Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden is probably alive despite US efforts to kill or capture the al Qaeda leader, a top US general said on Sunday.
"It's possible that he is no longer alive, but I think the odds are he probably is alive," Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on "Fox News Sunday."
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said there was no new evidence that bin Laden survived military strikes against his al Qaeda operations in Afghanistan after the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.
"There has not been any recent evidence that he's alive. That does not mean he's not alive," said Rumsfeld on CBS' "Face the Nation."
"He may be in Afghanistan. I think that's the likeliest possibility. He could be across the border in a neighboring country," Rumsfeld said on NBC's "Meet the Press."
Bin Laden's whereabouts have been unknown for months, with reports surfacing that he had died of a kidney ailment or was killed in US assaults in Afghanistan.
The New York Times reported on Sunday that unidentified US administration officials said they have new indications that bin Laden is living along the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The newspaper said other officials said bin Laden may also be hiding in southeastern Afghanistan and adjacent tribal areas in Pakistan's Northwest Frontier and Baluchistan provinces that have been strongholds of Islamic militancy.
In Sunday talk show appearances, the military officials and the ranking Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee agreed that even if bin Laden has survived, operations of his al Qaeda network have been crippled.
Rumsfeld said he did not think bin Laden was in a position to engineer additional attacks.
"The real test is, is he able to manage effectively the al Qaeda network and engage in additional terrorist acts. The short answer is no," Rumsfeld said on CBS.
And Richard Shelby of Alabama, top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said on CNN's "Late Edition" that he agreed with estimates there are 100 or more al Qaeda operatives in the United States with enough training to act on their own.
"And I think they will try to hit us from time to time," he warned.
Myers said there were probably "a couple of significant (al Qaeda) pockets left in Afghanistan."
"We will get bin Laden, but he's not the only one we're searching for. There are several lieutenants yet and higher authorities in al Qaeda," he said.
Rumsfeld said only the absence of additional attacks would indicate al Qaeda's demise.
"And what we do know is there have not been many in recent weeks. It suggests to me that they're on the run," he said.
"To suggest that they're defeated would be wrong. They're not. Are they having trouble raising money? Yes. Are they having trouble transferring money? Yes. Are they having trouble communicating? To some extent, yes, we believe, certainly more trouble than they used to," he said.
(China Daily February 25, 2002)
