US aims to catch Bin Laden alive
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Stanley McChrystal, the U.S. commander of NATO troops in Afghanistan, said Wednesday the military still aims to catch al-Qaeda terror network leader Osama bin Laden alive.
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Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden has claimed responsibility for the botched Christmas Day bombing of a US airliner and said strikes on US targets will continue, in an audio statement broadcast on Al-Jazeera satellite television.[Xinhua] |
McChrystal, briefing reporters in Washington via teleconference from Afghanistan, said if bin Laden enters Afghanistan, the military would certainly try to "capture him alive."
The comment contradicts Attorney General Eric Holder's Tuesday comment that bin Laden will never appear in a U.S. courtroom because he won't be brought in alive.
"The reality is that we will be reading Miranda rights to the corpse of Osama bin Laden. He will never appear in an American courtroom," Holder said during a House appropriations subcommittee hearing.
"He will be killed by us or he will be killed by his own people, so he's not captured by us," said Holder.
McChrystal also said Wednesday that efforts to retake Taliban strong-hold Kandahar is already underway.
NATO and Afghan armies have recently launched a major operation in Afghanistan's Helmand province, adjacent to Kandahar. David Petraeus, commander of U.S. Central Command, said Tuesday the offensive is the beginning of a larger campaign which will "unfold over the next 18 months."
