalax December 7, 2009 8:54 AM EST
My bet is he is back in Saudi Arabia with his rich family. They are connected and could easily hide him there. I don't really think the Saudis would go after him if he promised to lie low and not cause them any problems.
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My thoughts exactly....... and especially because NOBODY in the US or UK governments is even suggesting that's where he might be! It's his home for ****'s sake!

I don't think many Americans understand now popular Bin Laden is across the Muslim countries. Think in terms of Western folk heroes like Robin Hood.............